I have long argued and will long continue to argue until I am blue in the face that Obama’s problems center on values. Obama doesn’t share my values and that is why I will not support him. No doubt, issues lie at the heart of my values. There are issues that matter a great deal to me such as a sound energy policy, a secure and responsible American foreign policy and issues of fairness and equality of opportunity. But there are also issues that matter to millions of Americans, that do not necessarily reflect my values, but that do reflect their values. The Second Amendment is one such issue. I personally would like to see in Urban America a tighter control of guns but I also understand the right of Americans to bear arms and their attachment to this issue is really one of values.

I told a former friend of mine (he supports Obama hence the former tag) back in November 2006 when Democrats won control of the Congress that Pelosi was wrong to take impeachment off the table but would be wise to take gun control off the table. It is a losing proposition for Democrats. Jon Tester in Montana won a Senate seat in part by advocating for the Second Amendment and defending the right to bear arms.

Obama has a serious problem when it comes to gun control. He was against it before he was for it or something like that. His problem, and one that permeates his campaign, is that he wants to be all things to all people and by doing so he is going to end up being nothing to everyone but the most devoted adoring members of his personality cult. Simply put Obama panders and that pandering is coming back to haunt him.

Back in Boise on the eve on the Idaho caucus, Obama said this:

“And then there are people who say, `Well, he doesn’t believe in the Second Amendment,’ even though I come from a state — we’ve got a lot of hunters in downstate Illinois. And I have no intention of taking away folks’ guns.”

That went out the window with his comments in San Francisco where he described small town Americans as “bitter” and “clinging to guns and religion.” He then went on to tell Gordon Getty and his billionaire fund-raising crowd that he would seek to ban certain types of weapons and tighten legislation to close loopholes in the sale of weapons at gun shows. Had he said this to the good people up in Idaho, Obama would not face the problem he faces to the extent that he does now but he chose to pander and thus his comments in San Francisco behind closed doors will be an open wound. And it is an open wound that RNC intends to bleed for its political gain. This ad from the RNC is an attack on Obama’s values and those values are out of touch with the majority of Americans. And the real depressing part is that the RNC is right.

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The Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is facing plummeting approval ratings as she faces the first big test of her five-month old Presidency. The crisis, now into its third month, has already led to the sacking of her Economics minister.

Over a quarter of a million of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s problems made their angry voices heard today but Cristina de Kirchner’s problems do not just affect Argentina. Ultimately those problems affect the entire world for we are dependent on Argentina’s grain and soybean exports to feed a growing global demand for grain and animal feed. If the Argentine situation is not resolved quickly, it will plague global food markets and affect consumption and prices the world over.

Today in Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina with just under a million inhabitants, nearly 300,000 crammed into the central square to protest grain export-tax hikes that farmers say are suffocating the sector. The rural sector in Argentina, one of the mainstays of this South American country, are demanding that Kirchner’s government roll back the export restrictions with tariffs that run 45% on some commodities.

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Senator Clinton wrote an op-ed today in the New York Daily News outling why she continues to press on in the quest for the Democratic Party’s nomination. She lays out her case in a cogent and fortright manner. In my view, this is “on message” and should remain the focus of her campaign.

Her op-ed and more below the fold:

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No words are sweeter or more awaited to 44 million Colombians than ‘Tirofijo’ está muerto –Tirofijo is dead.

It is the end of an era and a new chapter for my beloved homeland and there are no words that can adequately express my joy and my gratitude to Álvaro Uribe who has done the impossible and destroyed the FARC in six years.

Tirofijo, or Sureshoot, is the nickname of Pedro Antonio Marín, better known by his nom de guerre, Manuel Marulanda Vélez, a founder of the FARC guerrilla group and its maximum leader over the last 15 years is at last dead. The Colombian Defence Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, broke the news yesterday in an interview with the Colombian news weekly Semana (the interview in Spanish is below the fold) and immediately set off celebrations throughout the country. For Colombian President Uribe, this marks the ‘jewel in the crown’ and demonstrates yet again that his policies are working to dismantle forever more this cancer that has plagued Colombia for over 40 years.

After a heavy three day bombardment of an area in the Central Cordillera in southern department of the Meta around March 20-23, Colombian intelligence believes that Marulanda died of his wounds on March 26th, 2008 at age 76. Intercepts by the Colombian Army of FARC communiques confirmed the news that Marulanda was dead. The FARC allege a heart attack in these communiques though both the FARC and its information website, ANNCOL, have ridiculed the Colombian government’s announcement as “wishful thinking.” Marulanda’s authority was always a cohesive element in the ranks of the FARC, which at its height had 30,000 fighters but is now down to under 8,000 combatants. His death, the third this year of a member of seven man committee, that runs the FARC all within a 30 day period in February and March.

“The FARC is like a dying giant, dying slowly, but this is the beginning of the end,” Pablo Casas, an analyst at Bogota think tank Security and Democracy. “I don’t see any factor they can use to keep a strong structure. It will start collapsing.”

The Colombian government, however, has held the news for nearly two months as it tried to ascertain the veracity of these reports. Reports in Colombian media suggest that information on Marulanda’s whereabouts were discovered on Raul Reyes’ (the number two man in the FARC) computer that was taken when he was killed on February 29th, 2008 in a cross border raid in Ecuador. Files on the three computers captured link the FARC to both the leftist governments of Venezuela and Ecuador. That the Colombian government now feels confident in releasing the news after keeping it quiet for two months underscores the caution and leads most analysts to countenance the reports. Perhaps Hugo Chávez can confirm Marulanda’s death when he gives the eulogy.

Update
The FARC today confirmed that Manuel Maralunda was in fact death. Having first denied the reports, this only points to their programme of lies and deception.

This is their press release, a video. Even if you don’t understand Spanish, I think you will find the nonsense palatable.

May 25 (Bloomberg) — Colombia’s largest rebel group confirmed the death of its leader, Manuel Marulanda, El Tiempo newspaper reported today, citing a video released by a Marulanda lieutenant on Venezuelan television station Telesur.

In the video, Timoleon Jimenez, also known by his alias Timocheko, confirmed that the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, died on March 26, the same day given for Marulanda’s death by Colombia’s defense ministry yesterday.

Jimenez sat alongside Marulanda in the FARC’s seven-member Secretariat.

Among the choice offerings is this: “Humanity has never known a greater thinker than Manuel Marulanda.” That may be news to most of humanity who has never heard of him nor is ever likely to ever hear of him. I hope never to hear his name uttered again and I can only hope that Timoleon Jimenez is the next military objective of the Colombian Armed Forces. You can not negotiate with people like this.

Coverage in English
Profile of Manuel Marulanda on the BBC.
The story in the New York Times.
Reuters on the reaction in France.
Video and a report from EuroNews.
A report from the UK Guardian.

Coverage in Spanish
The interview of the Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos in the Colombia newsweekly Semana.
Full coverage from Colombia’s El Tiempo.

Colombian Television

Spanish Television

An Interview with President Uribe
From EuroNews, an interview of Colombian President Uribe from January 2008. The interview is in English.

A FARC Video
This video makes the FARC look like some sort of eco-guerrilla tourist destination. It’s beyond bizarre. It was produced by an Italian communist sympathizer of the FARC. The FARC is a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of thousands of Colombians. It engages in extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking and yet they are those stupid enough to romanticize thugs.

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Puerto Rico was scheduled to hold a caucus originally. But the Commonwealth choose to hold a primary instead. Why? Because officials saw that the Democratic nomination race was so competitive that holding a caucus would disenfranchise voters. So instead they chose to hold a primary. If Puerto Rico understands that every voter should be afforded the opportunity to cast their ballot, why doesn’t the DNC or any of the 14 states that hold caucuses instead of primaries?

An up tempo Hillary video with a Latin beat. Let’s Get Loud!

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Paul Lusasiak has an excellent post over on CorrenteWire that highlights Obama’s growing problem in connecting with voters.

In nearly every demographic category since February 19, Clinton’s percentage of the vote has risen, while Obama’s has fallen. This includes Obama’s supposed “strong” demographic categories such as voters with college degrees post-graduate degrees and voters whose income is above the national median.

It should be required reading for all Democrats, especially the superdelegates.

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Kudos to the minor league St. Paul Saints for their creative marketing giveways scheduled for today. During the Sunday, May 25 Saints game, the first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a bobblefoot. The design is a bathroom stall, with a foot that peaks out of the bottom and “taps” up and down. It honors Senator Larry Craig’s arrest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport last for lewd behaivour. I must ask isn’t Senator Craig’s behaivour always lewd?

The day coincides with National Tap Dance Day. Just perfect!

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The Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, signed into law on Saturday could slash health insurance costs for individuals and small-business owners. It is a step in the right direction and it shows what can get done if there is a political will to get health care coverage for all Americans. Speaking at the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami on Wednesday, Crist called the bill the ”crown jewel” of his healthcare efforts and said it will give the state the power to negotiate on behalf of the 3.8 million Floridians living without insurance. From the Miami Herald:

The law comes in two phases: Crist’s proposal to ask insurers to offer individuals stripped-down health policies for a lower price, and House Speaker Marco Rubio’s plan to set up a public-private corporation that would act as a human-resources department and a virtual marketplace for health plans.

Crist’s ”Cover Florida” plans could be available by January. Florida has the third-highest rate of the uninsured in the nation, with 20.2& of the state’s population uncovered. About 43% of all Floridians age 18 to 34 are uninsured.

The Rubio proposal — aimed at small businesses — will take longer because the state has to set up the public-private corporation patterned after HealthyKids Corp., which offers healthcare to the children of the working poor.

This is basic health coverage at an affordable rate. The plan is far perfect but it is a start. It is a market-based solution and to be frank a government-based solution on the Federal level is what is required but in the interim, I applaud the Governor of Florida for at least trying.

I wrote about the Florida Governor earlier in the week and he spent the weekend in Arizona with John McCain as he is being considered for the Vice Presidential slot.

More below the fold:
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Here is the Sunday May 25th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

South Africans March Against Anti-Immigrant Violence
Thousands of people marched through Johannesburg on Saturday, calling for an end to the violence that has killed at least 50 African migrants and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. More coverage from Reuters and South Africa’s Mail & Guardian. The Mail & Guardian also reports how the riots have battered South Africa’s image abroad.

“Honour” Killing of Young Afghan Woman Rocks Germany
What is wrong with Islam? In Islamic culture, some men believe it their right to control the lives of women. And that is happening in the heart of Europe is unconsciable. Ahmad O. stabbed his sister more than 20 times because the 16-year-old girl didn’t live her life according to his values. Der Spiegel provides coverage of the murder of Morsal O. by her 23-year old brother who has the temerity to state to the police in Hamburg that his “sister was my life.” My condolences to the family. The mother of Morsal stated that Ahmad is not “my son” and that she hates him. According a United Nations report, around 5,000 women fall victim to “honour killings” around the world each year. If Islam wants to co-exist with the West this practice must end.

German Ties to the FARC
According to data found on a laptop confiscated by Colombian authorities, the terrorist group FARC may have had ties to left-wing politicians in Germany. More from Der Spiegel.

Uruguayan Energy Crisis
The Miami Herald reports on how a lingering drought and the high price of oil have forced Uruguay to tighten restrictions on power usage. As winter in the Southern hemisphere approaches, Uruguay has found itself in the grips of an intensifying energy crisis, brought about by a three-month drought that has crippled the country’s hydroelectric power generators. The scarcity — at a time of record high prices for imported oil — is prompting strict conservation measures.

CEO Pay in California Down 10%
The Los Angeles Times looks at California CEO salaries in 2007. The Los Angeles Times’ annual survey of executive compensation found that California’s 100 biggest companies paid 10% less, on average, to their top executives in 2007 than they did the year before. Median pay was also down, but more modestly. Nationwide the trend was similar, with CEO pay declining 5.5%, marking its first decrease in at least a decade, according to Mercer Management, a consulting firm.

Eco-Farming In Britain Declining As Food Prices Rise
Soaring food prices are threatening to inflict widespread ecological damage on the countryside, as farmers abandon environmentally friendly schemes that have improved much of the landscape. More from the UK Guardian.

Christina de Kitchner Struggling
Argentina’s first female President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is fighting to restore her tattered reputation after a 70-day rural strike saw her public image plummet to its lowest level. More from the UK Guardian.

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