Obama Chia Pet: Racist?

I don’t know how I missed this one, but when I was recently informed about the Obama chia pet I had to put my two cents in.

A bit ago, Joseph Enterprises—the originators of the chia pet—announced their Obama chia models, seen in their copyrighted images on the right.

With this new chia tribute, Obama finds himself in company with a young Dean Stockwell (see the poster at lower right) countless extras from Star Trek, and—as you will see below—one of the most famous and respected  scientists of the twentieth century.

There are two Obama chia models: The “Determined” chia Obama, who looks far more confused than decisive, and the “Happy” chia Obama, which—I think—looks more like Scatman Crothers caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

However—what with all the Obama lunacy mania—I’m sure there are thousands of people who would want one one of these adorable little terra-cotta wonders brightening up an otherwise dark, dismal cubicle at, say, General Motors or the Federal Reserve.

But not the folks at Walgreens, who pulled the Obama pets from their stores.

According to Walgreens’ spokesman Robert Elfinger:

We got some complaints from people that they thought it was racist.

(Am I wrong or should a corporate spokesman not sound like a bookie?)

What?

Racist?

Read my article, Racist Russian Ad Features Obama—that my friends, is racist.

We’re talking about a chia pet here, not an effigy being burned on the streets of Tehran.

Image Copyright © Joseph Enterprises, Inc.

To the right, you will see another popular chia pet called “The Professor” but obviously a characterization of…

Come on now, lets not always see the same hands…

That’s right, Johnny—it’s Albert Einstein!

So—by extenuation—I suppose an Einstein chia pet is anti-Semitic?

Joseph Pedott, president of Joseph Enterprises and a Republican who voted for Obama, said he was stung by suggestions that there was something racist about Chia Obama, which, if left untrimmed, appears to give the 44th President a healthy, if very green, Afro.

“It's already a top seller and could be the biggest I have ever had," Pedott said. "Since when is an Afro racist?" he asked. “Owners can trim Chia Obama's ‘hair’ to any length they want.”

Imagine that: Barber…or, perhaps…gardener to the President! Wow!

Richard Nixon mask: Anti-Quaker?

So why the controversy?

Could it be that some people are themselves racist and use every piddling, insignificant opportunity they can find to drop the” race card” on whitey?

Easy to find out, let’s all chip in, send an Obama pet to Al Sharpton and watch the seismometers.

I, myself, would be honored if Joseph Enterprises were to offer a chia in my likeness, green afro and all.

They would, of course, have to leave a blank patch on top to represent my bald spot.

Is Obama Smooch Impaired?

Passes on supermodel, hesitant with co-ed

Sarkozy coerces Obama into accepting kiss from girl

Kissing confusion and protocol faux pas were in abundance during Obama’s latest embarrassment French sojourn.

The first clumsy moment, (yes, yes, this administration has consisted almost entirely of clumsy moments, but let’s focus on this one); the first clumsy moment came when Obama and… his wife… ah… I’ll think of it… Michelle—who appeared, yet again, to have dressed in the Salvation Army donation bin—were greeted in Strasbourg by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his main squeeze, Italian Supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Outside the Rohan Palace, (not the Rohan Palace from The Lord of the Rings), Carla gave Mrs. Obama that european, double-mandible kissy-kissy, while the hubbies made-do with manly-men-type pats on the back.

Or they were both choking.

Swapping sides, (no obvious political pun intended), Sarkozy kissed both of Michelle’s upper cheeks, while Carla leaned toward Obama's jowl.

Obama balked.

Carla, her offer of a kiss spurned—likely for the first time in her life—pulled away and offered her hand.

While Sarkozy and Michelle were locked in embrace, Obama and Carla pumped paws.

“A handshake instead of a kiss?” Carla wondered to herself. “Could it be… my breath?”

Already having embarrassed himself and offended the First Lady of France, Obama was again reluctant as he and Sarkozy—ever the posing politicians—took to the streets and worked a crowd.

Cecilia Dervogne, a student whose name—unlike Strasbourg or Sarkozy—actually sounds French, called out to Obama.

"I said in slightly hesitating English… 'A kiss for me?' " Dervogne recalled. "He showed me his bodyguards,” (which is when you know you’ve got a guy’s attention), “who were surveying everything. I think there was a security gap we were supposed to keep to," she said, ending her sentence with a preposition.

After a somewhat longer clumsy moment than the first one of the day, Sarkozy peered at Obama and said, "What, you're not going to give her a kiss?"

"He offered his cheek timidly, and I gave him a kiss," Dervogne said, ending her sentence with a noun.

As Mlle. Dervogne noted, Obama does seem timid around girls: Perhaps he thinks they have cooties.

Obama To Celebrate St. Pat’s With Irish PM

Brian Cowen Taoiseach of Ireland

Catholic Prime Minister brings genealogical gifts

When he arrives at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick's Day—now that that Brazilian guy's been sent packing—Irish Taoiseach, (tea-shock, equivalent to Prime Minister), Brian Cowen will present Obama with a copy of baptismal records which prove Obama's Offaly connections, (that's just too easy, folks—I'm not even going to touch it).

Prime Minister Cowen will give Obama a photograph of Templeharry Church in Moneygall, where Obama's great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmouth Kearney, (um... nope, still too easy), was baptized, along with parish records and a picture of the schoolhouse his ancestors attended.

Mr. Cowen will also extend an invitation to Obama to visit Ireland and Moneygall—which has nothing to do with Obama's economic policies.

Top of the agenda during Mr Cowen's visit will be the global economy, Cowen's proposed relaxing of work visa requirements for Irish entry to the US, and the rekindling of “The Troubles" in Northern Ireland.

White House aides are reportedly scrambling to find a menorah to honor Mr. Cowen's visit.

Obama Manages To Offend President Of Brazil As Well

Obama 0 for 2 as he offends two Heads of State in a row

Obama and his staff managed to offend Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, (known simply as Lula), before he even arrived.

Obama arranged a White House meeting during a telephone call to Lula, the two leaders agreeing to meet on 17 March—St. Patrick’s day. Obama also agreed to meet with Ireland’s Taoiseach, (tea-shock, equivalent to Prime Minister), Brian Cowen and formally celebrate—you guessed it—St. Patrick’s Day.

Isn’t there anyone in the White House familiar with the basic uses of a calendar? Hair-dressers don’t make such bumbling goofs, how on Earth does Obama manage to do so?

Lula’s trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because, remarkably, someone in the White House possessed of more than two working neurons, dimly realized that it made somewhat less sense to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a Brazilian than an Irishman—and kudos to that rocket scientist.

Lula’s aides and the Brazilian press interpreted this as a snub, saying the offhand schedule shuffling made Latin America once again look like an afterthought.

Adding yet another insult to the mess, the White House announcement of the Obama-Lula meeting misspelled Lula’s name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula"—a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name—in quotes.

How will Obama treat the Prime Minister of Ireland? Serve a traditional English breakfast? Pipe him into the White House with a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen? Re-gift Cowen with the Winston Churchill biography the UK prime Minister gave him?

The stumble for statesmanship continues.

Obama Just Loves To Insult Our British Allies

Makes Bush looks like sophisticated Man-Of-The-World

I have refrained from commenting on this until now, waiting for the fallout to settle so the damage might be assessed.

The military—of any nation—is composed of human beings. As in any group of people, in the military you will find those who are the salt of the Earth, those who are absolute jerks—even villains, and everything in between. Correspondingly, you are taught that when you salute, you are saluting the uniform and not the man.

Obama might have learned that lesson had he ever served in the military. But he didn't. He has apparently never even heard of the practice—that, or he just doesn’t care.

Obama appears to be an Anglophobe. He has said that his grandfather was detained for more than six months by the British who suspected him of involvement in the bloody Mau-Mau rebellion. True or not this should be irrelevant. In dealing with the heads and the ambassadors of other nations, Obama is mandated to represent the people of the United States of America—not embark on childish and disgraceful public snit-fits.

First, Obama surprised and insulted the British by returning a bust of Winston Churchill, presented to the Oval Office by the British Government as a show of friendship and solidarity after 9/11.

Then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in Washington—the first official visit of any head of state to the new President.

Obama cancelled the Rose Garden press conference—traditional in welcoming heads of state—"because of snow" and held a small, awkward and ill-prepared press conference in the Oval Office, leaving out more than a dozen British reporters for lack of room, (there are 132 rooms in the White House, including the huge East Room which was presumably free of snow at the time.) Obama also denied the British prime minister an official state dinner.

Prime Minster Brown presented Obama a pen holder carved from the remains of the HMS Gannet, a Victorian warship that once ran anti-slavery missions along the African coast. The wood of HMS Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was used to create the President's famous Resolute Desk, a gift from Britain which has been in the Oval Office since 1880. The Prime Minister also gave Obama the framed, original commission of the HMS Resolute, and a first edition of Sir Martin Gilbert's seven-volume authorized biography of Winston Churchill.

Obama's gift to the Prime Minister? A box of 25 DVDS including ET, The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Raging Bull, Casablanca, The Graduate and—perhaps most poignant of all—Psycho.

To make matters worse—if that's possible—Obama wasn't smart enough to know that DVDs made for US audiences won't work on British DVD players. British and American DVD players use incompatible formats.

Mrs. Brown then presented the Obama children with two outfits from Topshop, one of Britain's trendiest and most expensive women's-wear stores.

Apparently having learned the art of tastelessness at her husband's side, Mrs. Obama had an aide run down to the White House gift shop to snatch away two toy Marine One Helicopter pieces of junk models for the Prime Minister's children.

Obama then cut the meeting short in order to meet with a group of Boy Scouts, (I'm not making this up, folks.)

But wait—there’s more:

British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell is now saying that 10 Downing Street is finding it "unbelievably difficult" to get in touch with members of Obama's administration. British officials can't seem to get past the White House answering machines as they try to coordinate plans for the upcoming G20 summit.

O'Donnell said that when he tries to get in touch with key members of Obama's Treasury Department "there is nobody there." The phones ring and no one answers or he gets only a answering machine message. "You cannot believe how difficult it is," O'Donnell said to participants of a civil service conference.

I could say more about this disgraceful state of affairs, but what more needs be said? Well, perhaps more of the British reaction. I will end with comments on the debacle from the UK's Telegraph newspaper:

One thing’s certain when President Obama arrives in London at the end of March - he’ll receive a far warmer and more cordial welcome than the one he doled out to Gordon Brown in Washington earlier this week. As the British media widely noted, the Prime Minister was given a humiliatingly low key reception at the White House at the hands of a new US Administration that seems to care little for the Anglo-American alliance or even the basics of international diplomacy.

No British leader in modern times has been greeted with less decorum by his American counterpart, and the amateur reception he received was more fitting for the arrival of a Third World potentate than the leader of America’s closest ally...a British Prime Minister deserves to be treated with respect, even he is a lame duck at home or is barely recognizable to much of the American public.

President Bush was frequently labeled a cowboy and an isolationist by his critics, but the Bush White House knew how to receive its guests (including traveling press corps) with tremendous dignity, respect for tradition and sincere warmth towards visitors who had traveled thousands of miles to be there.

When Joe Biden outlined the US administration’s foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference last month, he delivered a muddled, quintessentially European-style speech that projected naiveté and confusion. It was a weak-kneed address that could easily have been drafted in Paris or Brussels, a celebration of “soft power” at a time of growing threats to international security. His words revealed a soft underbelly to the American superpower, one that will be probed and exploited by Washington’s worst enemies.

Whether Obama is actually up to the task remains to be seen. His meeting with Brown this week was nothing short of a PR disaster, the embarrassing fledgling steps of a new president unschooled in foreign affairs. He was out of his depth and it showed... the young president could learn a thing of two about leadership from Sir Winston Churchill, the British hero whose bust he so crassly removed from the Oval Office.

Rick Santelli On The “Stimulus Bill”

Just a guess, but I don’t think he cares for it…

Obama Insults Great Britain

Obama has sent Sir Winston Churchill packing, offending British diplomats.

A bronze bust of former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill--once voted the greatest Briton in history--which was loaned to George W. Bush from the Government's art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been ignominiously returned to the British Embassy in Washington DC.

The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, was loaned to George Bush by Tony Blair in 2001 from the UK Government Art Collection for the duration of his presidency. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.

Britain wants President Obama to put the bust back in the Oval Office, where it stood for the past eight years as a symbol of an enduring special relationship with America. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Washington said, “The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W. Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship. We have made it clear that we would be pleased to extend the loan should Mr. Obama so wish.” Obama said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

UK Newspapers reported the incident with chagrin, including the Telegraph who made their feelings on the matter clear by placing—on the same webpage—a video of Obama clumsily banging his head on a helicopter doorway: