West Virginia Democrat Nick Rahall wants Holder to turn over the subpoenaed documents but is "not ready to go as far as contempt yet, no. Not yet."
Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana explained why he thinks Boehner, along with Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), are going along to get along.
With the other issues, the economy and everything else, I think they would like to focus on that. I don't think they're opposed to going ahead with the contempt citation; it's just that if we can get the Justice Department to move without having to move it, they would probably prefer that.
Americans would probably "prefer" that career politicians grow a spine and stand up to one of the most corrupt attorneys general in recent history and hold everyone responsible for the murders of innocent people accountable. Not gonna happen, according to an insider.
From Roll Call:
A GOP aide also warned against a racial backlash if Republicans are seen as unfairly targeting the first black attorney general, who is serving under the first black president. "Especially after Trayvon," the aide said, referring to slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
How about an attorney general targeting Hispanics? "The term Hispanic, as dominated [sic] by the Office of Management and Budget, is used in the United States for people with origins in Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica."
Over 300 Mexican citizens have been murdered by weapons trafficked by our own government, with "more to come" according to Holder's testimony. Many Mexican-Americans have relatives south of the border. Where is La Raza?
Bloggers, journalists, and investigators have chronicled this mess from the beginning. They've uncovered evidence leading first to the Department of Justice, then straight to the White House.
How about the three Os? Ogden, O'Reilly, and Obama.
In March 2009, Former Deputy Attorney-General David Ogden said, "The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels and Attorney General Eric Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan."
A September 2010 e-mail from ATF Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell to White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly showed an "arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up." The chart shows arrows leading from Arizona to destinations all over Mexico.
In March 2011, on the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, Sarah Brady met with Jay Carney to discuss the need for tougher gun control laws. The president joined them, and Mrs. Brady recalled him saying, "I just want you to know that we are working on it[.] ... We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar."
Agent Brian Terry died nine months after Obama's "under the radar" statement.
Issa has indicated that he will seek a contempt citation if Holder doesn't turn over the remaining documents by Memorial Day. We'll see. In the meantime, I suggest that both Democrats and Republicans read the following words from the Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society.
Of course there are many courageous individuals but they have no determining influence on public life.
Political and intellectual bureaucrats show depression, passivity and perplexity in their actions and in their statements and even more so in theoretical reflections to explain how realistic, reasonable as well as intellectually and even morally warranted it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice.
And decline in courage is ironically emphasized by occasional explosions of anger and inflexibility on the part of the same bureaucrats when dealing with weak governments and weak countries, not supported by anyone, or with currents which cannot offer any resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists.
Should one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?
Somebody needs to get on with it. Charge Holder with contempt now.
Read more M. Catharine Evans at Potter Williams Report.
]]>Politico reports that the party has qualified for 27 state ballots, evidencing a strong organizing effort, but that:
its complicated online nominating process had failed to generate sufficient interest to push any of the candidates who had declared an interest in its nomination over the threshold in its rules...
...under the rules that AE delegates ratified, the primary process would end today.
This third party group, which has roots in an earlier version called Unity08, and was once described by Tom Friedman of the New York Times as the iPod of politics that would "flatten the incumbents and let the people in," was aimed at taking a portion of the sleepy electoral middle ground, thus complicating the Republican effort to unseat the sitting President.
While the group was never out front about what many perceived to be a spoiler role on Obama's side, a previous American Thinker look at a few of its founders and backers would dispel any doubts, as would a report by WND's Aaron Klein, which found among other things that a number of Americans Elect figures have ties to Obama and other Democrats, including John Podesta and the Clintons.
The Americans Elect statement that their "primary process would end today" was in fact made by the group's Chief Executive Kahlil Byrd, the former communications director for Massachusetts Governor and Obama buddy Deval Patrick. Mr. Patrick happens to be one of 35 co-chairs of Obama's reelection campaign.
While there are no direct Axelrod fingerprints on this bunch of third-party-spoiler-wannabes, and, with the exception of chairman, former Obama supporter and major donor Peter Ackerman, its donor list is mostly undisclosed, it surely would have helped the Obama campaign if Americans Elect had covered the middle while Obama trolls his left flank for support.
A recent Daily Beast report on Mr. Ackerman's activities indicates that early donors like Ackerman are being repaid from new fundraising, in effect pulling their money out. Mr. Ackerman, who has a rather interesting history, as outlined in a January Bloomberg profile, has now begun talking of the longer term, looking toward 2016, and contending that "Americans Elect isn't a third party, it's a second process."
As for now, the group plans to "huddle," as the CNN blog describes it, confer "with its community," and emerge with its "next steps" on Thursday.
Forward, no doubt.
]]>Politicians of both parties have been planning to do what they all love to do best, spend other people's money using the fines collected from BP as the source. The widely publicized expectation is that they would eventually have about $20 billion in fines to split amongst themselves, based on the official government estimate of a total flow of 5 million barrels and a fine of $4,300 per barrel for criminal negligence.
BP has set aside $3.5 billion based on a more realistic estimate of no more than 3.2 million barrels at the civil maximum civil negligence fine of $1,100 per barrel. Based on the government's own "Fate of the Oil" report the total flow was 4,928,100 barrels of which 827,046 barrels were collected before entering the gulf and another 1,253,839 barrels were deemed "remaining" and were described by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco as "missing."
Maximizing the total flow subject to the fine is essential to maximizing the loot to spread around. But two years of dedicated searching have failed to turn up any hint of the over 1 million barrels of "missing oil," leading to the logical conclusion that the "missing" oil never flowed out of the well in the first place, as BP has long contended in court filings. The government has a financial and political interest in discrediting and intimidating witnesses, such as Mr. Mix, who are knowledgeable about the actual flow rate. Making him do a perp walk was just a part of their trial by media strategy given the weaknesses of their case in court.
But in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, his attorneys presented Exhibit A.
Mix's lawyers filed "Exhibit A," the complete recovered string of more than 100 text messages between Mix and a BP contractor hired to help analyze the flow of oil from BP's subsea Macondo well. The texts, running from May 13, 2010, about three weeks after the oil spill began, until August 20, 2011, cover such mundane topics as trips to California, borrowing each other's vehicles, setting up lunches and the results of a pet's surgery.
Another 200 of the deleted text messages are protected under a privilege claim by a different party to the litigation (likely his former employer BP). He has asked that they be allowed into evidence under seal.
Mix asked Milazzo to let him disclose that information to the court under a protective order, so that the judge and prosecutors can see that he was cooperating and never intended to destroy key evidence, but also so it remains under seal so the unnamed third party could also keep its privileged documents out of public view. [SNIP]
"If evidence emerges that exonerates Mix, however, it would be a major embarrassment to the government," said David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan and the former chief of the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section. "Today's developments underscore the need for the government to move forward with charges based on the oil spill and the worker deaths, rather than focusing on obstruction of justice charges that are not at the heart of the matter."
Now that Mr. Mix has survived being falsely arrested by the government, he becomes a desirable witness to testify before the House Natural Resources Committee which is seeking to learn the facts surrounding the spill and the associated offshore drilling moratorium. It was illegally implemented after midnight machinations by the White House during the exact time period in question. Mr. Mix likely has intimate knowledge related to some of the questions the committee has unsuccessfully tried to answer, particularly whether Steven Chu sabotaged BP's efforts to kill the well in May 2010. The committee could offer him immunity from prosecution by the government and whistleblower protection against BP to get to the truth and thereby start to get to the truth of the matter.
Once again we have seen the wisdom of the old adage "...and the truth shall set you free" (AKA John 8:32).
]]>My post of a few days back, "What it's like to be a conservative professor," sparked some of the most touching emails I've ever received. I had no idea what a chord the piece would strike with people across the country. Even more touching was how many people had to look me up on the internet to get my email address.
I wanted to clarify a few things about the piece, in case people took away the wrong idea:
If the next right never rises, it's game over for conservatives. Word to the wise. But thank you so much, all of you who wrote in to express your support, and please keep in touch. Conservative scholars united can never be defeated.
]]>Each side blamed the other for the attack in Khan Sheikhoun in northern Idlib province.
Some rebel and opposition sources put the death toll from the attack as high as 66.
Pro-government Addounia TV said gunmen had opened fire on the monitors, but did not mention casualties.
The monitor who spoke to Reuters said gunfire had erupted as a seven-man U.N. team toured Khan Sheikhoun, then a blast damaged one of the group's vehicles.
Ahmad Fawzi, international mediator Kofi Annan's spokesman, said the convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device.
"Three U.N. vehicles were damaged but no U.N. personnel were hurt in this explosion. The mission has sent a patrol team to the area to help to extract those U.N. military observers," he said in a statement.
Internet footage appeared to show a white vehicle like those used by monitors with a damaged front. In Damascus Major General Robert Mood, the head of the U.N. monitoring mission, told reporters the team was safe, without elaborating.
A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said government troops had opened fire on a funeral procession in the town, about 220 km (140 miles) north of Damascus.
The group said a total of 46 people had been killed by government forces across the country. There was no independent confirmation, and Syria has limited journalists' access during the uprising.
Neither side really wants the UN monitors at this point. They're just getting in the way of both sides trying to kill each other.
The US has said that they will not reauthorize the monitor's 90 day mission that will end in July. It may be unnecessary because if the Syrian government can't keep the monitors safe, it is likely that the Security Council will pull the plug on the operation and bring the monitors home.
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Think about it. Election year 2012, the economy is tanking again, unemployment has remained above 8%, housing remains stagnant, gasoline prices have doubled in some areas, so what's left but the culture wars. The first shot fired across the bow is courtesy of a nymphomaniac appearing before a Congressional committee, whining about how we should pay for her contraception because she can't say no. Then this hooey is turned into a "war on women" because the vote totals aren't adding up in the right direction. The only war on women is the one being waged by re-election campaigns who think women are idiots who can't see their votes are trying to be bought by false memes and promises.
Next, we've had to sit through Elizabeth Warren with her now debunked Cherokee heritage story replete with high cheekbones. There has been no apology forthcoming from her, or the genealogical society nor Harvard for supporting and perpetrating this bunkum. All involved refuse to release any records. Instead, we're treated to a Boston version of the "war on women" with the villain this time, Scott Brown.
Mitt the preppie, wannabe frat boy hazing story was on the daily diet for a few days in line with the gay issue theme du jour, before the Post had to print a clarification from one of the rememberers, and the family issued a strong statement to cease and desist. So the entire effect was nothing other than a show me a teenager, or a parent of one, who didn't have at least one 'crawl under a rock' moment during those formative years.
And now, on our way to full circle we're treated to more photos of pregnant celebs and socialites posing in their birthday suits, with the requisite gushing of how beautiful they look. The Time cover story featuring a mom breast-feeding her three year old, is another example of, do we really need to see this? What are the odds the child will someday be attaching that photo to his college application or resume.
Last but not least, the granddaddy of them all, the gay marriage issue. Just when we've finally gotten over those Benetton ads from years past that brought us yokels kicking and screaming into the 21st century, our own personal foibles have once again been brought to light with the help of our Vice President, who warp-speeded up the enabling of our President's evolution, as he is pronounced, the first "gay President." Somehow, if I were him, I don't think I'd want that phrase written on my tombstone.
There appears to be a pattern lurking underneath these culture wars, and now a new bombardment is opening on the class warfare front with the Obama re-election campaign's "Steel" video. The fact that all these issues are in our faces, 24/7, shouldn't be lost on us, nor do I believe they are. These are carefully planned assaults using the divide and conquer strategy, because that's the only way the President and his re-election team believe they can build a winning coalition.
However, that strategy is starting to backfire. Each day, more Americans are catching on, with various polls indicating collectively we've had enough, and we won't be bought. We are not prudes, we are not bigots, we are not stupid. November 6, we'll deliver a voter coalition. It will be our version of 'in your face'. Others call it ... landslide.
]]>In its May 15 edition, the New York Times, takes due note of the Palestinian "Naqba," which occurred this year just as Palestinian prisoners ended a nearly-month-long hunger strike that sought more favorable treatment while in Israeli detention. Here's how Jerusalem correspondent Isabel Kershner puts it:
"The two sides had seemed intent on reaching a deal before Tuesday, when the Palestinians commemorate the "naqba," or catastrophe, on the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. The war that followed the declaration led to the flight or expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and the day is traditionally observed with protest marches." ("Palestinians In Jails End Hunger Strike - Agreement to Improve Israeli Prisons Is Signed" page A4.)
There are two gross historical distortions in this single paragraph.
For starters, Kershner fails to point out that "the war that followed" was a coordinated war of aggression by half a dozen Arab armies with the stated intent of wiping the nascent Jewish state off the map. Israeli leaders had pledged in their declaration of independence that Arab residents would receive equal political and civil rights. But the Arab world instead went to war. Had it complied with the UN decision to divide British mandatory Palestine into two states -- one Jewish and the other Arab -- there never need have been a Palestinian "naqba." Somehow, Kershner is not interested in actual history; instead she takes pains to disguise Arab responsibility for the "naqba."
Furthermore, Kershner's rewrite of actual history fails to take note that there were two "naqbas" in 1948 -- not just a Palestinian one.
Starting with the 1947 UN partition plan and then Israel's birth in May, 1948, about 850,000 Jews who had roots in Arab lands dating back a couple of thousand years were summarily persecuted, deprived of all legal rights, stripped of their property and forced to flee from Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and other parts of the Arab world. Their synagogues were torched and many were lynched by bloodthirsty Arab neighbors. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands was greater than the number of Palestinian refugees.
A fair reading of history demands that equal attention be paid to this Jewish "naqba." But fairness is in short supply in the New York Times. There's also no indication in Kershner's piece about the different outcomes of these two "naqbas." The Arab world kept displaced Arab residents from Israel as refugees to use them as pawns in their pursuit of Israel's demise to this very day. In contrast, most of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who managed to flee from Arab lands ended up in Israel where they were integrated into the state's economic, political and social life. Such integration remains out of the question on the Arab side of the ledger.
But all this real history is censored by the Times' uncritical acceptance of an invented Palestinian narrative designed to block any realistic chance of a peace agreement. Kershner's article is a double affront to actual history. And in a most fundamental way, it disserves Palestinians by keeping them locked in a phony, mythical history that thwarts their national aspirations.
Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers
]]>Joining Jazz and Rick will be Libertarian presidential candidate and former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson. The panel will discuss the 2012 presidential race and the shortcomings of the two major candidates.
Listen live at 8:00 PM eastern time. A podcast will be available shortly after the end of the show.
You can join us live by clicking the icon below or by clicking here.
Rep. Ron Paul's campaign conceded Tuesday that Mr. Paul probably cannot win enough delegates to be the Republican presidential nominee, though it said it still will try to play a major role at August's convention in shaping the GOP's rules and platform going forward.
A day after the Texas congressman told supporters he is scaling down his campaign and won't actively compete for votes in the 11 states still to hold primaries, his campaign said Mr. Paul still will try to maximize the number of actual supporters he has going to the convention - even though in many cases they may not be able to vote for him to be the nominee over front-runner Mitt Romney.
"Several hundred will be bound to Dr. Paul, and several hundred more, although bound to Governor Romney or other candidates, will be Ron Paul supporters," said Jesse Benton, Mr. Paul's chief strategist, in a memo describing the state of the race.
"Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination. Governor Romney is now within 200 delegates of securing the party's nod. However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the national convention and beyond," Mr. Benton said.
Knowing that writing anything even remotely critical of Paul will bring unbalanced criticism from his legion of Paulbots, I will refrain from listing some of the dangerous, wacky, and paranoid things the congressman has advocated or said over the last year.
I'll simply let commenters have their way and hope that Paul's retirement is a long and pleasant one.
New French President Francois Hollande called for a European pact for growth to balance out German-driven austerity measures in his inaugural address on Tuesday, hours before taking his challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Sworn in with all the pomp of the French Republic, Hollande won support from Germany's opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who vowed to use their parliamentary blocking power to delay ratifying a European budget discipline treaty until Merkel accepts accompanying measures to boost growth and jobs.
"I will propose to our partners a pact that will tie the necessary reduction of our public debt to the indispensable stimulation of our economies," the Socialist president said in his 10-minute maiden speech.
Hollande's inauguration with military honours, capped by an open-topped motorcade ride up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe in torrential rain, marks a potential turning point in the euro zone's debt crisis amid a deepening political crisis in Greece, Europe's most pressing debt headache.
Euro zone finance ministers dismissed talk of Greece leaving the 17-nation currency area as "propaganda and nonsense" on Monday. But with the country facing the likelihood of a repeat general election that leftist anti-bailout parties believe they can win, speculation about a possible Greek exit is rattling financial markets and won't go away.
"Growth" policies is shorthand for massive increases in government spending, massive tax hikes, and a massive expansion of public sector jobs.
If radically increasing government spending led to prosperity, the US economy would be booming. This is a lesson that Europe should have learned already, but apparently needs a refresher course.
He did not immediately give the date for the new vote, but elections rules suggest it will be in mid June. A caretaker government would be formed on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
"For God's sake, let's move towards something better and not something worse," Socialist party leader Evangelos Venizelos told reporters after the meeting. "Our motherland can find its way, we will fight for it to find its way."
Greece remains without a government since its inconclusive election left parliament split between supporters and opponents of a 130 billion euro bailout package reviled by Greeks for imposing deep wage, pension and spending cuts.
Polls show the leftist SYRIZA party, which rejects the bailout and placed second in last week's vote, is now on course to win, a result that would give it an automatic bonus of 50 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
European leaders say that they will cut off funding for Greece if it rejects the bailout agreed in March, which would mean bankruptcy and all but certain exit from the European single currency.
Part of the uncertainty, as I mentioned yesterday, is when, how, and even if Greece will leave the euro. If the trioika fails to given them a 5 billion euro tranche as part of the bailout next month, the Greek government will be unable to pay its salaries and pensions, much less make an interest payment on its debt. But for that to happen, there would have to be a clear, unambiguous reason to withhold the cash. Such is not likely next month, as the results of the new election may be as inconclusive as this last round was.
Greece's exit is likely to be a slow motion train wreck rather than a bolt from the blue. That's not a good scenario for the markets as bank stocks in Europe are tumbling and bond yields are rising.
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Top Wisconsin Democrats are furious with the national party -- and the Democratic National Committee in particular -- for refusing their request for a major investment in the battle to recall Scott Walker, I'm told.
The failure to put up the money Wisconsin Dems need to execute their recall plan comes at a time when the national Republican Party is sinking big money into defending Walker, raising fears that the DNC's reluctance could help tip the race his way.
"We are frustrated by the lack of support from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association," a top Wisconsin Democratic Party official tells me. "Scott Walker has the full support and backing of the Republican Party and all its tentacles. We are not getting similar support."
"Considering that Scott Walker has already spent $30 million and we're even in the polls, this is a winnable race," the Wisconsin Dem continues. "We can get outspent two to one or five to one. We can't get spent 20 to one."
According to the Wisconsin Dem, the party has asked the DNC for $500,000 to help with its massive field operation. While the DNC has made generally supportive noises, the money has not been forthcoming, the official says -- with less than a month until the June 5th recall election. The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Although a lot of heat is being generated by both sides in this race, history tells us that on election day, turnout will probably be less than it would be for an off year election. That means it is vital for both sides to get their partisans to the polls on election day.
Walker already has a political organization in place that is being augmented by massive contributions from outside the state. No wonder Democrats are angry - they will need every penny for GOTV operations if they expect to be successful.
Breathtaking.
But then, there's a slight problem with his attack ad.
As Katrina reports, Mitt Romney left Bain Capital in 1999 to manage the Winter Olympics, two years before GST Steel declared bankruptcy. But that hasn't stopped President Obama from blaming him for the company's 2001 collapse. In a new Obama campaign video, ex-steel workers criticize Romney for being "out of touch" with the "average working person." Left unmentioned (and blameless) is Jonathan Lavine.
Lavine, according to the Los Angeles Times, is a top Obama bundler and a managing director at Bain Capital. Lavine, who has raised over $100,000 for the president, was at the firm when GST Steel declared bankruptcy. So according to the Obama team's logic, Romney, who had left Bain, is responsible for GST Steel's demise, but Lavine, who was there, is not? Expect to hear more about this connection.
We've got to elect Romney president. If he can affect the fortunes of a company two years after his departure from the helm, just think of what he can do remotely to terrorists?
Most Americans suspect that President Obama was motivated by politics, not policy, when he declared his support for same-sex marriage, according to a new poll released on Monday, suggesting that the unplanned way it was announced shaped public attitudes.
Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed by The New York Times and CBS News since the announcement said they thought that Mr. Obama had made it "mostly for political reasons," while 24 percent said it was "mostly because he thinks it is right." Independents were more likely to attribute it to politics, with nearly half of Democrats agreeing.
The results reinforce the concerns of White House aides and Democratic strategists who worried that the sequence of events leading up to the announcement last week made it look calculated rather than principled.
Mr. Obama, who had said since late 2010 that his position on the issue was "evolving," finally proclaimed his support for same-sex marriage only after Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. did so first in a television interview.
"If Biden hadn't said something, I don't think he would have said anything either," Larry Gannon, 48, a graphic artist from Norwalk, Calif. and an independent, said in a follow-up interview.
Obama's position on same sex marriage has always been a political football. In 1996, he declared his support for gay marriage while running for state senate in the hyper liberal Hyde Park district of Chicago. That support stood until Obama decided to run for president when the campaign attributed his affirmative questionnaire answer on gay marriage in 1996 to an over eager staffer.
It has always been a matter of timing for the president; when to announce his support? He wanted to do it for maximum impact but Biden forced his hand and he ended up scrambling.
The voter has become a lot more skeptical of Obama, a lot more cynical of his motives over the last 3 years. That doesn't mean they will vote against him. But it means they are a lot more realistic about the man and not so enamored of his personae.
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After nearly 19,000 jihadist attacks since 9/11/2001, perhaps these somber, if Islamo-Realistic views, are influenced by a phenomenon Nicolai Sennels characterized in his essay, and plea for moral clarity in nomenclature, "Islamonausea, not Islamophobia."