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I will hand it to President Obama, he is a master of political manipulation and timing aided by a complicit media. Juggling six major ongoing scandals during the campaign (depending on who you listen to, the Obama Administration has had over 300 scandals), Obama’s campaign proved remarkably adept at delaying, deflecting and deferring scandal until his second and final term was secured. The problem for the President is that while he was able to delay these scandals, he has not been able to eliminate them. Each of these scandals could lead to criminal prosecution in some instances and world or nuclear war in others. Here is a quick summary of these problems.
1. Sequestration
It has been almost three and a half years since President Obama has had a budget adopted and the last time through he didn’t even get a single Democratic vote. For reasons that are beyond me, the Republicans agreed to kick this can down the road until after the election – but they did it with a built-in time bomb called sequestration. Unless a budget can be mutually agreed upon by both parties draconian cuts will automatically take place at the first of the year. To avoid this Republicans want a number of things but mainly an extension of the Bush tax cuts. Today, the President’s spokesman Jay Carney declared that extension of the Bush tax cuts was “dead forever.” Without agreement, 11% cuts will go into effect for most government departments, most notably defense. Currently described as a “fiscal cliff,” if sequestration is triggered many economic experts believe that the country will immediately go into a second, even deeper recession.
2. Benghazi
We have learned more in the last three days about the private sex lives and spending habits of Generals and Admirals than we have learned in the past two and a half months about the Benghazi attacks. The timing of the announcement of the investigation into General Petraeus is interesting to say the least given that he was to testify before a House committee in the next few days on the incident in Benghazi. I have documented at length the timing and fluctuating “stories” of the Administration from the lies about a stupid video being the “cause” of the attack (here), to the Obama lies at the third debate (here), to the post-debate cover ups and misinformation (here) and finally,as to the true timeline that is slowly emerging directly contradicting the statements of the Obama Administration (here). Given the attention I have given this during the past month, I will not repeat it all here.
3. Fast And Furious – Obama’s Murdergate
In two programs code-named “Project Gunrunner” and “Operation Fast and Furious” President Obama’s Justice Department, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (the “ATF”), approved the sale to Mexican drug cartels of more than 1,800 AK-47s and 50 caliber sniper rifles. The ostensible plan was to follow the weapons across the Mexican border to allow the ATF to chart a path to the leadership of the cartels. One not so small problem, the ATF “lost track” of more than 1,000 of the assault and sniper rifles.
Unfortunately, these weapons started turning up at crime scenes and two were found at the murder of United States Border Agent Brian Terry who was killed in a gun battle with members of a Mexican drug cartel. When Agent Terry’s mother was informed about the connection between the ATF sold guns and her son’s death she responded that she was “flabbergasted.” “At first I didn’t believe it,” she said.
This program started two months into the Obama administration and was the responsibility of United States Attorney General Eric Holder. The ultimate responsibility for the programs lands at President Obama’s feet, but the President has denied any knowledge of the operations until details of the murder of Agent Terry started to emerge.
4. General Petraeus Sex/Security Scandal
I am probably in the minority here, but the “scandal” here is NOT that a respected General had an affair with a woman or women while he was married, but the that there was a six-week FBI investigation which was conveniently completely hidden from the press and congress until two days after the election was over. I obviously am terribly disappointed in the behavior of a man and believe strongly in the sanctity of marriage. I am disappointed in a man who I previously fiercely respected, but barring any facts supporting any claim that his pillow talk led to the illegal dissemination of state secrets this should have been a non-event. “If you’re head of the CIA & can’t hide your mistress from your wife, it means it can’t be done. Case closed. Sorry fellas.” (Chris Rock)
The General testified before congress at a time that he knew that he was under investigation. As the brilliant Charles Krauthammer put it:
And that brings us to the ultimate issue, and that is his testimony on September 13. That’s the thing that connects the two scandals, and that’s the only thing that makes the sex scandal relevant. Otherwise it would be an exercise in sensationalism and voyeurism and nothing else. The reason it’s important is here’s a man who knows the administration holds his fate in its hands, and he gives testimony completely at variance with what the Secretary of Defense had said the day before, at variance with what he’d heard from his station chief in Tripoli, and with everything that we had heard. Was he influenced by the fact that he knew his fate was held by people within the administration at that time? (Blaze)
Yesterday I would have argued that General Petraeus had been politically strong-armed, now that he has agreed to further testimony before the House, I am willing to wait and watch this one play out. (NY Post)
5. Real Cost of Obamacare
Nancy Pelosi couldn’t have given a better sound bite just before the passage of Obamacare by a complete Democratically controlled government, “We will just have to pass it to know what is in it.” With the election behind us and the reality of Obamacare in front of us folks are figuring out that there is some really scary stuff coming at us full speed. Because many of the benchmarks for the 2014 implementation of Obamacare are set based upon a company’s 2013 operations, a whole range of industries are considering either a reduction in force or a reduction in the number of full-time employees. The first unintended consequence of this poorly thought out act is to dramatically reduce the number of people who can earn a living wage with full-time work.
The world’s largest casual dining company is starting to trim hours from its labor force in response to healthcare changes being implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Darden Restaurants, which owns Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and a number of other popular restaurant chains, is actively cutting the hours of many of its full-time employees to fewer than 30 hours per week, which puts these employees below the Obamacare coverage threshold. (Natural News)
Papa John’s founder John Schnatter, has said that the cost of providing health insurance for all of his pizza chain’s uninsured, full-time employees comes out to about 14 cents on a large pizza. That’s less than adding an extra topping and a third the price of an extra pepperoncini. If you want that piping hot pie delivered, the $2 delivery fee will cost you 14 times as much as that health insurance price hike. “We’re not supportive of Obamacare, like most businesses in our industry,” Schnatter said on a conference call with shareholders last week, as reported by Politico. “If Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders’ best interests.” (ABC News)
Of course, if you dare take on any of the sacred thoughts of Obama, you are instantly called either “greedy” or a “racist” depending on the topic. Almost the instant that Papa John’s Schnatter made his remarks, he had to bear the brunt of a vicious attack from most of the media who claimed that Schnatter was “greedy” for not simply absorbing the additional $8.000,000 annual costs that will be suffered by the company. (Ed Schultz)
Interestingly, some of Obama’s biggest supporters have just realized that they are in the center of the cross-hairs of Obamacare. Stryker Corporation has announced that it will close its facility in Orchard Park, New York, eliminating 96 jobs next month. It will also counter the medical device tax in Obamacare by eliminating 5% of their global workforce, an estimated 1,170 positions. Jon Stryker is heir to the Stryker Corporation, one of the largest medical device and equipment manufacturers in the world. Stryker’s grandfather was the surgeon who invented the mobile hospital bed. The company now sells $8.3 billion worth of hospital beds, artificial joints, medical cameras, and medical software every year. Stryker, a member of the Forbes 400 list, was one of the top five donors to the Obama campaign. Having donated $2 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC, Stryker also gave $66,000 in contributions to Obama and the Democrat Party.
6. Nuclear Iran/Syria/Israel
President Obama has done more to destroy the United States’ history of friendship with Israel than any President ever, and in doing so has put the world more at risk of a nuclear war than any President in history – and that includes those great men that led us through the cold war. Completely ignoring the Iranian threat of a nuclear arsenal, President Obama has let his personal fear of offending anything or anyone in the Islamic world that he has taken no action to stop this incredible threat to world peace from a regime that has had a real and literal “war on women,” that has brutally suppressed any opposition and has actively advocated for the literal end to Israel as a country. Obama has consistently snubbed Israeli efforts to work in coordination with the United States once even snubbing a state visit from prime Minister Netanyahu so that President Obama could make an appearance on the David Letterman show. The continued support of Obama by the Jewish community in the United States remains one of the most baffling phenomena of current American politics.
This is not a problem that will go away. Iran continues to actively work on a nuclear weapon and has expressed complete willingness to use such a weapon on Israel. the development of this weapon along with a missile delivery system capable of hitting Israel is only weeks or months away and it is likely that if unchecked Iran will have the capability of hitting the United States before the end of Obama’s second term in office. A chill just went down my spine.
HotAir
I call bullshit on your lies. The “Draconian Cuts” are actually the expiration of the Bush era Tax cuts. I’ve said it already, but it is worth repeating, this sit is full of shit.
No Zeus, the draconian cuts are the 11% reduction in defense spending which will immediately create job losses in the 100,000s.
Gubmint teat is gubmint teat…but only if it’s food and shelter safety nets?
So the government DOES create jobs!
And I question which cherry tree you got your 11% figure from. It’s closer to 8%. If only Congress knew about these looming cuts say, a year or so ago. I always did my homework as soon as I got the assignment rather than waiting until doing it at breakfast on the day it was due.
If the those defense contractors – I mean “private sector businesses” – can’t find 8-10% in waste, fraud or abuse to cut, they’re not very good “private sector” businesses. Those lucrative contracts are just the defense industry’s “Obama-phones” and they want unlimited plans to go with them.
Sorry, Henny Penny. The sky is not falling but there is a little hail mixed in with the rain and it’s bound to cause a little pain but it’s hardly the end of the world.
Since you rarely source your comments and reject my sourcing, here are some more facts that take on your claims:
1) “Absent a new budget deal between the White House and Congress, defense spending would be hit with an immediate 10.3 percent reduction that threatens the jobs of 108,000 civilian employees, according to an analyst’s new calculations of the looming sequestration threat.” http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2012/08/sequestration-would-cut-defense-103-percent-stages-says-report/57659/
2) Democratic legislators have similarly warned about the impact on vital social programs. And defense, health care and other industries that are significantly dependent on federal spending say that major job losses will happen if the cuts end up taking effect. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/09/14/the-sequester-explained/
I didn’t “reject your sourcing” as no source was provided. You flung an 11% number to see if it would stick. I did, however, question which cherry tree you picked your figure from. Thank you for providing it.
Here is the OMB’s estimate of “as much as” 9.4%.
“The Obama administration on Friday added fuel to the drive to offset or postpone $110 billion of automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect in early January with a report spelling out the details of the savings and warning of reductions of as much as 9.4 percent in the Pentagon budget.
The report, required by law and prepared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), was designed as an early warning of the long-term implication of going ahead with massive across-the-board spending cuts to achieve further deficit reduction. Lawmakers and policymakers are warning that the indiscriminate cuts could wreak havoc on government services, including scores of domestic programs that will experience automatic cuts of 8.2 percent.”
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/09/14/OMB-Sequestration-Could-Cut-Defense-by-9-4-Percent.aspx#page1
Perhaps I erred in using too simple a calculation based on 1/10th of the cuts applied to the 21013 requested budget for defense. But as you see from OMB, their “as much as 9.4%” does not rise to the 11% that you cited in your article, just as your link above showing 10.3% rise to the 11%.
If you’ll reread my comment above, you’ll see that I am well aware of pain that will be suffered. What you are failing to admit is that the defense industry is sucking at the government teat and should not be immune to cuts. Your descriptor of “draconian” is an incorrect assessment, but useful when penning Henny Penny articles.
Sequestration is NOT a “scandal” in any way, shape or form, no matter how you want to spin it. It doesn’t belong in this “list”.
I am sure you would like to see the safety nets reduced to a mirage in the desert while fueling the waste, fraud and abuse in the defense industry with lucrative government contracts. You cite government departments being cut but highlight defense cuts as “most notably”. Isn’t food and shelter to save lives more noteworthy than bombs to kill people to you?
Q: When did every “event” ocurring world-wide become “scandal”?
A: January 20, 2009.
Ahhh, the day Obama was sworn in. No, that was the day that everything suddenly became Bush’s fault FOREVER. Obama can do no wrong.
Do…re…MEME ♪ ♫ ♪
How long are you conservatives going to use that false narrative? Do you not give credit where credit is due?
What is the point of this blog? You just repeat the blatant lies and hyperbole of Fox, Rush and every other right-wing nutter’s blog (and they do it better).
When your readers make reasonable and factual arguments, you ignore them.
If your point is just to be provocative, why take comments?
I’d respond to this post and the plethora of LIES you’ve posted, but since you’ll ignore my comments, I won’t waste my time.
The lack of give and take on this blog is boring.
Any one who believes in the lies and obviously illogical crap on this blog is more than likely unreachable anyway. No amount of facts or logic could sway them.
Your brand of conservatism has become synonymous with zealotry.
Joe, your comments are a bit confusing since I post four to five comments on every post. Just because you disagree with my facts or ideas doesn’t make them lies. My opinions are my opinions and you are welcome to discuss the merits and the basis for our disagreement – simply calling me names is not productive. Your invective doesn’t help the debate. There is an incredible amount of give and take on this blog and if anything is dominated by those attacking my ideas rather than those supporting them. I do not censor any post regardless of the point of view.
Of the last 6 articles you have posted 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 3 comments. That’s hardly “four to five comments on every post”.
Didn’t even have to break out the abacus to count the comments.
Credibility, GW, credibility!
My comment was regarding GW’s false statement, not BO’s “credibility”. But feel free to divert to the topic of your choosing but do so without hijacking my comment while trolling, please.
And my nuts are not numb and I fail to see what my nuts have to do with anything that would concern you.
Since you obviously have comprehension issues, perhaps I should have added “as of this posting” since at the time posted, GW’s statement was false, and remains false as shown with the other examples I gave. I’m sure GW could go back to the other 5 articles and add comments to equal 4 or 5 but I doubt he finds it necessary to do so.
GW making false statements is not trivial if he expects his views to be taken seriously. Kinda like you expecting to be taken seriously with the drivel you posted.
GW – I apologize for feeding the troll. Oh no! Did I just start an “Apology Tour”?
Perhaps if you had better English and grammar skills, it might be easier to interpret whatever dialect that was. You could have been civil and referred to GW (or anyone) as something other than “numb nuts” but I sense civility isn’t your forte.
I didn’t see any refutation of my comments regarding GW’s false statement. Or are you just looking for attention?
For future reference, ad hominems and red herrings are logical fallacies and only used by those who have little, if anything, to add to a conversation.
” Just because you disagree with my facts or ideas doesn’t make them lies.”
FACTS ARE FACTS. I haven’t just disagreed with your opinions, I have FACT CHECKED them and have PROVEN them FALSE.
You continue to repeat PROVEN FALSEHOODS. That is called LYING.
Good indictment of neocons as a group in the language of your comment here. Mr. Willis can’t hear you. He is a Big Government Evangelical dupe of the neo-Marxists who took over the Republican Party by the Straussian method – lies, repeated, along with White Hat/Black Hat myths for dummies to get on board with as if it was a pro ball tournament instead of aggressive wars of mass murder and mass deception. He’s pretty sure rich people shouldn’t have to pay taxes and that poor people are lazy. He’s positive these phony ‘Jews’ from Khazaria are God’s Chosen People and that when he reads the word ‘Israel’ in his Bible it means that sadistic criminal state over there around Jerusalem. He doesn’t know a thing about monetary policy or the implications for humanity of allowing these private central banks to control our economies. In the name of ‘Conservatism’ he would support enforcing unlimited quantities of “pro-moral/anti-vice” laws and of locking up bottomless quantities of ‘street criminals’ so as to make the world safe for the business criminals to whom Mr. Willis bows down like a green grocer in little Italy.
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“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9
Joe, help me out here – where have you cited ANY facts?
The problem I have is I think everyone is entitled to their opinon. Thank GOD we live in a country where we can do that openly. The part I don’t get is….. why is it when you have a discussion with someone with oppiset ideas…. when you make your point and they have no logical answer…. they go right into “PERSONAL ATTACK MODE”. They will call you names and use vile language… and they show anger !!
We should all agree to DISagree without getting “MAD”
Must be the company you keep. I’ve never heard the President called socialit, Marxist, communist, Kenyan, Muslim, Obamalini, Obummer, Oblamo, ObaMao, Obozo, Odumbo, monkey, ape Chimp In Chief or any other pejorative term.
Is anyone as fearful as I am about the state of our democracy with wingnuts that actually believe this blog trash? A point of view is one thing but this is in the realm of alien abductions and the end of the world theorists with the Mayan calendar. Simply looney tunes that try and prey on the uneducated to drum up support for their wacky conspiratorial mindset. Amazing that we have a minority of patriotic Americans who might actually believe this stuff! God help us.
Don’t be so harsh, Dan. The entertainment value is worth the price of admission.
And I promise, GW, I’ll never ask for a refund, no matter how bad the performance.
Snoopy, thanks for making this fun – c’mon, you may think that I am completely wrong, but aren’t I interesting wrong? Maybe? C’mon, more than 3,000 hits a day can’t all be watching a traffic wreck, can they?
I don’t think you’re completely wrong at all. You’re a lawyer so you’re “technically” not wrong with the verbiage. The opinions and half-truths I disagree with. You conflate disagreeing with saying you’re wrong. I’m sure in your mind you think you’re right all the time. Your spin is just classic talking points and is more often than not used to denigrate. You commented that “Obama can do no wrong” and I counter that in a conservative’s mind, Obama can do no right.
It’s the negative connotations in everything you posit that I don’t like. You’ve been “caught” inflating the number of comments you post – crickets. I challenge your 11% cuts to defense – crickets. I will challenge your 3,000 hits as the figure is unverifiable and given the number of comments, I question whether the hits are not merely “watching a traffic wreck” and the majority of readers shrug and say SSDD. Of course number of hits is not the same as unique hits. Lawyer-ese? New-new math?
I could sit here and counter many points in this article. I could counter Papa John’s “poutrage” with the $45 million in net profits and why not share those profits with the employees who invested their human capital into the business by paying for health insurance. I could counter that the employees are paid a minimum wage, not a living wage. I could counter that a million pizza give-a-way promotion would pay for healthcare for his human resources. I could counter that pursuit of profits for those who invest via a stock certificate are rewarded at the expense of those who invest via their labor and actually contributely vastly more than a stockholder. Investment is diefied and labor is demonized – and dehumanized – as a cost of doing business and a cell on a spreadsheet. I could counter that the price of ingredients rise and those costs are passed along to the customer without a blink or a nod. One would think employers would want happy, healthy employees. Instead, employees have become an inconvenience. Is it so difficult to understand why people are viewing the boss as “greedy”?
There are plenty of things in life we don’t like to do but often it’s the right thing to do regardless. The scales have tipped from balanced employee/employer relationships where both benefited to a heavily weighted employer side of the scale.
That’s my comments on how I view the twisted metal of this traffic wreck. No need to continue commenting on the bloody bodies too.
Now go do a Snoopy Dance and see how much more fun it is than viewing life as a football being pulled away everytime you go to kick it.
I have addressed your comment about the 11% above (my original source clearly details an 11% military cut and an 8% cut for non-military programs – http://usbudgetalert.com/)
As to the traffic for this site, I take it from Google Analytics, WordPress and Alexa – I did slightly overstate in that average hits (September 700/day – October 2,190 and November 2,460). These are unique daily hits and not total hits or views. I still think that is decent for a blog 75 days old.
As to the Papa John stuff, you have your opinion and I have mine and I think that has been completely flushed out and not further comment is needed.
You did not cite “usbudgetalert” above. You cited “govexec”/CSBA. I cited OMB. I won’t quibble that a government required report is more or less accurate than any of the self-proclaimed arbiters out there. Yes, there’s pain coming. Unless Congress does it’s job which it has known it needed to do for a year now. But yes, we all know it’s “Obama’s fault” and decades of spending and complacency by Congress has nothing to do with it.
Congrats on the growing visitation.
And the CAPTCHA is timing out while composing a comment. Hope you look into it so I don’t have to copy text before “Add Comment” if I took too long to submit. Text was lost when going back from error message because of timeout issue.
Dan, instead of general complaints, why don’t you detail which parts you think are wrong?
Why does the left call everything you and others report as lies, distortions, etc., but rarely come up with factual proof of what they claim?
It’s all name calling and bully tactics……
Would you like to trade in your 6in brush for a 9in roller to paint those broad strokes, David? I only see one instance of what could even remotely be construed as “name calling” in this thread and that’s “right wing nutter”…which I would characterize more as an accurate observation than “name calling”. My experience has been that no matter the what “factual proof” is presented to the average conservative, it is summarily discarded. It’s become a futile effort in the current hyper-partisan environment. Perhaps if you were more open to others’ views and proof, you would recognize lies and distortions…as well as valid proof thereof.
ditto you left wing nutter !
Sorry Snoopy Dance GW is not just “technically” wrong, he is flat out LYING.
Here’s a just a few;
1) ” Once again, Issa “paused” the investigation evidently to avoid claims of “politicizing” the investigation. That pause is now over and Rep. Issa is coming out guns blazing to reinvigorate this terribly disturbing program and its far more disturbing cover-up.”
Issa issued his FINAL report in September, I challenge GW to substantiate his claim (with credible FACTS and sources) that Issa is planning on re-opening the F&F investigation.
2)”President Obama has done more to destroy the United States’ history of friendship with Israel than any President ever”
“By TOMER OVADIA | 7/30/12 Politico
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak said Monday that when it comes to his nation’s security, the Obama administration is doing “more than anything that I can remember in the past.”
“I think that from my point of view as defense minister they are extremely good, extremely deep and profound,” Barak, a former Israeli prime minister, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I can see long years, um, administrations of both sides of political aisle deeply supporting the state of Israeli and I believe that reflects a profound feeling among the American people. But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past.”
“I want to thank you, Mr. President, for standing with Israel and supporting peace through direct negotiations. We both agree this is the only way to achieve peace. We both agree that Palestinians and the Israelis should sit down together and negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. I think this is the only way to get to a stable and durable peace. You’ve also made it clear that the Palestinians deserve a state, but it’s a state that has to make that peace with Israel, and therefore their attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate peace — that attempt to get state membership in the United Nations will not succeed. I think the Palestinians want to achieve a state in the international community, but they’re not prepared yet to give peace to Israel in return.
[...]
I think that standing your ground, taking this position of principle, which is also, I think, the right position to achieve peace — I think this is a badge of honor and I want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor, and also to express my hope that others will follow your example, Mr. President. So I want to thank you. [Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9/21/11]”
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 18 thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for helping fund a missile defense system protecting the Jewish state from Palestinian rockets, the White House said.
Netanyahu “expressed his deep appreciation for U.S. funding for the ‘Iron Dome’ rocket and mortar defense system, which he noted has successfully intercepted several rockets aimed at Israeli communities,” the White House said in a readout of the phone call. [Agence France-Presse, 4/18/11, via DefenseNews.com]”
3) “… President Obama has let his personal fear of offending anything or anyone in the Islamic world that he has taken no action to stop this incredible threat to world peace…”
ABC News
By Mary Bruce
Jul 31, 2012
Obama Announces New Sanctions On Iran
“President Obama is leveling new sanctions on Iran, targeting the country’s oil sector and stepping up efforts to cut off Iran’s financial transactions.
“With these actions, we are once again reaffirming our commitment to hold the Iranian government accountable for its actions,” the president said in a written statement. “The United States remains committed to a diplomatic solution, but the onus is on Iran to abide by its international obligations.”
Obama issued an executive order today to impose new sanctions against the Iranian energy and petrochemical sectors. The action is intended to deter Iran from creating a payment system so that countries may purchase Iranian oil and circumvent existing sanctions. The administration is also taking additional steps to hold responsible institutions that enable financial transactions for Iranian banks.”
CBSNews.com, 7/2/10
“President Obama has signed a bill imposing tough new sanctions against Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program.
The bill Mr. Obama signed Thursday evening in an East Room ceremony targets exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran. It bans U.S. banks from doing business with foreign banks providing services to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The administration hopes the new unilateral sanctions, combined with ones approved last month in the U.N. Security Council, will yield results even though previous regimens failed to halt Iran’s activities that could lead to nuclear weapons development. The U.N. sanctions target the Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles and nuclear-related investments.
As lawmakers looked on, Mr. Obama called the new law the “toughest sanctions against Iran ever passed by the United States Congress.”
Geoff’s position on Israel is a perfect example of parroting a conservative media that tells people like Geoff what they want to hear, rather than what is actually happening.
Fast and Furious challenge accepted:
“Published October 29, 2012 | FoxNews.com
Top-ranking Capitol Hill Republicans released a new report Monday on the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious that concludes high-ranking Justice Department officials “failed to identify red flags” in the mishandled gun-tracking operation.
The 140-page report singles out five senior agency officials: Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein and Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Siskel.
This is the second installment in Rep. Darrell Issa’s and Sen. Chuck Grassley’s final investigation into Fast and Furious.
The first report focused on the involvement of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation from its Phoenix bureau.
Fast and Furious ran from 2006 to 20011 and put roughly 2,000 guns into the Mexican black market in an attempt to trace them to leaders of drug cartels. However, many of them surfaced at crime scenes including the fatal shooting of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Grindler and Siskel were presented with detailed evidence during a March 2010 briefing on Fast and Furious that showed illegally purchased firearms being recovered in Mexico and the United States, but failed to ask probing questions or “take any significant follow-up action to monitor and supervise the conduct of the case,” according to report.
In addition, the Justice Department officials took no action when asked by ATF officials to help speeding up the indictments in Fast and Furious, instead showing concern only for how the press might react to the indictments, the report also found.
Issa, a California Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, says the agency has taken only limited action against the “negligent managers” and has yet to make changes to prevent a similar “disaster.”
The report begins with a detailed account of how then-acting AFT Director Kenneth Melson — amid news report he would be fired over Fast and Furious — agreed to several congressional interviews that appear to connect high-ranking Justice officials with the operation.
The findings are also based on testimony from senior Justice Department officials.
“The failures happened because of conscious decisions to encourage gun dealers to sell to known traffickers and avoid interdicting … all in the hope that would lead law enforcement to cartel connections,” the report concluded.
Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/fast-and-furious/2012/10/30/issa-grassley-report-links-fast-furious-widespread-justice-department-failures#ixzz2CMevmtje”
See also
http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/01/issa-univision-report-puts-faces-names-on-fast-and-furious-death-and-carnage/
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rep-issa-slams-holder-over-fast-furious-in
2. No previous American president has had so strained a relationship with Israel as Barack Obama. As Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren said in 2010, “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 … a crisis of historic proportions.” Author and scholar Dennis Prager concurred, “Most observers, right or left, pro-Israel or anti-Israel, would agree that Israeli-American relations are the worst they have been in memory.” In the spring of 2011, David Parsons, spokesman for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, said: “There’s a traditional, special relationship between America and Israel that Obama is basically throwing out the window in a sense.” David Rubin, a U.S.-born Israeli author and expert on the Middle East, put it this way: “President Obama is very harmful for Israel and very dangerous for the future of Judeo-Christian civilization.” The author and economist Thomas Sowell asserted that Obama’s relationship with Israel had been consistent with the president’s pattern of “selling out our allies to curry favor with our adversaries.” Political analyst Charles Krauthammer observed that Obama had “undermined” Israel as a result of either his “genuine antipathy” toward the Jewish state or “the arrogance of a blundering amateur.” In October 2012, Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon, chairman of Likud’s international outreach branch, said that Obama had “not been a friend of Israel,” and that the President’s policies had been “catastrophic.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli populace remained jittery. According to a 2010 poll commissioned by The Jerusalem Post, only 9 percent of Jewish Israelis believe that the Obama administration is more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=1521
“Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the United States Tuesday over what he views as a reluctance to decisively act against Iran’s nuclear program, worsening already rocky relations between the two nations.
In a message aimed at the White House, Netanyahu confronted Washington about what factors would provoke a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran maintains the facilities are for peaceful purposes, but Israel says Iran is stockpiling enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/israel-u-s-relations-strained-as-netanyahu-urges-red-line-for-iran-1.951062#ixzz2CMkKuBIv“
You aren’t serious using the source you did as your Israel citation, are you? Every statement in that is such empty rhetoric with absolutely no substance that it’s absolutely meaningless. The links in the article are dead so there’s no way to even check (from that blogger’s “article”) what specificic reasons are being used to substantiate the statements.
I’m really disappointed with your citation, GW.
Total FAIL!
Epic fail GW!
Point #1; You failed to prove that Daryl Issa is planning on re-opening the F&F investigation. Releasing a second installment of a FINAL investigation is NOT the same as re-opening that investigation.
“This is the second installment in Rep. Darrell Issa’s and Sen. Chuck Grassley’s final investigation into Fast and Furious.”
WHERE is the proof that Issa “PAUSED” the F&F investigation?
You’re a lawyer, you know that NOWHERE in all that Fox crap is ANY PROOF that Issa is re-opening that investigation.
Why lie? Isn’t it easier to admit you were/are wrong?
Point #2; You claimed that ”President Obama has done more to destroy the United States’ history of friendship with Israel than any President ever”
My rebuttal included DIRECT QUOTES from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak as well as a quote from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ALL PRAISING OBAMA AND HIS HANDLING OF US/ISRAELI RELATIONS.
You on the other hand have posted a bunch of secondary opinions. Anyone can find “quotes” from from pundits taking one side or another, but they don’t prove anything.
You did post something from Israel’s ambassador Michael Oren, here’s something else he said;
Israeli Ambassador Praises Obama’s Call To ‘Get Israel Whatever It Needs’
By Eli Clifton on Dec 13 2011
“Oren reportedly told a story about asking Obama for fire fighting assistance when forest fires swept through Israel’s Carmel Forest last year:
Netanyahu directed his ambassador to, “Quick, go ask President Obama for help.”
That’s when Oren entered the White House and asked to see the president.
“I told him the situation and without hesitation, President Obama turned to one of his aides and said, ‘get Israel whatever it needs. Now,’ ” Oren recalled. [...]
“Later that night,” Oren continued, “I learned, that the President left the Hanukkah reception and flew secretly to Afghanistan. Upon arriving, he called Washington and the first question he asked, ‘Has Israel gotten its planes?’ He also called Prime Minister Netanyahu and expressed his condolences for Israel’s losses and America’s commitment to Israel’s wellbeing.“
Oren’s story of close cooperation between the U.S. and Israel, not to mention Obama’s clear commitment to Israel’s well-being and security, flies in the face of the accusations liberally thrown around the RJC’s event.”
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/12/13/388837/oren-praises-obama/?mobile=nc
The notion that Obama is not supporting Israel is nonsense, our commitment to Israel is as strong as ever.
I will give you that the personal relationship between Obama and Netanyahu is not close, but that is probably a good thing considering that Netanyahu is a big right-wing nut. I love the fact that Obama has pushed back (ever so slightly) against Netanyahu, putting the US’s interests above Israel’s. The US does not need another war, especially one for Israel. We can’t have Israel dictating our foreign policy and attacking Iran would be another US disaster.
Hopefully, Netanyahu will lose his election and a more reasonable and moderate Prime Minister will be elected.
DUPES OF THE NEOCONS ARISE AND RECLAIM THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!
“Marx and Engels were freemasons of the 31st degree. (Vladimir Istarkhov, “The Battle of the Russian Gods”, Moscow, 2000, p. 154.) In 1847, Marx and Engels became members of The League of Just Men, one of the Illuminati’s underground branches where the Jew Jakob Venedey played an important role…..Hess and Marx hoped to exploit the jealousy of the stupid proletariat to enforce a hell on earth where fear, suffering, terror and treason ruled supreme – Communism” – Juri Lina, ‘Under the sign of the Scorpion- the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire’
Hey GW. Spent 10 minutes composing a comment only to experience what appeared to be a time-out on your new CAPTCHA requirement. Message I got was something like “CAPTCHA not reset”.
Of course I used back on browser as told but my whole comment was wiped out.
Is there a time limit? Or just a poor program you added to go with your poor thought process?
GW – Also appears that CAPTCHA addition caused my latest comment(s) to be placed out of the date timeline. Shouldn’t new comments be placed at the bottom of the list?
Should I get Hannity to look into the timeline issue?
Brand new addition – I had over 15,000 spam comments this weekend and had to have the IT guys add this feature. If you are really having problems with it, please let me know.
You really want to launch a personal attack on me because I am trying to improve the site?
I outined the problems I experienced.
And don’t be so sensitive and “hear” things things that aren’t “said”. There was no personal attack on you…just a comment on your poor thought process…which is nothing more than an observation. If you feel you’ve been personally attacked, are you not personally attacking our POTUS every time you include your observations in your articles? I simply opined you have a poor thought process. Not like I called you “numb nuts” or something.
And one source of your spam might just be coming from your spamming…uh, I mean “promoting your site”…on craigslist. That’s how I found the site.
You are right, I misread your comment – not a personal attack – proceed.
Feel free to delete these comments as they have nothing to do with the article really. I won’t be the least bit offended or cry censorship.
I will leave them up just because I want people to see that we are going through the growing pains of spam attacks and that comments held for moderation were not censorship but purely mechanical as we worked the bugs out. Thanks.
Is everyone enjoying watching those sick bastard ‘Israelis’ getting ready to get their asses handed to them by the rest of the region? I know I am. Stay tuned.
Look on the bright side. Replacing Israel’s arms will help offset the “draconian cuts” to the defense industry.
Chris, I have never understood your hatred of everything Israeli but the unrestrained unprompted attack on a civilian population is not “something I am enjoying watching.”
Equally difficult to understand your hatred of everythign Obama/Democratic. Definately not something I enjoy watching.
(I think he goes by Christopher. But you can call me Snoop Dawg if you like.)
I don’t hate everything Democratic. I strongly believe that racism, sexism or religious intolerance have no place in a democracy. I believe that there is no place in our budget for corporate welfare. I believe that we need to have reasonable regulations on anti-trust and predatory corporate practices. I believe that it is important to intelligently protect the environment. I believe in absolute free speech.
I do have more trouble finding any positives in Obama. Raised with a silver government spoon in his mouth he went to the most exclusive private high school in Hawaii, sealed all of his records, but started at Occidental College in Eagle Rock California (where he and I actually attended a college basketball game together – irrelevant but interesting) where he performed poorly but still was able to transfer to Columbia where after yet another undistinguished scholastic performance he was accepted into Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he unsuccessfully tried to “write on” to the review but did not qualify. He then got one of the faculty selected positions on the Law Review that has no grade or writing requirement. Despite NEVER actually writing ANYTHING for the law review, he ended up being selected editor as a compromise between two qualified candidates ended in impasse. He then had a series of public jobs that again required no real talent accept to be able to pass out patronage like a huge grant to his wife’s employer that directly translated into a raise for his wife. His performance as President has been arrogant and inflexible and in my opinion a failure in every regard. He seems to actually disdain the United States as a world power and seems to think that “parity” with other countries is a good thing. He has given a couple of truly amazing speeches (the best of which was at the 2004 DNC convention) and seems to love his family – that is the best that I can do.
Wow. You surely repeat the right-wing conspiracy theories and talking point quite well!
Silver government spoon – are you serious or is the tag “satire” for this entry?
Private high school was paid for by his grandmother. Government?
Records sealed? Not released is not “sealed” Law prohibits the colleges from releasing them without express wrtten permission.
“Performed poorly” and “undistinguished scholastic performance”? So you’ve seen his college transcripts? B…b…b…but they’re “sealed”. Have you contacted Trump with these records that only you are privy to?
Harvard Law Review…meh…shiny object – aka pyrite – …or is it a diversionary squirrel? How about graduating magnum cum laude? Go ahed…find fault with this achievment.
Why do you denigrate public service as a talentless occupation? Who are you to judge what “real talent”?
Is a church based community organizing job government? Is setting up job training programs and college prep programs talentless or government? Are two summer internships at private law firms government or talentless to you? Is an associate and partner at a private law firm talentless and government to you? Is a lecturer at a university talentless to you? Is an Illinois state senator talentless to you? Is a US Senator talentless to you? Are all the state and US senators and representative hereby deemed talentless and being fed with silver government spoons? Perhaps your idea of goverment silver spoon is student loans which were paid back with interes as millions of others have done to become productive citizens. Would you denigrate a user of the GI Bill in the same manner? Did the government pay his wages at his very first job scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins? Is authoring two books talentless to you? Where is the government funding for these books? Politifact gave the count of 11 private sector and 6 non-profit or government employers. Let’s not forget he’s now been elected to two terms as the President of The United States of America. How many terms as POTUS have you been elected by a majority? Have you been a State or US Senator? What’s the titles of your books? We know the title of your blog…which requires very little talent, of course.
You, Sir, have hatred in your heart and a tin foil hat on your head. Enjoy your next audience with The Donald…or is Sheriff Joe more your speed?
Beautiful rebuttal Snoopy Dance.
Now, let’s wait and see if GW has a learning curve or will he ignore your post and factual information and continue to post lies about Obama?
The trouble with right-wing nuts like GW, is that they refuse to believe in facts, making it impossible to have rational, intelligent discourse.
To make it easier for GW;
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/obamas-sealed-records/
The only topic of any relevance to my discussion deals with the release of the school transcripts which even your “fact checker” admits that Obama has refused to release. Not at all consistent with what I wrote. The rest I never even raised.
Yes GW, Obama has not released his school transcripts (neither did Bush or any other presidential candidates), but you said he ” sealed all of his records” and that is just NOT TRUE.
Why when faced with evidence that you are WRONG, can’t you admit it?
Time to delete the chain email regarding “sealed records”, GW. You, as a lawyer, should be well aware of the difference between “released” and “sealed”. Please do not insult your audience by rewording your original post to CYA. This President not releasing college transcripts is no different than any others from the past. What Changed™ demanding them of this President?
As for “the rest I never raised”, you did in fact raise the issues when you incorrectly stated Obama was raised with a silver government spoon in his mouth. As I showed, he barely was raised with a plastic gov’t spork. You did in fact try to reinforce the gov’t silver spoon meme by proclaiming he had “a series of public jobs”, which I showed he in fact held twice as many private sector jobs, with most of the “public jobs” being ELECTED positions. You did in fact raise the issue of “talent” by declaring the jobs he did hold – in the private sector – required “no talent”. As a lawyer, you, too must therefore be “talentless”.
I didn’t address your characterization of the President’s performance as you are just arrogant and inflexible and your opinion is purely an extremely biased opinion apparently derived from chain emails.
You and your ilk are the ones who have total disdain for this President, dwelling on mole hills of the irrelevant to denigrate at every opportunity while ignoring the mountain of accomplishments. You really need to get off that polluted river in Egypt you’re floating down.
♫ Free your mind and the rest will follow. ♫
Just couldn’t help myself and did a little checking on what I thought might be another extravagant chain email claim that GW was duped with.
“pass out patronage like a huge grant to his wife’s employer that directly translated into a raise for his wife.”
From The New York Times:
Senator Barack Obama on Thursday released a list of $740 million in earmarked spending requests that he had made over the last three years, and his campaign challenged Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to do the same.
The list included $1 million for a hospital where Mr. Obama’s wife works, money for several projects linked to campaign donors and support for more than 200 towns, civic institutions and universities in Illinois.
But as the Senate debated a bill to restrict the controversial method of paying for home-state projects — a measure defeated Thursday evening — Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign also said that only about $220 million worth of his requests had been approved by Congress. And among those that had been killed were his request in 2006 for $1 million for an expansion of the University of Chicago Medical Center,where Mr. Obama’s wife, Michelle, is a vice president.
Oops!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14campaign.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=login&
Thanks for clearing that whopper up. I’m sure GW wouldn’t have bothered. He likes to spread the lies and then pretend there was some little, tangental germ of truth in them.
And GW, that purveyor of lies, has the nerve to call Obama “immoral”.
Sorry, Christopher – I have a close friend that insists on Chris and I certainly didn’t mean offense.
YES TAKE OVER OBAMA AND THE REAL LEADERS OF ROUNDTABLE PIZZA LETS SEE MORE DEAD BODIES I WANT TO SMIM IN A POOL OF BLOOD WHILE DRINKING RED WINE
Stop talking and do something !!!! We need Impich this Hussein muslim lier, this F*#@ing Socialist and money waster
How sweet, GW has a fan.
All aboard the craaaazy train!
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