Really, what more could happen this week? Let's review what we have learned this week so far. 1. There have been no public officials arrested this week in the entire state of New York! Give Gov. Cuomo a round of applause...
2. No one is in charge of our Federal Government or, more accurately, no one will ADMIT they are in charge.
3. The Tea Party groups applying for 501(c) status with the IRS since 2009 who complained of unfair treatment and called paranoid and crazy have been vindicated.
4. Well, you know the rest...
Anything to add? No? Okay, so, in the words of our President who insists there's no "there, there" anywhere near him, let's look away for just a moment, take a deep breath, and try to find something positive to cling to (but not with guns or God, please).
Thinking....thinking...thinking...
Oh, wait! Here's something that is positive and, might I add, really cool. But, first, let me give you a little background.
As child of the "Space Age" circa the 1960's (yes, I am that old - don't judge), I spent many a day at school in front of a 13 inch black and white television provided by my grade school teachers watching the first lift off of the Saturn rockets, the first manned space shot where John Glenn circumnavigated the outer atmosphere of Earth, all the Gemini projects, all the Apollo projects including the first manned Moon landing, and the first Space Shuttle from blast off to landing. So, I have seen it all. In the early '90's I visited NASA in Houston with my brother and saw the International Space Station (ISS for short) when most of it was still in pieces. How far we have come. Pardon me if I get excited to see this because, though it isn't like landing on Mars, this goes way beyond Tang and velcro...
Commander Chris Hadfield is, yes, a Canadian astronaut who has been on the the ISS since December 19, 2012 until this week when he came safely back to Mother Earth thanks to the Russians. Who knew? Not only is he the first Canadian to walk in space, he is first astronaut to shoot and broadcast a music video from the ISS. Astronauts have always been really cool to me and Comm. Hadfield has just taken it to a new level - Test pilot, Astronaut, Rock Star!
As always, feel free to let loose on any topic.
61 comments:
Bev, Let me post a link... LINK.
It looks like the IRS scandal may now expand into donor audits. This article talks about several million-dollar-plus Romney donors who suddenly found themselves, their families and their businesses audited after they donated to Romney or after Obama attacked them.
The IRS response is bizarrely hilarious: "The audit process is handled by career, non-partisan civil servants, and we have processes in place to safeguard the exam process."
Right... just like the low-level "nonpartisan" employees in Cincinnati and DC and California who all got the same partisan idea at the same time.
P.S. It's amazing to me that the MSM is covering this so closely. The articles I'm seeing aren't spin work from Brietbart or whoever, they are reports from ABC, NBC, the AP, Reuters... all the people who normally cover Democratic rear ends.
There is also an early report that the House cloakroom was included in the DOJ phone tap too.
Wow! This is like watching an administration implode in real time.
I saw too that the acting head of the IRS resigned... but that will do nothing but draw more sharks.
I didn't know Canada had astronauts.
Andrew - there is a disagreement as to whether the IRS guy was forced to resign/fired as Obama stated. Or whether his contract was ending in June as the IRS guy stated.
It would be totally wrong for me, of all people, to judge anybody's age, let alone yours, Bev. Is anybody surprised we have yet to see an independent counsel for any of this?
TennJ - Thanks. ;-)
Yeah, where's Ken Starr when you need him. But I doubt there will be a need for any independent counsel. Don't we already have an "independent" counsel in Eric Holder? I mean, he doesn't know anything anyway.
He proved that yesterday. I'm sure Obama trusts him to do a thorough investigation into all of these matter real soon.
Andrew,
Journalism against the establishment is so timid. The audit piece is totally a toe-in-the-water article. "We're not saying anything, but we're saying who did say something." They're throwing matches in the grass to see where fire catches. Then they'll chase it down.
What twerks me is that conservatives on radio seem to be looking at everything else besides this. The going meme is that the IRS thing is to take eyes of Benghazi. Well, even if the administration tipped the first domino themselves, isn't it worth noting when they all start to fall?
To be fair, Rush talked about the IRS scandal yesterday and I expect he and Beck will both pick up the audit angle very quickly, as they have both long complained on air about being under constant IRS scrutiny.
So now that the whole IRS issue has broken wide open, we now have the flood of conservative groups that are coming forward - pro-life groups who were denied at the behest of Planned Parenthood, Billy Graham, small town newsreporters who asked the wrong questions, Pro Israel Jewish groups, major Romney donors. It's not just the Tea Party groups anymore.
This is fun. Remember when Sen. Harry Reid (D/NV) http://youtu.be/ORXJOixcS7c stood on the floor of the Senate last year and swore on his podium as Senate Majority Leader of the Senate that it was out that Romney had not paid his taxes in 10 years and he obtained this information from "anonymous Bain Capital investor" It looks like that was true - he did know someone and Reid should be investigated as to the who/what/when/where/why of that declaration and where said "unnamed source" who should become named, obtained that information.
At this point, I'm thinking we should regard "was already set to resign in June" as equivalent to "wanted to spend more time with his family."
Oh, never mind, now the radio talkers are all over it. But of course they are mad at Republicans for not being all over it. Oh wait, congressional Republicans were all over it before they were? No matter, they failed to use their Conservamagic to instantly impeach Obama, so they are worthless. Let's talk about that for the next two-and-a-half hours.
T-Rav - This is how that really breaks down -
For men only - "was already set to resign in June"
For women only - "wanted to spend more time with[the] family."
Someone should call the ACLU and Womyn for Equality Unit of N.O.W. 'cause there's got to be some kind of descrimination going on here.
Jed and Bev, The independent counsel law was killed by both parties some time ago.
tryanmax, I'm seeing a lot more than timid coverage. There is a massive amount of coverage in the MSM on the IRS thing and the media isn't downplaying it. They may not be pounding away at it like foaming-at-the-mouth idiots yet, but they are pounding away at it relentlessly. And they are calling it a scandal and asking if this could destroy Obama. Those aren't things I've seen them say against a Democrat in my lifetime.
As for talk radio, don't get me started on talk radio. Quite honestly, you NEED to automatically disbelieve anything you hear from those people. They have decided that the easiest way to keep their audience is to play to the weak-minded with doomsday scenarios and conspiracies and to attack the Republican Party constantly from all angles no matter how hypocritical, how nonsensical, and how false.
The Republicans are the enemy now... not Obama.
(As an aside, Ann Coulter magically discovered 22 million more illegal aliens yesterday, so now Heritage's fake numbers can be tripled. Wee!)
Bev, What I think all of this tells us is that Obama truly brought Chicago style politics to Washington and that's now been unearthed. In Chicago, you can get away with that. In Washington... we'll see.
The only concern I have is that as this thing gets wider and wider, it will draw in whackos and opportunists, and the whackos become and easy way to discredit the whole issue. Basically, you make their charges the lead charge of the scandal and then you tear those apart and defuse the scandal in the process.
So the Republicans need to be careful about believing any claim that sounds too good to be true and they need to not adopt anyone's complaints until there is solid proof.
T-Rav, Who doesn't want to spend more time with their families? ;)
In all seriousness, everyone knows he was forced out. But we should take their attempt to play it both ways and throw it back at them. We should point out that Obama forced him out and laugh about it, but we should simultaneously point out that we want action and having some guy retire as he had already planned isn't action.
tryanmax, The Republicans are the enemies.
Bev, That does sound discriminatory!
Not to mention, what if you don't have family? "I want to spend more time with my non-existent family."
This sounds vaguely anti-orphan to me!
"Conservamagic": does that come with the Koch checks? :)
I hate Eric Holder. I have been hating him for quite a while now, but my loathing has gotten a new coat of paint.
I disdain TOTUS, with hate on the side.
I am (n sarc) SHOCKED that this stuff is getting play in the MSM.
The other day g'pa had MSNBC on by accident and the guy on there was excusing the administration out the wazoo. I went in and asked him why he was watching the guys who LIKE TOTUS, and he changed the channel.
(he still asks "how did Bam-Bam get elected")
Anyway, I was expecting the MSM to keep carrying TOTUS's water... so the coverage is surprising. in a nice way.
rlaWTX, I've been debating why this got play in the media. I think there are several possibilities:
1. They are just sick of being mistreated by Obama and this is payback. (20% chance)
2. They know that the conservative media will pick this up and they can't keep getting scooped by the conservative media and maintain their credibility. (10% chance)
3. They are tired of doing nothing but waiting for the next Republican President before they can turn on the scandal machine again. (10% chance)
4. This was an accident. They thought they could have some fun and blast the IRS in a meaningless way, and they started the feeding frenzy by accident and before they knew it went much higher up the administration than they expected. (60% chance)
5. They are like lazy sharks and when they smell easy blood in the water, they go for it. (90% chance)
That's my guess.
Andrew - I am torn between...well, all of the above. Most likely they took a direct hit with the AP secret subpoena thing and now smell the blood. And yes, it was not a warrant, it was a subpoena that the DOJ decided it was not necessary "for national security reasons" to serve to the AP before tapping their phones.
Oh, and it other news...Harry Reid announced that his neice is a lesbian. 'Kay Harry. Now about those Romney tax returns...
"Not to mention, what if you don't have family? "I want to spend more time with my non-existent family."
It is anti-orphan, anti-adoptee (maybe) and certainly anti-single and lovin' it!
But, it can be slightly altered to be "I want to spend more time MAKING a family" or for the adopted ones "I want to spend more time FINDING my family". Jay Carney can work with that, I'm sure of it.
Bev, This is a great time to dump all the dirty laundry you have, with the media busy.
Congressman X to empty room: "Hey... I may have robbed a church to fund my re-election campaign!"
On the reasons, I suspect it's a little of each, but I think the biggest thing is really that this is a ready-made, easy scandal with an IG report showing wrong-doing of a political nature.
I'm going to have to look into the AP scandal, because that one remains a bit of a mystery to me still.
Bev, LOL! Bravo on both counts! I am going to laugh my butt off if anyone ever resigns for those reasons! I especially like "finding my family."
I didn't know Canada had astronauts.
Not only that, but the entire International Space Station is merely an expensive accessory to the Canadian manipulator arm.
Andrew, I think I was misunderstood. No, I'm not seeing timidness on 501(c)4-Gate, AP-Gate, and some of that momentum is even spilling over to Benghazi-Gate. In fact, I just got back from the Dr.s where CNN was on in the lobby and they were talking about all three at once! (No word on Red-Line-Gate.) But they are still being careful about adding the next log to the fire which would be Audit-Gate.
K, Are you suggesting our whole country is merely an accessory to Canada? ;)
tryanmax, It's interesting you should say that because I noticed that the IRS thing seems to have got the MSM taking another look at Benghazi. It's still tentative and it's more "huh... there sure are a lot of scandals here", but it's more than there was.
The first mention I saw of the audit issue was last night from ABC. I would say to give that one a couple days to see if people follow up on it. That one's the hardest to prove at the moment, so it will take more time before the MSM decides to delve into it.
They are taking another look at the "there that might actually BE there" of Benghazi because the WH just dropped a load of emails that actually directly contradict the "We just changed a two words, but didn't really have anything else to do with that talking points memo. It was some low level person at State or the CIA, but definitely not the WH" stuff that they've been feeding everyone for the last few months.
Oh, and poor Obama is "longing to go all Bulworth" (as in the movie) and just tell the truth without caring what the consequences are. But he has to lie for "practical reasons". I swear he said that. Okay, he didn't say "lie" exactly, but that is pretty much what he meant, of he is not lying about that too...
I thought Canada was our HAT?!? Those evil, conniving Canadians. infiltrating OUR space program with musicians! I knew it. They may look just like Americans and sound like Americans, but they have a better sense of humor...that's how you can tell. that and the occasional "Eh?!" and their love of hockey borders on psychotic.
BTW, Obama jsut gave a press conference where he stated that it is okay to tap reporters' phones as long as it for "national security" and he had no idea it was happening...
This is from a comment on HuffPo:
“At no time was the Obama administration aware of what the Obama administration was doing.”
In other words, "When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal."
Hey, does anybody know what the Left Hand is doing?
I am over here. Who are you?
Bev and tryanmax, Didn't Nixon say all these same things too? Obama might want to change scripts before he says, "I... uh, am not a. . . um, crook."
Obama:
"Let me be perfectly clear... uh... I, uh... only found out that I was a crook, umm... when I turned on the news today and, uh, saw that I was a crook. I'm, uh, also shocked, SHOCKED, that, um... GAMBLING is going on here!"
Michelle Bachmann floated the "impeachment" word because she's an idiot. Fortunately, nobody really listens to her since she decided vaccines cause plague black herpes. But seriously, can these people stop trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?
Backthrow, LOL! I could see him saying, "I was not aware that I was a crook."
I think the Ben Gauzee (Wasn't that Hillary's friend?) focus on the emails is wrong. As a military dude, the question that the Repubs should be asking is: (Shades of "A Few Good Men") "Who gave the 'stand-down' order?! You, Leon Panettea? You Col. Ham? You CJCS Dempsey?! YOU MR. PRESIDENT?!"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Obama state that he gave 3 clear orders as soon as he heard about the attack? One of them being 'do everything possible to protect those people?' If he actually gave that order to Panetta and Dempsey as he claimed he did, then one of them disobeyed a direct order from the CINC by giving the stand down order, thu effectively over-ruling the President's order. Ummm....you just don't do that in the military. My understanding is only the President could have remanded his own order, or given Panetta and/or Dempsey the authority to over-ride his own order. Which is probably what happened. After being appraised of the attack, he probably told them to handle it the best way they could.
Which directly contradicts his claim of ordering them to do whatever it took to protect those people.
So...once again, he abdicated his responsibilities as CINC of our Armed Forces, and let subordinates make the tough calls. Real brave leader we got there.
Patriot, I think Ben Gauzee is from the Ehn Array, so it's doubtful that he's Hillary's friend.
Here it is:
"I can tell you, as I’ve said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we’re going to investigate exactly what happened so that it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice."
....and I found out about it the same time you did. When I heard about it on the news. What, you think I've got an in on what's going on in this administration?
Patriot, Honestly, you'll never make that stick with the public. They aren't going to see a contradiction there and they aren't going to care because they are practical and they understand that sometimes you just can't do anything about a shitty situation. That's the problem with Benghazi -- it all hinges on technicalities, on "I would have used a different word," and on political spin. And it happened in a situation where the public is willing to grant a great deal of leeway.
Moreover, it's been so politicized that the public will see it as a witch hunt... if they even care at all.
Here's how i think it went down. They told Obama...he told them to take care of it and then didn't think about it anymore until it hit the fan. Panetta makes the call and gives a stand-down order to CGAFRICOM Ham, who says he has assets ready to roll. Panetta, after talking with Hillary (didn't they work together in the past somewhere?!) tells Ham to stand down. Ham, being a good military commander, argues with Panetta that his people can go...NOW....Panetta denies it. Ham makes a non-PC comment to Panetta (basically, you've just killed those people) and Panetta asks for his resignation. He might have even got on the phone with Ham's second in command and told him that he just relieved Ham of duty and he is now in charge, and no military assets will be deployed.
Sounds like a cheap B movie plot doesn't it?
Andrew.....I agree. Makes the blood boil. Someone should ask rhetorically...."What would you have done if that was your husband, son, brother, father on that roof protecting those lives? Would you have done everything possible to provide help or accept that it's part of the risk in that part of the world?"
And of course, think of the political fallout!!
Leno, who's much more fair about these things than most of his late-night colleagues, had a funny line: "A lot of people are starting to compare Obama to Nixon, which is really unfair. Nixon had 5% unemployment."
T-Rav, That's a horrible sign for Obama is the comedians are actually talking about this... after remaining completely silent for five years.
Patriot, It is frustrating, but it's just not a good scandal except as an add-on to all the other stuff.
Bev, It looks like they are backing off the cloak room thing. Justice didn't tap the cloak room. What the guy now says he meant was that the reporters could have been talking to Congressmen who were in the cloak room at the time the phone conversation took place. HUGE difference.
Andrew - Well, that's good. At least they weren't bugging Congress.
Speaking of comedians, Jon Stewart ripped Obama a new one too. And surprises of surprised, so did Rachel Maddow. I guess when you screw with the press, they take it personally. I keep reading stuff from the MSM about how badly the Obama Administration has been treating the them. Boo-hoo. If that was so, then why are they waiting until NOW to say something.
BTW, if they were trying to find a leak in the Gov't, why didn't they bug every government official and employee to find the leak?
BTW, I bet the ratings of the shows where they are beating up on Obama et al. will go up...
Andrew, well maybe. Like I said, Leno's tried a bit more than most to be even-handed with his barbs. Now if Letterman or Fallon says something like this, I really will be paying attention.
Bev, As I understand it, what they did was they got the phone records from the phones the reporters use in the main gallery. So it was focused on the reporters, but it was in the Capitol. Either way, they shouldn't have been doing it.
Yeah, I'll bet the rating start to go up if they make fun of Obama. I guess we'll see.
T-Rav, You never know, because humor has a way of doing the unexpected. But yeah, we'll see if it spreads.
Andrew - I hold out hope, but I remember commenting in early in 2009 about the comedians were taking on Obama like any other President...then 2009 passed, 2010, 2011, 2012 with nothing...so I could be wrong. BUT, when the AP bugging story broke, there was noticeable shift. It was fine to go after the "enemies" of Obama until THEY became the enemy.
Bev, I am hopeful, but as you say, we have lots of reason to doubt. This is where having lots of conservative (or non-aligned) comics would help us a lot because it would force these other guys to get with the program or leave them in the dust.
P.S. I agree too that the idea that they are the enemy is probably a real shock and will push this issue much further than it ever would have otherwise.
"Really, what more could happen this week?"
SHUT! UP!
You'll jinx us!
Yeah, I'm thinking Document Dump Friday ain't gonna be so overlooked this week.
tryanmax, Yep. LOL!
Speaking of Obama's bad week continuing, his governance by executive order is falling apart all around him as his "recess" appointees are now in danger because the courts have said it takes and "end of session" rather than just a few days off.
It looks like you can't bypass Congress after all.
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