Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for March 7, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for March 7, 2013
Robert A. Hall

Long today, but again, a lot of not-to-be-missed links. ~Bob

Must Read: Journalists as Ring Wraiths: When you’ve got a country to transform, any caviling is disloyalty. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Today’s Washington journalists are like J. R. R. Tolkien’s ring wraiths, petty lords who wanted a few shiny golden Obama rings — only to end up as shrunken slaves to the One. The Bob Woodward/Ron Fournier/Lanny Davis psychodrama is another small reminder that the Obama administration continues to assume that the press should be little more than a veritable Ministry of Truth.

Comment on the above from JRapp 
Three Rings for the Environmentalists under the sky,
Seven for the Unions in their Union Halls,
Nine for the Feminists and the babies doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord Obama on his dark throne
In the Land of Washington where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring all the Democrats and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Washington where the Shadows lie.

Worth Reading: Economic Mobility. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: Most people are not even surprised any more when they hear about someone who came here from Korea or Vietnam with very little money, and very little knowledge of English, who nevertheless persevered and rose in American society. Nor are we surprised when their children excel in school and go on to professional careers. Yet, in utter disregard of such plain facts, so-called "social scientists" do studies which conclude that America is no longer a land of opportunity, and that upward mobility is a "myth." 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dead after battle with cancer
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/05/venezuelan-president-hugo-chavez-dead-vp-says/
Excerpt: Some in anguish, some in fear, Venezuelans raced for home on Tuesday after the government announced the death of President Hugo Chavez, the firebrand socialist who led the nation for 14 years. (Well, at least in Cuba he had the best treatment available in the world. Or so Michael Moore says. ~Bob.)

Tweet from Eli Lake:
Yes he mismanaged the country, consolidated power, intimidated his opposition, aligned with Iran. On the other hand, heating oil. #chavez

Hugo Chavez was a leader that understood the needs of the poor. He was committed to empowering the powerless. R.I.P. Mr. President.

Excerpt: Hugo Chávez’s presidency (1999-2013) was characterized by a dramatic concentration of power and open disregard for basic human rights guarantees.

Excerpt: As the legacy of Hugo Chavez gets debated in the wake of his passing, filmmakers Michael Moore and Oliver Stone took to Twitter to praise the late Venezuelan president. (has Hollywood ever met a left-wing dictator it didn’t swoon over? ~Bob.)

A Prayer for the Living.
Excerpt: It is somehow fitting that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez left the realm of the living on this day, the 60th anniversary of the death of one of the world’s most murderous dictators, Josef Stalin. While the crimes of Chavez fail to compete with the atrocities inflicted by Stalin, he was guilty of the same crimes of enslaving millions through a failed ideology. Under the guise of helping the poor, Chavez sought to enrich himself and his cronies by seizing property, destroying civil society, destroying a free press, eliminating the independence of the judiciary, and countless other crimes against humanity.

Hugo Chavez was 'infected with cancer by imperialist enemies': Hugo Chavez is Dead; Update: Democrat Rep Mourns; Update: So does Jimmy Carter. By Erika Johnsen
Excerpt: If you thought that Chavez shoving off might make way for detente between the U.S. and Venezuela, think again: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was infected with cancer by “imperialist” enemies, his No. 2 alleged on Tuesday, adding that the socialist leader was suffering his hardest moments since an operation three months ago…'We have no doubt that commander Chavez was attacked with this illness,' Maduro said, repeating a charge first made by Chavez himself that the cancer was an attack by “imperialist” foes in the United States in league with domestic enemies." (If we could really do that, the cancer rate would go up in the Third World. Starting with this idiot Maduro. ~Bob.)

Fossil-Fuel Divestment — Part 2: The target is fossil fuels, but the goal is an end to economic growth. By Stanley Kurtz
Excerpt: You may not have heard of the fossil-fuel divestment movement yet, but you will soon. While the campaign to have universities sell off any stock they may hold in large fossil-fuel companies is still in its infancy, the effort has spread to hundreds of campuses in just the past few months. This ambitious crusade to save the planet from global warming by crushing the world’s fossil-fuel producers is the brainchild of Bill McKibben, arguably America’s foremost environmentalist, and leader of the campaign to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. 

My Otherkin Headmate is a Two-Spirited Starseed. By Kathy Shaidle
Excerpt: Aware of my impatience for the ever-metastazing and increasingly belligerent LGBTTIQQ2SA “community” and other victim-loonies, a friend directed me to a Reddit thread titled “what does all this bullshit mean anyway?” about some self-described “social justice activists.” Now that sounds like some folks who, while misguided and none too bright, want to feed the poor and stuff. Yeah, no. (Weird but entertaining, sent to me by a good blog feeder and old school friend. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Warning: the video below contains graphic footage of the aftermath of the Taliban killing several Pakistani soldiers. The Taliban remove the heads of the Pakistani soldiers. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan released a videotape on the fighting in the Mehsud areas of South Waziristan which includes graphic footage of the mutilation of several Pakistani soldiers who appear to have been killed in a firefight last summer.

Excerpt: The Obama White House is cutting $65 billion in the sequester, but it could easily leave or torch 750,000 pieces of major military hardware — worth $36 billion — in Afghanistan after U.S. troops pull out by the end of next year. Here are the options, according to Face the Facts USA of the George Washington University: Leave the equipment — or destroy it — in Afghanistan; move it to other U.S. military outposts; or transfer it to another U.S. agency or to another country. The estimated cost for the latter two options: $5.7 billion.

T-shirt business ruined after offensive rape slogan generated by computer: An online shirt shop kicked off Amazon for trying to boost its numbers with randomized apparel phrases runs out of cash. By Jason Nottehttp://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=d4ae9708-0e1c-4d73-8563-d446f8e8f481
Excerpt: Fowler started producing the “Keep Calm” T-shirts as a parody of the British "Keep Calm and Carry On" propaganda posters from World War II that were embroiled in a copyright dispute both here and in Europe. He decided to “create a large-scale release of parodies (something T-shirt companies often do) and relied on both computer based dictionaries and online educational resources.” The one hitch in his plan to hit the button and watch the money roll in was that “parody” and the definition thereof never found its way into the company's 700-word database. (Hard to feel bad. Hoist by his own petard. ~Bob.)


Excerpt: A Dominican politician related to a top political donor to Sen. Bob Menendez was the driving force promoting new claims from a woman who now says she concocted an allegation that the senator paid her for sex in 2012.
Mexico's much-needed education reform faces hurdles
Excerpt: The overhaul, if successful, will wrest oversight of teacher hiring and competency exams away from a powerful union, and make all promotions based on merit. It would also help address some of the scams that are rife in Mexico's public education system. Some teachers often skip class themselves, while final year students doing social service are sent in as substitutes for teachers who take jobs within the union and continue to receive their wages. (So, teachers’ unions there much like here. See next piece. ~Bob.)

No Substitute for a Teacher: Adults’ absences shortchange students. By June Kronholz
Excerpt: In the college town where he was living, an astonishing 47 percent of the school district’s 721 teachers were absent more than 10 days during the school year, according to data the district reported to the U.S. Department of Education for a 2009–10 study. That number rose to 61 percent in an elementary school with one of the district’s highest percentages of black, Hispanic, and low-income children. Even at that, the district’s absences don’t appear to be record setting. U.S. teachers take off an average of 9.4 days (roughly 1 day per month) each during a typical 180-day school year. (I usually average 2-4 sick days a year, all for doctor’s visits. Last year I had 10, because of a four day lung transplant evaluation and follow up visits. I can’t recall ever using more than ten. And I don’t get the down time a teacher does. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: But the bag ban is contributing to thousands of dollars in losses for at least one Seattle grocery store, and questions have been raised about the risk of food-borne illness from reusable bags that shoppers don't often wash. (Increased costs and increased illness—another way you have to pay so the Greenies get to feel good about being for the environment. ~Bob.)

The Complexities of Providing Health Insurance. By Edmund F. Haislmaier
Excerpt: Private health insurance increasingly entails moral and ethical issues of consequence to both employers and workers. Recent federal health care legislation has exacerbated the situation by implicitly asserting the supremacy of government’s moral judgments over those of employers and workers who finance private health plans.

Dunkin’ Donuts employee fights off crook with hot coffee, catchphrase
Excerpt: A West Haven, Conn., Dunkin' Donuts employee didn't take too kindly to an attempted robbery on Saturday evening. Rather than fork over the contents of her register, the young woman struck back, throwing hot coffee in the would-be crook's face and forcing him to bid a hasty retreat. (Poor guy. We must ban Assault Coffee! ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Senate Republicans will host President Obama at their weekly conference lunch next week amid an intensifying effort by the White House to reach out to rank-and-file Republicans on a possible budget deal.

Excerpt: About two-thirds of all the Medicaid enrollees in the country are enrolled in private, managed care plans. Even those who remain in traditional Medicaid are likely participating in a plan that is administered by a private company ― much as Medicare is administered almost everywhere by such entities as BlueCross, Cigna and other insurers. … When he writes about health care, Krugman is almost always wrong. (See here, here and here.) The problem is that lay readers are inclined to think this is “economics,” rather than the uninformed diatribe that it actually is.

Report Details Mistakes Made by U.S. in Improvement Projects for Iraq
Excerpt: The United States, officials from both countries say, took on too many large projects and often did not consult sufficiently with the Iraqis about which projects were needed and how best to go about them. As a result, the Iraqis were not always able to continue the projects as the American presence began to shrink, and the United States did not secure the good will it had hoped for.

Seoul Warns That North Korea’s Leadership Could Be Target
Excerpt: The South Korean military warned on Wednesday that if provoked by North Korea, it would strike the North’s "command leadership," in a sharp escalation of a war of words that hinted at an attack on a North Korean headquarters. (Looking at you, Young Un. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: You have to wonder just how many times Obama is going to announce that, thanks entirely to Republicans in Congress, this nation is on the verge of going over the cliff or ending up in a ditch. I also wonder how many people still give a darn if Operation Head Start simply disappears or how it is that cops and firefighters, who all collect a city or county paycheck, will suddenly be unemployed if the federal government has to cut two cents from every dollar it currently squanders.

Please, help me. I don't want to be cut like my sister. By Sara Malm
Excerpt: A heart-breaking letter from an 11-year-old girl begging for a charity for help to avoid female genital mutilation reveals the very real threat for many girls in the UK. The girl’s cry for help was prompted by her discovery that her 12-year-old sister had been taken to her grandmother’s home in Gambia, west Africa for the procedure. 'I really hope you can help me, not to have my private cut,' she writes after discovering her sister's horrific fate.

It's 'I Told You So' on Obamacare. By Jonah Goldberg 
Excerpt: He was talking about the apparently surprising need to halt enrollments in a program designed as a temporary bridge for people with pre-existing conditions who couldn't wait to be covered by the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) when it fully kicks in next year. The program was allocated $5 billion, but some estimate it would take $40 billion to fund the effort. Such surprises are becoming routine.

African Americans against gun control release powerful ad against Democratic Jim Crow Laws
Excerpt: On September 28, 1868, a mob of Democrats massacred nearly 300 African-American Republicans in Opelousas, Louisiana. The savagery began when racist Democrats attacked a newspaper editor, a white Republican and schoolteacher for ex-slaves. Several African-Americans rushed to the assistance of their friend, and in response, Democrats went on a “Negro hunt,” killing every African-American (all of whom were Republicans) in the area they could find. 

Klansman sighting that shut down Oberlin campus was student wrapped in blanket. By Mary Katharine Ham
Excerpt: When I saw this story Monday, I wondered when we might find out that something much less sinister was afoot: ''Early this morning, there was a report of a person wearing a hood and robe resembling a KKK outfit between South and the Edmonia Lewis Center and in the vicinity of Afrikan Heritage House. This report is being investigated by both Safety and Security and the Oberlin Police Department. '

Brace Yourselves: D.C. Set to Torture Rest of Country by Whining Over Clumsily-named Snowstorm. By Mary Katharine Ham
Excerpt: Are you ready for this one? It’s predicted to snow maybe 5-8 inches in the capital tonight and tomorrow morning, and there’s a movement afoot to call it Snowquester. God, this place is the worst.

Excerpt: When even Home Depot’s Ken Langone is questioning the reality of this rally (CEO of one of the best performing stocks since the Dow last traded here), you have to be a little concerned. However, it is Duquesne’s Stanley Druckenmiller’s point that with QE4EVA it is impossible to know when this will end but warns that “all the lobsters are in the pot” now as he notes that “if you print enough money, everything is subsidized – bonds, stocks, real estate.” He dismisses the notion of any sell-off in bonds for the same reason as the Fed is buying $85 bn per month (75-80% all off Treasury issuance). 

Comment on the above from a banking auditor
To clarify, the FRB is purchasing $45B in US treasuries (SOMA program) and $40B in agency MBS each month, or $85B in total. On the Agency MBS purchases, the FRB has been buying about 1/3rd of all mortgages in 2012, which is expected to increase in 2013 to 50%:
On the US Treasury purchases by the FRB under SOMA, the levels have fluctuated since the commencement of the Great Stagcession from 80% in 2009 to 61% in 2011 back up to around 75% in 2012, and are projected to be no less than 64% in 2013 (assuming a budget defecate of $845B vs. “projected” FRB purchases of $540B at a rate of $45B per month). Some are predicting higher levels at 75%, which appear more likely given the Sequester squeeze and games being played right now in Washington. Case in point, so far the FRB has purchased 100% of the net Treasuries issued during this calendar year, plus another $3.9B, per the attached article. FRB’s SOMA portfolio increased by $51.1B while total federal debt increased by ONLY $47.2B. Looks like the FRB got it’s hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/fed-has-bought-more-us-gov-t-debt-year-treasury-has-issued
Thus, we can now see why the FRB is being called the Lender of Last Resort and One-Stop-Shopping Center, for not only the mortgage/housing/banking industry but also on a rather incestuous basis for the Federal Government. Along with the very LIBOR-bid-rigging-like activities going on with below- market interest rates driving investors and savers into the stock market and/or other risky-business ventures and investments, the future implications of Godzilla-like inflation (that for all intensive purposes is already here in the food, energy, housing, and health care sectors) that will only get worse once the FRB starts selling one single US treasury or agency MBS on the open market is becoming widely apparent. Personal financial advisors are even making recommendations on how individual investors can protect themselves from the QE Monster that has been unleashed by the FRB and US Government against its own people. Where’s Mothra when you need her?

58% Worry That Government Spending Won’t Be Cut Enough
Excerpt: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters are worried most that Congress and the president will raise taxes too much rather than that they won’t raise taxes enough. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are most worried that Congress and the president won’t raise taxes enough. (I’m not worried. I’m SURE they won’t cut spending enough to avert fiscal collapse, that they will eventually damage the economy by raising taxes, and that in the final extremity, the will print massive amounts of fiat money to pay the debt, causing hyper-inflation. Buy ammo and canned goods. ~Bob.)

Congressman: No golf trips for Obama until White House tours resume
Excerpt: Republican Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert introduced an amendment to the Continuing Resolution that would not provide the White House with any taxpayer funds to transport President Barack Obama to and from any golf course until they resume White House public tours. (Oh, the horror. This is inhumane. How will he hobnob with the One Percent? ~Bob.)

A President We Can’t Be Proud Of. By Bernard Goldberg
Excerpt: By now, you’ve probably heard all those allegations about how President Obama would intentionally try to make sequester as painful as possible to as many Americans as possible just so he could blame it all on those nasty Republicans and then sit back and watch while the Democrats take over the House and expand their...

Quotes from The Patriot Post
"Say what you like about those Mayan guys, but they only schedule an apocalypse once every 5,126 years. Only Washington would try to pull it off every six weeks." --columnist Mark Steyn

"Congress did not reach an agreement and Congresswoman Maxine Waters said 170 million jobs could be lost. There are only 155 million workers in America. Are you beginning to understand why we're in this situation in the first place?" --comedian Jay Leno

"The White House said that President Obama's salary would not be affected by the looming sequestration cuts. Congress quickly added that their pay is also unaffected. Their salaries are all protected under the Americans with No Abilities Act." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Secretary of State John Kerry hasn't said anything on Hugo Chavez's death, but he has a long face." --humorist Frank J. Fleming

Stalin’s Dead Hand. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Imagine if Hitler had ranked first in a current German survey of the greatest figures of history. While that did not happen, last year Stalin finished first among Russians in a Carnegie survey of the most influential figures of history, proving that people do not learn from history, they learn from the victors of history. Stalin died in March 1953. Sixty years have passed since then, but the old tyrant remains a shadowy presence over Russia offering the simple solution of the bullet and the gulag. (Well, to be fair, Stalin was a far more successful mass murderer than Hitler, though still second to Mao. Rachel Carson is still gaining on Hitler, in dead Third World kids due to Malaria from her book’s getting DDT banned. ~Bob.)

Europe’s Muslim Hiterlites
Excerpt: Dutch TV shows Muslim kids praising Hitler and hoping for a new Holocaust:

Worth Reading: Minimum Wage Mandates: The Tools of Racists Everywhere. By Walter Williams 
Excerpt: The minimum wage not only discriminates against low-skilled workers but also is one of the most effective tools of racists everywhere. Our nation’s first minimum wage came in the form of the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931. During the legislative debate over the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets minimum wages on federally financed or assisted construction projects, racist intents were obvious. Rep. John Cochran, D-Mo., supported the bill, saying he had “received numerous complaints in recent months about Southern contractors employing low-paid colored mechanics getting work and bringing the employees from the South.” (Dr. Williams, it should be noted, is a black economist with excellent academic credentials. ~Bob.)

Planned Parenthood Clinic Faces Lawsuit Claiming Negligence, Battery
Excerpt: A doctor at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains allegedly performed an abortion with no anesthesia against the will of Colorado Springs resident Ayanna Byer, according to charges in a lawsuit Byer filed on February 6. (Just trying to carry out their mission to prevent the “unfit” from being born. ~Bob.)

TSA allows knives on planes, flight attendants union calls decision 'dangerous'
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/05/tsa-allows-knives-on-board/?test=latestnews#ixzz2Mk30Ok3t
The Transportation Security Administration announced Tuesday that U.S. airline passengers will soon be allowed to carry small knives in their carry-on bags, a move that prompted swift condemnation from a flight attendants union. The union for Southwest Airlines flight attendants called the decision "dangerous" and "designed to make the lives of TSA staff easier, but not make flights safer." …Starting April 25, passengers going through U.S. airports can bring on board Swiss Army-type knives -- specifically, ones with blades no longer than 2.36 inches. (The folder I care has a 3.5 inch blade, and I worry it will be too small. Probably no worries. This being Chicago, everyone else will have a gun. ~Bob.)

Video: Are You Ready For The Taser Sword?
I’d get one, but they probably wouldn’t let me take it on the airplane either. ~Bob.

Eric Holder: Drone strikes against Americans on U.S. soil are legal
Excerpt: Attorney General Eric Holder can imagine a scenario in which it would be constitutional to carry out a drone strike against an American on American soil, he wrote in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States,” (I bet Bob Woodward is reading Al Qaeda’s tips on avoiding drone strikes. ~Bob.)

Putting politics over public safety: Brennan's backing of Shariah could cost American lives. By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
Excerpt: An ominous pattern has been developing, particularly of late: The Obama administration seems determined to subordinate public safety to political expediency. If a course-correction is not effected promptly, the result is predictable. Americans will be needlessly harmed and, perhaps, killed.

Study uncovers health benefits of pessimism
Excerpt: A German study suggests that people who are overly optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than did those pessimists who expected their future to be worse. (Given my views of where the Republic is headed, this means I’ll likely live another 20 years. So I’ll be here for the disaster. Thus making me more pessimistic. ~Bob)

The Grover's Choice Award: Jihad Watch wins CPAC award, barred from receiving it
Excerpt: I was surprised and honored that Jihad Watch was among the nominees for the People's Choice Blog Award, sponsored by Right Wing News and TheTeaParty.net, to be awarded at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2013. … He told me that there was a slight problem: the Tea Party group, which co-sponsored this People's Choice Blog Award, didn't want to allow me to receive it at CPAC next week unless I promised not to criticize Grover Norquist and Suhail Khan as I accepted the award. I told the organizer that I couldn't agree to that. He asked me if I had planned to talk about Grover and Suhail. I said no, I hadn't, but I had to now.

German troops sent to Turkey as part of NATO mission stunned to find the Turks aren't happy to have them there
Excerpt: The Turks are irked by the infidel Germans who have come to their aid. Clearly the rapidly re-Islamizing Turks desire no help from the dirty kuffar.

Marines halt new enrollments in tuition assistance programs; other services could follow
Excerpt: Some Marines are scrambling to find ways to pay for classes after a surprise announcement that the Marine Corps has stopped new enrollments in its tuition assistance program. The program was available for active-duty Marines attending high school completion courses, vocational courses or classes toward an associate, bachelor, master or doctorate degree after hours. It provided up to $4,500 per fiscal year, or $250 per semester hour or credit hour, according to a Marine Corps website. (Yet our government can write a $250 million check to the Muslim Brotherhood and another $60 to terrorists in Syria. Unless my math is 'fuzzy', $310 million would fund 68,888 Marines at $4,500 per fiscal year. Wonder if HQMC is going to continue to encourage Marines to further their education? --MasterGuns)

Democratic Strategist’s Shocking Claim: Women Don’t Need Guns For Self-Defense, Just Tell Men ‘Not To Rape Women’
Excerpt: Appearing on Fox News Tuesday night, Democratic Strategist Zerlina Maxwell argued that preventing rape should start by simply “telling men not to rape women.” She was arguing against women using guns as a means of self-defense when she made the questionable remarks. (This will work as well as gun-free zones, I suppose. ~Bob.)

Lawyer: State's main witness in George Zimmerman murder case lied
Excerpt: Trayvon Martin's girlfriend, the state's most important witness in the George Zimmerman murder case, was caught in a lie, it was revealed Tuesday. It was not the first piece of misinformation tied to her, but it was the most damaging to date and left prosecutors in a very awkward position. They had to publicly acknowledge that their star witness had lied under oath and had to answer questions about what they intend to do about it.

Study Shows More Americans Are Raiding 401(k) Accounts To Pay Bills
Excerpt: A new national study shows that too many of us are cashing out 401(k) accounts to pay bills. If that retirement account is calling your name, a financial expert advises you to stop listening. (Tweet from Jonathan Schanzer ‏@JSchanzer
But, hey, the Dow is up.)

Governor Perry blasts the 'federally-sponsored jailbreak'
Excerpt: In case you missed it, on Fox News last night Governor Perry talks with Greta Van Susteren to express how angry he and Texans are angry why the Obama administration turned loose thousands of illegal immigrants with a 'get out jail for free card' from the federal immigration detention centers in Texas.

Author Quotes Then-Professor Obama Saying, 'I Don't Believe People Should Be Able To Own Guns.' By Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.
Excerpt: In his new book, At the Brink, economist and author John Lott Jr., assesses the presidency of Barack Obama and recalls conversations regarding gun laws they had while working at the University of Chicago.

The presidency is not powerless: And The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza is wrong to claim it is. By Matt K. Lewis 
Excerpt: The latest defense of President Obama's impotent leadership: Presidents don't really have much power, after all. At least, that's my reading of Ryan Lizza's new article in The New Yorker, titled "The Powerless Presidency."

Rand Paul Is Doing A Real, Old-Fashioned Filibuster On Civil Liberties And Obama's CIA Nominee
http://www.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-filibusters-john-brennan-2013-3#ixzz2MmtTbHXQ
Excerpt: Warning about the ambiguity over who could be targeted by drones, Paul suggested that they could have been used during 1960s campus protests. "Are you going to just drop a hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?" Paul asked. "Are you going to drop a missile on Kent State?" (I dunno. You could get a lot of Vietnam vets voting for one on Hanoi Jane. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Paul has been pressing the Obama administration on whether the president has the power to order the execution or assassination of Americans without due process, particularly using drones. Attorney General Eric Holder replied Tuesday that only an “extraordinary circumstance” like Pearl Harbor or Sept. 11 could conceivably justify such moves. While Holder said the Obama administration had no intention of launching drone strikes in the United States, Paul was dismayed the attorney general did not swear them off as illegal and unconstitutional.

Ted Cruz Goads Eric Holder Into Admitting That Killing Americans With Drones On U.S. Soil Is Unconstitutional
Excerpt: On Tuesday, the Department of Justice sent shockwaves through the nation when Attorney General Eric Holder informed Sen. Rand Paul(R-KY) in writing that the White House would be within its legal authority to execute an American citizen via drone on U.S. soil if that person was determined to pose a threat to national security. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate panel, Holder was prodded repeatedly about this assertion by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Holder eventually admitted that it would not be constitutional to execute an American citizen without due process. 

Excerpt: The House on Wednesday House took the first step to avoid a government shutdown, approving a Republican bill to provide $982 billion in funding for the second half of the fiscal year, keeping agencies humming when the mechanism currently funding government expires March 27. The measure would provide new flexibility to the Pentagon to manage the so-called sequester’s deep, automatic spending cuts, but would otherwise leave those reductions in place for the year.

Excerpt: And ever since his reelection, he’s devoted almost all his time to one-party efforts, doing his best to excoriate the other side. …And he does it with an animus I have not experienced in my lifetime, as if he wanted to exterminate the opposition and stomp it into oblivion. When he saw fit to reassure us he was not a dictator, many of us thought he really wanted to be. 

Chief White House Calligrapher Gets Paid $96,725 Per Year
Excerpt: With the White House closing its doors to public tour groups in order to save money for the sequester, it's worth remembering some of the other costs the White House incurs annually. Like the "Chief Calligrapher," Patricia A. Blair, who has an annual salary of $96,725, and her two deputies, Debra S. Brown, who gets paid $85,953 per year, and Richard T. Muffler, who gets paid $94,372 every year.

GGW Video: “Land of the Freebies, Home of the Enslaved”
Excerpt: Recently, we have all heard on the news that 47% of all Americans do not pay federal income taxes. But as a nation do we really understand what that is doing to current and future generations? More and more people are becoming dependent on government and the shocking part is our very own Congress may be doing it…by design! (Democrats, the party to put you in chains, enslave you. Oops. –Barb.) Watch out for drones, Barb. ~Bob.)

Saudi Princess- REEM ALWALEED BIN TALAL Here's Princess Alwaleed in her full glory Photos of Princess Reem Alwaleed bin Talal shaking Arabia
Will they now whip her for provoking me? Not sure this is legit. ~Bob.

Video: Welcome To The United “Waste” of America
Excerpt: This is a satirical look at the waste, fraud and abuse within our Federal government. Although we are making fun of the subject this is a serious matter. (Sandy victims are freezing their tushes off, but we are paying tax $$ to air condition dead people and homes of convicts who are in jail? –Barb)

VOTER FRAUD (Virtual State of the Union 2013)

Excerpt: …In theory, socialism is an idyllic dream. In reality, it is a phony nightmare, modeled after Karl Marx’s infamous dictum “Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen” (from each according to his ability, to each according to his need), a social theory that has destroyed the economy of every country where it has been applied. To put it into plain English, the socialist redistribution of wealth is theft, and stealing became a national policy on the day the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was born. 

Obama and the Media: Old Policy Resurfacing: The Woodward imbroglio isn't the only incident of bullying the press by this White House.
Excerpt: When Amory Gutierrez from the Pleasanton Weekly wanted to do a puff piece on the Obamas’ helicopter, “Marine One,” the White House put out the welcome mat. … Her piece gushed over the helicopter flown by a Marine crew, but then went on to repeat what the Marines had told her. In nearly four years of flying the Obamas, Michelle Obama had never so much as verbally acknowledged the crew’s existence.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte on Tuesday released an internal U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) document showing that the agency planned to release thousands of illegal aliens from detention centers in response to cuts resulting from sequestration. The document revealed that from Feb. 15 to March 31, 2013, ICE planned to release 1,000 detainees a week, reducing their detainee numbers from 30,748 to 26,748 — well below the 34,000 mandated by Congress, Goodlatte noted. (“Cry ‘Havoc’ and loose the hounds of Hell”-- Per the Phrase Finder, a UK website, “The military order Havoc! was a signal given to the English military forces in the Middle Ages to direct the soldiery (in Shakespeare's parlance 'the dogs of war') to pillage and chaos.” Maybe the oath to serve and protect the Constitution does not apply to those really born in the US; we’ve been naïve enough to think they cared all these years. –Barb.)

Obama doesn’t have a mandate
Excerpt: When Senator Harry Reid speaks, if you listen very carefully and sit very still, you can usually hear a faint whisper in the wind, echoing “Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!” It’s not a human cry. It’s elemental. (I disagree. It’s not faint at all for me. ~Bob.)

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