Idaho lawmaker’s wife hurt in gun room explosion

The Associated Press

Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 | 2:18 p.m.

Fire officials say the wife of an Idaho lawmaker was injured when a room that they had converted into a gun safe exploded.
The Times-News ( http://bit.ly/SdMY0q) reports that Amy Wood, the wife of state Rep. Fred Wood, was taken by air ambulance to a Utah hospital with second-degree burns on her face and hands after the explosion Saturday night in southern Idaho.

Idaho House Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke said Fred Wood, R-Burley, received minor injuries.
Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin said the couple was eating dinner when the explosion occurred. Amy Wood was on the back patio _ which is directly over the gun room _ and the blast apparently caused the slab to collapse into the room below.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known

Tremors

Fast and Furious - Democrats Deny, Disinform & Delay

The foreign press continues to pursue some of the lies told by the Obama administration on foreign policy and the embassy debacle on 9-11, but this favorite LIE of the left was repeated AGAIN by Barack Obama to the whole world in his Univision interview Sept 2012.
The Fast and Furious Program had “Begun Under the Previous Administration”   Obama LIES and coverups are NOT a story.  The U.S. press either ignored the statement or backed up the LIE. The propaganda that continues to FLOOD out of the White House won't even be scrutinized by the Main Stream Media. The deaths and coverup of Fast and Furious is the perfect example. The MSM, with few exceptions,  is the propaganda arm of the democrat party and the left. Sunday at 7 on Univision there will be more coverage of the Fast and Furious program that was created UNDER OBAMA and lead to the deaths of HUNDREDS of people.  Instead, the MSM will parrot the White House talking points and push the MEME of the day.

 
Useful Links:
President Obama Falsely Claims Fast and Furious Program “Begun Under the Previous Administration”
President Obama Lies to Univision About Operation Fast and Furious
Juan Williams: Fast and Furious Started Under Bush 
Katie Pavlich on Obama’s Lies and Cover-up of Fast and Furious
Pavlich: DOJ using Media Matters to cover up Fast and Furious
Confirmed Again: DOJ Working With Media Matters to Squash Reporters
Guns, Sex, And MSNBC: Daily Caller Publishes Media Matters Exposé
Is the White House manipulating the media through Media Matters?

Barack Obama interview by Univision 9/20/2012 Repeats the lie that F & F began under Bush.
Fast and Furious back in headlines as Univision reportedly finds more victims

Published: 1:28 AM 09/29/2012 

Spanish-language television network Univision plans to air a television special that it said reveals more violence than previously known, as well as the stories of how many more Operation Fast and Furious victims were killed, the network announced in a Friday release.

“The consequences of the controversial ‘Fast and Furious’ undercover operation put in place by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2009 have been deadlier than what has been made public to date,” the network said. “The exclusive, in-depth investigation by Univision News’ award-winning Investigative Unit — Univision Investiga — has found that the guns that crossed the border as part of Operation Fast and Furious caused dozens of deaths inside Mexico.”

Among other groups of Fast and Furious victim stories Univision says it will tell in the special to air Sunday evening at 7 p.m., is one about how “16 young people attending a party in a residential area of Ciudad Juárez in January of 2010″ were gunned down with weapons the Obama administration gave to drug cartel criminals through Fast and Furious.

“Univision News’ Investigative Unit was also able to identify additional guns that escaped the control of ATF agents and were used in different types of crimes throughout Mexico,” the network added. “Furthermore, some of these guns — none of which were reported by congressional investigators — were put in the hands of drug traffickers in Honduras, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. A person familiar with the recent congressional hearings called Univision’s findings ‘the holy grail’ that Congress had been searching for.”
A video preview published on Friday shows a number of the bodies of people killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as well as victims’ family members pleading with outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon for justice.
Congressional investigators from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Senate Judiciary Committee have been probing Fast and Furious since early 2011, shortly after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered with Fast and Furious weapons. Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010, in Peck Canyon, Ariz.
Others whose murders have been connected to Fast and Furious weapons include Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata and Mexican citizen Mario Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s sister, Patricia Gonzalez, was the state prosecutor for the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by Attorney General Eric Holder’s DOJ. It sent thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers — people who purchased guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.

Mexican government officials have estimated that at least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons.
Holder and President Barack Barack Obama have obstructed the congressional investigations into this scandal. After months of failure to comply with a subpoena for Fast and Furious documents, information and witnesses, Holder was voted on a bipartisan basis into criminal and civil contempt of Congress. Obama has asserted executive privilege over the documents.
The DOJ’s internal inspector general recently released a report concluding that Holder was not cleared by his currently ongoing investigation, despite a swath of media coverage saying that Holder was “exonerated” by it. Though he did conclude that he couldn’t find evidence or proof Holder knew about Fast and Furious, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before Congress that almost everyone in Holder’s inner circle at DOJ did know, and that he and his team think it’s odd at best that Holder didn’t.
“We found, as we outlined in the report, we struggle to understand how an operation of this size, of this importance, that impacted another country like it did, could not have been briefed up to the attorney general of the United States,” Horowitz said during a House oversight committee hearing. “It should have been, in our view. It was that kind of a case.”
Former White House National Security Council staffer Kevin O’Reilly — who was intimately involved in Fast and Furious planning with Phoenix ATF officials, according to emails obtained throughout the congressional investigation — has since been reassigned by the Department of State to a detail in Iraq. Obama administration officials have refused to make O’Reilly available to congressional investigators and to Horowitz’s internal DOJ investigation.
On Friday, CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson reported that congressional Republicans are now threatening to subpoena O’Reilly and force his testimony on Fast and Furious.
Univision has aggressively covered Fast and Furious, and its most recent major run-in with the scandal came when network anchor Jorge Ramos grilled Obama in an interview on the scandal, asking him why he hasn’t “fired” Holder. During the interview, Obama made at least one false statement relating to Fast and Furious.

Leftist Media Supports the Fast and Furious Coverup 


#fastandfurious #barackobama #obama2012 #obamalies #whitehousecoverup #gunwalking #univision #democrat #ericholder #atf #mexico #univision 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid- Reigns on the Parade

The finger-pointing will increase as the Senate and House ends the session and head home to campaign. Barack Obama will be the first president in history to not have a budget during his ENTIRE TERM in Office. The Democrats and Harry Reid hide behind the Continuing Budget Resolutions and the Budget Act as fulfilling that requirement. Harry Reid's own parliamentarian ruled that he must pass a budget this year. He declined.
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The Senate Majority Leader has made changes in debate and amending legislation since taking over as Senate Majority in 2006. The blocking of the Republicans from the democratic process and the ability to represent their voters can be best explained in Harry Reid's own words. Earlier in the same year (2006) when he the was the Minority Whip he said this on "filling the amendment tree".

Senate Congressional Record Feb 28,2006 Read Harry Reid's Quote on the Senate Procedure called "filling the amendment tree"

Of course even a good bill can be improved. That is why we have an amendment process in the Senate. The junior Senator from Wisconsin has tried to offer a small number of relevant amendments that I believe would make this bill even better. I am disappointed
that he has been denied that opportunity by a procedural maneuver known as ‘‘filling the amendment tree.’’ This is a very bad practice. It runs against the basic nature of the Senate. The hallmark of the Senate is free speech and open debate. Rule XXII establishes a process for cutting off debate and amendments, but rule XXII should rarely be invoked before any
amendments have been offered. There is no reason to truncate Senate debate
on this important bill in this unusual fashion. I will vote against cloture to register my objection to this flawed process.

Data as of 05/28/2012 article

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Majority Leader Reid has employed this tactic a record 59 times. He has used it to block minority input into legislation 50 percent more often than the past five Majority Leaders combined. The minority’s only option under these circumstances is to oppose ending debate on legislation (known as “invoking cloture”) in order to convince the majority to allow it to offer amendments to the legislation and thereby represent the interests of their constituents.  (data as of 05/28/2012 post)

 The False Narrative of Republican Filibusters

Republicans have been accused of abusing the filibuster to thwart Democratic legislation. This claim is based on the incorrect equation of filibusters with the number of cloture petitions filed or the number of cloture votes taken. In short, a cloture petition does not a filibuster make. A filibuster, however, happens when an attempt to end debate fails. Successfully ending debate is the opposite of a filibuster.
It only takes a quick glance at the count of cloture votes, however, to realize that Republicans are not obstructing with the filibuster. In fact, the percentage of cloture petitions withdrawn or vitiated has increased to 43 percent this Congress.
This is significantly higher than the average for the previous four decades, and the highest for any Congress in 25 years. Additionally, the percentage of cloture votes passing – that is, invoking cloture – is also rising. The 53 percent success rate for passing cloture votes in the 112th Congress is the highest in the last 40 years. These figure show that any increased incidence in cloture filings is due to the Majority’s impulsiveness—its preference for filing cloture first and asking the Minority to work with it later—rather than an unwillingness of Senate Republicans to work with Senate Democrats. (data 05/28/2012) Senate Democrats Choose Dysfunction OVER Solutions

The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the left now use the Republican's cloture and filibuster votes to push the 'obstructionist Republican' MEME and the 'one term president' Mitch McConnell MEME. 

 Mitch McConnell and the Republican 'conspiracy' to not work with Obama


Harry Reid - Party before Country

The media and Democrat party have gone to great lengths to conceal their party and leaders responsibility as the causes of the housing crisis and recession. morphing into the saviors from poverty and the recession they caused.  MEMES and outright lies from the administration and their media know no bounds. How about this media matters headline.   Despite Being Warned, Right-Wing Media Buy Into The "BS" Claims About Obama's Spending Record

 Laughable and patently false, the leftists NEVER question their Cliff Clavinoids dispensed from the propaganda machine. Information nuggets of pedantics, semantics and strawman arguments.  Compare the media matters propaganda to this headline.  President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History 

The only thing this last four years can prove is Obama Is ‘Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated On The American People’   and the media and Democrat Party want it to continue. Harry Reid's future plans for the Senate and the Filibuster raise many concerns on both sides of the spectrum. Legislation was supposed to be deliberative, not a steamroller.  Fake Filibuster Outrage From Left 

 Other Harry Reid Blogs:
 The Crooked Chauvinist Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

#harryreid #filibuster #fillingtheamendmenttree #mitchmcconnell #onetermpresident #cloture #barackobama #bushtaxcuts

Ohio Inmate Says He's Too Obese for Execution

Ohio inmate says he’s too obese for execution

The Associated Press

Monday, Sept. 17, 2012 | 11:08 a.m.

A condemned Ohio inmate who weighs at least 480 pounds wants his upcoming execution delayed, saying he's too heavy for the state's lethal injection process.
Ronald Post shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago. He says his weight, vein access, scar tissue and other medical problems raise the likelihood of severe problems with an execution.

Monty Python Skit The Meaning of Life

Lawyers for the 53-year-old Post also said in their federal court filing Friday that the inmate is so big the execution gurney might not hold him.
Post is scheduled to die Jan. 16 for the 1983 shooting death of Helen Vantz in Elyria.
The prisons department was not aware of the filing and could not immediately comment.

He just needs an after dinner mint..........

 
Wafer Thin Mint Scene, Monty Python

#deathpenalty #montypython #obese #inmate #execution #ohio

Illusions of Iranian Sanctions Threatens Israel

The Illusion of Iranian Sanctions

 The Obama Administration minions made the rounds on the sunday morning news programs. I caught a few minutes of Ambassador Rice on Meet the Press trying her best to make the Obama-Media narrative fit the facts on the ground in Iran.  The line that stood out to me is the 'crippling sanctions' that Obama has in place in Iran. She then cites a 1 percent reduction in a statistic. The sanction talking points are uttered without question, not that David Gregory or Andrea Mitchell are capable or actual journalists. If they were capable or honest, they might ask about exemptions and the possible failure of the sanctions.

No Gregory and Mitchell were still to feeling smug and satisfied attacking Mitt Romney on his statement given in regards to the Egypt Embassy protest that they applied to the preplanned attack at the Libyan consulate.

I have followed the exemptions to Iran's largest customers with interest. Media Links and a video will explain it in as much detail as you would like.  It is clear, sanctions have as many holes as Ambassador Rice's statements for this administration.

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07.22.2012
  Contentions Exemptions Are the Rule on Iran Sanctions

 President Obama’s apologists continue to trumpet the notion that his reliance on diplomacy and sanctions is the best route to stopping Iran’s drive to obtain nuclear weapons. Though the partial oil embargo is making the lives of ordinary Iranians a bit more difficult, the sanctions are so riddled with holes that they are not proving much of a deterrent to the Iranian oil industry’s plans for foreign ventures let alone being enough to force Tehran to give up its nuclear ambition. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month, the West’s “crippling sanctions” are not stopping an Iranian energy company from making a bid on a French oil refinery.

And In Conclusion of this piece in Commentary Magazine

 All of this illustrates that diplomacy and sanctions are proving to be a dead end that will do nothing to stop Iran. Though the administration is determined to kick the can down the road until after November — and is even applauded by some purveyors of mainstream opinion for doing so — if the United States is serious about dealing with this threat, either the loopholes in sanctions must be sealed up or Washington is going to have to start talking more about the use of force.

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Links showing scope and scale.

 Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, trades Iranian fuel oil, skirting sanctions Wed Sep 26, 2012 

SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Sept 26 - Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, is buying and selling Iranian fuel oil, undermining Western efforts to choke the flow of petrodollars to Tehran and put pressure on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Vitol last month bought 2 million barrels of fuel oil, used for power generation, from Iran and offered it to Chinese traders, Reuters established in interviews with 10 oil trading, industry and shipping sources in Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East.

The Swiss-based firm issued a statement saying Vitol Group is in compliance with all international laws on trade with Iran.

 English.news.cn   2012-09-15 06:52:34
 U.S. extends exemption to 11 nations from Iran sanctions 

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Friday that it would extend exemptions from sanctions to Japan and 10 European countries on account of their reduced purchase of Iranian crude oil.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would report to Congress that the exception to sanctions will apply to the financial institutions based in Japan, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain for a renewable period of 180 days.

These countries first got the immunity in March from an American law adopted late last year to deny access to U.S. financial market foreign banks whose governments buy Iran's oil.

Bolivian Ship Violates Iran Sanctions

The law aimed to up pressure on the Islamic republic to force it to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, which Washington and its allies suspect are part of the efforts to make nuclear weapons.

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SINGAPORE | Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:40am EDT

Japan set to win extended waiver of U.S. sanctions on Iran oil   

June 28th, 2012
China, Singapore to be exempted from Iran sanctions 

 By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan on June 12, 2012
U.S. Exempts India, South Korea From Iran Oil Sanctions  



US exempts 11 states from Iran sanctions




#iran #israel #sanctions #oil #barackobama #susanrice #exemptions 

Barack Obama's Rocky Foreign Relations

Barack Obama - The Light-Weight at the End of the Tunnel

Recent news events has the Main Stream Media trying to keep control of the narrative for the sake of this President's  re-election and legacy. Just when the MSM  had him in the polls as getting strong now, Islam punched him right in the Eye of the Tiger








Barack Obama - Takes a Dive on Foreign Policy


The media narrative using loaded polling numbers and fictional statistics like 'jobs created and saved' is used to obfuscate the truth. Current polling indicates Obama with a lead.   By any measure this President is a failure, and anything other than a Romney LANDSLIDE will mean the system is corrupt beyond repair and has failed the people.








#barackobama #mittromney #election2012 #foreighpolicy #punchabovetheirweight #boxing

Progressive Imperialism - The Arab Spring

 Progressive Imperialism - The Arab Spring

 The Democrats had their hope and change candidate elected in 2008. The inexperienced and blank slate candidate now has a record to run on in election 2012.  The fairytale images propagated by the media of the progressive perfection known as Obama now transform into the graffiti on the walls of the embassy in Cairo. The rough translation: 'There is no God but Obama and the media is his messenger'.

FACT CHECK: Obama doesn’t think Egypt is an ally 

The Associated Press

Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012 | 12:09 p.m.

This week's storming of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo by an angry mob has sent U.S.-Egyptian relations to a new low, prompting President Barack Obama to say he doesn't see the two countries as allies.
But under U.S. law, they are.
Asked about Egypt in an interview late Wednesday with the Spanish-language network Telemundo, Obama said: "I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy."
The statement marks an abrupt change from decades when Washington and Cairo were ironclad partners in fighting terrorism, countering Iran's influence in the region and promoting Arab-Israeli peace.
Even after last year's revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak, U.S. officials never suggested they were downgrading the relationship.
In fact, the Obama administration has continued with some $1.5 billion in mostly military aid to Egypt each year and gone to great lengths to ensure that the country's new Islamist government respects its longstanding peace treaty with Israel.
And while Obama may think Egypt isn't acting like an ally right now, by U.S. designation it remains one.
The United States designated Egypt as one of the six original "major non-NATO allies" in the 1980s. The status is now enjoyed by 15 U.S. "allies" in total, including Israel, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
Non-NATO allies are granted streamlined defense cooperation, making it easier for them to buy American military equipment and satisfy U.S. export control regulations.
Asked about Egypt's status, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed Thursday that the administration still considers it a major non-NATO ally of the United States.

Barack Obama on Telemundo 9/12/2012 then State Dept Clarification


 Described by the Leftist media as a 'foreign policy heavyweight', Joe Biden on our ally Mubarak, not a dictator. January 27 2011  By Feb 11, 2011  Mubarak is out of office


Arab Spring and Egypt: Barack Obama and Occupy Wall Street  rejoice

The uprising, inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, began on Jan. 25. After 18 days of massive public demonstrations against his rule, more than 800 people were thought to have been killed by the police. Mr. Mubarak lost the support of his military, which promised to protect the demonstrators. On Feb. 11, 2011, Mr. Mubarak resigned and turned power over to the military.
In April, prosecutors began questioning him about charges of possible corruption and other crimes. Mr. Mubarak was then ordered to stand trial.
In August, Mr. Mubarak was wheeled into a courtroom cage on a hospital bed to stand trial, charged with corruption and complicity in the killing of protestors. It was a sight that few Egyptians could have imagined as the year began, and that many had doubted they would ever see.
In June 2012, Mr. Mubarak, along with his former interior minister, was found guilty of being an accessory to murder for failing to stop the killing of unarmed demonstrators during the uprising in January 2011 that ended his rule. He was sentenced to life in prison.    Hosni Mubarak

Progressives lead the way forward in the mideast


What could go wrong with Joe Biden and Samantha Power guiding foreign policy and military adventurism in Egypt or Libya?

#Egypt #mubarak #egypt #barackobama #libya #samanthapower #casssunstein #demorats #arabspring #tahirsquare #occupywallstreet

Biased Media Coverage is a Danger to Us All

Biased Media Coverage is a Danger to Us All 


The subpar performance of the POTUS by almost any measure is concealed well by the Main Stream Media. However the collusion and collaboration between the democrat party and the leftist media cabal poses a danger to freedom and the Republic. The agenda funded and foisted on the general public over the airwaves, directly or indirectly funded by the largess of the BIG Government, pushing big government's designs. Designs formulated at tax exempt foundations  by progressives who permeate academia and policy making organizations.
 Cairo 9/11/2012


Let's take a look at the weeks before the Embassy attacks and what will we find? Let's compare that to the Main Stream Media response.

Why is Obama skipping more than half of his daily intelligence meetings?

By Marc A. Thiessen, Published: September 10

President Obama is touting his foreign policy experience on the campaign trail, but startling new statistics suggest that national security has not necessarily been the personal priority the president makes it out to be. It turns out that more than half the time, the commander in chief does not attend his daily intelligence meeting.... 

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sure, he must be a busy man leading the free world. Now we look at two weeks in his schedule. I skipped convention week.

 Impressive Schedule. Then you remove half of the daily briefings from the schedule and maybe  there was even time to meet with the leader of Israel, for example.



Obama's White House Schedule

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Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News

Mitt Romney on 09/12/2012 Formal Statement

News a few hours later
 Deadly embassy attacks were days in the making 
 by Sara Lynch and Oren Dorell, USA TODAY 09/12/2012

CAIRO --" Days of planning and online promotion by hard-line Islamist leaders helped whip up the mobs that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Egypt and launched a deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya that killed an ambassador and three others.

As the U.S. tightened security worldwide at embassies and Libya's president apologized for the attack, details emerged of how the violence began, according to experts who monitor Egyptian media.

Christopher Stevens, 52, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was killed, along with three other Americans, on Tuesday night when a mob of protesters and gunmen stormed the embassy in the eastern city of Benghazi.

The killings there followed demonstrations in front of Cairo's U.S. Embassy, where protesters tore down the U.S. flag and scaled the embassy's wall.

The protest was planned by Salafists well before news circulated of an objectionable video ridiculing Islam's prophet, Mohammed, said Eric Trager, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was announced Aug. 30 by Jamaa Islamiya, a State Department-designated terrorist group, to protest the ongoing imprisonment of its spiritual leader, Sheikh Omar abdel Rahman. He is serving a life sentence in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center... "

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The questions and the dogged pursuit of truth has the Main Stream Media asking all the right questions. Yes, it is about Mitt Romney's response
 to the predetermined partisan attack questions of the left-wing propaganda machine. 

No questions for the president on why marines weren't guarding our ambassador and embassy  from a predetermined attack. No questions on his golf and campaign schedule, or the fact that over 70 percent of all casualties in Afghanistan have happened in under 4 years of Barack Obama.  The classified leaks will be forgotten. The fact that Barack Obama is DIRECTLY responsible for the democracy project in the mideast and the embrace of the spread of 'democracy'  that led to chaos is not the subject. 



The media has their Dear Leader to elect. 


More on the Romney False Attack MEME

#talkingpointsmemo #obamaganda #mediamatters #jlist #obama #barackobama #mediabias #embassy #libya #cairo 

Obama Media Machine in Full Deflection Mode after Embassy Attacks

Barack Carter

 The Left Wing MEME of the Day is Romney's False Attack

The leftist propaganda machine is in overdrive trying to deflect any criticism about the dear leader Barack Obama. Buzzfeeed, Media Matters and Talking Points Memo all creating the 'false attack' meme. Yes, it was Mitt Romney who destabilized the mideast with the democracy project and the arab spring. Yes, false attacks on Romney without any actual link in the article on what the overwhelming proof is. Just innuendo and the 'everyone knows it is true' approach after they float the Big Lie echoed in the channels of the Leftist Lie machine.. That is what Talking Points Memo does, and that is Benjy Sarlin's specialty.  Now for the latest drivel from the LEFT. EXCLUSIVE: Open mic captures press coordinating questions for Romney “no matter who he calls on we’re covered”
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Romney’s False Libya Attack Puts Him Way Ahead Of Mainstream GOP Romney’s False Libya Attack Puts Him Way Ahead Of Mainstream GOP 

  Benjy Sarlin September 12, 2012, 12:16 PM

Mitt Romney’s harsh and factually inaccurate condemnation of President Obama’s handling of a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya puts him well in front of the rest of his party.

Chaos in Cairo Broad Daylight.

Romney’s aggressive attacks on Obama are a reversal from Romney’s usual approach, where he waits for the party to reach a consensus before stepping in. Nowhere was this more clear than during the military operation in Libya that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, when Romney avoided taking a clear stand in any one direction.

Romney issued a statement late Tuesday condemning Obama’s handling of the attack after news broke that an unnamed foreign service officer had been killed — and even suggested that Obama had expressed support for militants.

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks,” he said.

In fact, Romney was wrong: A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Egypt (later disavowed by the White House) condemning an anti-Muslim film made in America was issued before the compound was breached.

-----------------------------------
Yes, not breached, just under siege by a planned protest on the anniversary of  911  (video) without the marines to guard the consulate. The early posting of this message should raise further suspicions, proving the embassy knew the dated and fake movie was going to be a  'reason' at a protest. Why was it even issued? So both Romney and Obama disavow the message. Interesting.


FYI Cairo is in EGYPT
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Romney assails Obama anew over foreign attacks

Romney jumped to criticize Obama Tuesday night as the attacks were being waged on U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya, saying the administration's early response seemed to sympathize with the attackers who were protesting an obscure film by a California filmmaker that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Dead Ambassador Libya  - Night time

Romney was responding to a statement issued by the embassy in Cairo that condemned "efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims." Romney said in his appearance Wednesday that the statement "was akin to an apology" for American values while its grounds were under attack


Romney read a brief statement mentioning Egypt in passing, using the statement from Cairo as evidence that Obama is a weak leader. He then invited questions from reporters, who asked if it was an appropriate tone to take given the deaths revealed later. Romney stood firm.
"The president takes responsibility not just for the words that come from his mouth, but also for the words that come from his ambassadors , from his administration, form his embassies, from his state department," Romney said. "They clearly sent mixed messages to the world. The statement that came from the administration—and the embassy is the administration—the statement that came from the administration was a statement which is akin to apology. And I think was a severe miscalculation."

Romney assails Obama anew over foreign attacks   By BEN FELLER and NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Posted:   09/12/2012 12:59:24 AM MDT
Updated:   09/12/2012 08:49:29 AM MDT
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Compare the times in the stories. Romney's comments are for Cairo, Clinton's  specifically mentions Libya.. 

 "The Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," Romney said in a statement first emailed to reporters at 10:09 p.m. Eastern time, under the condition it not be published until midnight."

"I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today," Clinton said in a written statement received by The Associated Press at 10:08 p.m. "As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss."
Then, at 10:24 p.m., a Romney spokeswoman lifted the release restriction on the Republican's statement, and it was widely published. FACT CHECK: Romney misstates facts on attacks 

The gunfire erupted around 10 p.m. Tuesday while 25-30 personnel were in the compound which consisted of several buildings and was guarded by a Libyan security force. Libyan Deputy Interior Minister of the Eastern Region Wanis al-Sharif told a news conference today that about 20 gun-wielding attackers fire automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
By 10:15 p.m., the attackers had stormed the grounds and begun firing on the main building. The U.S. official said that Stevens, 52; Sean Smith, a foreign service information management officer; and a regional security officer were in the main building, which by then had been set ablaze. Libya Consulate Hit With Two Attacks That Lasted Nearly Five Hours

 “While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants,” he said in a 7:21 a.m. statement.   Obama condemns embassy attackers, critics of Islam in statement 09/12

Thanks for clearing that up for us again today Mr. President. Apologize first.

#talkingpointsmemo #propaganda #barackobama #buzzfeed #mediamatters #tpm #MittRomney #obamaganda #barackobama #embassy #egypt #arabspring #tahirsquare #ows

The Democrats' GM Fiction Causes Friction

The following article from NRO on the GM bailout makes a great case. I have added a YOUTUBE video to go along with this article with some more things about GM and the bailout.

September 10, 2012 4:00 A.M.

The Democrats’ GM Fiction

By The Editors

The Democrats have decided to run in 2012 as the bailout party. It is an odd choice — the 2008–09 bailouts were deeply unpopular among the general public, and even their backers were notably conflicted about the precedent being set and the ensuing moral hazard. But Democrats have nonetheless made one of the most abusive episodes in the entire bailout era their economic cornerstone: the government takeover of General Motors.

The GM bailout was always an odd duck: The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was created in order to preserve liquidity in the financial markets by heading off the collapse of key financial institutions that had made catastrophically bad bets on real-estate securities — nothing at all to do with cars, really. GM’s financial arm, today known as Ally Financial, was in trouble, but GM’s fundamental problem was that its products were not profitable enough to support its work-force expenses. A single dominant factor — the United Auto Workers union’s extortionate contracts with GM — prevented the carmaker from either reducing its work-force costs or making its products more efficiently. And its hidebound management didn’t help.

Admirers of the GM bailout should bear in mind that it was the Bush administration that first decided to intervene at the firm, offering a bridge loan on the condition that it draw up a deeply revised business plan. President Obama’s unique contribution was effectively to nationalize the company, seeing to it that the federal government violated normal bankruptcy processes and legal precedent to protect the defective element at the heart of GM’s troubles: the financial interests of the UAW. It did this by strong-arming GM’s bondholders into taking haircuts in order to sweeten the pot for the UAW. The Obama administration also creatively construed tax law to relieve GM of tens of billions of dollars in obligations — at the same time that Barack Obama & Co. were caterwauling about the supposed lack of patriotism of firms that used legal means rather than political favoritism to reduce their tax bills.

Mitt Romney’s proposal for a structured bankruptcy would have necessitated considerable federal involvement, too, but with a key difference: The UAW contracts would have been renegotiated, and GM’s executive suites would have been cleaned out, placing the company on a path toward innovation and self-sufficiency rather than permanent life support. Which is to say, Obama did for GM what he is doing by un-reforming welfare: creating a dependent constituency.

The Democrats cling to the ridiculous claim that the bailout of GM and its now-Italian competitor, Chrysler, saved 1.5 million U.S. jobs. This preposterous figure is based on the assumption that if GM and Chrysler had gone into normal bankruptcy proceedings, the entire enterprise of automobile manufacturing in the United States would have collapsed — not only at GM and Chrysler but at Ford and foreign transplants such as Toyota and Honda. Not only that, the Democrats’ argument goes, but practically every parts maker, supplier, warehousing agency, and services firm dedicated to the car industry would have collapsed, too. In fact, it is unlikely that even GM or Chrysler would have stopped production during bankruptcy: The assembly lines would have continued rolling, interest and debt payments would have been cut, and — here’s the problem — union contracts would have been renegotiated. Far from having saved 1.5 million jobs, it is not clear that the GM bailout saved any — only that it preserved the UAW’s unsustainable arrangement.

Bill Clinton bizarrely tried to claim that the bailout has been responsible for the addition of 250,000 jobs to the automobile industry since the nadir of the financial crisis. Auto manufacturers and dealerships have indeed added about 236,000 jobs since then, but almost none are at GM, which has added only about 4,500 workers, a number not even close to offsetting the 63,000 workers that its dealerships had to let go when the terms of the bailout unilaterally shut them down.

Ugly as the bank bailouts were, the federal government appears set to make its money back on most of them, with the exception of some smaller regional banks and CIT. Even AIG, one of the worst of the financial basket cases, is set to end up being a break-even proposition for U.S. taxpayers. But tens of billions of dollars will be lost on GM. The federal government put up more for a 60 percent interest in the firm than GM is worth today.

At their convention, Democrats swore that GM is “thriving,” but the market doesn’t think so: GM shares have lost half their value since January 2011. And while the passing of the Great Recession has meant growing sales for all automakers, GM is seriously lagging behind its competitors: Its sales are up 10 percent, a fraction of the increases at Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Porsche. With its sales weak, its share price crashing, and its business model still a mess, some analysts already are predicting that GM will return to bankruptcy — but not until after the election.

The Obama administration talks up all of the “jobs” it saved at GM — but jobs doing what? Manufacturing automobiles that are not competitive without a massive government subsidy? Propping up an economically unviable enterprise just long enough to get Barack Obama reelected? As much as it will pain the hardworking men and women of GM to hear it, it is not worthwhile to save jobs at enterprises that cannot compete on their own merits. So long as the federal government is massively subsidizing the operation, a job at GM is a welfare program with a fairly robust work requirement. (And we all know how the Obama administration feels about work requirements.)
We have bankruptcy laws and bankruptcy courts for a reason. It may make sense to expedite the proceedings for very large firms such as GM in order to prevent disruptions in the supply chain that would, as Ford’s executives argued, harm other, healthier firms. But bankrupt is what GM was, and bankrupt is what GM is, a fact that will become blisteringly apparent should the government ever attempt to sell off the shares it owns in the company.

The GM bailout was a bad deal for GM’s creditors, for U.S. taxpayers, and, in the long run, for the U.S. automobile industry and our overall national competitiveness. No wonder the Democrats are campaigning on a fictionalized account of it.

#gm #bailout #tarp #barackobama #geithner #uaw #stimulus #delphipensions #subordinatebondholders #chrysler #joebiden #osamabinladen #tarp2 #toxicassetreliefprogram #nartionalreviewonline #sununu #mittromney #autobailout #governmentmotor #gmchina

Just Joe, Just Words,Just Wrong

The Coverage of Joe Biden's Speech at Shanksville PA on 911

What a great headline from the discredited Talking Points Memo (below). 'The other side of Joe Biden' by David Kurtz.  The Paul Ryan is Lying  MEME was all their rage @tpm over the last few weeks. What kind of scrutiny could his speech receive? That's right. a suck-up piece. As in French-kissing-ass. A piece about Joe Biden as being worthy to speak at a memorial for any American. This stuffed peacock-parrot-hybrid of the Democrat Party cannot even be trusted with words, let alone the government.  

Let's see what those wordsmiths over @tpm came up with for the Joe Biden speech. What kind of background would you mention in a piece about Joe Biden and speeches? 

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The Other Side Of Joe Biden

David Kurtz September 11, 2012, 1:09 PM

 Rarely do I watch Joe Biden give a speech or an interview without looking for some evidence, in his eyes or the lines of his face, of the fact that he lost half of his young family when he was 30 years old. It is inconceivable to me, always has been, but especially in the years since I became a father. For all his goofballism, Biden has gone through a crucible that I cannot imagine. And he did so when he was 30, an adult, already deeply invested in the life he was building.

 That’s not to diminish the tragedies that children endure. But at 30 years old to lose your wife and baby daughter, to almost lose your two toddler sons, and to somehow carry on? It truly baffles me. I know everyone says you do what you have to do. But that’s not really true. You don’t. You could curl up in the fetal position, if not literally then emotionally, and shrivel up. I’m more certain that that’s what I would do than I am confident I would find a way to persevere. But Biden has been through it. He’s seen hell and been back.

That he served his entire 36-year Senate career after that searing experience in December 1972, shortly after winning election, and then went on to become vice president, adds some drama to the story, I suppose. But for me the emotional highlight is just him getting out of bed the next day, and the day after that, and the one after that.

Which brings me to Joe Biden’s speech today in Shanksville, Penn., commemorating the victims of Sept. 11, 2001. The speech is marvelously and sensitively written. But rendered by Biden, drawing on his own life experience, in rhetorical ways that are not ostentatious and which don’t try to elevate his own story above those of the victims’ families, it packs a wallop that still makes me cut him a lot of slack for his sometime inexplicable goofiness.

From the transcript provided by the White House:(available at title link)

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 I will spare you any of Joe Biden reading a teleprompter. Besides, his trouble with the truth makes it difficult to EVER believe him or to take him seriously. Should You?



 No. You can't Joe Biden at his word or Talking Points Memo seriously.

Amen



 

Senate Democrats Choose Dysfunction OVER Solutions

The progressive talking point is the filibuster and obstructionist Republicans in the Democrat controlled  US Senate. Not only control, but in 2009, they (58 Democrats) are just 2 seats away from their super-majority of the 100 seats. They fail to mention that 2 independents, such as the only Socialist Bernie Saunders who was endorsed by Harry Reid and caucuses with the Democrats, really counts as a Dem vote. What about even one RINO Republican?  President Obama never had any intention of submitting a serious budget as he would have to account for RECORD spending with only a dismal economy to show for his agenda. If the Democrats can avoid blame for causing the housing crisis, hiding $5 or $10 TRILLION more with the blame game is easy with a complicit media. The leftist propaganda machine permeates the MSM and social media with their 'messaging'.

Here is how Harry Reid Rules the US Senate as a party stooge and Majority Leader. Google Land Deal, his kid and china solar. Harry Reid has ZERO credibility.

Senate Democrats Choose Dysfunction over Solutions

5/25/2012

The Senate is a unique legislative institution, designed to guarantee that the minority party – and the large block of Americans it represents – has a voice. Traditionally, this body functions well when the majority party works to find consensus with the minority party on the process and substance of legislation. Consultation and compromise with the minority party historically has been the rule, not the exception it has become in recent years.
Senator Robert Byrd understood the importance of allowing for a full debate and amendment process in order to preserve the Senate as a unique institution in our democracy – “the one place in the whole government where the minority is guaranteed a public airing of its views.” The Senate, he taught, “was intended to be a forum for open and free debate and for the protection of political minorities.” Indeed, “as long as the Senate retains the power to amend and the power of unlimited debate, the liberties of the people will remain secure.”
Allowing the minority to debate and amend legislation has given way to the Democrats’ election-year political strategy of blaming Republicans as obstructionists. Majority Leader Reid has done this by preventing Republicans from amending pending legislation, ending debate before it starts, and by-passing the committee process.

Democrats Have Blocked Input on Legislation

Majority Leader Reid has made a habit of squelching the voice of the minority by curtailing its ability to amend legislation. The Majority Leader is always the first to be recognized on the Senate floor. He can use that power to offer a series of Democratic amendments to pending legislation in a way that prevents Republicans from offering any of their ideas. This is called “filling the tree.”

 Majority Leader Reid once insisted that the practice “runs against the basic nature of the Senate.” By the way the Senate operates today, however, it is clear that he has abandoned that assessment.
According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Majority Leader Reid has employed this tactic a record 59 times. He has used it to block minority input into legislation 50 percent more often than the past five Majority Leaders combined. The minority’s only option under these circumstances is to oppose ending debate on legislation (known as “invoking cloture”) in order to convince the majority to allow it to offer amendments to the legislation and thereby represent the interests of their constituents.

Democrats Have Shut Down Debate Before It Even Starts

In the Senate, the majority can end debate on any matter by a procedure known as cloture. Majority Leader Reid has indicated his lack of interest in deliberation by moving frequently to shut down debate the very day measures are first raised on the Senate floor. According to CRS, Majority Leader Reid has done this 99 times, not counting same-day cloture filings on motions to proceed. Of these, 82 were during the 110th and 111th Congresses. In comparison, during the two preceding Congresses Majority Leader Frist employed this tactic 30 times.

The False Narrative of Republican Filibusters

Republicans have been accused of abusing the filibuster to thwart Democratic legislation. This claim is based on the incorrect equation of filibusters with the number of cloture petitions filed or the number of cloture votes taken. In short, a cloture petition does not a filibuster make. A filibuster, however, happens when an attempt to end debate fails. Successfully ending debate is the opposite of a filibuster.
It only takes a quick glance at the count of cloture votes, however, to realize that Republicans are not obstructing with the filibuster. In fact, the percentage of cloture petitions withdrawn or vitiated has increased to 43 percent this Congress.
This is significantly higher than the average for the previous four decades, and the highest for any Congress in 25 years. Additionally, the percentage of cloture votes passing – that is, invoking cloture – is also rising. The 53 percent success rate for passing cloture votes in the 112th Congress is the highest in the last 40 years. These figure show that any increased incidence in cloture filings is due to the Majority’s impulsiveness—its preference for filing cloture first and asking the Minority to work with it later—rather than an unwillingness of Senate Republicans to work with Senate Democrats.

Democrats Short-circuit the Committee Process to Block Debate

In the Senate, legislation generally is referred first to a committee of Senators with specialized experience in the matter at hand. The committee process typically involves hearings and legislative “markups” where a small group of Senators can discuss proposed legislation in detail and consider a wide range of amendments. This process can allow for significant minority party participation. However, the current majority has completely eliminated the committee process for important matters. According to CRS, Majority Leader Reid has bypassed the committee process 50 percent more than his predecessor during a comparable period of time.

Democrats Change the Rules and Ignore Precedent to Shut Out Republicans

Last fall, Majority Leader Reid went so far as to change the rules of the Senate in order to empower himself to shut out Republicans entirely from the legislative process. He did so by using the so-called nuclear option to change Senate procedures with a simple majority vote, despite his commitment earlier in the year not to use this tactic. Specifically, during consideration of the China currency bill last October, the Majority Leader filled the amendment tree in order to prevent Republicans from offering any amendments before cloture was invoked. Once cloture was invoked, Republicans tried to exercise their rights under the Senate’s rules to express themselves by offering motions to suspend those rules—motions that the Senate Parliamentarian ruled were proper. The majority simply changed Senate rules by establishing a new precedent that any such motions offered post-cloture would now be out of order. As a result, the Majority Leader was able to squelch completely the voice of the minority on issues of importance to its constituents.
The Majority Leader again ignored recent precedent earlier this year when President Obama recess appointed nominees to executive branch positions, despite the fact the Senate was in pro-forma session to prevent such appointments. In 2007, the Majority Leader pioneered the practice of keeping the Senate in session on a pro forma basis to prevent President Bush from making recess appointments. At the time, Majority Leader Reid insisted these pro forma sessions were necessary “to block the President from doing an end run around the Senate and the Constitution with his controversial nominations.” By switching positions once President Obama was in the White House, Majority Leader Reid unfortunately chose to ignore Republican concerns and to disregard the Senate’s constitutional role in the nominations process.

When Allowed, Republican Input Improves the Process and Legislation

When Democrats have chosen to stifle debate and block the amendments, legislation goes nowhere. When they agree to a reasonable amendment process, however, the record of accomplishment shows that Republicans can help clear a path forward. For example, just this week, Majority Leader expressed his pleasure with Republican cooperation in moving forward with the FDA legislation. He shouldn’t have been surprised – when he consults with Republicans and allows them to participate in the legislative process, there have been several legislative accomplishments this session alone. When Democrats agreed to allow amendments on the Export-Import Bank bill, the Senate was able to complete this important legislation. This year alone, Republican cooperation has led to passage of:

• Export Import Bank Reauthorization;

• Trade Adjustment Assistance;

• Patent Reform;

• FAA Reauthorization;

• Highway Bill

A Hyper-Partisan Senate is Not a Serious One

Rather than create hyper-partisan conditions by impulsively filing cloture on measures, bypassing the committee process, and blocking Republicans from offering amendments, Majority Leader Reid should work with Republicans. The record is clear: simply allowing the minority to participate in the process leads to consensus and accomplishment. This should remain the rule, not the exception.





Senate Democrats Choose Dysfunction over Solutions 




  #filibuster #ussenate #harrryreid #cloture #fillingthetree #democrats #fillingtheamendmenttree #parliamentarian #tricks #senatemajorityleader #agenda #barackobama #stimulus