Tuesday, November 13, 2012

ABC Reporter to Jay Carney: ‘Utterly Bizarre’ to Think White House Learned of Petraeus Scandal Day After Election

The Blaze via Noisy Room "During the daily White House press briefing on Tuesday, ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl told White House Press Secretary Jay Carney that it seems “utterly bizarre” that President Barack Obama and his administration first became aware of the David Petraeus scandal the day after the election." (Video at  the link)
Carney tap-danced and passed it off to the FBI, but Karl pressed again:

“But you do you understand how people would find this utterly bizarre?” the reporter pressed. “The day after election? And the anger that you are hearing on Capitol Hill that this was going on…at least the timing, the appearance.”
So that's when Carney pulled the old Ted Kennedy side step, saying how busy the President was working on the economy and seeing that people get back to work and blahdy, blahdy blah.
Gawker flow chart

Carney: Obama “wasn’t pleased” with Petraeus scandal when he found out, just after the election  "That’s their story and they’re stickin’ to it, I suppose." Hot Air.

Sense of Events attempts to lay out the scenario for us to grasp (printed here in the original form without corrections): 
...."Okay, let me try to walk this dog:"
•Petraeus and Paul Broadwell have an affair, supposedly breaking it off about three months ago.
•The communicated covertly with each other by using a Google Gmail account set up for just that purpose, using the same logon to write emails to one another but never sending them, which would leave an electronic trail. Instead, they save them as drafts and then read them unsent.
•Broadwell decided that Kelley is trying to muscle in on her man and sends Kelley some (vaguely) threatening emails, stupidly using the special Gmail account, thus laying down electronic breadcrumbs.
•Kelley, not knowing who sent the emails (which in fact are pretty innocuous) happens to have a personal relationship with and FBI agent in town. She shows him the emails and,
•He springs into action and opens an investigation! Why? Not because there is anything actually criminally actionable in the emails but because he wants to have an affair with Kelley! How do we know? Because his superiors yanked him off the investigation for sending Kelley topless photos of himself.
•Nonetheless, the investigation goes forward because, well, that's what investigations do. The FBI cracks the secret Gmail account and discovers at least some of the emails between Petraeus and Broadwell. But, as the FBI has explained, they did not uncover evidence that Petraeus himself had done anything illegal. Nor for that matter, has any such evidence been uncovered against Broadwell, at least so far. And yet, only last night did the FBI get around to searching Broadwell's residence.
•Apparently, Gen. Allen was roped into the investigation because the FBI was reviewing Kelley's emails, too, and discovered a reference to the Broadwell emails in an email she had sent to Allen.
" The senior defense official said the voluminous collection of e-mails sent between Allen and Kelley occurred between 2010 and this year but did not give details. The official also declined to say whether Allen sent or received any of the messages from his military or government e-mail accounts, or if classified material was compromised."
Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

The spiritual conflict that comes with blogging at the Tunnel Wall

I just entered this comment on the Facebook page, "Conservatives Who Hate Liberals". ( I did not make an active link to this page. If you want to go there, find it yourself)
I have to say that I completely reject the premise of that photo on this page showing a gun on a Bible. I do have anger, but not the kind the photo implies. My anger at the left is at odds with the Savior I worship.
We become like that which we worship and my trust in His sovereignty conflicts with the resentment I feel toward the demagoguery and character assassination the left practices. It is just so hard to do nothing while people who speak out against what Obamites are doing to this nation are villified and mocked. Especially when the Obama supporters issued threats to riot and burn if Obama lost.    
If Obama will not speak out against these people, it is left to us. The Tunnel Dweller

What happens when clueless voters select our government

"Union of Concerned Scientists predicts 18 percent of coal-fired power will close down rather than upgrade pollution equipment."  (More on this at Heritage.)

Exactly as Obama said he would do. Remember how many on the left were turning against him a few months ago? It wasn't because they decided that Obama's socialism wasn't a good thing; its just that he wasn't far left enough for them. I am sure the left will be much more pleased with Obama this next four years as he dismantles America's prosperity and greatness.

But at least they got their 'Bamaphones.  TD

ObamaCare; elections have consequences

While the left cheers the Obama win for reasons no more substantial than a Super Bowl win, other, more serious people are seeing the price this nation and its economy must pay.

Neal Boortz; Proggies Shocked by ObamaCare Fallout  "The liberals seem shocked. They took to Twitter to demonize these business owners, and pushing for others to boycott their businesses. Hey you proggies and liberals – Can’t say you weren’t warned! Business owners have been out there telling you exactly what you had coming to you if Obama was re-elected and ObamaCare became the law of the land. Just because you chose not to listen to those warnings doesn’t make it my problem!" More Boortz here:

Already In The Pipeline  "You can’t say I didn’t warn you.  I told you what we could expect from a second term of Barack Obama, emboldened by Democrats in Congress.  It hasn’t taken but a few days for many of these things to already be in the pipeline."
Boortz covers a list of Obama plagues including:
Tax increases, wealth tax, the Second Amendment, Cap-and-Trade
And then finishes with this ominous comment:
"Russia’s Flexibility  Russia is already flexing its muscles. Just two days after the election, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister goes and tells an international conference that he hopes Obama is mindful of his promise to give Russia “flexibility,” particularly on the issue of the US missile defense shield."

Obama and the cult of personality  "The president’s reelection is not evidence of a new liberal America, but rather of the illogical and confused experience that is infatuation. For multiple reasons, Americans continue to have a crush on Barack Obama even after his universally panned first term." 

An Expatriate Brit Despairs for America’s Future  "Maybe it takes someone born in leftist Europe, someone who has lived at the end of the path to which the United States is headed, to fully appreciate what happened Tuesday. While many Americans understand that we punched a ticket Tuesday on the road to Socialism, perhaps only a European who has embraced this country can fully feel it in his bones." ....
But, consider this: A president of the United States just ran a reelection campaign based on the promise of government largess, exploitation of class division, the demonization of success, the glorification of identity politics, and the presumption that women are a helpless interest group; and he did so while steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the looming — potentially fatal — crisis that the country faces. And it worked.  White House Dossier
Just wanted to be sure you saw that quote.

Foodstamps Surge to All Time High  "The Obama administration has finally released its report on the number of Americans receiving food stamps. This report was released days after the 2012 election, nine days past its traditional release date. The numbers show that Americans on food stamps is at an all time high. Worse, the report shows the highest one month jump ever recorded."

What's Next for Marriage After Tuesday's Vote?  "Supporters of traditional marriage lost big on Election Day, with four states redefining marriage to include same-sex couples. Marriage defenders acknowledge they have serious work to do on several fronts going forward, even as the nation must now begin to consider the question of polygamy.
"Washington State and Maine redefined marriage in their states to include two-man and two-woman couples."

House Democrats push for extension of jobless benefits  Who can compete with Santa Claus in the land of spoiled children?

The ‘Regulatory Cliff’  Regulatory reform has become more urgent than ever. "Among the outgoing Senate’s graveyard of stalled budgets, authorizations, and other urgent measures are some 36 regulatory-reform bills passed by the House with bipartisan support. These bills are needed to rein in a regulatory spree that is crushing business activity and unnerving investors. They deserve first priority in the new Senate — but the newly elected body, with two fewer GOP members than its predecessor had, is likely not interested."

November 7, 2012: Obama's Unluckiest Day?  "The president bought the next four years at a great cost. "
"But now he will reap what he sowed. His pretense of being a uniter, someone who can reach across the aisle and work together to solve pressing problems, lies in ruins. Whatever reservoir of goodwill and trust that existed in January 2009 is now bone dry.

"So, yes, he won. But it will almost certainly be a Pyrrhic victory. He chose to divide the country deeply to win his second term. He will find that the nation he will again lead is not governable by him, and he may have tipped it to where it is not governable by anyone."

Losing Iraq

Critical Threats. org  "The U.S. has withdrawn its military forces — keeping the president’s campaign promise, as the White House constantly reiterates. But what kind of Iraq have we left behind?
"Is Iraq an effective ally in the struggle against regional terrorist groups? Counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S. against al-Qaeda in Iraq has fallen off dramatically, while AQI’s ability to conduct spectacular terrorist attacks within Iraq has been growing since the departure of American troops."....
 "The resurrection of al-Qaeda in Iraq is a consequence of America’s failure to negotiate a long-term military partnership of the kind that was envisioned when the Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed in 2008. U.S. enablers — combat troops in small numbers combined with the precision-strike capabilities of American aircraft and special forces — could have continued, in cooperation with Iraqi security forces, to keep the pressure on AQI."....
"This failure may have resulted from a lack of desire on the part of the Obama administration to keep sufficient troops in Iraq, from its inability to make a deal, from its unreasonable demands, from Iraqi intransigence, or from all of the above. From a strategic and national-security standpoint, the only thing that matters is that by failing to secure a new agreement, the U.S. failed profoundly to secure its hard-won gains. Even more important, it failed to secure its interests."
Obama cut and ran, bragging about it all the while.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Norman Podhoretz Asks, Is America Exceptional?

Imprimus  ...."In spite of all this, the liberal community seems to think that the rest of the world would be better off without the United States, or at least with it following the policy of “leading from behind.” Admittedly there are paleoconservatives like Pat Buchanan and libertarians like Ron Paul who agree on this point, but most conservatives do not believe that a radical diminution of American power and influence would be good for us or for the world.

"Shortly before the election of 2008, then-candidate Obama declared that his election would usher in “a fundamental transformation of America.” The desirability of such a transformation—which would entail the wiping away of as many more traces of American exceptionalism as it will take to turn this country into a facsimile of the social-democratic regimes of western Europe—is the issue at the heart of our politics today. And in the long run, I hope and trust, Americans will reject such a transformation, and elect instead to return to the principles that have made this nation so exceptional—yes, exceptional—a force for good both at home and abroad.  Hillsdale College

Does America seem like the child of divorced parents who compete for his affection? The spendthrift parent will always come out on top

Moody’s: Obama will approve Keystone XL pipeline

The Hill  "“We believe the White House will reverse course and approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would ship crude from Canada’s western oil sands to the Gulf Coast,” the ratings agency said in a wide-ranging report Monday on the implications of the elections.
"However, the Moody's Investors Service report adds: “[A]pproval will not be quick. A prolonged permitting process risks missing the very oil price boom that inspired Keystone XL in the first place. Still, even if Keystone XL went into operation in 2015 or 2016, Gulf Coast refining and marketing companies would benefit from wider light/heavy crude price differentials.” "



Dead Quiet on Benghazi

Hope n' Change
"CIA Director, General David Petraeus, previously said to be "looking forward to testifying," won't be there because - almost magically - the FBI has discovered that he was having an extramarital affair with the authorette of his biography (the title of which, "All In," has taken on an entirely new meaning). "....
"Hillary Clinton, who had previously "taken responsibility" by saying she'd find out who was responsible, has decided not to testify owing to an unavoidable scheduling conflict in Australia...."

Obama Let Benghazi 4 Die, Rather than Defy Libyan Authorities  "FOX News continues to do invaluable work by investigating Benghazigate and Jennifer Griffin and Adam Housley have a new article which raises serious questions about the so-called “Timeline” as well as continuing to pursue the question of why the Benghazi were allowed to die by the Obama Administration. "Now Obama had no problem bombing and invading Libya to prevent a fake massacre in Benghazi whose existence he lied about in a speech to the American people. But he did have a problem sending troops into Libya to prevent an actual massacre of Americans...."

Al-Qaeda on the march

Jennifer Rubin  "What will Obama and his new secretary of state do about this? In the rush to push Benghazi off the front pages and out of oversight hearings we risk ignoring a region-wide phenomenon. The administration did not recognize the jihadist gains in Libya and risks finding itself similarly unprepared in Mali, Syria, the Western Sahara, Yemen and elsewhere. The administration desperately needs to stop avoiding conflicts, stop concealing misjudgment and focus on how to stem the rising tide of al-Qaeda. Without an election perhaps the president will finally get down to business."




Obamawatch: What will our government do TO us next?

Here is a bit of the price we pay here at home and abroad for letting numbskulls vote:
CNS News; 6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days--Average 68 per Day
"CEI expects the EPA to move ahead on delayed rules on everything from greenhouse gas emissions to ozone standards. “Rules from the health care bill and the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill will also likely make themselves known in the weeks to come," the group said on its website."

Elections Have Consequences (a continuing series)
Among the commandments of life under the Obama administration: thou shalt not speak ill of Obamacare. Papa John's CEO John Schnatter was hammered with Twitter abuse after informing shareholders and franchisees in August that implementing Obamacare would necessarily increase costs of running the business. Applebee's is under the gun today after Zane Tankel, a franchisee whose company runs 40 New York-area restaurants, told Fox Business Network that a hiring freeze might be in the works.
Political Cartoons by Eric Allie
Israel: 'We can expect the US to abandon us'  "There is one prophetic voice in Israel who understood this right away. Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post described Obama's "pro-jihadist foreign policy" accurately and fearlessly." Glick also stated,
No one said any of this will be easy. But difficult is not the same as impossible. Within a year, the consequences of Obama's failed domestic and foreign policies will make him weaker rather than stronger than he was in his first term. He will be hard pressed to pressure Israel when the US loses its leadership role in the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Middle East. And Israel's independence of action will consequently grow.
Our side suffered a massive loss on Tuesday.
Case in point: Mahmoud Abbas tells President Barack Obama he'll defy U.S - Hamas: No Compromises With Israel on Anything, Ever

Boeing leads the charge in post- election layoff announcements   ...."The business owner stated to KXNT radio that “elections have consequences” and that “at the end of the day, I need to survive.”

"On Friday, an additional 21 businesses said they would be laying off employees to curb costs and expected tax hikes to businesses.
"Some of the companies announcing layoffs include: Smith & Nephew - 770; Abbott Labs - 700; Covidien - 595; Kinetic Concepts - 427; St. Jude Medical - 300; Hill Rom - 200; Welch Allyn - 275; Stryker - 1,170; Boston Scientific - between 1,200 and 1,400; and Medtronic - 1,000 layoffs."
 Via Lucianne, as well as this next one:.

Obama keeps job; others lose theirs  "Mr. Murray, who expects the U.S. coal industry to go out of business by 2030, said he was putting his company into “survival mode.” The Ohio-based coal company is laying off 102 employees at Utah American Energy and 54 people at American Coal, both subsidiaries"
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

Clueless Obama Voters And What to Do About Them

Conservative Daily News

"In the video above, we see college students lined up to vote for Obama without a single freaking clue about some of the basic tenets of American government. When all you know is that we are a “democracy,” and majority rules, then you are more likely to support slick demagogues like Obama who promise free stuff, trample on private property rights, and act like vengeful dictators."
...."Want to live in the black-and-white era of American politics, believing we can beat the other side with newspaper editorial-type posts filled with “facts” and “figures” and “logic”? You’re probably going to be sorely disappointed by the lack of results.
"Want more evidence? Here you go.
"Obama voters slam Mitt Romney, while supporting his policy proposals; and they hammer the policies of “Mitt Romney,” which actually belong to Obama."