Book Depicts Cranky Obama On Baghdad Visit

LANGUAGE

Buzz Feed
Verbatim Post

Michael Hastings' new book, The Operators, jabs at what could be a vulnerable spot for the Obama Administration, the president's relationship with the troops.

The book describes a visit to Baghdad:

After the talk, out of earshot from the soldiers and diplomats, he starts to complain. He starts to act very un-Obamalike, according to a U.S. embassy official who helped organize the trip in Baghdad.

He’s asked to go out to take a few more pictures with soldiers and embassy staffers. He’s asked to sign copies of his book. “He didn’t want to take pictures with any more soldiers; he was complaining about it,” a State Department official tells me. “Look, I was excited to meet him. I wanted to like him. Let’s just say the scales fell from my eyes after I did. These are people over here who’ve been fighting the war, or working every day for the war effort, and he didn’t want to take fucking pictures with them?"

North Carolina’s Legal Holiday Observes Lee’s Birthday on Thursday, January 19th

Via Bernhard

Remembering Robert E. Lee: A Week-Long Observance

The early 1890’s saw the creation of public observances in honor of General Robert E. Lee in many Southern States.

The Nineteenth of January: The Second Public Observance of the Anniversary of the Birth of Robert E. Lee

The anniversary of the birth of Robert Edward Lee was again observed throughout Virginia on January 19th, 1892. In many of the cities and towns there were military parades, and the banks and public offices in all were closed. The Confederate Veterans Corps of the city of New York, and the Confederate Army and Navy Association of Baltimore, Maryland, each commemorated the occasion by a banquet with reverential exercises. The day is now by statute, a legal holiday in the States of North Carolina and Georgia as well as Virginia, and the day was observed in Raleigh and Atlanta, and doubtless in other Southern cities…

Business in the (Richmond) city offices was at a standstill yesterday and matters at the Capitol yesterday were dull. Many wholesale houses closed their establishments at noon and the freight depots of the railroads were also closed after that hour. The scholars of the public schools had half holiday, and the banks were closed throughout the day. Although the intensely discomforting weather materially interfered with the proposed open air demonstration, it could not dampen the ardent regard in which the memory of the glorious leader is held.

Richmond) Mayor Ellyson:

"Ladies, Comrades, and Fellow-Citizens: We have met today under the auspices of Lee and Pickett Camps to do honor to the memory of one of Virginia's noble sons. Robert E. Lee is forever enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, and as we contemplate his virtues and heroism we are made better and purer men, and I trust the time will never come when Virginians shall fail on this, his natal day, to recount the valor and patriotism of their greatest chieftain, whose noblest aspiration in life found its completest realization in the doing of his duty to his God, and his fellow man.

There is no danger, comrades, that the men who wore the grey will ever prove recreant to the principles that actuated them in time of war, but there is danger that our children may, and so we wish on these recurring anniversaries to tell of the chivalrous deeds of such leaders as Lee, Jackson, Stuart and Pickett, and to teach coming generations that the soldiers of the Southern Confederacy were not rebels, but were Americans who loved liberty as something dearer than life itself."

(Lee’s Birthday, Southern Historical Papers, Volume XIX, R.A. Brock, Editor, 1891/1990, pp. 389-392)

NC: Remembering Robert E. Lee

A Ron Paul convert questions how to play a role in a future he sees as bleak

Via Survival

The libertarian prophet of American decline arrived at a Granite State auditorium Friday evening with no fanfare and few bodyguards.

“Dr. Paul?” said a man near the door, who in the past three years had gone from believing in Barack Obama to believing that the country is sliding toward total economic and social collapse. Christopher Way, 32, a technician for the event, held out a microphone to the man he hopes will become president.

“Is this mine?” Ron Paul asked, taking it, smiling slightly at the new convert and walking onstage, where he drew long cheers from an audience full of Christopher Ways, an eclectic mix of young and mostly white men who were not just undeterred by the candidate’s third-place finish in Iowa’s Republican caucuses, but somehow more motivated by it.

“The job of a president is to protect your freedom,” Paul told them. “It isn’t to run the world, it isn’t to run the economy, and it isn’t to run your life.”

MORE with video and 20 great pictures.

California Legislative Analyst Says Not Enough Rich People to Fund State's Bloated Government

Via Theo Spark

American Power
Verbatim Post

At some point you just run out of obscene 1 percenters people to rape and plunder.

At Los Angeles Times, "Tax hikes won't stop school cuts, California budget advisor says."

Even if the Governor Brown's confiscatory ballot initiative passes, Mac Tayler, the Legislative Analyst, warns that:

...state revenue will become increasingly unpredictable if government relies more on tax receipts from high earners, whose income can fluctuate dramatically. That reliance would grow under Brown's tax plan.

"Already, California's budget is dependent on volatile income tax payments by the state's wealthiest individuals, and the governor proposes that these Californians pay more for the next few years," Taylor's report said. "As has become evident in recent years, differing fortunes for these upper-income taxpayers can create or eliminate billions of dollars of projected state revenues."

Ben Stein Sues: Ad Agency Replaced Me Over My Global-Warming Position

A Trainwreck in Maxwell

Good to go! Sock it to them.

31,487 American scientists have signed this petition, including 9,029 with PhDs

The conservative pundit and actor -- and former Nixon speechwriter -- alleges that his position on climate change had him kicked off a $300,000 acting gig, only to be replaced by a lookalike.

Stein filed a discrimination suit against Japanese company Kyocera Corporation and New York ad agency Seiter & Miller Advertising, in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday.

He is claiming breach of contract, wrongful discharge and emotional distress, among other charges.

Also read: 'WS2' Reviewed: It's More Like 'Ferris Bueller's Day on Wall Street'

In the suit, which was obtained by TheWrap, Stein says Kyocera reneged on the deal and replaced him after the company found out that he isn't sure humans are responsible for climate change. (What "climate change?" There ain't nothing different than has been going since it has been tracked. The charts tell no lies, only Collectivists.)

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NYT Caught Lying about Iran & IAEA Report on Civilian Nuclear Program

Via The Excavator

Warning!

Via Home on the Range

Rehash: Leaked Docs Show FBI And SPLC Infiltrated Group In OK Bombing Case

In a January 5, 1996 teletype to select FBI field offices, FBI Director Louis Freeh revealed that the Southern Poverty Law Center, the radical left-wing group run by civil rights lawyer Morris Dees, had an informant living in Elohim City. Elohim City is a white supremacist compound whose inhabitants have been closely linked to the Oklahoma City bombing. And that informant was dutifully reporting to Bill Clinton’s FBI.[1]

It’s thanks to Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue that we have this information, which proves “the SPLC was engaged in an undercover role where they monitored subjects for the FBI believed to be linked to …Tim McVeigh.” [2]

Upon being leaked a redacted copy of the Freeh teletype, Trentadue filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the full document and any other information held by the Oklahoma City FBI field office pertaining to the SPLC, specifically, “all documents about any connection between the Southern Poverty Law Center and eight named individuals from the OKBOMB and BOMBROB investigations or a white supremacist compound in Elohim City, Okla.”[3]

When the FBI declared no such Freeh teletype existed, Trentadue produce his copy and an enraged U.S. district court Judge Dale Kimball ordered the FBI to produce all responsive documentation.

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GOP Should Let Paul Speak at Convention

I don't think they will have any choice as he will go there with maybe 400-500 delegates; however I don't want him endorsing Romney which is what the writer wishes.

NEWSMAX
Verbatim Post

Writing in the British Guardian, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said Republicans will have no choice but to let Rep. Ron Paul speak at the GOP convention. Paul's positions -- especially his views on foreign policy and America's "empire" abroad -- have alienated many in the GOP establishment.

Here's what Norquist wrote:

"There will be no more surprises in the 2012 Republican race for the presidential nomination. After New Hampshire we know the following: Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee; Jon Huntsman's strategy of putting all his eggs in the New Hampshire basket did not work well; Ron Paul, who came in second in New Hampshire, will not win the GOP nomination.

"However, Ron Paul is the only candidate for the Republican nomination whose endorsement will matter to Mitt Romney. It is the only endorsement that will bring votes and the only endorsement, if withheld, that could cost Romney the general election.

"If Ron Paul speaks at the GOP convention (as he was not invited to do in 2008), the party will be united and Romney will win in November 2012. If Ron Paul speaks only at his own rally in Tampa, Florida (as happened at the 2008 GOP convention in Minnesota) the party will not be at full strength.

"Gingrich, Santorum and Rick Perry divided up 20% of the New Hampshire vote – less than either Romney or Ron Paul received. They will now divide the non-Romney, non-Ron Paul vote in South Carolina.

"Unless something else happens."

© Newsmax. All rights reserved.

What War With Iran Might Look Like

I don't think that Russia will sit by and twiddle their thumbs.

Via Tom

Back in September 2007 I wrote an article for Antiwar.com called “What World War III May Look Like.” The article, which presumed that an incident involving U.S. troops on the border between Iraq and Iran could easily escalate into what would eventually become a global conflict, was widely replayed in the alternative media and even in the mainstream. Well, I am pleased to report that no such war has yet started, though there has been a disturbing expansion of U.S. military activity through the deployment of drones to hit targets in assorted countries without having to worry about American casualties or niceties like declarations of war. Other geopolitical elements that figured in my 2007 analysis have also changed, so I believe that the time has come for an update.

Iran is clearly the target of choice, just as it was in 2007. Despite President Barack Obama’s assertion that he would open up avenues to talk to the Iranians, he has failed to do so, he has rejected Iranian initiatives to start a dialogue, and he is showing every sign of unwillingness to negotiate on any level. Congress has even moved to block any contact between American and Iranian diplomats. The sanctions that recently took effect against the Iranian banking system can be construed as an act of war, particularly as Iran has not provided any casus belli. Further sanctions that will restrict energy imports are impending and will bring the country’s economy to a halt. There are already signs that the Iranian government feels itself compelled to demonstrate to its people that it is doing something about the situation. That “something” might well be a confrontation with the U.S. Navy that will have unfortunate results. In light of all that, it might be useful to imagine just how war with Iran could play out if the Iranians don’t roll over and surrender at the first whiff of grapeshot.

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“Knockout King” Thugs Walk Free

Via Occidental Dissent

Jon Stewart on MSNBC on New Hampshire Ron Paul 2nd

Hilarious!

Ron Paul Goes Bird Hunting

Legal Insurrection

Verbatim Post

Richard Viguerie has an interesting observation regarding the methodology of Ron Paul’s campaign intended to leave Paul as the last not-Romney standing, Ron Paul Goes Bird Hunting:

Experienced bird hunters and fighter pilots know you don’t aim for the leader of a flight — you start at the back of the flight and work your way forward. This is apparently what Congressman Ron Paul is doing to his opponents in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Rather than aim at purported frontrunner Mitt Romney (who should be the number one target of his libertarian supporters), Ron Paul has been working his way through the flock of less well-funded and less well-defined opponents, thinning the field as he goes.

After raking former Speaker Newt Gingrich with fire in Iowa, the libertarian-oriented congressman from Texas has been zeroing-in on former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in South Carolina.

And zeroing in on Santorum he is, In South Carolina, Paul Renews Santorum Attack:

Santorum’s response? Repeat Newt’s mistake in Iowa of not counter-attacking on television. Santorum may not have the money or may be conserving money for a longer fight, but getting dragged down by Paul in South Carolina (which appears to be working) may damage Santorum even worse than Iowa damaged Newt.

Secret Aerial Photos Book Provides Fresh Glimpse of Berlin's Destruction

Following the end of World War II, photographer Hein Gorny took spectacular aerial shots of the ravaged German capital. His son Peter explains how Hein defied a flying ban imposed by the Allies and managed to snap the dramatic shots.

MORE with 21 pictures.

Solid state Swiss Army Knife can save digital lives

Victorinox has pulled from its technology pocket a version of its vaunted Swiss Army knife equipped with a solid state drive capable of holding all of the digital data in a person's life.

A USB drive capable of holding as much as a terabyte of data is folded into a Swiss Army Knife being shown-off at the Consumer Electronics Show that officially opened its doors on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

"It fits in the palm of my hand," Victorinox spokeswoman Renee Hourigan said as she cupped in her palm a one-terabyte drive sheathed in the Switzerland-based company's iconic red casing.

"You can transfer everything to this and then throw your computer's external hard drive out the window," she quipped.

The terabyte-capacity version will be released globally by August and be priced at $3,000 (US), according to Victorinox.

Drives come with red and black casings. The red one has a blade, scissors, and a nail file while the black one lacks those accessories in order to avoid clashing with air travel security rules.

Swiss Army Knife drives will also come with 64, 128, 256, or 512 gigabytes of memory and be priced from $649 to $1,999, according to Hourigan.

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Girl Scouts Order Off Duty Employee to Remove Pro-Abortion T-Shirt

Here is the link to American Heritage Girls

Godfather Politics
Verbatim Post

We’ve recently ran several articles on the Girl Scouts of America and their pro-abortion agenda: The Girl Scout Propaganda Machine and Girl Scouts Support Abortion and Sexual Promiscuity. These articles also exposed the Girl Scouts’ endorsement of very liberal sexual promiscuity in teaching girls that the only thing they need to worry about were sexually transmitted diseases, but other than that, there is nothing wrong with sexual experiences.

We’ve heard from others who have had similar firsthand experience with the Girl Scouts of America and their relationship with Planned Parenthood. We also heard from others that have had nothing but positive experiences with Girl Scouts and doubted the accuracy of our reports. It is because of these Girl Scout supporters that I chose to write this blog in hopes that it will help convince them of the pro-abortion agenda of the Girl Scouts.

Renise Rodriguez worked for Girls Scouts of Southern Arizona as a girl experience associate. She also attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she was a religious studies major. Being a Christian, Rodriguez is also an avid pro-life supporter and often wore pro-life or anti-abortion shirts.

On one of her days off from her job with the Girl Scouts, Rodriguez stopped by the Girl Scout office. She happened to be wearing a t-shirt that read ‘Pray to End Abortion.’ Even though it was her day off and she was not there in any official capacity, she was ordered to either take the shirt off or turn it inside out.

Rodriguez was quite upset and offended by the incident, so much so that later the same day, she resigned from her job. Even in today’s difficult job market, she did not feel that she could return to work for an organization that would treat her that way, even on her own personal time.

She reported her experience to Bryan Kemper who is the youth outreach director for Priests for Life. Kemper commented on the incident and the Girl Scouts saying,

“She went in to work, off duty, to pick up a few things and was told immediately by somebody in the Girl Scouts office to take her shirt off, and that if she was going to stay in the office at all she’d have to turn it inside out. She wasn’t at work, she wasn’t on the clock — and she was pretty offended.

“The Girl Scouts seem to go farther and farther and farther away from any kind of values that they should be teaching young women. And with their connections to Planned Parenthood — and now telling this girl to take her shirt off in the office — it’s absolutely mind-blowing that this organization has gone so liberal and that America’s parents are entrusting their young daughters to the Girl Scouts.”

Parents, please take warning that if you allow your girls to be part of Girl Scouts that they may be subjected to pro-abortion and pro-sexual promiscuity teachings. But fear not as there is an organization that has been started as a Christian alternative to the liberal Girl Scouts. Check out the American Heritage Girls that are opening up in many communities throughout the country and hopefully you will be able to find one in your area. If not, perhaps you could help start one for the sake of your girls and those of your family and friends.

ANNOUNCING: Election Day Tea Party... Because winning the White House isn't enough

Milton Wolf

The mainstream media narrative is that the Tea Party movement has run its course. Of course they also claimed before 2010 that the Tea Party wouldn't have an impact. Heh. Once again they set themselves up for embarrassment. The Tea Party has shifted from organizing massive rallies to rallying for massive electoral change.

The Election Day Tea Party is a nationwide get-out-the-vote effort that debuted in 2010 with resounding success. (Just ask former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.) The goal is to first identify the close races where grass roots efforts can tip the balance and and then guide Tea Party resources to those contests that will ultimately determine control of the Congress.

Full press release below:

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DOJ: Obama Recess Appointments Constitutional

Big surprise, I know........

The U.S. Department of Justice has released a legal opinion saying that President Obama’s recess appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the NLRB are constitutional. Read the opinion here.

The conclusion reads:

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Syria: Nato 'planning direct military intervention', Russia claims

Let's not do this kiddies.

The head of Russia's security council said he had seen intelligence indicating plans for a military incursion were well advanced.

"We are getting information that Nato members and some Persian Gulf States, operating according to the Libya scenario, intend to move from indirect intervention in Syrian affairs to direct military intervention," Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Kremlin security body said in an interview published in Russia's Kommersant newspaper on Thursday.

"This time it is true that the main strikes forces will not be provided by France, the UK or Italy, but possibly by neighbouring Turkey which was until recently on good terms with Syria and is a rival of Iran with immense ambitions." America and Turkey were even now possibly already refining options for a no-fly zone that would allow armed Syrian opposition fighters to mass in the designated areas, he added.

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The 10 worst states for retirees in 2012

Roundabout via Green Mountains Homesteading

Not that I would live in them anyway.

Slideshow

Makeup & Child Soldier

Theo Spark