Justice Department wins secrecy award for second year in a row

Via NC Renegade

 

Po' thing.

The Justice Department has won the Rosemary Award for the second year in a row, an award that honors the federal agency with the “worst open government performance” of 2012.

The National Security Archive announced Friday it was bestowing the Rosemary Award—named after Nixon secretary Rose Mary Woods, who “accidentally” erased portions of the Watergate tapes—on the Justice Department for continuing to flout congressional and executive orders to improve transparency.

Justice “clinched the intensely competitive award” with the Wednesday appearance by the director of the department’s Office of Information Policy, Melanie Pustay, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a press release announcing DOJ’s win.

Pustay testified that updating agency Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations was optional, “‘not required,’ after Congress changed the law in 2007 or when the president and the attorney general changed the policy in 2009.”

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) coauthored the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which ordered federal agencies to update their FOIA regulations and practices.

Pustay said the Justice Department is in the midst of updating its regulations.

“It’s been five years since we changed the law,” Leahy shot back. “It took me less time to get through law school!”

More @ The Washington Free Beacon

The amount of sea ice in Antarctica is breaking all records, even the exceptionally large ice year of 2008.

Via Daily Timewaster

This Global Warming will be the death of us yet.........

Sunshine Hours

UPDATE: 8th record

2013 Day 71 was the 7th daily record for Antarctic Sea Ice Extent. And the 4th in a row.

If you look at the 2008 record setting run ice extent was so far ahead of previous years it was hard to believe any of those records would be broken.

Yet 2013 is doing it.

The Beavers

Via The Feral Irishman

The Miraculous Recovery Of Gabrielle Giffords

 

 

For those who do not yet understand the utter ruthlessness of Team Evil, consider the following.

Here is former Congresswoman Giffords on January 30, 2013:

More @ WRSA

IG Report Shows Viper’s Den at Justice Department

Via Cousin John

The lead two sentences in a Tuesday afternoon Politico story got it right: “A scathing new report exposing bitter divisions and racial hostility at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is certain to complicate the confirmation process for Tom Perez, who currently heads the unit and is expected to be President Barack Obama’s pick as the next Secretary of Labor. The 258-page internal watchdog report out Tuesday resurrects questions about the handling of the controversial New Black Panther Party prosecution and faults Perez for giving misleading public testimony in 2010 when he said political appointees were not involved in decisions about the case.”

The amazing thing is that many more items in the report by the department’s Inspector General are even more explosive than those matters that rightly led the Politico account. While the IG labored mightily to credit almost every excuse offered by Obamite political appointees (and their ideological soul-mates in the career ranks) at Justice, the raw facts unearthed (or confirmed) in the new report make crystal clear the most important aspect of the Black Panther case all along: The dismissal of already-won charges against the Panthers was part and parcel of a long-running hostility within the Civil Rights Division – exacerbated and encouraged by the Obama political team – against race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws.

Liberals in the division were so hostile, in fact, that they tried to make the workplace a living hell for those career employees of a more conservative bent who merely wanted to apply the law as clearly written, to protect the civil rights of Americans of all races, not just minorities. It wasn’t just the outrageous accusations that the centrist or right-leaning employees were so racist that they yearned for days when “everyone wears a white sheet, the darkies say ‘yes’m’ and equal rights for all are the real ‘land of make believe.’” It wasn’t just the repeated harassment of a junior black staffer for daring to work on cases where the civil rights violators were black, including repeatedly calling him a “token” and accusing him of being a “turncoat.”

More @ CFIF

Rot

 

The Moneychanger

I'll admit I've had a dark cloud hanging over me lately. Just seems that the Rot is progressing faster than I can acclimate to it. Somehow the yankee government refusing to say it won't use drones in the US seems to me the same as saying it WILL use them. Call me old-fashioned, but a government claiming it has power & authority to kill its own citizens seems to contradict all the purposes of government. I won't even mention the signs the yankee government is planning once again to wage war on its own people -- Homeland Security ordering a billion rounds of hollow point ammo (banned in international warfare) and more armored vehicles that the Germans had when they invaded France in 1940. They need those like a fish needs a bicycle -- unless they're up to no good.

Yep, I know some of y'all with call me paranoid, goofy, squirrelly, all of that, but you have never had a SWAT team on your back porch. A day is coming when y'all are going to have to overcome your fear of government & stand up for your neighbors. Otherwise, when they come for you, there'll be nobody to stand up for you.

Criminal to resist? That's what they want you to think, & that it's criminal to insist on your rights. I reckon morality depends on your viewpoint, & what they call good behavior might also be called cowardice & treason to your fathers and your children. Got to choose.

But shoot! What do I know, a natural born fool from Tennessee? We're so backward some of us here still believe in the God of the Bible.

$PLC — 2013 — “The New Hate Map is Here!”

Via avordvet

 

Watching the Watchdogs readers of a certain age may remember actor Steve Martin’s 1979 debut film, The Jerk. In one memorable scene, Martin’s character, the naive country boy, Navin Johnson, is ecstatic to find his name listed in the local telephone directory.

“The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!!” shouts Navin, as he wildly leaps and prances about. Navin’s boss, played by deadpan comic Jackie Mason, observes, “I wish I could get that excited about nothin’.”

Navin counters breathlessly, “I’m somebody now! Millions of people look at this thing every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity… your name in print… that makes people!!”

The parallels between this classic comedy scene and the latest iteration of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual “Hate Map” are manifold: Spontaneous publicity. Your name in print. 

Millions of naive people looking at this thing and getting excited about nothin’.

For the benefit of new Watching the Watchdogs readers, let’s take a moment to recap the key facts about the Hate Map that need to be understood before delving into what is, to borrow a phrase from another classic comedy, ” … a show about nothing.”

More @ Watching the Watchdogs

Benghazi survivors 'told to be quiet' by administration

Via avordvet

 

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, in an interview with Fox News, alleged that the injured survivors of the Benghazi terror attack have been "told to be quiet" and feel they can't come forward to tell their stories -- escalating his push for more information about survivors who have never been publicly identified.

The White House is denying any attempt to exert pressure on them.

"I'm sure that the White House is not preventing anyone from speaking," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, when asked about the survivors.

But Graham told Fox News, "the bottom line is they feel that they can't come forth, they've been told to be quiet."

"We cannot let this administration or any other administration get away with hiding from the American people and Congress, people who were there in real time to tell the story," Graham said.

More @ Fox

The Land: This is Europe and it's worth fighting for

NC: The V.A . v. the 2nd Amendment

 

While some in Washington seek to encroach on the Second Amendment rights of law-biding Americans, I will continue to fight to ensure these rights are honored and protected.  Yesterday, I introduced legislation that would end the arbitrary process through which the government strips veterans and other Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries of their Second Amendment rights.

This legislation would protect the rights of veterans and their families by ensuring that only a proper judicial authority is able to determine who is referred to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a system which prevents them from being able to purchase firearms in the United States.  Our veterans took an oath to uphold the Constitution and they deserve to enjoy the rights they fought so hard to protect. Click here to read more.

Richard Burr 

Grand Prize for the Spring 2013 NC PATCON: 308 Mossberg

Spring 2013 NC PATCON & 2nd Amendment Rally: Thursday May 2nd to Monday May 6th 

Door prizes will continue to grow and if this rifle can be etched, it will be have the same logo on both sides by CADD Graphics



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

 

Description:     MOS ATR BA SBANTAM 308 SYN SCP
Manufacturer:     Mossberg
Model #:     ATR Super Bantam Bolt Action w/Scope
Type:     Rifle
Finish:     Matte Blue
Stock:     Black Synthetic Adjustable Stock
Sights:     No Sights
Barrel Length:     20″ Fluted Free Floating Button Rifled
Overall Length:     38.75″ at Minimum Length
Weight:     7.75 lbs
Caliber:     308
Capacity:     4+1
Action:     Bolt Action
# of Mags:    
Chokes:    
Packaging:    
Receiver:     Matte Blue, Drilled & Tapped with Scope Base
Chamber:    
Muzzle:    
Features:     Top Load Mag, LBA Trigger, Length of Pull 12-13″
Recessed Muzzle Crown, 3-9X40 Variable Scope Incl.

Defying Death

Via dashing

 

Enlarged

Dien Bien Phu February 1954

Via catherine_catty

 

Lieutenant of medical service  Patrice de Karfor.

NC: Bill to restart the death penalty

North Carolina Senate leaders filed legislation Wednesday to restart the death penalty in the state – a move to secure justice for more than 100 North Carolina families whose loved ones were brutally murdered.

Despite having 152 inmates on death row, the state has not conducted an execution since 2006 because of numerous legal challenges that have resulted in a de-facto moratorium on the death penalty.

Our bill, Senate Bill 306, allows doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to participate in executions without fear of punishment from licensing boards, brings certainty to the timeline of the execution process, and gives the Secretary of Public Safety flexibility to develop the most humane and constitutionally-sound method possible to conduct execution by lethal injection.

The bill also repeals a law allowing judges to use arbitrary statistics and random data to decide whether death row inmates were sentenced because of race. The law has allowed nearly every criminal on death row, regardless of race, to file an appeal. The bill reaffirms several avenues of appeal that are still available to ensure a fair hearing of race discrimination claims in capital cases.

We have a moral obligation to ensure death-row criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes imaginable finally face justice. Victims’ families have suffered for far too long. It’s time to stop the legal wrangling and bring them the peace and closure they deserve.

Senator Phil Berger

President Pro Tempore

2008 Legislative Building

Raleigh, NC 27601-2808

Phone: 919.733.5708

Fax: 919.754.3246

philbe@ncleg.net

Losing it: Dianne Feinstein compares common firearms to child pornography

Via Michael 

 

After getting ripped to shreds by Texas Senator Ted Cruz for her gun laws attempting to gun the Second Amednment, the questionable sanity of Dianne Feinstein took another blow as she compared semi-automatic firearms to child pornography.

Senators Ted Cruz and Dianne Feinstein during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Thursday got into heated exchange while discussing the California congresswoman’s proposed ban on so-called “assault” weapons.

“The question that I would pose to the senior senator from California is,” Cruz said, referring to Feinstein, “Would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for Congress to specify that the First Amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?”

“Likewise, would she think that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals and not to the individuals that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?” he added.

More @ Bob Owens

New Pope: No Communion for Pro-Abortion Politicians

 

New Pope Francis I is a conservative in the mold of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. That’s especially true on the issue of abortion, which he called a “death sentence” for the unborn in 2007. “We aren’t in agreement with the death penalty,” he said during that speech, “but in Argentina we have the death penalty. A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.” 

 In the Aparecida Document, a document that represents a joint statement by Latin American church leaders but presented by Francis in 2007, the leaders stated, “we should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence,’ that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortions, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”

More @ Breitbart

Former Agent Blasts Obama Administration for ‘Throwing Secret Service Under the Bus’

 

A former agent blasted President Obama for blaming the Secret Service for the decision to shut down White House tours, calling it “an act of political cowardice” on Your World with Neil Cavuto this afternoon. Dan Bongino explained that the agency’s job is to provide security for the White House; it does not determine who comes in. “To say that this was the Secret Service, and that they somehow injected themselves into a political decision — well, do they get to tell [the president] to stop taking vacations and to stop going golfing as well?” Bongino said. “This doesn’t even pass the smell test.”

More @ National Review

Labor shortage is myth that drives ads by businesses & evangelical leaders to combat NumbersUSA ads

Via Matthew

 

Based on the ridiculous and inhumane claim that America suffers from a labor shortage, two groups of elites (business and evangelical leaders) are pouring big money into countering NumbersUSA’s TV and radio ads that criticize Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

News media are clear that both groups are rushing their ads into South Carolina to protect Sen. Graham from the weeks of ads sponsored by NumbersUSA that question his “comprehensive immigration reform” (CIR) leadership. Why is Sen. Graham pushing an amnesty for millions of illegal foreign workers and a giant increase in new immigrant workers when so many South Carolinians can’t find a job, our ads ask.

The ad by the loose-labor-market evangelical leaders avoids directly mentioning the jobs issue and suggests that Christians who don’t support CIR’s giant increase in foreign workers are against compassion and justice.

But the business PAC ad makes it clear that the point of CIR is to help businesses.

AD TIPS HAND THAT CIR FOR BUSINESS, NOT STRUGGLING AMERICANS

                                                         More @ Numbers USA

How Doctors Die

Via Cousin Colby

 

Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5 percent to 15 percent—albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible.

Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment.

Medicare didn’t spend much on him.

It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.

More @ Saturday Evening Post

Marilyn Monroe working at her Radioplane factory job making WWII target drones

Via Horace

Veterans Today

Poll: Should states be allowed to ignore federal gun laws?

Via Billy
  

  

 As Congress debates new gun control legislation that may include broader background checks or bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, some state legislatures are considering laws that would attempt to nullify any new federal controls.

A new survey by Pew Research Center finds that 60 percent of the public says that states should not be allowed to ignore federal gun laws, while 36 percent say that states should be able to ignore federal gun laws, if they choose to do so.

What do you think? Cast a vote in our poll and drop a comment below. We've still got a lively discussion over the question I posed in yesterday's column, Why do we own guns?

Pew found that gun owners were divided over whether states should be allowed to ignore federal gun laws: 49 percent said they should, while 48 percent disagreed. Among those in gun-owning households who do not themselves own guns, 59 percent oppose states ignoring federal gun laws; among those in households without guns, 67 percent were opposed.

Republicans, by a 58 percent to 37 percent margin, said that states should be allowed to ignore federal gun laws if they so choose. About four-in-ten (38 percent) independents and just 18 percent of Democrats favor giving states the option to ignore federal gun laws.

More @ AL

Test Drive

Via Cousin Colby

Absolutely Worthless Boehner: House Will Fund Obamacare in CR; Won't Risk 'Shutting Down the Government'

Via avordvet

 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he would not include language to defund Obamacare in the continuing resolution bill when it returns to the House, stating, “our goal” is “not to shut down the government.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) offered an amendment to the Senate version of the CR that would have defunded Obamacare. However, the Senate is controlled by Democrats and, on Wednesday, Cruz's amendment failed.

Cruz pointed out, however, that if the Senate CR differs at all from the one passed previously by the House, the House would have another chance to vote on it, and could amend it then to defund Obamacare.

More @ CNS News