The Cognitive Dissonance of His Glibness

[DougMacG]

Lies or deception, you make the call, "... mid-decade...and then we will work on paying down our debt"

Our spending will not add to the debt.  Interest on even the last 4 years of debt is NOT OUR SPENDING?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QMQwic-JdxQ

These are Lew's figures for new deficits that don't add to the debt:

Year   Deficit
2010: $1.293 trillion
2011: $1.645 trillion
2012: $1.101 trillion
2013: $768 billion
2014: $645 billion
2015: $607 billion
2016: $649 billion
2017: $627 billion
2018: $619 billion
2019: $681 billion
2020: $735 billion
2021: $774 billion
------------------------------
Sen. Sessions said he won't vote for the this guy.  Sen. Bernie Sanders also opposes Lew, for different reasons, Lew's experience at Citigroup.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/9/lews-time-citigroup-division-was-profitable/
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-10/business/36272371_1_citigroup-unit-treasury-secretary-wealth-management
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=12E4DE20-F0CD-446B-8CBB-5A45EE80B56A

[Crafty_Dog]

Reliability unknown, but it sure sounds plausible:
=======================================



Jack Seckel

 

Let me get this straight because I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Barack Obama is insisting on more stringent "background checks" for American citizen's wanting to purchase firearms but his own social security number was rejected by E-Verify?

President Barack Obama could not pass a background check if he was applying for a gun permit or a job. Why has this man been allowed to remain in office or take the oath for a second time?
 
During the 2008 campaign, it was known that:
 
His official, long form birth records were SEALED.
 His Occidental College records were SEALED.
 His Columbia College records were SEALED.
 His Harvard College records were SEALED.
 His College thesis – SEALED.
 His Harvard Law Review articles – SEALED.
 His Indonesian adoption records – SEALED.
 His passport file – SEALED.
 His medical records – Unavailable
 His baptism records – Unavailable
 His papers from his service in the Illinois legislature – Unavailable
 His Illinois State Bar Association records - Unavailable
 The birth certificate that the White House released is reputed by document experts to be false.
 
The Social Security number he has used was issued to someone else. He could not pass an E-Verify test. The first three numbers of his Social Security ID are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049. The number was issued between 1977 and 1979. Obama’s earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins in Oahu, Hawaii.
 
SOMEBODY BETTER DO SOMETHING REAL QUICK!

[ccp]

"long form birth records were SEALED"

Yet the left mocks those who questioned this as "birthers"

Yet the left attacks those who questioned this as racist. 

Now even "descending colon" Powell called this racist.
Yes he is full of shit.

[objectivist1]

Obama’s Startling Second Inaugural Admission

Posted By Tom Blumer On January 22, 2013 - www.frontpagemag.com

President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address on Monday was mostly what one would have expected: A paean to the wonders of statism and how great America could be if we would just overcome our unhealthy legacy. In Obama’s world, we would all be so much better if we could get over obsessions like rugged individualism and the true meaning of the words contained in our nation’s Constitution, and let a benevolent, all-knowing government take more control over our everyday lives.

But in the midst of his “we know better” exercise, Obama made the most stunning admission of abject failure I have heard a president utter in my lifetime. I’ll have more on that shortly.

In his speech, Obama made a pretense of paying homage to our Founding Fathers, but followed it with a clear indication that he believes their wisdom is passé by claiming that “preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.” Other than our involvement in wars, which he falsely claims will soon be coming to an end, I can’t imagine what he could be thinking of. Obama even added a dose of coldly calculated and contemptuous ridicule to the mix by including an insulting reference to the modern wartime inadequacy of “muskets and militias.”

Though it was indeed, as the Politico’s Glenn Thrush correctly noted, “the most liberal speech he has delivered as president,” it clearly disappointed some of those in the establishment press who wanted to hear Obama go for his opponents’ jugulars. That group includes John Dickerson, who has been Political Director at CBS News since November 2011.

Dickerson put on his best game face at Slate after the speech, but it’s clear from reading his previous 2,000-word battle plan disguised as a column on Friday that Obama didn’t go as far as he would have liked.

The column’s headlines called for Obama to “Go for the Throat!” and “declare war on the Republican Party.” In his content, Dickerson claimed that Republican recalcitrance meant that “Obama’s only remaining option is to pulverize,” and that the president “can only cement his legacy if he destroys the GOP.” Slate was so thrilled with the piece that it amped up its “most popular” tease list title to read: “Why Obama Should Seek To Destroy the Republican Party.” Dickerson’s occupation of such an influential perch at CBS and the presence of so many others like him at other news outlets largely explain why last year’s establishment press coverage of the GOP primaries and the general election was so ruthlessly biased against Republicans and especially conservatives.

Given the content of the rest of his speech, it was astonishing to hear Obama say the following five words: ”An economic recovery has begun.”

Wow.

We’re just three weeks shy of the fourth anniversary of the passage of the February 2009 “stimulus plan.” It was supposed to turn the economy around after the evil George W. Bush ruined everything. Obama’s Keynesian economists told us that without the stimulus plan’s immediate implementation, unemployment would rise to an unacceptable 9 percent by the summer of 2010. But if we would just pass this monstrosity which nobody read, unemployment would peak at 8 percent in just a few months and gradually fall to 5.2 percent by the end of 2012.

What really happened is that despite the plan’s passage (actually, largely because of it), the unemployment rate hit 10 percent before 2009 was even over, stayed above 8 percent for a post-World War II record 43 months, and is still at 7.8 percent. The Obama government, set into fiscal motion by the Democratic Congress of 2009-2010 and running on autopilot ever since, has run up $5 trillion in supposedly stimulative budget deficits and has been the beneficiary of four years of supposedly stimulative near-zero interest rates courtesy of Ben the Betrayer Bernanke’s Federal Reserve.

Now, after all of that ruinous stimulus, the best our president can say is: “An economic recovery has begun.” It’s almost as if he wants us to believe that this strange, uncontrollable beast called the economy has finally decided to get better on its own.

Unfortunately for those who are unemployed, under-employed, and discouraged, there’s still reason to believe that the economy, after so many false starts during Obama’s first term, is once again sputtering.

Economists have been wearing out their erasers and “delete” keys writing down their estimates of economic growth during the fourth quarter of 2012. The rough consensus is that gross domestic product will grow by an annualized 1.5 percent, down from 3.1 percent in the third quarter – if we’re lucky.

Seasonally adjusted job growth has only averaged 130,000 during the past ten months. That’s below the 150,000 jobs needed just to keep pace with growth in the adult population. Additionally, in a sign that the trend is in the wrong direction, the raw number of jobs changes before seasonal adjustment has been lower than that seen in the same month of the previous year during three of the past four months.

Finally, in perhaps the most ominous sign of decay, last week’s report on initial jobless claims told us that the raw number of claims filed (i.e., before seasonal adjustment) was greater than the comparable week a year ago — the first time this has happened in a truly comparable non-holiday week since October 2009.

The way things are going, Obama’s successor may very well use those same five words — “An economic recovery has begun” — in his or her inaugural address four long years from now.

[DougMacG]

Trivia question:

Forget about Chuck Hagel and Jack Lew for a moment...

On what foreign policy question or issue was incoming Sec. of State John Kerry ever right?

[ccp]

A wild guess.

He voted for the war in Iraq?

[DougMacG]

A wild guess.

He voted for the war in Iraq?

Trivia question:
Forget about Chuck Hagel and Jack Lew for a moment...
On what foreign policy question or issue was incoming Sec. of State John Kerry ever right?

Should have read: trick question, instead of trivia question.  I'm not aware of Sen Kerry ever getting a foreign policy question right - at least from my way of thinking.  Yes he voted to start the war in Iraq, but his famous I voted for the funding before I voted against it likely cost him the Presidency.  Iraq overall was not his strongest issue.

If you count his flip flops he is going to have moments of being right: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162-646435.html

Breitbart compiled a list of his top ten worst policy mistakes:  (Anyone disagree with these?)

10. Honduras (2009) - Sen. Kerry backed Obama’s dubious claim that leftist President Manuel Zelaya--an antisemite and autocrat in the Hugo Chavez mode--had been ousted in a coup. He even tried to reverse a contrary finding by the Law Library of Congress.

9. Terrorism (1996) - In a debate with former Gov. Bill Weld, Sen. Kerry opposed the death penalty for terrorists, at a time when lack of vigilance by the Clinton administration allowed Al Qaeda to become a deadly threat. (After 9/11, Sen. Kerry changed his mind.)

8. Nicaragua (1985) - As Mary Anastasia O’Grady of the Wall Street Journal noted last week, Sen. Kerry encouraged Congress to end aid for the Contras, who were opposing the Sandinista regime, which quickly found support from the Soviet Union and Cuba.

7. Iraq (2003) - In 2002, Sen. Kerry voted to authorize the Iraq War; in 2003, he voted against continued funding and aid necessary to secure victory. The flip-flop was not only indefensible, but also cost Sen. Kerry the 2004 election against George W. Bush.

6. Colombia (2003) - Sen. Kerry described FARC, a drug-fueled terrorist guerilla army in Colombia much beloved by Chavez and the far left, specializing in kidnappings and hostage-taking, as having “legitimate complaints” against the Colombian government.

5. Gulf War (1991) - Not only did Sen. Kerry vote against authorizing UN-approved action against Saddam Hussein, but he also argued for a “new world order” not led by the U.S. and criticized the American-led coalition President George H.W. Bush had built.

4. Iran (2007) - Our own William Bigelow notes: “In 2007, Kerry voted against a Senate resolution that wanted to “combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

3. Israel (2003) - As CBS News has noted, Sen. Kerry called Israel’s anti-terror security barrier--which has saved hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian lives--a “barrier to peace” in October 2003. (As on many other issues, Sen. Kerry soon reversed his position.)

2. Syria (2009) - Though Sen. Kerry condemned Syria as a supporter of terrorism in 1991, when Syria had aligned with the U.S. in the Gulf War, he later embraced dictator Bashar al-Assad, leading Democrats’ efforts to rehabilitate the murderous regime.

1. Vietnam (1971) - As bad as Sen. Kerry’s record has been since, nothing quite tops his national debut in the “Winter Soldier” investigation as a decorated veteran telling false stories about war crimes allegedly committed by American troops in Vietnam.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/12/30/Top-Ten-Worst-John-Kerry-Foreign-Policy-Mistakes

[DougMacG]

Obama’s new French economic adviser has ‘faith in redistribution’

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/22/obamas-new-french-economic-adviser-has-faith-in-redistribution/#ixzz2J5y4Lh9g

The French economist selected by President Barack Obama to serve as one of his top second-term global development advisers reportedly has “faith in redistribution,” supported far left-wing political theories and leaders, and provided the intellectual framework for French Socialist President Francois Hollande’s electoral victory, records reveal.

Obama announced his intent late last month to appoint French economist and MIT professor Esther Duflo to the President’s Global Development Council, a new governmental advisory board that Obama created by executive order last year. Obama announced bond investor Mohamed A. El-Erian as his pick to chair the council.

The council “will be comprised of no more than 12 individuals from  a variety of sectors outside the Federal Government, including, among others, institutions of higher education, non-profit and philanthropic organizations, civil society, and private industry,” according to a 2012 White House press release. “The Council will inform and provide advice to the President and other senior U.S. officials on U.S. global development policies and practices.”

Duflo, who is 40 years old, is the Abdul Latif Jameel professor of poverty alleviation and development economics at MIT and the co-founder and director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which was initially funded by Saudi billionaire Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.

Duflo’s appointment by Obama might have directly political motivations.

During Socialist Francois Hollande’s successful 2012 French presidential campaign, his three voter mobilization strategists, all former Harvard or MIT students, applied theories they first learned from Duflo, whose experiments “when applied to electioneering, had quantified the ability of a single door knock to deliver a vote.”

The tactics behind Hollande’s “campaign operation aimed at nonvoters” were first employed by Obama’s 2008 campaign and were most fully realized during Obama’s 2012 campaign, when a powerful voter database enabled Obama staffers to register new voters based on demographic and behavioral trends.

These tactics helped “alter the very nature of the electorate” in 2012, according to the New York Times, “making it younger and less white.”

[DougMacG]

"All Americans are poorer as a result of Obama's policies, but the poor are hit hardest."

"Forbes magazine calculates that if long term discouraged workers, those who've dropped out to collect disability payments, and those working part time because they cannot find full time work were counted, the real unemployment rate would hover around 22 percent."

"The anti-poverty talk was missing from the 2012 campaign. It was all about the middle class. Perhaps that's because Obama's first term created so very much more poverty. There are more poor people in America today than at any time since the Great Depression. There were 32 million Americans collecting food stamps in 2008. Now that figure is 47 million. Spending on food stamps doubled between 2007 and 2011."

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen012513.php3#.UQa5iFJRRdg

[DougMacG]

My first positive post on the Obama administration, I heard firsthand this weekend from a good friend that knew him personally, that local native Denis McDonough, Obama's new chief of staff, is quite a good guy, smart, genuine, etc.

That concludes the positive portion of my post.  As deputy national security adviser, McDonough handled the Benghazi attack aftermath from inside the White House - and got promoted.

[DougMacG]

How Jack Lew Failed Up - WSJ

Jack Lew profited from failed crony capitalism, took millions, left the losses to taxpayers, now promoted to Treasury Secretary nominee.

At NYU he was making more than the University President.  Doing what?

http://live.wsj.com/video/opinion-how-jack-lew-failed-up/21A14CF0-4492-4013-AFAD-88391BE9D61F.html?mod=WSJ_article_outbrain&obref=obnetwork#!52D5B70E-FBC8-4800-9973-3E0962DEB069

[Crafty_Dog]

My father was a big believer in "The Peter Principle" (in an organization, people rise to their level of incompetence i.e. they get promoted as long as they are doing a good job, until they get to where they aren't doing a good job-- and that is where they stay).

That is worse than that by quite a bit!!!

[DougMacG]

My father was a big believer in "The Peter Principle" (in an organization, people rise to their level of incompetence i.e. they get promoted as long as they are doing a good job, until they get to where they aren't doing a good job-- and that is where they stay).

That is worse than that by quite a bit!!!

Yes!  Lew I'm sure is a sharp guy and so was Geithner.  They got caught up in implementing and defending horrendous policies.  Lew didn't cause Citicorp's failure, but wouldn't you think the people responsible that are not prosecuted would have to return to ordinary jobs. 

As you suggest, this is worse than the Peter Principle.  This is not promotion until you reach your level of incompetence, this is promotion after a record of abject failure.

The problem with us analyzing from across the aisle is that we are seeing it backwards from his view.  Pres. Obama's business is collectivist-failure and Lew has a well rounded background in it.

[Crafty_Dog]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/28/dubious-congresswoman-challenges-obama-to-skeet-shooting-match/

[DougMacG]

The humor in the skeet shooting challenge is that we have seen his golf swing.      

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVd6M_ZOSM0

Not exactly Heisman precision:
http://www.youtube.com/user/corycotton
(turn volume at least partway down)

[DougMacG]

Mr. Smooth, with everything going right from reelection to inauguration to winning every exchange with congress, has Gallup popularity below Nixon at this point and tied with George W. Bush for most unpopular re-elected president since Gallup began measuring presidential job-approval.  That dismal figure could be his best and last before word of economic stagnation/freefall starts to get around.

Obama has about 3 minutes to start something going in the right direction or he will lose control of most of the next 4 years.  Little tricks like lying about progress in Libya and Egypt, boxing in opponents over budgets and stonewalling congress over scandals like Fast and Furious are not going to do it.

The lead guy on immigration reform is now Marco Rubio.  The lead guy on entitlement reform and budget sanity is still Paul Ryan.  The lead guy on anything to do with American liberty is Rand Paul.  Policy initiatives advanced during his last, easy, big interview with '30 minutes' were completely missing. 

Good luck getting a second bill of rights centered around big government through the 26 states that sued, lost and are angry over Obamacare.  One guy calling it a tax increase instead of a cost savings did not rescue its unpopularity.

He should consider sitting back and writing a memoir, except he's already done that twice.  Could work on his golf game, but been there, done that too.  Now what?

[G M]

.Skeet shooting?

Hey, it's not Obama's fault  the economy is very racist or something.

[G M]

Or, download the Wesbury 2.0 software....

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/the-white-houses-curious-silence-about-obamas-claim-of-skeet-shooting/2013/01/30/be78bb10-6b35-11e2-95b3-272d604a10a3_blog.html#

[DougMacG]

"We cannot JUST cut our way to prosperity."

The case that we have gone too far with cutting might have been strengthened by pointing to one thing that actually has been cut.

The lady who waited 6 hours to vote started to get that same feeling again as the speech went on and on.

He got a couple of things right, but that is his way - to take more than one side of an issue before turning sharply left.

His programs and proposals will not add one dime to the deficit.  Really?  They already added six trillion.

NY Times: [speech was] "proudly liberal"
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/from-obama-a-proudly-liberal-message.html?_r=0

Comments anyone?

[For_Crafty_Dog]

[Crafty_Dog]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is that puff of smoke going off 90 degrees to the right?

[G M]

The bbl. appears to be ported, usually done to reduce muzzle rise.

[DougMacG]

Interesting.  I have only shot trap and shot skeet one time each a long time ago.  Does his gun show enough incline to be a skeet shot or is that a target shot?

[objectivist1]

Crafty - here is some additional info, just FYI, I don't like porting because of the increased muzzle flash, and hot gasses that may escape and burn you depending on where you fire the gun (an issue only with handguns)  for rifles and shotguns, the gasses usually aren't an issue, but I still dislike the increased noise and muzzle flash.  I haven't found it to be particularly noticeable in decreasing muzzle rise, either.  Just my opinion:


How Porting Works
Porting consists of adding holes through the shotgun’s barrel, near the end.  These holes are placed along the upper sides of the barrel by a gunsmith (don’t try to drill them yourself!).  When the shotgun is fired, some of the hot gases will escape through the port holes, rather than through the muzzle.  Since the port holes are near the end of the barrel, there is virtually no effect upon the speed at which the shot or slugs exit the shotgun.

Pros of Porting
Porting results in a reduction of recoil and a reduction in muzzle climb.  The recoil reduction comes from the fact that some of the hot gases that would normally help propel the shotgun backward against the shooter’s shoulder (recoil) are instead directed out of the port holes.  Similarly, the reduction in the tenancy of the muzzle to rise when the shotgun is fired (also referred to as muzzle climb, muzzle flip, muzzle lift, etc.) is reduced.  This is because the hot gases exiting the port holes will help push the barrel back down.  The net result is that porting results in a gun that recoils more softly, and stays on target better.  This can be especially beneficial for recoil sensitive individuals.

Cons of Porting
Porting is not appropriate for every shotgun, however.  Porting increases the amount of noise heard by the shooter and those standing next to the shooter.  Porting also results in a more visible flash when the shotgun is fired.  Both are the result of having the hot gases from the combustion of gun power exit the barrel through the port holes, rather than through the muzzle.  The extra noise is primarily a concern when the shotgun is fired for sporting, rather than self defense purpose.  The extra flash, however, could be an issue for self defense at night, since it may worsen the effect upon the shooter’s night vision.  The hot gases which exit through the port holes can also cause burns, which may be either a benefit or liability if firing the shotgun in self defense at close range.

Conclusion
I whole heartedly endorse the porting of shotgun barrels, and have multiple shotguns with ported barrels.  My home defense guns, which I fire regularly at the range have ported barrels.  I don’t mind the slight increase in noise that I’ve noticed, nor the flash.  I also know other gun owners who feel differently, so barrel porting is a decision for each person to make.

[G M]

Interesting.  I have only shot trap and shot skeet one time each a long time ago.  Does his gun show enough incline to be a skeet shot or is that a target shot?

To me, it looks like a shot at a static target. Probably a round of birdshot for the photo.

[DougMacG]

Interesting.  I have only shot trap and shot skeet one time each a long time ago.  Does his gun show enough incline to be a skeet shot or is that a target shot?

To me, it looks like a shot at a static target. Probably a round of birdshot for the photo.

Yes.  The context of the photo release was that he said he was shooting skeet "all the time" at Camp David.  To support that claim they release a photo of him shooting last summer - at a target.

[Crafty_Dog]

So that 90 degree porting in this picture is vertical?  For some reason my eyes saw it as going to the right-- which made no sense to me.

[DougMacG]

Pres. Barack Obama:  "And you know, I think these are both the best of times and the worst of times for large portions of the African American community."

No recognition whatsoever of the unemployment and dependency damage that his policies have caused.  All partisanship about the hatred of Republicans.

I can't believe host Al Sharpton didn't ask tougher questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVH8IMm_ulk&feature=player_embedded#!
------

African American Teen Unemployment Rate at a 25 Year High
http://www.laprogressive.com/african-american-teen-unemployment/

155,000 New Jobs Added, But Black Unemployment Rises
http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/01/04/155000-new-jobs-added-but-black-unemployment-rises/

Black teen unemployment still 4 times national average
http://thegrio.com/2011/03/04/is-black-teen-unemployment-the-biggest-threat-to-us-economy/
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for African Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 reached 49 percent, up from 45.4 percent in August and 41.7 percent for the same period last year.
http://www.laprogressive.com/african-american-teen-unemployment/

once unemployed, Blacks are less likely to find jobs and tend to stay unemployed for longer periods of time. Blacks remained unemployed longer than Whites or Hispanics in 2011, with a median duration of unemployment of 27.0 weeks (compared to 19.7 for Whites and 18.5 for Hispanics).
http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/blacklaborforce/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best of times because of increased opportunities - in an intentionally shrinking economy?

Fool me once, fool me twice, looks like a pattern...

[G M]

BOB WOODWARD: A 'Very Senior' White House Person Warned Me I'd 'Regret' What I'm Doing
 


Brett LoGiurato|Feb. 27, 2013, 6:53 PM|


Wikimedia/Bektour
Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a "very senior person" at the White House warned him in an email that he would "regret doing this," the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.
 
CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.
 
"I think they're confused," Woodward said of the White House's pushback on his reporting.
 
Earlier today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Woodward ripped into Obama in what has become an ongoing feud between the veteran Washington Post journalist and the White House. Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.
 
The Defense Department said in early February that it would not deploy the U.S.S. Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, citing budget concerns relating to the looming cuts known as the sequester.
 
"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said on MSNBC.
 
"Or George W. Bush saying, 'You know, I'm not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I need?'" Or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' ... because of some budget document?"
 
Woodward began stirring controversy last weekend, when he called out Obama for what he said was "moving the goal posts" on the sequester by requesting that revenue be part of a deal to avert it.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bob-woodward-obama-sequester-white-house-reporting-price-politics-2013-2

[G M]

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/02/27/they-told-me-if-i-voted-republican-the-white-house-would-start-threatening-reporters-and-they-were-right/

They Told Me If I Voted Republican the White House Would Start Threatening Reporters, And They Were Right!





by
Bryan Preston


Legendary reporter Bob Woodward tells Politico that White House staffers have threatened him over his sequester reporting.
 

Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a “very senior person” at the White House warned him in an email that he would “regret doing this,” the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.

 


CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.
 
What’s there to debate? Bob Woodward’s reporting has spoiled Obama’s plan. That plan was to blame the entire sequester on Republicans, then allow the cuts to hit, and blame them again. Woodward reported that the sequester was the Obama White House’s idea, blowing the plan to bits.
 
Woodward isn’t easily dismissed. He’s a veteran reporter who helped bring down the last truly paranoid president we had, Richard Nixon, and at 69 years old is going after another arguably more paranoid president.
 
So all the president’s men are threatening Woodward. Politico picks up the story.
 

Bob Woodward called a senior White House official last week to tell him that in a piece in that weekend’s Washington Post, he was going to question President Barack Obama’s account of how sequestration came about – and got a major-league brushback. The Obama aide “yelled at me for about a half hour,” Woodward told us in an hour-long interview yesterday around the Georgetown dining room table where so many generations of Washington’s powerful have spilled their secrets.
 
Digging into one of his famous folders, Woodward said the tirade was followed by a page-long email from the aide, one of the four or five administration officials most closely involved in the fiscal negotiations with the Hill. “I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today,” the official typed. “You’re focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. … I think you will regret staking out that claim.”
 
Woodward repeated the last sentence, making clear he saw it as a veiled threat. “ ‘You’ll regret.’ Come on,” he said. “I think if Obama himself saw the way they’re dealing with some of this, he would say, ‘Whoa, we don’t tell any reporter ‘you’re going to regret challenging us.’ ”
 
“Madness,” indeed.
 
Barack Obama has spent the entire week lying about the consequences of the sequester, which Woodward reports and Congressional sources verify was personally approved by the president. What happens when March 1 comes and the so-called cuts kick in and the sky does not fall?
 
Barack Obama will have all the credibility of the Mayan calendar that told us the world would end last December.
 
Woodward stands in the way of Obama’s escape path — blame it all on Republicans. Obama’s fans know that his credibility is very much on the line. They’re savaging Bob Woodward tonight.
 




Listen for the sound of drones lurking over the Beltway for the next couple of days.

[ccp]

"“I think if Obama himself saw the way they’re dealing with some of this, he would say, ‘Whoa, we don’t tell any reporter ‘you’re going to regret challenging us.’ ”

Yet even after all this Woodward still buckles and gives cover to the ONE.  The same ONE who said "we reward our friends and punish our enemies".   It all sounds like Obama strategy and unwritten policy to me.
Obama's only lament would be the aide made this threat in a verifiable email rather then a "he said she said" verbal conversation.  

[G M]

He hasn't managed to disarm the public yet....

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/341997/obama-i-am-not-dictator-andrew-stiles

Obama: ‘I Am Not a Dictator’


By Andrew Stiles

March 1, 2013 1:13 P.M.

“I am not a dictator,” President Obama told members of the White House press corps Friday, in response to a question about why he was unable to force congressional leaders to reach an agreement to replace sequestration — the $85 billion in automatic spending reductions scheduled to take effect at 11:59 p.m. today. “Ultimately if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, ‘We need to go to catch a plane,’ I can’t have Secret Service block the doorway,” the president added.
 


It is hardly the first time Obama has felt it necessary to remind the American people, or has lamented the fact, that he is not a more authoritarian type of ruler. A few examples:
 
King: “My cabinet has been working very hard on trying to get it done, but ultimately, I think somebody said the other day, I am president, I am not king,” Obama told Univision in October 2010, when asked why he had yet to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. “I can’t do these things just by myself.” He reiterated that sentiment in a February 2013 interview with Telemundo. “I’m not a king,” he said.
 
President of China: “Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China,” the New York Times reported in March 2011.
 
Emperor of the United States: “This is something I’ve struggled with throughout my presidency,” Obama said during a Google hangout event in February. “The problem is that I’m the president of the United States, I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed.”

[G M]

[DougMacG]

We originally thought this was maybe a Two Pinocchio rating, but in light of the AOC memo and the confirmation that security guards will not face a pay cut, nothing in Obama’s statement came close to being correct.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/sequester-spin-obamas-incorrect-claim-of-capitol-janitors-receiving-a-pay-cut/2013/03/01/3407535c-82a9-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_blog.html

[bigdog]

I saw a similar thing about Head Start.

[DougMacG]

Another perfect fit for the Obama second term cabinet and inner circle:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/07/high-ranking-doj-official-gave-false-testimony-about-voter-intimidation-case.php

High-ranking DOJ official gave false testimony about voter intimidation case

Federal Judge Reggie Walton has found that internal DOJ documents about the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case “contradict Assistant Attorney General [Thomas] Perez’s testimony that political leadership was not involved in” the decision to dismiss the case. In other words, as Hans Von Spakovsky says, “the sworn testimony of Perez, the Obama political appointee who heads the Civil Rights Division, before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was apparently false.”

Judge Walton serves on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He has presided over high profile trials including those of Scooter Libby and Roger Clemens.

This particular case was brought by Judicial Watch, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking “documents relating to the DOJ’s decision to dismiss civil claims in the New Black Panther Party case.” According to Judge Walton, the DOJ documents, including emails from former Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli (who was the number-two official at DOJ) and former Democratic election lawyer and Deputy Associate Attorney General Sam Hirsch, “revealed that political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ’s dismissal of claims.”

This finding directly contradicts the sworn testimony of Assistant Attorney General Perez. At a hearing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on May 14, 2010, Perez was asked whether “any political leadership [was] involved in the decision not to pursue this particular case.” Perez’s answer, on page 79 of the transcript of that hearing, was an unqualified “No.”

Accordingly, as von Spakovsky concludes, it is clear that Judge Walton was being polite when he said that thre documents and the testimony of Perez are contradictory and “cast doubt on the accuracy” of Perez’s account.

Perez’s conduct should, at a minimum, be the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (did Perez violate his ethical and professional obligations as a DOJ attorney) and/or the DOJ inspector general (did Perez violate 18 U.S.C. §1621, which outlaws presenting false statements under oath in official federal proceeding). But don’t hold your breath.

And don’t expect much, if any, any coverage by the mainsteam media which, no doubt, would be howling if a Republican political appointee at DOJ had been found by a federal judge to have given “inaccurate” testimony under oath.

[DougMacG]

Obama’s Nominee for Secretary of (Illegal Alien) Labor
    
By Michelle Malkin  •  March 13, 2013
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/03/13/obamas-nominee-for-secretary-of-illegal-alien-labor/

My column today refreshes your memories of radical assistant attorney general for Obama’s DOJ civil rights division, Thomas Perez. As icing on the corrupto-cake, here’s a brand-spanking — emphasis on spanking — new DOJ Inspector General’s report on the racialist foul play at Perez’s bureau, where “polarization and mistrust” reign.

Former DOJ attorney and brave whistleblower J. Christian Adams has much more. He writes:

    The 250-page report offers an inside glimpse of systemic racialist dysfunction inside one of the most powerful federal government agencies.

    The report was prepared in response to Representative Frank Wolf’s (R-VA) outrage over the New Black Panther voter intimidation dismissal. In response to the report, Rep. Wolf said today, the “report makes clear that the division has become a rat’s nest of unacceptable and unprofessional actions, and even outright threats against career attorneys and systemic mismanagement.”

    Former Voting Section Chief Chris Coates and I both testified about the hostility towards race-neutral law enforcement by the Justice Department.

    Today’s report paints a disgusting portrait, confirming our accounts.

Roll over or stand up to this injustice, GOP? Your move.

***

Obama’s Nominee for Secretary of (Illegal Alien) Labor
by Michelle Malkin

The Beltway is buzzing over President Obama’s likely nomination of Thomas E. Perez as the next head of the U.S. Department of Labor. But when Americans find out whom Perez has lobbied for most aggressively over the course of his extremist leftwing social justice career, they’ll be wondering which country Obama’s pick really plans to serve.

Press accounts describe Perez, currently the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, as a “tireless advocate of worker and civil rights.” The son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Perez was a former special counsel for the late illegal alien amnesty champion Sen. Ted Kennedy.

During the Clinton years, Perez worked at the Justice Department to establish a “Worker Exploitation Task Force” to enhance working conditions for … illegal alien workers. While holding down his government position, Perez volunteered for Casa de Maryland. This notorious illegal alien advocacy group is funded through a combination of taxpayer-subsidized grants (totaling $5 million in 2010 alone from Maryland and local governments) and radical liberal philanthropy, including billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute.

That’s in addition to more than $1 million showered on the group by freshly departed Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez’s regime-owned oil company, CITGO.

As I’ve reported previously, Perez rose from Casa de Maryland volunteer to president of the group’s board of directors. Under the guise of enhancing the “multicultural” experience, he crusaded for an ever-expanding set of illegal alien benefits, from in-state tuition discounts for illegal alien students to driver’s licenses and tax-subsidized day labor centers. Casa de Maryland opposes enforcement of deportation orders, has protested post-9/11 coordination of local, state and national criminal databases, and produced a “know your rights” propaganda pamphlet for illegal aliens that depicted federal immigration agents as armed bullies making babies cry.

The group can claim credit for pushing the White House to issue an estimated 800,000 illegal alien deportation waivers by executive fiat. And now, Casa de Maryland is currently leading the charge for an even broader illegal alien “path to citizenship.”

Questioned by GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions during his DOJ confirmation hearing in 2009 about the illegal alien rights guide produced by Casa de Maryland, Perez grudgingly stated that “the civil rights division must not act in contravention to valid enforcement actions of our federal immigration laws.”

But “act(ing) in contravention” of the law is at the heart of Perez’s and Casa’s radicalism — and not just on behalf of illegal aliens.

During his tenure with the Obama DOJ, Perez sought to undermine electoral integrity by attacking South Carolina’s voter ID law. His race card antics were rebuked by a unanimous U.S. District Court panel (which included a Clinton appointee), and the law prevailed.

Perez was instrumental in covering the backsides of the militant New Black Panther Party thugs who menaced voters and poll watchers in Philadelphia in 2008. The American Spectator’s Quin Hillyer recounted that a federal judge challenged the veracity of Perez’s testimony about DOJ political appointees’ interference on behalf of the Panthers. “This came after Perez also had, apparently unlawfully, refused to honor valid subpoenas from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — and it was in addition to yet another falsehood by Perez, this one to the effect that DOJ had sought the maximum allowable penalty against the Panthers,” Hillyer reported. “While the original decision to dismiss the case pre-dated Perez’s appointment to the Justice Department, his direct involvement in, and hands-on management of, what amounted to a cover-up of the decision’s origins should alone be disqualifying for any Cabinet post.”

Perez also helped spearhead the lawsuit against Arizona over its immigration enforcement measures and launched a three-year DOJ witch-hunt against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The vengeful investigation against Arpaio, the nation’s most outspoken local law enforcement official against illegal alien crime, was dropped without charges last summer. Perez is leading similar witch-hunts against police departments across the country based on leftwing junk science theories about racial “disparate impacts.”

With Senate Republicans John McCain, Lindsey Graham and company folding like lawn chairs on Obamamnesty, open-borders groups are thrilled at the prospect of another victory with Perez’s nomination.

Last week, conservatives stood with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over John Brennan’s nomination as CIA director. Who will stand for American workers in opposition to Obama’s pending secretary of illegal alien labor? Anyone?

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.westernjournalism.com/obamas-newest-partner-in-crime/

[DougMacG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mVWHgMMF0cM

He golfs with Tiger (what did that cost?) but can't swing a club, hangs with NBA legends but can't make a free throw (video above is pretty amazing), and he wants to run the economy but has still never read a book on economics that isn't about dismantling our system.  Just getting to know the guy - as our nation heads down the tubes.

If his story was that he is a lousy basketball player or golfer (honesty), I would be impressed.  If his story is that he works on improving our economy so much, that is why his former sporting prowess has suffered, i would say - what a crock.

[DougMacG]

Humorist Scott Ott at Scrappleface reports:

Obama Declares April 1 ‘Fiscal Responsibility Day’

Obama signs National Fiscal Responsibility Day declarationPresident Obama declares April 1 ‘National Fiscal Responsibility Day’, as the infants and toddlers of Wall Street bankers crawl around his desk just out of the camera’s view.

In a White House ceremony this morning, surrounded by young children of Wall Street bankers, and of staffers at the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, President Barack Obama signed an executive order designating today as ‘National Fiscal Responsibility Day.’

The president said the declaration would both “recognize the Herculean efforts of members of Congress and the Executive branch in paring down the federal budget to its core essentials...

Obama noted that from now on, the first day of April each year will “remind all Americans of the kind of government we ordained and established in our Constitution — one of limited, enumerated powers, that maximizes individual liberty.”...

[Too bad this is only an April Fools joke.]
http://scrappleface.com/?p=2009

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/01/embarrassing-obama-shoots-22-baskets-but-can-you-guess-how-many-he-actually-made/

[Crafty_Dog]

http://www.dickmorris.com/is-michelle-running-the-administration-dick-morris-tv-lunch-alert/?utm_source=dmreports&utm_medium=dmreports&utm_campaign=dmreports

[DougMacG]

[DougMacG]

White House blames lousy jobs report on the sequester!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/05/employment-situation-march

Solution: Higher taxes and more government spending.

a) Everything is fine.  If you don't believe a), then try:  b) Everything that is wrong is attributable to Republicans.

"The Administration continues to urge Congress to replace the sequester with balanced deficit reduction (raising taxes), while working to put in place measures (more government spending) to put more Americans back to work like rebuilding our roads and bridges and promoting American manufacturing."

[Crafty_Dog]

Of course the tax increases and the implementation of Obamacare have nothing to do with it , , ,

[Crafty_Dog]

 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obama-overrides-congress-to-buy-690-mil-worth-of-russian-choppers-for-afghan-air-force/

[DougMacG]

The ignored trial of Gosnell puts images to the beyond far left policies that State Senator Barack Obama from Illinois sponsored.  If the intent was to kill the baby, kill the baby.  Who knew that abortion rights could get ugly?

OTOH, Wouldn't it be more liberal and caring to protect those who are most vulnerable?

[Crafty_Dog]

The rhetorical flourish here about women strikes me as rather stupid, but the dissonance of sending representatives to Chavez's funeral but not Thatcher's speaks for itself.

http://www.libertynews.com/2013/04/war-on-women-obama-snubs-thatcher-funeral-doesnt-send-a-single-person/

[DougMacG]

At least they didn't send Biden, but did they really send no one to Margaret Thatcher's funeral?  Unbelievable. 

You would think they would be more sensitive after all their other mistakes with our closest ally - even if they don't give a damn.

The decision to send no one was announced before the Boston bombing, so that wasn't it.  It was the gun control momentum that is so easy to lose when it is a top issue for 4% of the American people.

Obama agrees that Thatcher is in a class with Churchill and Reagan, all his ideological opponents. 

His view is shared by the UK protesters who wasted no time getting up a sign saying "The Bitch is Dead" and made “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” from The Wizard of Oz the No. 1 download at Amazon U.K.   http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/345435/mrs-thatchers-losing-victory-mark-steyn