This, my friends, is a sign that she is totally ate up with herself:
Sarah Palin has apparently created a second Facebook account with her Gmail address so that this fake “Lou Sarah” person can praise the other Sarah Palin on Facebook. The Gmail address is available for anyone to see in this leaked manuscript about Sarah Palin, and the Facebook page for “Lou Sarah” — Sarah Palin’s middle name is “Louise” — is just a bunch of praise and “Likes” for the things Sarah Palin likes and writes on her other Sarah Palin Facebook page. “Lou Sarah” even says “amen” to Facebook posts by Sarah Sarah.
So we’ve been reading this leaked Palin book. Interesting read! But this manuscript doesn’t seem quite ready to be published, despite it being leaked around to the entire Internet. Frank Bailey and his co-authors excerpt a bunch of Sarah Palin’s e-mails, and one page of these excerpts shows Palin’s personal Gmail address. We searched for this address on Facebook, the way millions of people search for people on Facebook every day, and it appears that Palin keeps a second Facebook account. Besides staying in touch with Sarah Palin’s father Chuck Heath, what does “Lou Sarah” use Facebook for? Saying “amen” to her own Facebook fan page missives, in the guise of a completely different person. “Lou Sarah” also really “LIkes” Bristol Palin’s Dancing With the Stars photos.
Oh, it looks like we spoke too soon. Somebody finally shut down the “Lou Sarah” account, either while we were writing that last post or after it went up. So we guess Palin’s statement last night is true. Her public page is her only account, currently, as “Lou Sarah” is no more. Meanwhile, our repeated e-mails to Sarah Palin’s private e-mail account, as it was listed in her former advisor’s leaked book, continue to be unreturned. But we’re not getting delivery errors back, so the account still exists. We’ll let you know when that gets shut down too, we guess.
Sarah Palin says it was not her account. Sarah Palin also said her daughter was not knocked up too, when that first broke too. She also says Trig is her baby too. 🙄
I’m just sayin!
She’ll never be president; if she even fucking tries, I will make it my life’s goal to destroy that bitch; I assure you of that. She’s not a Conservative, she is a feminist and a liberal populist and I will do everything within my means to stop her from the nomination. You have been warned, Mrs. Palin. 😡
I mean, my Dad is a retired G.M. worker and a union member himself; but he would not approve of such stuff.
You just do not threaten people and in any way, shape or form try to strike fear into people; to make a political point. That, my friends is what al-Qaeda did here on 9/11. That is correct, that is a form of terrorism and should be treated as such by the United States Government.
Good ol’ Glenn Reynolds, supposedly a law professor in Tennessee; although conversely, he does more blogging, than teaching, if you ask me. Uses this horrible story of a woman, who was found dead in a office cubical to make a cheap political point.
It appears to me that there seems to be a problem in the Conservative movement; and that is an attempt by the Republican and Conservative establishment, to silence those with whom they disagree or dislike. Earlier this week, on my personal Blog, I posted two videos; one of RINO, Neo-Conservative princess Sarah Palin, saying that the “Birther” issue was a distraction to the Conservative and Tea Party movement and another of Karl Rove; who conversely was the brains behind Neo-Conservative George W. Bush’s Presidency. A Presidency that included the invasion and occupation of the sovereign Nation of Iraq —-which we now know was based upon a lie. Karl Rove in this video suggested that the Birther movement should be excommunicated from the Republican Party and from the Conservative movement entirely, like the John Birch Society was from the Republican Party and the Conservative movement was by that pied piper of the establishment; William F. Buckley.
I have read quite a bit about that so-called excommunication, and in all reality it was an unfair branding of the John Birch Society as being a racist and anti-Semitic organization. This was performed by Neo-Conservatives, which were and still are, former Democrats who seem to be in love with idea of a big Government — as long as they are the people controlling it. Furthermore, Neo-Conservatives claim, falsely of course; to be for the constitution — all the while declaring war against countries and other actions that fly in the face of the very principles that the document itself was founded upon. They do this, all the while, defending a Country and people, who look upon the people of Christian America as nothing more than a group of idiots, of good use. Yes, Neo-Conservatives, I am referring to your pet project —- Israel. All of this, in the name of “Defending America” or as it should be called, “defending the empire.”
If any of this sounds even vaguely familiar — it is because Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany or for you history buffs — Rome — minus Israel, of course; did the same very things and eventually were destroyed or simply went broke and failed.
You see, I happen to believe that those who have doubts about President Barack Obama’s place of origin or birthplace; or “Birthers” as they are called by those who wish to degrade them, members of the John Birch Society, we Paleoconservatives and our cousins; Libertarians — are Americans too. I believe that anyone who tries to silence any sort of political thought, belief, or conviction — of any sort — is doing what was done to those who dared to challenge the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Communist leadership in the former Soviet Union. Yes, that does include those, of whom I disagree with. It is called thought policing and it goes against the very tenets of our United States Constitution and the very ideals that surrounded our leaving of England to find a land, where we as a people could be free to worship God in the way that we pleased — without fear of persecution. This is what caused Senator Joseph McCarthy to lose support from his fellow Republicans.
Whenever you seek to control those with whom you disagree, you run the danger of becoming like the liberal left in this Country. This is why I have such an issue with the Neo-Conservative wing of the Republican Party. It is because of the mentality of “We are always right in what we believe and if anyone disagrees with our way of thinking and Governing; then that person is not a real Conservative.” Furthermore, they will try to suppress those, of whom they disagree; that my friend is a tactic right out of the Saul Alinsky playbook. This is to isolate, suppress and even mock and ridicule those who are in opposition to what these people believe. Hence, the reason Neo-Conservatives are even called by that name, it is not a slanderous term that is related to a particular ethnic or Religious group, it is a name given to bunch of people, who bolted from the socialist party and joined the right — and brought their tactics with them.
Now, I feel that I should be clear; I do not have any problem believing that President Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States of America. However, I believe that President Barack Obama, like every other President; should release his original long form birth certificate. Now does that make me a crazy person? I think not. Furthermore, I believe that John Birch Society is a great American institution of liberty and I happen to agree with the majority of what they believe in, if not all of it — Now does that make me a crazy person or even a racist or anti-Semite — of course not. I also happen to believe that Pat Buchanan and Representative Ron Paul are both exemplary Americans, who happen to love their Country and do not wish to see it become another third world Nation lost to the wiles of Socialism and Globalism. Now, does that make me some sort of a racist, Anti-Semite terrorist? I think not.
Now, do I believe that Ron Paul can be elected President of the United States? As much as I would like to believe that he could be elected; I cannot. Neo-Conservatives control a good part of the Republican Party, and between them and the Neo-Liberal left in this Country; which control a good part of the media — except for Fox News that is Neo-Conservative and not Ron Paul friendly at all, I just do not believe that Ron Paul would be able to overcome such odds. You do not believe that the Neo-Conservatives would give up that cottage industry that easily, do you. Oh please, just look what they did to Pat Buchanan when he tried to break into that little clique in the Republican Party — much of the same thing as did happen to Ron Paul —- False accusations of racism and Anti-Semitism.
As long as there is empire to defend, Countries to be invaded for oil and pseudo-states to support the Neo-Conservatives will never surrender control of the Republican Party. Furthermore, as long as there is a stranglehold on the mainstream media by the neo-liberal left in this Country someone like Ron Paul does not have a chance in Hades to be elected President of the United States of America. As long as lying Neo-Conservatives like Karl Rove, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich are around, the chances of Paleoconservatives like Pat Buchanan or libertarian Conservatives like Ron Paul do not stand a chance of ever being elected.
In closing, America is a great Country; it is just being held hostage, so to speak — by some very powerful and evil people, as is the Republican Party.
Not only was Glenn Beck’s stupidity not funny, it was downright childish. If I were Roger Ailes over a Fox News; I would give that man his walking papers.
I do believe that if anyone has a credibility problem sir, it is you. Numbers do no lie. Fox News Channel is the highest rated news network right now. That might have something to do with the fact they do not kowtow down to your liberal President’s bull crap, nor do they play his propaganda game. Liberalism and big governess are a losing game. Freedom is popular and you, my little liberal idiot friend, are on the wrong side of that game. Period, end of discussion.
In this space, before I post this video; I usually post a disclaimer, because usually, I do not agree with some of the content and ideas presented in this Video report. However, this week, I am going to forgo the disclaimer. Because a good ninety percent of what is presented here, I absolutely agree with and besides, nothing gives me more joy, than to watch freedom-loving Americans making Neo-Conservative fascists look like the damn fools that they are. Yes, it warms the cackles of my stone cold heart to see those who wish to sell our freedoms out to the altar of “Security” made to look like buffoons.
Very well done gents, very, very, well done. 😀
Having said all that —- here is the synopsis and Video….
Synopsis: In this special CPAC expanded edition of the Reality Report, we go face to face with Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich and present the highlights (and lowlights)! ; Gary Franchi runs into former Saturday Night Live star, Victoria Jackson, and interviews CPAC Chair David Keene about the Defender of the Constitution Award. Gary also meets with Jesse Benton, Ron Paul’s Communications Director, to give you the inside scoop on the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign. Jeff Frazee from Young Americans for Liberty joins the show to tell us how he got turned on to Ron Paul’s message. We meet with Congresswoman Nan Hayworth from New York’s 19th district to ask her about her vote for the Patriot Act. We also ask Ron Paul supporters what it is about his message that inspires them. We also take you to the Jordan Page after party for the release of his new album titled “Liberty”. Angie returns to deliver the headlines with a special report on the Young Americans for Freedom and Truth Squad.TV’s confrontation. We’ll read your email, review last week’s poll results and brand a new enemy of the state.
FREDERICTON — A $200-million wind farm in northern New Brunswick is frozen solid, cutting off a potential supply of renewable energy for NB Power.
The 25-kilometre stretch of wind turbines, located 70 kilometres northwest of Bathurst, N.B. has been completely shutdown for several weeks due to heavy ice covering the blades.
GDF SUEZ Energy, the company that owns and operates the site, is working to return the windmills to working order, a spokeswoman says.
“We can’t control the weather,” Julie Vitek said in an interview from company headquarters in Houston, Texas. “We’re looking to see if we can cope with it more effectively, through the testing of a couple of techniques.”
She says the conditions in northern New Brunswick have wreaked havoc on the wind farm this winter.
“For us, cold and dry weather is good and that’s what’s typical in the region. Cold and wet weather can be a problem without any warmer days to prompt thawing, which has been the case this year.
“This weather pattern has been particularly challenging.”
Wintery conditions also temporarily shutdown the site last winter, just months after its completion. Some or all of the turbines were offline for several days, with “particularly severe icing” blamed.
The accumulated ice alters the aerodynamics of the blades, rendering them ineffective as airfoils. The added weight further immobilizes the structures.
Vitek says workers are trying to find a way to prevent ice buildup from occurring again in the future. The shutdown has not had any effect on employment at the site, which provides 12 permanent jobs.
In February 2008, Suez was awarded a contract to build a 33-turbine wind farm at Caribou Mountain. NB Power signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for its 99 megawatts of power capacity, which went online in November 2009.
At the time, the project was praised for bringing NB Power to its goal of having 400 megawatts of wind power capacity by 2010. The facility has enough capacity to power about 19,000 homes.
Just another liberal progressive boondoggle. Wind turbines; in the coldest damned place, outside of maybe Alaska, to build these things. One would think that they would have thought ahead to put a heater, like maybe in the blades or motors to keep them warm, like say, in the winter.
Then again, we are talking about progressives here.; who do seem not to be very keen on being able to think past their nose.
I know, it’s Canada. But, it’s still a progressive fairy tale of epic proportions; and this does prove that.
It is not everyday that the paper of record comes out and basically vindicates Ron Paul and Glenn Beck. But it has happened.
This a bit of a follow up to a previous blog posting that I wrote earlier; it turns out, that not only are clothes going up, but everything is going up. 😮
A package of Oscar Mayer cold cuts. A pair of Nine West boots. A Whirlpool washing machine.
By the fall, people will most likely be paying more for each of them, as rising prices hit most consumer goods, say retailers, food companies and manufacturers of consumer products.
Cotton prices are near their highest level in more than a decade, after adjusting for inflation, and leather and polyester costs are jumping as well. Copper recently hit its highest level in about 40 years, and iron ore, used for steel, is fetching extremely high prices. Prices for corn, sugar, wheat, beef, pork and coffee are soaring. Labor overseas is becoming more expensive, meanwhile, and so are the utility bills to keep a factory running.
“There are cost pressures from virtually everywhere,” said Wesley R. Card, the chief executive of the Jones Group, whose brands include Nine West and Anne Klein. After trying to keep retail prices flat or even lower during the recession, Jones says prices for its brands will climb 15 to 20 percent by autumn.
When commodity prices started to rise last summer, many manufacturers and retailers absorbed the costs, worried that shoppers would not pay higher prices during the competitive holiday season or while the economy was still fragile.
Many big companies, including Kraft, Polo Ralph Lauren and Hanes, say they cannot hold off any longer and must raise prices to protect some profits.
Whether shoppers will pay is unclear. “Consumers are not exactly in the frame of mind or economic circumstances to say ‘Oh, pay whatever they ask,’ ” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist at MFR Inc. “There’s going to be pushback.”
As to why this is all happening? Buried, oh so very far down into the story, there’s this:
Economists say the increases may eventually show up as inflation, though they are not yet projecting rates that would set off alarms. Despite some fears, inflation has been extremely low, at a rate of just 1.4 percent annually in December. Data for January will be released Thursday, but economists expect inflation will run about 2.5 percent this year.
Some do see the creeping signs of higher inflation, and warn that the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates or at least stop pumping more money into the economy. Others argue that such moves would choke off economic growth sorely needed to get companies hiring again.
For consumers, higher prices in stores means there will be a little less extra cash to spend. For companies, profits may be squeezed, making them a little less likely to invest in equipment or to hire aggressively.
“Despite some fears?” Wow. That is about the biggest amount of liberal spin that I have ever seen, I am reminded of this cartoon; where the man is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and he’s say, “we must rise up against this tyranny” or something to that effect and a hand comes down and slaps a record player on his head and it’s repeating, “Everything is fine….Everything is fine…” over and over.
I suggest you go read that entire article and if you happen to watch Glenn Beck’s show; think of everything he has said in the past in regards to the Economy, the bailouts and inflation. Think also of what Ron Paul has said here for the last 30 years about what our Government has done to explode our economy. Turns out, maybe, just maybe; that Ron Paul is not not so crazy after all.
We were warned that this sort of a thing was going to happen, Glenn Beck said it long ago…:
NEW YORK — Clothing prices have dropped for a decade as tame inflation and cheap overseas labor helped hold down costs. Retailers and clothing makers cut frills and experimented with fabric blends to cut prices during the recession.
But as the world economy recovers and demand for goods rises, a surge in labor and raw materials costs is squeezing retailers and manufacturers who have run out of ways to pare costs.
Cotton has more than doubled in price over the last year, hitting all-time highs. The price of synthetic fabrics has jumped roughly 50% as demand for alternatives and blends has risen.
Clothing prices are expected to rise about 10% in coming months, with the biggest increases coming in the second half of the year, said Burt Flickinger III, president of Strategic Resource Group.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has chosen a new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, after months of delay and disagreements between the White House and the State Department over the parameters of the job that became vacant with the December death of Richard C. Holbrooke, senior officials said.
Retired diplomat Marc Grossman is expected to take over as the administration is facing a crucial year for its war strategy in Afghanistan, where it plans to begin U.S. troop withdrawals this summer and to move toward a political settlement including negotiations with the Taliban before the end of 2011.
In Pakistan, a key partner in the strategy, the situation has become even more fraught with peril, as U.S.-Pakistani relations have plummeted to their lowest point in years over Pakistan’s rejection of U.S. demands to grant diplomatic immunity to a U.S. official accused of murder there.
The administration has suspended high-level official contacts with the Pakistanis, and senior members of Congress have warned Islamabad that it risks a cutoff of U.S. aid.
Wow, I was not aware of all these problems. Looks like Hillary Clinton has her work cut out for her. Two things that stand out here:
Why do we keep sending over retired people to handle these situations? Cannot Hillary Clinton or President Obama find anyone who is not at retirement age to handle this problem? Just a thought there, not trying to criticize it; because I doubt John McCain would be able to handle this any better.
This situation with the murder charge just looks bad all around and will most likely hamper our efforts to combat the war on terror and will hinder us from capturing or killing Osama Bin Ladin. Because you cannot capture the bad guys; if you cannot get along with the people where they are hiding.
Again, I have said this a million times here, and I will say it again. Bush handled this whole thing wrong after 9/11. Bush should have went after the Countries that financed the attacks on 9/11. Instead he went after their training grounds, with the assumption that it would be a cakewalk to catch them; and then he went into Iraq, on what we now now to be bad intelligence and also assumed that would be cake walk too — and Afghanistan was left to neglect. As of a result that poor leadership, we now have this mess to contend with. I pity Hillary and even President Obama to a point, they inherited this awful mess and now, they have to make gold, out of a steaming bag of crap. What a mess! I would not want to be in their shoes at all. 🙁
But, that is what happens, when you elect Neo-Conservatives who are on a so-called “Mission from God.” Let this be a lesson to America and to the Republican Party and all who supported and voted for the man. Say what you want, but between the bailouts and his poorly planned war on terror — we find ourselves in a awful mess; both with debt and with foriegn diplomacy.
Devout Muslims do not believe all religions are equal. They believe there is one God, Allah, and submission to his law is the path to paradise. They do not believe in freedom of speech and the press if it means mocking the Prophet. They do not believe in Western dress codes or mixing men and women in schools and sports. They do not believe all lifestyles are equal. Some think adulterers should be stoned and honor killings are justified for girls who disgrace the family.
They wish to live their faith and their culture in our countries, to live alongside us but to dwell apart.
“If you come to France,” said Sarkozy last week, “you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France.”
A little late for that. Some 5 million to 8 million Arabs and Muslims are in France, their birth rate is higher, and more are on the way.
The real questions: Whose idea was it to bring these people in? And what do France, Britain and Germany do if they say: This is a democracy, we will live as we wish to live, according to our beliefs, not yours.
How does a liberal, permissive society that celebrates diversity impose its values on a militant immigrant minority that rejects them?
Answer: It doesn’t. All the rest is chatter.
This is what James Burnham meant when he wrote that liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide.
Amen to that; if we do not wake up and realize that radical Muslims and some cases Muslims in general do not wish to intermingle with we Christians, but rather wish to destroy we Christians and our free capitalist system; it will one day be the death of us. Liberal Progressives and radical Muslims have one thing in common. They want to destroy America and it’s Christian values and it’s capitalistic system.
However, if says such things, he is reviled among the Blogosphere and called a bigot and a racist. These things comes with the territory. Also, something else I feel the need to say; because there are actually people stupid enough to say this; and believe me, blogging for six years brings experience with dealing with idiots, such as thesehere — these people will say, “Well, I thought you said this?:
Not only that but as that little cartoon on my “About This Blog” page says; whenever someone tries to preach disunity, through class warfare, race hatred or Religious intolerance — they seek to rob us of the one founding thing that this Country was founded upon — Freedom
To those people I say, I did say that and I totally stand behind it. However, I will point out to the unwashed masses of liberalism, that just happen to pass by the little blog of mine; that pointing out that fact that Muslims, especially of the radical sort, want to take away our religious freedoms and put all Americans under Sharia Law; that is not racist to mention that, that is simply stating the truth about Islamofacists. Now there are some, like th author quoted above, that believe that ALL Muslims are this way. I personally have not seen that here in America just yet. It is one thing to want that; it is another to be actually able to do such a thing.
So far, when Muslims have tried treading on American values, such as in our schools and so forth; they have been met with much resistance. Hopefully this continues.
But, I am not going to allow people from that forum, that I will not link to here in a blog entry; to come to my site and leave sock puppet comments — especially when the IP addresses on the comments are the same as the man who came and tried to argue with me.
I swear, those people are just straight up vermin and those actions prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt with me. 😡
Well, isn’t this just a lovely story to pick up on a Sunday Morning?
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the United States without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy.
That assertion was revealed by the department – perhaps inadvertently – in its response to a McClatchy request for a copy of a secret Justice Department memo.
Critics say the legal position is flawed and creates a potential loophole that could lead to a repeat of FBI abuses that were supposed to have been stopped in 2006.
The controversy is a legacy of the Bush administration’s war on terror. Critics say the Obama administration appears to be continuing many of the most controversial tactics of that strategy, including the assertion of sweeping executive powers.
For years after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI sought and obtained thousands of telephone records for international calls in an attempt to thwart potential terrorists. The bureau devised an informal system of requesting the records from three telecommunications firms to create what one agent called a “phone database on steroids” that included names, addresses, length of service and billing information.
Which proves to this old school, Paleoconservative, Fundamentalist Christian one thing and one thing alone. That the only difference between a Neo-Liberal; like President Obama and a Neoconservative like President Bush is this —- One loves big Government and the other loves big Government as long as they are the one’s controlling it.
I remember how doing the Bush era, people like Keith Olbermann,were wailing to the top of their lungs about how darned horrible of the Bush Administration to allow such stuff to happen; and now that the Obama Administration is in power, what do you hear?
(click to play)
That is right, absolutely nothing about it at all. That is because the socialist liberals do not give a damn about personal liberty, all they care about is winning elections. All of the attacks against the Bush administration about everything; Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Iraq —- everything —was just partisan politics. It never was about the people; because socialists do not give a darn about the people! All they care about is power – governmental power — everything else to them is just second nature.
Which pretty much sums up why I stopped voted for the Democratic Party. I am pretty much on to their game anymore. They try to come off as the party of the people; but anymore, they are all about the party of the state.
NineEight House Republican freshmen and three inaugural members of the Tea Party Caucus voted against a proposed extension of three Patriot Act provisions Tuesday night, blocking the measure from passage under fast-track rules.
The House clearly backed the measure, voting 277 to 148 to extend the provisions, and most Republicans stuck by their leadership and supported the extension. But enough defected, joined by most Democrats, to keep the measure seven votes shy of the two-thirds majority required for passage under the fast-track procedure.
The House is likely to bring the extensions back up before the end of the month under regular procedures, when a simple majority would suffice to send it to the Senate.
Attention immediately swung to whether House members sympathetic to the tea party had decided the matter, especially after Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Monday that the vote would be “the tea party’s first test.”
******
The vote was a blow to President Obama, who had asked Congress to extend the PATRIOT Act’s surveillance authorities — which are due to expire February 28 — for three years.
House Republican leaders weren’t willing to go that far in removing meaningful congressional checks and balances on the surveillance authorities that both the Bush and Obama administrations have used to conduct “roving surveillance” of communications, to collect and examine business records, and to target individuals who are not tied to terrorist groups for surveillance. But they did propose a one-year extension of the authorities.
Most House Republicans — including supposed defenders of the Constitution such as Michigan Congresswoman Michele Bachmann — went along with their leadership. In so doing, they failed to address fundamental concerns, raised by conservatives and liberals, about Patriot Act abuses of the very Constitution that theyread aloud at the opening of the current Congress.
But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, led the vast majority of House Democrats in opposing any extension. In all, 122 Democrats — roughly two-thirds of the party’s House caucus — voted “no” to extending surveillance authorities that the American Civil Liberties Union warns “give the government sweeping authority to spy on individuals inside the United States and, in some cases, without any suspicion of wrongdoing. All three should be allowed to expire if they are not amended to include privacy protections to protect personal information from government overreach.”
*****
Today, Dennis Kucinich and the Tea Partiers were on the same side. If Obama wants to be on the wrong side of this issue (as he seems to be on the wrong side in nearly every aspect of the ‘War on Terror’), then so be it. But the House of Representatives has shot down (perhaps only temporarily) a measure to extend the three most grievous portions of the Patriot Act from 2001 (the ‘lone wolf’ provision, the roving wiretaps, and the unchecked powers to seize records with little-to-no probable cause). It has been beyond disheartening to watch Barack Obama more or less carry the mantle of unchecked police powers and indefinite detention that highlighted George W. Bush’s reckless and counterproductive ‘War on Terror’ strategy. More importantly, the apparent approval and continuation of such policies by the Obama administration has turned what was once a bitterly divided series of issues into something resembling bi-partisan consensus. Quite frankly, there is much that the likes of Rand Paul and Dennis Kucinich can indeed agree on. Perhaps this may be the start of the genuine liberals in Congress joining with the genuine conservatives in order to attempt to stop much of the genuinely un-American activities that have occurred post-9/11 on our watch and in our name. It is a pipe dream, but it is a goal worth advocating none-the-less.
*****
As Members of Congress, we are obligated to protect the rights and civil liberties afforded to us by the Constitution and to exercise our oversight powers fully. Despite years of documentation evidencing abuse of these provisions by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, they may extended without any meaningful debate or opportunity to implement common-sense reforms to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans are fully protected. Our failure to do so makes Congress complicit in these violations of basic constitutional rights.
****
The three provisions, incidentally, were for surveillance of non-citizens, roving wiretaps of multiple phones owned by a suspect, and the “library records” provision giving the FBI access to, among other things, medical and business records, which apparently was the sticking point for many Republicans voting no. Those three will lapse at the end of the month unless they’re extended; as with the Bush tax cuts, because the issue is contentious, Congress is in perpetual “temporary” extension mode instead of reaching a permanent resolution on any of them. Frankly, if there’s any tea party angle to all this, it’s that there wasn’t more opposition among the GOP freshmen: After months of rhetoric about government intrusion and hand-wringing on both sides about Obama’s expansion of Bush’s counterterror powers — to the point where U.S. citizens like Awlaki are now marked for death by presidential decree — they had some political cover to draw the line on extending parts of the Patriot Act further if they wanted to. (Ron Paul was among the 26 no’s, of course.) Nope.
More than four years after leaving public life, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continues to believe the war in Iraq was worth the effort, and has no apologies for his decision-making in leading the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Rumsfeld concedes that “it’s possible” that decisions on how many troops to send into Iraq marked the biggest mistake of the war.
“In a war, many things cost lives,” Rumsfeld told Sawyer.
Pressed on the fact that President Bush has written that cutting troop levels in Iraq was “the most important failure in the execution of the war,” Rumsfeld called that “interesting.”
I do not much care for the man. He is, in my humble opinion, an ignoramus. But he does have his opinions and he is a human being.
Get the Book:
I also highly recommend George W. Bush’s book as well:
As you know, this is the 100’th birthday of our Nation’s 40’th President.
But I believe it is important to know, what he really did, while he was in office. The Progressive Blog, Think Progress, lists the things that Reagan did while he was in office. These are the ones that I, as a Paleo-Con care about — :
1. Reagan was a serial tax raiser. As governor of California, Reagan “signed into law the largest tax increase in the history of any state up till then.” Meanwhile, state spending nearly doubled. As president, Reagan “raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office,” including four times in just two years. As former GOP Senator Alan Simpson, who called Reagan “a dear friend,” told NPR, “Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times in his administration — I was there.” “Reagan was never afraid to raise taxes,” said historian Douglas Brinkley, who edited Reagan’s memoir. Reagan the anti-tax zealot is “false mythology,” Brinkley said.
2. Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. During the Reagan years, the debt increased to nearly $3 trillion, “roughly three times as much as the first 80 years of the century had done altogether.” Reagan enacted a major tax cut his first year in office and government revenue dropped off precipitously. Despite the conservative myth that tax cuts somehow increase revenue, the government went deeper into debt and Reagan had to raise taxes just a year after he enacted his tax cut. Despite ten more tax hikes on everything from gasoline to corporate income, Reagan was never able to get the deficit under control.
4. Reagan grew the size of the federal government tremendously. Reagan promised “to move boldly, decisively, and quickly to control the runaway growth of federal spending,” but federal spending “ballooned” under Reagan. He bailed out Social Security in 1983 after attempting to privatize it, and set up a progressive taxation system to keep it funded into the future. He promised to cut government agencies like the Department of Energy and Education but ended up adding one of the largest — the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which today has a budget of nearly $90 billion and close to 300,000 employees. He also hiked defense spending by over $100 billion a year to a level not seen since the height of the Vietnam war.
6. Reagan was a “bellicose peacenik.” He wrote in his memoirs that “[m]y dream…became a world free of nuclear weapons.” “This vision stemmed from the president’s belief that the biblical account of Armageddon prophesied nuclear war — and that apocalypse could be averted if everyone, especially the Soviets, eliminated nuclear weapons,” the Washington Monthly noted. And Reagan’s military buildup was meant to crush the Soviet Union, but “also to put the United States in a stronger position from which to establish effective arms control” for the the entire world — a vision acted out by Regean’s vice president, George H.W. Bush, when he became president.
7. Reagan gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants. Reagan signed into law a bill that made any immigrant who had entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty. The bill was sold as a crackdown, but its tough sanctions on employers who hired undocumented immigrants were removed before final passage. The bill helped 3 million people and millions more family members gain American residency. It has since become a source of major embarrassment for conservatives.
8. Reagan illegally funneled weapons to Iran. Reagan and other senior U.S. officials secretly sold arms to officials in Iran, which was subject to a an arms embargo at the time, in exchange for American hostages. Some funds from the illegal arms sales also went to fund anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua — something Congress had already prohibited the administration from doing. When the deals went public, the Iran-Contra Affair, as it came to be know, was an enormous political scandal that forced several senior administration officials to resign.
9. Reagan vetoed a comprehensive anti-Apartheid act. which placed sanctions on South Africa and cut off all American trade with the country. Reagan’s veto was overridden by the Republican-controlled Senate. Reagan responded by saying “I deeply regret that Congress has seen fit to override my veto,” saying that the law “will not solve the serious problems that plague that country.”
10. Reagan helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. Reagan fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union by training, arming, equipping, and funding Islamist mujahidin fighters in Afghanistan. Reagan funneled billions of dollars, along with top-secret intelligence and sophisticated weaponry to these fighters through the Pakistani intelligence service. The Talbian and Osama Bin Laden — a prominent mujahidin commander — emerged from these mujahidin groups Reagan helped create, and U.S. policy towards Pakistan remains strained because of the intelligence services’ close relations to these fighters. In fact, Reagan’s decision to continue the proxy war after the Soviets were willing to retreat played a direct role in Bin Laden’s ascendency.
Now these here, are things that Reagan inherited from Jimmy Carter, and were, of course, by the progressives, blamed on Reagan:
3. Unemployment soared after Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts. Unemployment jumped to 10.8 percent after Reagan enacted his much-touted tax cut, and it took years for the rate to get back down to its previous level. Meanwhile, income inequality exploded. Despite the myth that Reagan presided over an era of unmatched economic boom for all Americans, Reagan disproportionately taxed the poor and middle class, but the economic growth of the 1980?s did little help them. “Since 1980, median household income has risen only 30 percent, adjusted for inflation, while average incomes at the top have tripled or quadrupled,” the New York Times’ David Leonhardt noted.
Which of course, is a liberal talking point. This was actually caused by the raising of taxes under Carter and because of the slump in the economy, caused by inflation; which again, was caused by Democrat’s spending.
Another talking point:
5. Reagan did little to fight a woman’s right to chose. As governor of California in 1967, Reagan signed a bill to liberalize the state’s abortion laws that “resulted in more than a million abortions.” When Reagan ran for president, he advocated a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited all abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, but once in office, he “never seriously pursued” curbing choice.
Well, that might have to do with the fact that President Reagan thought Abortion was murder; however, he knew that it was not the role of the Federal Government to stop abortion — but rather the State’s role. This is because he was a Federalist. Not only that — but — do the liberals know the concept of a campaign promise or saying stuff to get elected? Funny, Obama did the very same things, when he was running. But that’s okay — because he is a liberal! 🙄
When America began to tear herself apart over morality, race, and Vietnam in the 1960s, the old certitudes he articulated and the old virtues he personified held a magnetic attraction for a people bewildered by what was happening to their country. When he spoke, he took us to a higher ground, above petty and partisan squabbles and divisions, where we could dream and be one people again.
Reagan passionately believed in the importance of ideas and husbanded rather than squandered America’s credibility. When Ronald Reagan left office the U.S. truly did stand tall, a far cry from its status today as an isolated, distrusted giant. President Reagan likely would have been horrified: the U.S. initiating war on a lie and then finding itself caught in an unnecessary guerrilla war that has made the West less secure and America more hated by more people than at any point in its history.
Daniel McCarthy — “Getting Reagan Right” The Reagan I Knew could just as fairly have been called The Reagan I Didn’t Know, for after a 40-year friendship, Buckley suddenly realized he had misjudged the man. At National Review’s 30th-anniversay gala in 1985, he toasted the then-president as the consummate cold warrior: “What I said in as many words, dressed up for the party, was that Reagan would, if he had to, pull the nuclear trigger,” writes Buckley. “Twenty years after saying that, in the most exalted circumstance, in the presence of the man I was talking about, I changed my mind.”
Reagan’s speeches abounded with themes that were anything but conservative. He aligned the Republican crusader more closely with America’s expansive liberal temperament. In particular, his brand of evangelical Christianity, combined with fragments of Puritanism, enlightenment optimism, and romantic liberalism, set Reagan apart in key ways from historic conservatism.
A great actor in his greatest role. On balance,during his tenure, taxes increased,inflation increased,government employment increased,the debt increased,the power of government increased yet he made you feel good about it. He “talked the talk” but didn’t “walk the walk.” As to the last few years of his 2nd Administration,I think he was in a different world. Yet, all in all,you couldn’t help like the guy and the way he made you feel proud to be an American.
However, for the record; I think it is important to note, what really causedthe collapse of the Soviet Empire — It sure was not Ronald Reagan. I mean, the man gave a speech in free Germany and automatically, Reagan brought down the Soviet Union. Which, of course, is foolishness. Reagan no more brought down that Soviet Empire, than George W. Bush defeated Al-Qaeda.
While I did admire Ron Reagan for his speaking ability and his ability to lead; as a Paleo-Conservative or as I like call it — a real Conservative — I will say, Reagan was by no means perfect.
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Post updated to reflect differences between legit complaints with Reagan and liberal talking points.
Update: As Always Ed Morrissey offers a “Rose Colored Glasses” version of the history of Reagan. ....and as usual the commenters over there are stupidly comparing that feckless train wreak of a media whore to President Reagan; which is sick, if you ask me. 🙄
I have been meaning to write about this for a few days; but there were other things to write about and this one got cast aside.
I was going to put this one under the whole “Living Proof that liberals are classless assholes” banner. But this one just was just too great, too awful, too nasty.
It appears that Keith Olbermann has some sort of inbred hatred of our United States Military. Now why would I make such a wild accusation as that? For this reason:
I AM very happy that Keith Olbermann is no longer on MSNBC. I participated in more than 10 combat missions in Vietnam, so I know a mission is not a war. Someone should have told that to Olbermann, as he demonstrated his ignorance by equating the two for years on his show.
He would end by saying it has been so many days since President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished’’ in Iraq. Bush never said that. Olbermann was referring to a sign on an aircraft carrier that said “Mission Accomplished.’’ The president declared an end to major combat operations, and therefore the aircraft carrier was headed home.
In Bush’s speech, he said that much work has yet to be done. The sign was for the brave people who had completed their mission.
Olbermann can take the money and run. I don’t care where.
A gentle ribbing towards someone who, if anyone, had the right to say that; after all he was a military officer. Well, not to Keith, who hates anything remotely Military — this was his response: (H/T Nice Deb)
How Keith REALLY feels about our Military
That’s right, Keith believes that people that serve in our Military are dumb. This goes along with the whole mentality that whole idea, by the so-called enlightened liberals that most Military people are simple minded Conservatives who are too stupid to think for themselves. You see, Keith does not have his network bosses to answer to any longer, so, now he can spew his far leftist hatred of all things American; including our Military.
As some of you know and you can know this by searching this blog; I used to hold Keith Olbermann in very high regard. I was, at one point, a regular watcher of Keith’s show. That is, until he started with the intellectual dishonesty and straight up lying about everything under the sun. Well, writing about something is not enough, one must put their money where their mouth is.
So, as of this morning. I have removed the one book that Keith Olbermann wrote off of my Blog’s Bookstore. Unfortunately, I could not remove the one book itself. I had to remove the sections about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Most of it was filled with Anti-Bush and Anti-Cheney books anyhow. I realize that it might not be that big of a deal, not many people buy anything from my Bookstore anyhow. However, with me. It is a personal decision; that I just will not support someone, who is taken to insulting our Military. This is a personal issue with me; it always has been, as I have had family members who served. This is why I have “Lost my shit”, so to speak, in the past, when people have insulted the Military in the Paleo-Conservative circles.
So, Keith, if you happened to even read this; You sir, are history in my book. You just do not insult Military officers, whether active or inactive. Not around me at least. You sir, are no better than the anti-war protesters in the 1960’s who spat upon and mocked the soldiers coming out of Vietnam. In fact, your little smart-assed tweet was, as far as this writer is concerned; was in fact, a virtual spit in the face of a Solider who served proudly in our Military.
For this sir, you are remanded to dustbin of history, as far as I am concerned. You sir are just another Anti-American socialist, who happened to get rich by spewing your lies and bigotry — all the while railing against the very capitalist system that made you rich. Which is a picture perfect example of the blatant hypocrisy of the liberal left. I do hope that you enjoy that money, that in all honesty, you do not deserve to own; and if you just happen to get lucky enough to land another job as a talking head somewhere else. I will be here to blog against your idiotic nonsense. Because as a former “Left of Center,” I am appalled to where you and your communist-lite friends have taken the party that my grandparents and parents voted and still do vote for.
Further more, I find your attacks against our Military sickening and I will be one of many, who will continue to attack you, for your idiotic political viewpoints; until you finally retire and eventually die relieving this Nation of your moronic bombast and empty headed pontifications.
I may be only a small cog in this machine that we call America; but I am a damned good one!
RACISTS like this, are begging for war. Let’s give them one. It is 220,000,000 white people, against 37,000,000 blacks. You know what a genocide looks like? You don’t, because there is no one left, to remember it. Be? smart, though. Let them, make the first violent moves. Let the people, see their violence. Let them give us a reason. Be patient. Do not move, as an individual. Wait. Keep giving them rope, they need, to hang themselves. LOL!!!
WASHINGTON — Nearly two-thirds of cars on the road could have more corn-based ethanol in their fuel tanks under an Environmental Protection Agency decision Friday.
The agency said that 15 percent ethanol blended with gasoline is safe for cars and light-duty trucks manufactured between 2001 and 2006, expanding an October decision that the higher blend is safe for cars built since 2007.The maximum gasoline blend has been 10 percent ethanol.
This decision was made despite repeated warnings from industry experts who have been pleading for more time to perform exhaustive testing. Were they being overly cautious? That’s a difficult argument to make, particularly since we told you last month that one delay in testing came from the fact that the higher ethanol blend fuel was melting down the seals in pumps and storage tanks during testing.
The laundry list of potential problems from this decision is extensive. Asking distributors to carry yet another fuel (even if it doesn’t melt their pumps) will require logistical juggling, equipment changes, new signs and other expenses which are inevitably passed on down to the consumer. Ethanol burns hotter than conventional fuel, leading to earlier failure of catalytic converters. (An expensive fix, as any of you who have been hit with it at the garage will attest.)
All of this is still being pushed under the cloak of a more environmentally friendly solution to energy challenges, a claim which current science has increasingly put in doubt. But would it at least produce any type of savings as we fight to get the budget under control?
Rather than furthering his goal to make America “the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” however, Obama’s focus on biofuels as the way “to break our dependence on oil” would have the opposite effect if it means sending billions more taxpayers dollars to corn country to finance ethanol infrastructure, Cox said. “Building an ethanol infrastructure at taxpayer’s expense will just lock us further into the past rather than lead us to tomorrow’s energy future,” added Cox, who heads EWG’s Ames, Iowa, office.
Jazz makes a very, very, very, very good point here:
This is clearly a victory for King Corn, but lies in stark contrast to the President’s stated goals of Winning the Future. Exit question: Even if gas stations manage to offer this for cars built in 2001 and after, how will they ensure drivers of older vehicles don’t wind up putting it in their vehicles without retooling the entire delivery system?
Good question. I can see the lawsuits coming now. The first idiot that accidentally puts the corn-laced fuel into an older vehicle and tears the snot out of his engine; and ends up suing the gas station, the fuel delivery company and the oil company that produced the product and comes away with a few million dollars — will cause this little program to be stopped in it’s tracks. Think it would not happen? Think again; there are tons and I do mean TONS of lawyers out there, that are chomping at the bit to take a lawsuit like this and make money off of it.
Updated to add: ….and there is a alternative scenario — What will happen is, some person, who is barely getting by and making minimum wage, and can barely afford a car. This person will accidentally fuel up with this Ethanol laced gas, it will gum up his motor and the poor man will end up having to junk the car and will have scrape around for another one. That is the part that really bothers me. The fact that liberals are so damned hell-bent on fulfilling an agenda that they do not think of all of the possibilities — and because of that, someone out there, not necessarily someone of means; gets screwed in the end. That my friends is the sad part.
Just another example of your feckless Government at work. 🙄
Please note: The posting on this video does NOT constitute support for all of the views therein. It is posted for your education and information.
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Synopsis: In the 78th edition of the Reality Report, Gary Franchi draws the direct parallels America shares with Hitler’s Germany and provides the solution to avoiding their terrible fate. We take a look at Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk where he discusses what a new found interest in the Constitution could mean for America. CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff tells us why the Chinese modeled their currency after the U.S. dollar. We also hear from the former U.S. military analyst who is responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg. He explains the recent war on whistle-blowers. Chris Mathews latest hypocrisy is revealed and Angie breaks down the news. As always we take a dip into the mailbag, reveal the results from last weeks viewer poll and brand a new Enemy of the State.
