Sunday, February 3, 2013
Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., Feb. 2 & 3, 2013
Eating... drinking...
Being social... having sex...
Perhaps some television... some radio...
A nap!
What is life all about? Pursuing one's dreams? Being a spouse... being a parent... being a good son or daughter?
Life is the BIG stuff... and life is the SMALL stuff. Milestones on one end of the scale, momentary pleasures on the other.
I love to read! My writings come out of my readings! Much of the pleasure of a lifetime have come out of my readings - both factual and fictional!
Right now I'm getting a lot of pleasure out of reading Robert B. Parker's "Jesse Stone" series; right now I'm about a third of the way through "Trouble in Paradise."
Perhaps some of you have read Parker's works - if not the "Jesse Stone" novels, then perhaps the "Spencer" novels?
Over the past few years CBS Television has aired a series of "Paradise" novels starring Tom Selleck as "Jesse Stone." (And of course anyone my age or thereabout will remember the mid/late '80's ABC Television Series "Spencer For Hire" starring the late Robert Urich.)
Robert B. Parker died in 2010. His works live on.
Anyway... enjoy the Big Game this Sunday, folks. And perhaps on Monday... drop by your local library or a bookstore and pick up a good book!
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* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/31/3211364/sen-menendez-pushed-us-to-help.html#storylink=cpy
Sen. Bob Menendez used his influence to advocate for a Dominican Republic business deal that helped a longtime friend and donor whose South Florida office was raided by federal agents this week.
* "USED" OR "MISUSED?"
Menendez questioned Obama administration officials at a July hearing about what it was doing to help U.S. businesses that he felt were being unfairly treated by the government of the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries. One company Menendez was apparently referring to: ICSSI, acquired the year before by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Palm Beach County eye doctor and friend.
* NICE "FRIENDS" MENENDEZ HAS... HUH? (TAX CHEAT... PIMP...)
The firm was seeking to enforce a contract it had won to X-ray Dominican Republic port cargo, that could be worth $500 million to $1 billion over two decades.
* BUT WHERE'S THE QUID PRO QUO...? (OH, YEAH... THE UNDERAGE HOOKERS... THE JET TRAVEL... THE CAMPAIGN DONATIONS...)
(*SMIRK*)
Menendez’s office said the senator did nothing improper. Senators, especially on the Foreign Relations Committee that Menendez will soon chair, frequently advocate for U.S. business abroad.
* IN... RETURN... FOR...??? (SORRY, FOLKS... BUT WE'RE BACK TO THE CHILD SEX, ETC.)
In addition to trade, the senator’s office said he was concerned about fighting drugs.
* BUT NOT UNDERAGE PROSTITUTION... NOT THE CHILD SEX TRADE...
* MENENDEZ IS A PIECE OF SHIT, FOLKS. PERIOD.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
Menendez’s close ties to Melgen have been under a white-hot spotlight ever since federal agents raided the eye doctor’s West Palm Beach office on Tuesday and Wednesday. The raid included agents from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which are investigating the doctor for alleged Medicare fraud.
* NICE...
* GREAT "FRIEND" TO HAVE...
At the same time, the FBI is conducting a separate corruption probe of the doctor and his relationship with Menendez, including trips they took to the Dominican Republic.
The FBI began examining the two last year after the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington forwarded a batch of emails from a shadowy tipster who claimed Menendez and Melgen had hired underage prostitutes at the ophthalmologist’s Dominican home — charges both deny.
* NOTICE HOW OUR FRIENDS AT THE MIAMI HERALD DON'T IDENTIFY "CREW" AS A *LIBERAL* WATCHDOG GROUP (WHICH IT IS!)... (*SMIRK*)... AND NOTICE HOW IT'S A "SHADOWY" TIPSTER... (*CHUCKLE*). NOW IMAGINE THE SHOE WERE ON THE OTHER FOOT AND IT WAS A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT!
An FBI agent tried, but failed to meet with the tipster, who refused to even phone the agent.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*) SEE WHAT I MEAN, FOLKS? REMEMBER LARRY CRAIG, FOLKS... (*SMILE*)... BUT OL' LARRY WAS A REPUBLICAN... (*SMIRK*)
As the conservative press began circulating the reports about the two, the New Jersey Republican Party filed a complaint against Menendez for flying on Melgen’s private plane to the Dominican Republic but failing to disclose the gifts.
* WHICH... HE... DID...!!!
Menendez’s office checked his schedule and realized the senator had flown twice on Melgen’s plane without paying for it in 2010.
* OH...! THEY "REALIZED!" WOW... IMPRESSIVE! (BUT, HEY... ONE CAN SEE HOW YOU'D FORGET PRIVATE JET TRANSPORTATION TO PARTIES IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FEATURING UNDER-AGE HOOKERS, RIGHT? I MEAN... HAVEN'T WE ALL MOMENTARILY FORGOTTEN SUCH EPISODES IN OUR OWN LIVES..?) (*SNORT*) (*SNICKER*)
On Jan. 4, Menendez cut a check for $58,500 — the air-charter rate for the pricey flights — to fully settle the matter.
* WHAT A GUY! HE CUTS A CHECK... AFTER GETTING CAUGHT! (*LAUGHING TILL IT HURTS*)
* AGAIN, FOLKS... IMAGINE... JUST IMAGINE... IF WE WERE TALKING ABOUT RAND PAUL OR TED CRUZ!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)
Menendez’s chief of staff, Danny O’Brien, said the senator maintains his innocence and has taken responsibility for his error in failing to pay for his charter flights with Melgen, a longtime friend.
* AGAIN WITH THE "LONGTIME FRIEND" STUFF. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THIS I DOUBT MENENDEZ COULD QUALIFY FOR A SECURITY CLEARANCE AS AN ENTRY-LEVEL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE... BUT BEING A SENATOR... (*SMIRK*)... HE'S PROMOTED TO CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE.
* FOLKS... THIS IS SICK. OUR COUNTRY IS SICK. WASHINGTON D.C. IS A CANCER UPON THE NATION!
By reimbursing Melgen for the flights, Menendez effectively undercut a standing ethics complaint and the possibility he’d face something more serious: a possible federal charge.
* AND DOESN'T THAT SAY IT ALL...??? (IMAGINE YOU CHEATED ON YOUR TAXES FOR TWO YEARS... GOT CAUGHT... AND SAID "OH... LET ME CUT YOU A CHECK." THEY'D LAUGH YOU OUT OF THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE!)
“It’s technically a federal crime to not report gifts on a federal financial-disclosure form,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*) UNFRIGGIN'BELIEVABLE...
The flights, however, would no longer be considered a gift because Menendez just paid for them. And it doesn’t matter that he took the then-freebie flights more than two years ago, in 2010.
* DID HE PAY TAXES ON THE GIFT IN 2010? IF NOT... THEN... (*SHRUG*)
Melgen and his family contributed $33,700 to Menendez, and another $60,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Menendez chaired from 2009 to 2011, when he took the trips. About that time, Melgen used a West Palm Beach-based company to buy a 50% share in ICSSI. For more than a decade, the company had held a port-security contract in the Dominican Republic. But it had never gone into effect because of protests from a former Customs agency director who said the deal unfairly benefited the company.
Meanwhile, the country’s business community also complained that the contract would increase fees and hurt trade. Last month, the president of country’s shipping association told Hoy newspaper that the industry couldn’t afford to pay additional fees to X-ray cargo.
“The problem here is that we’re looking at a contract that looks unfair because it was signed several administrations ago and that it essentially creates a monopoly in all the ports,’’ said association president Teddy Heinsen.
But Melgen’s supporters in the Dominican Republic charge that opposition to the deal is also rooted in the drug trade. The more port security and the more X-rays, they say, the more authorities will be aided in combating drug trafficking. Menendez, when he spoke at the July hearing in Washington, didn’t sound more concerned about ICSSI than other companies. He mentioned a road builder by name that he thought was being unfairly treated. And he also brought up a dispute involving textiles.
* MENENDEX IS A PERVERT AND A CORRUPT POLITICIAN... NO ONE EVER SAID HE WAS SO STUPID AS TO BLATANTLY PLACE EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THESE CHARGES INTO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD! (*SNORT*)
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/03/panetta-on-u-s-response-to-benghazi-attack-this-is-not-911/?hpt=hp_t2
* FOLKS... READ THIS AND WEEP:
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday that lack of intelligence information and logistical challenges made it difficult to respond quickly to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year.
* THEY DIDN'T RESPOND QUICKLY. THEY LET FOUR AMERICANS - INCLUDING THE U.S. AMBASSADOR TO LIBYA - DIE. THEY ALLOWED OUR CONSULATE TO BE RAZED. THEN THEY LIED ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS AND INDEED ARE STILL LYING. AND... WORST OF ALL... THEY'VE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT. THEY'VE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT NOT JUST BECAUSE OF A COMPLIANT LIBERAL MEDIA, BUT BECAUSE OF A COMPIANT AMERICAN PEOPLE. THIS IS THE AGE OF OBAMA... A DISGUSTING AGE IF EVER THERE WAS ONE.
Panetta said the administration had no warning about the attack, despite requests for more security from U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in the weeks leading up to the violence.
* I SUPPOSE CNN CONSIDERS IT "SAFE" TO THROW IN THIS ZINGER SINCE PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ARE ALREADY SET PRETTY MUCH IN STONE. (SEE NO EVIL... HEAR NO EVIL... IT'S NOT ONE OF YOUR LOVED ONES BEING BLOWN TO BITS... SO FUCK IT.)
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that contrary to many accounts of the violence, the September 11 attack in Benghazi “wasn’t a seven-hour battle” but “two 20-minute battles separated by about six hours.”
* SO... SIX HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES... (*SMIRK*)
The nearest armed U.S. aircraft, he continued, was in Djibouti, which is about the same distance from Benghazi as Washington is from Los Angeles.
* AND THE U.S. HAVE NO ALLIES...?!?! NO NATO ALLIES WITH FORCES CLOSER...? NO REGIONAL MIDDLE EASTERN ALLIES WITH FORCES CLOSER...? FOLKS... GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY IS A POLITICAL GENERAL SPOUTING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION LINE. LOOK AT A FRIGGIN' MAP! DON'T TELL ME THERE WEREN'T ALLIED FORCES (EITHER SEA BASED OR WITHIN QUICK AIR TRANSPORT RANGE) OF BENGHAZI. BOTTOM LINE... DEMPSEY IF FULL OF SHIT. I FEAR THAT THE TOP RANKS OF THE U.S. MILITARY HAVE BEEN THOROUGHLY POLITICIZED.
“This is not 911. You cannot just simply call and expect within two minutes to have a team in place. It takes time,” Panetta said on CNN's "State of the Union."
* AGAIN, FOLKS... IMAGINE AIR FORCE ONE HAD CRASHED IN BENGHAZI... (*PURSED LIPS*)
* FOLKS... IMAGINE IF A PLANE CARRYING THE FIRST LADY AND FIRST CHILDREN HAD CRASHED IN BENGHAZI... (*SHRUG*)
“We deployed,” said Panetta. “We knew there were problems there. We moved forces into place where we could deploy them quickly if we had to. They were ready to go.”
* IF YOU KNEW THERE WERE PROBLEMS THERE WHY WASN'T THE CONSULATE - ESPECIALLY WITH THE AMBASSADOR PRESENT - GUARDED PROPERLY...? (FOLKS... PANETTA IS FULL OF SHIT!)
* OH... AND BTW... WHO IS THIS "WE" WHO "KNEW THERE WERE PROBLEMS?" DIDN'T HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON JUST TESTIFY - UNDER OATH - THAT SHE HADN'T READ ANY OF THE AMBASSADORS CABLES PERSONALLY...??? (RHETORICAL QUESTION, FOLKS; YEP... THAT'S WHAT OL' HILLARY TESTIFIED!)
However, Panetta added, by the time officials got the information about the raids on the U.S. compound - which killed four Americans, including Stevens - the distance “made it very difficult to respond quickly.”
* FOLKS... THEY'RE FULL OF SHIT... THEY ARE LIARS... THEY ARE INCOMPETENTS... AND THEY'RE THE KIND OF PEOPLE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE APPARENTLY ARE COMFORTABLE PLACING IN POSITIONS OF THE HIGHEST NATIONAL TRUST.
* FOLKS... THERE'S NO HOPE FOR THIS COUNTRY. MY AMERICA IS DEAD.
“That's just the nature of dealing with the Middle East,” said Panetta.
* GREAT LINE, LEON! RIGHT UP THERE WITH "WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?!"
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.humanevents.com/2013/02/01/buchanan-the-gops-amnesty-caucus-raises-white-flag/
* BY PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
[Last] Monday, Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Marco Rubio emerged with an offer of a Republican surrender to Barack Obama. We will accept amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens, said the four, but you must get serious about securing the border against yet another invasion. Only after an independent commission agrees the border has been secured will the 11 million be given green cards and put on a path to citizenship.
The next day in Las Vegas, Obama, reveling in victory, instructed the four waving their white flags that the defeated do not dictate terms.
Get cracking on comprehensive reform now, Obama instructed Marco and John, or I send my own bill to the Hill, granting amnesty to every illegal alien, with no preconditions. Putting the 11 million illegal aliens on a path to U.S. citizenship should begin not after the border is better secured, but the day the bill is signed.
In a pointed lecture to Rubio, the Great Hispanic Hope of the GOP, Obama said, “We have done more on border security in the last four years than we have done in the previous 20.”
A graduate of the Saul Alinsky school, Obama can smell the defeatism in the Republican Party. And he knows how to treat supplicants begging for a fig leaf to cover the nakedness of their capitulation.
But why are the Republicans surrendering their “no amnesty” stand, which has been party policy since America rallied to the GOP’s opposition to amnesty in 2007, when a national grass-roots uprising routed McCain, Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush himself? McCain fears the future. We got 27% of the Hispanic vote in 2012, and the reason is our position on illegal aliens, he argues.
* HE'S WRONG, BY THE WAY... (BUT WHAT ELSE IS NEW...?!)
Until we get this behind us, [McCain argued,] we will never again get the 40% of the vote Bush got. Either we capitulate to Obama and La Raza, or we are doomed.
McCain is wrong on principle. Should a majority of women tell pollsters they are against overturning Roe v. Wade, does the party abandon its pro-life stand and cease calling for Supreme Court justices who might overturn Roe? What kind of party is that? What kind of people do that?
* MCCAIN IS NOT A MAN OF PRINCIPLE - EVEN "HE WHOSE NAME DARE NOT BE MENTIONED" FINALLY SAW THAT SOME YEARS AGO.
* BEYOND PRINCIPLE... MCCAIN IS NOT A MAN OF HIGH INTELLECT. HE'S THE JOE BIDEN OF THE GOP! IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIS VIETNAM WAR "HEROISM" HE'D NEVER HAVE GOTTEN TO WHERE HE IS.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Who thought in 2007 we could rout the establishment of both parties?
* I DID!
Washington is not invincible. But you cannot rally the people if you are not prepared to lead and fight.
(*NODDING*) (*PURSED LIPS*)
Republican capitulation on amnesty is not going to win Hispanic votes, but it will demoralize the party base. McCain, the amnesty champion today and in 2007, got 31% of the Hispanic vote against Obama.
* NEITHER HISTORY NOR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WILL SHAKE THE OPINIONS OF A JOHN S. MCCAIN - OR INDEED OF MOST PEOPLE.
(*SIGH*)
When those 11 million illegals have completed their path to citizenship and become voters, why should they, or the millions more family members they will have brought in by then, vote for the GOP? Hispanics are not small-government people. They believe in and benefit disproportionately from Big Government.
(*NOD*)
Some 53% of Hispanic children are born out of wedlock, and 52% of Hispanic families are headed by single women. Big Government provides their kids with Head Start before school, free K-through-12 schooling, Pell Grants and student loans for college, and two or three free meals a day at school for the kids. Big Government provides food stamps, welfare for mom and earned income tax credit checks should she work. Big Government subsidizes her housing and provides free health care for the family through Medicaid.
A Pew Hispanic poll found that by 3-to-1, Hispanics would favor a big government with more services to a small government with fewer services.
Why would these folks vote for a Republican Party that promises to downsize the Big Government upon which they depend for sustenance, security and survival? Why would they vote for a party that is going to cut capital gains, income and inheritance taxes they don’t pay?
The 11 million illegals who came with nothing are poorer than the Hispanics who are already citizens. When we make citizens of them and the family members they bring in, our welfare state will explode and the social safety net will sag under the weight of millions of new beneficiaries.
* PANDERING, POWER-SEEKING POLITICIANS DON'T CARE...!!!
Republicans win between 27% and 40% of the Hispanic vote. Add 10 million new Hispanic voters, and Democrats will realize a net gain of 2 to 4 million new voters. There goes the Southwest, and there goes the presidency, forever.
* AGAIN... (*PAUSE*)... JOHN S. MCCAIN IS NO INTELLECTUAL HEAVYWEIGHT! (IN FACT... THE MAN'S A MORON!)
Amnesty would be the greatest victory for mass lawbreaking in U.S. history. It would reward those who broke our laws and make fools of those who waited in line back home to come to America. And this is about more than economics. It is about our sovereignty, our security, our national culture and our national identity.
This fight is not yet lost, and even should we lose, is it not better to go down fighting than to ask for terms from Barack Obama?
* NO... PAT'S WRONG... (*SIGH*)... THE FIGHT IS LOST. THIS DOESN'T MEAN WE SHOULDN'T FIGHT A REAR-GUARD ACTION TO TAKE BACK THE COUNTRY! BUCHANAN DOES RIGHT BY IDENTIFYING SOME OF THE TRAITORS WITHIN THE GOP GOVERNING (MISGOVERNING) RANKS.
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