The Pink Flamingo :: Obama Unseats Ming the Merciless as Ruler of the Universe!

NO TIME FOR SOLDIERS?
"..."We have a severe case of Obama mania in this town, and in Germany,
I think, in general people are waiting for the political redeemer.
It's seven years of Bush that have made people right for a new face, for a change.
People are willing to fall in love again with the United States."..."

Barack Obama had time in Afghanistan to shoot hoops with a selected group of soldiers. He had time to grandstand in Berlin. But, he DID NOT have time to visit our wounded Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. None of this really matters as long as the Obama Team plans for a peaceful and smooth transition of power, now that he has just replaced Ming the Merciless as Ruler of the Universe. There are those who want to know who died and made him President. Frankly, I want to know if it was really Flash Gordon who took out Ming the Merciless in order to make Barack Obama the Ruler of the Universe.
H/T Hyscience

THE ADORATION
Does anyone now anything about the warm-up acts who proceeded the new Ruler of the Universe? Obama hosted a FREE concert before his speech. Smart idea. Let's be honest about something. Where the heck is Michelle? Doesn't anyone think it is little strange that she has not joined him now that he is out of the "war zone"? After all, she is Mrs. Ruler of the Universe. She needs to be seen and adored, right? There are rumors that she has been thrown under the bus, along with Wes Clark, Tony Rezko, Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers. At least she has company.

Today at Flopping Aces, Mike posted a fascinating Wordle tag cloud. I thought it might be fun to take it a step further and examine the blessed Barack Obama speech. I broke the speech down into sections with about 600 words analized per section. I was going to present all the cloud tags, but they were basically the same. It is all rather fascinating. I played around with things, and came up with a 100 word cloud tag. I was also going to publish a copy of the blasted speech, but he doesn't need my adoration.

Next, I decided to compare Obama's word tag to that of John McCain. Granted, I took a cheap shot and used McCain's Memorial Day Speech, which is way patriotic, but someone needs to take a cheap shot at Obama.

Remember President George W. Bush? Today he delivered a beautiful speech about freedom. You might want to check out his tag cloud.

"...And because we were steadfast in liberty's defense, the cause of freedom prevailed.

At the dawn of a new century, our belief in the universality of freedom is being challenged once again. We saw the challenge on September the 11th, 2001. On that day terrorists, harbored by a tyrannical regime thousands of miles from America, brought death and destruction to our shores. We learned important lessons: To protect America, we must fight the enemy abroad so we don't have to face them here at home. And to protect America, we must defeat the ideology of hatred by spreading the hope of freedom.

Over the past seven years, this is exactly what we have done. Since 9/11, we recognized that we're at war and we must stop new attacks before they happen -- not wait until after they happen. So we're giving our intelligence and law enforcement and homeland security professionals the tools they need to stop terrorists before they strike again. We're transforming our military to meet the threats of a new century. We're putting pressure on the enemy.    We've captured or killed thousands of terrorists -- including most of those responsible for the September the 11th attacks. We've removed regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq that threatened our citizens and the peace in the world. And now we're helping the people of those two nations fight the terrorists who want to establish new safe havens from which to launch attacks on America and our friends.

In the long run, though, the best way to defeat the terrorists is to offer a hopeful alternative to their murderous ideology -- and that alternative is based on human liberty. We've seen a hopeful beginning for the cause of liberty at the start of the 21st century. Over the last seven years, we've seen the citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq emerge from tyranny to establish representative governments. We've seen citizens in Georgia and Ukraine stand up for their right to free and fair elections. We've seen people in Lebanon take to the streets to demand their independence. We've seen strides toward democracy taken by nations such as Kuwait and Liberia, Mauritania and Morocco, and Pakistan.

It's in our national interest to continue liberty's advance -- because we know from history that the advance of freedom is necessary for our security and for world peace. Just think about World War II. During that conflict Japan and Germany were enemies of America who invaded their neighbors and destabilized the world. And today, Japan and Germany are strong democracies and good friends and strong allies in the cause of peace.

During the Cold War, the nations of Central and Eastern Europe were part of the Warsaw Pact alliance that was poised to attack Western Europe. Today, most of those nations are members of the NATO alliance, who are using their freedom to aid the rise of other young democracies. In these experiences, we have seen the transformative power of freedom. We've seen that free societies don't harbor terrorists, or launch unprovoked attacks on their neighbors. Free societies are peaceful societies. And that is why the United States of America must continue to cause -- to lead the cause of freedom.

Over the past seven years, we've learned that leading the cause of freedom requires combating hopelessness in struggling nations.    Combating hopelessness is in America's security interests, because the only way our enemies can recruit people to their dark ideology is to exploit distress and despair. Combating hopelessness is in our moral interests -- Americans believe that to whom much is given, much is required. So the challenge for America in the years ahead is to continue to help people in struggling nations achieve freedom from corruption, freedom from disease, freedom from poverty, freedom from hunger and freedom from tyranny.

In the years ahead America must continue to use our foreign assistance to promote democracy and good government. Increased aid alone will not help nations overcome institutional challenges that hold entire societies back. To be effective, our aid must be targeted to encourage the development of free and accountable institutions.

In the past seven years we've more than doubled the federal budget for democracy and governance and human rights programs. We've increased the budget for the National Endowment of Democracy by more than 150 percent since 2001. We've transformed the way we deliver aid by creating the Millennium Challenge Account, which is a new approach to foreign assistance, which offers support to developing nations that fight corruption, and govern justly, and open their economies, and invest in the health and education of their people. The challenge for future presidents and future Congresses will be to ensure that America's generosity remains tied to the promotion of transparency and accountability and prosperity.

In the years ahead, America must continue to promote free trade and open investment. Over the long term, trade and investment are the best ways to fight poverty and build strong and prosperous societies. Over the past seven years, we expanded the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is spreading prosperity by dramatically increasing trade between the United States and Africa; implemented free trade agreements with 11 countries, creating hope and opportunity for both our citizens and the citizens of these nations.    We're striving to make this the year that the world completes an ambitious Doha trade agreement -- will open up new markets for Americans' goods and services and help alleviate poverty around the world. The challenge for future presidents and future Congresses is to reject the false temptation of protectionism and keep the world open for trade.

In the years ahead, America must continue to fight against disease. Nations afflicted with debilitating public health crises cannot build strong and prosperous societies for their citizens. America is helping these nations replace disease and despair with healing and hope. We're working in 15 African nations to cut the number of malaria-related deaths in half. Our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, is supporting the treatment of more than 1.7 million people. And Congress will soon pass legislation to significantly expand this vital initiative. We're expanding our efforts to train health workers for the poorest countries, to treat key neglected tropical diseases such as river blindness and hookworm. The challenge for future presidents and future Congresses will be to continue this commitment, so that we can lift the shadow of malaria and HIV/AIDS and other diseases once and for all.

In the years ahead, America must continue to lead the fight against global hunger. Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug once said: "You can't build peace on empty stomachs." Americans are answering the call to feed the hungry. This year, the United States has provided more than $1.8 billion in new funds to bolster global food security. We're the world's largest provider of food aid. I strongly believe we must transform the way that our food aid is delivered. One innovative proposal is to purchase up to 25 percent of our food assistance directly from farmers in developing world. This would help build up local agriculture; it will help break the cycle of famine. And I ask the United States Congress to approve this measure as soon as possible. The challenge for future presidents and future Congresses will be to find still other innovative ways to alleviate hunger while promoting greater self-reliance in developing nations.

In the years ahead, America must continue to lead the cause of human rights. The Soviet dissident Andrei Amalrik once compared a tyrannical state to a soldier who holds a rifle on his enemy, until his arms finally tire and the prisoner escapes.    It's important we never strengthen the arms. The role of free nations like ours is to put pressure on the arms of the world's tyrants and strengthen the prisoners who are striving for their liberty.

Over the past seven years, we've spoken out against human rights abuses by tyrannical regimes like those in Iran, Sudan, and Syria and Zimbabwe. We've spoken candidly about human rights with nations with whom we've got good relations, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia and China. In keeping with this commitment, today I renew my call for the release of all prisoners of conscience around the world -- including Ayman Nour of Egypt, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Biscet of Cuba, Riad Seif of Syria.

To ensure our government continues to speak out for those who have no other voice, I recently issued a directive instructing all senior U.S. officials serving in undemocratic countries to maintain regular contact with political dissidents and democracy activists. The challenge for future presidents and future Congresses is to ensure that America always stands with those seeking freedom -- and never hesitates to shine the light of conscience on abuses of human rights across the world...."