Gasoline pump prices reached a 28-month high today even though oil and gas supplies in the U.S. continue to grow and demand for gas is weak.
The national average for regular gasoline rose to $3.133 a gallon. That’s about $1.20 more than the price at the pump two years ago, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service.
Just eight states have average prices less than $3 a gallon. The cheapest is $2.94 a gallon is in Missouri. Hawaii has the highest average of $3.746 a gallon.
Tom Kloza, OPIS chief oil analyst, predicted gas prices will range from $3.50 to $3.75 a gallon this spring and then drift lower, to between $3 and $3.40 a gallon.
“I do believe that this year is front-end loaded,” Kloza said. “I think that perhaps the first third of the year sees higher retail prices for gasoline and diesel than the middle or final thirds.”
Average gas prices have climbed steadily from about $2.80 a gallon in November even though consumer demand has been weak and inventory levels remain high. The Energy Department said today that supplies of crude and gasoline both rose again last week while distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, declined. All three products are at or above the average range for the past five years.
Demand for gasoline remains weak and may be getting weaker. In its weekly survey Mastercard SpendingPulse said gasoline consumption across the country fell 3 percent last week compared to the week before and suggested that higher prices may be discouraging driving and trips to the gas station.
Not one word in that article mentions inflation of our currency. That is why gas prices are going up; plus too, there is a bit of instability in the Arab World right now. Put that all together and you are paying a nice price at the pump.
To be quite honest, I do not own a car, at the moment. I had to junk mine, it had just too many issues. Honestly? I am kind of glad, that I do not own a car. To me, that means less money spent at the pump. 😀
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.
This is a very interesting story, the problem is; I cannot embed the stupid video, because the U.K. Guardian does not allow embedding of their videos. doggone putzes. 🙄
In a small flat in the German town of Erlangen in February 2003, an out-of-work Iraqi sat down with his wife to watch one of the world’s most powerful men deliver the speech of his career on live TV.
As US secretary of state, Colin Powell gathered his notes in front of the United Nations security council, the man watching — Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, known to the west’s intelligence services as “Curveball” — had more than an inkling of what was to come. He was, after all, Powell’s main source, a man his German handlers had feted as a new “Deep throat” — an agent so pivotal that he could bring down a government.
As Curveball watched Powell make the US case to invade Iraq, he was hiding an admission that he has not made until now: that nearly every word he had told his interrogators from Germany’s secret service, the BND, was a lie.
Everything he had said about the inner workings of Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons programme was a flight of fantasy – one that, he now claims was aimed at ousting the Iraqi dictator. Janabi, a chemical engineering graduate who had worked in the Iraqi industry, says he looked on in shock as Powell’s presentation revealed that the Bush administration’s hawkish decisionmakers had swallowed the lot. Something else left him even more amazed; until that point he had not met a US official, let alone been interviewed by one.
“I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” he told the Guardian in a series of interviews carried out in his native Arabic and German. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
His interviews with the Guardian, which took place over two days, appeared to be partly a purge of conscience, partly an attempt to justify what he did. It also seems to be a bid to resurrect his own reputation, which might help him start again in Iraq — a country that eight years later is still reeling from more than 100,000 civilian deaths and the aftermath of a savage sectarian war.
I very highly recommend that you go read the rest of that; because it is very much involved. I must confess, I have very much mixed feelings about watching that; on one hand, It sort of angers me, that this idiot was trusted to the point of sending our and other nations troops over there and for what? Because of a guy who hated Saddam enough to lie? On the other hand; which is the overriding feeling is this — Saddam was, as we all know; a very bad man and treated his own people horribly. So, in hind sight, perhaps it was all worth it.
Ace is not buying the dude’s reasoning; it is a really long posting, I’ll quote a snippet, but I highly recommend you read his too. Thus saith Ace:
So to me this is guy being pressed for further information or proof and (having none) saying “Fine, if that’s what he says.” That doesn’t seem to sound anything like a confession, and I’m not surprised that no one took it as such at the time.
Furthermore, I don’t trust Curveball now, either. We already know, by self-confession, he’s a longtime liar who tells interested parties what they wish to hear. His current version of reality is that the spun these lies for the patriotic purpose of deposing a tyrant; he doesn’t mention that valued intelligence assets get money and nice little protected apartments, too.
Again, as with the Guardian story, Go read the rest. As it is a very interesting read. The gomer award should go to a bunch of people and a couple of Governments, including ours. The real cute part is this; you know how the left says Bush and Co. are all war criminals; if that is the case, ol’ Curvy here, is an accessory and should be tried as well. Truth is, Bush and Co. acted on what they had, which was this guy and other pieces of fragmented evidence. Because of it, they acted. In all honesty, Bush and Co. are simply guilty of violating an old Russian proverb — Trust, but verify. For that, they paid for it dearly, in the loss of the trust of the American people.
No amount of navel grazing will ever change anything, bring back the lost Vets and such. We just should ensure that this never, ever, happens again. Because this War will be a black mark on America’s record for a very long time. God help us, if this ever happens again.
Update: John Sexton, writing over at HotAir.com, has an excellent take on this story:
Now we know that the justification for the war really was based in part on a lie. The left can find some vindication in this fact. That said, the details presented do not support the idea that some dark cabal within the Bush administration organized our entrance into Iraq. On the contrary, we now know who the liar was and he wasn’t part of the administration. We also know why he lied, and it wasn’t to get rich off Iraqi oil, to finish what Bush 41 started or any of the other explanations the left has offered over the years. Curveball wanted to see Saddam toppled for the good of the Iraqi people.
Of course that doesn’t mean American soldiers and taxpayers should have had to go along for the ride. Conspiracies aside, there’s plenty to be upset about here. Numerous intelligence agencies failed, starting with the German BND which interviewed Curveball over a period of six months. British and American intelligence agencies failed to detect the fraud as well. The result is that we were led to war, in part, by a lie. Even if you believe the US is better off without Saddam in Iraq, you can’t be pleased about taking such a big swing on a curveball.
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.
Finding a free condom in the Big Apple is now a click away.
The city Health Department is unveiling a free iPhone application on Monday – Valentine’s Day – that allows New Yorkers to input an address and find five nearby places to grab a free condom.
“We are trying to reach everyone having sex,” said Monica Sweeney, the agency’s point person for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. “The younger generation uses their iPhone and we want to make it convenient for them to access condoms.”
Since Valentine’s Day often inspires couples to get frisky, it was a fitting launch date, officials said. “A lot of people’s minds turn to matters of the heart on Valentine’s Day and matters of the heart often lead to matters of the body, so we think a lot of people use them that day,” Sweeney said.
New Yorkers can also download the application on the Android or go to www.nyc.gov/health and type in their zip code to find locations with free NYC Condoms. They’re available at many community centers, health clinics, neighborhood stores – even tattoo parlors and barber shops. With the aid of GPS, the app will give walking, driving and subway directions to the site.
Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood will apply to become a political party, it announced Tuesday.
The Brotherhood “envisions the establishment of a democratic, civil state that draws on universal measures of freedom and justice, with central Islamic values serving all Egyptians regardless of colour, creed, political trend or religion,” it said in the statement.
Although officially illegal, the Muslim Brotherhood is regarded as one of the most organized groups in Egypt.
As Jim Hoft does rightly point out; The Muslim Brotherhood does want Sharia Law in Egypt and everywhere else in the World. The question is, will they get it? Some say that it is highly doubtful this would actually happen, and some say yes, it could in fact happen. The truth is, nobody really knows; which has Conservatives and the truth be told; everyone in the Pentagon, The White House, and in many Governments in the Arabian peninsula — not to mention Israel.
“I was not a fan of Bush 2 because what happened. He gave us Obama. He did so poorly that he gave us Obama. He got us into a war that we shouldn’t be in that is now the longest running war in the history of the country. The country has been drained of its assets because of it and amazingly Obama is carrying forward and he’s become a warmonger that is even worse than Bush.”
Hmm… Let’s see. America’s longest war is the one in Afghanistan. Does Donald Trump really think we should not have attacked Afghanistan? Only Code Pink at the time thought we should not attack Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
And, for future reference… Obama and Pelosi blew more money on their failed stimulus than George Bush did in ridding the world of Saddam Hussein and bringing democracy to Iraq.
It wasn’t the Iraq War that broke the bank.
The CBO reported that the total cost of the eight-year war was less than the stimulus bill passed by the Democratic-led Congress in 2009 – via FOX News.
If The Donald wants to be taken seriously as a presidential contender he better stop getting his news from the mainstream media.
Looks like “The Donald” needs to polish those talking points just a bit; and possibly stop reading press releases from the Campaign for Liberty website. If he ever wants to appeal to the Neo-Conservative establishment. Just a thought.
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 the core challenge of this time is not the cost of discretionary spending. Obama knows this; everyone knows this. The crisis is the cost of future entitlements and defense, about which Obama proposes nothing. Yes, there’s some blather. But Obama will not risk in any way any vulnerability on taxes to his right or entitlement spending to his left. He convened a deficit commission in order to throw it in the trash. If I were Alan Simpson or Erskine Bowles, I’d feel duped. And they were duped. All of us who took Obama’s pitch as fiscally responsible were duped.
The cynical political calculation is obvious and it is well put by Yglesias and Sprung. If Obama backs Bowles-Simpson, the GOP will savage him for the tax hikes, while also scaring the wits out of the elderly on Medicare. The Democratic left – just look at HuffPo today – will have a cow. Indeed, if Obama backs anything, the GOP will automatically oppose him. He has to wait for a bipartisan agreement which he can then gently push ahead. But that’s exactly why we are in this situation today. Because no president has had the balls to deal with it, and George W. Bush made it all insanely worse. Sprung says the proposal on corporate taxes is a trial balloon
I will not really get into all this; all I know is, we are in a crap load of debt, which is more then out entire Gross Domestic Product. Now, like some Right-Wing blogs, I am not going to sit here, like a chump and tell you it is all the Democrats fault. The truth is both parties are guilty of this nonsense of spending money we do not have; and now both parties are acting like total buffoons, instead actually trying to get it down. Which is not totally surprising.
However, I do find it mildly amusing that the same blogger, who was essentially Barack Obama’s poodle dog during the 2008 election cycle is now the first blogger to come out swinging against him. Which proves my theory entirely of the fact that liberals, which is what Sully is, not a Conservative; are just not much loyal to the one’s that they elect. My opinion? Sure, that is what I do here. However, based upon what I have been seeing in the left wing media in this day and age; my opinion not that very far off.
Having said all of that….. CUE THE MUSIC! HIT IT B.B.!
A port official has admitted that a ‘weapon of mass effect’ has been found by ‘partner agencies’ in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.
The disturbing revelation came in an interview with San Diego’s assistant port director screened by a television channel in the city.
The Customs and Border Protection Department tried to dampen speculation over his remarks, but doubts remained over whether he had inadvertently revealed a dirty bomb plot to attack the U.S. mainland.
Concern over a secret WMD bust came after U.S. cables made public by the Wikileaks whistleblower website revealed terror groups were plotting a ‘nuclear 911.’
In the interview screened by San Diego’s 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said ‘weapons of mass effect’ had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.
Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: ‘Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?’
‘At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,’ the customs official replied.
‘So, specifically, you’re looking for the dirty bomb? You’re looking for the nuclear device?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Correct. Weapons of mass effect,’ said Mr Hallor.
‘You ever found one?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Not at this location,’ Mr Hallor said.
‘But they have found them?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Hallor.
‘You never found one in San Diego though?’ Mr Blacher asked.
‘I would say at the port of San Diego we have not,’ Mr Hallor said.
‘Have you found one in San Diego?’ Mr Blacher asked.
The interview was then interrupted and cut short by a public relations official before Mr Hallor was able to answer the question.
San Diego’s Customs and Border Protection agency was unavailable for comment today.
All of the other Conservatives blogs are saying this guy will lose his job. I doubt that; but my real concern is that they have found WMD’s in this Country. It looks like the whole canard that is touted by the Paleo-Conservatives and the Paul nuts and the liberal left that the War on Terror is a Government invention is a load of bunk.
I may not agree with interventionist foreign policy, but I do agree with protecting the homeland; I am grateful that our homeland security officers have caught this stuff coming in. Hopefully, they will continue to be successful in catching this stuff, before it is too late.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans proposed that Mississippi issue a specialty plate honoring General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who many historians say was the first Grand
Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist group that terrorized blacks in the South after the Civil War.
Forrest is the only individual they want to commemorate. All the other plates would be in remembrance of battles that took place in Mississippi or Confederate veterans as a whole.
The proposal must be approved by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Haley Barbour.
(CNN) — The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans has launched the campaign to recognize Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on a specialty license plate.
Forrest, a popular and controversial figure, is best known as a leader of the KKK, the white supremacist group known for terrorizing blacks in the South after the Civil War.
He is also praised and criticized for an 1864 raid at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, where hundreds of black Union Army members were killed during the war. The controversy over whether Forrest conducted or condoned the massacre is still a matter for heated debate.
Mississippi NAACP leaders feel a state-sanctioned license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people in the state and across the country.
“Any individual who was a traitor to our country and our Constitution should be treated as such,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the state NAACP chapter.
Forrest was a “terrorist” whose acts were “immoral and unconstitutional,” Johnson said. Honoring him or anyone who promoted racial hatred or violence would be offensive, he said.
The NAACP isn’t alone in its protest against the SCV. More than 1,700 Mississippians have joined a Facebook group called Mississippians Against The Commemoration Of Grand Wizard Nathan Forrest.
The group’s website says they “are united in sending a message to the state government of Mississippi that WE WILL NOT STAND for the public glorification of one of the original leaders of the Ku Klux Klan.”
The proposal by the Sons of Confederate Veterans seeks to honor Confederate generals.
“If we can’t hold him up to where he’s supposed to be, then nobody else is gonna do it,” group member Greg Stewart said. Forrest is being “unfairly maligned,” he told CNN.
Most historians agree that Forrest left the KKK after less than two years because the small pockets of groups were growing rapidly, were unorganized and violent.
Forrest felt “they had the right idea, but went about it the wrong way,” said Mike Martinez, a part-time political science instructor at Kennesaw State University. Despite his short stint with the Klan, Martinez said Forrest’s affiliation with the organization gave it credibility.
Stewart said Forrest was chosen to be recognized not because of his time with the KKK, but for his spirit and leadership during the Civil War.
His image is one in a series of five that will have to be approved on a year-by-year basis by the state legislature, Stewart said.
Other Confederacy symbols to be used on license plates are Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, the battle for Vicksburg, the battle of Shiloh and Confederate soldiers.
“unfairly maligned” by ass. The man was racist and should be remembered as so. Screw him and rest of those damned racist assholes. Like this guy here. 😡
The man’s name is Jamie Kelso and you can read all about this bigot here. I find these people to be most detesting, as it says on my newly minted “about me” page. I grew up in a multicultural environment and these people just offend me to the high heavens. 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.
This is not to say that I do not believe that identity politics is an issue; I really do believe that. However, my modus operandi is not about race hatred, my modus operandi is simply about hating liberalism, Progressivism, and Marxism. (but then again, I do repeat myself there, three times! 😛 ) Anytime you attempt to take from those who have, and give it to those who did not work a damned day for it — you are pitting classes of people against one another. You see, I used to believe that populism was an pro-American belief; and at time some point, it might have been. However, I believe the pro-American thought process evaporated and now an anti-capitalist, anti-rich, anti-prosperity mentality has taken over those ranks. Which is, as far as this writer is concerned, anti-American. The problem is, the populists began to think that the only way to get what they wanted and that was help for their farms; was to infiltrate the Government. This was a very flawed mentality. Further more, Populists believe that big business is the enemy of the people. I am afraid that I was very wrong about that, as were the populist. Big business is NOT the enemy of the people — big Government is the enemy of the people — as is Progressivism.
Here is the video, which comes with a Hat Tip to Ed Morrissey:
Also, I believe I should mention this; I am not totally oblivious to the fact there are Anti-Semite and Racist elements to the Paleo-Conservative movement. Believe me, I know all about them. The only reason they have been allowed to fester in our circles, is because no one has had the courage to stand up and denounce them. I will admit, there are some in Paleo-Conservative circles who justify and even approve of such idiotic stuff. I am not one of them. 😡
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.
Full statement from Vice-President Suleiman: “In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country. May God help everybody.”
Make no mistake, this was a Military Coup.
You can watch the live coverage Here,Here, and Here.
Great news for the administration/president. People will remember , despite some fumbles yesterday, that the President played an excellent hand, walked the right line and that his statement last night was potentially decisive in brining this issue to a close. The situation remains complicated and delicate going forward, but this is a huge affirmation of the President’s leadership on the international stage.
Oh Brother. Talk about spinning like a top! 🙄 Yeah, President Obama did it; by being behind the curve, the point of looking like a total buffoon? Please.
Either way, this is a much historic day in Egypt. I simply look at it with cautious optimism. I just hope it goes well; and that Egypt does not turn into another Iran. — and believe you me; it could very well happen. I like to think that it would not; seeing that Egypt is a secular Country. However, where evil gathers; things happen.
President Obama will be delivering a message; of course, and when it becomes available on video. I will post it here. Update #3: Still waiting on that. See below…
Update: Video: Happy people tend to be bit noisy!:
Some depressing news, it isn’t going to get much better in Egypt:
As in many undemocratic countries, the military is more than just the military. Egypt’s officer corps is said to own or operate vast networks of commercial enterprises, including water, construction, cement, olive oil, the hotel and gasoline industries—in all, about one-third of the country’s economy—as well as vast chunks of seaside property…
The army’s material interests don’t mesh so well with the premises of a thriving middle-class society. And the absence of such a society—the combination of large numbers of well-educated young people and few jobs to suit their talents—has no doubt fueled these last two weeks of protest.
That same WikiLeaks cable from the U.S. embassy in Cairo reported that the military views efforts at privatization “as a threat to its economic position, and therefore generally opposes economic reforms.” To the extent the military does retain power in Egypt, the people’s “rising expectations” may be frustrated, regardless of the outcome of this current clash. Whatever happens in the coming days and weeks, Egypt, once the emblem of Arab stability, might be locked in the dynamics of revolution for a long time to come.
The practical demands of the protesters seem fairly simple: end the state of emergency, hold new elections, and grant the freedom to form parties without state interference. But these demands would amount to opening up the political space to everyone across Egypt’s social and political structure. That would involve constitutional and statutory changes, such as reforming Egypt as a parliamentary rather than a presidential system, in which a freely elected majority selects the prime minister (who is now appointed by the president). These changes would wipe away the power structure the army created in 1952 and has backed since.
A freely elected parliament and a reconstituted government would weaken the role of the presidency, a position the military is likely to try to keep in its portfolio. Moreover, open elections could hand the new business elites power in parliament where they could work to limit the role of the army in the economy. This would put the army’s vast economic holdings — from the ubiquitous propane cylinders that provide all Egyptian homes with cooking gas to clothing, food, and hotels — in jeopardy. Moreover, the army has always preferred that the country be orderly and hierarchical. It is uncomfortable with the growing participatory festival on the streets and, even if the officers were to tolerate more contestation than their grandfathers did in the 1950s, they would likely try to limit participation in politics to those whose lives have been spent in the military by retaining the system of presidential appointment for government ministers.
Sigh…
Update #2: Now they’re saying that the Army threatened to bolt, if Mubarak did not quit:
A mystery solved, maybe: Richard Engel claims that senior Egyptian military leaders expected Mubarak to quit yesterday and were “furious” when he didn’t, going so far as to threaten to resign and join the protests if he didn’t do so today. True, or self-serving spin after the fact aimed at proving that they were on the people’s side all along? The rumor yesterday was that Mubarak’s speech was pre-recorded; if that’s true, then if the military disapproved of it, presumably they could have stopped it from airing. I still like my “trial balloon” theory from way up top in this post better.
Actually, both could be the case. The President could have made that video to test the waters; and when he saw it did not work, he bolted. Plus, during that time, the Army could have simply said “get out!” It could have been a mutual decision. The truth is, I highly doubt that we will ever know what really happened; at least not for a very long time.
Just my opinion. 😛
Also too; I will confess; I am shocked that he resigned. I figure that Mubarak would hang on and we would continue to prop him up, to keep the Saudi’s from doing it. I guess not! Maybe the pressure was just too much.
Update #3: Here’s the video, But I must ask, as the Anchoress did on twitter: Where was this speech when the Green Revolution first got going in Iran?Update #4: After writing that, I had a little time to think about it; and besides the oil thing, which I wrote about below, there is also another reason why Obama did not engage with Iran, like he did Egypt. The reason is this; put simply, we do not have normalized relations with Iran, like we do Egypt. We have not had that sort of a thing, since the Carter Administration. So, being that the case; there was not much Obama could do, without causing an uproar; that would have resulted in Oil and Gas prices going through the roof — of which the Republican Party would have blamed him for, like they have done about everything else. 😀 Sorry, it is the truth. Not popular among those on the right, but just the same, quite true.
There’s one answer to that; Oil — That’s right oil. If we had done the same thing in Iran. That Strait of Hormuz would have been shut down so quick; and the price of a barrel of oil would have sky rocketed, and our gas prices would have went through the roof. That is why President Obama did nothing more than they did in Iran.
For all of President Obama’s faults, one main one being his politics —- being an uninformed idiot is not one of them. I am all for Iran having Freedom, but not at the cost of gas going to 8 dollars a gallon.
“In the process many have formed some unusual bonds that reflect the singularly nonideological character of the Egyptian youth revolt, which encompasses liberals, socialists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
‘I like the Brotherhood most, and they like me,’ said Sally Moore, a 32-year-old psychiatrist, a Coptic Christian and an avowed leftist and feminist of mixed Irish-Egyptian roots. “They always have a hidden agenda, we know, and you never know when power comes how they will behave. But they are very good with organizing, they are calling for a civil state just like everyone else, so let them have a political party just like everyone else’”
Perhaps maybe next Bill Kristol ought to keep his mouth shut. Because every time Kristol opens his mouth, he exposes himself for the Neo-Conservative buffoon that he really is.
More broadly though is Glenn’s point, which is that an Islamic/left caliphate will happen; it could very well happen. Far Leftists and Muslims have one thing in common, that is their hatred of Israel — or specifically, a hatred of Zionism and everything, and everyone related to it. The problem is; these people in their quest to see Egypt free would be willing to risk their lives to trust people, who would actually like to kill them, once Sharia law was enacted.
The fear among Government officials, including the United States, is that this new Government will install a leader that will want to declare war on Israel or at least be unfriendly to Israel; you know like Iran? However, no matter, “The One” will extend his mighty hand and all will be fine in the Middle East — Right? Right?!?!
The problem with Kristol’s idea of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is that the people of Egypt had no civil rights and the Neo-Conservatives, like Bill Kristol, do not care about civil rights; as long as Israel is protected until the very last ounce of money is spent and the last drop of blood is spilled. This has been the Neo-Conservative’s modus operandi since day one and they do not show any signs of changing anytime soon.
The good news is that the Neo-Conservatives are losing their grip on the intellectual discourse here in America. The still might have their op-eds. However, the American Tea-Party movement came with the agenda of “No more business as usual.” Questions are being asked about the wisdom of foreign policy. Neo-Conservatives position on foreign policy is being challenged by many with the Republican Party and from within the Conservative movement. We Paleo-Conservatives are no longer outcasts; and that my friend is good for everyone.
Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist’s “Women Seeking Men” forum, he’s Christopher Lee, “divorced” “lobbyist” and “fit fun classy guy.” One object of his flirtation told us her story.
On the morning of Friday, January 14, a single 34-year-old woman put an ad in the “Women for Men” section of Craigslist personals. “Will someone prove to me not all CL men look like toads?” she asked, inviting “financially & emotionally secure” men to reply.
Rep. Christopher Lee resigned Wednesday after a report claimed the married Republican congressman sent a shirtless photo of himself to a woman on Craigslist.
Earlier Wednesday Lee, asked by Fox News about the report as he was walking to his car, said he was not willing to talk about the issue, adding “I have to work this out with my wife.”
The New York congressman left his office Wednesday after a report surfaced on the website Gawker claiming an anonymous 34-year-old woman was contacted by Lee after she placed an ad in the “Women for Men” personals section on Craigslist.
According to the report, he used a Gmail account, which was later deleted, to contact the woman, claiming to be a divorced lobbyist. Lee is married with one son. The article said Lee at first sent a normal picture of himself and then sent a “PG-13 muscle picture” — the picture published by Gawker showed a shirtless man posing in a mirror.
“Thanks…so do you always send shirtless pics to women from cl?” the response e-mail said, according to the correspondence published online.
“Sorry. Its all I had,” the sender replied.
What sucks is, people that do stuff like that are always so toady about it. Resign and go into hiding; and basically get his butt kicked by his wife. if she does not leave him first. I mean, he was all big about it; until he got caught.
As the lone Paleo-Con here; maybe if his wife was, um, “Take care of him” and giving him what he needs to feel like man — maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I’m just saying. Men do that stuff for reason. Maybe his wife is not keeping him happy. Of course, when you say that; the feminists or the Femin-Nazis as I call them —- will say your a sexist.
Anyhow, hope he can “work it out” with his wife. But something tells me; she is going to work him out! 😮
Update: OOPS! I was under the impression that this guy was a New York State Senator! Turns out, he is a Senator on Capital Hill! 😮 My Apologies. 😀
Which takes this from a normal, everyday screw up… to a BIG, HUGE, Oh my farking goodness — kinda of a screw up! 😉
In what could potentially be a huge indication of Huckabee’s future political plans (or lack thereof), Huckabee’s presidential committee Huckabee for President, Inc has filed termination paperwork with the FEC, essentially ending all political operations associated with a presidential run.
The report was filed with the FEC on 1/31/11 at the time other political committees were filing their usual year-end reports, and can be viewed here.
On that same date, Huckabee’s team filed a regular year-end report for Huck PAC — meaning that Huckabee has made the intentional decision to continue Huck PAC operations while ceasing the operations of Huckabee for President, Inc.
According to FEC guidelines, filing a termination report means, among other things, that “the committee no longer intends to receive contributions, make expenditures, or make any disbursements that would otherwise qualify it as a political committee.”
Huckabee for President, Inc was founded in April of 2007 and has been filing regular quarterly or monthly reports with the FEC until now.
I must add an important caveat: as I am not thoroughly versed in FEC campaign laws, it is not precisely clear what this filing means – but we will keep digging to find out. Stay tuned for more details and analysis as the situation becomes more clear. As Drudge says, developing…
The report of termination can be viewed here. This could mean nothing and then again; this could mean that Mike Huckabee is not running for President. Seeing he did poll around the level of Palin. It could be that Huckabee figures he is making better money with Fox News Channel and the whole idea of running for President is just not worth the hassle.
Quite bluntly, I do not like the man at all. Basically, he is a Democrat with a Bible. Further more, he is one of those types that wants to force a Christian Sharia Law type of Government on the United States; and that does bother me, as a libertarian type. So, to me personally, I find this to be quite the relief.
Besides, who, outside of the far right, would even vote for the man? 🙄
Mike Huckabee has cleaned up some business from 2008 ahead of a potential 2012 run, closing out his old presidential campaign committee and personally paying down a small amount of debt, FEC records reviewed by POLITICO show.
Huckabee filed the termination report to Huckabee for President last week.
It included a $41,000 payment by Huckabee to his own campaign, which helped settle about $80,000 outstanding debt owed for travel reimbursements to news outlets and a direct mail firm.
Huck PAC executive director Hogan Gidley confirmed to POLITICO that the payments were made.
“It should be obvious why the governor closed his 2008 Huckabee for President committee — it’s not 2008 anymore,” Gidley said. “The expenses and obligations acquired from the ‘08 Campaign had to settled. After all, Governor Huckabee can’t start a campaign for 2012, until he closes out the old one from 2008.”
Theoretically, Huckabee could use the same campaign committee this time around, but candidates who make a second go of it often begin anew.
It’s not unusual for a candidate to personally pay down money, although for such a small sum Huckabee likely could have raised cash. However, sources noted he ran a basically debt-free effort in 2008 and was surprised to hear there were still a few loose ends, and wanted to get things taken care of.
So, basically, we should not count Mike Huckabee out yet.
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.
This comes via HotAir.com, it’s obligatory as hell; but you know what? This self-consumed prick has it coming:
Please note: I used the dollar signs, because I really do not like the idea of my personal swear words appearing on someone else’s blog. It is just a personal editorial decision of mine.
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:
