PrairiePundit

Boko Harem using Libyan weapons to fight Nigeria

2013-05-21T19:42:00.001-05:00

Nigeria's military has been involved in heavy fighting with Islamist insurgents armed with sophisticated weapons from Libya as it steps up an offensive aimed at flushing out Boko Haram from its north-eastern bases.

"They have been putting up fierce resistance and they are very, very well-armed with weapons from Libya," a senior military official told the Guardian, adding that most of the militants who have waged a bloody four-year battle to create an Islamist state have scattered across the region's semi-desert borders.

A renewed military campaign, including aerial bombardments of Boko Haram training camps in three remote states which were put under emergency rule this month, has led to the capture of almost 200 militants and the death of dozens in a week, according to the military. In one raid, a helicopter gunship was hit by anti-aircraft and anti-tank fire, a military source said.
...

Like the war in Mali this is more of the fallout from Obama's flawed strategy in Libya which allowed the Islamist to make off with many of Gaddafi's sophisticated weapons. Obama has managed to destabilize most of North Africa and arm our enemies. Boko Harem is a particularly venal strain with close ties to al Qaeda.

Benghazi response bogged down by Obama lawfare approach

2013-05-21T19:13:00.000-05:00

Washington Times:

The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn’t enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.

The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. But the investigation has been slowed by the reduced U.S. intelligence presence in the region since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, and by the limited ability to assist by Libya’s post-revolutionary law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are still in their infancy since the overthrow of dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and holding them at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The preference is toward a process in which most are apprehended and tried by the countries where they are living or arrested by the U.S. with the host country’s cooperation and tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using military force to detain the men might also harm fledgling relations with Libya and other post-Arab-Spring governments with whom the U.S. is trying to build partnerships to hunt al-Qaida as the organization expands throughout the region.

...

This is the same kind of failed lawfare approach that led to 9-11. It is more evidence that the Obama administration is just not very smart when it comes to dealing with the enemy. It seems to go from killing them without an attempt to get intelligence to trying them without an attempt to get intelligence. Both are bad policies.

Sen. Rand Paul makes the case against greedy government

2013-05-21T19:04:00.000-05:00

It was a great speech that angered greedy liberals in Washington who want more of other people's money.

This Opinion Journal piece points out the folly of the US corporate tax structure.

Economic success in Midland, Texas

2013-05-21T19:01:00.003-05:00

AEI:

As a direct result of all the shale oil and gas activity in the Permian Basin area of West Texas, the economy of Midland, Texas is booming. The April unemployment rate in Midland fell to 3%, which is the lowest jobless rate in the nation for any of the 372 metropolitan areas. During just the month of April, 1,000 jobs were added to local payrolls in Midland (50 per day), and 400 of those jobs (20 per day) were in the booming “construction, natural resources and mining” sector. Over the last year, total employment in Midland has increased by almost 7% (and by 5,500 jobs) to a new all-time high of 85,400, and energy and construction related jobs increased by 14.4% (and by 3,100 jobs), also to a new all-time high (see chart above).

Along with the oil and gas boom, there’s an unprecedented construction boom taking place in Midland, and building permits in March skyrocketed to 347, which was a 580% increase from the level a year ago and established a new all-time record high.
...

It makes you wonder why liberals in New York deprive upstate workers of the similar opportunities for prosperity. One place allows carbon phobia and paranoia about fracking to rule their decisions and the other place gets to work with technology that produces oil and gas. California has the same problem as New York--too many liberals who fear oil and gas production. Both have a significantly higher unemployment rate.

IRS official to plead the 5th Amendment at Congressional hearing

2013-05-21T17:47:00.001-05:00

LA Times:

A top IRS official in the division that reviews nonprofit groups will invoke the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer questions before a House committee investigating the agency’s improper screening of conservative nonprofit groups.

Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening — or why she didn’t disclose it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor III. Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

“She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course,” said a letter by Taylor to committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Vista). The letter, sent Monday, was obtained Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Taylor, a criminal defense attorney from the Washington firm Zuckerman Spaeder, said that the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation, and that the House committee has asked Lerner to explain why she provided “false or misleading information” to the committee four times last year.
...

This is a short term solution for her dilemma. No doubt she will be called as a witness in the civil cases being filed against the IRS and some of its employees and there is not 5th Amendment privilege in civil cases. She can either testify or the court will be able to presume that any answer she might give would not be helpful to her case. In other words if she is a defendant she would lose under those circumstances and so could the IRS. Under those facts it becomes a case that the government should be eager to settle.

True the Vote sues IRS

2013-05-21T16:22:00.000-05:00

TTV:

True the Vote (TTV), the nation's leading voters’ rights organization, filed suit in federal court in Washington today against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), asking the Court to grant its long-awaited tax exempt status and seeking damages for the unlawful actions by the IRS in the processing of its application for exempt status. ActRight Legal Foundation, a 501(c)3 fundamental rights and public interest law firm representsTrue the Vote in the lawsuit.

“We’ve been waiting for three years to receive a decision from the IRS about our tax exempt status,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “After answering hundreds of questions and producing thousands of documents, we’re done waiting. The IRS does not have the power to pocket veto our application. Federal law empowers groups like True the Vote to force a decision in court – which is precisely what we aim to do.”

“True the Vote is dedicated solely to promoting election integrity in our Republic,” Engelbrecht said. “Our mission is to educate Americans on all of the rights they enjoy as voters. We do not pick winners and losers, but instead fortify the voting process so that it is fair and free. If this goal is deserving of such scrutiny, then we have serious questions that we, as a nation, must face,” she added.
...

They need to also find out who sent the FBI, OSHA and ATF out to harass the business belonging to the Engelbrechts. I think all of these events were part of a pattern and practice of intimidation aimed at opponents of the President's policies.

The culture of intimidation against Tea Party

2013-05-21T13:25:00.004-05:00

Sen. Cornyn talks about the intimidation and cover up in Washington.

Media 'overreach' anxiety

2013-05-21T12:07:00.000-05:00

Here are just a couple of recent headlines about the recent Obama scandals:

Will Republicans Overreach Again? - Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

GOP Can't Help Overreaching on Obama Scandals - Baltimore Sun

They are not the only pieces I have seen with this theme. It appears to be a hope rather than an actual concern. It comes from the media's desire to see Obama get away with his abuse of power or in the alternative misfeasance of office.

I have seen no overreach. Republicans are asking responsible questions of people who seem to be trying to avoid answering those questions. Where is the overreach in that?

This is a look at the real world. It is a long video, but you can see the poll numbers show strong support for an investigation of the IRS and Benghazi.

IRS targeted Conservative Hispanic Society

2013-05-21T09:51:00.002-05:00

Bryan Preston:

The Conservative Hispanic Society is expressing outrage that the Internal Revenue Service targeted them. In a press release going out today, the Conservative Hispanic Society says that though it applied for 501(c)(4) status in 2010, its application still has not been approved.

CHS Executive Director Chris Salcedo did not mince words in his reaction to the news: “It seems the Obama political machine has infiltrated every aspect of our government. Politics now dictates our response to terrorist attacks. And now the IRS is being used as a weapon to punish people our president has referred to as his ‘enemies’.”

The “enemies” mention refers to a statement that President Obama gave in October 2010, as the IRS abuse was in full swing. Mr. Salcedo, a veteran journalist, has frequently written for this site.

CHS President Steve Navarre focused on how deeply un-American the IRS abuse is. “Through the Constitution, our nation’s founding fathers tried to guard against elected leaders using the power of government to oppress the people,” Navarre says in the press release. “The type of government overreach displayed by the IRS brings to life our founder’s deepest fears.”

The Conservative Hispanic Society is far from alone. On March 16, Fox Latino reported that several conservative groups in Texas say that along with Tea Party groups and Jewish and Christian groups, the Internal Revenue Service targeted them too. Texas Rep. Bill Flores (R) believes he was targeted after working with the Waco Tea Party, which was also targeted. Flores, a certified public accountant, was among the first in Congress to question the IRS’ actions. The San Antonio and Dallas Tea Party groups both report being targeted by the IRS. Katrina Pierson, head of the Dallas Tea Party, traveled to Washington last week as the IRS abuse blew up into a full scandal. Voces Action, a Texas-based group that teaches Spanish-speaking and English-speaking communities about the Constitution, was targeted according to its founder and president, Adryana Boyne.
...

The left sees conservative Hispanics as apostates and not worthy of respect. They treat conservative blacks the same way. It is not surprising that the IRS targeted this group for special treatment as it did Tea Party groups.

Perry 2016?

2013-05-21T09:44:00.001-05:00

Betsy Woodruff:

The situation in Austin suggests that a Texas icon may be shifting his focus from state to national politics. Governor Rick Perry seems increasingly unlikely to run for reelection — and increasingly interested in taking another gander at the presidency.

He alluded to an interest in the White House back in March, and Texans close to Perry have told National Review that he’s strongly considering a presidential run. David Carney, who was Perry’s top adviser during his 2012 presidential bid, tells me that “there’s no question” that Perry is seriously weighing the prospect of a 2016 run; it’s not just talk. That said, at this point it’s also not a whole lot more than talk, either. And before the governor decides whether he wants to be president, he has to figure out whether he wants to be governor again. He’s said he’ll announce his gubernatorial intentions next month, after the Texas legislative session has wrapped up. And he told The Shark Tank, a Florida political blog, that he’ll announce whether or not he has presidential intentions sometime after that.

A number of Texas politicos are guessing that he’ll take a pass on running for a fourth full term as governor. The state’s attorney general, Greg Abbott, has intimated that he’s interested in the seat, and his war chest is about three times the size of Perry’s, weighing in at $18 million. Though there’s a moratorium on fundraising while the legislature is in session, a Republican consultant familiar with both Perry’s and Abbott’s operations tells me that the AG has kept up with top donors during the session, and that he’s beefing up his ties with grassroots groups. He’s also hired a campaign consultant. And the source confirms that the attorney general’s team will be conducting interviews for campaign staff toward the end of this month. Another source noted that other would-be candidates for statewide positions are also recruiting for campaign staff, and that Perry, notably, isn’t.

...

There is more.

This analysis makes sense to me. I think Rick Perry's policies are what are needed in a President. He will need more time to persuade people to look at those policies instead of his debate problems in 2012. That suggest to me that he is going to have to begin a campaign early in the process and establish a rapport with voters in the early primary states.

Texas sends rescue force to Oklahoma tornado site

2013-05-21T09:22:00.003-05:00

Gov. Rick Perry:

Texas Task Force 1, the state's elite search and rescue team, was activated this evening to assist local officials and first responders in Oklahoma following today's tornado outbreak.

An 84-member Type 1 Urban Search and Rescue team, including 70 first responders who specialize in victim extraction and medical treatment will deploy immediately. The team also includes search and rescue K-9s, physicians and paramedics, as well as hazardous material specialists, communications specialists and structural engineers.

...

It is an experienced group that has been used in New York after 9-11 and in New Orleans after Katrina. Most recently it was used after the West, Texas blast. They will have a lot of destruction to wade through after the storms in Oklahoma.

The left's media intimidation campaign

2013-05-21T09:14:00.000-05:00

Kirsten Powers:

First they came for Fox News, and they did not speak out—because they were not Fox News. Then they came for government whistleblowers, and they did not speak out—because they were not government whistleblowers. Then they came for the maker of a YouTube video, and—okay, we know how this story ends. But how did we get here?

Turns out it’s a fairly swift sojourn from a president pushing to “delegitimize” a news organization to threatening criminal prosecution for journalistic activity by a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, to spying on Associated Press reporters. In between, the Obama administration found time to relentlessly persecutegovernment whistleblowers and publicly harass and condemn a private American citizen for expressing his constitutionally protected speech in the form of an anti-Islam YouTube video.

Where were the media when all this began happening? With a few exceptions, they were acting as quiet enablers.

It’s instructive to go back to the dawn of Hope and Change. It was 2009, and the new administration decided it was appropriate to use the prestige of the White House to viciously attack a news organization—Fox News—and the journalists who work there. Remember, President Obama had barely been in office and had enjoyed the most laudatory press of any new president in modern history. Yet even one outlet that allowed dissent or criticism of the president was one too many. This should have been a red flag to everyone, regardless of what they thought of Fox News. The math was simple: if the administration would abuse its power to try and intimidate one media outlet, what made anyone think they weren’t next?
...
Trashing reporters comes easy in Obama-land. Behind the scenes, Obama-centric Democratic operatives brand any reporter who questions the administration as a closet conservative, because what other explanation could there be for a reporter critically reporting on the government?

Now, the Democratic advocacy group Media Matters—which is always mysteriously in sync with the administration despite ostensibly operating independently—has launched a smear campaign against ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for his reporting on Benghazi. It’s the kind of character assassination that would make Joseph McCarthy blush. The main page of the Media Matters website has six stories attacking Karl for a single mistake in an otherwise correct report about the State Department's myriad changes to talking points they previously claimed to have barely touched. See, the problem isn’t the repeated obfuscating from the administration about the Benghazi attack; the problem is Jonathan Karl. Hence, the now-familiar campaign of de-legitimization. This gross media intimidation is courtesy of tax-deductable donations from the Democratic Party’s liberal donor base, which provides a whopping $20 million a year for Media Matters to harass reporters who won’t fall in line.

In what is surely just a huge coincidence, the liberal media monitoring organization Fairness and Accuracy in the Media (FAIR) is also on a quest to delegitimize Karl. It dug through his past and discovered that in college he allegedly—horrors!—associated with conservatives. Because of this, FAIR declared Karl “a right wing mole at ABC News.” Setting aside the veracity of FAIR’s crazy claim, isn’t the fact that it was made in the first place vindication for those who assert a liberal media bias in the mainstream media? If the existence of a person who allegedly associates with conservatives is a “mole,” then what does that tell us about the rest of the media?
...

The hostility of the left toward anyone who does not support the Obama line, no matter how inconsistent with the facts the administration's narrative is, suggest a new level of liberal fascism. As Obama's struggles grow worse, we can expect to see more such attacks on those seeking the truth.

Why wasn't military prepared for events in Benghazi?

2013-05-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

Byron York:

Until now, most press coverage of the Benghazi matter has focused on the administration's misleading talking points explaining the attack on the U.S. facility in Libya. But just beneath the surface is the investigation into a potentially more explosive part of the Benghazi story: Whether the U.S. government did everything it could to save Americans whose lives were at risk in the chaotic hours of Sept. 11, 2012.

There were several hours between the first attack in Benghazi, which killed two Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, and a second attack, which left two more dead. Is there something the U.S. military could have done to rescue those last two and others who were badly wounded?

On Tuesday members of the House Armed Services Committee will question Pentagon officials in a classified session. The committee chairman, Republican Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., last week told Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that he remains "deeply concerned" about unanswered Benghazi questions. In a letter to Hagel, McKeon said he wants to know more about:

1. The account of events from the commander of the U.S. Site Security Team in Benghazi, including "the orders he received from higher authority;"

2. The presence of aircraft in the region, whether they were armed, how far they were from Benghazi, whether they would have needed in-flight refueling, and who in the military chain of command considered, or rejected, sending them to help;

3. The presence of unmanned aircraft in the region;

4. The status of a U.S. emergency team in Europe;

5. The presence of a Marine Corps Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team in the region;

6. What military preparations had been made to protect Americans in the area on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Just to make sure he got a quick response, McKeon noted that he wants answers before he finishes work on next year's National Defense Authorization Act, which maps out funding for the Pentagon.
...

There is much more.

There was significant lack of preparation for dealing with the events in Benghazi starting with the State Department, but also including a defense Department that did not have assets in place to deal with it and refused to use those assets that could have been made available. No one expects "cartoonish" responses. What they do expect is preparation for dealing with the events or a withdrawal of people before the situation deteriorates further.

IRS not willing to tell the truth yet

2013-05-21T08:27:00.002-05:00

Your browser does not support iframes.
Glenn Beck questions what the IRS spokesmen are saying.

Death toll mounts in Oklahoma storm

2013-05-21T00:33:00.002-05:00

NY Times:

Vast Oklahoma Tornado Kills at Least 91

20 Children Among Dead in Storm Near Oklahoma City

Homes were flattened, cars flung through the air and at least two schools packed with children destroyed, sending rescuers to dig out those buried in rubble.

Words cannot not express the sadness for this loss of life from a storm that ferociously attacked the area. In looking at the devastation and the places that were hit, I am surprised the death toll is not much higher. Terrorist are probably envious of the kind of destruction wrought by this tornado.

Banks prosecuted for saving minority credit

2013-05-20T19:58:00.001-05:00

Paul Sperry:

New evidence has emerged that Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez may have improperly prosecuted Wells Fargo, Bank of America and dozens of other banks for lending discrimination by using deficient mortgage data in investigations.

IBD has learned the special prosecutor spearheading Perez's record number of statistics-based cases of racism against lenders told federal bank regulators in 2010 he lacked key home loan data needed to conduct the kind of iron-clad "regression analyses" that would hold up in court.

Still, Perez's civil-rights division used the shaky data to force bank defendants into a record $600 million in settlements, including loan set-asides and cash payouts for minority borrowers.

Perez faces increased scrutiny as President Obama's nominee for secretary of labor.

In a confirmation hearing last week, some senators questioned his role in scuttling a Supreme Court case that would have challenged his use of "disparate impact" liability — a questionable civil-rights theory with a low standard of proof — to prosecute home lenders for racial bias.

Republicans hint they may delay or block a full Senate confirmation vote.

In addition to targeting mortgage giants BofA, Wells and SunTrust Bank, Perez also has gone after small banks.

In March, for example, Perez signed orders forcing Community State Bank of Michigan and Texas Champion Bank to compensate African-American and Latino borrowers.

Though defendants settled charges, they've denied guilt. They say they cut deals to avoid protracted legal battles with Washington and damage to their corporate brands.

...

This has the look and feel of extortion. What makes it worse is that the people who were supposedly wrong were better off not make loans they could not afford. What the government was pushing here was exactly the kind of loans that caused the financial debacle to begin with. That would be the one that Democrats tried to blame on the bankers and "predatory" lending. Those pushing these settlements need to be investigated.

DOJ also targeted Fox Fast and Furious reporters

2013-05-20T18:40:00.001-05:00

Daily Mail:

The Fox News Channel is outraged over new revelations that three of its reporting staffers were targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice in criminal investigations related to their attempts to obtain information from government sources.

James Rosen, the network's chief Washington correspondent, has become a First Amendment cause celebre over his treatment by the Obama administration. But the DOJ, Fox says, also investigated the Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter William LaJeunesse and Fox News producer Mike Levine.

Rosen, according to affidavits filed by FBI agents, was considered a possible criminal co-conspirator.

The Washington Post reported Monday morning that Rosen was the subject of a Department of Justice probe in relation to his reporting about North Korea's likely reactions to new UN sanctions in 2009. Federal investigators read his personal emails, obtained his phone records, and tracked his comings and goings through government buildings.

An FBI agent filed an affidavit in that case claiming that he thought Rosen had broken the law, 'at the very least, either as an aider, abetter and/or co-conspirator.'

None of the three journalists targeted by the Obama administration was notified that the government was spying on his records and emails.

'All three of our colleagues say they were never contacted by the government,' Fox News Channel correspondent Shannon Bream reported on Monday afternoon.LaJeunesse and Levine were targeted in a separate Department of Justice investigation into leaks related to Operation Fast and Furious, a scandal-plagued DOJ program that sent illicit guns across the Mexican border to drug cartels in the hope of tracing the guns' path to the narcotics gangs.

...

The Obama administration has expressed its animus toward Fox on several occasions but this gives you an idea of how deep the anger and hatred is. The Obama administration does not like to have viewers get the other side of a story. In fact they act like there is only one side to every story and anyone who strays from their meme will be treated as the enemy.

Chicom hackers looking for US surveillance of Chinese spies

2013-05-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Washington Post:

Chinese hackers who breached Google’s servers several years ago gained access to a sensitive database with years’ worth of information about U.S. surveillance targets, according to current and former government officials.

The breach appears to have been aimed at unearthing the identities of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United States who may have been under surveillance by American law enforcement agencies.

It’s unclear how much the hackers were able to discover. But former U.S. officials familiar with the breach said the Chinese stood to gain valuable intelligence. The database included information about court orders authorizing surveillance — orders that could have signaled active espionage investigations into Chinese agents who maintained e-mail accounts through Google’s Gmail service.

“Knowing that you were subjects of an investigation allows them to take steps to destroy information, get people out of the country,” said one former official, who, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a highly sensitive matter. The official said the Chinese could also have sought to deceive U.S. intelligence officials by conveying false or misleading information.

Although Google disclosed an intrusion by Chinese hackers in 2010, it made no reference to the breach of the database with information on court orders. That breach prompted deep concerns in Washington and led to a heated, months-long dispute between Google and the FBI and Justice Department over whether the FBI could access technical logs and other information about the breach, according to the officials.
...

Perhaps the FBI should have looked into hacking the files from a location in Asia.

Seriously this looks like a very dangerous breach that probably helped some Chinese spies escape. It is another reason why we need technology that can counterattack at the moment of breach.

Was the IRS sharing information with other agencies?

2013-05-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

If they were not sharing information, it would appear that high officials in the Justice Department were coordinating audits of this group. It has the appearance of a political vendetta by Eric Holder who opposed the groups voter integrity effort.

Eagle Ford oil and gas attracting foreign manufacturing to South Texas

2013-05-20T15:09:00.001-05:00

Energy Tribune:

Corpus Christi has not seen this much excitement since Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) won the White House in 1964. And, perhaps there is even more at stake for the area than LBJ’s 1964 historic landslide. There’s oil and gas flowing again in Texas and plenty of it.

While Washington frets, waffles and stalls about the merits of hydraulic fracturing, “fracking,” its benefits are already playing out in Texas. And the multiplier in the economy is far larger than the nominal value of the produced oil and gas.

Since just last year the state’s Eagle Ford oil and gas shale deposits, one of the largest shale discoveries in the US, have generated some $61 billion in economic impact on the South Texas economy, more than doubling its impact from 2011. Better yet for Texas and indeed the entire country, it’s supporting more than 116,000 high-paying new jobs, with room for more.

According to a recent study by the University of Texas at San Antonio, Eagle Ford’s impact has the potential to double the region’s economy in nine years and quadruple it in the next 18 years. Corpus Christi is just 60 miles south of those shale deposits.

Not only is the impact being felt in the Lone Star state, it’s making its way across the Atlantic and even the Pacific. In the past year, more than $20 billon in investment has been announced in Corpus Christi from domestic and international companies that want to take advantage of the Port of Corpus Christi and the region’s proximity to Eagle Ford Shale resources.

The latest company entering the Eagle Ford Shale play is Voestalpine, an Austrian Steel company and international player with deep pockets. Voestalpine signed a lease in April, making its projected Corpus Christi plant the company’s largest foreign investment to date. The $700 million investment will produce 2 million tons of iron (hot briquetted and direct reduced) and will use natural gas from Eagle Ford to power the plant.

...

There is much more. This is consistent with my earlier post indicating that foreign manufacturing is coming to the US to take advantage of low cost natural gas. These people are spending big on new facilities, but the cost of gas will give them an early payback on their investment. They are coming from both Europe and Asia. It is also not surprising that they are locating their businesses in Texas with its low tax structure and reasonable regulations.

The biofuel boondoggle meets a critic

2013-05-20T10:22:00.002-05:00

Robert Bryce:

Navy Captain Guns Down Biofuels

While I have been a critic of this program for sometime it good to see someone closer to the problem make the case against Big Green Fleet. The Captain makes clear the destructive effect of using biofuel. I agree with him but would also add the whole push was a byproduct of dealing with a false perception of scarcity of conventional fuels. With the current tight oil boom, the scarcity debate should be over.

This is about more than 'rogue' IRS agents

2013-05-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

Jillian Kay Melchior:

Four Federal Agencies Targeted the Tea Party

As I have noted before, this suggest that someone high up in the Justice Department is behind this abuse.

The Arab crack up

2013-05-20T09:51:00.000-05:00

Ralph Peters:

The Arab Spring has unleashed the Arab Collapse. Everybody still standing in the region is picking the flesh of the helpless. The Islamist cancer proved more virulent than Arabs themselves expected, while dying regimes behave with unrestrained ruthlessness.

And our diplomats still think everyone can be cajoled into harmony.

We’re witnessing a titanic event, the crack-up of a long-tottering civilization. Arab societies grew so corrupt and stagnant that violent upheaval became inevitable. That’s what we’re seeing in Syria and Iraq — two names, one struggle — and will find elsewhere tomorrow.

We can’t stop it, we can’t fix it, and we don’t understand it. But we canstay out of it.

When the US is in the Middle East, the Arabs want us out. When we’re out, they want us in. But our purported Arab (and Turkish) allies consistently agree that Uncle Sam should pay the party bill, while they take home all the presents.

Yes, Syria’s humanitarian crisis is appalling. And no, I don’t like to see innocents dying or suffering. But the calls from the region for American action are nakedly cynical.

Turkey has the largest military in NATO after our own, but cries “helpless” crocodile tears over Syrian refugees — while dreaming of rebuilding the Ottoman Empire upon their ruined lives. Our Saudi “friends” spent decades building the most-sophisticated military arsenal in the Middle East, apart from Israel. Now the Saudis wring their hands over Syria’s misery — but won’t intervene directly to stop the killing.

...

We are seeing the inevitable collapse caused by radical Islam. The worse things get the more they double down on radical Islam and the worse things continue to get. So far no one has the courage to question the premise of the radicals.

Isn't that a coincidence?

2013-05-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

Weasel Zipper:

Obama Met With IRS Union Leader Day Before They Targeted Conservatives…

The White House visitor's log gives the game away. The rogue government employee behind the IRS scandal could be Barack Obama. Congressional investigators will want to know what was discussed at this meeting.

Unions oppose immigration 'reform'

2013-05-20T08:41:00.001-05:00

NY Times:

Larger Union That Enforces Immigration Opposes Bill

A council representing 12,000 officers who issue documents will join a council representing 7,700 deportation agents in fighting a Senate proposal.

They don't seem to think the changes will make things better or will work at all. It is strange that Congress is not willing to listen to what they see as the problem with proposals.

You can find more on the objections here.