wildfire, al-qaeda, and renaissance faire terrorists

Posted on June 18, 2013 by greg

The Black Forest wildfire is being described as the most destructive in Colorado’s history. Not the largest, not the most deadly–the most destructive. In Colorado, ‘destruction’ is apparently measured by the loss of property, not the loss of habitat or the loss of life (including animal life). Two people have been killed, more than 15,000 acres have been burned, nearly 500 homes have been destroyed–so far. Officials estimate the fire is only 65% contained. It’s still burning.

The most common cause of wildfire varies widely from region to region because of differences in climate, vegetation, topography, and weather patterns. In Colorado, for example, it’s estimated around two-thirds of the wildfires are caused by lightning, whereas lightning accounts for fewer than 5% of Michigan wildfires. Still, almost all wildfires in the continental United States are either naturally occurring events or are initiated through accidental/incidental human activities (like discarded cigarettes, sparks from equipment, power line arcs, and even residual coal seam fires).

On occasion, people deliberately start a wildfire. It’s pretty rare, but it happens. I mention this for a couple of reasons. First, there are indications that people caused the Black Forest fire. That doesn’t necessarily mean the fire was started intentionally; just that humans were the most likely source of origin. The other reason I mention this is because right wing conservative nutcases have decided this year’s wildfires are acts of terrorism.

Why do they think that? Well, for once there’s some small justification to their paranoia. There’s an online publication called Inspire, which is said to be published by al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula. About a year ago there was an article in Inspire entitled It Is of Your Freedom to Ignite a Firebomb. The article describes how to construct and ignite an ’ember bomb’ which, according to the magazine, would preferably set off in wooded middle class suburban areas, causing a wildfire that would destroy homes and businesses.

There’s nothing like the trace scent of Islamic terrorism to set the conspiracy-minded ‘patriots’ at FreeRepublic.com frothing at the mouth. Many of the site’s members belong to the school of thought that professes if an act possibly could be terrorism, then it absolutely must be terrorism — and President Obama must be behind it. Here are some actual quotes:

Just a small outcome of having an open-border society, with a welfare state (so that undocumented terrorists can get tax-payer funded cars, gas, matches, maps).

That is why the US Congress and Obama deliberately LEFT THE borders open.

Nobody in the commie media wants to even hint at this, yet we are bombarded by lowest-common-denominator PSAs on the radio quoting “Smokey Bear” who has said FOR YEARS that “nine out of ten wildfires are caused by humans.” But, no “news”casts ever claim this. Hmmmmm….

We should kill terrorists immediately and humiliate them whenever they threaten or do terrorist acts. Leave the average American citizen alone.

Granted, the Smokey Bear emphasis was on carelessness, not malice, however the point remains that, especially today, we have every reason to believe there are enemy agents behind some or even many of the wildfires.

Probably more of Obama’s al-queerda allies.

Have you noticed that local governments and Feds are not even speculating or mentioning anything about the cause of any fire anymore? Their silence is deafening and damning politically to the communist/Islamist rulers. This could be the mother of all covered-up scandals because of the physical damage of burning homes and killing citizens.

I believe it is the Occupy Wall Street (OWS). They travel with the Renaissance Festivals, and the fires start when they come to town and stop when they leave.

I’ve heard the terrorists are just very PATIENT and of course EVIL… and their desire to kill us is #1 priority. I believe they will be striking more often and soon – I feel the Storm coming.

All “news” are passed by the white hive to make sure a lot of people don’t know the collusion and/or incompetence is cleansed and responsibility is attributed to anyone but their ilk.

Is there any evidence that any forest fire in any part of the world has been started by one of these “ember bombs”? No, none. But the singular beauty of conspiracy theories is in their elasticity — their ability to stretch to fit any set of circumstance. They not only refuse to be bound by evidence, they often perceive the absence of evidence as evidence of a deliberate cover-up.

On the other hand, Inspire magazine also published an article entitled Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom. It described how to make an improvised explosive device out of a pressure cooker. So it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that somebody could start wildfires as an act of terrorism.

But here’s the thing about terrorism, and particularly political and religious terrorism: in order for it to work, the public has to be aware an act of terror took place. It wouldn’t be enough to simply start wildfires and cause destruction; in order to create terror, the public would have to be informed who committed the act and why it was done. Terrorism is about the publicity of mass disruption. And that just hasn’t happened. This is just another loopy conspiracy theory, no different than the conviction that the president is a Muslim Socialist born in Kenya, and was elected because ACORN and the IRS conspired to commit voter fraud in order to destroy America.

I admit it — I like FreeRepublic.com. The people there are mostly rabid gun-toting lunatics whose notions of governance are, in my opinion, profoundly wrong-headed. But I’m glad I live in a nation that allows folks like that to have a voice, and for that voice to be heard.

And hey, maybe the fires really were set by renegade Renne Fair dandies. Anybody who’d serve those appalling turkey legs is capable of almost any outrage.

no duty to retreat

Posted on June 7, 2013 by greg

Jury selection for the George Zimmerman 2nd Degree Murder trial is scheduled to begin on Monday. Zimmerman, of course, is the off-duty volunteer watch guard who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida on February 26th of 2012. It’s going to be an interesting and frustrating trial to follow.

I’ve written about this case before — about the importance of the presumption of innocence, about some of the reactions to the case, about the Stand Your Ground laws, and about some of the things the jury will have to consider. On the surface, this case is pretty clear.

Here’s what we know. We know Zimmerman saw a black kid he didn’t recognize in the housing development and became suspicious. We know he notified the police, who told him NOT to follow the kid. We also know Martin was aware he was being watched and followed by a white guy he didn’t know. We know Martin ran to get away from the guy, and Zimmerman chased after him. We know there was some sort of confrontation, and that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose, two black eyes, and a small laceration on the back of his head. We know that Zimmerman fired a single shot at close range (less than 18 inches, possibly as close as one inch) which struck Martin in the chest and killed him.

There are really only two critical things in dispute, only one of which is legally important. First, what took place in the few moments before Zimmerman pulled the trigger — who initiated the confrontation? Second, what did Zimmerman think and believe in those few moments? The answer to the first question would be enlightening, but doesn’t carry much weight. The answer to the second question will, in all likelihood, determine the outcome of the trial.

Under Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law, it really doesn’t matter who started the fight; it only matters if the person who survives the fight can say without contradiction that he was in fear for his life or safety. That law states:

A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself.

As long as Zimmerman had a legal right to be where he was (and he did), the only thing that matters is whether he reasonably believed it was necessary to shoot Martin in order to prevent his own death or great bodily harm. It’s a bad law. It’s a stupid law. It’s a law that can actually encourage a person to shoot first and ask questions…no, fuck the questions. Just shoot first. It’s a horrible law. But it IS the law, and you have to work with the law as it exists.

As I see it, there are five possible outcomes: 1) Zimmerman could be convicted of 2nd Degree Murder, 2) he could be convicted of a lesser included offense, 3) he could be acquited by the jury, 4) the judge could dismiss the charge after the prosecution presents its case IF the judge feels the State failed to meet its burden, and 5) the jury might be unable to reach a verdict and the case will either be dismissed or scheduled for retrial.

There is no way this trial will end well. There is no result that will be entirely satisfactory. Some situations are so completely and utterly fucked up that they cannot possibly be unfucked.

defending asshole rights

Posted on June 4, 2013 by greg

This is Barry West. He’s one of the County Commissioners of Coffee County, Tennessee. He’s also an asshole. He may or may not be a racist — I don’t know. But he’s most definitely an asshole.

Coffee County Commissioner Barry West (asshole)

Why do I think he’s an asshole? Because of the photograph below. Let me be clear; Barry West didn’t create that photograph. That’s not him in the photograph. He simply posted the photo on his Facebook page. He’s an asshole because he thinks pointing a firearm at Muslims is amusing.

When a local newspaper asked him if he was prejudiced against Muslims, Barry said “I’m prejudiced against anyone who’s trying to tear down this country, Muslims, Mexicans, anybody.” He didn’t explain why he thinks Muslims and Mexicans are trying to tear down this country, but maybe the reporter didn’t ask him. And really, that doesn’t matter.

Predictably, Barry West caught a HUGE amount of shit from people who found this photo offensive and decided Barry was an asshole. He removed the photo from his Facebook page eventually, but that doesn’t make him any less of an asshole. It just makes him an asshole who’s embarrassed to be recognized as an asshole.

Muslims, of course, were particularly offended. It’s important to remember that a lot of mosques and Islamic centers in Tennessee have been the target of arson and vandalism over the past half decade. Just a couple of years ago in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (in a county that adjoins Coffee County), residents attempted to prevent the construction of a mosque by every means possible, legal and illegal. They tied it up in zoning hearings, they filed frivolous lawsuits, there were numerous incidents of vandalism, and eventually an arson attack on the construction site. All that in a city with 140 Christian churches and only one mosque. So the concern of Tennessee Muslims was understandable.

But here’s the thing about Barry West: he has the perfect right to be an asshole. He has the right to post photographs other folks (including me) see as offensive and racist. I totally defend his right to be an asshole. The Constitution of the United States expressly protects his right to be an asshole and say stupid and offensive things. That’s why I’m talking about Barry West. It’s also why Bill Killian was talking about Barry West.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian

Bill Killian is the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Tonight he’s speaking at a seminar sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council of Tennessee. In recent days, though, Killian spoke to the news media about Barry West and the photo. He said, “We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected.” He also said, “If a Muslim had posted ‘How to Wink at a Christian,’ could you imagine what would have happened?” And then Killian added that one of his purposes in addressing the subject was to:

“…to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”

And that has set off a conservative shitstorm. A lot of conservative Christians seem to think any statement defending the civil rights of Muslims is somehow a threat against Christian conservatives. Politico.com proclaimed Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished. Well, no, the Feds didn’t suggest that at all. Breitbart.com says Posting Something Mean About Muslims on Social Media Might Be a Criminal Action Under Federal Civil Rights Laws. Well, no, it’s not a criminal action. GatewayPundit says Obama DOJ: Trashing Islam on Social Media Will Have Legal Repercussions. Well, no, there won’t be any legal repercussions. And my absolute favorite — one conservative blogger, in a post entitled Tomorrow the DOJ Plans to Repeal the First Amendment, wrote this:

Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee will start educating people about the repeal of the First Amendment, only he want call it that… Instead he’s going to tell us if you criticize Murdering Islamic Terrorists, the DOJ might decide you’re violating their Civil Rights.

All this faux outrage (remember, Attorney Killian hasn’t even spoken at the seminar yet) is intended to do three things. First, it’s meant to make bigots feel justified in their bigotry. Second, it’s meant to change the subject from the actual verbal assaults against Muslims to imaginary assaults against bigots. And third, it’s meant to fuel the paranoid delusions of white Christian bigots.

So what did Killian really mean when he mentioned ‘what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are’? He meant this:

People are free to hate, as long as they don’t act on it. Hateful statements directed at another will be used as evidence in a hate crime.

So Killian was, in effect, saying Barry West is free to be an asshole and say hateful things (and post hateful photographs on Facebook — so long as Facebook allows it), but if he’s ever accused of a hate crime, those hateful things might be used as evidence against him.

Some day I’m going to do some research and try to figure out at what point conservatives became such whiny little crybabies.

you’re too late in asking

Posted on June 2, 2013 by greg

If you’re a fan of John Prine, you’re familiar with his song Paradise. If you’re not a fan of John Prine, well damn…what the hell is wrong with you? But if you’re not a fan I’ll educate your sorry ass. Listen to this:

That song is based on actual events. There really was a town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky called Paradise. You can still find it on Google Maps, though all you’ll see is a coal processing plant in the bend of a chalky river. And in 1962, just as the song says, the Peabody Coal Company did, in fact, bring in the world’s largest shovel to dig for coal. It was a monstrous fucking shovel, as you can see by this old post card.

Be sure to look in the lower right hand corner. Those soft little squishy things? Those are people.That’s how big this shovel is. The scoop could hold 115 cubic yards of…well, of whatever it scooped up, and I suspect it could scoop just about anything it wanted. Peabody Coal named the shovel Big Hog, and just like the song says, they used it to dig for coal until the land was forsaken.

Big Hog was retired from service in the mid-1980s, after twenty-some years of faithful service. Okay, the service was destroying the land — but Big Hog did it faithfully, day after day, week after week, year after year. Peabody Coal honored that service by burying the massive shovel in what’s probably the world’s biggest grave for a machine. They interred the shovel in one of the pits it dug. It’s still there.

If only Peabody treated its human workers with that same respect and dignity.

The Peabody Coal Company is now Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal provider. They provide coal to China, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and Singapore, as well as the United States. In fact, they generate 10% of the electricity used in the United States and somewhere around 2% of electricity generated throughout the world. Peabody Energy is big. They hold majority interests in twenty-eight surface and underground mining operations.

One of those operations is Patriot Coal. Peabody created Patriot in 2007, giving them around 13% of their coal reserves. That made Patriot a major player in coal. But Peabody also gave Patriot around 40% of their health care liabilities. That’s right, Peabody dumped the health care costs for more that 8,000 men and women who retired from Peabody onto a new company.

You won’t be surprised to know that coal mining is hard work, and coal miners — both those who work on the surface and those who work underground — experience a lot of long-term health problems. Unions for coal workers naturally include health care costs for retirees in the contracts they negotiate with coal providers. By shifting those costs to Patriot Coal, Peabody Energy was no longer responsible for them.

So what does Patriot Coal do? They soon buy Magnum Coal, which was a subsidiary created by the Arch Coal Company — the second-largest mining company. Arch Coal had saddled Magnum with the health care costs of more than 2000 retired Arch coal miners. So by acquiring Magnum, Patriot — a company that’s only five years old — suddenly found itself overwhelmed by health care costs for more than ten thousand workers who never actually worked a day in their lives for Patriot.

Here’s a surprise: Patriot Coal couldn’t afford to pay for the health care needed by all those retirees. As a result, last summer they were forced — forced — to file for bankruptcy to protect the company from all those health care expenses.

Last week, Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States ruled Patriot would be allowed to disregard the health care benefits the mine workers had been guaranteed in their contracts with Peabody and Arch. The judge, who was appointed in 2003 by President George W. Bush, acknowledged that Patriot Coal may have actually been “created to fail.” But the transfer of retirement benefits to that company was legal — and some sacrifices have to be made in order for the company to survive. So tough shit, mine workers. In her ruling, she even suggested the mine workers union was partly at fault for “demanding benefits that the employer cannot realistically fund in perpetuity.” As if the union was to blame for management’s decision to sign the contract.

That wasn’t the only recent decision Judge Surratt-States issued in regard to the Patriot Coal Company bankruptcy. About three weeks ago she agreed to allow Patriot to distribute US$6.9 million in bonuses to 225 of their corporate executives and salaried employees.

Mine workers denied the benefits guaranteed them by contract, executives given bonuses, coal companies relieved of the burden of keeping any promises they made — but hey, at least Big Hog got a decent burial. That’s pretty cool.

And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River, where Paradise lay.
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking.
Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.

we’re not all assholes

Posted on May 21, 2013 by greg

Yesterday I wrote about storm season, and how much I enjoy seeing the awesome and awful power of severe weather. Today, in Oklahoma, there are men, women and children who died from that awful power. You can’t look at the photographs or hear the stories of the survivors and first responders without being heartsick.

The only thing most of us can do for them is open our wallets and give generously (there’s information on how to donate to the Red Cross at the bottom of this post).

(photo by Brett Deering)

People will say this is not a time for politics. They’re right; it’s a time for governance. But the sad fact is, in recent years effective governance has been fettered by narrow-minded politics. And among the most narrow-minded politicians are the two Republican senators from Oklahoma: James Inhofe and Tom Coburn.

Both senators have repeatedly voted to deny increased funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees disaster relief. Coburn said the funding of FEMA would be “unconscionable.” Both senators have also voted against funding disaster aid (or voted to reduce requested aid packages) for various natural calamities that have taken place throughout the U.S.

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut requested around US$82 billion in short and long term relief. Both Inhofe and Coburn voted to reduce that to $23.8 billion — the absolute minimal cost to clear the debris, repair basic infrastructure, and rebuild destroyed homes and businesses. They opposed any funds to included long-term infrastructure improvements aimed at helping to prevent damage from future storms. Inhofe referred to the aid request as “a slush fund.”

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, Republican

The reason these two have given for opposing disaster relief is budgetary. They describe themselves as fiscal hawks. They’re ideologically opposed to spending any government funds that would increase the nation’s deficit.

That might be a more convincing argument if it weren’t for the inconvenient fact that it was Republicans — including Inhofe and Coburn — who helped create that deficit, largely by supporting two wars that weren’t paid for. I suspect most Americans would, if given a choice, have preferred to spend that money on disaster relief than on a pointless war of choice.

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, Republican

I suppose some folks will be impressed by Coburn’s response to the disaster in his home state. On his Facebook page, Coburn says:

My thoughts and prayers are with those in Oklahoma affected by the tragic tornado outbreak.

He insists, however, that any federal disaster relief given to his state must be offset by budgetary cuts in other areas. In other words, some other part of the government will have to suffer in order for the people of Coburn’s state to get the financial aid they’re going to need so desperately in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Inhofe’s official Facebook page also offers thoughts and prayers:

I will continue to pray for the families and individuals who lost a loved one, suffered damage or lost homes and possessions during the storms that tore through Oklahoma and the Midwest yesterday evening. Representatives from FEMA have contacted my office and are ready to respond should Governor Fallin request federal assistance.

You’ll notice he isn’t asking for any federal aid himself. He’ll leave that to others. It should also be noted that people on Facebook aren’t always responding kindly to Inhofe’s and Coburn’s thoughts and prayers.

(photo by Brett Deering)

Disaster assistance used to be a given. When one part of the nation took a hit, Congress automatically authorized the federal government to do what governments are supposed to do: help the people. Everybody in Congress simply put politics aside and did what was necessary to give aid and comfort. It’s just the decent thing to do.

But that’s changed. More and more we’re seeing Republicans taking the Coburn-Inhofe Approach. “I’ve got mine, Jack — you’re on your own.” It’s a selfish, small-minded, mean-spirited approach. But it works. Why? Because we’re not all assholes. Because when a great wind flattens a town in Oklahoma, most of the people of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut will grumble and say “It would serve them right if we fucked them over they fucked us.” But because we’re not all assholes, they’ll grumble and still open their wallets and offer help.

Coburn and Inhofe deserve to be treated like the assholes they are. The people of Oklahoma who voted for those assholes deserve no better treatment. But we’ll help them anyway, and we’ll do it because we’re not all assholes.

You can donate to the Red Cross by calling 1-800-733-2767. You can also donate by going to their website: http://www.redcross.org/ok/oklahoma-city. You can even auto-donate $10 by texting Redcross to 90999.

Donate what you can. Donate because the people of Oklahoma need your help. Donate because they’re not going to get much help from Senators Inhofe and Coburn. Donate because you’re not an asshole.

here’s some bullshit

Posted on May 16, 2013 by greg

IRS bullshit: This morning Marco Rubio, the Great Latino Hope of the GOP, whined on FOXNews that President Obama hasn’t yet asked the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into the so-called IRS scandal. However, since the DOJ announced they’d opened an investigation into the matter on Tuesday, there’s no need for Obama to ask.

Marco Rubio asking the president to request an investigation that's already ongoing

Marco Rubio – willing to make an ass of himself

Obamacare bullshit: Today the U.S. House of Representatives will debate and vote on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It has no more chance of passing today than it did the previous 36 times Republicans demanded a debate and a vote on repealing the law. Let me repeat that. This is the 37th time this has been debated and voted on, and Republicans know it can’t pass. It’s estimated it’ll cost about US$1.75 million taxpayer dollars to hold this pointless debate and vote today. Given that this is the 37th time the issue has been voted on, it’s reasonable to assume these votes have cost taxpayers about sixty-five million dollars.

John Boehner – also willing to make an ass of himself

Related bullshit: The House of Representatives will only meet in session for two days this week. Two days. One of which will be pissed away on the pointless debate and vote on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. , and one of those sessions is today’s debate and vote. Speaker of the House John Boehner doesn’t rule out having still more pointless debates and votes to repeal Obamacare. And you thought Republicans were opposed to government waste.

Darrell Issa – an ass

Benghazi bullshit: Republican Darrell Issa has held 11 Congressional hearings on the Benghazi tragedy. In recent weeks, Issa has criticized the report of the Accountability Review Board that investigated the attack. That review board was led by Thomas Pickering (a former US Ambassador) and Admiral Mike Mullen (a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). On a recent talk show, Issa stated Pickering had “refused to come before our committee” to testify. After Pickering replied that he’d actually requested to appear at the most recent hearing, Issa’s staff backtracked, claiming the request had come too late to fit Pickering into the schedule.

Now both Pickering and Mullen have written a letter to Issa requesting a public hearing at which they could explain and defend their report. Issa’s response: he’d consider inviting them to testify, but in a closed hearing, out of the public view. Why? Issa says he thinks Pickering and Mullen’s testimony would be too partisan. By which he apparently means their testimony won’t correspond with his conspiracy theories.

There’s a LOT more bullshit, of course. But it’s not yet noon and I’ve already exceeded the daily recommended dosage of bullshit.

barack obama is not richard nixon

Posted on May 15, 2013 by greg

On my way to the coffee shop just now I saw a copy of USA Today, the lite newspaper. The headline read:

IRS GAVE LIBERALS A PASS

Which is pretty dramatic. It’s also a lie. As are all those headlines comparing President Obama to President Nixon.

I don’t want to minimize what the Internal Revenue Service did by targeting political groups for extra scrutiny. That was absolutely wrong, no mistake. But comparing this event to what Nixon did? That’s just plain stupid. Aside from the fact that the IRS is involved, the two cases are utterly different.

President Richard Nixon, crook

Nixon and his staff actually made a list of his political enemies. They weren’t exactly open about the list, but neither was it a huge secret. These guys even wrote memoranda about the list — like this one from John Dean, the White House Counsel, to Lawrence Higby, the Assistant Chief of Staff to President Nixon:

This memorandum addresses the matter of how we can maximize the fact of our incumbency in dealing with persons known to be active in their opposition to our Administration; stated a bit more bluntly—how we can use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.

Nixon and his crew were deliberately using the IRS to ‘screw’ people they identified as their political opponents. The investigation of individuals and groups Nixon opposed (or who opposed Nixon) was initiated BY the White House. Now THAT is a scandal.

According to the Inspector General, the current IRS issue was initiated by mid-level bureaucrats within the IRS, and done without the knowledge of the White House. It was a violation of policy and procedure. It’s not a scandal.

So why did these bureaucrats target certain political organizations for extra scrutiny? Because legislation (passed through the efforts of Republicans, by the way) made it possible for individuals to contribute money to certain types of political action committee without their names being disclosed. Donations to PACs whose purpose is political are NOT tax deductible; donations to PACs whose purpose is general social welfare ARE tax deductible.

And guess what. The IRS is actually obligated BY CONGRESS to do just that. They’re legally required to review every application for tax-exempt status to insure the group requesting the exemption isn’t partisan, political, or designed to generate private gain. The only problem is the bureaucrats chose to use some pretty vague and inappropriate keywords to determine which political groups should be given a closer look. They cast too wide a net.

Obviously, what happened in the IRS is nothing at all like the crimes committed by the Nixon White House — though you wouldn’t know that from the reporting or the ranting of Republicans in Congress. Nor, if you read the headlines of USA TODAY, would you be aware that liberal groups were also unfairly targeted. And in fact, the ONLY targeted group to be denied tax exempt status during the 18 months of the extra scrutiny was Emerge America, a group that helps train Democrat women who are running for political office. None of the conservative or Republican groups were denied tax exempt status. So the headline in USA TODAY is not only incorrect, it’s not only lazy reporting, it’s the exact opposite of the truth. It’s a lie.

So much for that ‘liberal media’ myth.

benghazi explained

Posted on May 14, 2013 by greg

Oh my god, oh my god, now I get it. Now I understand why President Obama must be impeached. He called the assault on the US mission compound in Benghazi “an act of terrorism.” He didn’t say it was “a terrorist attack.” It’s so clear to me, now that Darrell Issa has explained it:

“An act of terror is different from a terrorist attack. The TRUTH is, this was a terrorist attack.”

According to Issa, Ambassador Stevens, before he was killed, made a telephone call in which he said “We are under attack.” Did he say “We are currently experiencing an act of terror”? No sir, he did not. Obama must be impeached for misleading the American public and for using Socialist Grammar techniques he learned as a Muslim boy in Kenya.

According to Issa, President Obama personally made three three fundamental mistakes. First, the US mission compound in Benghazi needed more security, but didn’t get it. Okay, maybe it’s true that Congressional Republicans voted to reduce Obama’s budget request for the two agencies responsible for providing security to embassies and ambassadors by nearly half a billion dollars over the last two years. But that was just to trim waste, and besides it was Obama who actually made the cuts — so clearly it’s his fault

Second, the attack lasted seven hours and there was no military response. None at all. Except for the well-trained six-member CIA assault team sent in to rescue the American personnel. But other than that, nothing. “You can take off from Washington, DC on a commercial flight,” Issa said, “and practically be in Benghazi at the end of seven hours.” And yes, maybe he was off by a wee bit. Okay, maybe it would take closer to twenty-seven hours. But Issa was just making a point; there’s no need to get fussy about details.

And third, Issa says “the American people deserve real time information” on these crisis events. Real time. Sure, that may not even be possible, but dammit the American people deserve it anyway. And yes yes, feeding real time information to the public might actually exacerbate a crisis and add to the confusion, and yes maybe providing real time information to the public would also provide real time information to the people carrying out the ~~act of terrorism~~ terrorist attack. But hey, the American people deserve it and if there are any unfortunate consequences, they’d be worth it in order to…to…you know. Benghazi socialist Muslim birth certificate.

There you go. Maybe now you understand why it was so vitally important to have held eleven hearings on Benghazi in the last eight months. If the Republicans in Congress weren’t doing this, they’d have to…I don’t know…govern or something.

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