Introducing Three Outstanding Republican Candidates: Jamie Landes, Martin Baker, and Steve Foley

I would like to introduce and recommend three great Republican candidates who are running for either State or US Congress.

Republican, Jamie Barker Landes has announced her candidacy for State Rep in a previously uncontested special election in the 39th district in Missouri, November 8, 2011!

“I have officially entered the race for Missouri State Representative for District 39, which includes the Kansas City neighborhoods of Westport, the Plaza, Hyde Park and Brookside. The special election will be held November 8, 2011. I would welcome and truly appreciate your support.”

I truly believe the political problems we face can be solved if we stop focusing so much on partisan ideological differences and instead focus on finding solutions that work. I decided to jump into this race because Kansas Citians deserve a real choice of representation, not just the usual machine politicians.

We can solve our problems if we stop focusing on ideological differences and instead focus on practical solutions and areas of agreement. Join our campaign today! Send a volunteer request to LandesForStateRep@gmail.com. 

She’ll be focusing on the following issues: “Jobs,  Fixing Our Schools, and  Keeping Kansas Citians In Their Homes”. Details, here.

Jamie has a lot of work to do to get her name out there only a month before election day. That means knocking on a lot of doors, buying ads, and yard signs.

How you can help:

Contributions may be directed to:

Friends of Jamie Landes
4310 Charlotte Street
Kansas City, MO 64110
816-213-0054

Yo can also make a contribution via Paypal

Martin D Baker for US Congress in 2012 – MO District 1:

Why Elect Martin Baker

Understanding the needs of the people should be the most important motivating factor in legislating. Trustworthy leaders do not focus on being in charge nor will they pursue additional power by manipulating their position or political status. Reliable representation is found in devoted leaders who protect the liberties and needs of their constituents at all times through an unwavering commitment to choose the difficult right over the easy wrong. Doing so takes additional preparation, teamwork and diligence that often times requires one to fight influential party leaders and big money influences like lobbies and political action committees.

Needed Principles

• Accountability of action and majority oriented legislation
• End the era of “political correctness” which has caused politicians to tell half truths instead of truly addressing the proper way to correct shortfalls.
• Stop the practice of promising during the campaign to come to the middle and then, after election, legislating from the extreme right or left.
• Open channels of communication between the political parties to work together on common goals first and deliberate on differences later.
• Staying familiar with the needs of the people that currently are not being addressed by either our party leaders or even the entertainment based media.
• End all misuse of Government funds through Pork and Jaded Earmarking. Require legislation to be available for review and require Representatives to read and comprehend legislation before they vote.
• Reform standards for reconciling legislation prior to Executive Review.
• Abandon the cycle of lifetime entitlements, which should serve as a hand up and not a hand out which negates the need for self-motivation and determination to reach for a higher standard of living.

You can donate to Baker’s campaign, here.

 Steve Foley has formed an exploratory committee to run for Congress in 2012 as a Republican in California’s newly redrawn 47th District. His policy focus is on three main areas:

Economy and Jobs: Getting our fiscal house in order by supporting a Balanced Budget Amendment, Cutting Spending, Replacing our antiquated Tax Code, Removing overburdening Restrictions & Red Tape, and becoming Energy Independent.

Repealing ObamaCare:ObamaCare will devastate our already weak economy to a point of no return and will burden future generations of Americans to pay for a bill that has little to no chance of success. The best solution would to get the federal government as far away from Health Care as possible but while we work to achieve that goal here are some immediate fixes we can accomplish in a relatively short amount of time:

• Medical liability & tort reform.
• Small business buying pools.
• Allow insurance to be sold across state lines.

Border Security: The way to tackle the illegal immigration problem we’re facing is to make federal government do their job! I would advocate for:

1. Securing our borders
2. Enforcing the laws that are already on the books
3. Promoting a path to citizenship for those who come in the front door
4. Removing the magnets that draw illegal immigrants here in the first place

Steve is a new media activist, best known for his successful conservative blog ,the Minority Report.

It’s rare to have a man who is “one of us” like Steve Foley in a position to run for Congress so we must not miss this opportunity to support him!: STEVE FOLEY for U.S. CONGRESS
Also blogging for Foley, is the irrepressible, RS McCain: RUN, STEVE, RUN!

Video: Jay Carney Tells Reporters Holder Was “Consistent and Truthful” In His Testimony Before Congress

Jake Tapper asked for a comment on the calls for a General Counsel to investigate whether or not the AG perjured himself when he testified before Congress at the White House Press Briefing, Wednesday.

Note how Carney first started off by ridiculing Lamar Smith’s letter, “as a biannual call for a Special Counsel for this particular Congressman”.  Classy. He then made the outrageous claim that Holder had been “consistent and truthful” in his answers at his March and May testimonies. That was immediately challenged by Tapper, and another reporter as he continued to repeat the term, “consistent and truthful” over and over. He said “the President thinks Holder’s an excellent Attorney General and he has  confidence in him, and he absolutely knows that the testimony he gave was uh…(looking down at notes) ‘consistent and truthful.’”

That was painful to watch. There is not enough money on earth that would induce me to lie like that.

SEE ALSO:

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite has more from that press briefing: Jay Carney’s Message To Reporters ‘Screamed At’ By Sources: Toughen Up

RCP: Hayes: WH Seeking To Intimidate People They Disagree With

WaPo Post Politics: ‘Calm down’ about Fast and Furious gun sting, ATF acting director says:

The new acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced a major shake-up of his agency Wednesday and urged Washington insiders to “calm down” about the latest revelations surrounding a controversial ATF gun operation.

PJTV: Who Knew What, And When? Holder Under Increased Scrutiny for Fast & Furious ATF Scandal

A Call For A New Office Of Independent Counsel

The big news, yesterday was that House Republicans were calling for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious.

“Allegations that senior Justice Department officials may have intentionally misled Members of Congress are extremely troubling and must be addressed by an independent and objective special counsel,” said Smith in his letter to Obama.

“I urge you to appoint a special counsel who will investigate these allegations as soon as possible.”

I was under the naive impression that Congress would have a say in who would be appointed. But AoSHQ’s resident attorney, Gabriel Malor set me straight on Twitter on that score.

David Codrea of The Gun Rights Examiner also voices concern with the obvious conflict of interest. How can we trust a corrupt DOJ/White House to appoint a truly independent Counsel. Surely there must be some recourse?

Currently, the only mechanism available is through U.S. Code, which authorizes the Attorney General, or if recused, the Acting Attorney General to appoint a Special Counsel. There was another way, but the Office of Independent Counsel, reporting to the Congress, was terminated in 1999.

What is needed is to reenact authorization for that office, and to maintain such powers under the coequal branch of government comprised of our elected representatives.  Permanently.

Anything less would make the entire investigative effort suspect.

I’ve been saying the same thing, but in more blunt terms. It would be a farce.

UPDATE:

Thursday morning, 10/06:

On the Laura Ingraham Show, this morning, substitute host, Dan Patrick, asked  Congressman Ted Poe what Congress can do if the DOJ continues to stonewall, and a Special Prosecutor isn’t appointed. He said Congress has many recourses including  articles of impeachment for Holder.

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Reliving His Glory Days, Obama Reads Book About Himself To School Kids

Proving once again that he is oblivious to self parody, the Narcissist-in Chief, Barack Obama read a kid’s book about himself to Texas school children yesterday.

USA Today reported:

Before his speech Tuesday at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Tex., President Obama stopped by an early childhood education laboratory with children ages 3 to 5.

Among his reading selections: A book about the presidential dog Bo, including a drawing of the president himself.

Some of the kids didn’t seem to think the caricature looked much like their guest.

“That’s because when they made this book I didn’t have any gray hair,” Obama said.

Never-mind that. Who’s that guy guy standing beside him at the podium?

Could it be…..

Oh – of course! – Tsakhia Elbegdorj, the president of Mongolia.

Figures.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Linked by S. Weasel and Pundit and Pundette, thanks!

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Issa: Bush Era Gunwalking Involved “Very Small Amount Of Weapons – Much More Intensive Following”

The Department of Justice is leaking to the media that “Wide Receiver”, a gun-walking operation similar to “Fast and Furious” was employed during the Bush years, but Darrell Issa, when asked about it last night on CNN, characterized it as much smaller in scope, and more “intensely” followed.

Here is what the AP is reporting:

When Bush, a Republican, was president, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Tucson, Ariz., used a similar enforcement tactic in a program it called Operation Wide Receiver. The fact that there were two such ATF investigations years apart in separate administrations raises the possibility that agents in still other cases may have allowed guns to “walk.”

***

Federal law enforcement officials familiar with the matter say Operation Wide Receiver began in 2006 after the agency received information about a suspicious purchase of firearms. The investigation concluded in 2007 without any charges being filed.

After Obama took office, the Justice Department reviewed Wide Receiver and discovered that ATF had permitted guns to be transferred to suspected gun traffickers, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the practice is under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department inspector general’s office.

Anderson Cooper asked Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Congressman Darrell Issa about the report, last night on CNN.

Anderson Cooper: I’d always thought this was the first time this kind of a program had been tried. There are new revelations tonight coming out that the Bush Administration had a similar weapons program, something called Operation ‘Wide Receiver.’ Do you know about that? Do you think officials from that Administration should be looked at, as well?”

Rep. Darrell Issa: “Well, Anderson, we’d know a lot more about it except that’s among the documents we’re still waiting to get. What we do know about ‘Wide Receiver’ somewhat is very small amount of weapons, much more intensive following, but, in fact, we will get to the bottom of whether or not this practice in a smaller way may have begun on the Bush watch. We’re not putting it past any Administration and giving anyone a pass. The American people and the people of Mexico expect us to have a zero tolerance for letting drugs come into our country or weapons go into Mexico.”

Cooper also asked Issa about DOJ allegations that he was also briefed about Fast and Furious in 2010:

Anderson Cooper: “I want to read you what a Justice Department official has told CNN cause they’re pushing back on what you’re saying. They said, ‘Chairman Issa, of all people, should be familiar with the difference between knowing about an investigation and being aware of questionable tactics employed in that investigation since documents provided to his committee show that he was given a briefing that included the Fast and Furious Operation in 2010 – a year before the controversy emerged.’ So I mean, did you, yourself know about the operation last year?”

Rep. Darrell Issa: “That is an outright lie that the Justice Department has been spinning. They shopped that to the newspapers until they found one that would print it. The fact is Kenneth Melson, a man who under oath very, very well recorded, has said he didn’t know about much of this, and clearly did not brief me in one briefing that was about gun trafficking into Mexico. And let’s understand something, Anderson. They would have you believe that I knew, that I knew what the Attorney General didn’t know, that I knew what they were deliberately withholding from ATF, DEA, and Justice agents in Mexico City and from the M- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. So as this cover-up and this game of spin-and-delay continues, the problem is it’s only creating problems that didn’t initially exist. Initially, this was a dumb program that led to very adverse consequences. Now it’s about a cover-up, about deception, about slow-rolling discovery of this and other committees. Understand I got involved in this because Senator Grassley was denied any discovery because he wasn’t the Chairman over in the Senate, and I got involved somewhat on his behalf, and my committee has taken a lead on it. But this was about stonewalling of the Senate long before I got involved.”

So the blame shifting deflections and cover-up continues apace.

MORE:

One user at the whistler-blower site, Clean-UP  ATF wrote about the Bush era gun running operation:

Op. Gunrunner worked great from 2006 when it was idealized and funded. The reason that Op. Gunrunner went sideways is that this Chicago Thugocracy couldn’t connive their way into new gun control. So the multi-agency task forces, led by one or two ATF handlers, were talking to co-operative licensees and….unlike the later incarnation of the Op….were actually intercepting straw purchasers and the guns before they got to Mexico…

Once the Chicago Thugocracy took office, the local cops and deputies which made up the multi-agency Gunrunner task forces were magically “no longer needed”…what it really was, was the idea that local cops/deputies couldn’t be intimidated into silence when they realized that the guns were going across the fence into Mexico.

I know several of the locals who were on the task force. As one of them angrily told me over a few beers “I guess no one is smuggling guns anymore…the problem must be FIXED!!!!” (he was a bit POd)

RELATED:

Sipsey Street Irregulars has the same concern I have about an Obama/DOJ appointed Special Prosecutor: Why should we expect that ANY “Independent” Counsel selected by Eric Holder will be anything other than another instrument of cover-up?

***

Here’s a remarkable  CNN report from Sept 29, where reporter Drew Peterson informed Anderson Cooper, ( finally getting up to speed on the scandal that had percolating all year) that the the F&F operation is gaining traction among the gun crowd as a gun ban attempt.   Peterson says “as wacky as that sounds, there really is no other theory that makes sense” in reference to the  growing evidence this was done to increase violence on the Mexican border to blame the U.S. for the guns being used. Peterson’s report starts at around 3:23. He about the “conspiracy theories” at around the 6:00 minute mark.
The  Sheriff Babeu interview, which I’ve already posted, is also included on this video.

Hilarious: Reid Blocks Obama’s “Jobs” Bill – “Mr. President, right away is a relative term… so I object” (Video)

We are living in surreal times.

FLASHBACK: “No delays. I’m sending this bill to Congress today, and they ought to pass it immediately.” – President Obama, remarks on the American Jobs Act, September 12, 2011.

Rinse and repeat about 50,000 times.

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, a master of understatement, asked for a vote on Obama’s jobs bill today, saying: “I think we ought to accommodate the President of the United States on a matter that he has been speaking about *ahem!* frequently over the last few weeks, and give him his vote…”

Reid: “Mr. President, right away is a relative term, that time will come very, very soon… so I object”

It depends on what the meaning of “right away, is,” because to a Democrat, “right away” is very a subjective term. It could mean “next month”, “next year”, or even “never” you just don’t know.

Watch the video for sh*ts and giggles:

Video via BudgetGOP

 

MORE:

You can’t make this stuff up.

Obama Campaign Sends Email Blasting GOP For Blocking Jobs Bill . . . After Reid Blocks Jobs Bill…

He has  nothing but contempt for his followers.

UPDATE:

Hot Air: Obamateurism of the Day

Barack Obama’s new strategy of blaming House Republicans for blocking any of his initiatives relied on Senate Democrats to pass his bills — a strategy that fell apart almost instantly, and disintegrated completely yesterday when Harry Reid blocked consideration of Obama’s jobs bill. One might have thought that Obama and his team would have worked with Senate Democrats to get the strategy set before rolling out those proposals, but as The Hill reports, Obama seems almost as intent on alienating his allies as much as his opponents:

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Video: CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson On Laura Ingraham Show – WH Spokesman Screamed and Cussed at Her Over Fast and Furious Investigation

Eric Schultz, WH Flack

Via JWF at AoSHQ:

Today Attkisson appeared on The Laura Ingraham Show and detailed the reaction of White House and DOJ spokesthings when she questioned them last Friday.

***

6:05 – Laura: So they were literally screaming at you?
Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.”

His bio according to Potomac flacks:

 First reported by Politico, Eric Schultz is headed to the White House communications shop after serving as Communications Director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2010 cycle.  At the White House, Schultz will directly handle press matters related to the U.S. Department of Justice and investigations held by the House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA).

Previously, Schultz handled press for Al Franken’s 2008 Senate campaign and was National Press Secretary for the 2008 presidential bid of Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

Schultz is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. (Politico)

 

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Repubs Request Special Counsel To Investigate Holder In Fast And Furious Probe

FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE:

The wheels of justice turn slowly, especially when it comes to to the nation’s top Scofflaw, Eric Holder, but it appears justice may finally be served:

House Republicans are calling for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, was sending a letter to President Obama on Tuesday arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself, and requesting the president instruct the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel.

FILE: Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill May 3 before a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.

The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing on May 3. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known as Fast and Furious until about April 2011.

“I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks,” Holder testified.

However, a newly discovered memo dated July 2010 shows Michael Walther, director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, told Holder that straw buyers in the Fast and Furious operation “are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to the Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

Other documents also indicate that Holder began receiving weekly briefings on the program from the National Drug Intelligence Center “beginning, at the latest, on July 5, 2010,” Smith wrote.

“These updates mentioned, not only the name of the operation, but also specific details about guns being trafficked to Mexico,” Smith wrote in the letter to Obama.

“Allegations that senior Justice Department officials may have intentionally misled members of Congress are extremely troubling and must be addressed by an independent and objective special counsel. I urge you to appoint a special counsel who will investigate these allegations as soon as possible,” Smith wrote.

One question. Why does the Department get to appoint it’s own Special Counsel? I think (hope!) Fox News got that wrong.

The Hill quotes Smith’s letter directly:

“Allegations that senior Justice Department officials may have intentionally misled Members of Congress are extremely troubling and must be addressed by an independent and objective special counsel,” said Smith in his letter to Obama.

“I urge you to appoint a special counsel who will investigate these allegations as soon as possible.”

Okay, that’s not much better. I thought Congress appointed the Special Prosecutor:

A special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have political connections to those it might be asked to investigate. Inherently, this creates a conflict of interest and a solution is to have someone from outside the department lead the investigation. The term “special prosecutor” may have a variety of meanings from one country to the next, from one government branch to the next within the same country, and within different agencies within each government branch. Critics of the use of special prosecutors argue that these investigators act as a “4th branch” to the government because they are not subject to limitations in spending or have deadlines to meet.

Can someone explain this to me?

We’re not going to get an honest broker from Obama.

UPDATE:

Legal Eagle, gabrielmalor tells me on Twitter: The AG appoints a Special Counsel, but that’d be difficult in this case.

That would be why they asked for the President to appoint the Special Counsel. Because obviously, the Justice Dept. can’t investigate itself.

Hopefully, Gabe will explain more in a post at AoSHQ, soon.

MORE:

Via Oversight and Reform, Issa on Fox and Friends, this morning:

UPDATE:

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey writes,

“Now Obama has to decide whether to defy Congress and create a precedent for protecting appointees who willfully mislead Congress, or submit to a special prosecutor that could run wild on his administration.  I’m going to guess that Obama will defy the House, but that may not last very long, especially with Darrell Issa probing Solyndra and other potential scandals”

What’s stopping him from appointing someone who is thoroughly corrupt and in the tank for the administration? Isn’t that the Chicago way? The fix is always in?

This is exactly why Issa wanted to have his investigation wrapped up before a Special Prosecutor was appointed.

 

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Reminder: We Stand With Gibson Guitars Rally This Saturday (W/Video)

Via Lisa Mei Norton, Big Hollywood:

On October 8, from 2-4PM, several 9/12, TEA Party, and conservative/patriot organizations will unite in an “unprecedented” show of support for one of this country’s great American companies, Gibson Guitars at a “We Stand With Gibson” rally at the Scoreboard Bar & Grill parking lot in Nashville, TN.

For those who don’t tune in to Fox News Channel, read conservative blogs, or listen to conservative talk radio, chances are you are not even aware of what happened to Gibson Guitars last month when Federal agents raided their offices and factories in Nashville and Memphis, semi-automatic weapons drawn, clearing out all employees and confiscating guitars, supplies, files, computers, etc.

What was their alleged crime, you ask?  Using “illegal” wood in their products.   Isn’t it odd how nobody has even been indicted on any charges?

As I discussed in my last BigDawg spotlight piece on fellow BigDawg’er, Nathan Picard, seems the only real “crime” here is Gibson’s CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, is a Republican donor.  The feds have basically told Mr. Juszkiewicz that all of this “would go away” if they outsource their jobs to Madagascar.  Say what?

Meanwhile, POTUS is making the rounds touting his so-called “jobs bill”…demanding Congress “pass this bill” (90 times in 5 speeches)…. But do keep sending those jobs overseas.

How can you get involved?  Hop on a plane, train, or automobile, head to Nashville, and let this administration know that we say “NO YOU CAN’T” bully us into submission.  Rally organizers have stated the following:

The government’s actions impact not only Gibson but all related businesses working with Gibson products. This abuse of federal power must not go unanswered. We, the citizens who grant government its power and authority, MUST act to hold government accountable when that power is abused. Please join us October 8 in Nashville to Stand with Gibson.

We are asking you to do the following to show your support for Gibson:

1) Attend the rally (Directions);
2) Sign up for email updates on the rally. New information is coming out daily;
3) Tell your family and friends about the rally and encourage them to attend, as well;
4) Visit the Rally’s FaceBook page and “Like” it;
5) Share on your FaceBook and Twitter accounts. The Twitter hashtag is #GibsonRally;
6) Visit Grassfire Nation and sign the petition in support of Gibson (the plan is to present this to Gibson live at the event)

The rally will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Scoreboard Grill in the Opryland area of Nashville. Map, here.  It will feature Congressman Marsha Blackburn, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, radio hosts Steve Gill and Phil Valentine and Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer.

Via The We Stand With Gibson Website:

CONFIRMED! Eric Lee Beddingfield will Perform.
Confirmed! Grant Austin Taylor will Rock the House with his rendition of the National Anthem on his Gibson Electric Guitar
Please Join us and take a Stand for Freedom and Stand with Gibson.
More updates soon, this is going to be a Concert and Rally to Remember, Join US!
Charlie Daniels will not be at the Rally but he has a great Facebook Post on Gibson.

If it’s drivable for you, it sounds like it might be a fun way to pass the weekend.

Previously:

Video: Ted Nugent On The DOJ’s Gibson Guitar Raids: “Illogical, Anti-American, and Contrary to the Claims of Creating Jobs…”

We Stand With Gibson Guitars Rally Oct. 8

Audio: Gibson CEO Claims Feds Told Him Problems Would ‘Go Away’ if Labor Done in Madagascar

Video: Newt Gingrich Calls For Congressional Investigation of Gibson Guitar Raid; Republicans Invite CEO To Obama Speech

Why Is The Obama Administration Targeting Gibson Guitars?

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Texas Dems Come To Perry’s Defense – “If he were an n-bomb dropping cracker, we’d all know.”

This is a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting Texas Democrats to come to Perry’s defense on the WaPo racist rock story.

Via Hot Air, Allahpunditposes the obvious question: “How did Perry manage 10 years as governor of Texas without the story about his family’s hunting camp coming out?:

The apparent answer: Few people back home seriously believe he’s a racist, including the opposition, so maybe no one thought it mattered.

Even some of Perry’s fiercest Texas critics say they do not believe he is racist. They point to his record of appointments as evidence: He appointed the state’s first African-American state supreme court justice, Wallace Jefferson, and later made him chief justice. (Jefferson’s great grandfather was a slave, “sold like a horse,” Perry once said with disgust.) Perry’s former general counsel and former chief of staff, Brian Newby, is black; so is Albert Hawkins, the former Health and Human Services Commissioner who Perry handpicked to lead the massive agency in 2002.

“He doesn’t have a racist bone in his body,” said former Democratic state Rep. Ron Wilson, who is black and served with Perry in his early years in the Legislature. “He didn’t then, and he doesn’t now.”

Added Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West, who is also black: “I don’t agree with him on policy issues, but you can point to many things he has done that were sensitive to ethnic minorities.”…

“He appointed a black man chief justice of the state Supreme Court, for crying out loud, one of the many high-profile positions he’s given to minorities during his time as governor,” Jason Stanford, a Democratic opposition researcher and author of an upcoming book on Perry, wrote in a weekend blog post. “… If he were an n-bomb dropping cracker, we’d all know.”

See Also:

Gateway Pundit, who posts audio of Mark Levin telling his audience yesterday that “the Obama New Black Panther story completely destroys the ‘Perry Rock’ story.”

As does Fast and Furious, Green Energy-Gate, the Gibson Guitar raid, Obama’s disastrous stewardship of the economy, etc. etc. I don’t have time to go through all the Obama administration’s  scandals – (but I do cringe when I hear MSM idiots saying , “Will [insert latest scandal, here] tarnish he President’s squeaky clean image?) What a joke.

Has anyone even seen this rock? Can we get a picture? We have to take the WaPo’s anonymous sources’ words for their allegation that the N-word was still visible under the white paint for years? They haven’t even been able to find the rock, but no matter. They run a story smearing a man’s character in the worst possible way on the flimsiest of evidence, but ignore actual photos of the President marching with radical, anti-Semitic, racist, militant Islamist nut-jobs in 2007. No curiosity at all about Malik Zulu Shabazz’s name showing up on White House logs before the New Black Panther voter intimidation case was thrown out by the DOJ.

No, the scoop of the year is the rock with a bad word on it that Perry had painted over nearly thirty years ago.

REMINDER:

Rumor has it, (well, no – actually, recent events show) that the race card is going to be a major part of Obama’s 2012 campaign strategy.

…..”his people are going to raise the issue of race to a level this country hasn’t seen since the Civil Rights movement.  White guilt got Barack Obama the nomination.  White guilt got Barack Obama into the White House.”

RELATED:

Hot Air: Wow: Cain ties Perry for 2nd in new WaPo/ABC poll

Bret Baier: When did Eric Holder actually know about Fast and Furious? (Video)

Fox News’ Bret Baier and William La Jeunesse broke down new developments in the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious on Special Report, last night.

New documents detail when Attorney General Eric Holder actually knew about Operation Fast and Furious. It was much earlier than he had testified to congress.

video via Oversight and Reform

See also:

John Hayward of Human Events who concludes:

Are we supposed to believe Holder is so inept that he doesn’t even know who prepares the reports he isn’t reading?  One of the memos he claims not to have seen came from Lanny Breuer, who is the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.  Doesn’t he count as “upper level?”

It was time for Eric Holder to leave the Justice Department long ago.  Now it’s time for him to be escorted from the building.

It’s time for Congressional Republicans to start banging the war drums. If he doesn’t step down voluntarily, and if Obama doesn’t fire him,  he must be impeached.

Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach “the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States.” The phrase “civil officers” includes the members of the cabinet.

UPDATE:

Ben Shapiro of CNS News concurs: Does Fast and Furious Put Impeachment on The Table? (Yes!)

If this scandal runs all the way up the chain of command — and by all indicators, it could — it is certainly an impeachable offense. This is a high crime, not a misdemeanor. Pushing an operation designed to undercut American freedoms that ends with the death of Americans is not only illegal, it is unconscionable. And unlike Iran-Contra, it wasn’t done for the right reasons.

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New Documents Show Attorney General Eric Holder Committed Perjury Before Congress

We already knew he was lying. Now we can prove it.

ABC’s Sharyl Attkisson has the scoop, once again ATF Fast and Furious: New documents show Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed in July 2010:

Read the new documents:

Read the July 5, 2010 memo

Read the “It’s a tricky case” email

Read the memo to AG Holder from Asst. AG Lanny A. Breuer.

The documents came from the head of the National Drug Intelligence Center and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.

In Fast and Furious, ATF agents allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to cross the border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

It’s called letting guns “walk,” and it remained secret to the public until Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered last December. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene, and ATF agent John Dodson blew the whistle on the operation.

Ever since, the Justice Department has publicly tried to distance itself. But the new documents leave no doubt that high level Justice officials knew guns were being “walked.”

Two Justice Department officials mulled it over in an email exchange Oct. 18, 2010. “It’s a tricky case given the number of guns that have walked but is a significant set of prosecutions,” says Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division. Deputy Chief of the National Gang Unit James Trusty replies “I’m not sure how much grief we get for ‘guns walking.’ It may be more like, “Finally they’re going after people who sent guns down there.”

The Justice Department told CBS News that the officials in those emails were talking about a different case started before Eric Holder became Attorney General. And tonight they tell CBS News, Holder misunderstood that question from the committee – he did know about Fast and Furious – just not the details.

Chairman Issa asked him, “when did you first know about the program officially known as Fast and Furious?” What’s confusing about that question? What’s not to understand?

Here’s Holder’s testimony from May 3 of this year:

Meanwhile, the infernally cloying  Rachel Maddow, taking her cue from the infernal hacks at Media Matters, smirks, hey, look over there!

I wonder what it feels like to have sold your soul to a Marxist demigod.

See also:

Michael Walsh, NY Post: Furiously unraveling:

It’s time for politicians on both sides of the aisle to demand answers from Justice and the White House. Issa and his colleague in the Senate, Chuck Grassley, have been doing yeoman’s work, but there’s only so much they can do without the wind at their backs.

A White House under investigation can delay, slow-walk documents, redact them in the name of national or operational security, and simply refuse to make witnesses available to investigators — all of which the administration has done. Issa and Grassley had asked to interview O’Reilly before the end September, but the White House says he’s on assignment in the Mideast and thus unavailable.

Short of a special prosecutor — a move floated by Issa but one that the Justice Department, which is leading its own probe, would likely block — the only hope we have that the truth will come out is public pressure.

So where are the GOP candidates? Where is a critical mass of journalists and commentators, who should be asking sharp, tough, pertinent questions in the national interest?

By now, it’s clear that the US government is in Fast and Furious up to its ears — with two, possibly three dead agents and more than 200 dead Mexicans to show for an operation that never had the slightest chance of success.

The only real question is: Why?

Bob Owens, PJ Media: Gunwalker: Under White House Control?:

Iowahawk: En el teléfono

[with apologies to Terry Southern]

Juan? Hola, amigo! Como esta?

Fine, fine. And how are Lupe and the kids?

College already? Boy, how time flies. Has she picked a major?

Splendid. And how is Juan Jr.? He’s what now, 13, 14? The last time I saw him he was only…

Oh.

Oh.

My goodness. Boy, that’s… that’s just terrible. My deepest sympathies to you and Lupe on your loss. I’ll have my secretary arrange for a memorial bouquet. I know he was a fine boy, and…

Now, Juan, let’s not jump to conclusions here. We both know there are lots of machine gun murders in Mexico, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re all…

Yes, Juan, I got your messages. As a matter of fact that’s why I’m calling this afternoon. I’ve had my people look into this thing and…

Keep reading  at link.

Bob Owens, PJ Media: Gunwalker: Holder Appears To Be Fast, Furious, and Finished

These documents seem to convincingly argue that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder knowingly perjured himself in congressional testimony. As Holder knew, it is likely that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose agents were also part of the task force, received similar weekly reports from either her direct reports or U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, a close personal confidant who was her chief of staff while she was Arizona’s governor and who was appointed U.S. attorney through Napolitano’s influence. State should have been informed as they would have to waive what are clear violations of the Arms Export Control Act, but there is not any evidence yet that Secretary of State Clinton was involved in the operations.

It is starting to appear that Eric Holder might soon find himself thrown under the proverbial bus. It now seems only a matter of time before we discover who was driving a bus that seems destined for the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Remember all the years the left salivated at the thought of the “Bushies”  being “frog-marched” out of the White House in handcuffs to pay for all of their terrible crimes against humanity? Yeah. It never happened because they weren’t criminals, they were decent men and women trying to keep the country safe at a time of war. (Not that there aren’t still a few moonbats out there who refuse to give up the dream.)

But it sure may happen with some key members of Obama’s  “gangster government”, and perhaps Obama, himself.

History shows again and again how left-wing ideology leads to murderous mayhem.

Go, Go Blogzilla.

Hat tip: Sipsey Street Irregulars.

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Herman Cain Walks Back Perry Ranch Condemnation – “They painted over it. End of story!”

Via The Hill: Cain’s press office tweeted a picture of him in front of Trump Tower

Via Katrina Trinko of NRO:

Speaking outside Trump Tower today, Herman Cain dismissed the idea that he was trying to paint Rick Perry as a racist by having called Perry “insensitive” yesterday when asked about the “[N-word]head” rock on property Perry had leased.

“All I said was the mere fact that that word was there was ‘insensitive.’” Cain responded. “That’s not playing the race card. I am not attacking Gov. Perry. Some people in the media want to attack him. I’m done with that issue!”

The Perry campaign says that the rock was painted over years ago.

Cain asked reporters to focus on “what’s important to the American people” rather than “beat this distraction to death about a word that appeared on a rock.”

“I really don’t care about that word,” Cain added. “They painted over it. End of story! I accept Gov. Perry’s response on that.”

After meeting with Donald Trump, Cain come out and talked to the media again, saying he had “very much enjoyed” the conversation he had had with Trump. They did not discuss a possible endorsement according to Cain.

Mr. Cain has been taking  heat in the conservative blogosphere for making the comments condemning Perry without qualifying whether or not the WaPo story was entirely true.

Hopefully these remarks will cool things off a bit.

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New Photos Emerge that Show Barack Obama Palling Around With The New Black Panthers In 2007

New photos have been uncovered showing then Senator Obama sharing the same podium at the event with the New Black Panthers.

In the first image, Shabazz stands at the podium, surrounded by uniformed Panthers, including Muhammed.

In the second photograph, Obama commands the same podium.

Andrew Breitbart (who else!) has the scoop:

New photographs obtained exclusively by BigGovernment.com reveal that Barack Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Alabama in March 2007.

The photographs, captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before it was scrubbed, are the latest evidence of the mainstream media’s failure to examine Obama’s extremist ties and radical roots.

In addition, the new images raise questions about the possible motives of the Obama administration in its infamous decision to drop the prosecution of the Panthers for voter intimidation.

The images, presented below, also renew doubts about the transparency of the White House’s guest logs–in particular, whether Panther National Chief Malik Zulu Shabazz is the same “Malik Shabazz” listed among the Obama administration’s early visitors.

Tomorrow, J. Christian Adams, the Department of Justice whistleblower in the New Black Panther Party case, will release his new book, Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department (Regnery).

The book exposes Obama administration corruption far beyond the Panther dismissal, and reveals how the institutional Left has turned the power of the DOJ into an ideological weapon.

Adams’s book also describes, in detail, the Selma march at which then-Senator Obama was joined by a group of Panthers who had come to support his candidacy.

***

Breitbart alleges that there are even more photographs. And he has some questions for the White House:

I have been calling for the White House to disclose which Malik Shabazz visited the private White House residence on July 25, 2009, two months after the DOJ voter intimidation case was dismissed.  So far, the White House has refused to do so, leaving open the question of which “Malik Shabazz” appears in visitor logs released to the public.

To reiterate: nobody, including Adams, is suggesting that Obama is a secret member of the New Black Panther Party. At a minimum, however, the events in Selma expose the media double standard that has buried this story until this week.

The mainstream media should ask Obama a few questions before they rush to his defense:

What did he and Malik Zulu Shabazz say when they conversed that day–something that Shabazz has said happened?

Did the Obama campaign play any role in having the Panthers travel to support his presidential ambitions?

Who posted the Panthers’ endorsement on the Obama campaign’s website, and at whose instructions?

Who–finally–was the Malik Shabazz who visited the White House residence on July 25, 2009?

Read the full report at Big Government, as there are some important points I didn’t excerpt.

I can tell you what the official position of the Obama Camp back in 2oo8 was re the New Black Panthers endorsement on his website. I remember it well, because I blogged about it.

Obama Campaign official blogger, Sam Graham-Felsen, said in his scathing Response to Fox News “Story” :

Apparently, today was a slow news day.

So Fox News evidently decided to pore through our millions of user-created pages on My.BarackObama.com and put a screenshot of inflammatory content on the front page of FoxNews.com.

You see, more than 700,000 people have created accounts on the system. You can create one right now if you choose, in about a minute — anyone can.

Now, from time to time people get up to no good — creating fake profiles (like one for Sean Hannity created today), or posting profane or inappropriate content. When they do, the community reports the offending content and if it violates our terms of service it is removed (as the Sean Hannity profile was).

My.BarackObama.com has been at the core of our bottom-up organizing strategy. The tools available have been put to work by a community of supporters that is bigger and more powerful than anything presidential politics has ever seen.

Evidently, Fox News didn’t think it was a big deal that hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans are participating in the democratic process creating groups and local events in communities all across the country.

But they did think it was a big deal that one random person on the Internet, without the knowledge of the Obama campaign, posted a profile in the system with the image of the New Black Panther Party on it.

When we were alerted of the existence of this page, we pulled it down. Yet even after we pulled the page, Fox News continues to disingenuously and prominently feature this “story” on their homepage.

One problem with that - WND ‘s Aaron Klein had interviewed NBPP national chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, the day before. He had confirmed his organization’s endorsement of Obama.

Malik Zulu Shabazz, NBPP national chairman, who has given scores of speeches condemning “white men” and Jews, confirmed his organization’s endorsement of Obama in an interview with WND today.

“I think the way Obama responded to the attack on him and the attempt to sabotage his campaign shows true leadership and character. He had a chance to denounce his pastor and he didn’t fall for the bait. He stood up and addressed real issues of racial discord,” stated Shabazz.

Shabazz boasted he met Obama last March when the politician attended the 42nd anniversary of the voting rights marches in Selma, Ala.

“I have nothing but respect for Obama and for his pastor,” said Shabazz, referring to Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor of nearly 20 years.

It is Wright’s racially charged and anti-Israel remarks that were widely circulated last week, landing the presidential candidate in hot water and prompting Obama to deliver a major race speech in which he condemned Wright’s comments but not the pastor himself.

Speaking to WND, Shabazz referred to Obama as a man with a “Muslim background, a man of color.”

Shabazz’s NBPP’s official platform states “white man has kept us deaf, dumb and blind,” refers to the “white racist government of America,” demands black people be exempt from military service and uses the word “Jew” repeatedly in quotation marks.

***

Speaking to WND, Shabazz said aside from promoting black rights, he also supports Obama because he may take what he called a “less biased” policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I have hopes he will change the U.S. government’s position toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because our position has been unwarranted bias. Time and time again the U.S. vetoed resolutions in the U.N. Security Council condemning [Israeli] human rights violation. … I hope he shifts policy,” Shabazz said.

So we already know the official answer to, “Who posted the Panthers’ endorsement on the Obama campaign’s website?” It’s  “Some anonymous crank, you sillies!”, but I think we know better. It doesn’t really matter who posted the endorsement, anyway — Shabazz clearly endorsed Obama in that interview.

It was a “story”, all right. The MSM (other than Fox) did a huge disservice to the American people by not covering it.

See Also:

Lee Stranahan, Big Journalism: Who Is the New Black Panther Party? What Media Matters and the Obama DOJ Don’t Want You to Know

Andrew McCarthy, NRO:

This is a shocking story, and a breathtaking indictment of the mainstream media which went out of its way to avoid vetting Obama as a candidate — and to make sure anyone who tried to do due diligence got no sunshine. A candidate who chose to appeared in the company of, say, the KKK, would have provoked relentlessly hostile media coverage and, in short order, have been marginalized as disqualified to hold responsible elective office. As Andrew points out, one of those present with Obama was Najee Muhammed, the Panthers’ “minister of war” who had called for Georgia police officers to be murdered. Yet, the press buried the Obama/Panthers connection. For example, after initially mentioning the presence of the Panthers, NPR omitted Panther references from its subsequent coverage.

Linked by Gay Patriot, thanks!

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Previously:

Video: Some Videos For The #OccupyWallstreet Crowd

I’m reaching out to the #occupywallstreet crowd with some videos because some people learn better through imagery.

There is a reason many in the center-right have been ridiculing #occupywallstreet as clueless, incoherent children who don’t seem to have seem to have the slightest idea how detached from reality their  message/argument/vision – whatever is.

LaborUnionReport recently posted a basic synopsis of the current economic crisis which they are wanting to blame on “corporate greed”, instead of the risk aversion created by Barack Obama’s attacks on job creators, and essentially all of  the  leftist policies they support.

…NY Governor Andrew Cuomo gave birth to the subprime mortgage meltdown and the Great Recession.

As the Village Voice stated in 2008:

Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country’s current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments.

Of course, let us not forget  Barack Obama’s ACORN, and its role in sowing the seeds to the crisis:

THE seeds of today’s financial meltdown lie in the Community Reinvestment Act – a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.

CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.

However, since most of the neo-Coms camping in Zuccotti Park were still in diapers when Bill Clinton was in office, they are likely too young to remember the Clinton era [Monica, who?]. Moreover, to them, Carter is likely just that cool old dude that likes negotiating with comrades overseas.

Either too young, or they are too indoctrinated in their Marxist ideologies, too lazy to investigate, or just too stupid to care that the ‘corporatism’ they are fighting is, in reality, the result of government interventionism propagated by the same union Leftists they have been clamoring for approval from.

Hear  your compatriots in Congress defend a mortgage program that was doomed to fail:

***

Here’s a dirty little secret: Corporations are in business to make money. Yep, I said it. There’s no denying that. But here’s the cool thing:  Amazing innovations that contribute to the betterment of society come from the private sector. Like the cell phones you’ve been using, (to use the obvious example) Or like The Esteem Hearing Implant, a product of the eeeevil corporation,  Envoy Medical:

Envoy Medical Corporation was founded – originally as St. Croix Medical – in 1995 to design, manufacture, and bring to market the world’s first, and only, fully implantable hearing restoration device not to use a microphone or speaker. Envoy Medical began its operations in March of 1996 and spent its first several years developing the breakthrough technology that has become Esteem® – The Hearing Implant^TM.

Envoy Medical successfully completed a feasibility study in 2002. After a few improvements to the product design, pivotal clinical trials were initiated in 2004 in both the European Union and the United States. Envoy Medical received its CE Mark approval to market the Esteem® in the European Union in May of 2006.

In August of 2009, Envoy Medical completed its Esteem® premarket approval (“PMA”) application and submitted it to the Food and Drug Administration. On August 27, 2009, the FDA notified Envoy Medical that they had received the Esteem® PMA application and decided to grant the application expedited processing for the following reason:

“We believe that the Esteem Totally Implantable Hearing System represents a breakthrough technology, which provides an alternative to non-implantable and partially implantable hearing aid technology.”

On March 17, 2010, Envoy Medical received the formal premarket approval letter from the FDA granting approval for commercial distribution of the Esteem®.

***

Do you understand that this amazing breakthrough in technology would never be possible under the onerous taxes and regulations you would see inflicted on corporations, or under a government run bureaucracy? The #occupyWallstreet endorsed  President is already making it more difficult for corporations like Envoy by adding hundreds of more jobs and innovation crushing red tape on their businesses.

How is that good? How does that help the economy? Do you not understand that the more government gets involved in our day to day affairs, the less freedom to innovate and achieve excellence occurs?

I’ll leave you with the brilliant economist, Milton Friedman, who famously addressed the topic of “greed” on the Phil Donahue Show, many years ago: