May 18, 2013
Midwest gas pains
Jack Kemp forwards this:
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2013/05/18/midwest-refinery-woes-pump-up-gas-price-pain/?subscriber=1
Midwest refinery woes pump up gas price pain
By USA Today May 18, 2013 6:50 am
Troubles at several oil refineries are driving gasoline prices sharply higher in the Midwest, and the regional shortages are expected to boost pump prices nationwide.
While the USA may be dripping in new-found crude oil deposits, and early May supplies were at their highest levels since the early 1930s, issues at a handful of refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel fuel underscore how kinks in the supply chain can cause quick surges in what consumers pay at the pump.
Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have jumped up to 27 cents a gallon in the past week alone.
Behind the rise: Outages and extended maintenance has curbed output at refineries in Joliet, Ill.; Whiting, Ind.; Tulsa; and El Dorado, Kan.
In Minnesota, regular gas now averages $3.99 a gallon -- an all-time state record. With some Twin Cities outlets now selling gas for more than $4.20 a gallon, Patrick DeHaan, senior analyst for price tracker GasBuddy.com, expects Minnesota to average the priciest gasoline in the continental U.S., overtaking California, which now averages $4.06 a gallon.
"It's amazing what problems refinery issues can cause," says DeHaan. "If another refinery went down, all hell would break loose."
Nationally, prices average $3.60 a gallon after beginning 2013 at $3.29. Some industry observers thought this year's prices had peaked at $3.78 in February after they slid to $3.50 on April 29. But the Midwest's refinery issues are now expected to propel prices for several weeks, perhaps to $3.85 a gallon nationwide.
"Supplies were already low in the Midwest -- that's why we're seeing such a dramatic increase. While this is a regional problem, it's definitely going to push overall prices up -- no doubt about it," says Brian Milne of energy adviser Schneider Electric.
The price surge in the Midwest could have a broader economic impact. Thursday, the Labor Department said April's drop in gas prices helped push consumer inflation down 0.4%.
Earlier this week, the Commerce Department cited lower-price gas for spurring a slight gain in April consumer spending.
Rising gas prices will likely reverse both trends, however.
"In each of the last two years, 60% of Americans said they cut back on discretionary spending when gas prices rise," says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.
"There's no reason to expect a different result in 2013. And any surge in gas prices would further detract from meager economic growth."
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2013/05/18/midwest-refinery-woes-pump-up-gas-price-pain/?subscriber=1
Midwest refinery woes pump up gas price pain
By USA Today May 18, 2013 6:50 am
Troubles at several oil refineries are driving gasoline prices sharply higher in the Midwest, and the regional shortages are expected to boost pump prices nationwide.
While the USA may be dripping in new-found crude oil deposits, and early May supplies were at their highest levels since the early 1930s, issues at a handful of refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel fuel underscore how kinks in the supply chain can cause quick surges in what consumers pay at the pump.
Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have jumped up to 27 cents a gallon in the past week alone.
Behind the rise: Outages and extended maintenance has curbed output at refineries in Joliet, Ill.; Whiting, Ind.; Tulsa; and El Dorado, Kan.
In Minnesota, regular gas now averages $3.99 a gallon -- an all-time state record. With some Twin Cities outlets now selling gas for more than $4.20 a gallon, Patrick DeHaan, senior analyst for price tracker GasBuddy.com, expects Minnesota to average the priciest gasoline in the continental U.S., overtaking California, which now averages $4.06 a gallon.
"It's amazing what problems refinery issues can cause," says DeHaan. "If another refinery went down, all hell would break loose."
Nationally, prices average $3.60 a gallon after beginning 2013 at $3.29. Some industry observers thought this year's prices had peaked at $3.78 in February after they slid to $3.50 on April 29. But the Midwest's refinery issues are now expected to propel prices for several weeks, perhaps to $3.85 a gallon nationwide.
"Supplies were already low in the Midwest -- that's why we're seeing such a dramatic increase. While this is a regional problem, it's definitely going to push overall prices up -- no doubt about it," says Brian Milne of energy adviser Schneider Electric.
The price surge in the Midwest could have a broader economic impact. Thursday, the Labor Department said April's drop in gas prices helped push consumer inflation down 0.4%.
Earlier this week, the Commerce Department cited lower-price gas for spurring a slight gain in April consumer spending.
Rising gas prices will likely reverse both trends, however.
"In each of the last two years, 60% of Americans said they cut back on discretionary spending when gas prices rise," says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.
"There's no reason to expect a different result in 2013. And any surge in gas prices would further detract from meager economic growth."
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:21 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 432 words, total size 3 kb.
You Right Wing Paranoids were correct
Jack Kemp
From Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/05/dhs-guidelines-advise-deference-to-pro-shariah-islamic-supremacists.html
DHS guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Islamic supremacists
I have warned of this for years and suffered the slings and arrows of a relentless smear campaign. This is unconscionable: giving preference to anti-American Muslims over law-abiding American citizens.
Stealth coup while America fitfully sleeps. Where is the vocal leadership on the right? We need a pitbull, not a puppy in the House (and Senate).
"Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists" By Charles Johnson, Daily Caller, May 17, 2013 (thanks to Van)
The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists.
In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled "Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate.
This policy stands in stark contrast to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ 2009 memo "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” [pdf], which warned of the dangers posed by pro-life advocates, critics of same-sex marriage and groups concerned with abiding by the U.S. Constitution, among others.
The advice of the Dos and Don’ts list is far more conciliatory. "Don’t use training that equates radical thought, religious expression, freedom to protest, or other constitutionally-protected activity, including disliking the U.S. government without being violent,” the manual’s authors write in a section on training being "sensitive to constitutional values.”
The manual, which was produced by an inter-agency working group from DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center, advises, "Trainers who equate the desire for Sharia law with criminal activity violate basic tenets of the First Amendment.”
From Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/05/dhs-guidelines-advise-deference-to-pro-shariah-islamic-supremacists.html
DHS guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Islamic supremacists
I have warned of this for years and suffered the slings and arrows of a relentless smear campaign. This is unconscionable: giving preference to anti-American Muslims over law-abiding American citizens.
Stealth coup while America fitfully sleeps. Where is the vocal leadership on the right? We need a pitbull, not a puppy in the House (and Senate).
"Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists" By Charles Johnson, Daily Caller, May 17, 2013 (thanks to Van)
The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists.
In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled "Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate.
This policy stands in stark contrast to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis’ 2009 memo "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” [pdf], which warned of the dangers posed by pro-life advocates, critics of same-sex marriage and groups concerned with abiding by the U.S. Constitution, among others.
The advice of the Dos and Don’ts list is far more conciliatory. "Don’t use training that equates radical thought, religious expression, freedom to protest, or other constitutionally-protected activity, including disliking the U.S. government without being violent,” the manual’s authors write in a section on training being "sensitive to constitutional values.”
The manual, which was produced by an inter-agency working group from DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center, advises, "Trainers who equate the desire for Sharia law with criminal activity violate basic tenets of the First Amendment.”
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:13 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 333 words, total size 3 kb.
The Most Damnable of Lies; Claims Obama is Fixing the Deficit
Timothy Birdnow
Here is something that should amaze; the budget deficit is actually declining.
http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/deficit-falls-to-642-billion-in-2013-but-debt-will-still-rise-by-more-than-800-billion/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Deficit+falls+to+%24642+billion+in+2013%2c+but+debt+will+still+rise+by+more+than+%24800+billion&utm_content=Get+full+story+here.
"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported some good news for a change — the federal budget deficit will fall to $642 billion in 2013.
The primary reasons for the drop are because of the expiration of the $120 billion a year payroll tax holiday and the $85 billion budget sequester going into effect. Plus, on top of that, expenditures, particularly to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are less than expected, while revenues for personal and corporate income taxes are more.
CBO suggests the deficit will continue falling through 2017 according to its baseline. But that comes with a very important caveat — that Congress do nothing to increase spending or cancel sequestration"
[...]
"But why the discrepancy? How can the deficit be $642 billion for the year, but the debt increase so much more?
The two major factors here are the government's direct and guaranteed loan accounts — which are not included in the CBO study but you can see them in White House Office of Management and Budget estimates — which will increase by about $150 billion this year. And debt held by the Social Security and Medicare trust funds is set to increase by another $50 billion or so.
For 2013, that will mean about a 5 percent increase in the debt, below its annual average increase of 7 percent the past 60 years.
That's almost good news. In order for the U.S. to reduce its share of debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — now more than 100 percent — the nominal growth of the debt will need to be less than the nominal growth of the economy itself.
Alas, CBO projects that nominal economic growth will remain below 5 percent through the decade in its 10-year baseline. That's bad. The average for nominal growth the last 60 years has been 6.5 percent."
End excerpt.
Economics can be quite puzzling, not because it really is that complicated but because it has been MADE complicated to hide government legerdemain; neo-socialists have done everything they could to muddy clear waters, to make people believe that their delusion is actually logical in a chaotic system like the economy. Keynes, for instance, has what can only be describes as a system of Voodoo Economics (spend your way to prosperity?) but he is accorded great respect by liberals and most economists today are Keynsians. Demand-side economics is as convoluted as planetary orbits under the Ptolemaic system, yet it is advanced with a straight face by economists, and warmly embraced by politicians eager to get their hands on all the money that Keynsianism requires. We have been playing this game since the establishment of the Federal Reserve at least, and now the economy seems to be a chaotic system, a gordian knot that cannot be untangled.
That is why, even with Sequestration and budget windfalls, it seems incredible that the deficit is falling during a period of stagnant economic growth and the QE inflationary schemes. What is going on?
Bear in mind, too, Mr. Obama is benefitting from one of the greatest seismic shifts in modern history; the invention of hydraulic fracturing has poised the United States (and indeed the World) for an energy GLUT. Not boom, but glut. Energy prices remain high because this huge supply has not yet come fully online and government is doing its level best to depress the effects (Obama is beholden to the environmental lobby, who want expensive traditional energy sources to force consumers to accept the more expensive and unreliable "green energy").
(Please note; gas prices are rising because not one but two oil refineries in Chicago - Mr. Obama's lair - have closed down for maintenance at the beginning of the summer driving season. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/15/business/gas-prices-minnesota Hat tip: Dana Mathewson.)
But this is still puzzling: I wondered if this were merely a function of inflation. I decided t check out the stats on inflation through the last decades.
Here is an article with a table of inflation rates.
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/CurrentInflation.asp
and here is one with a graph of annual inflation rates since 1989.
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation/AnnualInflation.asp
Please study the graph carefully; we actually dipped into DEFLATION in late 2009, shortly before QE1. Inflation then shut up a bit, but we are still in a downward trend.
In an economy where the government does not monkey with things we should expect deflation during a bad economy; people are bargain shopping and buying less, forcing businesses to cut costs. Boom times should see a basic, marginal inflation as prices rise because people are spending. But that is not what we see. The recession under Reagan had quite high inflation (which was a large part of the cause) and inflation was low during the Clinton era boom (and peaked during the recession in Bush's early years). What we are seeing now is unprecedented in the last 30 years; a large dose of deflation during a very bad economy then quite modest inflation despite gargantuan stimulus spending and a huge expansion of the money supply.
By the way, the same group that compiled these charts and stats has a terrific essay on the folly of stimulus spending to promote economic growth.
http://inflationdata.com/articles/2013/04/16/stimulate-the-economy/
But monkey with things is the operative word in the case of this current economy; this is the most interventionist government since Roosevelt and possibly more so.
This chart actually makes considerable sense when one considers the way the economy has been handled by our government. During the Clinton era boom we began spending more money to stimulate temporary economic growth, having forgotten the dangers of Carter-era stagflation. Meanwhile, the Feds kept pushing interest rates down thus superheating the economy and inflating not one but TWO bubbles - the tech bubble which was replaced as soon as it burst by the mortgage bubble. In both instances there was too much money to be had too cheaply thanks to the government. Also, Clinton pushed through a tax increase at the peak of the boom which gave more money for subsidies and whatnot. These helped the boom temporarily by making money available to marginal enterpreneurs or borrowers. Of course, the dirty cheap mortgage rates inflated the housing market into an enormous bubble. Bush Jr. did little to change that, although he did try to rein in Fanny and Freddie to no avail (thanks to the Democrats.)
But now we are witnessing this whole process on steroids. We have a government bubble, with governments growing like the perceptual Universe after the Big Bang. Interest rates are at an all-time low, and money from government at an all-time high. We are in the period of lag-time, where the currency is inflating but due to an absolutely terrible economy prices are fairly low and not rising all that much.
At least, according to the official statistics. The government has kindly removed the price of food (which has been skyrocketing) and energy (gasoline is double what it was under Bush at the end of his term) and by other sneaky accounting tricks.
Real estate should be the bellweather here. Real estate prices have risen despite no actual changes to the market. Why? Real estate is not portable; it cannot be moved to a better area. So real estate is more prone to fluctuate in price than is, say, an LCD television. If taxes go up on real estate they go up, while you can buy the same television across state lines. Real estate cannot be purchased online sans taxes, or without the regulations of a given community, or without the strict controls imposed by HUD, by the EPA, etc. There are no offshore real estate shelters. You are stuck where you are stuck.
And it is a very expensive investment, requiring plenty of money, money which generally must be borrowed. That means the money supply will have a profound impact on the value of real estate; more money in the supply means the property will bring more, while a lower supply means lower prices. There will be no outside intrusion into this, no competition from foreign countries. Unlike an automobile where the Japanese can pressure the American companies real estate is entirely a creature of its location, an entirley American product. Oh, outside investors may come into the market bidding prices up, but they are just as likely to come in during a bad period to snatch up bargains. In the end, the supply of money has a huge impact on the market.
And that market has been inflating like Michael Moore's pants size. But there was nothing in the economy to suggest that the market should be recovering. Interest rates are indeed low, but so low banks do not want to make loans; they simply will not make any money being paid back pennies on the dollar. But when the money supply is inflating it means there is more cash there to invest, meaning they will be more apt to loan it out. They will get burned in the end by inflation because they will get paid back with money worth less than they lent out, but banks must show quarterly profits to shareholders and now they can make it appear they are making money.
That is why the crazy up and down spikes on the graph should be cause for alarm; this see-saw effect suggests a very sick economy. Predictions of deficit reduction are based entirely on current trajectories, but those trajectories are subject to considerable change as the inflationary chickens come home to roost.
But the inflation is, of course, the preferred method for solving our debt problems; print more money and buy ourselves out of debt. In the proces we will destroy our currency and wind up having to restructure everything, but that is precisely what the BHO and his Chicago gang of thieves are wanting.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. They are trying to blind us with that most damnable of lies.
Here is something that should amaze; the budget deficit is actually declining.
http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/deficit-falls-to-642-billion-in-2013-but-debt-will-still-rise-by-more-than-800-billion/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Deficit+falls+to+%24642+billion+in+2013%2c+but+debt+will+still+rise+by+more+than+%24800+billion&utm_content=Get+full+story+here.
"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported some good news for a change — the federal budget deficit will fall to $642 billion in 2013.
The primary reasons for the drop are because of the expiration of the $120 billion a year payroll tax holiday and the $85 billion budget sequester going into effect. Plus, on top of that, expenditures, particularly to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are less than expected, while revenues for personal and corporate income taxes are more.
CBO suggests the deficit will continue falling through 2017 according to its baseline. But that comes with a very important caveat — that Congress do nothing to increase spending or cancel sequestration"
[...]
"But why the discrepancy? How can the deficit be $642 billion for the year, but the debt increase so much more?
The two major factors here are the government's direct and guaranteed loan accounts — which are not included in the CBO study but you can see them in White House Office of Management and Budget estimates — which will increase by about $150 billion this year. And debt held by the Social Security and Medicare trust funds is set to increase by another $50 billion or so.
For 2013, that will mean about a 5 percent increase in the debt, below its annual average increase of 7 percent the past 60 years.
That's almost good news. In order for the U.S. to reduce its share of debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — now more than 100 percent — the nominal growth of the debt will need to be less than the nominal growth of the economy itself.
Alas, CBO projects that nominal economic growth will remain below 5 percent through the decade in its 10-year baseline. That's bad. The average for nominal growth the last 60 years has been 6.5 percent."
End excerpt.
Economics can be quite puzzling, not because it really is that complicated but because it has been MADE complicated to hide government legerdemain; neo-socialists have done everything they could to muddy clear waters, to make people believe that their delusion is actually logical in a chaotic system like the economy. Keynes, for instance, has what can only be describes as a system of Voodoo Economics (spend your way to prosperity?) but he is accorded great respect by liberals and most economists today are Keynsians. Demand-side economics is as convoluted as planetary orbits under the Ptolemaic system, yet it is advanced with a straight face by economists, and warmly embraced by politicians eager to get their hands on all the money that Keynsianism requires. We have been playing this game since the establishment of the Federal Reserve at least, and now the economy seems to be a chaotic system, a gordian knot that cannot be untangled.
That is why, even with Sequestration and budget windfalls, it seems incredible that the deficit is falling during a period of stagnant economic growth and the QE inflationary schemes. What is going on?
Bear in mind, too, Mr. Obama is benefitting from one of the greatest seismic shifts in modern history; the invention of hydraulic fracturing has poised the United States (and indeed the World) for an energy GLUT. Not boom, but glut. Energy prices remain high because this huge supply has not yet come fully online and government is doing its level best to depress the effects (Obama is beholden to the environmental lobby, who want expensive traditional energy sources to force consumers to accept the more expensive and unreliable "green energy").
(Please note; gas prices are rising because not one but two oil refineries in Chicago - Mr. Obama's lair - have closed down for maintenance at the beginning of the summer driving season. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/15/business/gas-prices-minnesota Hat tip: Dana Mathewson.)
But this is still puzzling: I wondered if this were merely a function of inflation. I decided t check out the stats on inflation through the last decades.
Here is an article with a table of inflation rates.
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/CurrentInflation.asp
and here is one with a graph of annual inflation rates since 1989.
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation/AnnualInflation.asp
Please study the graph carefully; we actually dipped into DEFLATION in late 2009, shortly before QE1. Inflation then shut up a bit, but we are still in a downward trend.
In an economy where the government does not monkey with things we should expect deflation during a bad economy; people are bargain shopping and buying less, forcing businesses to cut costs. Boom times should see a basic, marginal inflation as prices rise because people are spending. But that is not what we see. The recession under Reagan had quite high inflation (which was a large part of the cause) and inflation was low during the Clinton era boom (and peaked during the recession in Bush's early years). What we are seeing now is unprecedented in the last 30 years; a large dose of deflation during a very bad economy then quite modest inflation despite gargantuan stimulus spending and a huge expansion of the money supply.
By the way, the same group that compiled these charts and stats has a terrific essay on the folly of stimulus spending to promote economic growth.
http://inflationdata.com/articles/2013/04/16/stimulate-the-economy/
But monkey with things is the operative word in the case of this current economy; this is the most interventionist government since Roosevelt and possibly more so.
This chart actually makes considerable sense when one considers the way the economy has been handled by our government. During the Clinton era boom we began spending more money to stimulate temporary economic growth, having forgotten the dangers of Carter-era stagflation. Meanwhile, the Feds kept pushing interest rates down thus superheating the economy and inflating not one but TWO bubbles - the tech bubble which was replaced as soon as it burst by the mortgage bubble. In both instances there was too much money to be had too cheaply thanks to the government. Also, Clinton pushed through a tax increase at the peak of the boom which gave more money for subsidies and whatnot. These helped the boom temporarily by making money available to marginal enterpreneurs or borrowers. Of course, the dirty cheap mortgage rates inflated the housing market into an enormous bubble. Bush Jr. did little to change that, although he did try to rein in Fanny and Freddie to no avail (thanks to the Democrats.)
But now we are witnessing this whole process on steroids. We have a government bubble, with governments growing like the perceptual Universe after the Big Bang. Interest rates are at an all-time low, and money from government at an all-time high. We are in the period of lag-time, where the currency is inflating but due to an absolutely terrible economy prices are fairly low and not rising all that much.
At least, according to the official statistics. The government has kindly removed the price of food (which has been skyrocketing) and energy (gasoline is double what it was under Bush at the end of his term) and by other sneaky accounting tricks.
Real estate should be the bellweather here. Real estate prices have risen despite no actual changes to the market. Why? Real estate is not portable; it cannot be moved to a better area. So real estate is more prone to fluctuate in price than is, say, an LCD television. If taxes go up on real estate they go up, while you can buy the same television across state lines. Real estate cannot be purchased online sans taxes, or without the regulations of a given community, or without the strict controls imposed by HUD, by the EPA, etc. There are no offshore real estate shelters. You are stuck where you are stuck.
And it is a very expensive investment, requiring plenty of money, money which generally must be borrowed. That means the money supply will have a profound impact on the value of real estate; more money in the supply means the property will bring more, while a lower supply means lower prices. There will be no outside intrusion into this, no competition from foreign countries. Unlike an automobile where the Japanese can pressure the American companies real estate is entirely a creature of its location, an entirley American product. Oh, outside investors may come into the market bidding prices up, but they are just as likely to come in during a bad period to snatch up bargains. In the end, the supply of money has a huge impact on the market.
And that market has been inflating like Michael Moore's pants size. But there was nothing in the economy to suggest that the market should be recovering. Interest rates are indeed low, but so low banks do not want to make loans; they simply will not make any money being paid back pennies on the dollar. But when the money supply is inflating it means there is more cash there to invest, meaning they will be more apt to loan it out. They will get burned in the end by inflation because they will get paid back with money worth less than they lent out, but banks must show quarterly profits to shareholders and now they can make it appear they are making money.
That is why the crazy up and down spikes on the graph should be cause for alarm; this see-saw effect suggests a very sick economy. Predictions of deficit reduction are based entirely on current trajectories, but those trajectories are subject to considerable change as the inflationary chickens come home to roost.
But the inflation is, of course, the preferred method for solving our debt problems; print more money and buy ourselves out of debt. In the proces we will destroy our currency and wind up having to restructure everything, but that is precisely what the BHO and his Chicago gang of thieves are wanting.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. They are trying to blind us with that most damnable of lies.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:09 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 1677 words, total size 11 kb.
Look for the Union Label
7lb Dave forwards this brain teaser. What is the common thread in these mug shots? The e-mail assures they are actual police mug shots.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:49 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.
Press starting to turn on Zippy -- some of 'em, anyhow
Dana Mathewson
"You know the worm has turned when even MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow hold their noses at the stench from Barack Obama’s scandals — when so many stories from the so-called liberal press now describe the erstwhile Messiah as "aloof,” "arrogant” and "holier than thou.”
"Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart — the chief news source for millions of young and liberal Obama voters — has laced into the president nonstop over White House claims that the president has learned of all this malfeasance on the TV news, just like any old bar stool Joe."
This is from Urgent Agenda, and quotes a Boston Herald article. Bill Katz says "The press, of course, is now portraying itself as a victim of the Obama scandals, because the AP was targeted. But the press has plenty of explaining to do over its manipulation of journalism to serve Obama's interests in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. I've noted before that I don't recall a single serious question asked of Obama in 2008."
Read the whole thing here: http://www.urgentagenda.com/PERMALINKS%20VIII/MAY%202013/16.MEDIA.HTML
Of course, it's too little and a few years too late. Even the ones who are supposedly seeing the light now should have their press cards cut up and... well, you can decide what to do with them. I merely report.
"You know the worm has turned when even MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow hold their noses at the stench from Barack Obama’s scandals — when so many stories from the so-called liberal press now describe the erstwhile Messiah as "aloof,” "arrogant” and "holier than thou.”
"Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart — the chief news source for millions of young and liberal Obama voters — has laced into the president nonstop over White House claims that the president has learned of all this malfeasance on the TV news, just like any old bar stool Joe."
This is from Urgent Agenda, and quotes a Boston Herald article. Bill Katz says "The press, of course, is now portraying itself as a victim of the Obama scandals, because the AP was targeted. But the press has plenty of explaining to do over its manipulation of journalism to serve Obama's interests in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. I've noted before that I don't recall a single serious question asked of Obama in 2008."
Read the whole thing here: http://www.urgentagenda.com/PERMALINKS%20VIII/MAY%202013/16.MEDIA.HTML
Of course, it's too little and a few years too late. Even the ones who are supposedly seeing the light now should have their press cards cut up and... well, you can decide what to do with them. I merely report.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:38 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 230 words, total size 1 kb.
May 17, 2013
Brother Can you Spare a Dime for Real Estate?
Timothy Birdnow
I've been arguing for some time now that the real estate market is not well, contrary to popular portrayals. It appears someone at Fox News agrees with me.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/05/06/reality-check-on-real-estate/
From the article by Richard Barrington:
"The first reality check is to look at how far home prices are still down from their peak levels. Despite the recent increase, home prices are still about 30% below the peak reached in the summer of 2006. Those prices have only recovered to the level first reached in the fall of 2003, meaning that homeowners on average have gone nearly a decade without seeing any increase in the value of their homes.
The second reality check is to recognize how much housing prices are dependent on current mortgage rates. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages ended April at 3.40%. That means current mortgage rates are about 49% lower than they were when housing prices peaked in the summer of 2006, and about 43% lower than they were in the fall of 2003 when home prices were comparable to today's levels."
End excerpt.
Absolutely correct. Of course, we were in an enormous bubble at the market peak, and that isn't going to come back (hopefully; if it does we are setting ourselves up for another pop). This also does not factor in the real fact of inflation. Real estate is a canary-in-a-coalmine for inflation, because it is not portable and there is a limited amount of it. As a result, when the currency is inflated the prices rise in real estate first. Real estate is a good investment at that time, because you won't be paying back that much in terms of real wealth; as the value of a dollar drops the actual value of what you are contractually paying back drops as well, so a 5% interest rate may mean you are getting free money in the end (assuming a 5% inflation rate). Inflation is good for borrowers. It is one of the reasons that governments have been happy to inflate currencies; the consumers are not all that unhappy at first. Deflation is different; as the value of money increases lenders get tighter fisted because they are better served hording their cash then in risking it by lending it out. Granted, it means more actual profit when it is lended, but there are less people seeking to borrow and pay back more than they should. In the end both are equally destructive.
At any rate, all the Qalitative Easing has acted to artificially boost the housing market, as has the low interest rate policy and the push for greater lending by our government. This is not a real housing recovery, but a new bubble
It will burn is in the end.
I've been arguing for some time now that the real estate market is not well, contrary to popular portrayals. It appears someone at Fox News agrees with me.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/05/06/reality-check-on-real-estate/
From the article by Richard Barrington:
"The first reality check is to look at how far home prices are still down from their peak levels. Despite the recent increase, home prices are still about 30% below the peak reached in the summer of 2006. Those prices have only recovered to the level first reached in the fall of 2003, meaning that homeowners on average have gone nearly a decade without seeing any increase in the value of their homes.
The second reality check is to recognize how much housing prices are dependent on current mortgage rates. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages ended April at 3.40%. That means current mortgage rates are about 49% lower than they were when housing prices peaked in the summer of 2006, and about 43% lower than they were in the fall of 2003 when home prices were comparable to today's levels."
End excerpt.
Absolutely correct. Of course, we were in an enormous bubble at the market peak, and that isn't going to come back (hopefully; if it does we are setting ourselves up for another pop). This also does not factor in the real fact of inflation. Real estate is a canary-in-a-coalmine for inflation, because it is not portable and there is a limited amount of it. As a result, when the currency is inflated the prices rise in real estate first. Real estate is a good investment at that time, because you won't be paying back that much in terms of real wealth; as the value of a dollar drops the actual value of what you are contractually paying back drops as well, so a 5% interest rate may mean you are getting free money in the end (assuming a 5% inflation rate). Inflation is good for borrowers. It is one of the reasons that governments have been happy to inflate currencies; the consumers are not all that unhappy at first. Deflation is different; as the value of money increases lenders get tighter fisted because they are better served hording their cash then in risking it by lending it out. Granted, it means more actual profit when it is lended, but there are less people seeking to borrow and pay back more than they should. In the end both are equally destructive.
At any rate, all the Qalitative Easing has acted to artificially boost the housing market, as has the low interest rate policy and the push for greater lending by our government. This is not a real housing recovery, but a new bubble
It will burn is in the end.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:20 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 466 words, total size 3 kb.
Obamacare Petition Replies from Whitehouse.gov
Timothy Birdnow
I received a couple of responses to petitions I signed at Whitehouse.gov.
First, I signed a petition about healthcare, and the Whitehouse had this to say in response:
" If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It
Thanks for your petition on the Affordable Care Act. We've got some good news for you. If you currently have private health insurance, you should be able to keep it, and that's exactly what the health care law says. It's not a question of opting out of health reform -- the idea that individuals who like their insurance should keep it is a central part of the law.
And as you say, President Obama has been pretty clear on that point.
But there are clearly still some misconceptions out there, and we appreciate the chance to clear some of them up. Here's how the health care law benefits individuals who already have health insurance -- which is about 85 percent of the country:
* Preventive Benefits: All new health plans must now cover recommended preventive services without a copay or deductible, including mammograms and vaccinations for kids at no additional cost.
* Coverage for Young Adults: Under the health care law, young adults can stay on their parent's health insurance plan until age 26 -- a change that has already allowed 3.1 million young adults to gain health coverage and given their families peace of mind.
* Ending Insurance Company Abuses: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurers can no longer put a lifetime cap on how much care they will pay for if you get sick, or cancel your coverage when you make a mistake on your paperwork.
* Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurers can no longer deny coverage to children under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition like asthma or diabetes. Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from discriminating against anyone due to pre-existing conditions.
So you'll be able to keep the plan you like, but we'll also make sure insurance companies are playing by the rules and that -- if you want them -- there are other insurance options available to you starting in 2014.
And to be clear -- there is no provision for groups to "opt out" of the health care law. The examples you cite are actually temporary, transitional policies provided to employers of all kinds. They provide extra time for companies to comply with the law, but those waivers aren't unlimited -- all employers will need to comply with the Affordable Care Act by 2014.
Tell us what you think about this petition and We the People."
End
What this little bit of dishonesty fails to say is that many current plans do not comport with the law and hence will no longer be considered valid. Others will be forced to close because of exploding costs thanks to Mr. Obama's many mandates. Others will simply be unable to keep up with the regulations. And always, once you fall off your current plan you HAVE TO take the government plan; you cannot have a break in coverage for any length of time.
This whole defense is a lie.
And furthermore there are "opt out" provisions "at the discretion of the Secretary" and many unions have been exempted already.
What Obama's team should say is "you can keep the plan you like until it becomes outdated" because that is exactly what the plan entails. It is like saying "you can keep your phonograph" or "you can keep your Stanley Steamer" but you won't be able to play any music on a phonograph nor will the EPA let you run a coal-fired steam engine on the streets. Sure, you can keep it, but if you cannot USE it...
Here is a response to another petition over Bambicare:
"Obamacare Isn't Going Anywhere, and That's a Good Thing
Thanks for your petition. We appreciate you weighing in on this issue, and we’re glad we have a chance to talk to you about the health care law and its impact on small businesses.
There are a lot of myths out there about the Affordable Care Act. The idea that the health care law will somehow cripple the economy is absolutely one of those myths.
The health care law won't hurt jobs or the middle class, and it won’t force small businesses to close up shop. It will, however, make health care more affordable and expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans in a way that allows our nation’s businesses to continue to thrive.
First, the Affordable Care Act puts an end to insurance company practices that hit the middle class and businesses. Already, because of the law, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions, cancel coverage when people get sick, or place lifetime dollar limits on the amount of care you can get. The law also allows young Americans to stay on their parents’ insurance plans for a few more years. And most insurance companies now have to justify double-digit rate increases and provide consumers with rebates when their overhead and profits are too high. We hope you’ll agree that those are all good things for our country as a whole.
Starting in 2014, we’ll provide tax credits that help the middle class for insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace that reduce the amount you pay in premiums each month. We’re also improving coverage for women to make their care more affordable and looking out for seniors on Medicare.
As we look out for middle-class Americans, we’re also looking out for the economy as a whole, and small businesses in particular.
So as the health care law is implemented, we won’t put any new requirements on firms with fewer than 50 employees -- but we’ll make it easier and cheaper to offer coverage if they want to do so.
Beginning in 2014, small business owners will have access to a Small Business Health Option Plans (SHOP) Marketplace -- which opens for enrollment on October 1st -- that will give small business the same purchasing power as large businesses and allow them to make side-by-side comparisons to find a plan that fits their budget and that’s right for their businesses and employees.
The Affordable Care Act and the Marketplaces will bring down costs for those small businesses that choose to provide insurance. Currently small businesses pay on average 18 percent more on average than large businesses for the same benefits -- which will change when insurers compete for small businesses through SHOP.
Small businesses are also seeing savings thanks to new tax credits available to help them cover their employees. Small businesses with fewer than 25 employees that provide their employees with health insurance are eligible for tax credits that cover up to 35 percent of their premiums. Starting in 2014, that credit will cover up to 50 percent.
Thanks for allowing us to talk to you about this issue, and for your participation on the We the People platform. We know that you care about the middle class and small businesses. We do too. As President Obama has said about the nickname Obamacare: "I actually like the name because I do care.”
Tell us what you think about this petition and We the People.
THE END
They are looking out for the middle class alright, in much the same way that Capone's men looked out for shopkeepers in Chicago.
Adding layers of new bureacracy, adding cost-inflating services nobody is asking for, increasing demand for insurance, all these add to the cost of an already struggling system, and the One knows that. This is a ruse, a Trojan Horse, a way to break the current system so single-payer can be enacted. It really is that simple.
THE END
I received a couple of responses to petitions I signed at Whitehouse.gov.
First, I signed a petition about healthcare, and the Whitehouse had this to say in response:
" If You Like Your Plan, You Can Keep It
Thanks for your petition on the Affordable Care Act. We've got some good news for you. If you currently have private health insurance, you should be able to keep it, and that's exactly what the health care law says. It's not a question of opting out of health reform -- the idea that individuals who like their insurance should keep it is a central part of the law.
And as you say, President Obama has been pretty clear on that point.
But there are clearly still some misconceptions out there, and we appreciate the chance to clear some of them up. Here's how the health care law benefits individuals who already have health insurance -- which is about 85 percent of the country:
* Preventive Benefits: All new health plans must now cover recommended preventive services without a copay or deductible, including mammograms and vaccinations for kids at no additional cost.
* Coverage for Young Adults: Under the health care law, young adults can stay on their parent's health insurance plan until age 26 -- a change that has already allowed 3.1 million young adults to gain health coverage and given their families peace of mind.
* Ending Insurance Company Abuses: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, insurers can no longer put a lifetime cap on how much care they will pay for if you get sick, or cancel your coverage when you make a mistake on your paperwork.
* Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurers can no longer deny coverage to children under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition like asthma or diabetes. Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from discriminating against anyone due to pre-existing conditions.
So you'll be able to keep the plan you like, but we'll also make sure insurance companies are playing by the rules and that -- if you want them -- there are other insurance options available to you starting in 2014.
And to be clear -- there is no provision for groups to "opt out" of the health care law. The examples you cite are actually temporary, transitional policies provided to employers of all kinds. They provide extra time for companies to comply with the law, but those waivers aren't unlimited -- all employers will need to comply with the Affordable Care Act by 2014.
Tell us what you think about this petition and We the People."
End
What this little bit of dishonesty fails to say is that many current plans do not comport with the law and hence will no longer be considered valid. Others will be forced to close because of exploding costs thanks to Mr. Obama's many mandates. Others will simply be unable to keep up with the regulations. And always, once you fall off your current plan you HAVE TO take the government plan; you cannot have a break in coverage for any length of time.
This whole defense is a lie.
And furthermore there are "opt out" provisions "at the discretion of the Secretary" and many unions have been exempted already.
What Obama's team should say is "you can keep the plan you like until it becomes outdated" because that is exactly what the plan entails. It is like saying "you can keep your phonograph" or "you can keep your Stanley Steamer" but you won't be able to play any music on a phonograph nor will the EPA let you run a coal-fired steam engine on the streets. Sure, you can keep it, but if you cannot USE it...
Here is a response to another petition over Bambicare:
"Obamacare Isn't Going Anywhere, and That's a Good Thing
Thanks for your petition. We appreciate you weighing in on this issue, and we’re glad we have a chance to talk to you about the health care law and its impact on small businesses.
There are a lot of myths out there about the Affordable Care Act. The idea that the health care law will somehow cripple the economy is absolutely one of those myths.
The health care law won't hurt jobs or the middle class, and it won’t force small businesses to close up shop. It will, however, make health care more affordable and expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans in a way that allows our nation’s businesses to continue to thrive.
First, the Affordable Care Act puts an end to insurance company practices that hit the middle class and businesses. Already, because of the law, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions, cancel coverage when people get sick, or place lifetime dollar limits on the amount of care you can get. The law also allows young Americans to stay on their parents’ insurance plans for a few more years. And most insurance companies now have to justify double-digit rate increases and provide consumers with rebates when their overhead and profits are too high. We hope you’ll agree that those are all good things for our country as a whole.
Starting in 2014, we’ll provide tax credits that help the middle class for insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace that reduce the amount you pay in premiums each month. We’re also improving coverage for women to make their care more affordable and looking out for seniors on Medicare.
As we look out for middle-class Americans, we’re also looking out for the economy as a whole, and small businesses in particular.
So as the health care law is implemented, we won’t put any new requirements on firms with fewer than 50 employees -- but we’ll make it easier and cheaper to offer coverage if they want to do so.
Beginning in 2014, small business owners will have access to a Small Business Health Option Plans (SHOP) Marketplace -- which opens for enrollment on October 1st -- that will give small business the same purchasing power as large businesses and allow them to make side-by-side comparisons to find a plan that fits their budget and that’s right for their businesses and employees.
The Affordable Care Act and the Marketplaces will bring down costs for those small businesses that choose to provide insurance. Currently small businesses pay on average 18 percent more on average than large businesses for the same benefits -- which will change when insurers compete for small businesses through SHOP.
Small businesses are also seeing savings thanks to new tax credits available to help them cover their employees. Small businesses with fewer than 25 employees that provide their employees with health insurance are eligible for tax credits that cover up to 35 percent of their premiums. Starting in 2014, that credit will cover up to 50 percent.
Thanks for allowing us to talk to you about this issue, and for your participation on the We the People platform. We know that you care about the middle class and small businesses. We do too. As President Obama has said about the nickname Obamacare: "I actually like the name because I do care.”
Tell us what you think about this petition and We the People.
THE END
They are looking out for the middle class alright, in much the same way that Capone's men looked out for shopkeepers in Chicago.
Adding layers of new bureacracy, adding cost-inflating services nobody is asking for, increasing demand for insurance, all these add to the cost of an already struggling system, and the One knows that. This is a ruse, a Trojan Horse, a way to break the current system so single-payer can be enacted. It really is that simple.
THE END
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:37 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 1303 words, total size 8 kb.
Obama IRS Targeted Catholic League
Jack Kemp
Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League, wrote a bombshell article at Newsmax Thursday afternoon. In it he states:
http://www.newsmax.com/BillDonohue/IRS-Catholic-League-Soros/2013/05/16/id/504883?s=al&promo_code=13841-1#ixzz2TUQl52vs
Just weeks after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I was notified by the IRS that the Catholic League was under investigation for violating the IRS Code on political activities as it relates to 501(c)(3) organizations. What the IRS did not know was that I had proof who contacted them to launch the investigation: Catholics United, a George Soros-funded Catholic organization.
The IRS was contacted on June 5, 2008, to launch a probe of the Catholic League, and the letter sent to me was dated Nov. 24, 2008. The June 5 letter was sent to the IRS by lawyers from Catholics United; it was mailed to Director Marsha Ramirez, director of Exempt Organizations Examinations, and to Lois G. Lerner, director of EO Division.
The "evidence" against me was nothing more than news releases and articles I had written during the presidential campaign on various issues. The lawyers also asked the IRS to question the source of new funding we had received, implying that we received illegal contributions...
The bid to keep me off TV failed. But here's the key: Korzen was dumb enough to share with CNN the complaint issued by his group to the IRS. The document, which was leaked to me by someone at CNN, matches up extraordinarily well with the IRS complaint of Nov. 24.
END QUOTE
This is war. This is HOLY war.
Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League, wrote a bombshell article at Newsmax Thursday afternoon. In it he states:
http://www.newsmax.com/BillDonohue/IRS-Catholic-League-Soros/2013/05/16/id/504883?s=al&promo_code=13841-1#ixzz2TUQl52vs
Just weeks after Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, I was notified by the IRS that the Catholic League was under investigation for violating the IRS Code on political activities as it relates to 501(c)(3) organizations. What the IRS did not know was that I had proof who contacted them to launch the investigation: Catholics United, a George Soros-funded Catholic organization.
The IRS was contacted on June 5, 2008, to launch a probe of the Catholic League, and the letter sent to me was dated Nov. 24, 2008. The June 5 letter was sent to the IRS by lawyers from Catholics United; it was mailed to Director Marsha Ramirez, director of Exempt Organizations Examinations, and to Lois G. Lerner, director of EO Division.
The "evidence" against me was nothing more than news releases and articles I had written during the presidential campaign on various issues. The lawyers also asked the IRS to question the source of new funding we had received, implying that we received illegal contributions...
The bid to keep me off TV failed. But here's the key: Korzen was dumb enough to share with CNN the complaint issued by his group to the IRS. The document, which was leaked to me by someone at CNN, matches up extraordinarily well with the IRS complaint of Nov. 24.
END QUOTE
This is war. This is HOLY war.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:06 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 257 words, total size 2 kb.
Dan Rather talks on tv about burglers, leaves out pt. about his shotgun
Jack Kemp
I'm glad the Newsbusters journalist checked out Rather's book. I wasn't about to read it.
Jack
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2013/05/16/dan-rather-tells-getting-burglarized-leaves-out-he-grabbed-his-gun#ixzz2TUCLdd6o
Dan Rather Tells of Getting Burglarized, Leaves Out That He Grabbed His Gun
By Jack Coleman | May 16, 2013 | 14:59
Sometimes it's what they neglect to mention that's more revealing than that was.
Disgraced former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, now broadcasting from obscure AXS TV on the high triple-digit end of the cable dial, told Rachel Maddow of an incident back when he was a reporter devoted to hounding Richard Nixon. (Video after page break).
Rather appeared on Maddow's MSNBC show Tuesday to divert attention from President Obama's ongoing scandals involving the Benghazi attack, IRS targeting of tea party groups, and Justice Department spying on the Associated Press, Rather serving the transparent purpose of recounting the good old days when evil incarnate in Nixon inhabited the White House.
His stroll down memory lane brought an interesting revelation, first disclosed in his memoirs published last year, "Rather Outspoken" --
MADDOW: On the AP story, we've discussing (sic) earlier with counsel from the Associated Press, I know that you have some experience of being gone after by an administration because of your reporting. Didn't you get, didn't you get sort of Nixon burglarized during the Nixon presidency?
RATHER: Yes he did. Long story but it turned out I didn't know at the time, our home was burglarized by people that turned out to be part of the plumbers' operation (created to determine sources of leaks in the Nixon White House), the notorious plumbers' operation, didn't know it at the time. It was a long time figuring out who did it. There are those to this day who say, well, no, it wasn't really that, but it was, our home was broken into. But this became common during the Nixon administration.
Here's how it was described in "Rather Outspoken," as excerpted last year by the Daily Beast --
Prior to the Watergate break-in, Rather may have been the victim of an attempted burglary. The then-White House correspondent had been scheduled to go to Florida to cover the president, but instead stayed home. Late at night, his daughter heard an intruder. Rather immediately "did what any Texan would do: I made sure the family was safe, then grabbed the shotgun." Rather went downstairs and saw the intruder. He loudly chambered his shotgun and the burglar very quickly skedaddled. Examining the house, nothing had been taken, but the files in Rather's basement office had been rifled through.
Rather neglected to tell Maddow the most vivid detail of the burglary, which was him confronting the intruder with a loaded gun and forcefully chambering it to show he meant business. Then again, this would not have gone over well with Maddow's audience, who would rather have heard that he asked the burglar if they could negotiate until police arrived.
I'm glad the Newsbusters journalist checked out Rather's book. I wasn't about to read it.
Jack
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2013/05/16/dan-rather-tells-getting-burglarized-leaves-out-he-grabbed-his-gun#ixzz2TUCLdd6o
Dan Rather Tells of Getting Burglarized, Leaves Out That He Grabbed His Gun
By Jack Coleman | May 16, 2013 | 14:59
Sometimes it's what they neglect to mention that's more revealing than that was.
Disgraced former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, now broadcasting from obscure AXS TV on the high triple-digit end of the cable dial, told Rachel Maddow of an incident back when he was a reporter devoted to hounding Richard Nixon. (Video after page break).
Rather appeared on Maddow's MSNBC show Tuesday to divert attention from President Obama's ongoing scandals involving the Benghazi attack, IRS targeting of tea party groups, and Justice Department spying on the Associated Press, Rather serving the transparent purpose of recounting the good old days when evil incarnate in Nixon inhabited the White House.
His stroll down memory lane brought an interesting revelation, first disclosed in his memoirs published last year, "Rather Outspoken" --
MADDOW: On the AP story, we've discussing (sic) earlier with counsel from the Associated Press, I know that you have some experience of being gone after by an administration because of your reporting. Didn't you get, didn't you get sort of Nixon burglarized during the Nixon presidency?
RATHER: Yes he did. Long story but it turned out I didn't know at the time, our home was burglarized by people that turned out to be part of the plumbers' operation (created to determine sources of leaks in the Nixon White House), the notorious plumbers' operation, didn't know it at the time. It was a long time figuring out who did it. There are those to this day who say, well, no, it wasn't really that, but it was, our home was broken into. But this became common during the Nixon administration.
Here's how it was described in "Rather Outspoken," as excerpted last year by the Daily Beast --
Prior to the Watergate break-in, Rather may have been the victim of an attempted burglary. The then-White House correspondent had been scheduled to go to Florida to cover the president, but instead stayed home. Late at night, his daughter heard an intruder. Rather immediately "did what any Texan would do: I made sure the family was safe, then grabbed the shotgun." Rather went downstairs and saw the intruder. He loudly chambered his shotgun and the burglar very quickly skedaddled. Examining the house, nothing had been taken, but the files in Rather's basement office had been rifled through.
Rather neglected to tell Maddow the most vivid detail of the burglary, which was him confronting the intruder with a loaded gun and forcefully chambering it to show he meant business. Then again, this would not have gone over well with Maddow's audience, who would rather have heard that he asked the burglar if they could negotiate until police arrived.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:01 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 496 words, total size 3 kb.
But Wait, There's More…government harassment
Jack Kemp
Another one of the Obama administration centipede's shoes dropped yesterday, signaling a new scandal - or new aspect of an ongoing scandal.
Cong. Devin Nunes (R-CA) revealed on the Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday night the following conversation with the Congressman:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2013/05/15/would-you-believe-the-administration-bugged-the-phones-in-the-house-of-representatives/
BEGIN QUOTE
... on Hugh Hewitt’s Show Wednesday night. Here’s the key part of that transcript:
DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.
HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.
DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.
HH: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I’m sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know…
HH: Wow...
Exit question: I’m sure mainstream media, and the other two branches of government, see no problem whatsoever in secret records searches between the two branches, right? No separation of powers issue here. Heh.
END QUOTE
Now the media doesn't just talk to Republicans about hot button issues - or other issues. They also talk to Democrats. So this is how much the Obama administration - or regime - trusts and respects everyone. The only right to privacy that Obama recognizes is the one ruled on in Roe v. Wade. Unless you're aborting a baby, you now have no right to privacy in Obama's fundamentally changed America. Nixon had an "Enemies List." Obama appears to have an "Other than I List."
While recently commenting on the story of "Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist," who says she was harassed by the IRS, http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/15/exclusive-prominent-catholic-prof-claims-irs-audited-her-after-speaking-out-against-obama-and-demanded-to-know-who-was-paying-her/ I stated that atheists cannot remain indifferent to this because anyone who is seen not to worship Obama could be the next one to be harassed. Apparently I underestimated the situation. Wiretapping the Congressional Cloak Room is a lot closer to what Stalin did, a comparison made by other writers.
The Republicans in Congress have little choice now: Either they start investigations and public hearings that the Democrats will denounce as "Stalin Era show trials” – or the Democrats will have actual Stalin Era show trials of the Republicans.
Another one of the Obama administration centipede's shoes dropped yesterday, signaling a new scandal - or new aspect of an ongoing scandal.
Cong. Devin Nunes (R-CA) revealed on the Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday night the following conversation with the Congressman:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2013/05/15/would-you-believe-the-administration-bugged-the-phones-in-the-house-of-representatives/
BEGIN QUOTE
... on Hugh Hewitt’s Show Wednesday night. Here’s the key part of that transcript:
DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.
HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.
DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.
HH: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I’m sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know…
HH: Wow...
Exit question: I’m sure mainstream media, and the other two branches of government, see no problem whatsoever in secret records searches between the two branches, right? No separation of powers issue here. Heh.
END QUOTE
Now the media doesn't just talk to Republicans about hot button issues - or other issues. They also talk to Democrats. So this is how much the Obama administration - or regime - trusts and respects everyone. The only right to privacy that Obama recognizes is the one ruled on in Roe v. Wade. Unless you're aborting a baby, you now have no right to privacy in Obama's fundamentally changed America. Nixon had an "Enemies List." Obama appears to have an "Other than I List."
While recently commenting on the story of "Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist," who says she was harassed by the IRS, http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/15/exclusive-prominent-catholic-prof-claims-irs-audited-her-after-speaking-out-against-obama-and-demanded-to-know-who-was-paying-her/ I stated that atheists cannot remain indifferent to this because anyone who is seen not to worship Obama could be the next one to be harassed. Apparently I underestimated the situation. Wiretapping the Congressional Cloak Room is a lot closer to what Stalin did, a comparison made by other writers.
The Republicans in Congress have little choice now: Either they start investigations and public hearings that the Democrats will denounce as "Stalin Era show trials” – or the Democrats will have actual Stalin Era show trials of the Republicans.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
05:57 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 463 words, total size 3 kb.
Rubio Crosses the Rubi-Con
Timothy Birdnow
a blistering attack on Marco "Benedict" Rubio appears at Conservative HQ.
http://www.conservativehq.com/article/13459-marco-rubios-coup-detat-americas-coup-de-grace
Augustus Sinclair mounts a most effective offensive against the offensive Senator from Aztlan, er, Florida. Here are a few excerpts:
"Within the space of a decade or so, 45-50 million foreigners would be added to America's population, mostly from poor countries in the Third World.
Then, these numbers would continue to rise further as the newly arrived immigrants start to bring their relatives to the U.S. through chain migration.
In the most optimistic of scenarios, if only the very best and brightest people arrived as a result of this bill, it would still create China magnitude over-crowding, congestion and problems."
[...]
"
We must ask, is the most extreme social engineering experiment in all of human history, one purposefully designed to fundamentally alter our country, being led, promoted and sold to the American people by a left wing ideologue?
Look again, it's being shoved down our throats by a front man for the Left who calls himself and pretends to be a conservative: None other than Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio.
The revelation of what's really in the monstrous Gang of Eight bill is also the unmasking of Mr. Rubio"
{...}
"Marco Rubio has no intention of backing off. He has totally committed himself to achieving amnesty for illegal aliens.
That commitment was made the moment he was elected to the Senate and hired as his principal aide Cesar Conda -- a George Soros associate and hard line ethno-centric, open-borders amnesty advocate going back decades.
Rubio and Conda it appears were simply waiting for the right time. "
End excerpts.
Here is a writer willing to call a spade a spade; this IS an experiment involving social engineering on a massive scale. Progressives want this to water down America, which they see as suffering some sort of genetic evil as a result of too many white males "the white problem". And the pols want to water down the voting public to maintain their power. Fredo Arias King, former aid to Mexican President Vicente Fox, said the GOP was as eager to open the floodgates as the Democrats, and he ascribed that eagerness to a desire to "latinize" the U.S. In Mexico and the rest of Latin America the public generally allows the elites to play with government, and an hispanic voting base would end the pesky business of hard-fought elections and accountability.
http://tbirdblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/serfdom.html
As I have said before nations can and do die - and we are in the process of swallowing arsenic.
While you are at Conservative HQ you might want to sign the petition telling Rubio to come back to this side of the Rubicon. http://www.conservativehq.com/article/13351-letter-urging-marco-rubio-halt-his-support-amnesty
a blistering attack on Marco "Benedict" Rubio appears at Conservative HQ.
http://www.conservativehq.com/article/13459-marco-rubios-coup-detat-americas-coup-de-grace
Augustus Sinclair mounts a most effective offensive against the offensive Senator from Aztlan, er, Florida. Here are a few excerpts:
"Within the space of a decade or so, 45-50 million foreigners would be added to America's population, mostly from poor countries in the Third World.
Then, these numbers would continue to rise further as the newly arrived immigrants start to bring their relatives to the U.S. through chain migration.
In the most optimistic of scenarios, if only the very best and brightest people arrived as a result of this bill, it would still create China magnitude over-crowding, congestion and problems."
[...]
"
We must ask, is the most extreme social engineering experiment in all of human history, one purposefully designed to fundamentally alter our country, being led, promoted and sold to the American people by a left wing ideologue?
Look again, it's being shoved down our throats by a front man for the Left who calls himself and pretends to be a conservative: None other than Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio.
The revelation of what's really in the monstrous Gang of Eight bill is also the unmasking of Mr. Rubio"
{...}
"Marco Rubio has no intention of backing off. He has totally committed himself to achieving amnesty for illegal aliens.
That commitment was made the moment he was elected to the Senate and hired as his principal aide Cesar Conda -- a George Soros associate and hard line ethno-centric, open-borders amnesty advocate going back decades.
Rubio and Conda it appears were simply waiting for the right time. "
End excerpts.
Here is a writer willing to call a spade a spade; this IS an experiment involving social engineering on a massive scale. Progressives want this to water down America, which they see as suffering some sort of genetic evil as a result of too many white males "the white problem". And the pols want to water down the voting public to maintain their power. Fredo Arias King, former aid to Mexican President Vicente Fox, said the GOP was as eager to open the floodgates as the Democrats, and he ascribed that eagerness to a desire to "latinize" the U.S. In Mexico and the rest of Latin America the public generally allows the elites to play with government, and an hispanic voting base would end the pesky business of hard-fought elections and accountability.
http://tbirdblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/serfdom.html
As I have said before nations can and do die - and we are in the process of swallowing arsenic.
While you are at Conservative HQ you might want to sign the petition telling Rubio to come back to this side of the Rubicon. http://www.conservativehq.com/article/13351-letter-urging-marco-rubio-halt-his-support-amnesty
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
05:51 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 455 words, total size 3 kb.
May 16, 2013
The President as Sergeant Schultz
By Alan Caruba
How is it that, time and again, the most powerful man on the planet doesn’t seem to have a clue what is happening in his own government? Famed for never accepting blame for anything, the more I see President Obama these days, the more I am reminded of Sergeant Hans Schultz of the TV sitcom, "Hogan’s Heroes”, that ran from 1965 to 1971.
The wonderful Hans Banner the actor who played the prisoner of war guard left an indelible legacy with his repeated denials, "I know nothing. I hear nothing, and I see nothing”; often all three at the same time to avoid being implicated in Col. Robert E. Hogan’s manipulation of Werner Klemperer’s Col. Wilhelm Klink, the camp commandant of Luftwaffe Stalag 13.
Obama’s way of dealing with everything has been to talk it to death and he has been responding to questions from the press, claiming that the accusations are all "a sideshow” or that "there’s no there, there.” It is not working. In the case of Benghazi-Gate, his lies are so blatant that it has gone from an embarrassment to a full-fledged cover-up.
Similarly, the Attorney General, Eric Holder, has relied on claiming ignorance and putting distance between himself and his Department of Justice’s increasing list of scandals, from Fast and Furious that earned him a citation for contempt of Congress in June 2012 for his lack of candor. His latest "I know nothing” testimony regarding the DOJ’s seizure of the phone records of Associated Press editors and reporters makes one wonder why the President continues to retain him in office or, for that matter, why he isn’t in jail for stonewalling about Fast and Furious, an ATF gun-running scheme that got a border patrol and ICE agent killed.
Those of us who follow the President closely know that he has been lying consistently before and since being elected--twice. His two "memoirs” have been picked apart by reporters who have written their own books on the subject. It would appear that Obama picked up the habit of lying early on in life as the son of a Kenyan who had abandoned his mother, the step-son of an Indonesian whom his mother also divorced, and a man who remarkably was a friend or associate of a long list of shady characters you might more likely find in a detective novel.
He dismissed his close friendship with former 60s Weatherman terrorist, Bill Ayers, as someone who lived in his Chicago neighborhood. He had to throw his longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright, under the bus when it became known he said many bad things about America over the course of the many years Obama was a member of his church. The man who conducted Obama’s wedding and christened his children said of 9/11, "the chickens have come home to roost” as if it was America’s fault it was attacked.
Even so, this is small potatoes compared to the way the many "renewable energy” companies received billions in government loans and rapidly went bankrupt. It turned out that many of the many of the men who created those companies where major "bundlers” and contributors to his 2009 presidential campaign. Of the most famous bankruptcy, Solyndra, Obama said, "That was not our program, per se. Congress-Democrats and Republicans—put together a loan guarantee program…” Maybe so, but we have not seen such a program lose so much money in such a short time, betting on solar and wind power projects. The taxpayers got stuck with the bill. The number of actual "green” jobs ended up costing over a million dollars each to create.
Of his failed "stimulus” package, Obama said "Apparently there weren’t as many shovel ready jobs as we thought.” Before spending millions to allegedly revive the economy, you are supposed to know such things.
If not Benghazi-Gate, than the IRS targeting of conservative, patriot, and constitution education groups could provide the fulcrum to bring down Obama’s presidency. Despite his denials of knowledge about the program within the IRS to harass and deny these groups non-profit status, vital to raise donations and funding, and the firing of the IRS commissioner, this is a scandal with which ordinary taxpayers can identify, fearful of audits. Imagine now as the realization sinks in that it is the IRS that will be administering Obamacare!
Up to now Obama could count on the mainstream media to ignore much of the blunders, failures and lies that characterized his first term, but the scandals coalescing as his second term begins have a weight that includes the growing unhappiness of the White House press corps who are tired of being lied to or having to listen to press secretary Jay Carney speak to them as if they were a bunch of witless clowns.
It is said that "the fish stinks from the head” and what we are witnessing is an administration whose corrupt political practices have seeped deep into the government agencies for which Obama is responsible.
It is still too soon to know which scandal or combination of scandals will bring down his presidency, but it will only take a few more eye-witnesses and whistle-blowers to turn Obama into the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtain and pulling the levers to fool Dorothy and her pals or, in our case, those of us who still believe laws should be obeyed and power should not be abused.
© Alan Caruba, 2013
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:19 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 909 words, total size 6 kb.
Dana Loesch calls it a War on Women
Jack Kemp
Here's the link and opening two paragraphs. I suggest you read it all.
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/15/irs-persecution-is-a-war-on-women/
IRS Persecution Is A War On Women
By: Dana Loesch (Diary) | May 15th, 2013 at 08:05 PM
Forget "binders full of women” — the IRS’s persecution of hundreds of tea party groups is the real war on women. I co-founded the movement in my hometown of St. Louis and have travelled the country with various tea party groups and I’ve seen it first hand: the tea party movement was predominately led by women. It isn’t a slight to our men; in speech after speech I mentioned how the nation’s men have been neutralized in this fight by the left’s ridiculous identity politics and bunk sexism claims. I’ve opined more than once "My husband can’t hit a girl, but I can.” It’s the truth — and it’s why women raised up from around the country to lead the charge.
That’s why this IRS scandal is all the more stunning. If the left can claim that Romney’s "binders full of women” remark is indicative of a festering female hatred on the right, if they can claim that the demand for grown women to pay for their own preventative pregnancy sexual recreation pills is a sign that conservatives hate women, then the IRS going all Spanish Inquisition on groups of a female-led movement is the war of all wars on women.
Here's the link and opening two paragraphs. I suggest you read it all.
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/15/irs-persecution-is-a-war-on-women/
IRS Persecution Is A War On Women
By: Dana Loesch (Diary) | May 15th, 2013 at 08:05 PM
Forget "binders full of women” — the IRS’s persecution of hundreds of tea party groups is the real war on women. I co-founded the movement in my hometown of St. Louis and have travelled the country with various tea party groups and I’ve seen it first hand: the tea party movement was predominately led by women. It isn’t a slight to our men; in speech after speech I mentioned how the nation’s men have been neutralized in this fight by the left’s ridiculous identity politics and bunk sexism claims. I’ve opined more than once "My husband can’t hit a girl, but I can.” It’s the truth — and it’s why women raised up from around the country to lead the charge.
That’s why this IRS scandal is all the more stunning. If the left can claim that Romney’s "binders full of women” remark is indicative of a festering female hatred on the right, if they can claim that the demand for grown women to pay for their own preventative pregnancy sexual recreation pills is a sign that conservatives hate women, then the IRS going all Spanish Inquisition on groups of a female-led movement is the war of all wars on women.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:14 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 243 words, total size 1 kb.
St. Louis Reporter Harassed by IRS, forced to Recant Claim by KMOV
Timothy Birdnow
A local television reporter here In St. Louis named Larry Connors (he was the reporter made famous by The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) tweeted the other day that the IRS was harassing him because he had been tough on the President on air. Connors is hardly a conservative. His CBS affiliate made him recant on the air - he was clearly furious at having to do it, too.
Dana Loesche has been all over this story.
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/14/reporter-claims-irs-harassment-after-tough-obama-interview/
and
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/14/exclusive-source-says-kmov-forced-reporters-hand-in-irs-scandal/
A local television reporter here In St. Louis named Larry Connors (he was the reporter made famous by The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) tweeted the other day that the IRS was harassing him because he had been tough on the President on air. Connors is hardly a conservative. His CBS affiliate made him recant on the air - he was clearly furious at having to do it, too.
Dana Loesche has been all over this story.
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/14/reporter-claims-irs-harassment-after-tough-obama-interview/
and
http://www.redstate.com/dloesch/2013/05/14/exclusive-source-says-kmov-forced-reporters-hand-in-irs-scandal/
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:11 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 94 words, total size 1 kb.
Obama IRS went after Catholic prof. in 2010
Jack Kemp
The thugs went after a lady prof., intimidating her into silence for a while. But now she has an audience for her story.
By the way, for any indifferent atheists reading this piece, if you don't believe Obama is God (a likely case), you may be next to be harrassed.
From The Blaze, here's the link and a quote:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/15/exclusive-prominent-catholic-prof-claims-irs-audited-her-after-speaking-out-against-obama-and-demanded-to-know-who-was-paying-her/
In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets.
According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her. While they did not ask directly it seemed as though the agent wanted to know about the leanings of these particular organizations.
The thugs went after a lady prof., intimidating her into silence for a while. But now she has an audience for her story.
By the way, for any indifferent atheists reading this piece, if you don't believe Obama is God (a likely case), you may be next to be harrassed.
From The Blaze, here's the link and a quote:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/15/exclusive-prominent-catholic-prof-claims-irs-audited-her-after-speaking-out-against-obama-and-demanded-to-know-who-was-paying-her/
In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets.
According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her. While they did not ask directly it seemed as though the agent wanted to know about the leanings of these particular organizations.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:01 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.
Zippy's latest tribulations
Dana Mathewson
Zippy -- and his crony Eric Holder -- are encountering flak over what I don't think has yet been called IRS-gate but probably will be. Holder is protesting that he wasn't involved. Meanwhile, "Cholly" Rangel is urging Zippy to "come clean" on the subject. Isn't it rich when one of the crookedest dudes in DC tells the Boss to clean up his act? http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/charlie-rangel-irs-associated-press-comments-91398.html?hp=r6
"I don’t think anyone truly believes that the president has given us a sufficient answer for America, much less the press,” Rangel said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe.” "I think this is just the beginning and the whole idea of comparing this with Nixon, I really think is just, it doesn’t make much sense. But the president has to come forward and share why he did not alert the press they were going to do this. He has to tell the Americans, including me: What was this national security question? You just can’t raise the flag and expect to salute it every time without any reason and the same thing applies to the IRS.”
Zippy -- and his crony Eric Holder -- are encountering flak over what I don't think has yet been called IRS-gate but probably will be. Holder is protesting that he wasn't involved. Meanwhile, "Cholly" Rangel is urging Zippy to "come clean" on the subject. Isn't it rich when one of the crookedest dudes in DC tells the Boss to clean up his act? http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/charlie-rangel-irs-associated-press-comments-91398.html?hp=r6
"I don’t think anyone truly believes that the president has given us a sufficient answer for America, much less the press,” Rangel said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe.” "I think this is just the beginning and the whole idea of comparing this with Nixon, I really think is just, it doesn’t make much sense. But the president has to come forward and share why he did not alert the press they were going to do this. He has to tell the Americans, including me: What was this national security question? You just can’t raise the flag and expect to salute it every time without any reason and the same thing applies to the IRS.”
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:58 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 182 words, total size 1 kb.
Weiner to run for Mayor
Jack Kemp
Late nite comedy hosts are rejoicing, as are their writers - and NY Post headline writers.
Also NY newstand owners are rejoicing. When I told a newstand owner in my neighborhood that Anthony Weiner was the best newspaper salesman in NY, he started laughing.
From the NY Post
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/no_more_penis_jokes_FKbWFLQz7wbNnaQ51Ls2tM
Weiner to seek erection, will announce bid for mayor
* By DAVID SEIFMAN
* Last Updated: 8:03 AM, May 15, 201
Anthony Weiner’s bid to rise from the political dead is ready to begin in earnest — the disgraced former congressman will announce he is running for mayor as early as next week, according to sources.
"He’s definitely running,” one Weiner ally told The Post.
After weeks of hinting at a run, Weiner has taken a major step toward firing up his campaign by hiring a manager to guide his mayoral bid, according to a report.
Weiner has tapped political adviser Danny Kedem, who recently worked on a Staten Island congressional race, to run his impending mayoral campaign, according to a report on Politico.com.
Kedem, who worked on Democrat Mark Murphy’s failed congressional run, has worked on mayoral campaigns in the past.
Late nite comedy hosts are rejoicing, as are their writers - and NY Post headline writers.
Also NY newstand owners are rejoicing. When I told a newstand owner in my neighborhood that Anthony Weiner was the best newspaper salesman in NY, he started laughing.
From the NY Post
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/no_more_penis_jokes_FKbWFLQz7wbNnaQ51Ls2tM
Weiner to seek erection, will announce bid for mayor
* By DAVID SEIFMAN
* Last Updated: 8:03 AM, May 15, 201
Anthony Weiner’s bid to rise from the political dead is ready to begin in earnest — the disgraced former congressman will announce he is running for mayor as early as next week, according to sources.
"He’s definitely running,” one Weiner ally told The Post.
After weeks of hinting at a run, Weiner has taken a major step toward firing up his campaign by hiring a manager to guide his mayoral bid, according to a report.
Weiner has tapped political adviser Danny Kedem, who recently worked on a Staten Island congressional race, to run his impending mayoral campaign, according to a report on Politico.com.
Kedem, who worked on Democrat Mark Murphy’s failed congressional run, has worked on mayoral campaigns in the past.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:54 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 198 words, total size 1 kb.
May 15, 2013
AP Telephone Spy Story a False Flag?
Timothy Birdnow
This Administration provokes paranoia in critics. This operation - run as it is by the Chicago gang of neo-Marxists and intimately acquainted with the bare-knuckle tradition of Saul Alinsky - knows how to manipulate and distort in such a way as to get their enemies chasing their tails. There is nothing this bunch does that is straight; every action has a hidden agenda, and so I am suspicious of everything they say or do.
Not just the Administration; the media, too, is as crooked as Bill Clinton's family heirloom after Hillary tried to break bread. (See what I am saying here http://www.channel4embarrassingillnesses.com/conditions/peyronie--s-disease/ although this is for adult eyes only.) They have been solidly in the tank for Mr. Obama and his Merry Men, and anything coming from them is suspect, at least to my mind. Perhaps I am turning into Alex Jones...
I don't think so. I do not believe a good many things. I do not believe Mr. Obama was born in Kenya, although perhaps he was born of a jackall somewhere near Rome. (If you don't get that I'm not explaining it to you.) At any rate, I may be paranoid, but am I paranoid enough...
Which is why my antennae are up over the recent indignation by the AP and other mainstream news outlets about the Administration spying on them. It seems that the BHO's minions at the DOJ have been telephone records of the Associated Press, ostensibly to find a leak that caused a good bit of trouble (and no, I'm not refering to Mr. Clinton's kinked supply line).
www.dailytech.com/ObamasDOJCaughtSpyingonAssociatedPressinHuntforLeakers/article31542.htm
Interesting that we have three major scandals erupting at the same time (sorry for the poor choice of words); Benghazi, the IRS investigation of Tea Party groups - and their leaking information to Propublica, a leftist political hatchet group www.newsmax.com/Headline/propublica-irs-conservative-tea/2013/05/14/id/504481, and now this AP spy story. Why is all this coming at once?
The media has been solidly in the tank for Mr. Obama since day one. I wonder if this AP story has not popped up now as a diversion. Oh, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth but in the end will the mainstream media walk away from this Administration? On the contrary, one must ask how long the media has known of this and why it should come out now. I do not believe in fortuitous coincidences, and especially with this politically savvy and hard-fighting lot.
In short, it is my opinion this is a red herring. The Clinton Adminstration used to do this, leaking damaging information itself so as to control the timing. Clinton's people (who are largely the same bunch as this crew) would overwhelm the public with bad news, making scandal stale and leading the public to ignore it in favor of Dancing with the Stars reruns (or whatever similar program was on back then.) It also produced a backlash of sympathy for the Administration, which appeared to be picked on by rabid partisan enemies. it worked beautifully for Clinton, who committed a felony and walked away with his reputation somewhat in tact (joining Obama's buddy William Ayers "guilty as hell, free as a bird!")
Remember, many of the principles in this Administration are retreads from the Clinton era.
This is my take, at any rate. You will notice, too, that Fast and Furious has been largely forgotten, and that was as bad a scandal as any. Hundreds of dead Mexicans were the fruits of F and F. Benghazi overshadowed it, and now this IRS thing and the AP deal.
Please note, too, that the year is 2013; just months after the re-election of the BHO and still well enough away from the midterm elections that damage control can be effective. The timing couldn't have been better for Obama.
Am I paranoid? Maybe, but even paranoids have enemies.
This Administration provokes paranoia in critics. This operation - run as it is by the Chicago gang of neo-Marxists and intimately acquainted with the bare-knuckle tradition of Saul Alinsky - knows how to manipulate and distort in such a way as to get their enemies chasing their tails. There is nothing this bunch does that is straight; every action has a hidden agenda, and so I am suspicious of everything they say or do.
Not just the Administration; the media, too, is as crooked as Bill Clinton's family heirloom after Hillary tried to break bread. (See what I am saying here http://www.channel4embarrassingillnesses.com/conditions/peyronie--s-disease/ although this is for adult eyes only.) They have been solidly in the tank for Mr. Obama and his Merry Men, and anything coming from them is suspect, at least to my mind. Perhaps I am turning into Alex Jones...
I don't think so. I do not believe a good many things. I do not believe Mr. Obama was born in Kenya, although perhaps he was born of a jackall somewhere near Rome. (If you don't get that I'm not explaining it to you.) At any rate, I may be paranoid, but am I paranoid enough...
Which is why my antennae are up over the recent indignation by the AP and other mainstream news outlets about the Administration spying on them. It seems that the BHO's minions at the DOJ have been telephone records of the Associated Press, ostensibly to find a leak that caused a good bit of trouble (and no, I'm not refering to Mr. Clinton's kinked supply line).
www.dailytech.com/ObamasDOJCaughtSpyingonAssociatedPressinHuntforLeakers/article31542.htm
Interesting that we have three major scandals erupting at the same time (sorry for the poor choice of words); Benghazi, the IRS investigation of Tea Party groups - and their leaking information to Propublica, a leftist political hatchet group www.newsmax.com/Headline/propublica-irs-conservative-tea/2013/05/14/id/504481, and now this AP spy story. Why is all this coming at once?
The media has been solidly in the tank for Mr. Obama since day one. I wonder if this AP story has not popped up now as a diversion. Oh, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth but in the end will the mainstream media walk away from this Administration? On the contrary, one must ask how long the media has known of this and why it should come out now. I do not believe in fortuitous coincidences, and especially with this politically savvy and hard-fighting lot.
In short, it is my opinion this is a red herring. The Clinton Adminstration used to do this, leaking damaging information itself so as to control the timing. Clinton's people (who are largely the same bunch as this crew) would overwhelm the public with bad news, making scandal stale and leading the public to ignore it in favor of Dancing with the Stars reruns (or whatever similar program was on back then.) It also produced a backlash of sympathy for the Administration, which appeared to be picked on by rabid partisan enemies. it worked beautifully for Clinton, who committed a felony and walked away with his reputation somewhat in tact (joining Obama's buddy William Ayers "guilty as hell, free as a bird!")
Remember, many of the principles in this Administration are retreads from the Clinton era.
This is my take, at any rate. You will notice, too, that Fast and Furious has been largely forgotten, and that was as bad a scandal as any. Hundreds of dead Mexicans were the fruits of F and F. Benghazi overshadowed it, and now this IRS thing and the AP deal.
Please note, too, that the year is 2013; just months after the re-election of the BHO and still well enough away from the midterm elections that damage control can be effective. The timing couldn't have been better for Obama.
Am I paranoid? Maybe, but even paranoids have enemies.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:08 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 648 words, total size 4 kb.
Media Icon Attacks the Administration
Jack Kemp
More trouble is brewing for the Obama administration. Liberal icon and Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein has publicly criticized the Dept. of Justice -- and thus the Administration -- for accessing the phone records of the Associated Press.
Newsmax reports that:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/carl-bernstein-ap-scandal/2013/05/14/id/504370?s=al&promo_code=137B9-1#ixzz2TI5pOTfZ
Investigative reporter Carl Bernstein on Tuesday called the scandal involving the Department of Justice securing telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors a "nuclear event."
"This is outrageous," Bernstein said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "It is totally inexcusable. This administration has been terrible on this subject from the beginning.
"The object of it is to intimidate people who talk to reporters," he said. "This was an accident waiting to become a nuclear event, and now it's happened."
[SNIP]
"The numerical thing doesn't matter," said Bernstein, a former Washington Post reporter who, along with Bob Woodward, broke the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. "What matters is, this is a matter of policy. It is known to the president of the United States that this is the policy. To say that there was no knowledge, in quotes, specifically about this in the White House is nonsense."
The Obama administration knows they are in trouble when half of the famed "Woodstein" reporters who broke the Watergate story comes out against them. I believe the hotel bars -- and liquor stores -- in Washington are going to do good business late this afternoon. Some political types will be buying to forget -- and others from across the aisle will be buying to celebrate.
A few days ago, Obama was urging graduating seniors at Ohio State to reject the voices of those who "warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems." http://www.wvnstv.com/story/22163963/obama-to-address-graduating-students-at-ohio-state Now students have one of their near-mythical class-lecture icons, Carl Bernstein, telling them essentially that there are, indeed, sinister goings-on in the government. It's enough to suppress both the youth and mature adult vote for Democrats in 2014.
Of course, there are some in the Obama administration who fantasize that "come the Revolution, we won't need to worry about elections." But, in fact, they already have to worry about General Petraeus and others vying to emerge as the new John Dean. And all this while Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is auditioning for the role of Martha Mitchell, as she criticizes the President by saying he "still has not learned how to govern" -- and worse. http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/05/dowd-blasts-obama-on-benghazi-163761.html
I wouldn't say the president's goose is cooked -- but his lame duck is.
More trouble is brewing for the Obama administration. Liberal icon and Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein has publicly criticized the Dept. of Justice -- and thus the Administration -- for accessing the phone records of the Associated Press.
Newsmax reports that:
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/carl-bernstein-ap-scandal/2013/05/14/id/504370?s=al&promo_code=137B9-1#ixzz2TI5pOTfZ
Investigative reporter Carl Bernstein on Tuesday called the scandal involving the Department of Justice securing telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors a "nuclear event."
"This is outrageous," Bernstein said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "It is totally inexcusable. This administration has been terrible on this subject from the beginning.
"The object of it is to intimidate people who talk to reporters," he said. "This was an accident waiting to become a nuclear event, and now it's happened."
[SNIP]
"The numerical thing doesn't matter," said Bernstein, a former Washington Post reporter who, along with Bob Woodward, broke the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. "What matters is, this is a matter of policy. It is known to the president of the United States that this is the policy. To say that there was no knowledge, in quotes, specifically about this in the White House is nonsense."
The Obama administration knows they are in trouble when half of the famed "Woodstein" reporters who broke the Watergate story comes out against them. I believe the hotel bars -- and liquor stores -- in Washington are going to do good business late this afternoon. Some political types will be buying to forget -- and others from across the aisle will be buying to celebrate.
A few days ago, Obama was urging graduating seniors at Ohio State to reject the voices of those who "warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems." http://www.wvnstv.com/story/22163963/obama-to-address-graduating-students-at-ohio-state Now students have one of their near-mythical class-lecture icons, Carl Bernstein, telling them essentially that there are, indeed, sinister goings-on in the government. It's enough to suppress both the youth and mature adult vote for Democrats in 2014.
Of course, there are some in the Obama administration who fantasize that "come the Revolution, we won't need to worry about elections." But, in fact, they already have to worry about General Petraeus and others vying to emerge as the new John Dean. And all this while Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is auditioning for the role of Martha Mitchell, as she criticizes the President by saying he "still has not learned how to govern" -- and worse. http://www.politico.com/politico44/2013/05/dowd-blasts-obama-on-benghazi-163761.html
I wouldn't say the president's goose is cooked -- but his lame duck is.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:42 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 432 words, total size 3 kb.
Probably the best pro-gun article I've ever seen
Dana Mathewson
It's long. And it's great. The author lists the many reasons that pro-Second Amentment types do not trust anti-gun folks -- those who bemoan the fact that we can't seem to have a "dialogue" on the subject of gun control.
Darn right we can't, and it's their fault. The author says, "I’ve come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we’re the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can’t get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being."
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/opinion/article_1c144792-b36d-11e2-8ac6-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story
It's long. And it's great. The author lists the many reasons that pro-Second Amentment types do not trust anti-gun folks -- those who bemoan the fact that we can't seem to have a "dialogue" on the subject of gun control.
Darn right we can't, and it's their fault. The author says, "I’ve come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can’t have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we’re the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can’t get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being."
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/opinion/article_1c144792-b36d-11e2-8ac6-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
06:24 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.
<< Page 1 of 381 >>
97kb generated in 0.1512 seconds; 34 queries returned 168 records.
Powered by Minx 1.1.4-pink.
Powered by Minx 1.1.4-pink.
