WASHINGTON – President Obama announced the resignation Wednesday evening of Steven Miller, acting commissioner of the embattled Internal Revenue Service, a move the president said was essential to restore the public’s faith following revelations that the agency inappropriately singled out conservative groups for special scrutiny.
>>Insiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon -- a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure.<<
The euro-zone debt crisis has mutated into Europe's longest slump of the postwar era, with no recovery in sight for a broad swath of the continent.
...
The euro zone's output of goods and services, or gross domestic product, fell in the first three months of the year at an annualized rate of 0.9%, data out Wednesday showed.
>>As Eberstadt goes on to write, her new book “is an attempt to supply that missing piece.” Its Amazon page adds:
The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head. Marshalling an impressive array of research, from fascinating historical data on family decline in pre-Revolutionary France to contemporary popular culture both in the United States and Europe, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.<<
Video interview with the author of "How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization"
All this thuggery finally coming to light was there from the beginning for those willing to see:
>>Like Henry II, Barack Obama never specifically asked that tea party groups and conservative be targeted. But by both his language and the “always campaigning” attitude of his White House, he certainly sent clear signals to Democrats with the power and ability to fight conservatives to engage as they could. Given his rhetoric against his political opponents, it is no wonder sympathetic Democrats in the Internal Revenue Service harassed and stymied conservative groups and, though little mentioned, pro-Israel Jewish groups and evangelical groups.
During Campaign 2008, Barack Obama famously told Democrats to take guns to knife fights.
He told a crowd of supporters to “argue with neighbors; get in their face.” By the way, watch the full clip to hear Barack Obama say he will lower taxes and support the second amendment.
In 2009, the White House created an email address flag@whitehouse.gov and encouraged people to report their neighbors who might disagree with Obamacare. The DNC admitted the White House was engaged in collecting information on people.
During August recesses in 2009, the Obama Adminstration told Democrats in Congress to “punch back twice as hard” at Republicans.
In 2011, the Obama White House set up a ridiculous website called Attack Watch to document and expose those hostile to them.<<
Will no one rid me of this turbulent group?
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | May 15th, 2013 at 04:30 AM
>>"Barack Obama never specifically asked that tea party groups and conservative be targeted."<<
I disagree with this statement by the author however.
Bureaucrats hardly ever do anything of their own initiative.
Barky instructed someone, who instructed the bureaucrats.
One would have to be an quite the simpleton not to be deeply concerned about all of this now coming to light. Thankfully the Press itself got attacked so some of them are finally stirring.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly been called to testify at Tuesday's Senate hearing on offshore profit shifting. The hearing is being conducted by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has the authority to investigate things like federal waste, corporate crime, and offshore banking. VPs from Microsoft and HP testified at a similar hearing in September, but both Politico and Bloomberg are reporting that Apple’s CEO himself will be in attendance this time around.
Bloomberg notes that Apple recently got around paying up to $9.2 billion in taxes by using debt instead of overseas profits to finance its stock buyback. Apple is sitting on a huge pile of offshore cash, $94 billion as of January, money that many have been calling for the company to repatriate. Naturally, Apple thinks it’s paying its fair share of tax. In a statement, a company spokesperson said that "Apple is one of the largest taxpayers in the United States, having paid $6 billion in federal corporate income tax in fiscal 2012."
We can of course take it on faith that Barack Obama is a Muslim socialist bent on destroying America. That faith rests, after all, on the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who couldn't possibly be rich con men selling made-up hysteria, because really, what evidence is there for that?
So, given that any reasonable person can plainly see that our president is in fact trying to lead us to ruin, here's the good news: he's really, really bad at it.
Just consider Exhibit A: despite his every effort to bring down capitalism, Obama has presided over a doubling of the stock market, with the Dow hitting an all-time record of 15,000 on Tuesday. Meanwhile corporate profits have risen at the fastest rate since World War II.
It's quite possible, of course, that he timed that Dow record deliberately to embarrass the right wing Capitol Hill Daily, which sent out an email the same day calling for Obama's impeachment for, um, wrecking the stock market.
But then there's Exhibit B: more evidence of the sheer incompetence of our America-hater. As the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, the deficit is falling so fast that it's throwing the next round of debt-ceiling brinksmanship off-schedule, because the debt ceiling won't be hit soon enough.
What a screw-up by Obama! As the Journal's editorialists have warned us for years -- and let's remember, they're never wrong -- his goal has been to spend us into bankruptcy. But after inheriting a minus 1.4 trillion dollar running start from George W Bush, Obama has been haplessly shrinking it ever since.
Exhibit C: the financial crisis bailouts, which we know, thanks to Fox News' commitment to the highest journalistic standards, were designed for the government to take over banks and car companies while throwing away taxpayers' money as fast as possible.
Well, Mr. President Lefty Pants, it turns out that your scheme has ended up costing taxpayers far, far less than projected, and in some cases is making us big profits.
Meanwhile your minions have been selling the government's shares in bailed out corporations -- again, often at a profit! -- and soon the government will own none of them. Hah! Some takeover!
Of course, this is all just the Socialist side of destroying America. What about the terrorist-loving Muslim side? After all, no less an authority than Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert knows for a fact that Obama's administration is under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Beck is all over the government conspiracy to help the Real Boston Bomber escape, which, as Beck fans well know, is made only more credible by the mysterious absence of evidence.
And so to Exhibit D. Somehow, in the course of helping his fellow jihadists, Obama has killed not only Osama Bin Laden, but so many other senior Al Qaeda leaders that we're almost all out of them. And they say Gerald Ford was clumsy?
I could go on (and believe me, the remaining 22 letters of the alphabet tempt me to). But for now, suffice it to say that our great country can rest easy.
Because if Barack Obama keeps bungling his efforts to destroy America like this, who knows what heights we might reach?
>>During that time, the Huffingtons lived in a $4.3 million Italianate mansion in Montecito, California. According to an article in Vanity Fair, "Arianna employs about a dozen staff members, and the turnover is rapid... The servant problem has been acrimonious and unceasing... [A]t their Washington residence, where Arianna hired ambassador to France Pamela Harriman’s former servants, some of whom fled within a few months, after being treated 'like slaves.'"
The Vanity Fair article went on to say: "According to former employees in Santa Barbara, she issued orders over a speakerphone from the bathtub, kept a lock on the refrigerator, threw frequent tantrums, and sent the children’s bodyguards to the store for her Tampax. Worse still were slurs overheard by the staff about 'stupid and lazy' Mexican help at a time when Huffington was trying to target Latino voters in his district.<<
wiki
---cause Ruf simply doesn't know how to handle servants. His Cherokee ancestors did, but not po' ol' Ruf. And he might all of a sudden find himself running to the store for Ariana's Tampax.
Applications for tax exemption from advocacy nonprofits had not yet spiked when the Internal Revenue Service began using what it admits was inappropriate scrutiny of conservative groups in 2010.
...
The scrutiny began, however, in March 2010, before an uptick could have been observed, according to data contained in the audit released Tuesday from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.
On this day in 1948, the State of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The attack came merely hours after Israel officially celebrated its independence.
But with the truth finally coming to the surface, the remaining question observers are left with is why the Obama administration abandoned Americans who were easily within reach. While the lies used to cover up this disaster are easy to explain, the rationale behind the unconscionable stand down orders must still be determined.
As the facts stand now, the likely explanations do not bode well for President Obama. The circumstances suggest the decision was made by a callous and desperate president struggling with a re-election campaign, a central plank of which was that al-Qaeda had been decimated and was “on the run” — not something affirmed by news of al-Qaeda operatives’ murder of our ambassador and military personnel.
Or perhaps our commander-in-chief was too busy being our campaigner-in-chief and simply didn’t care about the carnage unfolding on his watch, which he declined to prevent. In any case, it is incumbent on the Obama administration to provide a rationale for its disastrous decision.
As persistent Americans have shown, the investigation will not cease until that occurs.
Bob, remember our conversation the other night regarding Monsanto and GM seeds. It gets worse. Another present from the boys in OZ.
Monsanto Protection Act puts GM companies above the Courts
Monsanto and the US farm biotech industry wield legendary power. A revolving door allows corporate chiefs to switch to top posts in the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies; US embassies around the world push GM technology onto dissenting countries; government subsidies back corporate research; federal regulators do largely as the industry wants; the companies pay millions of dollars a year to lobby politicians; conservative thinktanks combat any political opposition; the courts enforce corporate patents on seeds; and the consumer is denied labels or information.
But even people used to the closeness of the US administration and food giants like Monsanto have been shocked by the latest demonstration of the GM industry's political muscle. Little-noticed in Europe or outside the US, President Barack Obama last week signed off what has become widely known as "the Monsanto Protection Act", technically the Farmer Assurance Provision rider in HR 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act 2013
The key phrases are a mouthful of legal mumbo jumbo but are widely thought to have been added to the bill by the Missouri republican senator Roy Blunt who is Monsanto's chief recipient of political funds. For the record, they read:
"In the event that a determination of nonregulated status made pursuant to section 411 of Plant Protection Act is or has been invalidated or vacated, the secretary of agriculture shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law upon request by a farmer, grower, farm operator, or producer, immediately grant temporary permit(s) or temporary deregulation in part, subject to necessary and appropriate conditions consistent with section 411(a) or 412c of the Plant Protection Act, which interim conditions shall authorise the movement, introduction, continued cultivation, commercialisation and other specifically enumerated activities and requirements, including measures designed to mitigate or minimise potential adverse environmental effects, if any, relevant to the secretary's evaluation of the petition for nonregulated status, while ensuring that growers or other users are able to move, plant, cultivate, introduce into commerce and carry out other authorised activities in a time manner …"
According to an array of food and consumer groups, organic farmers, civil liberty and trade unions and others, this hijacks the constitution, sets a legal precedent and puts Monsanto and other biotech companies above the federal courts. It means, they say, that not even the US government can now stop the sale, planting, harvest or distribution of any GM seed, even if it is linked to illness or environmental problems...
I'm not as worried about GM as you are - I have been hoping somebody would come up with a nitrogen fixing wheat for instance. WSU has been trying but failed so far.
However, there may be a few bumps in the road yet awaiting Monsanto.
The U.S. is anxious to get a new trade agreement on farm products signed with the EU our largest trading partner. However, the EU is playing hardball on GM products which they don't want.
Here's why what Europe wants matters: the EU, which loathes American food safety practices, could, by exerting pressure on the negotiations, actually end up improving the quality or variety of food available to Americans.
Right now, the American food supply is an issue of perpetual controversy. Hormones in meat and milk have many families – at least those who can afford organic options – rushing to pay more for a sense of safety.
The US food supply lacks variety: only a few crops dominate and major companies determine the extent and quality of the food supply – and they often prefer genetically modified seeds, bred to withstand herbicides but not fully tested in their long-term effect on human health. As the Guardian reported: "three big companies now control more than half of the global seed market.. … the average cost of planting an acre of soybeans had risen 325% between 1995 and 2011."
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The EU looks down on American food safety and production practices, and with good reason. American meat production is heavily reliant on chemicals, from hormones to chlorine-bleach baths, and European officials and consumers largely reject these treatments and standards.
American farmers and food industry officials find this European exactitude on food practices bewildering, as captured in the comment of Ron Frye, the marketing manager for a Montana ranch, when talking with the Financial Times: "If it's good enough for us it ought to be good enough for them." [The typical American refrain]
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With the support of the government, Monsanto is a key force in American agriculture. Its sells a popular and powerful herbicide, Roundup, alongside the only seeds that are really resistant to it: soybeans named Roundup Ready, for which it charges twice the price of normal seeds. Strong herbicide has led, predictably, to stronger superweeds; now Monsanto is creating seeds that are resistant to even more powerful weedkillers.
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In the US, Big Agriculture calls the shots; the European Union argues that it shouldn't. A trade deal would be the testing ground for a battle over food standards to play out.
The EU has little love for Monsanto or other chemical companies with a stake in agribusiness, like Germany's BASF. The EU has approved only two genetically modified crops – corn from Monsanto and potatoes from BASF. Even those modest approvals have met cultural roadblocks. Around eight EU, including France, Italy and Poland, have taken steps to ban Monsanto's GM corn. BASF, after seeking approvals for three of its potato varieties in Europe, gave up trying after a regulatory quest that took nearly four years.
All of which tells us that if the US wants to export more agricultural products through its trade agreement with the EU, things are probably going to have to change here, as well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/15/us-eu-trade-deal-monsanto-crops?guni=Network front:network-front main-5 on the guardian:Network front - all-purpose editable trailblock:Position1
Clinton, by virtue of her service to Obama, was uniquely-positioned to capitalize on those ties. After a brutal 2008 campaign, she spent her time in Foggy Bottom cultivating an apolitical image – aided by some aggressive political handlers – while benefiting from the president’s broad popularity.
...
But with scandal lurking, all those advantages could end up being for naught. Clinton knows something about being embarrassed by a president.
Her political hopes may be disappointed by another.
Israel Indicates it May Make More Attacks on Syria and Warns Syria to Ignore Them
WASHINGTON — In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated.
We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating.
Quirk: We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating.
Chutzpah?
WASHINGTON — In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated.
Your word use is sloppy.
Israel's stopping the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorists is not "retaliation" rather it's called a redline.
retribution n. Something justly deserved; recompense. Something given or demanded in repayment, especially punishment.
Retribution vs 'Red Line'? Mere semantics? It could be argued either way. Viewed from your perspective obviously you would prefer 'red line'. From my perspective, it fit the thought I was trying to convey. The phrase, We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating contains not only words but music and it reflects the chutzpah I was trying to convey.
The comments were obviously politically motivated. It's been reported that the same message has been conveyed through other channels from Israel to Syria, less public channels. And regardless of who this message was 'actually' intended for, I suspect it wasn't the Syrians. However, the effect of such a threat, public and unnecessary, can only result in embarrassing Assad. The only thing Assad can do given his current situation and inability to open up another front in his war is to look at Israel and publicly reply, "Fuck you."
When is the Israeli nuclear arsenal due to be inspected?
Oh that's right, they don't allow ANY form of inspection. They don’t even admit to having any nukes.
I hope Iran develops a peaceful civilian nuclear industry. The global news is trying to paint them as religion-crazed nutters with their fingers on 'the button' but I don't buy this anymore.
If they did develop a nuclear deterrent, they could guarantee they would never get attacked by countries that need the petro-dollar perpetual motion machine to keep spinning (read USA & UK).
If I had a choice between a nuclear Iran, or a nuclear Israel?
Stoning to Death in Iran: A Crime Against Humanity Carried Out By the Mullahs' Regime Stoning women to death in Iran A Special Case Study The stoning of women is one of the more savage, and revealing aspects of the mullahs' rule in Iran. This vicious punishment of women is without precedent in Iran's recent history. Since the inception of the mullahs' rule, hundreds of women of various ages have been and continue to be stoned to death throughout Iran.
What makes this hideous crime even more abhorrent is that it is carried out under the name of Islam. The Quran and the Prophet of Islam despised such behavior. On the contrary, in the Quran and the Prophet's traditions, such barbarism is denounced. The Prophet did his utmost to eradicate backward traditions, including stoning, which victimized women.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic have attempted to explain away stoning in Iran, as noted in the report by the U.N. Special Representative on Iran, as something that takes place only in remote and culturally backward areas. Actually, stoning and other cruel punishments are used by the regime to extend their reign of terror, while internationally Tehran tries to deny responsibility. It must be noted that:
1- The responsibility for any inhuman punishment, regardless of where it takes place, lies with the judiciary and the state,
2- Stoning and other cruel punishments taking place in the Islamic Republic of Iran are not a matter of individual discretion; rather, they are defined by the law of the land, and such sentences are issued based on these laws.
MARI, Cyprus: Dozens of containers holding gunpowder seized years ago from an Iranian cargo ship exploded on Cyprus’ main naval base Monday in a massive blast that killed 12 people, wounded 62 and wrecked a major power station, causing extensive blackouts.
The head of the island nation’s navy, Commodore Andreas Ioannides, was killed and its defense minister and military chief resigned. Ioannides’ son claimed top officials had repeatedly ignored his father’s warnings that the gunpowder was stored unsafely.
A Cypriot official said right after the blast that a brush fire had ignited more than 90 containers confiscated in 2009 from a ship heading from Iran to Syria. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, later said that the fire may have started inside one of the containers.
The gunpowder was seized after the U.N said the Cypriot-flagged M/V Monchegorsk was breaching a ban on Iranian arms exports. Iran has frequently been accused of smuggling arms through Syria to anti-Israeli militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The blast knocked out the island’s main power station, causing widespread power cuts throughout the day. The Electricity Authority said the station won’t immediately come back online, while officials appealed to the public to reduce electricity and water consumption as capacity at desalination plants had been scaled down.
DeuceThu May 16, 12:48:00 AM EDT The Israelis are hell bent on driving home the lesson on the need for any nation in their neighborhood to have a nuclear deterrent.
So these nations NEED a nuclear deterrent because Israel bombs rockets destined to be given to terrorists?
Maybe those nations should not be transferring billions of dollars of weapons to terrorists in the 1st place?
Or maybe you support Hezbollah? Hamas? Assad's support of Terrorists groups?
noimspartacusThu May 16, 02:59:00 AM EDT When is the Israeli nuclear arsenal due to be inspected?
When Israel SIGNS the NPT and gets the benefits FROM that program. Just like Iran did. They signed, they got technology, the lied, the hid, they, not Israel violated agreements.
israel has NOT violated any NPT agreement since they are not signers of that contract.
Documents: IRS letters harassing conservative groups came from Washington, DC headquarters and from California offices, despite Inspector General’s focus on Cincinnati employees
*Tax agency has admitted targeting tea party groups and other conservative organizations for special, politically motivated scrutiny
*IRS inspector general focused on wrongdoing in Cincinnati, Ohio office and ignored abusive letters coming from other cities
*MailOnline found letters from IRS’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, and from IRS offices in two southern California cities
*The American Center on Law and Justice is threatening to sue the IRS if 27 tea party groups aren’t granted tax-exempt statuses by Friday
By DAVID MARTOSKO IN WASHINGTON PUBLISHED: 18:27 EST, 15 May 2013 | UPDATED: 18:31 EST, 15 May 2013
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325068/Documents-IRS-letters-harassing-conservative-groups-came-Washington-DC-headquarters-California-offices-despite-Inspector-Generals-focus-Cincinnati-employees.html#ixzz2TQaKtZBE Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
What Obama administration office isn't being criticized?
In the midst of these stories [the current probes], the Washington Post reported that Sebelius "has made multiple phone calls to health industry executives, community organizations and church groups and asked that they contribute whatever they can to nonprofit groups that are working to enroll uninsured Americans and increase awareness of the law."
Soliciting help from an industry that Sebelius has wide-ranging regulatory power over is clearly unethical, and quite possibly illegal. But it is not unusual behavior for Sebelius.
As governor of Kansas, Sebelius refused to release documents crucial to the investigation of Planned Parenthood and late-term abortionist George Tiller, a major campaign contributor. It was later revealed that in 2005, while under her control, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shredded documents crucial to the investigation, claiming it was part of "routine document destruction."
In June 2010, months after the passage of Obamacare, Secretary Sebelius warned private insurers participating in Medicare Advantage against increasing premiums. Then in September 2010, Sebelius offered a broader and more blistering warning to all health insurers against citing the health care law as a reason for increasing premiums even though the law contains a raft of new requirements that naturally drive up the cost of insurance.
"[T]he Administration, in partnership with states, will not tolerate unjustified rate hikes in the name of consumer protections," Sebelius wrote. "[W]e will not stand idly," she declared, warning that she would exercise her power to deny "unreasonable rate increases."
She also threatened to bar insurers who didn't cooperate from the new insurance exchanges, which the CBO estimates will eventually cover 24 million people and receive $1.1 trillion in subsidies over the next decade.
In 2010, shortly after President Obama's health care legislation was signed into law, I dubbed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the "Empress of Obamacare" for the vast new powers she inherited. Reading through the text of the law, I counted more than 2,500 references to the secretary of HHS, of which more than 700 referred to instances in which she "shall" do something and more than 200 cases in which she "may" take regulatory action...
In yet another startling revelation involving the now notorious IRS Scandal, it has been revealed that at the same time that the IRS was actively targeting conservatives they were also giving preferential treatment to similar style liberal groups.
...
As applications from conservative groups sat in limbo, groups with obviously liberal names were approved in as little as nine months. With names including words like “Progress” or “Progressive,” these groups applied for the same tax status and were engaged in the same kinds of activities as the conservative groups.
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A federal official who has been briefed on the matter said the investigation could focus on potential violations of civil rights law, including targeting groups based on political affiliation and infringing free speech.
>>DOCUMENTS: IRS tea-party letters came from DC headquarters, 2 California offices... Employees at center of scandal: 'We were simply doing what our bosses ordered'... drudge<<
And the bosses of he employees were simply doing what their bosses ordered, and up the line to Barky.
>>Do not underestimate the psychological shock currently being processed by many members of the mainstream media and the low-to-medium information voters who rely on them for political analysis. To them, the election and re-election of Barack Obama, the first African American to hold the office of President of the United States, was a cause, a fulfillment of heartfelt dreams.<<
May 16, 2013 The Mainstream Media Obama Psychodrama By Thomas Lifson
If we care at all about one another here, perhaps we should put a watch on Rufus. He fits the profile - >>the low-to-medium information voters who rely on them(MSM) for political analysis<< - and has obviously been withdrawn and morose of late, unable to get over a simple cold, his resistance low, not to mention his taking to quoting the pages of the slave driver Ariana Huffington.
>>People react with discomfort and hostility when their self-concept, their source of self-esteem, is threatened. It is subconsciously received as a challenge to one's status as a good person.
Three serial shocks (and their continuing aftershocks) are sufficiently grave to produce a form of trauma in those who hitched their hearts to Obama:
1. Facing proof from one of their own that Obama and his administration lied and then continued to lie to the faces of the White House Press Corps through Jay Carney about Benghazi casts serious doubt on other claims of his they have supported and defended;
2. Continuing revelations of the IRS's misbehavior toward the hated tea partiers and conservatives calls into question which side are the good guys (see point 1);
3. And finally the revelation that all their loyalty bought them no consideration at all when it came to secretly grabbing records of their communications in AP, tells them loyalty is one way street with this guy and his crowd. ...
The mainstream media psychodrama that is about to unfold before us promises to be amusing and even gratifying or those of us who have been frustrated for years by the ability of the Obama organization to make its storylines stick in the face of contrary data. No doubt there will be a certain amount of "I told you so" gloating. But we should also be prepared to welcome and encourage those former inhabitants of the media plantation who venture out into the intoxicating realm of uncovering the deceptions that enabled a program to fundamentally change America to get as far as it has.
If enough members of the media see the light and join in the discovery of all the deceptions proffered over the last few years, we may see the partisan divide actually diminish, as common revulsion at the dishonesty and abuses brings people together. In a way that he never anticipated, Barack Obama finally may become what he promised to be: a uniter not a divider.<<
One can only hope and pray, and reassure Rufus that he is 'a good person'.
>>May 16, 2013 IRS seizes 60 million medical records without a warrant Clarice Feldman
As we are being swamped with evidence of Administration wrongdoing, we should not forget to prioritize the vast amount of information we are getting. It is beyond peradventure of doubt at this time that the IRS, ordered to scrutinize the tea party closely by Democratic leaders, including Senators Schumer and Durbin,and prodded by the President's demonizing the tea party, conservatives and the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, engaged in massive abuse of power. It denied and delayed legal tax breaks to those who opposed the Administration, aided those who supported it, released confidential information about opponents to groups who supported the President and repeatedly audited supporters of the opposition.
This has to give pause to voters who know that this same corrupt from top to bottom outfit will be the outfit to whom we must give our medical insurance information under Obamacare. That fear is completely justified by its conduct now the subject of a class action suit:
The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.
According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data. "This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued. <<
FeralCat
There was a time when the IRS went after Al Capone. Now, under Obama, the IRS is Al Capone.
>>Qaradawi: "The battle between us and the Jews is coming … Such a battle is not driven by nationalistic causes or patriotic belonging; it is rather driven by religious incentives"
Still the learned Western analysts will not listen, and will continue to insist that if Israel just abandons the "settlements" or lops off this or that bit of its already tiny area of land, peace will ensue. It won't, because as Qaradawi (the world's most prominent and respected Muslim cleric) makes clear, the conflict really isn't about land. It's about religion. It's about what Muslims see as an eschatological conflict between Muslims and Jews. But never fear: the same policies that have failed again and again will be applied again, and will fail again.
"Ken Livingstone’s favourite Islamist spreads Jew-hatred in Gaza," by Alan Johnson for the Telegraph, May 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):
“Our whole ambition is to die on the path to Allah… I am sure we will conquer” said Ken Livingstone’s favourite Muslim cleric, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, as he touched down in Gaza on Wednesday for a three day solidarity visit. Before he left on Friday he told a Muslim Brotherhood rally that Israel had no right to exist. The rally was the scene of mass chanting of "liberate Palestine … from the sons of monkeys and pigs".<<
Chris Matthews loses five year long 'thrill up leg' -
Chris Matthews sours on Obama
By DYLAN BYERS | 5/15/13 7:05 PM EDT
>>President Obama "obviously likes giving speeches more than he does running the executive branch," Chris Matthews said tonight.
Yes, you read that right: The MSNBC host who in 2008 felt a "thrill going up my leg" after hearing Obama speak has grown disenchanted. Tonight's episode of Hardball saw Matthews delivering a rare, unforgiving grilling of the president as severe as anything that might appear on Fox News.
(PHOTOS: Barack Obama over the years)
"What part of the presidency does Obama like? He doesn't like dealing with other politicians -- that means his own cabinet, that means members of the congress, either party. He doesn't particularly like the press.... He likes to write the speeches, likes to rewrite what Favreau and the others wrote for the first draft," Matthews said.
"So what part does he like? He likes going on the road, campaigning, visiting businesses like he does every couple days somewhere in Ohio or somewhere," Matthews continued. "But what part does he like? He doesn't like lobbying for the bills he cares about. He doesn't like selling to the press. He doesn't like giving orders or giving somebody the power to give orders. He doesn't seem to like being an executive.”<<
When you've lost Jon Stewart, Chris Matthews, and the AP, you've lost.
>>California congressman David Nunes made the claim yesterday that the Justice Department wiretapped telephones in the House of Representative's Cloak Room, an exclusive part of the Capitol where members are able to privately interact with one another. Nunes made the claim on Hugh Hewitt's radio show.
Congressman: Justice Dept. Wiretapped the House of Representative's Cloak Room
>>I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this," said Hewitt, referring to the subpoenas the Justice Department to obtain the Associated Press's phone records. "Do you, Congressman Nunes?"
"No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room," Nunes respond.<<
May 16, 2013 Is a constitutional crisis brewing? Thomas Lifson
>>California Congressman David Nunes dropped a bombshell yesterday on the Hugh Hewitt Show, one that could occasion a constitutional crisis. Duane Patterson offers us a transcript at Hot Air:
HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That's going to take a long time to get to. I don't trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?
DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don't think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I'm sitting right now, the Cloak Room.
HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.
DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.
HH: I have no idea what you're talking about.
DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I'm sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know...
HH: Wow.
DN: ...members of Congress talk to the press all the time.
HH: I did not know that, and that is a stunner.
DN: Now that is a separation of powers issue here, Hugh.
HH: Sure.
I am not clear if the phone(s) in the Cloak Room were specifically covered, or whether it was just the press gallety. Either way, one branch is spying ont he other, btu the Cloak Room would be poltical and constitutional dynamit. Stay tuned. We need clarification here.<<
I love the sounds of "Constitutional Crisis" over my morning coffee. Melds so wonderfully with the morning cries of the hawks, and the howls of my pet wolves.
Folks, you better assume everything you write here is being scrutinized by the Feds.
Bob, you better write that letter to a trusted friend in case we wake up some morning to find out you have been 'disappeared', no doubt renditioned to Iran.
KFC smugglers bring buckets of chicken through Gaza tunnels Gazans with a hankering for the Colonel's secret recipe can call up a delivery company and get some finger lickin' food smuggled hot from Egypt in just three hours.
Hell, the Koreans sold their daughters, put them into indentured servitude, to the bars and clubs that serviced the US troops outside the gates of Camp Casey.
The going rate was right at $5,000 for a girl, in 1984.
A tad more than a slice of bread. An example of the great economic success brought to the whirled by US
There is nothing illegal in the Benghazi issue, merely the political. There is also likely nothing illegal with the AP story although it is really pushing the line on the First Amendment not to mention the hypocrisy involved as well as the intimidation factor. However, the IRS story appears to involve a crime and I suspect the GOP will not settle for the resignation of some 'temp' and will be looking for some criminal charges to be brought.
It's a sure bet the GOP will try to milk these stories until 2014. If they were to take both the House and Senate, maybe not likely but possible, then the shit would really his the fan.
The best CYA move Obama could do right now is to let some heads roll. The obvious first choice would be AG Holder.
No matter if some one searches for his vital thing, therefore he/she wishes to be available that in detail, therefore that thing is maintained over here.
It's the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I've read this post and if I could I want to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!
Give them something to think about the fact that men have facial hair while most women do not. Despite the changes outlined above, the Student Loan People software via the internet is your best tool. This again brings us to the next level of success offered in the market. If a network associate or a customer is not 100% satisfied Starbucks will give the way to go about this.
Hello Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteFunny stuff ...
ReplyDeleteTax exemptions ...
Laser pointers.
Wesley Snipes - three years for not apologizing
ReplyDeleteheheheh
"It's better to say you're sorry than ask permission."
Delete
ReplyDeleteOusted IRS chief claims in email that he's leaving because 'my acting assignment ends in early June'....drudge
Barky didn't really fire anyone today.....
Guy's 'assignment' of setting up the Tea Party must have been over already.
DeleteMeanwhile Susan Rice is poised for promotion -
Delete>>Insiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon -- a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure.<<
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/15/will_benghazi_furor_keep_susan_rice_out_of_the_white_house
The euro-zone debt crisis has mutated into Europe's longest slump of the postwar era, with no recovery in sight for a broad swath of the continent.
ReplyDelete...
The euro zone's output of goods and services, or gross domestic product, fell in the first three months of the year at an annualized rate of 0.9%, data out Wednesday showed.
Which came first in the West-
ReplyDeleteThe death of God, or the death of the family?
http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2013/05/14/how-the-west-really-lost-god/
>>As Eberstadt goes on to write, her new book “is an attempt to supply that missing piece.” Its Amazon page adds:
The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head. Marshalling an impressive array of research, from fascinating historical data on family decline in pre-Revolutionary France to contemporary popular culture both in the United States and Europe, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.<<
Video interview with the author of "How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization"
All this thuggery finally coming to light was there from the beginning for those willing to see:
ReplyDelete>>Like Henry II, Barack Obama never specifically asked that tea party groups and conservative be targeted. But by both his language and the “always campaigning” attitude of his White House, he certainly sent clear signals to Democrats with the power and ability to fight conservatives to engage as they could. Given his rhetoric against his political opponents, it is no wonder sympathetic Democrats in the Internal Revenue Service harassed and stymied conservative groups and, though little mentioned, pro-Israel Jewish groups and evangelical groups.
During Campaign 2008, Barack Obama famously told Democrats to take guns to knife fights.
He told a crowd of supporters to “argue with neighbors; get in their face.” By the way, watch the full clip to hear Barack Obama say he will lower taxes and support the second amendment.
In 2009, the White House created an email address flag@whitehouse.gov and encouraged people to report their neighbors who might disagree with Obamacare. The DNC admitted the White House was engaged in collecting information on people.
During August recesses in 2009, the Obama Adminstration told Democrats in Congress to “punch back twice as hard” at Republicans.
In 2011, the Obama White House set up a ridiculous website called Attack Watch to document and expose those hostile to them.<<
Will no one rid me of this turbulent group?
By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | May 15th, 2013 at 04:30 AM
http://www.redstate.com/2013/05/15/will-no-one-rid-me-of-this-turbulent-group/
>>"Barack Obama never specifically asked that tea party groups and conservative be targeted."<<
I disagree with this statement by the author however.
Bureaucrats hardly ever do anything of their own initiative.
Barky instructed someone, who instructed the bureaucrats.
One would have to be an quite the simpleton not to be deeply concerned about all of this now coming to light. Thankfully the Press itself got attacked so some of them are finally stirring.
Some Fourth Estate we have these days.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly been called to testify at Tuesday's Senate hearing on offshore profit shifting. The hearing is being conducted by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has the authority to investigate things like federal waste, corporate crime, and offshore banking. VPs from Microsoft and HP testified at a similar hearing in September, but both Politico and Bloomberg are reporting that Apple’s CEO himself will be in attendance this time around.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg notes that Apple recently got around paying up to $9.2 billion in taxes by using debt instead of overseas profits to finance its stock buyback. Apple is sitting on a huge pile of offshore cash, $94 billion as of January, money that many have been calling for the company to repatriate. Naturally, Apple thinks it’s paying its fair share of tax. In a statement, a company spokesperson said that "Apple is one of the largest taxpayers in the United States, having paid $6 billion in federal corporate income tax in fiscal 2012."
We can of course take it on faith that Barack Obama is a Muslim socialist bent on destroying America. That faith rests, after all, on the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who couldn't possibly be rich con men selling made-up hysteria, because really, what evidence is there for that?
ReplyDeleteSo, given that any reasonable person can plainly see that our president is in fact trying to lead us to ruin, here's the good news: he's really, really bad at it.
Just consider Exhibit A: despite his every effort to bring down capitalism, Obama has presided over a doubling of the stock market, with the Dow hitting an all-time record of 15,000 on Tuesday. Meanwhile corporate profits have risen at the fastest rate since World War II.
It's quite possible, of course, that he timed that Dow record deliberately to embarrass the right wing Capitol Hill Daily, which sent out an email the same day calling for Obama's impeachment for, um, wrecking the stock market.
Yes, that's probably it.
But then there's Exhibit B: more evidence of the sheer incompetence of our America-hater. As the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, the deficit is falling so fast that it's throwing the next round of debt-ceiling brinksmanship off-schedule, because the debt ceiling won't be hit soon enough.
DeleteWhat a screw-up by Obama! As the Journal's editorialists have warned us for years -- and let's remember, they're never wrong -- his goal has been to spend us into bankruptcy. But after inheriting a minus 1.4 trillion dollar running start from George W Bush, Obama has been haplessly shrinking it ever since.
Exhibit C: the financial crisis bailouts, which we know, thanks to Fox News' commitment to the highest journalistic standards, were designed for the government to take over banks and car companies while throwing away taxpayers' money as fast as possible.
DeleteWell, Mr. President Lefty Pants, it turns out that your scheme has ended up costing taxpayers far, far less than projected, and in some cases is making us big profits.
Meanwhile your minions have been selling the government's shares in bailed out corporations -- again, often at a profit! -- and soon the government will own none of them. Hah! Some takeover!
Of course, this is all just the Socialist side of destroying America. What about the terrorist-loving Muslim side? After all, no less an authority than Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert knows for a fact that Obama's administration is under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Beck is all over the government conspiracy to help the Real Boston Bomber escape, which, as Beck fans well know, is made only more credible by the mysterious absence of evidence.
And so to Exhibit D. Somehow, in the course of helping his fellow jihadists, Obama has killed not only Osama Bin Laden, but so many other senior Al Qaeda leaders that we're almost all out of them. And they say Gerald Ford was clumsy?
DeleteI could go on (and believe me, the remaining 22 letters of the alphabet tempt me to). But for now, suffice it to say that our great country can rest easy.
Because if Barack Obama keeps bungling his efforts to destroy America like this, who knows what heights we might reach?
Muslim Socialist Terrible at Job
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DeleteYou're on a roll Rufus, keep going.
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Cain't; I cut and pasted the entire article. There's nuthin left. :)
DeleteSo I clicked on the article, and up comes --
DeleteThe Huffington Post!
bwahahahhahaha
Po' po' ol' Rufus!!
Hanging out now with Ariana.
But Ruf best not get too close to her-
>>During that time, the Huffingtons lived in a $4.3 million Italianate mansion in Montecito, California. According to an article in Vanity Fair, "Arianna employs about a dozen staff members, and the turnover is rapid... The servant problem has been acrimonious and unceasing... [A]t their Washington residence, where Arianna hired ambassador to France Pamela Harriman’s former servants, some of whom fled within a few months, after being treated 'like slaves.'"
The Vanity Fair article went on to say: "According to former employees in Santa Barbara, she issued orders over a speakerphone from the bathtub, kept a lock on the refrigerator, threw frequent tantrums, and sent the children’s bodyguards to the store for her Tampax. Worse still were slurs overheard by the staff about 'stupid and lazy' Mexican help at a time when Huffington was trying to target Latino voters in his district.<<
wiki
---cause Ruf simply doesn't know how to handle servants. His Cherokee ancestors did, but not po' ol' Ruf. And he might all of a sudden find himself running to the store for Ariana's Tampax.
(would serve him right for quoting that shit)
;)
Applications for tax exemption from advocacy nonprofits had not yet spiked when the Internal Revenue Service began using what it admits was inappropriate scrutiny of conservative groups in 2010.
ReplyDelete...
The scrutiny began, however, in March 2010, before an uptick could have been observed, according to data contained in the audit released Tuesday from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.
On this day in 1948, the State of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The attack came merely hours after Israel officially celebrated its independence.
ReplyDeleteBut with the truth finally coming to the surface, the remaining question observers are left with is why the Obama administration abandoned Americans who were easily within reach. While the lies used to cover up this disaster are easy to explain, the rationale behind the unconscionable stand down orders must still be determined.
ReplyDeleteAs the facts stand now, the likely explanations do not bode well for President Obama. The circumstances suggest the decision was made by a callous and desperate president struggling with a re-election campaign, a central plank of which was that al-Qaeda had been decimated and was “on the run” — not something affirmed by news of al-Qaeda operatives’ murder of our ambassador and military personnel.
Or perhaps our commander-in-chief was too busy being our campaigner-in-chief and simply didn’t care about the carnage unfolding on his watch, which he declined to prevent. In any case, it is incumbent on the Obama administration to provide a rationale for its disastrous decision.
As persistent Americans have shown, the investigation will not cease until that occurs.
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ReplyDeleteBob, remember our conversation the other night regarding Monsanto and GM seeds. It gets worse. Another present from the boys in OZ.
Monsanto Protection Act puts GM companies above the Courts
Monsanto and the US farm biotech industry wield legendary power. A revolving door allows corporate chiefs to switch to top posts in the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies; US embassies around the world push GM technology onto dissenting countries; government subsidies back corporate research; federal regulators do largely as the industry wants; the companies pay millions of dollars a year to lobby politicians; conservative thinktanks combat any political opposition; the courts enforce corporate patents on seeds; and the consumer is denied labels or information.
But even people used to the closeness of the US administration and food giants like Monsanto have been shocked by the latest demonstration of the GM industry's political muscle. Little-noticed in Europe or outside the US, President Barack Obama last week signed off what has become widely known as "the Monsanto Protection Act", technically the Farmer Assurance Provision rider in HR 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act 2013
The key phrases are a mouthful of legal mumbo jumbo but are widely thought to have been added to the bill by the Missouri republican senator Roy Blunt who is Monsanto's chief recipient of political funds. For the record, they read:
"In the event that a determination of nonregulated status made pursuant to section 411 of Plant Protection Act is or has been invalidated or vacated, the secretary of agriculture shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law upon request by a farmer, grower, farm operator, or producer, immediately grant temporary permit(s) or temporary deregulation in part, subject to necessary and appropriate conditions consistent with section 411(a) or 412c of the Plant Protection Act, which interim conditions shall authorise the movement, introduction, continued cultivation, commercialisation and other specifically enumerated activities and requirements, including measures designed to mitigate or minimise potential adverse environmental effects, if any, relevant to the secretary's evaluation of the petition for nonregulated status, while ensuring that growers or other users are able to move, plant, cultivate, introduce into commerce and carry out other authorised activities in a time manner …"
According to an array of food and consumer groups, organic farmers, civil liberty and trade unions and others, this hijacks the constitution, sets a legal precedent and puts Monsanto and other biotech companies above the federal courts. It means, they say, that not even the US government can now stop the sale, planting, harvest or distribution of any GM seed, even if it is linked to illness or environmental problems...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/apr/04/monsanto-protection-act-gm
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I'm not as worried about GM as you are - I have been hoping somebody would come up with a nitrogen fixing wheat for instance. WSU has been trying but failed so far.
DeleteThat's some heavy language there, and I'm tired.
DeleteThe courts don't look kindly on anything or anyone being above the courts.
I bought a penis enlargement device on eBay last week. The bastards sent me a magnifying glass!
ReplyDeleteThe magnifying glass is for your girlfriend, Sam.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there may be a few bumps in the road yet awaiting Monsanto.
The U.S. is anxious to get a new trade agreement on farm products signed with the EU our largest trading partner. However, the EU is playing hardball on GM products which they don't want.
Here's why what Europe wants matters: the EU, which loathes American food safety practices, could, by exerting pressure on the negotiations, actually end up improving the quality or variety of food available to Americans.
Right now, the American food supply is an issue of perpetual controversy. Hormones in meat and milk have many families – at least those who can afford organic options – rushing to pay more for a sense of safety.
The US food supply lacks variety: only a few crops dominate and major companies determine the extent and quality of the food supply – and they often prefer genetically modified seeds, bred to withstand herbicides but not fully tested in their long-term effect on human health. As the Guardian reported: "three big companies now control more than half of the global seed market.. … the average cost of planting an acre of soybeans had risen 325% between 1995 and 2011."
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The EU looks down on American food safety and production practices, and with good reason. American meat production is heavily reliant on chemicals, from hormones to chlorine-bleach baths, and European officials and consumers largely reject these treatments and standards.
American farmers and food industry officials find this European exactitude on food practices bewildering, as captured in the comment of Ron Frye, the marketing manager for a Montana ranch, when talking with the Financial Times: "If it's good enough for us it ought to be good enough for them." [The typical American refrain]
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With the support of the government, Monsanto is a key force in American agriculture. Its sells a popular and powerful herbicide, Roundup, alongside the only seeds that are really resistant to it: soybeans named Roundup Ready, for which it charges twice the price of normal seeds. Strong herbicide has led, predictably, to stronger superweeds; now Monsanto is creating seeds that are resistant to even more powerful weedkillers.
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In the US, Big Agriculture calls the shots; the European Union argues that it shouldn't. A trade deal would be the testing ground for a battle over food standards to play out.
The EU has little love for Monsanto or other chemical companies with a stake in agribusiness, like Germany's BASF. The EU has approved only two genetically modified crops – corn from Monsanto and potatoes from BASF. Even those modest approvals have met cultural roadblocks. Around eight EU, including France, Italy and Poland, have taken steps to ban Monsanto's GM corn. BASF, after seeking approvals for three of its potato varieties in Europe, gave up trying after a regulatory quest that took nearly four years.
All of which tells us that if the US wants to export more agricultural products through its trade agreement with the EU, things are probably going to have to change here, as well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/15/us-eu-trade-deal-monsanto-crops?guni=Network front:network-front main-5 on the guardian:Network front - all-purpose editable trailblock:Position1
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Clinton, by virtue of her service to Obama, was uniquely-positioned to capitalize on those ties. After a brutal 2008 campaign, she spent her time in Foggy Bottom cultivating an apolitical image – aided by some aggressive political handlers – while benefiting from the president’s broad popularity.
ReplyDelete...
But with scandal lurking, all those advantages could end up being for naught. Clinton knows something about being embarrassed by a president.
Her political hopes may be disappointed by another.
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ReplyDeleteIsrael Indicates it May Make More Attacks on Syria and Warns Syria to Ignore Them
WASHINGTON — In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated.
We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating.
Chutzpah?
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Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/middleeast/israeli-official-signals-possibility-of-more-syria-strikes.html?pagewanted=1&hp
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Quirk: We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating.
DeleteChutzpah?
WASHINGTON — In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated.
Your word use is sloppy.
Israel's stopping the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorists is not "retaliation" rather it's called a redline.
I expect more from you.
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DeleteYour word use is sloppy.
Perhaps, but there are other considerations.
retribution n. Something justly deserved; recompense. Something given or demanded in repayment, especially punishment.
Retribution vs 'Red Line'? Mere semantics? It could be argued either way. Viewed from your perspective obviously you would prefer 'red line'. From my perspective, it fit the thought I was trying to convey. The phrase, We may be forced to retaliate but if we do don't get any ideas about retaliating contains not only words but music and it reflects the chutzpah I was trying to convey.
The comments were obviously politically motivated. It's been reported that the same message has been conveyed through other channels from Israel to Syria, less public channels. And regardless of who this message was 'actually' intended for, I suspect it wasn't the Syrians. However, the effect of such a threat, public and unnecessary, can only result in embarrassing Assad. The only thing Assad can do given his current situation and inability to open up another front in his war is to look at Israel and publicly reply, "Fuck you."
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DeleteWhoops, the word was retaliate
retaliate (rɪˈtælɪˌeɪt)
— vb
1. ( intr ) to take retributory action, esp by returning some injury or wrong in kind
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The Israelis are hell bent on driving home the lesson on the need for any nation in their neighborhood to have a nuclear deterrent.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the Israeli nuclear arsenal due to be inspected?
DeleteOh that's right, they don't allow ANY form of inspection. They don’t even admit to having any nukes.
I hope Iran develops a peaceful civilian nuclear industry. The global news is trying to paint them as religion-crazed nutters with their fingers on 'the button' but I don't buy this anymore.
If they did develop a nuclear deterrent, they could guarantee they would never get attacked by countries that need the petro-dollar perpetual motion machine to keep spinning (read USA & UK).
If I had a choice between a nuclear Iran, or a nuclear Israel?
Iran every single day of the week.
But you don't have a choice.
DeleteStoning to Death in Iran:
DeleteA Crime Against Humanity
Carried Out By the Mullahs' Regime
Stoning women to death in Iran
A Special Case Study
The stoning of women is one of the more savage, and revealing aspects of the mullahs' rule in Iran. This vicious punishment of women is without precedent in Iran's recent history. Since the inception of the mullahs' rule, hundreds of women of various ages have been and continue to be stoned to death throughout Iran.
What makes this hideous crime even more abhorrent is that it is carried out under the name of Islam. The Quran and the Prophet of Islam despised such behavior. On the contrary, in the Quran and the Prophet's traditions, such barbarism is denounced. The Prophet did his utmost to eradicate backward traditions, including stoning, which victimized women.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic have attempted to explain away stoning in Iran, as noted in the report by the U.N. Special Representative on Iran, as something that takes place only in remote and culturally backward areas. Actually, stoning and other cruel punishments are used by the regime to extend their reign of terror, while internationally Tehran tries to deny responsibility. It must be noted that:
1- The responsibility for any inhuman punishment, regardless of where it takes place, lies with the judiciary and the state,
2- Stoning and other cruel punishments taking place in the Islamic Republic of Iran are not a matter of individual discretion; rather, they are defined by the law of the land, and such sentences are issued based on these laws.
http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/women.html
I hope you move there soon.
give these monkeys nukes.
DeleteIf Iran ONLY had a nuclear bomb...
Deletehttp://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-12/Cyprus-12-killed-as-Iranian-arms-depot-explodes.ashx#axzz2TSKBC4IC
Cyprus: 12 killed as Iranian arms depot explodes
MARI, Cyprus: Dozens of containers holding gunpowder seized years ago from an Iranian cargo ship exploded on Cyprus’ main naval base Monday in a massive blast that killed 12 people, wounded 62 and wrecked a major power station, causing extensive blackouts.
The head of the island nation’s navy, Commodore Andreas Ioannides, was killed and its defense minister and military chief resigned. Ioannides’ son claimed top officials had repeatedly ignored his father’s warnings that the gunpowder was stored unsafely.
A Cypriot official said right after the blast that a brush fire had ignited more than 90 containers confiscated in 2009 from a ship heading from Iran to Syria. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, later said that the fire may have started inside one of the containers.
The gunpowder was seized after the U.N said the Cypriot-flagged M/V Monchegorsk was breaching a ban on Iranian arms exports. Iran has frequently been accused of smuggling arms through Syria to anti-Israeli militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The blast knocked out the island’s main power station, causing widespread power cuts throughout the day. The Electricity Authority said the station won’t immediately come back online, while officials appealed to the public to reduce electricity and water consumption as capacity at desalination plants had been scaled down.
DeuceThu May 16, 12:48:00 AM EDT
DeleteThe Israelis are hell bent on driving home the lesson on the need for any nation in their neighborhood to have a nuclear deterrent.
So these nations NEED a nuclear deterrent because Israel bombs rockets destined to be given to terrorists?
Maybe those nations should not be transferring billions of dollars of weapons to terrorists in the 1st place?
Or maybe you support Hezbollah? Hamas? Assad's support of Terrorists groups?
So if Syria, Iran both had a nuke deterrent then they could attack Israel and murder it's people without fear of being punished or prevented?
DeleteYeah that's sound policy.
noimspartacusThu May 16, 02:59:00 AM EDT
DeleteWhen is the Israeli nuclear arsenal due to be inspected?
When Israel SIGNS the NPT and gets the benefits FROM that program. Just like Iran did. They signed, they got technology, the lied, the hid, they, not Israel violated agreements.
israel has NOT violated any NPT agreement since they are not signers of that contract.
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DeleteWhat benefits has Iran gotten from the NPT?
Based on the experience you describe, the best thing they could do for themselves is to withdraw from the NPT.
Just saying.
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Documents: IRS letters harassing conservative groups came from Washington, DC headquarters and from California offices, despite Inspector General’s focus on Cincinnati employees
ReplyDelete*Tax agency has admitted targeting tea party groups and other conservative organizations for special, politically motivated scrutiny
*IRS inspector general focused on wrongdoing in Cincinnati, Ohio office and ignored abusive letters coming from other cities
*MailOnline found letters from IRS’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, and from IRS offices in two southern California cities
*The American Center on Law and Justice is threatening to sue the IRS if 27 tea party groups aren’t granted tax-exempt statuses by Friday
By DAVID MARTOSKO IN WASHINGTON
PUBLISHED: 18:27 EST, 15 May 2013 | UPDATED: 18:31 EST, 15 May 2013
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2325068/Documents-IRS-letters-harassing-conservative-groups-came-Washington-DC-headquarters-California-offices-despite-Inspector-Generals-focus-Cincinnati-employees.html#ixzz2TQaKtZBE
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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ReplyDeleteWhat Obama administration office isn't being criticized?
In the midst of these stories [the current probes], the Washington Post reported that Sebelius "has made multiple phone calls to health industry executives, community organizations and church groups and asked that they contribute whatever they can to nonprofit groups that are working to enroll uninsured Americans and increase awareness of the law."
Soliciting help from an industry that Sebelius has wide-ranging regulatory power over is clearly unethical, and quite possibly illegal. But it is not unusual behavior for Sebelius.
As governor of Kansas, Sebelius refused to release documents crucial to the investigation of Planned Parenthood and late-term abortionist George Tiller, a major campaign contributor. It was later revealed that in 2005, while under her control, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shredded documents crucial to the investigation, claiming it was part of "routine document destruction."
In June 2010, months after the passage of Obamacare, Secretary Sebelius warned private insurers participating in Medicare Advantage against increasing premiums. Then in September 2010, Sebelius offered a broader and more blistering warning to all health insurers against citing the health care law as a reason for increasing premiums even though the law contains a raft of new requirements that naturally drive up the cost of insurance.
"[T]he Administration, in partnership with states, will not tolerate unjustified rate hikes in the name of consumer protections," Sebelius wrote. "[W]e will not stand idly," she declared, warning that she would exercise her power to deny "unreasonable rate increases."
She also threatened to bar insurers who didn't cooperate from the new insurance exchanges, which the CBO estimates will eventually cover 24 million people and receive $1.1 trillion in subsidies over the next decade.
The article continues...
http://washingtonexaminer.com/philip-klein-obamacares-empress-strikes-again/article/2529742
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Delete.
In 2010, shortly after President Obama's health care legislation was signed into law, I dubbed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the "Empress of Obamacare" for the vast new powers she inherited. Reading through the text of the law, I counted more than 2,500 references to the secretary of HHS, of which more than 700 referred to instances in which she "shall" do something and more than 200 cases in which she "may" take regulatory action...
Scary stuff. To me at least.
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Scares the hell out of me.
Delete"Empress of ObamaCare" teamed with the IRS.
Tea Party and patriots will be targeted on health care as well as tax exemptions and such.
Elect Republicans, defund the monster, get rid of it.
In yet another startling revelation involving the now notorious IRS Scandal, it has been revealed that at the same time that the IRS was actively targeting conservatives they were also giving preferential treatment to similar style liberal groups.
ReplyDelete...
As applications from conservative groups sat in limbo, groups with obviously liberal names were approved in as little as nine months. With names including words like “Progress” or “Progressive,” these groups applied for the same tax status and were engaged in the same kinds of activities as the conservative groups.
...
A federal official who has been briefed on the matter said the investigation could focus on potential violations of civil rights law, including targeting groups based on political affiliation and infringing free speech.
>>DOCUMENTS: IRS tea-party letters came from DC headquarters, 2 California offices...
ReplyDeleteEmployees at center of scandal: 'We were simply doing what our bosses ordered'... drudge<<
And the bosses of he employees were simply doing what their bosses ordered, and up the line to Barky.
I m p e a c h m e n t
>>Do not underestimate the psychological shock currently being processed by many members of the mainstream media and the low-to-medium information voters who rely on them for political analysis. To them, the election and re-election of Barack Obama, the first African American to hold the office of President of the United States, was a cause, a fulfillment of heartfelt dreams.<<
ReplyDeleteMay 16, 2013
The Mainstream Media Obama Psychodrama
By Thomas Lifson
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/the_mainstream_media_obama_psychodrama.html
If we care at all about one another here, perhaps we should put a watch on Rufus. He fits the profile - >>the low-to-medium information voters who rely on them(MSM) for political analysis<< - and has obviously been withdrawn and morose of late, unable to get over a simple cold, his resistance low, not to mention his taking to quoting the pages of the slave driver Ariana Huffington.
I'm concerned, but 2500 miles away.
>>People react with discomfort and hostility when their self-concept, their source of self-esteem, is threatened. It is subconsciously received as a challenge to one's status as a good person.
DeleteThree serial shocks (and their continuing aftershocks) are sufficiently grave to produce a form of trauma in those who hitched their hearts to Obama:
1. Facing proof from one of their own that Obama and his administration lied and then continued to lie to the faces of the White House Press Corps through Jay Carney about Benghazi casts serious doubt on other claims of his they have supported and defended;
2. Continuing revelations of the IRS's misbehavior toward the hated tea partiers and conservatives calls into question which side are the good guys (see point 1);
3. And finally the revelation that all their loyalty bought them no consideration at all when it came to secretly grabbing records of their communications in AP, tells them loyalty is one way street with this guy and his crowd.
...
The mainstream media psychodrama that is about to unfold before us promises to be amusing and even gratifying or those of us who have been frustrated for years by the ability of the Obama organization to make its storylines stick in the face of contrary data. No doubt there will be a certain amount of "I told you so" gloating. But we should also be prepared to welcome and encourage those former inhabitants of the media plantation who venture out into the intoxicating realm of uncovering the deceptions that enabled a program to fundamentally change America to get as far as it has.
If enough members of the media see the light and join in the discovery of all the deceptions proffered over the last few years, we may see the partisan divide actually diminish, as common revulsion at the dishonesty and abuses brings people together. In a way that he never anticipated, Barack Obama finally may become what he promised to be: a uniter not a divider.<<
One can only hope and pray, and reassure Rufus that he is 'a good person'.
I added a video from a reliable source on why Obama could not have known. I am sure you will agree.
ReplyDelete:)
Deleteheh
Yup, The Prez can't be everywhere.
It would be nice if he were somewhere.
Instead of nowhere.
Learn to love American Thinker, Quirk -
ReplyDelete>>May 16, 2013
IRS seizes 60 million medical records without a warrant
Clarice Feldman
As we are being swamped with evidence of Administration wrongdoing, we should not forget to prioritize the vast amount of information we are getting. It is beyond peradventure of doubt at this time that the IRS, ordered to scrutinize the tea party closely by Democratic leaders, including Senators Schumer and Durbin,and prodded by the President's demonizing the tea party, conservatives and the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, engaged in massive abuse of power. It denied and delayed legal tax breaks to those who opposed the Administration, aided those who supported it, released confidential information about opponents to groups who supported the President and repeatedly audited supporters of the opposition.
This has to give pause to voters who know that this same corrupt from top to bottom outfit will be the outfit to whom we must give our medical insurance information under Obamacare. That fear is completely justified by its conduct now the subject of a class action suit:
The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.
According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data. "This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents," the complaint reads. "No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records," it continued. <<
FeralCat
There was a time when the IRS went after Al Capone. Now, under Obama, the IRS is Al Capone.
Here are the Syrian Rebels in their glory.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heavy.com/news/2013/05/syria-graphic-video-rebel-eats-soldier-heart/
Syrian Rebel Carves Out & Eats Heart & Lung of Pro-Government Fighter [GRAPHIC VIDEO]
But let's not forget that Israel sprays sewage on arabs.
>>Qaradawi: "The battle between us and the Jews is coming … Such a battle is not driven by nationalistic causes or patriotic belonging; it is rather driven by religious incentives"
DeleteStill the learned Western analysts will not listen, and will continue to insist that if Israel just abandons the "settlements" or lops off this or that bit of its already tiny area of land, peace will ensue. It won't, because as Qaradawi (the world's most prominent and respected Muslim cleric) makes clear, the conflict really isn't about land. It's about religion. It's about what Muslims see as an eschatological conflict between Muslims and Jews. But never fear: the same policies that have failed again and again will be applied again, and will fail again.
"Ken Livingstone’s favourite Islamist spreads Jew-hatred in Gaza," by Alan Johnson for the Telegraph, May 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):
“Our whole ambition is to die on the path to Allah… I am sure we will conquer” said Ken Livingstone’s favourite Muslim cleric, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, as he touched down in Gaza on Wednesday for a three day solidarity visit. Before he left on Friday he told a Muslim Brotherhood rally that Israel had no right to exist. The rally was the scene of mass chanting of "liberate Palestine … from the sons of monkeys and pigs".<<
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/qaradawi-the-battle-between-us-and-the-jews-is-coming-such-a-battle-is-not-driven-by-nationalistic-c.html
..........
Whole conflict is an obvious case of Jewish Aggression.
sarc off/
DeleteSyrian Rebel Carves Out & Eats Heart & Lung of Pro-Government Fighter [GRAPHIC VIDEO]
And leaves the liver????
Uncivilized brutes.
Chris Matthews loses five year long 'thrill up leg' -
ReplyDeleteChris Matthews sours on Obama
By DYLAN BYERS |
5/15/13 7:05 PM EDT
>>President Obama "obviously likes giving speeches more than he does running the executive branch," Chris Matthews said tonight.
Yes, you read that right: The MSNBC host who in 2008 felt a "thrill going up my leg" after hearing Obama speak has grown disenchanted. Tonight's episode of Hardball saw Matthews delivering a rare, unforgiving grilling of the president as severe as anything that might appear on Fox News.
(PHOTOS: Barack Obama over the years)
"What part of the presidency does Obama like? He doesn't like dealing with other politicians -- that means his own cabinet, that means members of the congress, either party. He doesn't particularly like the press.... He likes to write the speeches, likes to rewrite what Favreau and the others wrote for the first draft," Matthews said.
"So what part does he like? He likes going on the road, campaigning, visiting businesses like he does every couple days somewhere in Ohio or somewhere," Matthews continued. "But what part does he like? He doesn't like lobbying for the bills he cares about. He doesn't like selling to the press. He doesn't like giving orders or giving somebody the power to give orders. He doesn't seem to like being an executive.”<<
When you've lost Jon Stewart, Chris Matthews, and the AP, you've lost.
>>California congressman David Nunes made the claim yesterday that the Justice Department wiretapped telephones in the House of Representative's Cloak Room, an exclusive part of the Capitol where members are able to privately interact with one another. Nunes made the claim on Hugh Hewitt's radio show.
ReplyDeleteCongressman: Justice Dept. Wiretapped the House of Representative's Cloak Room
>>I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this," said Hewitt, referring to the subpoenas the Justice Department to obtain the Associated Press's phone records. "Do you, Congressman Nunes?"
"No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room," Nunes respond.<<
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/congressman-justice-dept-wiretapped-house-representatives-cloak-room_724606.html#
Folks, you better assume everything you write here is being scrutinized by the Feds.
May 16, 2013
DeleteIs a constitutional crisis brewing?
Thomas Lifson
>>California Congressman David Nunes dropped a bombshell yesterday on the Hugh Hewitt Show, one that could occasion a constitutional crisis. Duane Patterson offers us a transcript at Hot Air:
HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That's going to take a long time to get to. I don't trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?
DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don't think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I'm sitting right now, the Cloak Room.
HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.
DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.
HH: I have no idea what you're talking about.
DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I'm sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know...
HH: Wow.
DN: ...members of Congress talk to the press all the time.
HH: I did not know that, and that is a stunner.
DN: Now that is a separation of powers issue here, Hugh.
HH: Sure.
I am not clear if the phone(s) in the Cloak Room were specifically covered, or whether it was just the press gallety. Either way, one branch is spying ont he other, btu the Cloak Room would be poltical and constitutional dynamit. Stay tuned. We need clarification here.<<
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/05/is_a_constitutional_crisis_brewing.html
I love the sounds of "Constitutional Crisis" over my morning coffee. Melds so wonderfully with the morning cries of the hawks, and the howls of my pet wolves.
.
DeleteFolks, you better assume everything you write here is being scrutinized by the Feds.
Bob, you better write that letter to a trusted friend in case we wake up some morning to find out you have been 'disappeared', no doubt renditioned to Iran.
:)
Wait a minute, where's MY notepad?
.
There refugees sell their daughters into slavery for bread...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57584506/syrian-refugees-sell-daughters-in-bid-to-survive/
Syrian refugees sell daughters in bid to survive
These refugees are live in a modern day concentration camp complete with KFC chicken, cable, a zoo and of course billions in aid.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0515/KFC-smugglers-bring-buckets-of-chicken-through-Gaza-tunnels
KFC smugglers bring buckets of chicken through Gaza tunnels
Gazans with a hankering for the Colonel's secret recipe can call up a delivery company and get some finger lickin' food smuggled hot from Egypt in just three hours.
There's sand in this chicken!
DeleteHell, the Koreans sold their daughters, put them into indentured servitude, to the bars and clubs that serviced the US troops outside the gates of Camp Casey.
DeleteThe going rate was right at $5,000 for a girl, in 1984.
A tad more than a slice of bread.
An example of the great economic success brought to the whirled by US
Barky presser today - vote for the number of questions allowed -
ReplyDeletea) one
b) two
c) three
d) none
Thank you for your participation.
.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing illegal in the Benghazi issue, merely the political. There is also likely nothing illegal with the AP story although it is really pushing the line on the First Amendment not to mention the hypocrisy involved as well as the intimidation factor. However, the IRS story appears to involve a crime and I suspect the GOP will not settle for the resignation of some 'temp' and will be looking for some criminal charges to be brought.
It's a sure bet the GOP will try to milk these stories until 2014. If they were to take both the House and Senate, maybe not likely but possible, then the shit would really his the fan.
The best CYA move Obama could do right now is to let some heads roll. The obvious first choice would be AG Holder.
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