Saturday, November 3, 2012
Rand Paul Blasts State Dept Denying Libyan Embassy Plane Access While Funding Vienna Embassy With $100K To “Green Up”
VERBATIM
The Kentucky Senator said, “I would hate to be the person who’s sitting there today who made the decision when it was requested that a security team stay in one of the most dangerous countries in the world that— would you like to be the bureaucrat in the State Department who said, ‘Oh, no. We don’t have the money. You need to come home.’”
“The same with the DC3,” he continued.
“What I’ve been pounding home is four days after that DC-3 was removed in May of 2012, they approved $100,000 to green up the embassy in Vienna, to spend some money on electrical charging stations for electric cars that cost the taxpayer $250,000 per car in subsidies.”“This is a political statement that we’re making at the Vienna embassy,” Senator Paul said. “They want to show off for the Europeans to say, ‘Hey, we’re as European as you are, but yet, we don’t have money to provide for the basic security of an embassy. That to me is inexcusable, and whoever made those decisions, and they already know that. You don’t need a congressional investigation. Whoever made those decisions ought to be fired.”
According to the Vienna embassy’s website back in May of this year:
The U.S. Embassy Vienna opened the doors to Ambassador Eacho’s “green” residence with a gala dinner event, an exhibit by green-technology companies and an electric car and motorcycle show. The Embassy used the makeover to highlight U.S. government commitment to climate change solutions, and to successfully demonstrate the use of innovative clean energy technologies. Gerry Braun, director of the Davis Energy Institute, University of California, was the guest speaker at the Gala and gave a keynote speech at the Green World Forum the next day. Nobel Prize Laureate Betty Williams, the president of the Green World Forum, was a guest of honor at the Embassy gala.It appears the Obama State Department were more interested in being “green” than protecting American citizens.
TWIN TIMELINE: What was happening in Benghazi and Washington
Last night I heard Newt Gingrich ask for a twin timeline to help
illustrate what was happening in Benghazi and in Washington. Newt's
wish is my command:
More @ Doug Ross
Mother Of Slain Benghazi Official: “Obama Murdered My Son”
VERBATIM
Patricia Smith, mother of slain State Department employee Sean Patrick Smith has come out and blamed Barack Obama for her son’s death, which occurred during the September 11, 2012 attacks on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“I believe that Obama murdered my son,” she said Thursday from the living room of her Clairemont home. “I firmly believe this.”
Smith’s view echoes that of Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods, former Navy SEAL who died fighting in Benghazi.
Charles Woods appeared on Fox News shows over the weekend to denounce decisions made by U.S. officials during the Libya attack.
“I’m a retired attorney, and I know that these actions legally do not constitute murder. But in my mind the people in the White House, all of them who have authority to send in reinforcements to prevent what they knew was going to be the death of my son, are guilty of murdering my son,” Woods said Sunday on Fox’s Sean Hannity show.
Some believe that people are just looking for a place to direct their anger and they have Barack Obama to do that. Greg Doherty, older brother of Glen Doherty said that his brother and Tyrone Woods has been part of the force that responded to the consulate attack.
“They rescued a bunch of people and brought them to the (consulate) annex, and then people defended the annex after Glen and Ty fell. All those people didn’t get overrun and wiped out. They had enough people to fight off that battle,” said Doherty.
He said that the debate of needing more help doesn’t make sense to him, unless it was concerning U.S. airstrikes.
“But then you are getting into real specific strategy, and I don’t think it is civilians’ job to pick apart an actual battle and talk strategy, unless you are a general,” said Doherty. “It just seems like people are looking to direct their anger at Obama somehow.”
Charles Woods said, “I don’t want this to become political and become dishonoring to Ty.”
Sadly it is both a political issue and an issue of national security and since the Benghazi incident has every facet of a cover-up, it may also be criminal, even treasonous.
Former Navy SEAL Brent Gleeson said that an order given to stand down could have been because Woods and Doherty were outnumbered and had very little opportunity for success. Hoever, the CIA has completely denied that an order was given to stand down. He pointed out “If they are given the green light to go in and help, and they both die, that makes the decision-maker look bad.”
He also spoke to the issue of air support and troops being flown in. From UT San Diego:
“Logistically speaking, it’s not as black and white as people are making it sound. It’s not just, call for help and they fly in the reinforcements,” Gleeson said.
“If they fly people in, well great, how are they going to get to the target? They need vehicles. Where from? Unless the vehicles are staged there already, logistically in that situation it’s kind of a nightmare. They weren’t prepared for this, obviously.”
Calling in air support would have brought challenges, as well.
“There’s certainly the possibility of air cover, but then you are talking also about moving air assets into Libyan airspace — which would have spawned a whole other situation,” Gleeson said.
1869 Harvard Entrance Exam
Roundabout via Takuan Seiyo
Unless you had a very solid classics education in high school, know the sources of the Danube, the Volga, the Ganges, and the Amazon off the top of your head, and are comfortable tackling some hoary arithmetic and plane geometry without the help of a calculator or Wikipedia, you’re likely to find this Harvard entrance exam from 1899 more than a little challenging. (Thanks to the NYT for digging it up.)
Granted, Latin and Greek were de rigueur for the well-heeled youths of the day — they probably would have been stumped at the Spanish and Chinese that today’s high school students are learning — but there are plenty of college graduates today who would flee in terror at that first polynomial equation.
Full entrance exam below. How would you do?
Unless you had a very solid classics education in high school, know the sources of the Danube, the Volga, the Ganges, and the Amazon off the top of your head, and are comfortable tackling some hoary arithmetic and plane geometry without the help of a calculator or Wikipedia, you’re likely to find this Harvard entrance exam from 1899 more than a little challenging. (Thanks to the NYT for digging it up.)
Granted, Latin and Greek were de rigueur for the well-heeled youths of the day — they probably would have been stumped at the Spanish and Chinese that today’s high school students are learning — but there are plenty of college graduates today who would flee in terror at that first polynomial equation.
Full entrance exam below. How would you do?
More @ GeekOSystem
Christie was Mitt's first choice for VP
One of the most tantalizing subplots of the 2012 campaign has been the curious and sometimes controversial performances of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Now, campaign insiders tell POLITICO that Christie was Mitt Romney’s first choice for the Republican ticket, lending an intriguing new context to the continuing drama around the Garden State governor.
The strong internal push for Christie, and Romney’s initial instinct to pick him as his running mate, reflects how conflicted the nominee remained about choosing a running mate until the very end of the process. At least on the surface, Christie and Paul Ryan are about as opposite as two Republicans could be: a brash outsider from the Northeast versus a bookish insider from the heartland.
And yet Romney switched from Christie to Ryan in a span of about two weeks, according to a detailed inside account provided to POLITICO.
More @ Politico
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