Franchisors warn Obamacare will halve profits

Washington Secrets  [Atlanta Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchiser David] "Barr has 23 stores with 421 employees, 109 of whom are full-time. Of those, he provides 30 with health insurance. Barr said he pays 81 percent of their Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, or $4,073 of $5,028 for individuals, more for families, for a total bill of $129,000 a year. Employees pay $995.

"Under Obamacare, however, he will have to provide health insurance for all 109 full-time workers, a cost of $444,000, or two and half times more than his current costs. That $315,000 increase is equal to just over half his annual profit, after expenses, or 1.5 percent of sales. As a result, he said, "I'm not paying $444,000."

Romney is right: In embassy incidents, Obama administration's first instinct was to sympathize with attackers

Byron York   "In his original statement last night, Romney said, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."  Then, on Wednesday morning, Romney said the administration "was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in Egypt instead of condemning their actions."
"And that is exactly what the administration did."  

Ambassador dragged through the streets (right)

Muslim Cleric Tears Bible At Protest Outside the US Embassy in Cairo

Assyrian International News Agency

"During the demonstration which was held in front of the American Embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, 9/11, a Muslim cleric named Abu Islam tore and burned the Holy Bible in front of thousands of Muslims. His action was met with applause and anti-Christian cheers from the demonstrators. Before leaving the demonstration and getting into his car, he told the crowds "next time I will urinate on it." "

Mark Steyn has this to say

Steyn said. “Every American should be ashamed of their president.”   "“Nobody, no novelist would attempt to do anything so crass after this man is dragged through the streets — after he is killed, dragged through the streets of Libya, God knows what’s happened to him if you believe some of the worst stories out there. And then the guy goes to Vegas. Why not just do it at Caesar’s Palace with a bunch of showgirls? Every American who’s watching, regardless if you’re Democrat or Republican, if you’re not embarrassed by the buffoon who’s serving as President of the United States after that performance last night, there’s something wrong with you.” "

The media: an electorate's source for wisdom and knowledge (UPDATED)

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to Romney, Richard Williamson, smacks Don Lemon right in the Talking Points: “We Look Forward To Talking About the Substance When You’re Available”
I hope this is a good indication of how the Romney campaign will talk to the liberal press.

Remember  the Obama Sycophant who asked what Bernie Goldberg called "The Dumbest Media Question I’ve Ever Heard":

Back in November, CNN's Dan Lothian Asks Obama if GOP Candidates Are 'Uninformed, Out of Touch, or Irresponsible'   "And this is the type of hard-nosed journalist the supposedly most trusted name in news has as a White House correspondent"

NPR's Shapiro Defends Question Collaboration  "Ari Shapiro of National Public Radio went on the defensive after being identified as one of the reporters caught on an open microphone coordinating questions before Wednesday’s press conference with Republican nominee Mitt Romney."

UPDATE– NewsBuster’s Tim Graham identifies the reporters heard in the video as NPR’s Ari Shapiro and CBS reporter Jan Crawford. He also gives us some perspective on the situation:  
Crawford considered by some as very fair.

The Obama Administration didn't see this coming? Marines' lack of ammo rumor refuted.

From the UK Independent; Exclusive: America 'was warned of embassy attack but did nothing'.  Revealed: inside story of US envoy's assassination 
"Senior officials are increasingly convinced, however, that the ferocious nature of the Benghazi attack, in which rocket-propelled grenades were used, indicated it was not the result of spontaneous anger due to the video, called Innocence of Muslims. Patrick Kennedy, Under-Secretary at the State Department, said he was convinced the assault was planned due to its extensive nature and the proliferation of weapons.

"There is growing belief that the attack was in revenge for the killing in a drone strike in Pakistan of Mohammed Hassan Qaed..."

From Politico: The Obama administration is flatly denying a blaring British newspaper report that the U.S. diplomats in Libya were killed as a result of a “continuing security breach,” and that “credible information” about possible attacks had been ignored

Jihad Watch; First Amendment Death Watch Alert.   "U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly says this is a "tiny minority." And we will see the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims rising up en masse to rein in their violent coreligionists any second now...any time now...it's coming...wait for it...yes, it has been eleven years, but they're still getting dressed. Have some patience."

Bloody Hand Prints at Consulate Reveal Americans Were Dragged From Building Before Their Death
"There will be blood: A Libyan man explains that the bloodstains on the column are from one the American staff members who grabbed the edge of the column while he was evacuated, after an attack that killed four Americans on September 11tt. (Daily Mail)"

Documents containing delicate information have been lost in the attack, the paper reported. These documents are believed to contain the names of Libyans who are also working for Americans, as well as information on oil contracts.

THAT 1979 FEELING

Left: Roman Genn cartoon

Campaigner-in-Chief decides to skip yet ANOTHER intelligence briefing   "How long had it been since President Obama attended his daily intelligence meeting in the lead-up to the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Egypt and Libya? After all, our adversaries are known to use the anniversary of 9/11 to target the United States."

Pentagon denies reports on Marine blogs that U.S. embassy did not authorize service members to carry ammo

Mother Jones - no friend of the military - posts this denial of the story that Marines had no ammo: The Marine Corps has confirmed to Mother Jones that a military blogger's popular conspiracy theory about the embassy attack in Egypt is wrong.

From: Cross, Alex Maj OLA, LA-41B Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 4:55 PMTo: Cross, Alex Maj OLA, LA-41B Subject: Marines in Libya and Egypt Ladies and Gentlemen-The following information is provided regarding Marine involvement in the recent actions in Egypt and Libya:Egypt:-The Ambassador did not impose restrictions on weapons or weapons status on the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG) detachment.  The MCESG Marines in Cairo were allowed to have live ammunition in their weapons.  The Ambassador and Regional Security Officer have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation. Reports of Marines not being able to have their weapons loaded per direction from the Ambassador are not accurate.

Corroboration here: Though it would not surprise anyone were it true, Marine Corps major (the USMC Congressional Liaison) issued statement today saying the Ambassador in Cairo did not restrict live ammo and the USMC guards were in fact armed.

Fox News confirms that Marines were not refused ammunition.  "Further Marine spokesman at Pentagon Lt Col Chris Hughes says these reports are NOT true. This is on the record:"

“The Ambassador and RSO have been completely and appropriately engaged with the security situation.  No restrictions on weapons or weapons status have been imposed.  This information comes from the Det Commander at AMEMB Cairo.”

Socialism means we all share the misery

An Economic 'Plan'?  by Thomas Sowell  "But history shows that the economy rebounded out of a worse unemployment situation in just two years under Harding, who simply let the market revive on its own, as it had done before, time and time again for more than a century.

"Something similar happened under Ronald Reagan. Unemployment peaked at 9.7 percent early in the Reagan administration. Like Harding and earlier presidents, Reagan did nothing, despite outraged outcries in the media.

"The economy once again revived on its own. Three years later, unemployment was down to 7.2 percent -- and it kept on falling, as the country experienced twenty years of economic growth with low inflation and low unemployment."....

Despite demands that Mitt Romney spell out his plan for reviving the economy, we can only hope that Governor Romney plans to stop the government from intervening in the economy and gumming up the works, so that the economy can recover on its own. (emphasis added)

Good and Bad News from the Fed "...you can make an argument that the declining ability of stimulus to move the needle is a sign that inefficiencies are beginning to accumulate and that the economy has some deeper issues that conventional policy measures aren’t reaching."  
The American Interest

Bernanke Sucker-Punches Romney Campaign "The Fed's $40 billion-per-month of "quantitative easing" could kick off inflation, led by rising prices in the energy sector -- exacerbated in no small part by Obama's unwillingness to approve the Keystone pipeline, approve domestic drilling, or impose order on the Middle East.  
"But Obama will have his second term to finish "transforming" America, and Bernanke will get his reappointment.
"The country will be in very, very deep trouble.
"No matter.
"They'll just blame Bush."

Obama's War on Middle Class: Median Income Lowest Since 1995

‘Whose Democratic Party?’

New ad questions Obama's relationship with Israel
In the coming days, the Emergency Committee for Israel, a pro-Israel advocacy organization, will release an ad entitled, “Whose Democratic Party?”

"The spot, which will air during Sunday’s football game between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders in what is being described as a “significant ad buy,” accuses Obama of leading his party to weaken the U.S.-Israel alliance."

Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For

ABC News "The White House announced today it planned to expand a program to secure and destroy Libya's huge stockpile of dangerous surface-to-air missiles, following an ABC News report that large numbers of them continue to be stolen from unguarded military warehouses."
....The ease with which rebels and other unknown parties have snatched thousands of the missiles has raised alarms that the weapons could end up in the hands of al Qaeda, which is active in Libya.

Today in 1942; the Battle of Stalingrad begins

HistoryLearningSite.co.uk  "The Battle of Stalingrad is considered by many historians to have been the turning point in World War Two in Europe. The battle at Stalingrad bled the German army dry in Russia and after this defeat, the Germany Army was in full retreat. One of the ironies of the war, is that the German Sixth Army need not have got entangled in Stalingrad. Army Groups A and B were well on their way to the Caucasus in south-west Russia, when Hitler ordered an attack on Stalingrad. From a strategic point of view it would have been unwise to have left a major city unconquered in your rear as you advanced. However, some historians believe that Hitler ordered the taking of Stalingrad simply because of the name of the city and Hitler's hatred of Joseph Stalin. For the same reason Stalin ordered that the city had to be saved."

Maps of the battle          

Battle of Stalingrad  "Various scholars have estimated the Axis suffered from 500,000 to 850,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured) among all branches of the German armed forces and its allies, many of them POWs who died in Soviet captivity between 1943 and 1955. Of the 91,000 German POWs taken at Stalingrad, 27,000 died within weeks^:and only 5-6,000 returned to Germany by 1955. The remainder of the POWs died in Soviet captivity.

"On 2 February 1943, the resistance of all Axis troops in Stalingrad ceased. Out of the 91,000 prisoners taken by the Soviets, 3,000 were Romanian. These were the survivors of the 20th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division and "Colonel Voicu" Detachement.

"According to archival figures, the Red Army suffered a total of 1,129,619 total casualties; 478,741 men killed or missing and 650,878 wounded. These numbers are for the whole Stalingrad area; in the city itself 750,000 were killed, captured, or wounded."

Do you know who this is?

Long-time readers of the Tunnel Wall may remember. Write your guess in the comments link below.

Going to Mars; from launch to landing!

THIS IS A CLASSIC; GREAT ANIMATION

Made in the USA

Hat tip to Jack Hamner, Tunnel Dweller's former supervisor at Atlas Space Launch Complex, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA