Agency Admits It Destroyed Records After Six-Year FOIA Stonewall

From The Daily Caller:

Department of Labor (DOL) officials likely violated federal law when they said they had records requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), then six years later said they didn’t and deleted an email account that proved otherwise, Americans for Limited Government (ALG) said in a FOIA appeal Tuesday.

So what are they trying to hide?

Documents Confirm Eric Holder's Role in Fast and Furious Cover-Up

From Powerline Blog:

“Fast and Furious” is back in the news. The reason? In January, Judge Amy Berman, an Obama appointee, ordered the Department of Justice to produce documents relating to the “gun walking” scandal that Congress had been seeking for four years. DOJ finally produced them, some 20,000 pages worth, this month.
..................

In cases like this, people often say that “the cover-up is worse than the crime.” I don’t think this applies to Fast and Furious because the Obama-Holder Justice Department’s original malfeasance resulted in death.

More broadly, this case illustrates that, whatever the extent of their moral shortcomings, cover-ups probably succeed more often then they fail. Here, Eric Holder largely succeeded in thwarting the Fast and Furious investigation. Four years later, Barack Obama is completing his second term. Sleazy Eric Holder is back at his top tier law firm that reportedly has represented large banks he declined to prosecute for their alleged role in the financial crisis.

And Fast and Furious is all but forgotten.

Holder needs to be in jail.

Press No Longer Believing Claims That Obama's Administration is the "Most Transparent In History"

From Mediaite.com:

The members of the White House press corps exploded at White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Thursday over the charge that President Barack Obama’s administration is too restrictive in the access it gives photographers, and replaces that access with official White House photographers.

Carney argued that he is “very sensitive” to the concerns of media photographers who do not believe they are having transparent access to the president in favor of the White House’s official photographer.

“Some of this has to do with fundamental transformations in the media,” Carney said. “We did not create the internet.”

At this point, the press corps burst into a flurry of aggressive questioning. American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan accused the White House of going so far as to bar reporters from accessing the front of Air Force One during a recent presidential trip to South Africa in order to allow official photographers exclusive access to those images.

Since the Regime Propaganda Mouthpiece has finally lost all credibility with the Drive-By-Media, it may be time to replace Carney with someone the Drive-By-Media has more respect for, Baghdad Bob, formerly of the Saddam Hussein Regime.

Faces of meth -- ‘Five years of Obama’ edition'

From the Dailycaller.com

After 5 years of Hope and Change, I just hope y'all see the change.

The Democrats’ ‘Smart Power’ Lies in Ruins

From Jim Geraghty at NationalReview.com

You can pin this on Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Susan Rice, but most of all, the buck stops with the president. Those of us who scoffed a bit at a state senator ascending to the presidency within four years on a wave of media hype and adoration are not quite so shocked by this current mess. We never bought into this notion that getting greater cooperation from our allies, and less hostility from our enemies, was just a matter of giving this crew the wheel and letting them practice, as Hillary Clinton arrogantly declared it, “smart power.” (These people can’t even label a foreign-policy approach without reminding us of how highly they think of themselves.) They looked out at the world at the end of the Bush years, and didn’t see tough decisions, unsolvable problems, unstable institutions, restless populations, technology enabling the impulse to destabilize existing institutions, evil men hungry for more power, and difficult trade-offs. No, our problems and challengers were just a matter of the previous hands running U.S. foreign policy not being smart enough.

The Lib and the Drive-By Media have been arguing for years, that America's foreign policy problem are based on decisions made by a Texas cowboy.

So, has the decision being made by the "former constitutional law lecturer/Nobel Prize Laureate" and his Regime proved to be any better? Does the International community have more respect for this country? Do other countries of the world support our country and it's goal? Do Arab countries think more highly of us?

I have said it before and I will say it again.  The Dear Leader has never had a real job, never had to produce, and has no experience in the real world.  He is the very definition of an Ivory Tower Intellectual , whose response to failure is, "That's not how it worked out in my doctoral thesis."

Why does the Dear Leader suddenly want approval from Congress to attack Syria?

Our Dear Leader was on a collision course this week to lob a few cruise missile at Syria for crossing the "redline" over the use of chemical weapons.  The latest shelling in Syria's continuing civil war appears to most experts, that they used the nerve gas Sarin to repel the rebels.

Our Dear Leader stated a while ago that Syria must not cross the red line as use chemical weapons on his own people.  With several reports that the latest shelling is the 3rd time Bashir Assad has used these weapons of mass destruction on his own people.  So this has "forced" the Dear Leader to react, less he losses what little international credibility he has left.

Many have speculated that he would order several cruise missile launched at a few "strategic" target and then boast, " I kept my word" and wag his finger at Assad and warn, "Don't to that again or I will get really mad and send bombers next time."

He also announced that he did not need the approval of Congress the act. This is in direct conflict with the opinion of Senator Obama as well as Presidential Candidate Obama.  Then Senator Joe Biden also stated that if the President unilaterally attacks a foreign country without the approval of Congress, it would be an impeachable offense.  So much for intellectual consistency.

But the International community, that Dear Leader assumed would back him, seems to have walked away.  Then our closest ally, Great Britain had a vote in Parliament not supporting Prime Minister Cameron's request for authorization to attack.  Whoops!!!

What to do?  If the UN, or a minimum of just a few allies, would back Dear Leader, he could claim "International Support" for his blatant act of war against the Assad Regime.

Sudden, he decides he needs the approval of Congress to attack.  So one has to ask why?  Has the Dear Leader called for an emergency session with Congress?  No.  Has he recalled Congress from their summer break? No!

So why?  It's simple.  It he gets the approval of Congress, if things go badly, he got congressional approval.  If he doesn't get approval, he can demagogue Congress for their lack of approval.

See, it's all about assigning blame for failure, insuring the Dear Leader is not responsible.

An often made statement about the Dear Leader's Leadership is, "Leading from Behind."  The correct description is, " Who can I blame, if it fails?"

P.S. 
Byron York at the Washington Examiner has a similar take on the situation.

Syria Intervention Would Reaffirm Obama’s Biggest Flip-Flop

Time Magazine performs a random act of Journalism:

In 2007, Barack Obama was asked when Presidents have the authority to launch a military strike without congressional authorization. He had a precise answer at the ready.

“The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat,” Obama told the Boston Globe.

Back then, the target in question was Iran, and Obama was a first-term Senator running for President against the excesses of George W. Bush’s foreign policy. But the statement stands in stark opposition to Obama’s view now. The Obama Administration is on the cusp of intervening in a Syrian civil war that by all accounts does not pose an imminent domestic threat to the U.S. And Obama appears set to unilaterally authorize punitive strikes against Bashar Assad’s regime.

It would not be the first time Obama acted outside his own previous definition of presidential war powers. In 2011, with a bloody conflict escalating in Libya, Obama authorized the U.S. to join an international coalition that established a no-fly zone in order to stem the threat of mass slaughter. Obama argued the intervention was justified.

So Dear Leader flip-flops, kinda not surprising since his Secretary of State, The French looking, Former Senator of Massachusetts John Kerry, who serve in Vietnam by the way, was hammered for doing the same thing when he ran for President in 2004.

Well they say, birds of a feather, flock together.

Appeals court says White House visitor logs can be kept from public

The DC Circuit court ruled yesterday in a case brought by Judicial Watch against the "Most Transparent Adminstration evah!!

Quote of the day

“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?” - Sarah Palin

BOOM!

Voter ID Laws -- Another straw man argument

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of MLK's "I have a Dream Speech."  So for the anniversary, a rally was organized on the National Mall, with many speakers.  And one of the speakers was decrying SCOTUS  applying logic to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  In their decision, the Court say the DOJ can't use the data from 1965 in determining whether a jurisdiction needed per-clearance to change any voting conditions, such as moving a precinct location, re-redistricting, etc.  SCOTUS also has allowed many State law which require a Government Issued ID to vote.

Voter ID law are considered discriminatory by many in the race grievance industry.

So I was thinking, how many places in your everyday life do you need an ID.
1.) Any transaction at YOUR Bank
2.) Writing a check
3.) Buying a cell phone.
4.) flying on a commercial flight.
5.) Most credit card transactions
6.) Entering the DOJ HQ in Washington DC.
7.) Buying a gun.
5.) Cashing a welfare check.

But not to vote?

I wonder Liberal why are against requiring ID to vote?

Obama's new executive order will kill the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program

From the DailyCaller.com

The White House announced on Thursday that it intends to “ban almost all re-imports of military surplus firearms to private entities” through executive order, which would effectively shut down the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program.

In a Fact Sheet published on Whitehouse.gov today referencing the upcoming executive order the ban on importing military weapons is designed to “keep military-grade firearms off our streets.” Exceptions for import may be allowed for museums.

The CMP tightly controls the distribution of obsolete military weapons. The program was created by the U.S. Congress as part of the 1903 War Department Appropriations Act with the purpose of allowing civilians to hone their marksmanship skills, should they later be called into military service.

Since he is ineffective in getting laws passed, Dear Leader uses Executive Orders.

There are no data indicating any of the weapons involved in homicide were imported surplus military rifles. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s homicide crime statistics, rifles accounted for only 323 deaths out of 12,664 homicides in 2011, the most recent data set provided by the FBI.

Why let the facts get in the way of the Agenda.

Iowahawk -- Tweet of the Day

2003: "chicken hawks" 2013: free range organic cruelty-free boneless chicken hawks

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 28, 2013

The Unprecedented Secrecy of the Obama Administration

From Breitbart's Big Government blog:

President Barack Obama, on his first full day in office in 2009, said, “Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” Time has given the lie to this bold statement.  Repeatedly.

In fact, what America has seen is unprecedented secrecy. Judicial Watch has had to file over 1,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and well over 100 lawsuits against the Obama administration seeking information about:

• Obamacare;
• the continued funding of the criminal ACORN network;
• tracking Wall Street bailout money;
• the czar racket;
• immigration policy;
• election integrity;
• information on Operation Fast and Furious (which led to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens);
• records concerning the illegal appointment of Richard Cordray to the NSA-esque, personal consumer credit data drilling Consumer Finance Protection Board;
• the images of the capture, killing and burial of Osama bin Laden (that might upset the terrorists);
• disastrous green energy loan guarantees;
• Benghazi;
• Billions of dollars of spending on Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (the government takeover of the mortgage market);
• Hillary Clinton’s ethics compliance records (from an administration that has probably perfected the “ethics waiver,” but that’s another story).

Read the whole article

The price Gina Gray paid for whistleblowing

Dana Milbank is having his annual cogent thought.  He tell the story of an Obama Regime whistleblower and her treatment by the Administration.

President Obama, in his news conference this month, said that Edward Snowden was wrong to go public with revelations about secret surveillance programs because “there were other avenues available for somebody whose conscience was stirred and thought that they needed to question government actions.”

This is a common refrain among administration officials and some lawmakers: If only Snowden had made his concerns known through the proper internal channels, everything would have turned out well. The notion sounds reasonable, as do the memorandums Obama signed supposedly protecting whistleblowers.
But it’s a load of nonsense. Ask Gina Gray.

Gray is the Defense Department whistleblower whose case I have been following for five years. She was the Army civilian worker who, before and after her employment, exposed much of the wrongdoing at Arlington National Cemetery — misplaced graves, mishandled remains and financial mismanagement — and she attempted to do it through the proper internal channels. Pentagon sources have confirmed to me her crucial role in bringing the scandal to light.

For her troubles, Gray was fired. . . . Sadly, Gray’s case is emblematic of the way this administration has handled whistleblowers. Obama came into office pledging transparency and professing admiration for government workers who expose abuses. But his administration has pursued more cases under the 1917 Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined (including the prosecution of National Security Agency workers who tried to register their objections through “proper” channels). And the alleged intimidation of would-be whistleblowers goes beyond those involved in sensitive intelligence. For example, diplomat Gregory Hicks told a House committee that he was demoted because he gave congressional investigators a description of the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya, that was at odds with the official version of events.

She is a victim of the Chicago way. Is it any wonder why Snowden or anyone, doesn't trust the Regime.

VDH - Obama's Watergate

Mark Levin has long referred to Dear Leader as Barack Milhous Obama and Victos Davis Hanson has joined with his newest article titled,  "Obama's Watergates".  Read the whole article.

Palin "Gaffe" in 2008 is Obama's Policy on 2013

From Hotair.com

First off, I welcome President Barack Obama’s call to shutter mortgage giants (and giant pains in the public arse) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Many conservatives and libertarians have been beating that drum since 2008 and before, back when Obama was voting present on regulation of Fannie/Freddie and taking more in donations from them than all but one lawmaker.

Now, it seems, we can work together on this project, as Obama pushed a Senate plan to close Fannie and Freddie during an economic address in Arizona:

So does anyone from the Drive-By Media remember this? Of course not.

As Allahpundit says at Hotair.com

Hey, if only he’d known what Sarah Palin knew then.

Tweet of the Day

Sen. Obama warned about Patriot Act abuses. President Obama proved him right. http://t.co/nGu15Wg01I
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 3, 2013

Lying in the Age of Obama -- Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson, or VDH, has been one of my favorite thinkers and writers for a number of years.  It's also very cool that he is a 5th or 6th generation California farmer who still actually owns and works his family farm.  His insight on politics and history from a Californian perspective is refreshing, since most pundits are based on the East Coast, mostly in NYC or DC.

His newest article on how callously and consequence free our current crop of national leaders (i.e. Dims) is such an anomaly that unfortunately is becoming the norm.  I blame the "Pro-Obama/democratic are good" Drive-By media.

Is There Anyone Left Who Doesn’t Lie?

Why do they lie? Because they can. Or to paraphrase Dirty Harry, they like it. We are a celebrity-and wealth-obsessed society, in which ends, not means, count. Barack Obama got to be president — who now cares how?

Read the whole article, it's enlightening.

Bill Whittle -- The Truth About Trayvon Martin And George Zimmerman

Watch the video, it's stunning.

Iowahawk on Zimmerman and the Dear Leader

If Zimmerman wanted Obama to leave him alone, he should have just killed a US ambassador.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 20, 2013