Rebane's Ruminations
May 2013
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George Rebane

The flowering Obamagate scandals are simply “controversies” as National Propaganda Radio spent a great deal of time this morning assuring its audience.  Nothing special here, the President always comes out to the formally prepared East Room in the evenings to remark on little kerfuffles or differences of opinion.  Everyone go back to sleep.


LymanGilmoreOverflightPioneer aviator Lyman Gilmore was celebrated yesterday
at the school of his name.  There was a big ceremony for students and speakers to recognize Nevada County’s contribution to early aviation.  The event included an organized overflight by a large group of local aviators, some of  them with national reputations.  The flight was comprised of 18 private aircraft led by Jim Booth in his now familiar yellow AT-6 warbird followed in close formation by three members of the Ryder Flight.  Getting all those airplanes in the air, oriented and lined up, and then back on the ground on a very windy day was a grand feat of organization and heads up piloting by all participants – H/T to our own Bob Hobert (Ryder Flight leader and RR reader, who also sent me the pic) for organizing and getting everyone briefed and debriefed.  I was happy to be invited by Jim to again fly in the rear seat of the T-6.

“Untruth” versus lie.  The media, led by Fox News, seems to have some problem with those terms.  Even the conservative Dr Charles Krauthammer (around our house known as ‘The Bonze’), their most noble of nationally syndicated commentators, dripping with gravitas, can’t bring himself to call a lie a lie – well, he did once last night.  On the air politicians aren’t lying, they’re telling “untruths”.  For us with simpler minds, an untruth is any statement that is not true independent of the intent behind its utterance – misreading a clock and then falsely reporting the time is an untruth.  A lie is a known untruth told with intent to deceive.  Most politicians are inveterate liars, it’s part of the job requirements – let’s call a spade a spade when their lies are obvious to the whole country.

Rosa Koire will present an update on Agenda21, and how this UN inititiative has been making progress ‘Behind the Green Mask’.  Here’s the info –

When:  Tuesday May 21, 2013, 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Grass Valley Veterans Hall, 225 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley
Admission: $20 at the door; $15 in advance
Advance tickets: BriarPatch Co-op, online at http://www.cabpro.net (special events tab) or by calling CABPRO (530) 478-1331

Those of us a bit paranoid about government training guns on its own citizens (aka us), should keep their eye peeled on the first steps that our military has now taken in this direction.  Obama’s Pentagon has “unilaterally” granted itself powers to aid local law enforcement agencies to curb “civil disturbances” by changing some wording in the US Code covering ‘Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies’ (more here).

[update]  New  speech codes will be sweeping the nation starting with the college campuses and the revision of what consists of sexually harrassing speech.  This will not stop with either the campuses or sexual harrassment.  All the while our astute progressives are protesting, ‘What new regulations? there’re no more new regulations.  And let’s talk about Bush instead.’  Obama’s fundamental transformation is on a roll.  (more here).

[18may13 update]  Well, it looks like it’s CYA time in embassy land, at least in the mid-eastern part of the world.  Now that everyone’s attention is on the Benghazi debacle, tragedy, and cover-up, no ambassador in that part of the world is going to be left behind in alerting the mother temple (aka Foggy Bottom) that threats to their embassies and consulates are increasing.  (more here)  For sure Kerry is not going to hang on to Hillary’s hand as he helps Obama throw her under the bus.  So we are sure to see some visible muscle deployed closer to where the action is anticipated.  And playing his cards right, maybe ol’ John can emerge out of all this as the new, improved, and heroic hopeful for 2016.  Crazier things have happened.

Posted in , , , , ,

128 responses to “Ruminations – 16may13 (updated 18may13)”

  1. Russ Steele Avatar

    In 1907 Lyman Gilmore , an inventor and aviation pioneer established an aircraft design works in Nevada County. Gilmore turned down a $50,000 offer by Charlie Hill, a Carmichael banker, and six other wealthy valley investors, to move his Iowa Hill aircraft development facility to Sacramento and build an airfield. Instead he chose to move his aviation design works to Grass Valley, building the country’s first commercial airport.
    As an Iowa Hill mine owner, Gilmore had connections to the Grass Valley mining community. Local mine owners offered to finance his aircraft projects. They had visions of flying their gold directly to the San Francisco Mint. Also, Gilmore looked for a location with only few foggy days, which could impact his flying operations.
    Gilmore also invented the rotary snow plow for rail operations. Union Pacific Railroad can to see the invention, brought there engineers, took some measurements and when home and built their own version, with out any recognition of Gilmore’s invention.
    He certainly deserved the flyover, recognizing his accomplishments. The North Star Museum had a display some of Gilmore’s aircraft designs. It has been a while since I have visited, I hope the drawings are still there.

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  2. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Careful George, the term “call a spade a spade” was chastised by a black race hustler as racist! The resident sympathizewrs with Jesse and Al will come after you. LOL!
    Obama has changed Truman’s plaque from “The buck sps here” to the “buck stops at underlings cuzz I never was told”. Nixon’s “plausible deniability” strategy has been taken to a new level.
    Posse Comitatus, http://www.ask.com/dictionary?q=posse+comitatus&qsrc=8, was a unique US dictum. I recall fighting the deputation of almost every person the government was trying to deem a “peace officer”. We knew it was one step closer to tyranny. Now it appears we lost.
    Damn John Roberts decision to make Obamacare a tax!

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  3. Paul Emery Avatar

    What seems to be shaking out in the AP phone scandal is that the likely justification is the Patriot Act which gives sweeping powers to the Executive Branch in the pursuit of national security. I’ll have more later as it comes out.

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  4. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 644pm – Hope you’re right Paul. It would be good to find out the excesses of the Patriot Act early and often.

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  5. Paul Emery Avatar

    We’ll see what happens. They’ll be looking for a National Security justification and speculation is that’s the way it will go. Yes, I never supported the PA from the start.

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  6. Joe Koyote Avatar
    Joe Koyote

    CBS is saying that Republicans altered transcripts of the White House Benghazi emails to make things look worse than they really were and then “leaked” the altered transcripts to the press last Friday. The version leaked to the press differed from the official version released by the White House, and differed from a version the Republicans released to the press earlier this month.

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  7. George Rebane Avatar

    JoeK 737pm – That sounds like both bad and dumb. Could you please keep us updated on this development? Thanks.

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  8. MikeL Avatar
    MikeL

    Rosa Korie is awesome. I saw her speak at one of the IRS victimized Tea Party meetings.

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  9. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Wow, skullduggery in the White House. Who woulda thunk it? I gotta tell ya, getting worked up about Obama is just as stupid as getting worked up about Rush. It has no value.
    Sorry guys, these three “scandals” don’t even rise to the level of the fake Vince Foster nonsense. Whenever I watch TV or listen to the radio recently to get the “Washington D.C. political beat,” it increasingly reminds me Two Girls, One Cup.
    The increasing power of the Executive Branch, which has been a growing cancer in the three branches since WWII, has now metastasized into the whole of the body politic.
    The coming unfortunate result will be a 10-mile crater where Washington D.C. used to be, as predicted in the book “Friendly Fascism.” ISBN 0-87131-317-0
    In the meantime, rather than indulge irrational predilections about Barack Obama, I choose to coach Little League Baseball, and help young men grasp the concept that losing two-thirds of the time is actually a pretty good average. That’s where the future is, I guarantee it.

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  10. George Rebane Avatar

    MichaelA 853pm – With all due respect, I wish you the best in that pursuit. There might as well be some of us who get to enjoy what is left. We all would look forward to a report now and then on how that happy cohort of yours is doing. Maybe soon we’ll all start joining it one by one. BTW, what do you guys call yourselves so we can talk about your approach to blissful indifference without having to describe it over and over again?

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  11. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    O Boy! -“CBS is saying that Republicans altered transcripts of the White House Benghazi emails to make things look worse than they really were and then “leaked” the altered transcripts to the press last Friday. The version leaked to the press differed from the official version released by the White House, and differed from a version the Republicans released to the press earlier this month.”
    The Rs made Obama look worse? That’s incredible! Oblabber is doing a bang up job doing himself in. He says it’s terrorists and then he says it’s a spontaneous demonstration before switching back to calling it terrorism before calling it a demonstration. All the while saying nobody knew anything. Which day did he say it was what? Well, that depends on which day you ask him. I love the partial email dump. 2 days are missing ala the missing minutes of Nixon’s tape recordings. It echos perfectly the partial tape release by Nixon. And Holder is priceless! He is quite sure he recused himself before the DOJ did the naughty even though he doesn’t remember when he recused himself and has no proof of any kind that he did recuse himself ever and he he certainly can’t being part of anything bad even though he says nothing bad ever happened. This is Watergate all over again. Nixon and his patsies were idiots and Oblabber’s fools are falling right into line. “We have nothing to hide” from the admin that will fight a special prosecutor being appointed to the mat.

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  12. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    George asked: “BTW, what do you guys call yourselves so we can talk about your approach to blissful indifference without having to describe it over and over again?”
    Answer: Baseball players.

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  13. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Sorry to be dense and verbose at the same time: the Giants tonight played against the Colorado Rockies, who they have dominated for no good reason in the last 15 games spanning 2 seasons, and we down 6 – 0 by the fourth inning. They went on to win 8 – 6 by the end of the night. This is what I am talking about.

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  14. Paul Emery Avatar

    Scott
    You failed, in your historical survey , to mention the millions of missing Bush emails some of which were requested in the Valery Plame inquiry by Special Investigator Fitzgerald.
    http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/06/new-documents-confirm-cheneys-office-lost-plame-emails

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  15. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Scott,
    You must be high on NSJ chronic if you think any administration is willingly forthright with the people. Everything is calculated and triangulated towards the next election cycle. Winning elections trumps governing a vast majority of the time.

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  16. George Rebane Avatar

    MichaelA 1106pm – aren’t you painting all baseball players with too broad of a brush here; they can’t all be blissfully indifferent can they?

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  17. TheMikeyMcD Avatar
    TheMikeyMcD

    George, I was at Lyman Gilmore (alma mater) with my daughter’s class for the flyover. Cool event.

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  18. TheMikeyMcD Avatar
    TheMikeyMcD

    Watching/listening to the IRS scandal… this is HUGE. Commissioner should be jailed for life as should anyone else that was hiding this tyranical evil. ADMITTED targets were Christians, Pro-life, Patriots, Tea Party…
    I wish I was surprised by the IRS being evil.

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  19. Joe Koyote Avatar
    Joe Koyote

    Example of the altered emails: Republican version of email quote from National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes: “”We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation.”
    White House and Republican interim report version: “We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation.”
    Quote from State Dept. spokesperson Victoria Nuland: altered version “The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities of al-Qaeda.”
    White House and Republican interim report version: “The penultimate point could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings.”
    CNN also ran a story on Tuesday noting discrepancies between the actual emails and what was reported by the media.
    Once again the media opts for sensationalism over truth and fiction over fact.

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  20. Walt Avatar

    All we have heard out of these hearings from the LIBS
    is ” I don’t know,,, it wasn’t me,, Uh,, I don’t recall,,
    I was the other guy, I had nothing to do with it, I didn’t hear about it,
    it’s news to me….”
    With ALL the info that is now public knowledge, Progressives still
    refuse to hold their own accountable. The wagon circle gets tighter and tighter. Now to protect “O” and Co. at all costs.

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  21. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    So Joe Coyote, let me understand this email thing. The IRS and the White House have released them and you claim the R’s highjacked them, altered them and then released them?
    OK, yep, I have this bridge in Arizona….

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  22. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    from Ben – “You must be high on NSJ chronic if you think any administration is willingly forthright with the people. Everything is calculated and triangulated towards the next election cycle. Winning elections trumps governing a vast majority of the time.”
    Wrong again, Ben. I never said or inferred that. I have been quite aware of the duplicity of admins going back to Johnson. I’m afraid I was a little young to get upset over Kennedy. The press covered for him so well that it was hard for anyone to know what he was up to anyway.
    It’s just that I’m not into whipping dead horses. Obama and his admin are as lawless as can be imagined. And it’s the one in power right now. The abuses at the IRS (they have now admitted they targeted right wing groups) are a total outrage. Are they the first? Of course not, but they are right in front of us. They have admitted it. Jail terms are in order although I won’t hold my breath. This needs to stop. Instead, these folks are going to be the gate keepers for our health care system. Just blaming Bush is so childish and idiotic I can’t believe it. We can name and blame all kinds of admins going back decades but it doesn’t get us anywhere.
    Nixon had to leave office in disgrace and his henchmen went to prison. At least then we had some justice. Good luck with that now.

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  23. George Rebane Avatar

    ScottO 203pm – “whipping dead horses” is a good label to use for referring to the response we get from our progressive brethren every time we discuss another foible or felony of the present administration. I’ve never been able to figure out whether laying a few more stripes on another dead horse is an indication that Obama’s administration deserves all the slack we can give it because their derelictions and deviant behaviors are just retribution for past Republican sins, or something more sophisticated.

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  24. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    George 0847am – Sure they can. It’s all about the World Series ring, right? Well, now that you mention it, maybe that knuckleballer in Toronto, the one who wrote the book…

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  25. Walt Avatar

    For those that still believe the words that came out of “O”‘s mouth,
    that the first he heard about the IRS working “Gestapo style”,
    There are more than plenty of videos where “O” and other Dems
    wanting ” investigations” of Conservative groups. The evidence is there in living color.
    In other words,, ” There is plenty of There,, there.”
    Even “O”‘s own ” Bagdad Bob” can’t help him weasel and smile his way
    out of this grand slam of scandals.
    Bengasi,, two full days of missing emails yet to be turned over.
    IRS,, The dude was already getting ready to leave before being the fall guy.
    But we DO know just which LIB was in charge, who has since been given a raise and a new job within the IRS. She’s the new “Obama girl” in charge of
    the unaffordable care law. ( BTW the IRS has most of the medical records from the entire state of Ca.)
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgottlieb/2013/05/15/the-irs-raids-60-million-personal-medical-records/
    Her days in that post are now VARY numbered ( I hope)
    DOJ VS the press,,, Some LIB news will let it slide, but not all.
    For those that think the attack on conservative groups was just fine,
    wait till the Conservatives come back to power. I can name more than a few
    LIB non profits that could use a god looking into. ( watch how fast THEY would cry foul)
    And all of this was kept quiet so “O” would win re election. Well,,, it worked. Now they all can suffer the consciences.

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  26. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Lindsey Graham is trying hard to walk that tough on terror line and it is scary. Luckily Angus King used his time wisely. Endless war with unlimited power was brought to us by the Bush administration and the Republican controlled congress along with many establishment Democrats.
    http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/5/16/video_from_boston_to_pakistan_pentagon_officials_claim_entire_world_is_a_battlefield

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  27. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Scott and George,
    I think Obama should be impeached and tried for war crimes, how is that for progressive point of view. Your characterization of progressives is so far off base it is unbelievable. I would say if polled true progressives (D’s aren’t progressive) would give less than a 15% approval rating of the Obama administrations.

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  28. Paul Emery Avatar

    Agreed Ben
    Drone strikes are enough for me to take that stance. It’s a joke to put Obama in the Progressive camp. Last Year Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich teamed up to oppose drones in the House but were drowned out by the Republicrats and phoney Conservatives who teamed up with the Obama gang to squash the effort. They wrote
    “Thus far, the administration has refused to release the memo or any documents, despite multiple requests from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Intelligence operations that have virtually no transparency, accountability or oversight raise serious legal questions, particularly when such programs may constitute possible violations of international law or the Constitution of the United States,”
    In my view challenging the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere and calling to light their indiscriminate nature is vital to prevent a dangerous precedent from being set that would allow international law and the laws of war to be stretched to justify strikes elsewhere. The legal justification for their use in Pakistan has be used to justify their use in other countries. Under this legal framework, the battlefield could be stretched to include anywhere in the world. Anywhere.

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  29. George Rebane Avatar

    BenE 819pm – Thanks for the accolade Ben, but I think the louder voices (and perhaps also primal) designating Obama as progressive have been the American lamestream, and most certainly the European press. But you’re probably right that progressives may also come in several hues, one of them being your “true progressive”.

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  30. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    So Ben, what is my characterization of a ‘progressive’?
    “Endless war with unlimited power was brought to us by the Bush administration and the Republican controlled congress along with many establishment Democrats.”
    You must have a lot of fun making up nonsense like that – reality just too complicated for you? I’m curious as to why the lefties that post here are so bent on taking everything to the extreme? Bush did not have ‘unlimited’ power and you know it. Please name the endless war of which you speak.

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  31. Paul Emery Avatar

    Scott
    Endless Bush War? This view is from none other than Pat Buchanan
    “The invasion of Iraq has reaped a harvest of hatred in the Arab world, cost us 10,000 dead and wounded and $200 billion, and created a new training ground and haven for terrorists to replace the one we cleaned out in Afghanistan.
    In declaring it to be America’s mission in the world to end tyranny on earth, President Bush is launching a crusade even more ambitious and utopian than was Wilson’s. His crusade, too, will end, as Wilson’s did, in disillusionment for him and tragedy for his country.”
    http://www.humanevents.com/2013/02/08/buchanan-endless-war/

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  32. Joe Koyote Avatar
    Joe Koyote

    Todd: 12:37 –Can you read? This has nothing to do with the IRS and I am not claiming anything. I am just reporting the news. It is CBS, CNN, and other news outlets that are making the claims about altered email transcripts, not me. You can find the same information if you care to look. Whether you want to believe it or not is a different story, but the facts are the facts and so far the facts are that the Republicans issued an interim report on Behghazi in April in which the transcripts matched those released by the White House to the public earlier this week. However, last Friday copies of the supposed transcripts leaked to the press by Republican operatives did not match those released by the White House or those in the April Congressional interim report on Benghazi, suggesting that Republicans had the correct information and purposely altered some of the contents in an effort to cast negativity on Hillary Clinton’s bid for the Presidency. A simple case of lying for political gain, something the Republican party is very good at, creating alternative realities, most of which, based on your baseless comments, you seem to buy into lock, stock, and barrel.

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  33. Bill Tozer Avatar
    Bill Tozer

    Paul, The current tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is an excellent mirror of Woodrow Wilson’s thought process and view of the world. Wilson was downright hell bent on changing the Constitution into something that put the State above the Individual. Fascinating to study Wilson’s own words and deeds. Maybe Jimmy “the scientist” was more akin to Obama and Wilson in the recent Era. Carter’s campaign ads referred to Jimmy as a scientist, an odd term to describe farming, but I digress.
    Obama’s campaign ads originally hailed him as a community organizer. That he was. He is also the most lucky man ever to waltz in the White House I can think off. No years in the trenches building coalitions and campaigning effortlessly for others to become known and develop national name recognition.
    His run for the Senate only came about by his finding a technicality in the Democrat incumbent’s candidacy filing papers which he ruthlessly pursed to have the popular black Chicago woman ineligible for election. Not very nice and quite the opportunist. After less than 2 years as the freshman Senator from Illinois, he announced his candidacy for President of these 50 states and won. He had barely lifted his hand off the Bible during the swearing in ceremony and he was given the Nobel Peace Prize. Opps, he earned the Nobel Peace Prize along with other dignitaries such as Yasser Arafat for his life long struggle for peace.
    I think he was so swift to condemn the current IRS hanky-panky because even Mr Fairness himself thinks this whole IRS scandal was unfairly targeting the Tea Party. I will cut him some slack and say it violated his sense of fair play. Sure, it is political expediency to distance himself from such a blatant act by the IRS and fire someone ASAP to make it go away. Funny, Senator Max Bacus was on the floor calling for the IRS to investigate conservation non profits in 2010 along with 6 other Democrat Congresspersons and Senators.
    When Republican Senators started crying foul, the tactic was halted in 2011, only to reemerge again as the election approached. Of the 33 or so “Tea Party like” issue advocacy applications for non profit status, not one was granted 18 months later.
    The real crime is seeking and obtaining the donor lists from these applications and going after the donors with a vengeance. Harry Reid stands up on the Senate floor and says he heard from an unknown person (who must remain nameless of course) that Mitt Romney is a tax cheat. Suddenly it is taken as a given that Mitt was a criminal without one shred of proof. Romney commits felonies!!! Wonder who put that in Harry’s ear considering his own pressure he was putting on the IRS?
    An independent impartial evaluation of Romney’s tax returns show that he did not take every deduction he was entitled to and should have paid less taxes with better accountants.
    The issue is not Romney’s tax returns, although that is all the Dems talked about for weeks in the last election. No, the issue is political appointees running the IRS under the political appointee head of The Treasury, Timmy G, a true tax cheat…except Timmy was not singled out and pursued by the IRS. Boys, its just politics as usual. To the victor goes the spoils.

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  34. Paul Emery Avatar

    I agree Joe. The Benghazi flap is primarily a “get Hillary” preemptive move. The big issue is why haven’t they caught the perpetrators. Benghazi in actuality was more of a CIA facility with the cover of the State Department.
    According to a Wall Street Journal article published way back in November 2012, “The U.S. effort in Benghazi was at its heart a CIA operation, according to officials briefed on the intelligence. Of the more than 30 American officials evacuated from Benghazi following the deadly assault, only seven worked for the State Department. Nearly all the rest worked for the CIA, under diplomatic cover, which was a principal purpose of the consulate, these officials said.”
    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/how-can-we-understand-benghazi-without-probing-the-cias-role/275781/

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  35. Paul Emery Avatar

    More from the Atlantic story cited above
    ” I’ve got no objection to getting to the bottom of Benghazi. But so long as we all pretend that it’s a story about a diplomatic mission that was attacked, we’ll be missing part of the truth. And so long as Republicans continue to champion the White House’s prerogative to expand executive power to fight terrorism and invoke the state secrets privilege to obscure the true nature of its actions abroad, calls for “transparency” on Benghazi will be peculiar. I’m for transparency, but I want the whole story of Benghazi, including the CIA’s role in it. “

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  36. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    RE:Joe Koyote | 17 May 2013 at 11:18 PM
    Well Joe I went and looked at your sources and you are too funny. They are not mainstream allegations but phony baloney leftwingnuts making it up and dutifully reported by the lamestreams. You see, I was not born yesterday as you apparently were and I have seen this ropa-dope many times. The reason you used these reports is because you believe them and want to denigrate the issue by placing a “conspiracy” in to the mix. Well, you and PaulE believe there was a shooter on the grassy knoll too so all I can say is good luck in your alternate world. I am in the real one.

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  37. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    Paul,
    Here is my reply on a wall about the politics of Benghazi attacks.
    “Would you say that there are many many justifiable reasons for the attacks from the Muslim perspective? There is no “one” causation of this attack. I would put the attacks at the feet of the energy industry and the joints chiefs of staff for protecting energy industries interests. How did the US multinational corporate oil get under those Muslim nations soil?”
    Many embassies attacked during the Bush years before Benghazi
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/13-benghazis-that-occurre_b_3246847.html

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  38. George Rebane Avatar

    re BenE’s 1050am – I’ve been waiting for the ‘It was Big Oil’s fault’ banner to be hoisted – wait no more. Anybody but the man supposedly in charge.

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  39. Paul Emery Avatar

    Todd
    And you believe the Warren Commission that claims Oswald acted on his own. You are such a patriot. Yours is a minority belief by the way. AP-GfK Poll conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications.
    “Turning now to the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963: Do you think that one man was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy, or do you think that others were involved in a conspiracy?”
    .
    One man Others involved Unsure
    involved
    4/11-15/13 24 59 16

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  40. Paul Emery Avatar

    Whoops, it didn’t come out right
    Here it is
    Alone 24%
    Others Involved 59%
    unsure 16%

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  41. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    PaulE, you are too funny. A poll on a conspiracy theory. My you have become a cartoon.

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  42. Steve Frisch Avatar
    Steve Frisch

    Todd, you should allow at least a week to pass between someone showing the similarity between you and a cartoon on your web site and you using it as a retort on another one. It just shows what a limited capacity you have!

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  43. George Rebane Avatar

    Gentlemen – this thread really needs to get back to the deeper end of the pool.

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  44. Ben Emery Avatar
    Ben Emery

    George,
    I think Obama should be impeached for abuse of power and crimes against humanity. On this issue it is purely political and nothing else for the republicans.
    Have a read
    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/libya-consulate-embassy-attacks-obama-romney
    Although ignorant on many issues I believe you’re an intelligent person. So this statement “I’ve been waiting for the ‘It was Big Oil’s fault’ banner to be hoisted – wait no more. Anybody but the man supposedly in charge.” amazes me. George does the question “Why?” ever cross your mind for the nations we intervene while other nations are under at least if not more oppression? The pattern seems to be with strategic location to resources or resources themselves are in those nations. There are of course a handful where this isn’t true.

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  45. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Steve Frisch | 18 May 2013 at 12:20 PM
    Once again the usual suspects attack. What a hoot!

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  46. Paul Emery Avatar

    Todd
    Have you actually read the the Warren Commission Report and Trail of the Assassin by New Orleans DA Jim Garrison ? I’m just checking to see if you’ve done your homework on this. I’m not convinced about the Grassy Knoll theory but I don’t subscribe to the Warren Commission either.
    George, my credibility has been specifically attacked and I’m putting things in perspective. The understanding I now have that Benghazi was primarily a CIA outpost clarifies things for me. Your thoughts?

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  47. George Rebane Avatar

    BenE 106pm – with a little native smarts between the ears, and with a broad spectrum of comments from all the luminaries here, there may yet be some hope for me. You’ll no doubt be the judge of that.
    The Mother Jones piece was most interesting in that it didn’t mention the impact of Gulf1 on Islam’s jihadist enterprises. It also seemed to be ignorant of the defensive measures in place when the world was a lot more civilized, and what has been done since. We and the world sported much more open societies before, and open societies are always prone to ambushes by the first defector of the social contract that comes along. Basically, MJ presented another one of its typical stasist analyses.
    For one who doesn’t read well, you sure like to remind me again that the sun rises in the east. These pages are replete with acknowledging that our nation’s interests are not evenly or even ‘fairly’ distributed across the globe. Whatever gave you the idea that people think that way remains a puzzle, one of the ones the solution to which I am truly ignorant.

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  48. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Benghazi is about a CIA gun-running operation to the Syrian rebels (that ever-morphing stew of worthless and idiot young men who desire to shoot and be shot). Christopher Stevens knew exactly what was going on, and was willing to provide State Department cover. He wasn’t careful because he thought he was universally loved all throughout Libya, and he died because of his hubris. Yes, I’m blaming the victim.
    This reality is exactly why it was the CIA arms-merchant whores who were trimming the talking points to remove Al-Qaeda mentions.
    Susan Rice was just frosting. She’s a flippin’ nobody.
    Next issue, please. Continuing to talk about this silly issue just allows giant gasbags like Car Alarm Issa to continue spewing methane into our precious atmosphere.
    What to do in Syria? First, get the non-combatants out of the war zone. Then pour in the heavy weapons — free / no-charge / gratis! Also, very important: make sure that Bashar and his genocide players are not allowed to flee.
    Sure, there may be a toxic cloud of poisonous gasses lingering over the desert for a while, but it will disperse in good time.

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  49. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 119pm – Please don’t confuse your credibility with your best intentioned assessments.
    Yes, there have been a lot of reports that the Benghazi consulate was used in TBD ways to get surplus arms from the Libyan revolution to Syrian rebels. The US, of course, wanted Syrian republicans to get them, and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb wanted fellow ragheads to get them. Obama definitely could have handled that one in the open, instead of leading from under the haystack – ‘Oh what tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.’
    MichealA 142pm – Tempting Syria solution – ‘give ’em all guns and grenades, and stand back’. The solution needs to specify what we do with the responses by Israel, Russia, and Iran when such a sponsored free-for-all is initiated – how do we keep it isolated without massive boots on the ground?

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  50. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    George asked: “…how do we keep it isolated without massive boots on the ground?”
    The Jordanian border is the key. Drain Syria of non-combatants through Jordan, then lock up the border and throw away the key with UN troops.
    Russia is in a bad spot due to their inaction. I don’t think they’re willing to gin up a regional war just for a sea port. Maybe make a secret deal whereby they get control of Allepo during this Syrian Civil War, again delivered by UN troops.
    Iran can fire missiles, that’s about it. Their Revolutionary Guard boots in Syria will come unglued once all hell breaks loose. I think they’ll sit this one out once things get wiggy.
    Once all the young men in Syria have pretty much shot themselves out of existence, the question then becomes what next?
    Personally, I’d love to see the Arab League, led by leaders in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, and President Gull of Turkey, figure out a way to make Syria disappear. Every one of those countries could take a chunk, and these new regions could be enclaves for Shia, Sunni, Hezbollah, and other factions. Of course I am looking for a nonsecular parliamentarian-democratic type of gov’t for that region, perhaps based upon Lebanon’s current ability to balance all of this religious tension.
    But I admit that I am a dreamer.

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