Fire Hydrant of Freedom

"All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride legitimately, by the grace of God." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Roger C. Weightman, 1826

I caught a goodly portion of Newt's rather lengthy "concession" today, which dedicated quite a bit of time to restating what his campaign was about when it was in the groove.  Its great stuff!-- but had little resonance in its restatement today because he spoke in a manner that refused to acknowledge just how diminished he has become due to his own human foibles.   

His inner suffering must be great.   For one golden moment everything that his whole life was about was in his grasp , , , and he blew it.

Interesting speculations on both sides , , ,

When Stalinism Was in Vogue

Lillian Hellman disdained a system that made her fabulously rich while romanticizing one that made its citizens spectacularly poor.
By MICHAEL MOYNIHAN

Upon returning from the Soviet Union in 1933, the British writer Malcolm Muggeridge, stunned by the privation and state terror of communism, wondered how it was possible that "so many obvious and fundamental facts about Russia are not noticed even by serious and intelligent visitors." In 1937, as Stalin commenced his psychopathic purge of "Trotskyite enemies," the serious and intelligent playwright Lillian Hellman arrived in Moscow a stalwart supporter of Bolshevism, eager to demonstrate Muggeridge's point.

Hellman, who cycled between writing for the theater and fattening her wallet producing Hollywood melodrama, would cite this Potemkin visit to Moscow as inspiration for "The North Star," her 1943 screenplay celebrating a verdant collective farm in Ukraine whose productive peasants—singing, insouciant comrades—were rudely dispersed by invading Nazis. The critic Mary McCarthy, who would later emerge as one of Hellman's fiercest detractors, declared the film a "tissue of falsehoods woven of every variety of untruth."

The script earned Hellman an Oscar nomination. But a decade later it would also earn her a subpoena from the House Committee on Un-American Activities—and a reputation as an iron-spined dissident. In a letter to the committee, Hellman declared that she would not "cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions," while insisting that she had little interest in politics.

Like most of Hellman's public statements about her political activities, this was a lie. It is because of her political activism that Hellman, whose literary output was of variable quality, has been the subject of countless biographies and academic studies. In "A Difficult Woman," Alice Kessler-Harris, a professor of history at Columbia University, returns to this well-tilled soil, offering an "empathetic view of Hellman and her politics."

Like most book-length treatments of Hellman, "A Difficult Woman" is less concerned with her oeuvre than with relitigating the politics of anticommunism. Now that key claims of American radicalism have been upended by revelations from the Soviet archives—the innocence of Alger Hiss and Julius Rosenberg, the independence of the American Communist Party—Ms. Kessler-Harris grouses that "victory went to those who defined communism as the enemy of national security."

Enlarge Image

Close.A Difficult Woman
By Alice Kessler-Harris
(Bloomsbury, 439 pages, $30)
.One can dip into a shallow reserve of sympathy for those who, like Muggeridge, were briefly seduced by utopianism and soon disabused by reality. But Hellman deserves no such leniency. Ms. Kessler-Harris marvels that Hellman "dedicated much of her life to the cause of civil liberties; in return, she earned the Stalinist label." This is giving Hellman short shrift: she worked rather hard to earn the Stalinist label.

Consider: Hellman zealously supported the Moscow line on Trotsky, offering no criticism when he was murdered by Kremlin agents; she defended Stalin's mass executions of party cadres in 1937-38, signing a petition that accused the victims of being "spies and wreckers" of socialism; she supported Stalin's alliance with Nazi Germany, despite her supposed devotion to "anti-fascism," and defended Moscow's indefensible invasion of Finland in 1939-40, claiming that the country supported Nazism and deserved no pity, a scurrilous lie that Ms. Kessler-Harris leaves unchallenged.

Hellman disdained a system that made her fabulously rich while romanticizing one that made its citizens spectacularly poor. And as Hellman biographer Carl Rollyson noted, she never made "more than a grudging admission of how profoundly wrong she was about Stalin." Unlike Martin Heidegger and Ezra Pound, both of whom supported a different genocidal tyrant, Hellman barely saw her reputation suffer because of her repellent allegiances.

Ms. Kessler-Harris's defense of Hellman and others who refused to abjure Stalinism will sound familiar. While some party apparatchiks were "vaguely aware in the 1930s of Stalin's increasingly ruthless methods"—a rather limp way of describing a roiling genocide—one must remember that "this was, after all, a period when rumors flew." Soviet enthusiasts like Hellman, Ms. Kessler-Harris writes, were merely showing a commitment to "social justice" and not Stalinism per se. The Communist Party plumped for the noble goals of racial equality and a vaguely defined "peace," leading Ms. Kessler-Harris to ask: "How could [Hellman] not have joined?" It is a question easily answered by Alfred Kazin, Irving Howe and countless other liberal intellectuals who understood the axiomatic immorality of Bolshevism.

Ms. Kessler-Harris claims that American anti-communists waged campaigns "filled with hyperbole and outright lies." But it was the Stalinists, Hellman included, who made falsehood a core principle. Her penchant for fantastical tales prompted Mary McCarthy's acid comment that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.' " The story of Hellman's friendship with "Julia," an Austrian working in the anti-fascist resistance whom she supposedly assisted, was put forward in Hellman's memoir "Pentimento" (1973) and made into a Hollywood film. The story, it turned out, was cribbed from an acquaintance. (The film's director would later denounce Hellman as a "phony.")

Ms. Kessler-Harris acknowledges Hellman's prevarications only grudgingly, resorting to a tedious postmodern explanation that writers are entitled to their own version of "truth"—though Hellman insisted that stories like Julia's were literal truth. Despite voluminous evidence to the contrary, Ms. Kessler-Harris insists that Hellman's "concern for accuracy persisted throughout her life." Not when it came to her memoirs and certainly not when it came to communism's crimes. The previous draft of history was correct: The anticommunists were right, and Hellman was profoundly, inexcusably wrong.

Mr. Moynihan is a contributing editor of Reason magazine.

Better in the Afpakia thread , , ,

www.deadline.com/2012/05/cnn-has-its-lowest-rated-month-in-more-than-a-decade-in-april/

By default I had to watch a lot of CNN during my Euro seminar tour.  What vapid and insipid twaddle!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/30/ron_paul_vs_paul_krugman_on_economics.html


http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpollaro/2012/04/27/the-bernanke-bust-the-why-how-and-when/

Infg credible

http://www.dickmorris.com/obama-gives-away-our-sovereignty-dick-morris-tv-lunch-alert/

I get email from "Southern Pulse/Networked Intelligence".  The following is according to them but not well cited.  How many of these guns e.g. were govt to govt (Mex military) which then walked for example?    Once suspects this 68k number will be bandied about and given the ATF's track record of Orwellian dissimulation we need to be on the alert.  If anyone can pin this down further, it would be appreciated.


MEXICO - ATF acknowledges U.S. origin of recovered guns

On 26 April 2012, the U.S. government announced that about 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities in the past five years originated in the United States. According to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), all of the weapons seized in Mexico and submitted for tracing were suspected of being used in crimes in Mexico.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/us/hamtramck-high-holds-all-girl-prom.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120502

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — The prom countdown was nearly complete, the do-it-yourself Greek columns, pink and white tulle bows and plastic flutes with the “Once Upon a Dream” logo awaiting the evening of evenings.

.But as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, her one-shoulder lavender gown matching the elaborate hijab that framed her face in a cascade of flowers — a style learned on YouTube — Tharima Ahmed knew that what lay ahead was more than simply a prom.

As organizer of Hamtramck High School’s first all-girl prom, which conforms to religious beliefs forbidding dating, dancing with boys or appearing without a head scarf in front of males, Tharima, 17, was forging a new rite of passage for every teenage Muslim girl who had ever spent prom night at home, wistfully watching the limousines roll by.

“Hi, guys — I mean girls!” Tharima, a Bangladeshi-American, exuded into the microphone as 100 girls — Yemeni-American, Polish-American, Palestinian-American, Bosnian-American and African-American — began pouring into the hall on Bangladesh Avenue.

This was prom, Hamtramck-style: the dense scrappy working-class city of 22,500 encircled by Detroit, once predominantly German and Polish, has become one of the most diverse small cities in America. Its new soul lay in the music playlist embedded in Rukeih Malik’s iPhone: Lady Gaga, Cobra Starship, the Belgrade-born singer Ana Kokic and The Bilz, a Canadian-South Asian band, singing “2 Step Bhangra.”

In this season of wobbly heels and cleavage, the bittersweet transformation of teenagers in jeans and T-shirts into elegant adults barely recognizable to their friends is an anticipated tradition.

But at the all-girl prom, there were double double-takes, as some of Tharima’s classmates, normally concealed in a chrysalis of hijab and abaya, the traditional Muslim cloak, literally let their hair down in public for the first time.

Eman Ashabi, a Yemeni-American who helped organize the event, arrived in a ruffled pink gown, her black hair falling in perfect waves, thanks to a curling iron. Like many here, she stunned her friends.

“It’s ‘Oh my god!’ ” said Simone Alhagri, a Yemeni-American junior who was wearing a tight shirred dress. “This is how you look underneath!”

The dance was the denouement of seven months of feverish planning in which a committee raised $2,500, mostly through bake sales. Ignoring the naysayers who could not imagine anyone coming to a prom without boys, Tharima and her friends approached their task systematically, taking a survey of all the girls at Hamtramck High. They found that 65 percent were not able to attend the coed prom because of cultural and religious beliefs. After discussion, the school supported the student-driven alternative.

In addition to Muslim girls (and alumnae who never got the opportunity), non-Muslim students wanted to go, too. “I want to support all my girls,” said Sylwia Stanko, who was born in Poland and whose friends are mostly Bengali-American or Arab-American. “I know how important it is to them.”

The prom promised “music all night, except during dinner and five minutes for prayer.” A former Knights of Columbus hall was transformed into princess-pink perfection.

Tharima placed a huge order for decorations with PromNite.com, including a light-up fountain to which the girls added pink food coloring.

Tharima had dreamed of prom night since her freshman year, squirreling away photographs of ballrooms and ads for tiaras.

As Tharima prepared for her big night, her mother, Roushanara Ahmed, recalled the fancy pink sari she wore to an all-girls party in what is now Bangladesh. “I was in high school,” she said, her voice low, eyes softening. “I know her feelings.”

Like the prom, the city of Hamtramck is a mixer of a different kind. Along Joseph Campau Street, a monumental statue of Pope John Paul II presides over Pope Park, with its festive mural of Krakow. A poster for the television program “Bosnian Idol” is displayed in the Albanian Euro Mini Mart, known for homemade yogurt and burek, traditional spinach and meat pies. During her English class, Tharima can hear the call to prayer over loudspeakers from the Islah Islamic Center a few blocks from school.

Diversity was hard-won: The mosque, one of five in the city, was the subject of controversy in 2004, when some people strenuously objected to the city’s decision to allow it to broadcast prayers five times a day; the city ultimately prevailed, regulating the hours when the call may be sounded.

In sharp contrast to earlier immigrants, drawn by the once-thriving auto industry, a quarter of the residents now live below the federal poverty level.

CONT.

The third industrial revolution
The digitisation of manufacturing will transform the way goods are made—and change the politics of jobs too
Apr 21st 2012 | from the print edition

..
 
THE first industrial revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century, with the mechanisation of the textile industry. Tasks previously done laboriously by hand in hundreds of weavers’ cottages were brought together in a single cotton mill, and the factory was born. The second industrial revolution came in the early 20th century, when Henry Ford mastered the moving assembly line and ushered in the age of mass production. The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban. Now a third revolution is under way. Manufacturing is going digital. As this week’s special report argues, this could change not just business, but much else besides.

A number of remarkable technologies are converging: clever software, novel materials, more dexterous robots, new processes (notably three-dimensional printing) and a whole range of web-based services. The factory of the past was based on cranking out zillions of identical products: Ford famously said that car-buyers could have any colour they liked, as long as it was black. But the cost of producing much smaller batches of a wider variety, with each product tailored precisely to each customer’s whims, is falling. The factory of the future will focus on mass customisation—and may look more like those weavers’ cottages than Ford’s assembly line.

The old way of making things involved taking lots of parts and screwing or welding them together. Now a product can be designed on a computer and “printed” on a 3D printer, which creates a solid object by building up successive layers of material. The digital design can be tweaked with a few mouseclicks. The 3D printer can run unattended, and can make many things which are too complex for a traditional factory to handle. In time, these amazing machines may be able to make almost anything, anywhere—from your garage to an African village.

The applications of 3D printing are especially mind-boggling. Already, hearing aids and high-tech parts of military jets are being printed in customised shapes. The geography of supply chains will change. An engineer working in the middle of a desert who finds he lacks a certain tool no longer has to have it delivered from the nearest city. He can simply download the design and print it. The days when projects ground to a halt for want of a piece of kit, or when customers complained that they could no longer find spare parts for things they had bought, will one day seem quaint.

Other changes are nearly as momentous. New materials are lighter, stronger and more durable than the old ones. Carbon fibre is replacing steel and aluminium in products ranging from aeroplanes to mountain bikes. New techniques let engineers shape objects at a tiny scale. Nanotechnology is giving products enhanced features, such as bandages that help heal cuts, engines that run more efficiently and crockery that cleans more easily. Genetically engineered viruses are being developed to make items such as batteries. And with the internet allowing ever more designers to collaborate on new products, the barriers to entry are falling. Ford needed heaps of capital to build his colossal River Rouge factory; his modern equivalent can start with little besides a laptop and a hunger to invent.

Like all revolutions, this one will be disruptive. Digital technology has already rocked the media and retailing industries, just as cotton mills crushed hand looms and the Model T put farriers out of work. Many people will look at the factories of the future and shudder. They will not be full of grimy machines manned by men in oily overalls. Many will be squeaky clean—and almost deserted. Some carmakers already produce twice as many vehicles per employee as they did only a decade or so ago. Most jobs will not be on the factory floor but in the offices nearby, which will be full of designers, engineers, IT specialists, logistics experts, marketing staff and other professionals. The manufacturing jobs of the future will require more skills. Many dull, repetitive tasks will become obsolete: you no longer need riveters when a product has no rivets.

The revolution will affect not only how things are made, but where. Factories used to move to low-wage countries to curb labour costs. But labour costs are growing less and less important: a $499 first-generation iPad included only about $33 of manufacturing labour, of which the final assembly in China accounted for just $8. Offshore production is increasingly moving back to rich countries not because Chinese wages are rising, but because companies now want to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to changes in demand. And some products are so sophisticated that it helps to have the people who design them and the people who make them in the same place. The Boston Consulting Group reckons that in areas such as transport, computers, fabricated metals and machinery, 10-30% of the goods that America now imports from China could be made at home by 2020, boosting American output by $20 billion-55 billion a year.

The shock of the new

Consumers will have little difficulty adapting to the new age of better products, swiftly delivered. Governments, however, may find it harder. Their instinct is to protect industries and companies that already exist, not the upstarts that would destroy them. They shower old factories with subsidies and bully bosses who want to move production abroad. They spend billions backing the new technologies which they, in their wisdom, think will prevail. And they cling to a romantic belief that manufacturing is superior to services, let alone finance.

None of this makes sense. The lines between manufacturing and services are blurring. Rolls-Royce no longer sells jet engines; it sells the hours that each engine is actually thrusting an aeroplane through the sky. Governments have always been lousy at picking winners, and they are likely to become more so, as legions of entrepreneurs and tinkerers swap designs online, turn them into products at home and market them globally from a garage. As the revolution rages, governments should stick to the basics: better schools for a skilled workforce, clear rules and a level playing field for enterprises of all kinds. Leave the rest to the revolutionaries.

Very good piece.  I am going to paste in on Economics or maybe create a Technology thread on SCH.

The ISM manufacturing index increased to 54.8 in April To view this article, Click Here
Brian S. Wesbury - Chief Economist
Robert Stein, CFA - Senior Economist
Date: 5/1/2012
The ISM manufacturing index increased to 54.8 in April from 53.4 in March, coming in well above the consensus expected 53.0. (Levels higher than 50 signal expansion; levels below 50 signal contraction.)
The major measures of activity all increased in April and most remain well above 50, signaling growth. The production index rose to 61.0 from 58.3 and the employment index increased to 57.3 from 56.1. The new orders index also gained to 58.2 from 54.5. The supplier deliveries index rose to 49.2 from 48.0.
 
The prices paid index was unchanged at 61.0 in April.
 
Implications:  Manufacturing was much stronger than expected in April, with the ISM report beating the estimate of every single one of the 79 forecasting groups polled by Bloomberg. At 54.8, April’s reading was the highest in ten months and has now remained above 50 for 33 straight months. And just in case you still think a double-dip is possible, the new orders index, came in at a stellar 58.2, the highest in a year, suggesting more growth in production ahead. The employment index rose to 57.3, the highest level since June last year, and is consistent with our view of private payrolls rising 175,000 in April. The index level for inventories dropped to 48.5 and is once again contracting.  The reluctance of manufacturers to accumulate inventories may hold back GDP in the short term, but we view this reluctance as temporary and indicative of better future growth.  On the inflation front, the prices paid index remained at an elevated 61.0 in April.  Given the loose stance of monetary policy, this index should move higher in the year ahead. In other news this morning, the Census Bureau reported that construction spending increased 0.1% in March, although it dipped 0.1% including revisions to prior months.  The slight increase in March itself was a combination of a 0.7% increase in private construction, while government projects fell 1.1%.  The rise in private construction was a due to single-family homes and office buildings; the drop in government projects was led by public colleges.

Second post of morning.

Standing Guard
By Wayne LaPierre 2:28 PM 04/25/2012


For anyone who doubts President Barack Obama’s dedication to a second-term all-out war on the Second Amendment, say just one name—Mayor Rahm Emanuel—the new boss of Chicago machine politics, tapped as the star co-chair for Obama’s re-election campaign.

Obama’s Chicago-based campaign manager characterized the mayor as key among those who “share the president’s vision of a future. …”

The focus of that Obama-Emanuel shared vision for the nation’s gun owners can be summed up in Emanuel’s pursuit of gun bans by any means.

This is no honorary job. It is real power linking Obama’s re-election with Emanuel’s fanaticism for destroying the Second Amendment.

Emanuel has spent his political life pressing for gun control—as policy advisor to President Bill Clinton, as a member of Congress, then as Obama’s White House chief of staff. As mayor of Chicago, he is doubling down on his vendetta against lawful gun owners. And as the most visible campaign co-chair, his efforts are unconditionally tied to Obama’s re-election agenda.

Days before his campaign appointment, Emanuel launched a vicious attack on law-abiding Illinois gun owners that was stunning even by Chicago standards. Blaming peaceable citizens for Chicago’s runaway criminal violence, Emanuel has demanded that Illinois firearm owners be forced to register their handguns at $65 a pop. Possession of an unregistered gun by ordinary citizens would be a felony. Further, gun owners would be required to re-register their firearms every five years, paying an additional $25 fee per-gun. Failure to comply would be a criminal act.

Forget to renew your registration: go to jail. Move and fail to notify authorities within 72 hours: go to jail. Take your handgun to the range, but forget your registration certificate: go to jail.

As a final insult, the mayor is demanding a punitive or “sin tax” on all ammunition sales to pay for trauma wrought by violent Chicago criminals whom he is unable or unwilling to control.

In a Feb. 9, 2012 report headlined “Emanuel Calls For Statewide Gun Registry,” CBS in Chicago reported Emanuel as bragging, “I have a long history, both on the Brady Bill, assault weapon ban, and passing gun legislation.”

Boss Emanuel credited his draconian gun registration scheme to Rev. Michael Pfleger, a radical leftist whom Barack Obama once characterized in the Chicago Sun Times as being among his personal “spiritual advisors.”

What does Obama’s “spiritual advisor” say about the NRA? Try this from a guest sermon: “It’s a MIDNIGHT HOUR when gun manufacturers and distributors and the NRA under the disguise of rights to hunt, continue to market guns as part of America’s new wardrobe and continue to arm gangs and criminals out of back rooms and back alleys of our cities, and then … seek like Pilate to wash their hands of the responsibility and accountability, of their death dealing, that causes hearses to drive down the streets of our neighborhoods carrying the bodies of our children and they say ‘We are not guilty.’”

Speaking of death and murder, for those who don’t recall, it was Pfleger who called for the killing of a Chicago area gun store owner and threatened pro-gun Illinois legislators as targets to be “snuffed out.” In June 2007, leading a near-lynch-mob at that suburban gun store, Pfleger screamed for the violent demise of the licensed dealer:

“We’re going to find you and snuff you out. … Like a rat you’re going to hide. But like a rat, we’re going to catch you and pull you out. … We’re going to snuff out John Riggio.” As for pro-gun rights state legislators: “We’re going to snuff out legislators that are voting against our gun laws. We’re coming for you because we’re not going to sit idly.”

For his clear threats of violence, there was no prosecution. Under the “Chicago Way,” Pleger’s call to “snuffing” is apparently protected.

And today, Rahm Emanuel’s in-your-face, Pfleger-inspired gun proposals are part and parcel to his being chosen as an Obama campaign major domo. This is the web of Chicago thug political connections that cannot be ignored. Know your enemies by the company they keep.

Among others tapped as campaign chairs who “each share the President’s vision” are a select group—“F-rated” gun-ban politicians, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL; Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, I; California Attorney General Kamala Harris, D and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, D.

Guilt by association? You bet.

With all of the talk about “transparency,” one thing is truly clear—the web of lies spun about the president’s phony, claimed support of the Second Amendment. Obama’s vision of the Second Amendment and the vision of his fellow travelers, Pfleger and Boss Emanuel, is the one that disarmed the citizens of both Washington, D.C., and Chicago—the vision that says there is no individual right to keep and bear arms.

Every gun owner must be “All In” to defeat Barack Obama in the political fight of our generation this November 6—when all of our freedoms are on the line.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/one-of-the-most-despicable-things-you-can-do-what-made-arianna-huffington-take-romneys-side-over-obama/

I am deeply exhausted, and frankly, physically sick (taking antibiotics, have a cold, immune system quite run down) and my internal clock is badly confused.  It is now 0400 (a.k.a. 1300 where I was for the last three weeks).

I had no internet connection the last three days.

I REALLY hate coming home to a disaster of a thread like this.

Personal antipathies are getting quite out of hand.

At the moment I am not sure what to say except that I'd like to ask everyone to have a conversation with the man in the mirror about not going down this road no matter what someone else might say.

Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't.  We just don't know.  His calling her a slut in a private conversation is just not something I see as worthy of attention.  Whether the Dem nominee for the VP of the United States of America is guilty as accused or not is.

Profoundly important and quite misplaced in this thread.  Please post in the Military Science thread.

Of course the Pravdas will be all over this , , ,

GENDER GAP IS SMALLER

By DICK MORRIS

Published on TheHill.com on April 24, 2012

The Democratic PR machine has convinced the mainstream media that the Republicans
have so alienated American women that a huge gender gap is looming that will propel
Obama into a second term in the White House.

The data show how fatuous this claim is. Rasmussen's polling -- the best, because he
samples likely voters -- shows Romney running 12 points better among men than among
women. But in the presidential election of 2008, Obama actually did carry women by
12 points more than men (he won women by 13 points and men by 1 point). So there is,
indeed, no growth in the gender gap.

In fact, the gender gap is smaller now than it has been in recent history. In 2004,
2000 and 1996, the gender gap was larger than it is in the Rasmussen poll -- and in
the election of 2000 it was much larger.


Gender gap in recent 
presidential elections

Year/percent by which women voted Democrat more than men:

1996: 15 points

2000: 22 points

2004: 14 points

2008: 12 points

Current Rasmussen poll: 12 points


So, at the start of the Romney campaign, he is running better among women than Dole
did or Bush did in either of his national races.

The Democrats hope that by duping their always-susceptible mainstream media allies,
they can spread propaganda about the gender gap in the hopes of provoking one by
reporting one. But the fact is that Romney's defeat of Santorum in the GOP primaries
has established a basis for women trusting Romney not to go overboard on social
issues.

In a real sense, the Democratic campaign strategy has never adjusted to the fact
that Romney is the nominee, not Santorum or Gingrich. With the contraception issue
and the Pennsylvania senator's unique views on separation of church and state, the
Democrats were eager to run against Santorum. And with the legacy of Gingrich's
government shutdown hanging over his head, they wanted to run against Newt. But it
is not going to happen. The Democrats will find it is futile to paint Romney as
anti-woman or to bill him as a Neanderthal extremist who will subject needy people
to what one commentator called a "reign of terror" with budget cuts. It just doesn't
fit with Romney.

Instead, Romney's campaign has skillfully spoken of the vastly disproportionate job
loss among women during the Obama administration. Ninety-two percent of the
employment losses in his three disastrous years have been in jobs held by women. One
reason for the artificially low unemployment rate we now see is that more than 20
million people have left the labor force since Obama took office. A great many of
these are women who have elected to accept a lower income, discontinue daycare and
stay at home with their children once they have lost their jobs. It will not fail to
dawn on these mothers that Obama took away their choice by subjecting them to
ruinous economic policies.

In 1996, the Dole campaign never got used to the fact that it was opposing the Bill
Clinton who signed welfare reform, set the budget on a track to balance and cut
capital gains taxes. Instead, it wanted to run against the old version of Clinton --
the liberal big spender who had lost the election of 1994 to Gingrich's forces.
Similarly, the Obama campaign has never made the pivot from facing Santorum or
Gingrich to opposing Romney.

Its rhetoric about the savage Tea Party right is just obsolete and it can't let go
of it. To do so would be to require it to do the one thing it cannot possibly afford
to: run on Obama's record.

My point is that you are commingling news http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/a-hard-look-at-the-president.html?_r=1 and opinion (Blowhard, Hannity, whomever)

 

Without recourse, motivation to not breach may be missing , , ,

Government border town crackdowns on the rise
 
In this March 22, 2012 photo, Luis Valverde, right, talks with Nicho Vacca, middle, and Anthony Delgado, all long time residents of Sunland Park, as they gather in front of a senior center in Sunland Park, N.M. Scandal in this small border town is nothing new. But what is new is the harsh response: State and federal authorities are focusing on border town corruption as part of the larger effort to battle the influence of Mexican drug cartels. (AP Photo - Ross D. Franklin)JERI CLAUSING
From Associated Press
April 26, 2012 12:05 PM EDT
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (AP) — While much of New Mexico is west of the Rio Grande, this dusty enclave of 14,000 residents is the only U.S. city located on the Mexico side of the river, on the same side as — and just across the border fence from — Juarez.

But it's more than the anomalous location that lends to the town's persistent reputation as a self-contained banana republic.

When state police descended on the dysfunctional community before the March elections, the reaction wasn't so much surprise as "what now?"

And that would be the latest allegations of extortion and financial kickbacks among municipal officials, and, more colorfully, that a mayoral candidate tried to force his opponent out of the race with a secretly recorded video of the other man getting a topless lap dance.

But what is relatively new in Sunland Park and in other troubled border cities and towns is the harsh response to such shenanigans. State and federal agencies are cracking down on border town corruption as part of the larger effort to battle Mexican drug cartels.

"Everyone turned their heads for so long," said Richard Schwein, a former FBI agent in nearby El Paso, Texas, where at least 28 people have either been convicted or indicted recently for voting scandals or awarding fraudulent contracts. Then, when the Department of Justice and the FBI made it a priority, "Bingo!"

Another example can be found 70 miles west of El Paso, in tiny Columbus, N.M., where authorities a year ago arrested the mayor, police chief, a town trustee and 11 other people who have since pleaded guilty to charges they helped run guns across the border to Mexican drug cartels.

That corruption that seems endemic to the border towns can be blamed on a mix of small-town politics, an influx of corrupt government practices from across the border, and, of course, the rise of the cartels and their endless supply of cash.

"If you're (a small town police officer) making $35,000 a year, and someone offers you $5,000 cash ... and next month there's another $5,000 in it for you, you've just (substantially increased) your income by not being on patrol on a given road," said James Phelps, an assistant professor with the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

The U.S. attorney for New Mexico, Kenneth Gonzalez, says more local officials have gotten caught up in scandals as federal authorities put a more intense and sophisticated focus on border towns as part of their attempts to thwart the cartels.

"A result of that intense scrutiny is that we more than likely are going to ensnare someone abusing their position," Gonzalez said.

In Sunland Park, an inquiry into local elections turned into a major probe by multiple agencies.

State auditor Hector Balderas said that broad cooperation among agencies shows that law enforcement is starting to realize that "many crimes are interrelated."

"I think law enforcement agencies and other agencies are now learning that these fiscal problems are symptoms of potentially greater corruption," Balderas said. "And a village or municipality can be infiltrated by criminal elements very easily."

Dona Ana District Attorney Amy Orlando stated in court that Sunland Park's former mayor pro tem and then mayor-elect, Daniel Salinas, 28, had boasted to his codefendants in the cases there that he had ties to the cartels and could call on them to have people who testify against him killed.

Salinas' attorney vehemently denied those allegations.

The two dozen felonies filed against Salinas to date focus on corruption of the financial and voting processes. Although he won the mayor's chair, he was barred from taking office by the terms of his bail.

So allies on the City Council recently named a political newcomer to the job. The new mayor, 24-year-old Javier Perea, most recently worked as a jewelry store employee at an El Paso mall. He replaces former Mayor Martin Resendiz, who dropped a bid for Congress after admitting in a deposition that he signed nine contracts while drunk.

Said Orlando, "Unfortunately I think what is happening down in Sunland Park is that it was being run by a small group of people that were using funds and using the resources there for their own gain, operating it really as just their own little town — not following rules, not following regulations."

Incorporated in 1983, Sunland Park could geographically be considered a suburb of El Paso or Las Cruces, N.M., or even an upscale neighborhood in north Juarez. The town has a modern racetrack, replete with casino gambling, on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. There are a few store fronts, churches and even horse stables lining its main road.

The residents are friendly, but weary of the attention that they fear has made the town a laughingstock.

Salinas has declined to talk about the case, citing advice from his lawyer. But during an encounter outside his house after the second of his three arrests, he seemed at ease for a man facing multiple felony charges and continued investigation.

"I could write a book," he said with a wry smile.

And the native of the town still has many supporters.

"He is a good man, you can see it in his eyes," a man at the senior center said, before rushing off when asked for his name.

Besides Salinas, several city workers, including the city manager, the city's public information officer, the public works director and former city councilors and the former police chief, have also been indicted in the three separate criminal cases.

In one, Salinas and others are accused of trying to force his mayoral opponent, Gerardo Hernandez, out of the race with the lap dance video. Hernandez, who finished second, told investigators that an unidentified man threatened to blackmail him by producing a still image from the video. Hernandez said he was set up.

In another case, Salinas is accused of giving the former acting police chief the job of chief for convincing his sister not to run against a Salinas ally for city council. And in the third, Salinas and others are accused of billing hookers, drinks and campaign videos to a $12 million fund set up for the city by the owner of Sunland Park casino and racetrack to aid the town's ongoing efforts to get a border crossing built there.

State auditor Balderas said he's been monitoring the town since 2009. A previous auditor recommended the state take over the town in 2004 after finding scores of violations of state and local laws.

"Sunland Park has had a culture that has lacked accountability for many years," Balderas said. "They probably should have been taken over many years ago. They got more brazen when they didn't."

Hard to describe what ChangeWave is as an investment newsletter.  I'm not that impressed with it for picking/timing stocks, but I think it quite good in the material which is the subject of this issue:

========================

          April U.S. Consumer Spending Report   

           Consumer Spending Holds Steady this Month Even as Confidence and Expectations Drop
           Jean Crumrine and Paul Carton

                Overview: After major upticks over the previous two months, the U.S. consumer
spending growth rate is simply holding  steady for April according to the latest
ChangeWave survey results.  However, durable goods,  household repairs, and autos
are seeing spending improvements.  ChangeWave Research is a service of 451
Research.

        On a more cautious note, the April 3 – 16 survey of 2,541  consumers
points to a decline in consumer confidence and expectations.  And while
inflation and gas prices appear to be  stabilizing, the survey shows
consumers are still changing their habits due to the price  increases
they’ve encountered in previous months. Travel and vacation spending
have been particularly hard hit.

        On the home entertainment front, Apple  (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) continue to
outperform while  Best Buy (BBY) has hit a new all-time low.  Among the
major  retailers there are few notable signs of change  this month.

        Whether the sideways growth we’re  seeing in April is a temporary
respite before spending heads up again or is the  beginning of a new
consumer slowdown is uncertain at this point. While spending  remains
unchanged this month, the overall outlook is certainly more mixed.

        Consumer Spending Holds Steady

      A total of 34% of U.S. respondents now say they'll spend more over the next 90
days than they  did a year ago – up 1-pt since the previous ChangeWave
survey in March.  Another 26% say they'll spend less, which is 1-pt worse than
 previously. 

     

      Putting the Findings in Context.  As the  following chart shows, after upticks
in three of the past four surveys there is  no net change this month. 

     

      Note that a year ago we also saw consumer momentum flatten out  in April,
followed by four consecutive months of decline. 

      Historically, ChangeWave’s monthly consumer spending surveys  have
proven highly accurate indicators of the directional movement of  the S&P
500 Index and the overall U.S. economy.

      The following chart shows  ChangeWave’s U.S. Consumer  Behavioral Data
since May  2007 collapsed into a single line (i.e., % of consumers  spending
More over the next 90  days minus % spending Less).  We have compared the
ChangeWave U.S. Consumer Behavioral Data with the movement of the S&P  500
index:

       

     

     

     

     

      As the chart shows, ChangeWave’s U.S. Consumer Behavioral Data has  been
an accurate indicator of the direction of the S&P 500 Index and  the
overall U.S. economy throughout one of the most volatile economic periods  of
the last 75 years.

      A Drop in Consumer Expectations  and Confidence

      Consumer  expectations with regards to the overall direction of the economy
are showing a  downtick for the first time in eight months, while confidence
is registering its  second consecutive monthly decline.

      Consumer  Expectations.  A total  of 26% now believe the overall direction of
the economy will worsen over the  next 90 days, which is 3-pts more than
previously.  And while 31% still think it will improve,  that’s 4-pts
worse than previously.

     

      Stock Market Confidence.  Nearly one-in-three (32%)  now say they’re
Less Confident in the U.S. stock market than they were 90 days ago –
8-pts worse than in  March.  Only 25% say they’re More Confident –
down 11-pts from  previously.  All-told, we’ve seen a huge  net 27-pt
decline over the past two months.   

       

      Respondents  were also asked about their investing plans going forward, and
the rate of  money inflow into U.S. Stocks (+6;  down 7-pts) has slowed since
last month.   Non-U.S. Stocks (-1; down 3-pts) are once again registering a
money outflow.

      The Impact of Higher Energy Costs

      Higher energy costs and inflation  continue to weigh upon consumers, but there
are some signs of stabilization.

      Among consumers who are spending less, Inflation (40%) remains a top reason
why – up another 1-pt since  March.  Higher Energy Costs (30%; up  1-pt)
is also a top reason for why consumers are spending less, but after a  huge
leap last month that does  appear to be leveling off.

       

     

     

     

     

      We also looked at the impact of rising gas prices on actual  consumer behavior.

      Coping With Higher Gas Prices: Consumers Cut Back on Travel

      A total of 36% now say rising prices at the gas pump have  caused them to make
changes to their normal routine – up 8-pts since March.

       Among this group, we're seeing a serious cutback on normal travel-related
activity, with more than four-in-five (83%) saying they're Consolidating
Multiple Errands into One Trip. And while 43% also report they're Eating Out
Less, other travel-related changes include Working More From Home (22%),
Walking and Riding Bikes More Often (15%), Taking Fewer Long Vacations and
More Weekend Trips (11%), and  Changing the Way They Commute to Work (11%).

     

      We asked respondents whether the rise in gas prices has affected how much they
drive. 

      A total of 8% of consumers now say rising gas prices are Very Much affecting
how much they drive, 2-pts more than a month ago. Another 53% say rising gas
prices are Modestly affecting how much they drive – up another 3-pts
since March.   

      Has the rise in gasoline  prices affected how much you drive?

     

      Despite these increases, the current results are still well below the impact
we saw at the peak of the surge in energy prices back in July 2008, when 12%
said rising gas prices were Very Much affecting how much they drive and 64%
Modestly affecting how much they drive.

      We also asked consumers to tell us the impact energy costs are having on their
discretionary spending.

      What effect - if any -  are energy costs (i.e., gasoline, heating oil, natural
gas, electricity)  currently having on your discretionary spending plans for
the next 90 days?

      A total of 10% say their discretionary spending will be Much Lower due to
energy costs, which is  the same as in March.  Another 40% say  their
discretionary spending will be Somewhat  Lower going forward – a 2-pt
improvement.

      Importantly,  the impact of rising energy costs on discretionary spending is
considerably  less than when oil prices were peaking at $150 per barrel back
in July  2008.  Here’s a comparison of the current  survey results with
our July 2008 findings:   

     

      Individual Spending  Categories

      In one of the most encouraging findings, a handful of individual spending
categories are showing an uptick, led by durable goods, household repairs/
improvements and autos.

      Durable Goods is registering  its best reading in 17 months, with 13% saying
they’ll spend more over the next 90 days compared  to 20% less – a
3-pt  improvement from last month.

      For Household Repairs/Improvements this is  the fourth consecutive monthly
uptick – with 36% of respondents now saying  they’ll spend more
compared to just 13% less – also a net 3-pt improvement since  March.   

     

      Spending on Automobiles has improved  1-pt since March, and is tied with its
best reading in more than a year.

      In terms of  other categories, Restaurants and Travel/Vacation are each down
2-pts, while Consumer Electronics has declined 3-pts this month.

      Retailer Trends

      After its explosive jump a month ago, Apple (AAPL) remains  unchanged at its
all-time high in the Home  Entertainment retail sector, with nearly
one-in-four (23%) saying they’ll  shop there for home entertainment and
computer networking products in the next  90 days.   

     

      While Amazon (AMZN; 44%) has experienced a slight 1-pt decline in the home
entertainment  market, it’s still the overall leader in this space and
only 3-pts below its  best ever reading during the recent holiday season.

     

      Best Buy (BBY; 28%) has declined 1-pt since March to a  new all-time low in a
ChangeWave survey.

      Amazon and Online Shopping.  Recent ChangeWave surveys have shown
Amazon’s  momentum can be attributed to multiple factors, including the
rapid consumer  shift to online shopping and the successful market launch of
the Kindle Fire  Tablet device.

      In the current  survey we asked shoppers where they’ll be spending their
online shopping  dollars over the next 90 days, and we find Amazon  continues
to dwarf all other major online retailers in terms of online spending  going
forward.

      We want  to learn more about how Alliance members will be spending their
online shopping  dollars over the next 90 days. For each of the following
websites, please tell  us if you will be spending more money, about the same
amount, or less money  over the next 90 days compared with the previous 90
days.

     

      A total of 19% of respondents say they’ll spend more money  online at
Amazon.com vs. just 6% less – a net 4-pts better than three months  ago.
 

      Major Retailers. The  spending picture for April is mostly flat for the major
retailers, with a couple  of exceptions. 

      Costco (COST) is  registering a 1-pt uptick and continues to lead in terms of
overall spending  growth.

      Bloomingdale’s (M) also shows a slight 1-pt improvement.

      Bottom Line: The overall consumer spending growth rate held steady this  month
– although durable goods, household repairs and autos managed  to
register upticks.

      On a down note, the  survey shows a decline in consumer confidence and
expectations.  And even as concerns over  inflation and higher gas prices
appear to be stabilizing, consumers are still  changing their behavior because
of the price increases experienced in previous  months.

      Whether the sideways movement  we’re seeing in April is temporary before
spending heads up again or is the  beginning of a new consumer slowdown, the
overall outlook is far more mixed  than previously.

      Summary of Key Findings

               

       

           

             

                U.S. Consumer Spending Holds Steady in April...

               

                    • 34% of U.S. respondents say they'll spend More Money over
next 90 days than they did a year ago – up 1-pt since
March

                    • Only 26% say they'll spend Less Money – but that's
1-pt worse

                    • There has been no net change since last month

               

                               


                                Individual Spending Categories With Momentum

               

                    • Durable Goods (+3)

                    • Household Repairs (+3)

                    • Autos (+1)

               

               


                                Other Categories

               

                    • Travel Vacation (-2)

                    • Restaurants (-2)

                    • Consumer Electronics (-3)

               

               


               

             

                ...But Confidence and Expectations Decline

               


                                Consumer Expectations

               

                    • 26% believe the overall direction of economy will worsen
over next 90 days, 3-pts more than previously

                    • 31% think it will improve, which is 4-pts worse than
previously

               

                               


                                Confidence in Stock Market

               

                    • 32% now say they're Less Confident in the U.S. stock
market, an 8-pt jump since March

                    • Only 25% say they're More Confident – down 11-pts

                    • Money inflow into U.S. Stocks (+6; down 7-pts) has
slowed; Non-U.S. Stocks (-1; down 3-pts) are again registering a
net money outflow

               

               
               

                               

             

                Inflation and Higher Energy Costs

               

                    • Inflation (40%) is up 1-pt as a reason why consumers say
they're spending less

                    • Another 30% say Higher Energy Costs is a key reason why
they're spending less – up just 1-pt since last month

               

                               


                                Retail Store Trends

               

                    • Costco (up 1-pt)

                    • Bloomingdale's (up 1-pt)

                    • Other major retailers are mostly flat for April

               

               


                                Home Entertainment Shopping

               

                    • Apple (23%) remains unchanged at its all-time high

                    • Amazon (44%) is down 1-pt -but is only 3-pts below its
December all-time high

                    • Best Buy (23%) down 1-pt to a new ChangeWave low

               

               

IPT Featured Article: ICNA's Radicalization Continues

Steven Emerson, Executive Director

April 25, 2012

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ICNA's Radicalization Continues

IPT News
April 25, 2012

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3554/icna-radicalization-continues

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The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is leading a pro-Sharia public relations
campaign, aimed at persuading Americans that these beliefs aren't something to fear
or leading to domination.

As it does this, however, it continues to guide followers toward texts that go in a
starkly contrasting direction. It has pushed underground a series of curricula
detailing its adult radicalization program, but more extremist materials pop up in
youth events, the group's bookstore, and elsewhere.

ICNA has long been involved in the radicalization of its members, with an
indoctrination process into South Asian and Muslim Brotherhood extremist texts. Many
of those titles disappeared from ICNA and the ICNA Sisters' web pages after a series
of articles by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

That doesn't mean that ICNA has changed its tune. A recent investigation by the
Toronto Sun revealed that the organization has marketed pro-violence and
pro-Islamist texts, particularly by South Asian extremist Sayyid Abu 'Ala Maududi,
through its Canadian bookstore. These texts, according to Canadian Muslim moderate
Tarek Fatah, have a profound effect on the Muslim youth.

"This sort of literature lays the seeds into their minds that the West is the enemy,
and they are the troopers who have to fight that enemy," Fatah told the Sun.

"Maududi, in his books, is asking for young Muslim men to wage war."

Required reading of some of Maududi's books is also still part of ICNA's membership
process, especially for youth. This year's annual "Quiz Competition on Islamic
Knowledge and Skills" tested 11th and 12th graders throughout the country on their
knowledge of one of his masterpieces, Towards Understanding Islam.

"The greatest sacrifice made in the way of God is jihad. In it man sacrifices not
only his own life and belongings, but destroys those of others as well," Maududi
teaches in the text, which is posted on ICNA's youth website. "What comparison would
the loss of some lives - even if it were thousands or more be to the calamity that
would befall mankind as the result of the victory of evil over good. What comparison
would it be to the tremendous anguish mankind would suffer if falsehood overtook
truth, and if aggressive atheism won over the religion of God," he says, arguing
that Islam must dominate all other political and social philosophies.

"Not only would the religion of God be eliminated, but the world would become the
abode of evil, corruption, and perversion. Life would be disrupted from within and
without. In order to prevent this greater evil, God has commanded us to sacrifice
our lives and property for His pleasure." he adds.

Maududi explains that Islam should not be viewed like other religions, as a sphere
of human life which plays a part in societal organization but does not control it.
Rather, it is a "system encompassing all fields of living" including politics,
economics, and legislation.

The same text was a recommended reading for 7th-10th graders participating in ICNA's
Southern California branches for the 2010 quiz and debate program. Other recommended
books include Maududi's A Short History of the Revivalist Movement in Islam and
Abdullah al-Ahsan's The History of Al-Khalifah Ar-Rashidah.

A Short History of the Revivalist Movement in Islam says that Islamic revival
demands that Muslims "determine exactly where to strike the blow so as to break the
power of un-Islam and enable Islam to take hold of life as a whole." It also demands
that the revivalist know when "to wrest authority from the hands of un-Islam and
practically re-establish government on the system described as 'Caliphate after the
pattern of Prophethood' by the Holy Prophet."

The need for a caliphate, an Islamic theological empire, is reinforced in The
History of Al-Khalifah Ar-Rashidah. The book discusses rule of law and governance in
the historical caliphate period, during Islam's early history from its founding
until the Mongol Invasion, including the "principles [that] embody the archetypical
Islamic state."

These events further serve as a way of involving more mosques in ICNA's radicalism.
According to an ICNA report, a quiz event brought participants from across
unaffiliated mosques and schools across the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area, and
encouraged the selling of Maududi's extremist literature in local Muslim bookshops.

Radicalism also hasn't disappeared from the group's conferences, despite apologies
and excuses from ICNA over past anti-Semitic and pro-violence statements.

At the group's latest conference last December, Egyptian Islamist Ragheb Elsergany
envisioned a day soon when "all of Palestine" would be liberated. Elsergany said the
rise of Islamist governments in the Middle East and North Africa was clearing the
way for "the Zionist entity" to "vanish absolutely."

While one-time extremist statements might be viewed as a fluke, Elsergany was at the
center of controversy for ICNA's 2009 conference, for making similar comments. These
statements made by Elsergany and others, were picked up by organizations monitoring
hate speech. The conference was even labeled "a platform for extremist rhetoric" by
the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

In response, ICNA claimed that the inflammatory rhetoric was unexpected and not
representative of the rest of the conference.

"In response to the ADL's statement, both MAS and ICNA categorically state that our
organizations do not affirm any statements that reflect hatred of the Jewish people,
or any other religious or ethnic community, or that call for the destruction of
Israel. If any such unfortunate statements were made by any speakers at our
conference in Chicago, we deeply regret them and affirm that such individuals will
not be invited to future conferences," they claimed.

But not only did ICNA invite Elsergany back, his picture was featured in a scrolling
montage of speakers on the conference website's home page.

In 2009, Elsergany explicitly endorsed jihad and told Muslims it is their duty to
help finance it.

"It is required to act in ways to please Allah, and one of the greatest of them is
jihad in the way of Allah, and one of the greatest of them is supporting the
fighters, and the mujahideen [Islamic warriors] and the besieged, and those in need
there in Palestine," he said in an Arabic session entitled "The Gaza Struggle."

Elsergany then pushed people to donate money to the cause. "Allah has entrusted us
with the money for our brothers and sisters, to confer upon the people of Palestine
the surplus of our money. This is their right," he said. "They are the ones who face
the Zionists with their chests, their nerves, their lives, their children, their
holy places and their sacred places. They are the ones standing [in] front of us and
we are standing behind them. You Muslims are abandoning this role."

In the 2011 conference, Elsergany also preached "liberation" of all the battlefronts
of jihad throughout the world.

"We have lived under and now after the dawning of the light [the Egyptian
Revolution], soon there will be a greater dawning with the liberation of Palestine,
the liberation of Chechnya, the liberation of Kashmir, the liberation of Turkestan,
the liberation of South Sudan, of all the lands usurped from the Muslims. If God
wills, it is coming," he said.

The continuation of extremist rhetoric, and the invitation of the very same hateful
speakers to national conferences, begs the question of how serious ICNA is about the
"rejection of extremism."

Related Topics: The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)

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Major Fast and Furious Player Who Misled Congress Jumping DOJ Ship
By Katie Pavlich
4/25/2012


Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, Obama's Department of Justice point man for communications, or in other words, chief obfuscator about Operation Fast and Furious, is jumping ship. Weich has accepted a position as dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law. University officials have confirmed Weich will start his new position in July.


Quote:
"During this time of considerable transition in legal education and the legal profession, it's important to have leadership with integrity and vision," said Robert Bogomolny, the university's president. "Ron Weich embodies those qualities. I look forward to working with him, and I know our students, faculty, staff and alumni will be energized by his arrival." 

As for Weich, "I'm aware of the history and it doesn't concern me," he said. "I'm confident that in partnership with others, we'll make sure the law school has the resources it needs to be effective."

As a reminder, Weich is the man who signed and delivered a letter to Senator Charles Grassley on February 4, 2011 about Fast and Furious that was so misleading and full of falsehoods, that it was eventually withdrawn eight months later. The letter stated:


Quote:
At the outset, the allegation described in your January 27 letter-that ATF "sanctioned" or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico-is false. ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico......

I also want to assure you that ATF has made no attempt to retaliate against any of its agents regarding this matter. We recognize the importance of protecting employees from retaliation relating to their disclosers of waste, fraud and abuse. ATF employees receive annual training on their rights under the Whistleblower protection Act, and those with knowledge of waste, fruad or abuse are encouraged to communicate directly with the Department's Office of the Inspector General. 

Both of these assertions are lies, or in Eric Holder's words are "inaccurate."

Video: Holder Says Definition Of "Lying" To Congress Depends On "State Of Mind"

Not only did the ATF knowingly allow 2500 AK-47 style and .50 caliber rifles to walk into the hands of dangerous Mexican drug cartels, ATF whistleblowers were mandated to do so, and then were retaliated against for speaking out against the program. Operation Fast and Furious has resulted in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and at least 300 Mexican citizens.


Quote:
“Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated.” –Special Agent John Dodson ATF Phoenix Field Division, June 15, 2012. 

So, now Weich, the guy who issued a letter in an attempt to mislead Congress about the Obama Justice Department's fatal Operation Fast and Furious, is going to head one of our law schools. Great news, since every law student should have a dean willing to submit false information to Congress.