Part 1: Foreign Affairs

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, between the pressures of my academic pursuits coupled with the chaos of the political landscape…I became both overwhelmed and disgusted and began to question whether I’d ever return to these pages again. But after, thankfully, having a chance to (briefly) catch my breath; I realize that what’s at stake is too important to silence my own voice. However, due to the magnitude of issues facing Our Country both here and abroad, this is going to be a two-part series.

In this installment I’ll cover Foreign Affairs, including: The attack on the US consulate in Libya and what was known by whom and when, the State Department’s continued denial of any “talks” with Egypt to negotiate the release of the, “Blind Cleric,” The US State Departments Rules of Engagement (ROE) and the part that they played in the Libyan tragedy, and finally, Iran’s nuclear program.

Part 2 will delve into the Domestic Matters causing unrest here on our own soil. We’ll begin with illustrating the “campaigner-in-chief’s” complete lack of leadership as evidenced by his response to learning of the tragedy that occurred at the Libyan Embassy (hint: it involves an Air Force 1 flight to Vegas and a political rally/fund-raiser), the continued cover-up of the Fast and Furious fiasco and the latest high-ranking official involved who just resigned today,  the egregious conflict of interest when the Puppeteer, himself, george soros’s shell company, SCYTL, was approved to tally the results of the overseas votes. And the absolutely appalling lawsuit brought by the obama administration attempting to restrict our Military personnel from voting in the 2012 election. I’ll explain what America’s MOST recent credit downgrade will mean for the Dollar and the implications and potential for abuse built into the NDAA. Lets get into it.

Middle East-Libyan President admits it was orchestrated.

American diplomats were warned of possible violent unrest in Benghazi three days before the killings of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three members of his team, Libyan security officials say.

The claim came as the country's interim President, Mohammed el-Megarif, said his government had information that the attack on the US consulate had been planned by an Islamist group with links to al-Qa'ida and with foreigners taking part.

However, the American ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, insisted that the killings had resulted from a demonstration against a film about the Prophet Mohamed, replicating protests in Cairo, which had been "hijacked" and got out of control.

The Independent has reported diplomatic sources who said that the threat of an attack against US interests in the region was known to the US administration 48 hours before it took place. The alert was issued by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but not made public. A State Department spokesman maintained: "We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the US Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent."

But President Megarif told the American station National Public Radio: "We firmly believe that this was a pre-calculated, pre-planned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the US Consulate. A few of those who joined in were foreigners who had entered Libya from different directions, some of them definitely from Mali and Algeria."

A senior official of the biggest militia in Benghazi, the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he had warned US diplomats of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Benghazi three days before the attack. "The situation is frightening, it scares us," he said he had stressed during the meeting. Mr. Stevens had been back in Libya for only a short time before US security officials decided it would be safe to make the journey to Benghazi during the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The British consulate in the city was shut after an ambush of a convoy carrying Dominic Asquith, the UK ambassador, in which his bodyguard were injured. The UN and International Committee of the Red Cross offices had been bombed and there had been a spate of political assassinations.

However, Ms. Rice denied the Benghazi attack was pre-planned. She said: "Our current best assessment... is that... it was a spontaneous – not a premeditated – response to what had transpired in Cairo. "A small number of people came to the consulate. It seems to have been hijacked by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons... And it then evolved from there." Mr. Stevens was separated from his protection team during the attack. He was found, it is thought unconscious, by locals who took him to hospital where, doctors said, he died from smoke inhalation.

The Americans who escaped from the consulate made their way to a "safe house" at a supposedly secret location. That, too, came under mortar fire. Captain Fathi al-Obeidi, who had taken an eight-strong American rescue team that had arrived from Tripoli to the safe house, said "I don't know how they found the place to carry out the attack. It was planned, the accuracy with which the mortars hit us was too good for any ordinary revolutionaries." On Sunday, the head of Libya's national congress said about 50 people had been arrested in connection with the attack on the US consulate, though the interior ministry put the figure far lower.

The secret talks to release the “Blind Cleric,” the mastermind behind the World Trade Center bombings in 1993.

After more than 20 years out of commission in a U.S. prison, the “Blind Sheikh” is suddenly back in the news amid demands from Egypt that he be released and a report by TheBlaze that the Obama Administration may be considering engaging in a dialog about a possible relocation of the radical Islamist cleric.

Yesterday evening, the Blaze reported based on sources close to the Obama Administration that the State Department has discussed internally whether to engage in talks to transfer custody of “The Blind Sheikh,” aka the radical Islamist cleric named Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted after the World Trade Center attack in 1993 on charges of plotting a campaign of assassinations and bombings.

Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison, has been described as the “Pope of Jihad,“ though his own followers refer to him as the ”Emir of Jihad,” according to prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, the former federal prosecutor  who was the lead prosecutor in the Blind Sheikh case.

Below is a condensed timeline of the clerics movements since 1989:

November 1989: Al Qaeda Leader

Rahman assumes control of the international jihadists’ arm of Al Qaeda following the assassination of his former mentor, Abdullah Azam. Some suspect Osama bin Laden himself of orchestrating this assassination and subsequent shift of power, in order to consolidate power over Al Qaeda to himself.

July 1990: Journey to the United States

Rahman travels to the United States on a CIA-approved visa. He rapidly assumes control of Al Qaeda’s resources in the United States. Peter Lance describes Rahman’s impact on American homegrown terrorism:

“Prior to that time—1988, ’89—terrorism for all intents and purposes didn’t exist in the United States,” says Corrigan, the retired JTTF investigator. “But Abdel Rahman’s arrival in 1990 really stoked the flames of terrorism in this country. This was a major-league ball player in what at the time was a minor-league ball park. He was . . . looked up to worldwide. A mentor to bin Laden, he was involved with the MAK over in Pakistan.” In Corrigan’s view, the arrival of the blind Sheikh was “a real coup for the local crew members like Shalabi, Nosair, Abouhalima and Ayyad.”

Before long, Rahman was preaching at three separate mosques: the al Farooq at Atlantic Avenue; the Abu Bakr on Foster Avenue in Brooklyn — a mosque his radical followers soon took over — and the dingy Al-Salaam (Mosque of Peace), located on the third floor of a Jersey City building above a cell-phone store.

Shalabi, whose help Ali Mohamed sought before his Afghan war leave, welcomed the Sheikh with open arms, even installing him in a Brooklyn apartment.

November 17, 1990: Visa revoked

The State Department catches up with Rahman, revoking his tourist visa.

April 1991: Permanent Resident

Rahman is granted “permanent resident” status in the United States. The State Department reacts with alarm, because Rahman is on a terrorist watch list. They attempt to revoke his permanent resident status.

March 6, 1992: Green card revoked

Rahman is allowed to reenter the United States to appeal the decision to revoke his permanent resident status. He fails on the appeal, and his card is revoked. Following this setback, he applies for political asylum in the United States. Thanks to what McCarthy describes as a comedy of errors on the part of the United States immigration authorities surrounding Rahman’s status, he manages to maintain his residence in the United States in spite of being arguably the leading terrorist in the country for several years. The 911 commission later details this comedy of errors in full after a substantial investigation.

February 26, 1993: World Trade Center Bombed

In the first of many attempts to destroy the World Trade Center, a truck bomb is detonated below the base of the North tower of the World Trade Center. It fails to bring the structure down, but kills six people and wounds thousands. Four people are immediately arrested afterwards in connection with the bombing. They are all followers of Rahman’s.

June 24, 1993: Rahman Arrested in United States

The Blind Sheikh and his co-conspirators are arrested for “seditious conspiracy,” or making war against the United States, on charges ranging from the World Trade Center bombing to an unrealized plot to bomb major landmarks and assassinate major individuals in New York City. The indictment covers virtually his entire range of activities from the late 1980′s through 1993. McCarthy, the prosecutor of the case, explains:

What happened was, after the bombing, we immediately arrested four people who were involved in just the bombing, and then I took over the investigation, because we also found out that the same cell was planning a series of simultaneous attacks against New York City landmarks. We investigated that for the ensuing three months or so, eventually including him. He was arrested in the summer 1993, even though he wasn’t tried until January or October of 1995.

We wanted to do a case that told the historical story of the cell. We arrested him and indicted him in 1993 – it was a charge for seditious conspiracy, which is waging war against the United States, and it went from the late 1980s until we arrested them in the summer of ‘93, and it included everything including the training that went before the trade center bombing, the trade center bombing, and the landmark bombings.

October 1, 1995: Convicted

Omar Abdel Rahman is convicted of seditious conspiracy, as well as numerous other crimes, including attempting to mastermind the assassination of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His plot to blow up major landmarks, including the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the George Washington Bridge is foiled. He is sent to serve out a life sentence at the Butner Federal Medical Center, at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner. His terrorist network in the United States is crippled.

May 26, 1998: The Fatwa That Brought Down the Twin Towers

At a press conference hosted by Al Qaeda, a note smuggled out of Rahman’s jail cell is read to a gathering of top Al Qaeda leaders, and journalists. The note reads as follows, according to New York Magazine:

A fatwa of the captive Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman … “To all Muslims everywhere: Destroy their countries. Tear them to pieces. Destroy their economies, burn their corporations, destroy their businesses, sink their ships, and bring down their airplanes. Kill them in the sea, on land, and in the air.”

---Your brother Abdel Rahman, from inside American prisons

September 11, 2001

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapse after being hit by two airplanes hijacked by members of Al Qaeda. Subsequent analysis explains that the theological justification for the attacks was provided by Rahman’s fatwa three years earlier. Osama Bin Laden himself makes this argument.

State Department’s ROE “Rules of Engagement” that declared “no ammunition” edict for the prohibition of ammunition for the Military personnel guarding the Libyan Embassy.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Fox News military analyst Colonel David Hunt laid the blame for the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans at the Benghazi, Libya American mission on Hillary Clinton and the State Department:

“The State Department just allowed our guys to get killed. If you approve no bullets in guns for the mission security guards and an outhouse for a mission, you’re inviting it.”

Earlier, on Howie Carr's radio show Thursday, Colonel Hunt said that the American mission at Benghazi "was like a cardboard building, there wasn't even bullet proof glass." In addition, Hunt said the security guards inside the mission didn't have bullets:

Howie Carr: They weren't allowed to have bullets, is that correct?

Colonel Hunt: That's true. They were private security. The rules of engagement were ridiculous.

Hunt told Breitbart News that the new State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, approved and signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton since the 2011 fall of Khadafi's regime, severely compromised the safety and security of murdered Ambassador Stevens and all American diplomatic staff in Libya. He also stated that the decision not to staff Benghazi with Marines was made by Secretary of State Clinton when she attached her signature to the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya document. Breitbart News has subsequently learned that under those rules of engagement, Secretary Clinton prohibited Marines from providing security at any American diplomatic installation in Libya.

Hunt went on to say, "the rules of engagement have been changing drastically over the last 10 years. . . The reason the surge in Iraq worked was we had another 40,000 soldiers and the rules of engagement were changed to allow our guys to shoot. What’s happened in Libya is the final straw of political correctness. We allowed a contractor to hire local nationals as security guards, but said they can't have bullets. This was all part of the point of not having a high profile in Libya."
According to Hunt, the debacle at the American mission in Benghazi is directly the result of Obama's new policies. "The policy of the Obama administration led to this," he said.

"It was the policy of the Obama administration to have a low profile in Libya. That's why the rules of engagement were approved by the Secretary of State to have no Marines at Benghazi, and to have an American contractor hire Libyan nationals to provide security there. The rules were they couldn't have ammunition."

"Obama may not have known the details of the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, but his Chief of Staff and National Security Advisor would have. The Secretary of State absolutely would have."

"The Department of State Security are the people in charge of diplomatic security. They enforce the rules of engagement, which are set at Clinton’s level at State. The Department of Defense was told we’re not going to have Marines at Benghazi. Whether it goes higher than the Secretary of State to the President, I don't know."

Hunt added that the rules of engagement specific to each country or military situation are drawn up by State Department lawyers and approved by the chain of command. "There should be a document with Hillary’s signature and the Secretary of Defense's specific to Libya. It was signed after Khadafi fell from power. You'll have to ask the State Department to get the document. They might claim it's classified, but it shouldn't be."

"The State Department has rules of engagement documents that are different for different countries. In our embassies in London and Paris, for instance, it’s always a mystery if the Marines at the embassies have ammunition in their weapons."

Hunt compared the security at the Benghazi mission with security at the recent RNC and DNC.

"The recent political conventions had more security than Ambassador Stevens had in Benghazi. If you carried a sharp stick within a mile of the conventions at Tampa or Charlotte you got arrested, yet you don't give bullets to the guards of our Ambassador to Libya. It wouldn't surprise me if Al-Qaeda bought off some of the Libyan nationals hired to guard our ambassador at Benghazi."
Ambassador Stevens was based at the American embassy in Tripoli. According to a spokesperson at the State Department, he would visit the mission at Benghazi sporadically. No one at the State Department has yet answered this key question:

Why on the anniversary of 9-11 was he at the low security mission in Benghazi when it would obviously have been more prudent for him to have been at the presumably more secure embassy in Tripoli?

At her daily press briefing on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland offered a description of the defenses at the Benghazi mission that appeared to be in conflict with other press reports. In contrast to some reports that said security within the perimeter of the mission was provided by Libyan nationals, Nuland stated that they provided security on the perimeter and that "there was a robust American security presence inside the compound."

QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit more about the security that was at the Embassy? It seems that for an area such as Benghazi, where there was a lot of instability, there were very few guards there. And can you talk about whether the U.S. asked Libya, the Libyan Government, earlier in the week for extra security precaution and whether that – extra security precautions or security personnel and whether that request was fulfilled? It does seem though that there were very few security personnel at this location.

MS. NULAND: I’m going to reject that, Elise. Let me tell you what I can about the security at our mission in Benghazi. It did include a local Libyan guard force around the outer perimeter. This is the way we work in all of our missions all around the world, that the outer perimeter is the responsibility of the host government. There was obviously a physical perimeter barrier, a wall. And then there was a robust American security presence inside the compound. This is absolutely consistent with what we have done at a number of missions similar to Benghazi around the world.

Ms. Nuland, however, failed to elaborate on the specifics or size of the "robust American security" within the perimeter of the mission. Later in her news briefing, she addressed the State Department reasoning for failing to have Marines stationed at Benghazi:

MS. NULAND: There were not marines at this mission.

QUESTION: Why not?

MS. NULAND: They – we have a number of posts around the world. We have – there are embassies without marines, there are other consulates of this type without marines. We make a decision based on the local conditions as to whether that makes sense, but this posture that we had, which was external security by the Libyans and then a strong U.S. security presence – but it didn’t include that particular contingent of Americans – inside, in a number of other missions that look a lot like Benghazi.

QUESTION: Is that for marines coming generally from the mission itself, or does the State Department say, you know, the situation’s really bad right now in this particular section of the world, perhaps we should have marines based here.

MS. NULAND: It’s not a matter of marines necessarily being a qualitatively different way of securing. There are many other ways to secure that are equivalent, too. It depends on the circumstances and it is different in every part of the world, and we evaluate it along with our friends at the Defense Department and other agencies individually, per mission.

Breitbart News attempted to secure a copy of the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, but officials at the State Department stonewalled them, as this email correspondence from Friday reveals:

To [State Department Spokesperson]:

(A) Status of my document request for the State Department rules of engagement for Libya?

(B) Can you help me find answers to these two questions:
1. Who provided security inside the Benghazi mission at the time of the 9-11-12 attack, how were they armed, and how many of them were there?
2. Who provided security on the perimeter of the Benghazi mission at the time of the 9-11-12 attack, how were they armed, and how many of them were there?

Michael Patrick Leahy
Breitbart News Contributor

Here is the official response from that State Department spokesperson:                                                            
                                                                                                                                                       

Michael - I do not yet have more information on the rules of engagement document, which as discussed last night, might require a FOIA request. I will let you know as soon as I receive feedback. However, and this also applies to your two follow up questions, we do not discuss security details for the safety of our missions. The two questions below are addressed to the fullest extent possible in both briefings I sent you last night.
[State Department Spokesperson]

On Friday, Breitbart News filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department to secure a copy of the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya.

Look for the State Department to continue to stonewall this request, and resist release of the document until after the election. Its contents will be just too damaging. In effect, the country will be able to see Hillary Clinton's signature on the document that served as Ambassador Chris Stevens's death warrant.

Iran’s nuclear program is directly threatening Israel and it’s an obvious fact that Israel needs to strike first. However, if it happens before the election, obama is assured a 2nd term. Historically, voters stick with the incumbent during times of war...he's manufacturing ALL OF THIS!!

Iran says its nuclear program is designed chiefly to generate electricity and does not have a military component. But several Western countries, including the US, UK and Canada, fear Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and have imposed increasingly strict sanctions, including ones to block Iran's oil exports.

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency said his organization has "serious concerns" that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work. Israel has indicated it is considering a unilateral, pre-emptive strike on Iran to set back the program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran would be on the brink of nuclear weapons capability in six to seven months, adding new urgency to his demand that President Barack Obama set a clear "red line" for Tehran in what could deepen the worst U.S.-Israeli rift in decades.

Taking his case to the American public, Netanyahu said in U.S. television interviews that by mid-2013, Iran would be 90 percent of the way toward enough enriched uranium for a bomb. He urged the United States to spell out limits that Tehran must not cross or else face military action - something Obama has refused to do.

"You have to place that red line before them now, before it's too late," Netanyahu told NBC's "Meet the Press" program, saying that such a U.S. move could reduce the chances of having to attack Iran's nuclear sites.

The unusually public dispute - coupled with Obama's decision not to meet with Netanyahu later this month - has exposed a deep U.S.-Israeli divide and stepped up pressure on the U.S. leader in the final stretch of a tight presidential election campaign.

Meanwhile, Iran launched a submarine and a destroyer into the Gulf from Bandar Abbas port on Tuesday at the same time as U.S. and allied navies held exercises in the same waters to practice keeping oil-shipping lanes open.

Tehran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a route for oil exports from the Gulf, if Iranian nuclear sites are attacked by Israel, which believes Tehran is trying to develop an atomic bomb.

The United States, Britain, France and a number of Middle Eastern states are conducting a naval exercise in the Gulf this week, focusing on how to clear mines that Tehran or guerilla groups might deploy to disrupt tanker traffic.

Iran's refitted Tareq-901 submarine and Sahand destroyer were launched on the direct orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the official IRNA news agency reported.

On the other side of the country, Khamenei visited the northern coastal city of Nowshahr on Tuesday to watch naval cadets practice planting mines, freeing hijacked ships, destroying enemy vessels and jumping from helicopters, his official website said.

"The armed forces must reach capabilities such that no one can attack the strong fence of the country and the dear people of Iran," Khamenei told army commanders, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.

Iran's Tareq-class submarines are diesel-electric boats that were originally built in Russia in the early 1990s, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-profit organization that focuses on security affairs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Tehran was close to being able to build a nuclear bomb, fuelling speculation about an Israeli strike. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

Publicly, Iranian military officials have sounded relaxed about the U.S. naval exercise.

"This exercise is a defensive exercise and we don't perceive any threats from it," Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told local media.

"We are not conducting exercises in response."

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National Defense Resourceses Preparedness Act

This is it folks, the last desperate acts of a desperate "man." WE MUST GET OUT AND VOTE THIS COMING NOVEMBER.

Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness | The White House www.whitehouse.gov




VOTE THE BUM OUT IN 2012...GET OUT AND VOTE BECAUSE YOUR LIFE DOES DEPEND ON IT!!

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The (Gin) Grich Who Stole the Party

Newt Gingrich has been intricately involved in the Washington political machine for 32 YEARS!! Behind the scenes for the past twelve years, he has been a well-paid Washington D.C. lobbyist, and political consultant, cashing in on every penny of the ‘big bucks’ that his TWENTY YEAR!! career in Congress could bring him. Those 20 years alone make him a CAREER politician. Now, lets look at his record. The ACTUAL record:

Gingrich served twenty years in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1999. He became the House Minority Whip in 1989. He became Speaker of the House in 1995. That was the same year that he delivered a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Affairs in which he said, “The American challenge in leading the world is compounded by our Constitution…either  we are going to have to rethink our Constitution, or we are going to have to rethink our process of making decisions.” That is a  DIRECT quote!!

Newton L. Gingrich. Is how his name appears on the membership roster of the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR has been a training ground for progressives in America, and a beachhead for socialism, and the ‘New World Order’ in our country since 1921. The CFR was founded and funded by east coast bankers, primarily by J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, with help from influential Europeans, following America’s refusal to join the League of Nations in 1935. Its first mission was to condition and prepare the United States for full membership in the United Nations (enough said??). Today, the CFR advocates for us to surrender even more of our national sovereignty, and the implementation of world government (o’bumbler’s DREAM). The progressive members of the CFR are globalists and internationalists. Newt Gingrich has been a member of the CFR since 1990!!!

Back in 1979 when Newt Gingrich was still a freshman Congressman from Georgia, he helped the worst president in history Jimmy Carter (also a member of the CFR) to establish the Department of Education that gave the American people Federal control over the education of their children. In 1989 Newt Gingrich became the House Minority Whip. In 1995, Newt became the Speaker of the House. In 1996, under Newt’s leadership as Speaker of the House, Congress passed the largest single spending increase to date on education in U.S. History, $3.5 billion dollars to churn out a pack of illiterates.

He presently claims that he “believes” in ‘small government’, but just last year he was touring the country with President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and Al Sharpton, promoting Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ education policies, which hand out even more Federal money and require even more Federal regulations over local school districts. Same song, different band. More HAND-OUTs and More REGULATION. It’s been working sooo well for us so far, right?

In 1999, he resigned from "public" office over the disastrous midterm elections, when Republicans lost five congressional seats, which, aside from the 2010 midterms, was the worst loss to date in U.S. history for a Party not in control of the White House. At the same time Newt was involved in one of many extra-marital affairs, and a flap over a controversial book deal.

His last freedom index score, taken in 1999 in the 105th Congress, when he was the Speaker of the House, was an abysmal 50%! The Freedom Index is an evaluation of a Congressman’s record, based on the U.S. Constitution, and compiled by the John Birch Society. The combined budgets of the 95 major programs that Newt’s “Contract with America” promised to eliminate, in reality have increased by 13%... over the years The then Republican controlled Congress continued to approve discretionary spending that exceeded even Bill Clinton’s requests.

During his lucrative career as a well paid Washington DC lobbyist, and political consultant, the former Speaker's company accepted between $1.6 and 1.8 million dollars from Freddie Mac to tidy up its tarnished public image and to remarket the housing lender to a growingly skeptical Congress, even as they were going broke by making bad loans. HE JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER…

Gingrich's firm was also paid over $300,000 by an ethanol lobby at about the same time that he was (cozying-up) making global warming commercials with Nancy Pelosi. He wasn't just helping Al Gore, he was actually padding his own pockets. While this might not be a conflict of interest (he was cleared by an “independent” ethics panel which Pelosi sat on-HA!!) it certainly looks like a breach of the public trust.

Politics aside, if you can't trust a man to be faithful to the vows here swore before God he'd hold true to his wife, how can you ever believe in the vows he repeats with his hand on the Bible to remain true to our nation on January 20th, 2013?

For more information on Gingrich, go here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2661574/posts

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The Disney Presidency

Where to begin, where to begin? The latest evidence of the Mickey Mouse Administration we have running the country into the ground is once again brimming over. Todays apocalyptic events alone include the final wave of US troops withdrawing from a still unstable Iraq, a war that cost us nearly 4,500 US Troops and a Trillion dollars.

Ironically this comes within a day of the bumbler declaring victory for the passage of the ONE TRILLION DOLLAR bill that would temporarily delay a federal government shut down until September. Let’s see here:

9 YEAR WAR=9 MONTH FEDERAL SPENDING BUDGET???

Huh?? Is this that “new” math, or was I just absent the day they reviewed under what article in the Constitution our fore-fathers imbued the right of extortion to our “elected” officials. And all of this skirted in one week before Christmas. Remarkable timing, that bumbler, huh?

All this as Cairo, Syria and Libya continue to erupt and further threaten the phantom flicker of tenuous “peace” in the region.

Lets get to it.

The last convoy of US troops to leave Iraq has entered Kuwait, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The final column of about 100 armored vehicles carrying 500 soldiers crossed the southern Iraqi desert overnight.

At the peak of the operation there were 170,000 US troops and more than 500 bases in Iraq.
Nearly 4,500 US soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died since the US-led campaign began in 2003. The operation has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion dollars.

US troops have trained Iraqi security forces which, if they somehow manage to stick together, can arguably contain the internal security situation, still stubbornly jammed at a level of violence which kills on average around 350 people every month.

But security has to be rooted in political stability, and that's only one of many challenges immediately facing Iraq.

Even as the final US troops were heading for the border, a political crisis was erupting in Baghdad, with deputies from Ayyad Allawi's Iraqiyya block pulling out of parliament.
There is turmoil in two mainly Sunni provinces, which want to declare themselves autonomous regions like the Kurds in the north. There's also a widespread conviction that with the Americans gone, Iranian influence will spread.

While most Iraqis believe it was high time for the Americans to go, many are deeply worried about the challenges that lie ahead.

I can not, for the life of me recall a time when American forces liberated a nation and didn’t maintain a some presence in the country. Typically this is done through the use of peace operations or a stay-behind-force. These arrangements are negotiated under a status-of-forces agreement or SOFA. A SOFA is an agreement that defines the legal position of a visiting military force deployed in the territory of a friendly state. Agreements delineating the status of visiting military forces may be bilateral or multilateral. Provisions pertaining to the status of visiting forces may be set forth in a separate agreement, or they may form a part of a more comprehensive agreement. These provisions describe how the authorities of a visiting force may control members of that force and the amenability of the force or its members to the local law or to the authority of local officials.

"Nobody here wants occupation. This withdrawal marks a new stage in Iraq's history," said Karim al-Rubaie, a Shiite shop owner in the southern city of Basra. But, he said, "the politicians who are running this country are just a group of thieves. These politicians will lead the country into sedition and civil war. Iraq now is like a weak prey among neighboring beasts."

In the morning, a bomb hidden under a pile of trash exploded on a street of spare car parts stores in a mainly Shiite district of eastern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four others. It was the latest in the near daily shootings and bombings — low-level but still deadly — that continue to bleed the country and that many fear will increase with the Americans gone.

Equally worrying, the resentments and bitterness between the Shiite majority and Sunni minority in the country of 31 million remain unhealed. The fear is that without the hand of American forces, the fragile attempts to get the two sides to work together could collapse and even turn to greater violence.

In an escalation of the rivalry, the main Sunni-backed political bloc on Sunday announced it was boycotting parliament to protest what they called Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's attempts to monopolize government positions — particularly those overseeing the powerful security forces. The bloc has complained of security forces' recent arrests of Sunnis that it says are "unjustified."

The Iraqiya bloc warned that it could take the further step of pulling its seven ministers out of al-Maliki's coalition government. "We are against the concentration of security powers in the hands of one person, that is the prime minister," said Sunni lawmaker Hamid al-Mutlaq, a member of the bloc.

In particular, the bloc was angered by the arrest of several bodyguards of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi several days ago on suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts. On Sunday, a senior security official said that judges investigating the bodyguards banned al-Hashimi from traveling outside of Iraq — a step that is likely to further anger the Iraqiya bloc, to which al-Hashimi belongs. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Sunnis have long feared domination by the country's Shiites, who vaulted to power after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein at the hands of the Americans. The rivalry was exacerbated by the years of sectarian killing.
The Iraqiya bloc narrowly won the most seats in last year's parliamentary election. But its leader Ayad Allawi was unable to become prime minister, outmaneuvered by al-Maliki, who kept the premier's post after cobbling together key support from Shiite parties.

That has left al-Maliki beholden to Shiite factions, including those led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militiamen were blamed for sectarian killings during the worst of Iraq's violence. Since forming his new government, al-Maliki has effectively controlled the Interior and Defense Ministries, which oversee the police and military, while conflicts between Sunni and Shiite politicians have delayed the appointment of permanent ministers.

Many on both sides of the sectarian divide also worry that neighboring Shiite-led powerhouse Iran will now increase its influence in their country. Al-Maliki's party and other Shiite blocs have close ties to Tehran. But even some in the Shiite public resent the idea of Iranian domination.

"I am afraid that this occupation will be replaced by indirect occupation by some neighboring countries," said Ali Rahim, a 40-year-old Shiite who works for the Electricity Ministry.

Omar Waadalla Younis, a senior at Mosul University, said at first he was happy to hear the last Americans were gone and thought the city government should hold celebrations in the streets. Then he thought of the possible threat from Iran. "Now that the Americans have left, Iraq is more vulnerable than before."
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And stateside, it’s fiscal déjà vu à la democrats, de novo. The Senate voted Saturday to, once again temporarily avert a Jan. 1 payroll tax increase and benefit cutoff for the long-time unemployed, forcing a reluctant President Bozo to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country.

With the still-reeling economy serving as a backdrop, the Senate’s 89-10 vote belied a tortuous battle between Democrats and Republicans that produced the compromise two-month extension of the expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits and forestalled cuts in doctors’ Medicare reimbursements.

It also capped a year of divided government marked by raucous partisan fights that tumbled to the brink of a first-ever U.S. default and three federal shutdowns, only to see eleventh-hour deals emerge. It also put the two sides on track to revisit the payroll tax cut early next year as the fights for control of the White House and Congress heat up.

However, House GOP leaders held a conference call Saturday with rank-and-file lawmakers in which participants said strong anger was expressed at the Senate for approving a bill that lasted just two months. No specific date was set for bringing the House back to town or for a vote, they said, injecting uncertainty into the next step. ****(Author’s Side Note) WHAT??? Didn’t we just go through this THREE TIMES already THIS YEAR??? Are they burning this money???

“You can’t have an economic recovery with this,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., of the uncertainty he said the temporary bill would create. “If the Senate is incapable of doing that, we don’t have to accept it.”

A House GOP aide said afterward, “Members are overwhelmingly disappointed in the Senate’s decision to just ‘kick the can down the road’ for two months. No announcement was made regarding the schedule or plans.”

By 67-32, senators gave final congressional approval to a separate $1 trillion bill financing the Pentagon and scores of other federal agencies through next September. That measure avoided a shuttering of government offices that otherwise would have occurred this weekend when temporary financing expired. ****1 TRILLION DOLLARS forestalls the current  crisis for ONLY 9 MONTHS!!

The tax legislation delivers tax cuts and jobless benefits that some Republicans opposed. It also represents a rebuff of Obama’s original demands for a yearlong payroll tax reduction for 160 million workers that was to be even deeper than this year’s cut, extended to employers and paid for by boosting taxes on the highest-earning Americans.

The measure’s $33 billion price tag will be paid for instead by raising fees that government-funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will charge to back new mortgages and/or refinancing, beginning next year. When fully phased in, those increases could cost a person with a $200,000 mortgage about $17 a month. BRILLIANT STRATEGY, continue to finance the USELESS federal government at the cost of further CRIPPLING THE ALREADY  DOA HOUSING MARKET.

Despite the changes, Obama praised the Senate for passing the bill and prodded the Republican-run House to give it final approval in a vote, which has been expected early next week. He exhorted lawmakers to extend the tax cuts and jobless aid for the entire year, saying it would be “inexcusable” not to.

“It should be a formality, and hopefully it’s done with as little drama as possible when they get back in January” from their holiday recess, he said.

The Senate adjourned for the year after its votes Saturday.

While Obama and Democrats used the fight to portray themselves as defenders of beleaguered middle- and lower-income people, ****The LARGEST subset of our population since OBO has taken office****Republicans used it to cast themselves as champions of job creation.

Headlining that was a provision they inserted forcing Obama to make a decision within two months on whether to allow construction of the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which is to deliver up to 700,000 barrels of oil daily from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The language requires him to issue the needed permit unless he declares the pipeline would not serve the national interest.

Unions have clamored for the thousands of jobs the project could create. Environmentalists have decried the huge amounts of energy it would take to extract the oil. Obama originally announced he was delaying a decision until 2013, which would have allowed him to avoid choosing between two Democratic constituencies before Election Day next November.

When the House inserted the language into its version of the payroll tax bill this month, Obama said he would “reject” the legislation if it retained the Keystone provision. He abandoned that stance this past week as GOP leaders said they would insist on keeping the Keystone language and the final deal jelled.

“The only thing standing between thousands of American workers and the good jobs this project will provide is a presidential decision,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

An administration official said Friday that Obama would almost surely refuse to grant the permit, a stance echoed Saturday by congressional Democrats.

“We feel we’re giving them the sleeves off a vest,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY. . REALLY, Chuck?? WHOSE VEST?

Democrats said when Congress revisits the issue of renewing the tax cuts and jobless benefits early next year, they would win the political battle because they would be viewed as protecting peoples’ household budgets.

Republicans, though, said they would once again focus the fight on jobs, with some predicting they would try adding provisions to repeal pollution curbs and other government regulations that they say make it harder for companies to hire people.

“There are lots of issues Republicans are interested in as job creators that will still be alive in March,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

The tax bill would renew this year’s 4.2 percent payroll tax through February, preventing the rate from bouncing back to its normal 6.2 percent on New Year’s Day. Obama pushed that cut through Congress a year ago as a way to help spark the economy by leaving more money in people’s pockets.

A $50,000-a-year wage earner would save about $170 during next year’s first two months under the bill the Senate approved Saturday. But if you account for the new taxes levied to off-set the governments revenue loss on that $170/year; it will cost the average citizen more than 4x’s as much.

Obama had proposed reducing the payroll tax employees pay to 3.1 percent next year. The levy is the chief source of revenue for Social Security.

For two more months, the tax measure would also continue current jobless benefits that provide a maximum 99 weeks of coverage for people who have been out of work the longest. Without any extension, the White House said, 2.5 million people would have lost coverage by the end of February.

The bill also prevents a 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors that might have induced some to stop treating the program’s elderly beneficiaries.

The spending legislation carries out budget cuts across government that Republicans won earlier this year and includes GOP provisions blocking energy efficiency and coal dust requirements. Democrats fought off Republican language that would have blocked limits on greenhouse gases and hazardous emissions from utility plants and other sources.
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Previous to this train-wreck of an administration, the last time the federal government shut down, a Democratic president tangled with a Republican Congress and movie lovers were praising the wonders of a film called Toy Story. Guess the year and the party.

Other things have also changed since November 1995. Back then, President Clinton had to deal with a completely Republican Congress; The bumbler still has a Democratic Senate. The number of federal employees has also dropped over the past 15 years, though overall pay is much higher. Here are the numbers:

Federal civilian employees (not including uniformed military)
1995: 2,943,000
2011: 2,780,220

Percentage of workforce employed by federal government
1995: 2.4%
2009: 2% (latest available)

Federal civilian payroll
1995: $118 billion
2009: $175 billion (latest available)

Federal spending
FY 1996: $1.6 trillion
FY 2011: $3.8 trillion

Budget deficit:
FY 1996: $107.4 billion
FY 2011: $1.6 trillion

Gross federal debt (end of fiscal year)
FY 1996: $5.2 trillion
FY 2011: $15.5 trillion

Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nov. 14, 1995: 4,871.81
Feb. 25, 2011: 12,130.45 (Sources: Census Bureau; White House Office of Management and Budget)
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The Mid-East

Cairo: Further unrest is seen in Cairo where Protesters have been stoning security forces in Cairo on the third day of unrest in the Egyptian capital over the military government. Ten people are now known to have been killed and hundreds injured since the trouble began on Friday. It has emerged that precious national archives were burnt when the Institute of Egypt was set alight.

The violence has overshadowed the first parliamentary elections since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. The latest unrest has highlighted divisions in Egyptian society, the BBC's Yolande Knell reported from the city. While some activists are angry at the army's reluctance to give up power, there are many people who support it as a stabilizing force during this difficult period of political transition, according to Knell.

The latest round of voting in the election for a new parliament passed off peacefully, with more gains for Islamist parties. Hundreds of protesters have camped out in the cold on the city's Tahrir Square. Shortly before dawn, soldiers advanced from the barriers they had erected on streets adjoining the square and the confrontations restarted. But this was not a repeat of the violence seen earlier when some protesters were beaten to the ground with sticks and shots were fired at them.

The Institute of Egypt was set on fire two days ago and the building is still smoldering.
It had housed national archives going back over two centuries and its paper archives have now been largely been destroyed. Some burnt papers can be seen on the streets
.
Egyptian television talk shows have focused on the loss of national heritage. In another development, an Egyptian natural gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan was attacked again on Sunday morning. Luckily, the line through North Sinai was already disabled so no fire broke out, a security source was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Syria: The Syrian authorities have responded to widespread anti-government protests with overwhelming military force. The protests pose the greatest challenge to four decades of Assad family rule in the country.

The protests have so far left 1,600 people dead, sent 10,000 fleeing to Turkey, and seen tens of thousands more injured or arrested.

Inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, the Syrian protests began in March with rallies calling for freedom in the southern border town of Deraa. But several people were killed when security forces opened fire on unarmed crowds. The unrest in Deraa quickly spiraled out of control, and then spread to other towns and cities. President Bashar al-Assad sent in tanks and troops to restore order, blaming "armed gangs and terrorists" for the unrest. Towns like Deraa, Homs and Douma were besieged for days. Hundreds were killed when snipers and tanks fired on unarmed protesters. Men were rounded up in night-time raids and electricity and communication lines were cut.

As the unrest spread to the north of the country, troops besieged the town of Jisr al-Shughour, where the government said 120 security personnel were killed. Fearing a military onslaught, more than 10,000 people fled to Turkey, where they remain in refugee camps.

However, the protests have not yet taken hold in the capital Damascus or the second largest city Aleppo, which are under heavy security guard. For months, protesters have been calling for democracy and freedom in what is one of the most repressive countries in the Arab world. Mr Assad has made some concessions and promised further reform, but has not once mentioned the word "democracy" in his public statements. Activists say that as long as people continue to be killed in the streets his promises count for very little.

Syria is a major player in the Middle East and any chaos here could cause domino effects in countries such as Lebanon and Israel, where it can mobilize powerful proxy groups, such as the militant Hezbollah and Hamas movements. It also has close ties with Shia power Iran - an arch-foe of the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia - which could potentially draw those powers into a dangerous Middle Eastern conflict.

Perhaps tellingly, the Arab League has remained silent on the issue of Syria - although it backed the Nato-led bombing campaign against Libya's Col Muammar Gaddafi in a bid to protect civilian lives there. The league has called for an end to the violence, but cited hesitation over any action because of "strategic and political considerations."

Russia, which has significant economic and military ties with Syria, has refused to back a Western-drafted UN Security Council resolution condemning the violence, concerned that it would pave the way for military intervention At the United Nations Security Council, Russia has repeatedly argued that its opposition to UN sanctions against Syria is consistent with a broader refusal to back outside interference in sovereign states, and an insistence that diplomacy is always preferable to coercion. That position has hardened in the last decade or so, following the West's interventions in Kosovo, Iraq and Libya.

Indeed, Nato's action in Libya is regularly cited by Russia as the main reason it blocked the UN resolution on Syria in October - precisely because, Moscow said, it feared the start of a slippery slope towards military action.

Libya: After four decades in power, Col Muammar Gaddafi was ousted when rebels took the capital Tripoli in August. Col Gaddafi and his family went on the run. On 31 October the former leader was captured and killed on the outskirts of Sirte. Eight months of civil war - and Nato's operation - had come to an end.

Three weeks later, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Libya's intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Sanussi, were captured trying to flee the country and now face trial in Libya. The National Transitional Council (NTC) led the revolt and is now recognized by the UN as Libya's legitimate ruling body.

Libya's uprising began in mid-February when, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, hundreds came out onto the streets of several towns and cities demanding the end of Col Gaddafi's rule. The authorities responded with violence, opening fire on protesters, as the rallies grew and spread across the country. The revolt soon evolved into an armed conflict pitting forces loyal to Col Gaddafi - based in Tripoli in the west - against rebel forces based in the eastern port city of Benghazi.

In March, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that authorized "all necessary measures" except troops on the ground in order to protect civilians.

Coalition operations were largely confined to air attacks, initially aimed at imposing a no-fly zone and later widened to include government targets. Following six months of fighting, rebel forces took Tripoli in late August, after gaining pockets of territory in the west.

Thousands of people poured out of their homes in celebration at the ousting of Col Gaddafi.

Several thousand people have been killed and many more have been injured in the conflict and Amnesty International has reported extensive human rights abuses by both sides. The UN believes at least 335,000 people have fled Libya since the beginning of the conflict, including at least 200,000 foreign nationals.

In the midst of all this, our “president” decided to escape to Hawaii where his family began their 17-day vacation ahead of him, last week. If WE THE PEOPLE don’t come together to vote him out this November, the next nation torn apart by revolution may very well be our own.



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