Is Attorney General Eric Holder about to be thrown under the Obama bus?

It’s getting pretty crowded under the Obama bus, but it looks like there might be room for one more.

In an Ominous sign for embattled Attorney General Eric Holder, longtime Obama confidante and senior campaign advisor David Axelrod, zeroed in on Holders handling of security leak investigations.

Axelrod, a shrewd political operative, would never openly call into question President Obamas closest cabinet appointee without prior approval from the President himself.

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Axelrod criticized the Attorney Generals Justice Department's probe involving a Fox News reporter and said it raises some "very disturbing questions" about the department's policies on leak investigations.

Axelrod said he was troubled by a search warrant that labeled Fox News reporter, James Rosen, a "co-conspirator" in a case involving national security leaks.  "The notion of naming a journalist a co-conspirator is something I find disturbing,"

This is a signal that Holder is a liability for the Obama Presidency and might have to be sacrificed.

Holder was already tainted by being the first Attorney General in history to be censured by the House of Representatives. He had brazenly refused to turn over thousands of key documents to Congress in their investigation into the gun running scandal known as Fast and Furious.

But the Obama administration is now under the pall of three new major scandals, each one getting messier as the days go by.  From IRS abuses, to press phone taps, to the explosive Benghazi scandal that resulted in the deaths of four Americans.  

In all of these scandals President Obama has expressed outrage and has asserted any malfeasance or wrongdoing was done without his knowledge…..Yet no one has really been fired.  This leads many observers to believe Presidents Obamas outrage is of the faux variety.

With new revelations that Attorney General Holder may have lied to Congress while he was under oath while being questioned about press surveillance....President Obama may have to show the country he is taking these scandals seriously and fire someone, or force a resignation.

The Attorney General seems to be the likely candidate.

The Irish should be remembered by America this Memorial Day for their great military service

When the Romans first visited Ireland, they called it Hibernia, the sleeping land…See Hibernia.  But soon, to their dismay, they found the people were not at all a sleeping group. 

In the early 1st century, Roman and Greek knowledge of Ireland was thin, but the geographers Strabo and Pomponius Mela describe “a cold land populated by extremely fierce inhabitants.” In lore of combat between Romans and native Irish, the Romans feared the Irish and their woman warriors most for the fierceness of their attacks and utter lack of fear.

Invasions by warlike foreigners left their mark on Ireland and mixed their blood with the Irish.  In the late 700’s the Vikings attacked and tried to establish permanent settlements  See history of Vikings invading Ireland.  The Vikings were eventually defeated, but many of them stayed and intermarried with the native population. Later the Normans came and went and then the British appeared.

The unique blend of the Irish and their invaders created a hybrid of warrior that has filled the ranks of many armies around the world.

Many Irish immigrated to the “new lands” of the American continent to find the opportunity and freedom that they couldn’t find in their native land. They took up arms to defend their adopted countries and to fight for what they believed to be battles for freedom and justice. 

The influence Irish had in Latin America over the past 200 + years is historic. The Irish fought alongside their brothers and sisters in their new homelands.  They shed their blood in many wars to help free millions from the tyranny of colonialism. See Irish in Latin America

But when the Irish found their way to North America, their presence was felt immediately in the armed forces battling for freedom in every step of the way.

The Irish played an integral part in the Revolutionary war, when a fledgling country had to win its freedom by force from British rule.  Names like John Barry, the founder of our navy, Jeremiah O’Brien, Timothy Murphy, Molly Pitcher, John Sullivan and thousands of other Irish, who fought and died to form the new country of the United States.

The Irish stepped forward again, when the English returned and tried to re-conquer our young country in the war of 1812 and threw them back at the Battle of New Orleans.

Tragically when our country was torn apart by its civil war, Irish Americans fought on both sides to play key roles in the major battles that finally saw a divided country, unite again. One of the most famous units in all of American military history was a brigade known during the American Civil War as simply “The Irish Brigade.” See Irish Brigade; Heroes of the CivilWar   

When the United States stepped into the 1^st World War, the Irish Americans distinguished themselves in many memorable battles and astonished the Germans with their fierceness and valor.  Especially noteworthy when they fought and brawled hand to hand with German crack troops as members of the famed “LostBatallion.”

World War II saw another generation of Irish Americans push their way forward to defend their country against one of the greatest axis of evils the world had seen.  Irish Americans were over represented in the awarding of Medals of Honor in the field of battle, with Audie Murphy becoming one of the most decorated soldiers in American history.

Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan…Wherever and whenever the country needs to be defended and fought for, Irish Americans have a long history of being right there at the tip of the spear, where the greatest fighting occurs.   

In war as well as peace, our country has benefited from the valor of its warriors of Irish descent.  It is good to remember our “fighting” Irish American warriors on this Memorial Day weekend.

Assault on our free press could make America no better than a banana republic

Totalitarian governments have long known, if you control the press, you control the country. 

The main watch dog that protects citizens from the evil deeds and intent of its government is a free press. A free press can expose the blunders, malfeasance and criminality of a government that would rather keep that information from the public view. When the freedom of the press is being assaulted, the very foundation of a free society is being eroded.

When nations fall to a coup; the first move is the seizing of broadcast stations and other media, so that the new rulers can control the information given to the public.

China censors the information its citizens are allowed to hear, like North Korea and other totalitarian states, if you write or speak out against the government, you can disappear.

In Mexico, drug cartels, which have a large influence on the country, kill reporters and editors if they write on their illegal activity.  The result of this intimidation has meant many news agencies and journalists refuse to report on the drug violence. See reporters deaths

Americas press is under an insidious assault by the government using the guise of protecting “national security.” 

Shocking revelations of seizing phone records and other privileged communications of the Associated Press by Eric Holders Justice Department, sparked alarm last week by even stalwart Democrats like Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, who said:

“I am quite concerned by the appearance of overreach by the Justice Department in its pursuit of records from the Associated Press.”  In a key part of his statement he finished up with: We must also examine the use of the Espionage Act to criminalize whistle blowers and leaks.  While the government has a legitimate need for secrecy – especially to protect the lives of operatives abroad – the aggressive use of this powerful law in recent years needs to be reviewed to ensure that its use is appropriate and not a hindrance to journalistic freedom or the free flow of ideas and information.”

But Nadler’s statement was made before revelations that Fox News had its communications under surveillance and its Washington correspondent, James Rosen, was the target of a criminal probe involving leaks of national security. It is reported that communications records of other Fox News employees were investigated as well.

Even CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who has been aggressively looking into the Benghazi scandal, stated her work and home computers seem to have been compromised. Attkisson suggested “there could be some relationship between these things and what’s happened to James Rosen.” Read more in World Net Daily

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's “Morning Joe” said: The Justice Department's secret seizure of phone records from a top Fox News reporter is "disturbing" and suggests the agency is "out of control."  He went on to say: "It would be one thing if you're monitoring MSNBC's number … but you talk about the Fox News bureau, that's what makes it so damning for this White House."

Congressman Ted Poe (R) Texas, member of a group of bi partisan Congress members who are pushing for greater press protection, said:  

“We all agree that free press is extremely important for a democracy, especially America’s democracy,” Poe said at a press conference. “This May should probably be renamed ‘May Intimidation Month’ because of what has happened in the month of May.”

“First, earlier this month, we learned that the Department of Justice secretly launched an investigation to find out who leaked information to the press that was justified by saying it was taken in the interest of national security. But it was nothing short of, in my opinion, a massive intimidation fishing expedition where the government seized phone records of journalists.”  Read more about this in Politico

Both left and right agree, this intrusion by the government into our free press needs to be checked now, before they checkmate our free press and put us on the slippery slope of many totalitarian states.

Obama administration getting caught in its own tangled web of deceit - has the White House been lying through its teeth

Irish American White House spokesman Jay Carney

Journalist Bernie Goldberg, a newsman with CBS for 28 years, wrote a book that best describes the Obama administrations treatment by the main stream media.  The title, “A Slobbering Love Affair,” describes how the media has fawned over President Obama.  

An excerpt from the book jacket best describes it:

“From the day Barack Obama announced his candidacy to the moment he took the oath of office, the mainstream media fawned over him like love-struck school girls. Even worse, this time they went beyond media bias to media activism.”

But this week saw a chink in that journalistic love affair as one scandal after another descended upon the White House.  There was no place for the media to run, no place to hide, as facts behind these scandals descended upon them…..They had to start looking into the swamp that was enveloping the White House and they didn’t like what they found.

For eight months, the main stream media pretty much ignored the attack on our Benghazi consulate and basically reported the “facts” about the travesty as conveyed to them by White House press spokesman, Jay Carney and UN Ambassador Susan Rice.

But explosive testimony from eyewitnesses last week in front of Congress, as well as revelations of previously undisclosed emails, show that Carney was brazenly lying through his teeth about material facts relating to the attack.  See: Jay Carney Benghazi untruths.  It also revealed what Ambassador Susan Rice told the American public was a compete falsehood. See Rice loses credibility

The media got a huge slap in the face with these revelations and started to report on the many unanswered questions still remaining on this unfolding Benghazi scandal.

But to add insult to injury, three other scandals were revealed to the media that cut to their heart.

It was revealed the Justice Dept had been looking at the phone records of many Associated Press reporters and even had seized records from the Congressional cloakroom. This gives the Justice Dept. access to journalist’s source of information inside the Congress and elsewhere and has a chilling effect on the right of a free press. Anyone that was giving the Associated Press inside information on the Obama administrations malfeasance by phone has now been outed.

When Attorney General Holder was asked about this huge violation of the 1^st Amendment, he did his usual bob and weave and said "I know nothing of the facts" and he had “recused” himself from the case.  Although, he doesn’t recall exactly when he did "recuse" and there is no paper evidence of it. See Holder denies knowledge in AP scandal

At about the same time another bombshell of scandal erupted on the White House steps when it was revealed the IRS had been specifically targeting right leaning organizations and donors, probably one of the worst abuses a government can do to its citizens.  Of course when President Obama was asked directly about his knowledge of this scandal his answer was, he learned about it in the news.  See Obama answer to IRS abuse in the article in PJ Media.    

But facts are starting to add up that the White House knew long ago about this IRS targeting of conservatives, possibly as far back as 2010.

But even more abuse of power by the administration was revealed this week, which should have made headline news, but was suppressed by other emerging scandals. In the House Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency, was accused of  exempting left-leaning political groups and green energy producers from various fees and fines that it routinely assesses to right-learning groups.

According to Congressman Whitfield who chairs the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy & Power,: “The EPA has a pattern of conduct in which this administration rewards its friends and punishes its opponents." See the excellent story on this in The Hill.

There is much more emerging almost on a daily basis that points to an administration that holds itself above the very law it has sworn to uphold.  It is also evident that it is used to getting away with it because a systematic lack of journalistic curiosity by the media has allowed them to. A lazy media who found it easier to accept at face value the explanation of the Whitehouse talking points, rather than digging in to fact check.

If they had bothered to pay attention, many of these scandals were already simmering, just waiting to bubble to the surface if a curious reporter had bothered to check.

Perhaps these and other unfolding scandals will finally wake up the main stream press.

Benghazi/Watergate - What difference does it make?

Benghazi witnesses preparing to testify

Over 40 years ago the country came to a standstill as revelations of lying and a cover-up by the President of the United States were exposed. Watergate became a name synonymous with a scandal of proportions that could topple a president.  

Days of televised Congressional hearings with the often repeated phrase: “what did the President know and when did he know it?”--- held the nation spellbound as politicians from both parties asked tough questions of the presidents staff.

The media coverage was unrivaled as details of a bungled petty burglary turned into a major scandal and efforts to hide the president’s involvement came to light.

But no one died as a result of Watergate. 

Today’s congressional hearing on the events leading up, during and after the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, are revealing disturbing differences between what the Obama administration told the American public and what actual witnesses to the events are testifying to.

It is becoming clear; a purposeful decision was made to reduce the security presence in Libya which could have protected our personnel from attack. If normal security procedures would have been followed in Benghazi,  our ambassador and three other Americans would not have been killed on September 11-12.

During the attack on our consulate and annex, contrary to what President Obama has claimed, not all measures were taken to send help to our besieged Americans. They were left outgunned and outnumbered to be killed, mutilated and wounded.

For weeks after the attack, a deliberate false narrative was put out by the Whitehouse and the State Department to cover up the real instigators in the attack: violent Islamic extremists who were closely allied with Al Qaeda.

At the critical moment in the presidential campaign, President Obama and Vice President Biden’s main theme had been they killed Osama Bin Laden and had defeated Al Qaeda.  To admit that an Al Qaeda element had attacked our consulate and killed our ambassador would have been an admission of failure of one of the few successes the administration could lay claim to.  

This knowledge would have made a huge difference in the election and could have been the difference between having a President Obama or a President Romney….It also would have been devastating for President Obama to defend in the debates with Romney….But it was an opportunity denied to Romney.

But today’s Benghazi hearing, no matter how riveting, and the news coverage leading up to it, is dramatically showing how our country has  changed since the Watergate scandal. 

Bipartisan Watergate hearings

Perhaps Americans have become hardened to scandal and no longer expect honesty from their President.

Perhaps if this was a Republican administration, there would be dozens of reporters assigned to get to the bottom of this story and 24/7 coverage would continue until all of the facts were exposed.

Unlike Watergate, where Democrats and Republicans joined together to find the truth, the Benghazi scandal has magnified the meanness of partisan politics.  Any attempt to get to the truth by congress is labeled partisan politics by democrats.  There is little if any cooperation by house democrats in this investigation.

The truth, if it is ever to be known by the American public will have to be uncovered by patriotic Americans, who put their country first.

In one day, 20 shot in Chicago - Officials blame the weather, we blame the officials

In one day 20 shot in Chicago -
Officials blame the weather, we blame the officials 

According to the Chicago Tribune’s May 1 edition:

“At least three people were killed and 17 wounded in shootings across Chicago overnight as the city saw its warmest weather in seven months.” See article

In the past, Chicago’s Chief of Police Garry McCarty, has blamed warm weather for his city’s gun violence, along with pointing the finger of blame at Sarah Palin and “government sponsored racism.”

By using this metric, if the weather keeps heating up we can expect more gun violence to erupt on the streets of Chicago. Where’s Al Gore?

According to the Tribune article, “warm weather” is behind the outbreak of  gun violence, not the  lack of  enforcement of some of the toughest anti gun laws in the United States.

Checking statistics in different countries known for their warm weather and violence, the following stats were observed:

In Afghanistan for the entire month of April a total of 17 coalition force personnel were killed, see report

In a recent 5 day period in all of Iraq, a total of 25 civilians and police were killed, see report.

Chicago, one of our nation’s biggest cities outpaced the violence in 2 war torn countries.

Instead of pointing the finger of blame at outside forces, perhaps it’s time for the people of Chicago to point the finger of blame at their leaders.

Not long ago, NRA’s President Wayne LaPierre noted Chicago had the nation’s toughest gun laws, yet was failing to enforce them.  He noted that if federal gun laws already on the books were enforced, instead of putting even more restrictions on gun legal ownership, it could help solve the city’s violence problems. See story

La Pierre had also called on federal officials to bring in forces to patrol Chicago’s streets in order to restore order: “We need a federal task force, if it takes 500 agents; if it takes a thousand agents, go into Chicago."

The law abiding citizens of Chicago deserve to have safer streets and adding more laws to the over 9,000 gun laws already on the books isn’t going to make any difference.

Chicago’s violence is not due to the weather, the NRA or Sarah Palin, it’s due to the lack of will by city officials to enforce the law.

They say success has many fathers, but Benghazi Libya is the orphan on the White House step

This snippet from a CNN feature story after the fall of Libya’s strongman Moammar Gadhafi put the whole gambit in Libya into proper political perspective:

“The fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is a significant foreign policy triumph for U.S. President Barrack Obama.” It further went on to say “Gadhafi's utter defeat seemingly put new wind in the sails of humanitarian intervention.”

This was to be the “good” foreign policy military intervention for the administration to show us how it’s done.

Hillary Clinton sealed the deal for the removal of Gadahfi when she stated:  "left unchecked, Gadahfi will commit unspeakable atrocities.”

National Security Council Senior Director Samantha Power, led the drafting of PSD-10, the Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities, used as the policy justification to topple Gadahfi.

So there was a lot of prestige riding on the decision to remove Gadahfi by the Obama administration and see a triumphant Libya blossom under a new government.

Although Gadahfi was brutal in his attempts to stifle dissension, there were also many reasons to leave the country alone and let it settle its own differences without interfering. 

Gadahfi had become an ally in the terror war and was providing valuable intelligence to us ...He had even given up his nuclear ambitions to show his sincerity. Under Gadahfis 40 year rule, Libya became one of the most prosperous and peaceful countries in Africa.

But the decision was made to get rid of Gadahfi by the Obama administration. After his regime collapsed, his arsenals were left unguarded and an estimated 20 thousand shoulder launched  missiles & countless high powered weapons, were let into the hands of terrorists and extremists.  Israel reported these missiles were right on their border.

Military experts say to leave these arsenals unguarded was a grievous error in planning and should have been taken into account by the Obama administration when they moved to help topple Gadahfi.

The looting of the arsenals was downplayed and ominously, so was the emergence of strong militant groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic radicals, evidently unforeseen by the Obama administration.

But to give the air of success and normalcy, especially with a presidential election on the horizon, evidently it was felt best to keep a low profile for embassy security in Libya….In spite of repeated requests by the soon to be murdered ambassador Stevens for more force to protect him.

Eight months after the attack on our consulate, many of the key players involved in the decisions on Libya have distanced themselves from the administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has retired, so have Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and CIA Director David Petraeus.  Senior National Security Advisor, Samantha Power & UN Ambassador Susan Rice, both resigned to “spend more time with their families.” Many of the top military commanders in that region of the world have been replaced.

Eight months after the murder of our ambassador and 3 other Americans, no one has been brought to justice, as President Obama promised. 

With the announcement of new Congressional hearings on Benghazi coming at the beginning of May and the promise whistle blowers will be testifying, perhaps we will be seeing someone brought to justice soon.