The Pajamahadin: 02/01/2012

Obama Thinks Gas Is Too Cheap

So he wants to tack an energy consumption tax on top of it.

Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates said that President Barack Obama told him he supports a two percent national energy consumption tax, though the president said it likely could not be implemented because of gridlock in Congress.

Obama To Central California: Drop Dead

Actually, Central California is already mostly dead. Obama wants it all dead.

Nunes’ Sacramento-San Joaquin Water Reliability Act goes to a vote in the House Wednesday and if it passes, it will guarantee that water the farmers paid for finally gets to the parched Central Valley. It will put an end to the sorry stream of shriveled vineyards, blackened almond groves and unemployed farm workers standing in alms lines for bagged carrots from China.

The insanity of the current policies against some of America’s most productive farmers in one of the world’s richest farm belts is largely the work leftist politicians from the wealthy enclaves of the San Francisco Bay Area. This group has exerted its political muscle on the less politically powerful region that produces more than half the fruits and vegetables consumed in the U.S. — with $26 billion in annual sales.

“The bill restores the flow of water and establishes a framework for meaningful environmental improvements. It is a repudiation of the left’s assault on rural communities, which began with the decimation of the West’s timber industry and now is focused on Central Valley agriculture,” Nunes told IBD.

The stand-alone bill, H.R. 1837, marks the first time Central Valley water shortages and the federal role in creating them will be considered directly in Congress.
That in itself is a damning indictment of the federal government, whose laws have created the disaster in California. This first came to light more than two years ago, when Sean Hannity featured it on his national television show. The delay in addressing it makes the financial situation worse with each passing day for farmers in the Valley, and for workers who now have to subsist on government handouts rather than earnings from productive jobs.

If Barack Obama has his way, though, that situation will continue indefinitely. Late yesterday, the White House announced that Obama would veto Nunes’ bill because — I am not making this up — it would “unravel decades of work” on California water regulations … decades of work that brought California’s Central Valley to its current destruction:

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1837, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act because the bill would unravel decades of work to forge consensus, solutions, and settlements that equitably address some of California’s most complex water challenges.

H.R. 1837 would undermine five years of collaboration between local, State, and Federal stakeholders to develop the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan. It would codify 20-year old, outdated science as the basis for managing California’s water resources, resulting in inequitable treatment of one group of water users over another. And, contrary to 100 years of reclamation law that exhibits congressional deference to State water law, the bill would preempt California water law.

The bill also would reject the long-standing principle that beneficiaries should pay both the cost of developing water supplies and of mitigating any resulting development impacts, and would exacerbate current water shortages by repealing water pricing reforms that provide incentives for contractors to conserve water supplies.

Finally, H.R. 1837 would repeal the San Joaquin River Settlement Agreement, which the Congress enacted to resolve 18 years of contentious litigation. Repeal of the settlement agreement would likely result in the resumption of costly litigation, creating an uncertain future for river restoration and water delivery operations for all water users on the San Joaquin River.

The Administration strongly supports efforts to provide a more reliable water supply for California and to protect, restore, and enhance the overall quality of the Bay-Delta environment. The Administration has taken great strides toward achieving these co-equal goals through a coordinated Federal Action Plan, which has strengthened collaboration between Federal agencies and the State of California while achieving solid results. Unfortunately, H.R. 1837 would undermine these efforts and the progress that has been made. For this reason, were the Congress to pass H.R. 1837, the President’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Well, let’s take a look at California’s Central Valley and see what “five years of collaboration between local, State, and Federal stakeholders to develop the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan” has produced:

As for Obama’s stirring defense of federalism, the courts have already ruled that federal law — the Endangered Species Act — trumps California water law. That’s the reason why a federal judge turned off the water spigots more than two years ago, and why California can’t get them turned back on. If Obama was really concerned about federalism, he’d propose a repeal of the Endangered Species Act, which would also resolve this disaster. Instead, Obama threatens to veto any attempt by Congress to fix what federal law has already broken.

Hopefully, Nunes’ bill gets clear sailing through Congress and Obama gets his bluff called. If he wants to run as the Dust Bowl President in November, I say let him do it.

If At First You Fail To Delete Yourself From The Gene Pool...

Try, try again.

City spokeswoman Diane Miller said investigators believe Banning was at a friend's apartment when he apparently mistook a jar of gasoline sitting by the kitchen sink for a beverage. After taking a gulp, he spit the gas out and got some on his clothes.

Sometime later, investigators say Banning went outside to smoke a cigarette and burst into flames.

Havelock police and the city fire marshal are continuing their investigation into the accident.

Democrats Want To Open Strategic Reserve

I have question. Democrats (in particular the president) insist that drilling for oil won't affect oil prices. So how would releasing a relatively tiny amount of oil from the strategic reserve do it?

Congressional Democrats are ramping up pressure on President Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to prevent rising gas prices from threatening the economy and their election-year prospects.

They are growing anxious that the price of fuel could reverse their political fortunes, which had been improving due to signs of growth in the economy.

Republicans have hammered Democrats on the price spike, repeatedly noting that gas prices — now at $3.72 per gallon for regular — have doubled since Obama won the White House.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday blamed Obama and “radical environmental groups” for fuel prices and said it was “about damn time” the nation developed a comprehensive energy policy.

How Low Can The Huff-Po Go?

The Huffington Puffington Post plumbs new depths.

As Fox News is reporting, MRC president Brent Bozell organized a group of socially conservative leaders to demand that Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington apologize for allowing a Catholic-bashing, Santorum-bashing column to be published on her website that begins: "Many of you will be shocked to learn what our possible future president believes, who he answers to, the bloody jihads his so-called church has carried on for centuries, and its current role as the tactical arm of the North American Man-Boy Love Association."

Writer Larry Doyle added, "Unlike Christians, Santorum and his fellow Roman Catholics participate in a barbaric ritual dating back two millennia, a 'mass' in which a black-robed cleric casts a spell over some bread and wine, transfiguring it into the actual living flesh and blood of their Christ. Followers then line up to eat the Jesus meat and drink his holy blood in a cannibalistic reverie not often seen outside Cinemax."

Obama For Sale

By the numbers.

President Obama has many names, but this week, as he reaches 100 donor events since announcing for reelection last April, he’s the “fundraiser-in-chief.”

According to several counts, the Big 100 will come Thursday when he does four fundraisers enroute to collecting and spending $750 million to $1 billion for his reelection. So far since April 2011, he has raised an estimated $82 million to $100 million at those events.

Former President George W. Bush, who in May 2003 announced his reelection campaign a month later than Obama at this stage of his presidency, had attended 56 fundraisers at this time, according to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, the unofficial keeper of White House statistics. In a tweet Tuesday, he added: “Pres Obama will do four reelection fundraisers in NYC Thursday, bringing fundraising total to 100 since filing for reelection last April.”

The Republican National Committee, which also closely charts the president’s totals, said that Knoller’s numbers are correct. And, they added, the total number of White House fundraisers is much higher when factoring in those hosted by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Both did a few last week alone.

Obama Doesn't Care About High Oil Prices

It's more important that you stop using petroleum.

The Energy Department isn’t working to lower gasoline prices directly, Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker scolded him for his now-infamous 2008 comment that gas prices in the U.S. should be as high as in Europe.

Instead, DOE is working to promote alternatives such as biofuels and electric vehicles, Chu told House appropriators during a hearing on DOE’s budget...

...

...“No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy,” Chu replied. “We think that if you consider all these energy policies, including energy efficiency, we think that we can go a long way to becoming less dependent on oil and [diversifying] our supply and we’ll help the American economy and the American consumers.”

Forego Two Beers And Screw All You Want

For just nine dollars, starving Georgetown University students can buy a month's worth of birth control pills.

Nancy Pelosi held a congressional hearing on Monday with a single witness, Georgetown student Sandra Fluke, to testify about the need for Obamacare to mandate that religious institutions provide free contraception and abortifacients under their health insurance plans.

“Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy,” Fluke testified regarding the Catholic university's policy of not covering birth control. “Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school.”

But Fluke's testimony was very misleading. Birth control pills can be purchased for as low as $9 per month at a pharmacy near Georgetown's campus. According to an employee at the pharmacy in Washington, D.C.'s Target store, the pharmacy sells birth control pills--the generic versions of Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Ortho-Cyclen--for $9 per month. "That's the price without insurance," the Target employee said. Nine dollars is less than the price of two beers at a Georgetown bar.

It strains credulity to believe that a single Georgetown student can't afford $9 per month for birth control. But this is the justification the mandate's supporters give for forcing religious institutions to purchase insurance that violates their religious and moral convictions.

Obama Cronies Pocket Your Cash, Lay Off Workers

Another green company bites the dust. Obama donors walk away with full pockets.

In the nine months since David Prystash was named Chief Financial Officer of A123 Systems — the battery manufacturer that received $390.1 million in federal and state subsidies — the company has laid off 125 employees and had a net loss of $172 million through the first three quarters of 2011.

A123 Systems also learned earlier this month that the company that was to be the main purchaser of its batteries — Fisker Automotive — had its federal funding cut off for missing milestones and had to lay off its own employees. A123 Systems had invested $23 million into Fisker.

Yet, this month A123’s Compensation Committee approved a $30,000 raise for Prystash just days after Fisker Automotive announced the U.S. Energy Department had cut off what was left of its $528.7 million loan it had previously received.

Prystash wasn’t the only executive to see a big raise this month. Robert Johnson, vice president of the energy solutions group, got a 20.7 percent pay increase going from $331,250 to $400,000, while Jason Forcier, vice president of the automotive solutions group, saw his pay increase from $331,250 to $350,000. Prystash’s raise was 8.5 percent, going from $350,000 to $380,000.

Rick Santorum Helps Me Make Up My Mind

I'm voting for Mitt Romney. We already have a president with no respect for the Constitution. We don't need another one.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” he told ABC News. “The idea that church can have no influence or involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”

This should cook his goose with conservatives (and everybody else), Catholic and Protestant alike, but it probably won’t. Many voters are as ignorant as Rick Santorum about the plain meaning of the First Amendment. Mr. Santorum, no doubt listening to his inner rogue, says the First Amendment’s guarantee of “the free exercise of religion means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square.”

Indeed it does, and the pope, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, all the Methodist and Episcopal bishops, rabbis Orthodox and otherwise, and peaceful imams everywhere have the right to be heard. But none of them has the right, as arbiters of their faith, to compel the president of the United States to make public policy conform to religious doctrine. This is what makes America the exceptional nation. This is what Mr. Santorum appears to not understand.

John F. Kennedy, addressing the concern of the Protestant ministers of Houston in 1963, set the standard for how Catholic candidates for president (and other public office) should answer questions about how his faith would guide his secular presidency.

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” JFK said, “where no Catholic prelate would tell the president, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”

Obama Praises Keystone XL Pipeline

That doesn't reach Canada. What a crock.

The White House on Monday hailed the news that a scaled-down portion of the Keystone XL pipeline that would stretch from Oklahoma to Texas will move ahead, but the president’s critics said the move only underscored the need to approve the entire Canada-to-Texas project.

Calgary-based TransCanada, which is building the pipeline, said it could move ahead with the southern leg of the proposed 1,700-mile oil pipeline because it did not cross the U.S. border, thus did not need Mr. Obama’s approval. The shorter pipeline is expected to cost roughly $2.3 billion and create some 4,000 jobs and will be completed next year.

But the move appeared unlikely to quiet the fierce criticism the White House has faced from congressional Republicans and business and labor groups who have lobbied hard for the pipeline.

“We welcome the White House support of TransCanada’s efforts to move this segment forward, but President Obama needs to approve the entire pipeline now,” said Marty Durbin, executive vice president at the American Petroleum Institute. “There’s no better time to get more oil from our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada.”

Eric Holder Can't Handle The Truth

Raul Labrador shows that Eric Holder is a liar.

Eric Holder Objects To The Truth

Holder can't handle the truth. That's just not the way things are done in Washington.

During a hearing Thursday over the Fast and Furious scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder lit into GOP Congressman Raul Labrador, after he displayed slides depicting statements Holder made about President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

“That was among the worst things I’ve ever seen in Congress” Holder scolded. “There’s a whole bunch of things that I could say about what you just did, maybe this is the way you do things in Idaho or wherever you’re from, but understand something — I‘m proud of the work that I’ve done as attorney general of the United States, and looked at fairly, I think that I’ve done a pretty good job.”

“Have I been perfect? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes,” Holder acknowledged. “Do I treat the members of this committee with respect? I always hope that I do. And what you have just done is if nothing else, disrespectful. And if you don‘t like me that’s one thing. You should respect the fact that I hold an office that is deserving of respect.”

“And you know, maybe you’re new to this committee, I don’t know, I don‘t know how long you’ve been here,” Holder continued. “But my hope would be that we can get beyond that kind of interaction, that kind of treatment of a witness whether it’s me or somebody else because I think what you just did was fundamentally unfair, just not right.”

More Obama Supporters Found To Profit From Fisker Scam

The lawyers, naturally.

An international law firm, which gave substantial political donations to President Obama and fellow Democrats over the last three campaign cycles, received its own significant stimulus award to advise on a controversial Department of Energy loan transaction with a struggling electric vehicle manufacturer.

The firm, Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, received $1,842,180 in Recovery Act funds to provide legal advice, conduct due diligence, and review documents for two loans from DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. One $529 million loan award was to Fisker Automotive to develop and produce two lines of electric vehicles, with plans to create 2,000 new jobs at a renovated General Motors plant in Delaware. After receiving $193 million under that loan, DOE halted payments to Fisker in May 2011 after it failed to reach milestones set out in the agreement. Work on renovations to the Delaware plant was suspended, and the company let go about 65 employees – “green jobs” – earlier this month.

LightSquared CEO Sanitized By Sunlight

It would be so much easier to do business with Obama if CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, the New York Times and the Washington Post still monopolized the news.

Ahuja’s resignation comes after Obama’s FCC suspended conditional approval of a waiver LightSquared needed to complete its high-speed broadband network. Until two weeks ago, the company’s final approval appeared imminent.

Ahuja, who had never donated to Democrats before and has not since, gave the maximum allowable $30,400 contribution to the Democratic National Committee on the same day his lawyers were trying to arrange a meeting for him at the White House with top Obama technology adviser Aneesh Chopra and other officials.

In emails between Ahuja’s lawyers and White House officials Ahuja wanted to meet with, his lawyers pointed out that he would attend an Obama fundraiser on or about the same day he wanted the meeting.

Sunlight Disinfects Obama's Pentagon Contracting Process

If Obama plans to give military contracts to foreign companies with enemy affiliations, it's going to be in broad daylight next time.

An email from the USAF, which the Tatler has obtained from a source on the Hill, says that the Air Force is reevaluating its controversial Light Air Support (LAS) decision. The email, which went out today from Air Force’s Senate Liaison office, also promises an investigation:

Today, the Air Force advised the Department of Justice that it will take corrective action on the Afghanistan Light Air Support Contract and will set aside the contract award to Sierra Nevada effective March 2, 2012.
The Secretary of the Air Force relays the following message: “While we pursue perfection, we sometimes fall short, and when we do we will take corrective action. Since the acquisition is still in litigation, I can only say that the Air Force Senior Acquisition Executive is not satisfied with the quality of the documentation supporting the award decision.” Additionally, General Donald Hoffman, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, has initiated a Commander Directed Investigation into the matter.
The Air Force disqualified American aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6 under suspicious circumstances late last year. That decision benefited Brazil’s Embraer, a foreign firm controlled by the Brazilian government and with ties to the Iranian government. Hawker protested its disqualification, the Government Accounting Office declined to review the decision, and Hawker took the government to court.

The contract could be worth up to $1 billion, and create about 1,400 jobs. Most of those jobs would go to Brazil if Embraer gets the contract.

Democrat Lobbyists Shunning Obama

Just as he pretended to shun them.

[I]t turns out that K Street wasn’t looking for a back door to fund Obama’s re-election effort:

“Did a great ‘huzzah’ go up among lobbyists when it was apparent that although we can’t give to the Obama reelect directly, we can [give] to the super-PAC that shares that goal? No,” said Robert Raben, the president and founder of the Raben Group and a former aide to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Even the well-connected Tony Podesta, who recognizes just how good Obama has been for lobbyist business, is taking a pass for now:

Tony Podesta, the chairman of the Podesta Group and one of the Democratic Party’s biggest fundraisers, said he has no plans to fundraise or contribute to the pro-Obama super-PAC.
“I may well give to them, but the fact the president now wants me to doesn’t incent me further,” he said.
So now it can be said that Obama was against lobbyists before he was for them. They’re not buying Obama’s re-election bid either way.

The Bogus 1% Tip Story

But, it fit the narrative so perfectly!

The Top Five Things Obama Has Said That Will Haunt Him

Only five? I can think of a lot more. And some of the things his vice president has said make for a very, very long list. Anybody else remember "recovery summer" from about two years ago? How about the time that Biden boasted that the stimulus was, "doing more, faster, more efficiently, and more effectively than most expected."

New York Times Beclowns Itself

Did you know that Barack Hussein Obama was a deficit hawk? Now that's an example of news that you can only read in the New York Times.

Remember when the Bowles-Simpson commission came out with its much-ballyhooed report on how to decrease the deficit? Remember when President Obama rejected that plan? Well, now that he’s up for re-election, the press is trying to explain that he’s ready to embrace it, despite all evidence to the contrary.

President Obama once ripped the Paul Ryan deficit plan, stating “It’s not going to happen as long as I’m president.” There’s only one problem: as long as he is president, the national debt will continue to skyrocket. Since the day Obama took office, the federal government has added $4.8 trillion in new debt.

And yet the media continues to cover for him. Today’s New York Times makes the case that Obama has become a secret deficit hawk. After rejecting Bowles-Simpson, Jackie Calmes reports, starting with a famous speech in April 2011:

Mr. Obama has come to adopt most of the major tenets supported by a majority of the commission’s members, though his proposals do not go as far. He has called for cutting deficits more than $4 trillion over 10 years by shaving all spending, including for the military, Medicare and Social Security; overhauling the tax code to raise revenues and lower rates; and writing rules to lock in savings.
Sadly, Calmes ignores the fact that Obama has made no such proposal in writing. His April 2011 may have stated those goals, but Miss America also routinely states a goal to achieve world peace. That doesn’t mean that she has a plan. As the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Doug Elmendorf, stated, “We don’t estimate speeches,” he said. “We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech.”

The only thing missing from Obama's deficit reduction plan is substance.

Hillary Clinton On Criticism - Then And Now

When George Bush was president, foreign policy backstabbing was patriotic.

But today, criticism of Obama's groveling foreign policy is likely to inflame the situation.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended President Obama’s apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and warned that the GOP’s condemnation of the apology could further “inflame” the situation.

Last week, U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan accidentally burned some Qurans, which sparked deadly protests in the country. Obama apologized to Karzai for the “unintentionally mishandled” books – a move that has been criticized by some Republicans.

“I find it somewhat troubling that our politics would inflame such a dangerous situation in Afghanistan,” Clinton told CNN on Monday.

Leave Children Behind

The Rahm Emanuel alternative to "No child left behind."

[Chicago teachers union president Karen]Lewis said she got her answer about Emanuel’s character rather quickly.

“In that conversation he did say to me that 25 percent of the students in this city are never going to be anything, never going to amount to anything and he was never going to throw money at them.”

She said the comment took her aback, and she looked at him askance.

“Even if you feel that way, you can’t say that to me,” she said. “And he sort of poo-pooed it and we moved on.”

The Mayor’s Office said Lewis made up the anecdote.

“That’s simply false,” said Emanuel Press Secretary Sarah Hamilton. “The Mayor is committed to making sure that every single child in Chicago has access to an excellent education, which is why he is fighting so hard to transform the Chicago public schools that have failed our children year after year.”

Actually, I kind of hope that Emanuel did say that. At some point we have to start focusing our educational resources on those kids who want to learn instead of holding everyone up so that those who don't give a shit don't fall behind.

The Deadly Consequences Of Obama's Iranian Suckup

Obama thought that he could appease the Iranian despots by making nice, so he screwed the Iranian Green Revolution.

When mass demonstrations against the Iranian regime erupted in the summer of 2009, the Obama administration found itself facing a totally unexpected problem. President Obama had gone to great lengths to try to strike a bargain with the regime, and had ignored the internal opposition. Now he suddenly needed a crash course on the regime’s domestic challengers, and possibly to try helping them.

The president had come to office promising to establish good relations with the Islamic Republic, but no progress had (or has) been made. Moreover, there was mounting public evidence of the Iranian role in both Iraq and Afghanistan, ranging from the provision of explosives and components of the murderous IEDs (the so-called “roadside bombs”), to training terrorists (who subsequently killed Americans) inside Iran, to supporting and housing al-Qaeda members, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, to sending officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary Guards Corps onto the battlefield (several hundred were in American military detention camps in Iraq).

The president was personally committed to reaching an accord with the leaders of the Iranian regime, and he had pursued this goal with considerable energy, both through traditional diplomatic channels, and more informal discussions. Over time, the Swiss Foreign Ministry (which, in the absence of formal relations between Iran and the United States, has long served as the official middleman), the sultan of Oman, Iraqi President Talabani, and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan have carried messages, suggested actions, and arranged tactical agreements (such as the release of the American hikers held hostage in Iran starting in July 2009).

Obama's "Faith Council" Fades Away

That's the usual fate of facades. One gets the impression that Obama never really gave a damn in the first place.

His faith under attack, his contraception decision savaged on all sides, President Barack Obama could use backup in the religious community right now.

But three years into his presidency, Obama’s marquee council of faith advisers has gone dark — a little-noticed postscript for a panel that he rolled out with fanfare and high expectations during his first weeks in office but ended up playing only a limited role in West Wing deliberations.

The president’s first Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships delivered a 163-page report in March 2010 and then disbanded. The second council has waited more than a year for a full slate of appointees and has yet to meet. And the hottest issue — whether religious groups that receive public money can discriminate in hiring — remains unresolved more than three years after Obama promised to address it.

“It’s the mysterious, disappearing faith-based council,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who advised the first council.

Durable Goods Order Plummet

Unexpectedly.

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell in January by the most in three years as demand fell across the board from machinery to aircraft, suggesting the economy started the year on weaker footing than expected.

Durable goods orders dropped 4.0 percent, the biggest drop since January 2009 when the country was still mired in a deep recession, according to Commerce Department data on Tuesday.

Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.

Excluding transportation, orders fell 3.2 percent. Economists had expected that reading to be flat. Machinery orders dropped 10.4 percent, the largest decline since January 2009.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for future business investment, fell 4.5 percent, the steepest drop in a year.

Eric Holder's Corruption Coverup

Holder denies knowing of widespread corruption of his Justice Department. Internal documents contradict him.

According to TheDC’s source, a knowledgeable government official who served on a DOJ team put in place to arrest those finance executives, five other prosecutors on the team were also compromised in some way other than being bribed.

The DOJ never acted on the sealed indictments, which were the consequence of a lengthy criminal scheme involving bank fraud and other financial crimes. This, TheDC’s source said, was because Attorney General Eric Holder is embarrassed by the corruption that has plagued his DOJ internally.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. John de Jongh, a Democrat, was personally on the receiving end of a portion of $20 million in cash bribes spread to officials in the Virgin Islands government, according to TheDC’s Justice Department source. (RELATED: Full coverage of the Justice Department)
The bribes went to de Jongh, his attorney general Vincent Frazer and assorted Virgin Islands legislators, the source said. The bribes were intended to quash local concerns about financial irregularities identified on CFC’s books.

TheDC is withholding the name of its source in order to reduce the likelihood of career retaliation from political figures in the Obama administration.

Obama Lied People Died

And many more may die still. Obama had a chance to save hundreds, if not thousands of lives in Iran. He also had the opportunity to topple the theocracy. He didn't. And he lied about it.

Documents obtained by The Washington Examiner suggest the Obama administration missed at least one major opportunity to help opposition groups in Iran that has not previously been reported. In November 2009, leaders of the Green party, which had staged a revolt on the streets of Tehran in June of that year, sent a long memo through channels to the Obama administration that some analysts said was a clear call for help.

"So now, at this pivotal point in time, it is up to the countries of the free world to make up their mind," states the opposition memo dated Nov. 30, 2009. "Will they continue on the track of wishful thinking and push every decision to the future until it is too late, or will they reward the brave people of Iran and simultaneously advance the Western interests and world peace."

The eight-page memo describes the current regime under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "brutal, apocalyptic theocratic dictatorship."

The memo warns that Iran "with its apocalyptic constitution will never give up the atomic bomb, nor will it give up its terror network, because it needs these instruments to maintain its power and enhance its own economic and financial wealth."

The administration claimed in 2009 that the Green party in Iran did not want American help.

The Greatest President In The History Of Everything

According CBS's Bob Schieffer.

Who can argue with 20% underemployment, a nuclear Iran, a freshly belligerent Russia, total mission collapse in Afghanistan, $5/gallon gasoline, etc?

Obama Feels Your Pain At $3/Gallon Gas

Eric Holder's Dishonest Conversation On Race

This is why Eric Holder's challenge to discuss race issues honestly was so phony. The man is incapable of honesty.

“We’ve often seen that students of color, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and students with special needs are disproportionately likely to be suspended or expelled,” Holder said in Atlanta, Ga.

“This is, quite simply, unacceptable. … These unnecessary and destructive policies must be changed,” Holder said at the meeting, which was hosted by 100 Black Men of Atlanta Inc.

Holder attributed his claim of racial disparity in school discipline to a 2011 study that he said showed “83 percent of African American male students and 74 percent of Hispanic male students ended up in trouble and suspended for some period of time.”

However, Holder’s speech ignored the report’s conclusion that 59 percent of white males are also disciplined. He ignored other data suggesting that the different discipline rates roughly align with actual schoolyard behavior.

“Look at the demographics around that school and see if the same percentages are logged in the police reports [because] if the police are singing the same song, that issue [of disparate treatment] will not stand up,” said David Rettig, head of the National Character Education Foundation.

“Outside the walls of the school, how many of these kids are coming from not just dysfunctional homes, but homes that are not supportive of their children?” he asked.

B-52 To Be In The US Inventory Until At Least 2040

Now that's a solid design.

America's newest, nuclear-tipped cruise missiles will be carried by an airplane already more than 50 years old, if the Air Force's strategy proceeds as planned. The Air Force has been eager to build a long-range bomber to carry nukes, preferably one that can evade radar while closing in on targets. But that program is languishing—officials have not even decided if the new planes will be piloted, robotic, or optionally manned—and, in the meantime, the B-52 Stratofortress will fill the gap. The tactic: Have the B-52 fire a new air-launched cruise missile far from the target and let the missile, not the airplane, defeat any advanced air defenses. The B-52s tasked with this mission will fly until at least 2040, representing nearly a century of active duty. The airframes and engines will remain the same, but the birds will be upgraded with new hardware (as well as with the nuclear brawn) to extend their service lives.

Obama Wins The Highly Coveted Zbigniew Brzezinski Endorsement

The man who helped etch Jimmy Carter's name in history.

“My view, however, is the following: one, he really understands the world better than any other politician,” Brzezinski said. “And I wouldn’t even waste time comparing him to what we hear from the Republican candidates for presidency, because that’s so unrealistic and so primitive that it’s embarrassing.”

It's An Honor To Be A Food Stamp President

Because they're so much better than jobs.

The Marines Know Who Loves Them

Obama Slashes Health Care

For servicemen.

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.

Many in Congress are opposing the proposed changes, which would require the passage of new legislation before being put in place.

“We shouldn’t ask our military to pay our bills when we aren’t willing to impose a similar hardship on the rest of the population,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Republican from California, said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “We can’t keep asking those who have given so much to give that much more.”

If only the military had a union that donated to Democrats.

Top Democrats Seeks More Saudi Oil

Somebody's going to have to explain this to me. The Democrats insist that increasing domestic production will not lower gasoline prices - but increased Saudi production will?

Schumer on Sunday urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Saudi officials to expand production, noting that the kingdom is producing well below its capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day.

Republicans are hopeful that the letter provides a political opening to undercut Democratic and White House energy policies.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office on Monday circulated a press release headlined “Top Democrat Senator Demands Increased Energy Production, Jobs In Saudi Arabia Rather Than Increasing American Energy And American Jobs.”

Santorum And Romney Both Beat Obama

In swing states.

In the poll, Obama lags the two leading Republican rivals in the 12 states likely to determine the outcome of a close race in November:

•Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum tops Obama 50%-45% in the swing states. Nationwide, Santorum's lead narrows to 49%-46%.

•Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney edges Obama 48%-46% in the swing states. Nationwide, they are tied at 47% each.

Romney also has a health care problem: Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in the battleground states, 27% say they are less likely to support him because he signed a Massachusetts law that required residents to have coverage. Just 7% say it makes them more likely to back him.

"If they used Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care program as a guideline for the Obamacare thing, what's the difference?" says Robert Hargrove, 37, of Sanford, N.C., rejecting Romney's explanation of differences between the state and federal laws. Hargrove, a truck driver for a propane company, scoffs: "It's just a bigger version. They put it on steroids."

Update: Both Romney and Ron Paul lead Obama.

For the first time since late December 2011, Mitt Romney leads the president in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Romney earns 45% of the vote, while the president attracts support from 43%. Romney holds a nine-point advantage among unaffiliated voters.

For the first time ever, Texas Congressman Ron Paul also leads the president. In that matchup, 43% prefer Paul and 41% Obama. Ten percent (10%) would vote for some other option, a figure that includes 17% of Republicans.

If former Senator Rick Santorum is the Republican nominee, the president leads by two, 45% to 43%. With former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as his opponent, the president enjoys a 10-point lead, 49% to 39%.

The Only Explanation For Obamacare Unpopularity

You're stupid. According to Democrats.

Americans only oppose ObamaCare because they "didn't know" about its many benefits. "The pieces of health care reform, when you ask Americans about them, they overwhelmingly support them," she said.

Democrats have fed a credulous media that line since they shoved the law down our throats in 2010.

Obama pollster Joel Benenson promised "once reform passes, the tangible benefits Americans will realize will trump the fear-mongering rhetoric opponents are stoking today."

David Axelrod said that "health care, over time, is going to become more popular."

And, of course, who can forget Nancy Pelosi's declaration that "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."

Turns out, the more Americans know about ObamaCare, the less they like it. And for good reason.

Left Wing Civility

Actually, it's fairly articulate, for a liberal.

Murdering, Lying, Thieving, Rat-F*** Republican Pieces of Sub-Amphibian Sh**...

...mendacious, death-loving, frothing, lamprey-mouthed, inhuman, abominable, atrocious, verminous, rapacious, sadistic, bullying, invasive, grasping, psychopathic, twisted, warped, animalistic, belly-crawling, mouth-breathing, illiterate, innumerate, know-nothing, imbecilic, sheep-raping, horror movie extras masturbating into wads of money while fantasizing about war collateral damage...(inhale)...puppy-torturing, vacuous, mindless, nihilistic, evil, diseased, soulless, morally bankrupt, greedy, insecure, envious, kleptomaniac charnel-house mascots stewing in universal hatred for all life...(inhale)...toxic, ugly, bestial, humorless, loveless, compassionless, demonic human-shaped ruins forever slouching toward Bethlehem in search of some fresh nightmare to wreak on the defenseless via other people's money and heroism...(inhale)...Satanic monkey-shit-throwing, cowardly, chickenhawkish, parasitic, baby's-candy-stealing, wife-beating, minority-purging, syphilitic Confederate poltergeists with erectile dysfunction...

Valor Versus Political Correctness

Valor wins.

Another thing that I truly enjoyed about this film was the unambiguous patriotism of the soldiers and their families. Yep, no whining about their missions from their families or the SEALs who sacrificed their lives and limbs for God and country. It almost felt like I was in America again as I watched this movie. It was weird—but a good weird.

Even though it’s shocking to see our troops displayed in a magnificent manner within this Occuculture that loathes them, it was not a shocker to me; I have had the good fortune to spend time with many of our special ops and other soldiers in hunting camps from Alaska to Texas and have found them just as the movie displayed them: consummate class acts without a hint of the BS Hollyweird has smeared them with over the last decade.

I can’t say enough good things about this movie. In the theater in which my wife and I watched it we spotted several older gents and couples who sat in their seats and silently wept as the credits rolled. It was sacred.

I’m sure all the scabs and the venomous wood lice of the Left are going to crawl out from under the rocks where they dwell and bash this war pic, but that’s alright. Our SEALs and others have afforded you the right to be stupid and bray your insanity by keeping bad guys at bay, both at home and abroad, and thereby giving you the wherewithal to play your silly and ungrateful games against our fair land.

I saw that Act of Valor opened with only a 25% rating on Rottentomatoes.com. I read the reviews and knew that I had to see it. The critics who gave it thumbs down were all offended by the positive light that the movies shined on our fighting men.

By the way, normal people are giving Act of Valor an 85% positive rating. And the critics rating has risen to 31%

Just Another Example Of Obama's Contempt For The Law

What you gonna do about it?

Like other photos posted on the White House’s Flickr stream, it went out with this stern warning: “This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.”

Use of the photo in the Obama campaign's political web advertising seems to violate several of those injunctions. However, at the daily press briefing on Friday, a White House spokesman suggested the web site’s ban on political use of the photos might be overstated.

Is Algae Fuel Even Possible?

Obama says that we can replace 17% of our petroleum with algae fuel. To accomplish this, we would have to find three times as much water as we now use in all irrigated agriculture and devote 5.5% of all the land space in the lower 48 states.

Not realistic.

The Obama Administration has already sunk $25 million into a Florida company—Alganol Biofuels—that is building an algae biorefinery using a patented technology that promises to streamline the process of extracting oils from algae so they be converted to ethanol.

In remarks at the University of Miami, Obama highlighted two domestic energy sources more than any other—natural gas and algae. After the speech, the Administration announced $30 million in grants to develop natural gas as a vehicle fuel, $14 million for algae.

“We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline and diesel and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance — algae,” Obama said in Miami. ” You’ve got a bunch of algae out here, right? If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing all right.”

The Crushing Burden Of Public Employee Retirement

Every single California household is on the hook for over $30,000 in public employee pension debt. And even that may be an underestimate.

The average California household's share of the debt for underfunded state and local government employee pensions comes to about $30,500.

Stanford University studies released last week and in December for the first time aggregate public pension shortfalls statewide. Using moderate assumptions about future investment returns, the unfunded liability is about $379 billion.

Hard-core pension reformers will maintain that the number is much more.

The American Dream In The Age Of Obama

What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine.

The Evolution Of Obama's Energy Policy

2008 2009 2012

Nancy Pelosi Blames Wall Street For High Gas Prices

When she gets a new idea (undoubtedly generated by someone else) she clings to it - bitterly.

"Independent reports confirm that speculators are driving up the cost of oil, hurting consumers and potentially damaging the economic recovery. Wall Street profiteering, not oil shortages, is the cause of the price spike.

"We need to take strong action to protect consumers from this speculation. Unfortunately, Republicans have chosen to protect the interests of Wall Street speculators and oil companies instead of the interests of working Americans by obstructing the agencies with the responsibility of enforcing consumer protection laws.

"We call on the Republican leadership to act on behalf of American consumers and join our efforts to crack down on speculators who care more about their profits than the price at the pump even if these spikes harm the American consumer and our economy."

This woman is absolutely breathtaking in her stupidity.

Obama Making A Movie About Obama

Well, they know how to find the right film maker. He's already an Academy Award winning liar. Frankly, I think he has chosen the wrong film maker. If this movie is supposed to convince us that Obama has been doing a good job these last three years, then he's going to need someone with experience generating outrageous special effects.

President Obama’s campaign has hired Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim to produce a short film chronicling the first three years of his administration, Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg reports.

The campaign paid more than $160,000 for the film, which is less than 30 minutes long and set to be released in the coming weeks, Goldman reports.

Introduce Monkey To Money, And They Become Thieves And Prostitutes

Would the experiment have produced politicians next?

Do they understand the value of money or do the monkeys just follow nice treats? Well, on a particular day, a researcher cut circular slices of cucumber, similar to the discs that were handed out to the capuchin as money, and fed them to the monkeys instead of the usual cube-like shape. One of the monkeys took a slice, chewed a bit on it, and then immediately went to one of the researchers to see if she could buy something tastier with it. Oh, and then again there’s stealing too. Not a single monkey saved any of the tokens, but most of them tried to substrate a few more tokens when they were handed out. The monkeys were given tokens one at a time by inserting them in a separate chamber from that of their living quarters, but on one occasion everything sprung into chaos when a capuchin tried to make a run for it with a tray filled with tokens and ended up back with all the other monkeys. That was a tough time for researchers.

Something else happened then too, tough , in what’s maybe the most evident form of one’s grasp upon currency. The idea is that you can use money as a form of currency to exchange for goods or services, as in not just food. Well, one of the researchers, during the chaos event, observed how one of the monkeys exchanged money to another for sex. After the act was over, the monkey which was paid immediately used it to buy a grape…

Aborting The Real Debate

Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I woke up in an alternative universe. When I went to sleep the previous night, we were in the early stages of a presidential campaign in which the most critical issue was the deplorable state of the US economy. The most glaring indicator of the economy’s weakness was an unemployment rate of over 15%. Yes, I know that the official unemployment rate is 8.3%. But to arrive at that number, Obama’s Labor Department must neglect millions of Americans who have despaired of ever finding work again and have given up and those who are grievously underemployed.

Even if the economy were humming along, there are peripheral issues that belong in the conversation. One is a gun running scandal in which Obama’s Justice Department smuggled thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to drum up support for stricter gun control laws. These guns have been used in hundreds of murders. And so far, the Justice Department’s response has been the crudest, most oafish and unconvincing coverup imaginable.

And also hanging over this administration has been a lowering cloud of corruption. There are numerous documented occasions of Obama funneling hundred of millions of dollars into the pockets of campaign contributors. Recently released documents also reveal how Obama’s Federal Communications Commission drove the prime competitor of one big contributor out of business.

Those were the sorts of things that mattered when I went to bed. But I must have fallen down a rabbit hole because, when I got out of bed the following morning, the biggest issue in the in the alternate universe was birth control. Birth control is suddenly such an all consuming issue that David Gregory, the host of NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday morning news magazine, declared 2012 as the, “Year of Birth Control Moms.”

Seriously? With widespread unemployment, the looting of the Social Security system, corruption, soaring gasoline prices, a nuclear Iran and bumbling incompetence as far as the eye can see, this is the year of the birth control mom?

When was the last time that birth control was a political issue? Somewhere back in the 1960’s there were some deliberations, but aside from some moral debates, it’s been a dead issue ever since. I was around when the birth control pill was introduced and even then it was not something around which a general election revolved.

Now that’s not to say that there was no consternation about whether or not birth control pills were a good idea. And to be honest, many of concerns that the moralists expressed about inconsequential sex have been vindicated. And I even remember the joke about how women should consider using aspirin tablets as birth control pills by holding one tight between their knees.

Women back then were made of sterner stuff. They just groaned at bad jokes back then. Today’s liberated woman, such as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, fall faint with a case of the vapors when they hear a bad joke.

Or, it could be that I’m still in my same universe and the Democrats are up to their old fan dance, with the mainstream news media acting as the plumage.

A few months ago, at a Republican debate hosted by ABC News, Bill Clinton’s former hatchet man George Stephanopolous, now paid by ABC but clearly still working for the Democrats, began hammering away on the issue of birth control. The central issue should have been the economy (stupid!), but Stephanopolous insisted upon focusing the debate on birth control.

Does anybody seriously believe that Republicans are going to try to outlaw birth control pills?

This contraception business really started when Barack Obama overstepped his constitutional authority and tried to force churches to pay for abortions. When that backfired, he stepped even farther outside his authority and dictated that insurance companies provide abortion coverage free of charge. What started as a debate on the limits of executive branch authority was quickly turned into an attempt to convince women that Republicans wanted women barefoot and pregnant. And yes, one Democrat congressman actually said that.

It’s understandable that Democrats and the news media would want to change the subject. Who would want to run on the promise of four more years of what we’ve just gone through? And to reach back to a debate that was settled five decades ago shows just how little the Democrats have to fight back with.

New York Screws Itself

Who knows how many jobs and how much tax revenue New York would see if it didn't make hydraulic fracturing for natural gas impossible.

Bans on natural gas drilling in two New York towns were each upheld by state judges this week.

Middlefield, New York’s 2011 ban on gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, was upheld by State Supreme Court Judge Donald Cerio Jr. yesterday, according to Tom West, an attorney representing Cooperstown Holstein Corp., a dairy farm that challenged the ban. On Feb. 21, State Supreme Court Judge Phillip Rumsey said the Town of Dryden’s ban on drilling wasn’t preempted by state law.

The local bans target hydraulic fracturing for gas, a process in which chemically treated water is forced underground to break up rock and free trapped gas. Environmental groups say the process threatens drinking water supplies.

“This is really the kiss of death for drilling in New York,” West said in an interview. “No prudent operator is going to invest in leases in New York if those leases are at the mercy of a zoning ban.”

Canada's Plot Against The USA

The deep thoughts of Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass). This is a great example of how smart you have to be if you're a Democrat.

“And in a particularly egregious play on American patriotism and American fears, we have also been told that the oil coming through this pipeline would enable us to reduce our dependence on oil imported from unfriendly Middle Eastern or Latin American nations.

“Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper even said that, ‘When you look at the Iranians threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, I think that just illustrates how critical it is that supply for the United States be North American.’

“This appears to be a complete fiction, because under this bill, there is no guarantee that even a drop of the tar-sands oil and fuels will stay in this country.

“This is because many of the refineries where the Keystone crude will be sent plan to re-export the refined fuels.

Obama's "Settlement" Spares Big Banks

Once again, Obama spares his biggest campaign contributors.

Earlier this month, the federal government and most states agreed to a $25 billion settlement with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Ally Financial for carrying out fraudulent foreclosures on mortgages. The settlement will direct $20 billion toward mortgage relief for borrowers and $5 billion to the government. As Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets has argued, this deal is a complete sell-out to the financial industry.

First, there was no serious criminal prosecution, meaning that no one will be charged with a felony and no one will go to jail. In terms of affecting executives’ incentives, this is the only thing that matters.

Even the terminology used to frame the discussion is wrong. Kelleher, an attorney with extensive experience in private practice and the public sector, tells it like it is: “ ‘Robo-signing’ is massive, systematic, fraudulent, criminal conduct.” Alternatively, as he points out, we could just call it “lying, cheating, and stealing.”

Second, the civil penalties in this settlement—a form of fine—are minuscule relative to the size of the companies involved. As Shahien Nasiripour, one of the best reporters on this issue, dryly put it: “None of the five lenders have said they expect to incur a material charge due to the settlement.” In other words, from a corporate perspective, the penalty is a trifling affair.

Third, such fines are, in any case, paid by the companies’ shareholders, not by their executives or board members (all of whom carry insurance). In the rare cases in which fines have been levied on individuals, either their insurance policies picked up most of the bill, or the penalties were trivial relative to the cash compensation that they received while committing their crimes—or both.

I suppose it's comforting to know that Obama is loyal to something.

A Nation Of Savages

There is absolutely no chance of bringing this barbaric 7th century society into the modern world.

At least two American officers were killed inside the interior ministry in Kabul, a senior Afghan police official said Saturday.

According to the International Security Assistance Force, initial reports indicated that "an individual" turned his weapon against NATO service members.

The agency did not provide the nationalities of the victims, but the Afghan police official confirmed they were American.

The Americans killed were a colonel and a major, the official said.

"They were part of the advisory mission there," the official said. "At this stage we can't say why they were killed."

The investigation is ongoing, and it was unclear who the shooter was, he said. However, it's unlikely that the gunman was an outsider who had infiltrated the ministry, he said.

The attack happened in a separate compound inside the interior ministry where as many as 10 Americans are based, the official said. Such an attack would have to be planned, he said.

The Pajamahadin

Wednesday, February 29, 2012