Brutally Honest

Horrors... Dick Cheney secretly wanted Al Qaeda operatives dead

The nerve of that guy:

A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.

The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn't clear, and the CIA won't comment on its substance.

According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training. It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. The initiative hadn't become fully operational at the time Mr. Panetta ended it.

In 2001, the CIA also examined the subject of targeted assassinations of al Qaeda leaders, according to three former intelligence officials. It appears that those discussions tapered off within six months. It isn't clear whether they were an early part of the CIA initiative that Mr. Panetta stopped.

The revelations about the CIA and its post-9/11 activities have emerged amid a renewed fight between the agency and congressional Democrats. Last week, seven Democratic lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee released a letter that talked about the CIA effort, which they said Mr. Panetta acknowledged hadn't been properly vetted with Congress. CIA officials had brought the matter to Mr. Panetta's attention and had recommended he inform Congress.

The reactions from moonbats has been predictable.  Oh look, here's one:

It is going to take 20 years to undo the mess the collection of Bush Administration craven incompetents left behind. A pox on their houses. A blight on American history.

Still, it must really suck to be a supporter of these buffoons these days and watch all their hard work go down the drain as Obama corrects their thousands of mistakes, one by one.

Someone should interview this Obama psycophant the next time the jihadists hit us.  I pray his lovely wife and his lovely children are not victimized when it happens.  And trust me people, with this bunch in office now, it's just a matter of time.

A matter of time.

And by the way Robert... could you list these thousands of mistakes that Obama is correcting?  Hell... start with 10 of them and work your way up to the first thousand...  cuz we all know in fact that there are lots of policies that Obama has chosen not to... er... correct:

A partial list of Bush policies carried on by Obama.

Despite rhetoric, Obama continues Bush policy on detainees: Indefinite detention, no legal rights
Obama Continues Bush Policy of Deadly Air Strikes in Pakistan
Obama Continues Bush Policy On State Secrets
Obama continues Bush policy of hiding visitors names
Obama Continues Bush Policy on Weapons to Georgia
Obama’s embrace of Bush terrorism policies is celebrated as “Centrism”
Obama continues Bush’s secrecy policy on mysterious IP trade deal
Obama Blames Bush While Adopting his Policies
Obama’s Bank Bailout: Bush’s Plan Resurrected

So Robert... I've listed 9 Bush policies Obama now calls his own... how about you list 9 (on your way to the first thousand) Bush mistakes that he's alleged to have corrected.

We'll wait.

Is the Pope Catholic?

According to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Newsweek, the answer is not enough... and the reasoning is solidly Obasmic:

Politics requires the ability to listen to different points of view, to step into others' shoes. Obama might call it empathy. While the pope preaches love, listening to the other has been a particular stumbling block for the Catholic hierarchy (as it is for many in power). The hierarchy ignores women's equality and gays' cry for justice because to heed them would require that it admit error and acknowledge that the self-satisfied edifice constructed around sex and gender has been grievously wrong.

...

For Obama, respectful disagreement and a willingness to recognize differences was the animating spirit of the presidential campaign, and it was central to his Notre Dame speech. That is the kind of politics many Catholics practice. They're tired of watching the church grasp frantically for control at the expense of truth and love. In America last November, it showed: 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama.

Notre Dame awarded the president an honorary degree because it saw the need to highlight the best of Catholic teaching as applied to politics: the ability to open the eyes of those who would prefer to keep them closed, and to open the hearts of those who would prefer not to know the pain that their actions cause. The pope has a lot to learn about Catholic politics in America. Barack Obama can teach him.

There you have it. 

Catholicism's problem today is that it does not bend its will enough to the will of The One. 

With props for the find to Matteo. 

SCOTUS Justice Ginsburg slips

Attempting to sell a lie as truth can become difficult at times:

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.

So... according to a liberal Supreme Court Justice, the Roe v. Wade decision had nothing to do with a woman's right to choose and everything to do with controlling population growth and particularly growth of that portion of the population that "we don't want to have too many of".

There's your empathy on the court people.

I can't wait to see Obama asked by the press what he thinks about Ginsburg's comments.  Just don't hold your breath until it happens though.

H/T The Deacon's Bench.

Let's not publicize this

Posted here and at the Borg Conspiracy, by guest blogger Locutisprime.

House Democrat Joins Pelosi in Accusing CIA of Misleading, Lying to Congress

Right.

Today Rep. Silvestre Reyes, basically called out the CIA, stating in a letter to a republican colleague, that he agreed with speaker Nancy Pelosi in that he believes the CIA has lied to congress. Specifically, that he believes that the CIA has lied to him, therefore, he believes speaker Pelosi's allegations against the CIA from earlier this spring must be true.

Then...there are these pearls from his letter that he apparently sent to Republican, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich, where he was supposedly expressing his concerns on the matter of the CIA's truthfulness to congress to Rep Hoelstra.

"We all know there have been a number of contentious issues that have been much publicized," said Reyes, who indicated he wrote the letter in an attempt to curb GOP efforts to target Pelosi.

So he openly admits that the purpose of the letter is in actuality to attempt to thwart GOP criticism of speaker Pelosi and her allegations against the CIA, if which she is yet to substantiate.

And then there is this....

"Let's leave for the moment the politics out of it," Reyes said. "Our national security is about the most serious thing we deal with here on Capitol Hill. And it shouldn't be politicized."

On that point you are right Rep. Reyes. Our national security is about the most important thing that congress can address and deal with and it shouldn't be politicized. Therefore, for a US congressman who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to call out the CIA on an accusation of lying to congress and then to openly admit that he wrote the letter for the seeming sole purpose of attempting to curb GOP attacks on speaker Pelosi for her accusations?

Well that is unconscionable IMO.

Then to turn right around and attempt to contend that national security isn't something to play around with, much less to use as a politicized ploy? Yet to then admit that the purpose of what you are doing is in fact what you are railing against?

Well I for one am completely amazed. I am completely amazed that a moron like Rep. Reyes could be elected to the US House of Representatives. I am amazed that a partisan hack of such idiocy and contrived partisan thinking, could be given a chairmanship of one of the most important congressional committees in congress. And lastly, I am amazed that an individual such as Rep. Reyes can openly elect to foist such a low brow ruse as this upon the American people and the media? And having done so, no one seems to care or even be able to see the obvious duplicity and partisan sculdugery afoot in this democrat contrived ploy.

Obama's achievements thus far

Via Theo Spark:

He has.....

1. Offended the Queen of England .

2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia .

3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.

4. Kissed Hugo Chavez on the cheek.

5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia .

6. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no pre-conditions.

7. Gave away billions to AIG also without pre-conditions.

8. Expanded the bailouts.

9. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.

10. Doubled our national debt..

11. Announced a termination of the space defense system the day after the North Koreans launched an ICBM.

12. Despite the urgings of his own CIA director and the prior 4 CIA directors, released information on intelligence gathering.

13. Accepted without public comment the fact that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two others withdrew after they couldn't take the heat.

14. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who quickly identified as "dangers to the nation", groups including veterans of the military, and opponents to abortion on demand, and who ordered that the word "terrorism" no longer be used but instead referred to such acts as "man made disasters".

15. Circled the globe so he could openly apologize for America's greatness.

Theo's got more.  Check it out.  Our President has been a busy guy.

Palin's resignation: It's all Bush's fault

Nothing like coupling BDS with your PDS:

I think she's been brought down by the simple fact she is not ready for a national role and does not have the experience to bring much to the table. In fact, I would argue that had she not been a hockey mom with religious views that appealed to the right-wing of the GOP, we would never have heard of her because she would not have been given the position on McCain's ticket. If Barack Obama's career shows the world how much opportunity there is in America, Palin's shows that one must have the steak to back up the sizzle. Other than delivering a whiz-bang speech at the convention, she has done nothing but show how unready for prime time she is and she has the misfortune of following in the footsteps of another wildly unready politician, but one that had the backing of the party elites because of his family connections folksy nature.

The George W. Bush experience hurt Palin's chances more than anything. Now the world knows just how much damage an ill-prepared, albeit jovial, fool can do when handed the steering wheel. So while whack jobs will rail against the MSM, the real culprit in denying Sarah is cycling somewhere on the outskirts of Crawford, blissfully ignorant of the damage he did to her career, or to the rest of us.

Sounds like more of that "subconscious Obama resentment-transference" to me.

WTF?

Obama back in March:

“So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future”

Obama today, via Bob Woodward at the WaPo:

National security adviser James L. Jones told U.S. military commanders here last week that the Obama administration wants to hold troop levels here flat for now, and focus instead on carrying out the previously approved strategy of increased economic development, improved governance and participation by the Afghan military and civilians in the conflict.

The message seems designed to cap expectations that more troops might be coming, though the administration has not ruled out additional deployments in the future. Jones was carrying out directions from President Obama, who said recently, "My strong view is that we are not going to succeed simply by piling on more and more troops."

"This will not be won by the military alone," Jones said in an interview during his trip. "We tried that for six years." He also said: "The piece of the strategy that has to work in the next year is economic development. If that is not done right, there are not enough troops in the world to succeed."

Jones delivered his message after a 30-minute briefing by Marine Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, who commands 9,000 Marines here, nearly half the new deployments Obama has sent to Afghanistan.

But the kicker is later in the article when a discussion for more troops is held and Jones makes clear what Obama's message would be should commanders in the field seek more troops to fulfill Obama's promise to the American people:

Now suppose you're the president, Jones told them, and the requests come into the White House for yet more force. How do you think Obama might look at this? Jones asked, casting his eyes around the colonels. How do you think he might feel?

Jones let the question hang in the air-conditioned, fluorescent-lighted room. Nicholson and the colonels said nothing.

Well, Jones went on, after all those additional troops, 17,000 plus 4,000 more, if there were new requests for force now, the president would quite likely have "a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment." Everyone in the room caught the phonetic reference to WTF -- which in the military and elsewhere means "What the [expletive]?"

Nicholson and his colonels -- all or nearly all veterans of Iraq -- seemed to blanch at the unambiguous message that this might be all the troops they were going to get.

Jones, speaking with great emphasis to this group of Iraq veterans, said Afghanistan is not Iraq. "We are not going to build that empire again," he said flatly.

In other words... the promise to America made in March by Obama was bullsh*t. 

Jules Crittenden speaks for me when he writes:

Too bad. It’s something American troops have dealt with before and will most earnestly endeavor to deal with now. Maybe they can pull it off. The United States military, after all, has proven remarkably resourceful, resilient and adaptive not just in these wars but in all the wars it has fought. It would be helpful this time, going into this difficult task, if the Commander in Chief’s attitude toward the expertise of the men who will to the heavy lifting was something other than “What the f*ck?”

"This shortsightedness is truly breathtaking and underscores the incoherence of the administration's foreign policy."

What, you might be asking, is this?

This:

What happened in Honduras was not a military coup. Honduras has a civilian president, Roberto Micheletti, a member of former President Manuel Zelaya's own Liberal Party, who was elevated to the post after Mr. Zelaya was removed. The army did not seize power, but acted as the elected government's instrument in ousting Mr. Zelaya, who was well on his way to subverting the Honduran constitution and erecting a dictatorship.

The crisis followed an intense week of political drama over a planned referendum seeking to convene an assembly to rewrite the 1982 constitution to allow Mr. Zelaya to serve in office beyond the mandated one-term limit, which would have ended in January 2010. The Honduran National Congress opposed the referendum, and the Supreme Court declared it illegal. The plan was denounced by majority and opposition political parties, the Catholic Church and the Honduran Human Rights Commission.

The military impounded the illegal ballots, and Mr. Zelaya fired military chief Gen. Romeo Vasquez for refusing to distribute them. This prompted resignations from Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana and all the service chiefs. The Supreme Court quickly ruled the firing was illegal. Meanwhile, Mr. Zelaya led a band of followers to air force headquarters and seized the illegal ballots, seeking to hold the referendum regardless. The Congress then acted to remove this renegade ruler and defend the Honduran constitution.

Mr. Zelaya is a demagogue in the mold of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who bolstered the Zelaya regime through a subsidized energy program called Petrocaribe and gave direct financial support through the ALBA Bank. The acronym stands for Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a Chavez-backed anti-U.S. alliance of nine Latin American states, prominently Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, all of which are pursuing explicitly anti-U.S. policies.

In throwing its unqualified support to Mr. Zelaya, the Obama administration is enabling America's strategic foes. This shortsightedness is truly breathtaking and underscores the incoherence of the administration's foreign policy. Smart power? We think not.

By sending Mr. Zelaya to El Salvador, the new government gave him the opportunity to rally world opinion. The exiled former president also benefited from the fact that the new government limited press coverage, which did not bolster the legitimacy of the transfer of power. Now Mr. Zelaya has secured the backing of numerous Latin American leaders, the United Nations and the United States. He had planned to return to Tegucigalpa on Thursday, but the Organization of American States has given Honduras three days to reinstate him. Honduran Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi has issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Zelaya on 18 charges, including abuse of power and treason.

Whatever the outcome of the crisis in Honduras, Mr. Obama has failed another key test of international leadership. The United States is in an increasingly perilous position in Latin America and needs solid allies to stem the anti-American tide being led by Venezuela. Mr. Obama should think twice before rushing to stand beside the likes of dictators such as Mr. Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro. They support Mr. Zelaya because he is a fellow traveler, a socialist in good standing, a member of their anti-gringo alliance. There's no reason for America to support him.

But there's plenty of reason for Obama to support him.

They're bosom buddies.

Environmental idiocy in California

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton:

Something that you aren’t seeing in the news is a whacked side-effect of California’s financial and environmental incompetence - the Central Valley Dust Bowl… A great article was written on this at Beetle Blogger: Dead and Dying–California’s Central Valley Dust Bowl.

The entire length of the 5 freeway between Sacramento and Los Angeles is lined with orchards and farms - just beautiful to behold and about 8% of the fruit produce for the nation comes from these orchards. Orchards which are now dead and being destroyed because water has been cut off to the orchards and farms in the Central Valley. Yes, there is a drought in California, but the reservoirs are full - the water is just not getting to the farms and orchards, it is going to the fish.

Farmers throughout this region echo the sentiment that politics, not the drought, is the problem. Most of California gets its water from a huge estuary called the Delta, where two big rivers join in the center of the valley. But so much water was being pumped out of the Delta that a tiny smelt there, an endangered species, is disappearing. So late last year, a federal judge ruled that the amount of water being delivered to the south had to be sharply cut back.

The politicians in California are sooo out of touch, they have committed state financial suicide. It takes 30 years to build those orchards, and minutes to destroy them. Well done elitists! Not only have you sold your state down the proverbial river (pun intended) for environmental and liberal issues, you are causing all sizes of businesses to go belly-up and you will be causing the entire nation to suffer food-wise. Pure insanity evidently reigns in Sacramento these days, it certainly isn’t common sense.

And this is but a foretelling of the things to come if Obama, Gore, Pelosi, Reid and their green minions have their way (and frankly, I see nothing on the horizon that will stop them).

Hope and Change.

The Franken-stein monster goes to Washington

Posted here and at The Borg Conspiracy by guest blogger Locutisprime.

Franken Wins Senate Battle Minn. Court Ruling Gives Democrats A 60-Seat Majority

Yesterday the Minnesota Supreme Court settled the race for US Senate between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. After which Coleman conceded and issued a statement saying that he would not seek further legal action to attempt and preserve his senate seat. There are three things that are interesting to me about this story.

First that there are that many stupid people in Minnesota. Prior to some recent elections? I use to believe that those living in Massachusetts were the stupidest Americans. How else to explain Teddy Kennedy's forty plus year run in the senate and his sidekick John Kerry? But I digress. I believe that those in Minnesota lost the plot back when they elected Jesse (the body) Ventura to the governor's office and they haven't found it since.

Therefore, the first bit of amazement in this entire affair that baffles me? Is that that many people in Minnesota would vote this idiot into office in the first place. But then again? Minnesota is establishing a track record for idiocy at the ballot box. The second thing that I find amazing is that it took eight months to resolve this election, but most importantly, the real amazing part of this entire drama is that the courts of Minnesota combined to disallow the votes of enough Minnesotans to reach this apparently desired and contrived result.

Welcome to the modern day version of the Frankenstein monster. Al Franken has as much business being a US senator as I have flying the space shuttle, but a senator he is. And the villagers who should have been riding him out of town on a rail with a torch parade, have now elected him to the US senate and their courts have given him their collective blessing. Stranger than fiction possibly, but the end result is that now, the political power has been completely given over to a ruling elite of democrats in America and at the worst possible moment in time IMO.