Watcher’s Council Nominations – May Day Edition

JoshuaPundit on May 01 2013 | Nominations

Yes, everyone it’s May Day!

The festivities used to look like this :

But now….change!

Maybe it’s May Day in more than one sense.

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. This is your essential weekly magazine for the best in opinion and commentary. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Liberty’s Spirit, Right Truth and Ask Marion earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then just return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Hungary’s shoes of death!
• The Noisy Room – Amnesty – Solidifying the Marxist Control of America for Decades, If Not Permanently
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Syrian Delirium
• The Razor – The Lure of the Conspiracy Theory Revisited
• Joshuapundit - Days After Boston, Obama Pressures Israel To Release Terrorists As A ‘Goodwill Gesture’
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Should be titled The Reluctant Idiot
• Rhymes With Right – Why Is A Matter Settled 70 Years Ago Still An Issue In Our Public Schools?
• Bookworm Room – Orwellian double think enters the gun grab debate
• The Glittering Eye - What If Fairies Are Real?
• The Right Planet – Chris Matthews Pushes the ‘Only Whites Can Be Racists’ Meme … Again
• The Mellow Jihadi – A Reuters Writer Writes Me
• Gay Patriot – Basketball player comes out; “I could care less”
• VA Right! - Ken Cuccinelli Airs First Campaign Ad of the 2013 Governor’s Race
• Simply Jews – Boston bomber and the Waltham, Mass triple murder

Honorable Mentions

• Liberty’s Spirit – The Sanctimonious Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,Homemakers Again Insulted on so Many Levels
• Right Truth – The Two Faces of Death
• Ask Marion – Alinsky Still Alive and Well at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Non-Council Submissions

• Sultan Knish -The Snake In The Bloody Garden submitted by The Political Commentator
• Mark Steyn – The Collapsing of the American Skull submitted by The Noisy Room
• The Big Picture – Is Israel really Pakistan’s enemy? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Hellinahandbasket.net – Canine Logo Equals Rape submitted by The Razor
• Robert Spencer/ FrontPage – Who We Must Blame For Boston submitted by Joshuapundit
• Buckhorn Road – Just a couple questions about the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Big Jolly Politics – Harris County Republican Party: Yo, dude, do you support pedophilia? submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Benjamin Wiker/Human Events - Why aren’t liberals more critical of Islam? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Richard Fernandez./Pajamas Media – Freedom submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Canada Free Press – Bad Moon Over America submitted by The Right Planet
• Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – The High Cost Of Low Information Voters submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Jennifer Rubin/Right Turn - Obama press conference: Does he believe what he is saying? submitted by Gay Patriot
• Andrew McCarthy – Obama’s National Security Fraud submitted by The Watcher
• Fjordman/Gates Of Vienna – The Media Myths submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher’s Council,collection of articles,alternative media,bloggers,blogosphere,news,news nuggets,educate yourself,politics,you be the judge,May Day,change,holidays,Thoughts,connecting the dots,media,liberals,gun control,Alinsky,destroying America,dumbing down of America,manipulation of the public,media bias,Progressivism

Russia’s Pravda Declares “Communism Won in America with Obama

Obama's Soviet Mistake

Pravda  By Xavier Lerma – Originally Posted 19.11.2012

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Also read: Pravda.Ru exclusive interview with Jean Marie Le Pen and Our Vice President Joe Biden Said: The ‘Affirmative Task’ Before Us Is to ‘Create a New World Order’

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way. Renowned author: Obama wants military leaders who will fire on U.S. citizens.

Putin said regarding the military,

"...instead of solving the problem, militarization pushes it to a deeper level. It draws away from the economy immense financial and material resources, which could have been used much more efficiently elsewhere."

Well, any normal individual understands that as true but liberalism is a psychosis . O'bomber even keeps the war going along the Mexican border with projects like "fast and furious" and there is still no sign of ending it. He is a Communist without question promoting The Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America. His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia. Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

Reading Putin's speech without knowing the author, one would think it was written by Reagan or another conservative in America. The speech promotes smaller government and less taxes. It comes as no surprise to those who know Putin as a conservative. Vladimir Putin went on to say:

"...we are reducing taxes on production, investing money in the economy. We are optimizing state expenses.

The second possible mistake would be excessive interference into the economic life of the country and the absolute faith into the all-mightiness of the state.

There are no grounds to suggest that by putting the responsibility over to the state, one can achieve better results.

Unreasonable expansion of the budget deficit, accumulation of the national debt - are as destructive as an adventurous stock market game.

During the time of the Soviet Union the role of the state in economy was made absolute, which eventually lead to the total non-competitiveness of the economy. That lesson cost us very dearly. I am sure no one would want history to repeat itself."

President Vladimir Putin could never have imagined anyone so ignorant or so willing to destroy their people like Obama much less seeing millions vote for someone like Obama. They read history in America don't they? Alas, the schools in the U.S. were conquered by the Communists long ago and history was and continues to be revised thus paving the way for their Communist presidents. Obama has bailed out those businesses that voted for him and increased the debt to over 16 trillion with an ever increasing unemployment rate especially among blacks and other minorities. All the while promoting his agenda.

"We must seek support in the moral values that have ensured the progress of our civilization. Honesty and hard work, responsibility and faith in our strength are bound to bring us success."- Vladimir Putin

The red, white and blue still flies happily but only in Russia. Russia still has St. George defeating the Dragon with the symbol of the cross on its' flag. The ACLU and other atheist groups in America would never allow the US flag with such religious symbols. Lawsuits a plenty against religious freedom and expression in the land of the free. Christianity in the U.S. is under attack as it was during the early period of the Soviet Union when religious symbols were against the law.

Let's give American voters the benefit of the doubt and say it was all voter fraud and not ignorance or stupidity in electing a man who does not even know what to do and refuses help from Russia when there was an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead we'll say it's true that the Communists usage of electronic voting was just a plan to manipulate the vote. Soros and his ownership of the company that counts the US votes in Spain helped put their puppet in power in the White House. According to the Huffington Post, residents in all 50 states have filed petitions to secede from the Unites States. We'll say that these Americans are hostages to the Communists in power. How long will their government reign tyranny upon them?

Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once "Land of the Free" remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun. Bye bye Miss American Pie! You know the song you hippies. Sing it! Don't you remember? The 1971 hit song by American song writer Don McLean:

"And, as I watched him on the stage my hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell could break that Satan's spell

And, as the flames climbed high into the night to light the sacrificial rite, I saw...

Satan laughing with delight the day the music died

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie

Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry

Them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing...

This'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die

So, the question remains:

How long will America suffer and to what depths?

Xavier Lerma

Contact Xavier Lerma at xlermanov@swissmail.org

His popular articles can be seen at http://xlerma.wordpress.com/  -  Hyperlink to Pravda is mandatory if you republish this article.

Video:  Soviet Mistake – Loved By America, Avoided by Putin

Related:

The Communist Takeover Of America – 45 Declared Goals

Russian News Outlet Pravda (Previously the Official Press of the USSR) Labels Obama a ‘Communist’ in Scathing OpEd

Pravda tells America: Keep your guns

We the Sheeple? – Glenn Beck   -  American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper

Pravda Warns U.S. of “Breath-Taking” Slide Into Marxism

Video: Elderly Communist Survivor Blasts Gun Grabbers, Says Firearms are Critical to Keep Tyranny at Bay

Technorati Tags: Pravda,Russia,Sheeple,Communism,the plan,Obamaland,Putin,wake-up America,stand-up America,NWO,global elites,New World Order,New Economic World Order,American Pie,USSR

90 Million Americans Permanently Unemployed

RUSH: Some of them out there are actually trying to pump up 88,000 new jobs as a sign of Obama's robust recovery and his expertise. Others are saying it's bad news and it's the fault of the sequester….

We Are Living in a Dying Country

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Folks, I don't know how else to categorize this. We are living in a dying country. I don't know how else to categorize what's happening -- 88,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate, because of a terrible statistic, is down to 7.6%. The number of people in this country who are not working is shameful. Ninety million Americans are no longer in the workforce. Ninety million. People not in the labor force grew by 663,000, and now 90 million. That's the labor force participation rate. This is 1979 levels. The only difference is that we don't have an election around the corner to fix it like we did in 1979. We had that election last November, and we blew it.

In addition to payrolls only adding 88,000 jobs, an additional 81,800 went on disability in March. We're now up to 8.8 million Americans on disability. We had nearly as many people go on disability in March as people who found jobs. I think it's official. We have a dying country. There is literally no way that our entitlement programs and our safety net and our absorption of immigrants, legal or otherwise, can be supported this way. This simply cannot be sustained. I don't know how else to describe this. The unemployment rate of 7.6% is ridiculous.

The U-6 unemployment rate is still around 15%. That is the unemployment rate you get if you add people who are out of work and looking for a job and people who are out of work and have given up looking. Those people have been out of work for a long time. They've had 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, and they've given up looking, so they're not counted in the reported unemployment percentage of 7.6%. If they were counted, the number would be 15%. And if there were not the demographic weighting -- the 7.6% number is arrived at by estimating certain factors as being in existence or being true based on demographics. There are assumptions made about employment, unemployment in the Hispanic community, with women, black community so forth.

This is from Jim Pethokoukis, our buddy at the American Enterprise Institute. If you take out all of the demographic weighting -- let me give you another example of weighting. Let me use radio numbers for it. In local markets, there are minority-owned-and-operated radio stations. This goes way back, by the way. For the purposes of affirmative action, the audiences of minority stations were always bumped a little beyond what the actual ratings were. It was part and parcel of recognition of past discrimination. It was part of making amends. It was part of affirmative action, and it was accepted. Nobody complained about it. It's the way it was. People did business that way, but nevertheless it existed. You agree with me on this?

(interruption)

What? Well, there's a whole bunch of reasons. Yeah, the ratings didn't reach minority people, was one of the explanations, the old diary system. Now it's the one-eyed, one horned flying purple people meter, whatever it is, but they didn't reach these people. So it was just estimated that audiences to minority radio stations were much higher than they actually ended up being reported as being. That's called weighting. Well, the same thing is done in employment, unemployment numbers. And Mr. Pethokoukis' point is if we just dealt with what the real numbers are, as Bob Johnson was the other day, unemployment in the black community, 15%, black teenagers, 25%, if you deal with those numbers, his point is that the U-3 number or the 7.6% number would actually be 9.9.

If we just took the data and just reported the data as it is without any demographic weighting, then we'd be at 9.9%, not 7.6%. It's like yesterday we had the report on the number of applications for unemployment compensation, which skyrocketed back up 388,000. Much higher than what was expected by the experts. And, of course, that number will be revised upward even more in a couple of weeks. You have to work really hard to find that revised number, but it will be around 400,000. In the meantime, while all this is going on, the regime's running around talking about our economic recovery and why we've gotta start making loans to people that can't pay 'em back again to boost the home market that's recovering.

It really is obscene. There is no housing market recovery to speak of. There is no recovery anything to speak of here. Now we're gonna start making loans to people who can't pay 'em back. Banks are being forced to do this by the regime so those people are not left out of this housing boom. Folks, it's utterly ridiculous, 7.6% unemployment weighed against 90 million Americans not working. The labor force participation rate also includes the number of jobs that have disappeared. They're no longer in existence. They're not there to be filled by anybody. The regime does that to get that number down to 7.6%. If the universe of jobs available shrinks, then the percentage of people out of work will be smaller, by definition. I can't tell you how many months I had to go through fisticuffs, practically, to get people who are telling me I didn't know what I was talking about, to convince them that I did. But if your universe is a hundred percent and your unemployment rate's 7.6%, then what do you figure? You got 93% or whatever of the people working.

Well, what if your universe shrinks to 80% but you still call it a hundred percent? That's what's happening here. There aren't a hundred percent anymore. It's shrunk. The number of jobs that are available, the number of businesses which are open, the number of businesses which have jobs to fill, plummeting. We're a dying country. Everybody knows it. Even Ichabod Goolsbee, who is a former economics guru in the regime, now in the private sector making legitimate money, Ichabod Goolsbee said, "This is like a punch to the gut." And we've got some sound bites and news stories here where all these experts just can't believe this. Why, this doesn't make any sense, and of course they're blaming the sequester for this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, the sequester, because that means it's the Republicans. Except the sequester's got nothing to do with this.

This all started January 21st, 2009. That's when the intense trend began with the immaculation of Obama and the mythical stimulus package. We're a country in decline, and the president is presiding over a country in decline. So he's gotta budget that he's gonna be presenting soon, we're told, and one of the things that the president is going to do to generate revenue -- 'cause, see, that's the problem. Do you know in the midst of all this what the big problem is? The government does not have enough money. It's not that the country doesn't have enough jobs. It's not that the people of this country aren't earning enough salary, wages, whatever. No, no. The problem is the government doesn't have enough money.

So the president is going to trying to get more money by placing a $3 million upper limit on tax preferred retirement accounts. So he's going to take even more money from the so-called rich under the guise they're not paying their fair share. Because the government's running out of money, and we cannot have that. So payrolls grow by 88,000. Eighty-two thousand new Americans on disability in March. A total of 8.8 million Americans on disability, and every damn one of them feels justified. And I'll tell you something else. All of the people -- 90 million Americans -- ladies and gentlemen, 90 million Americans are not working, but they are all eating, and they're all using cell phones. And they are all watching television. And most of them are driving.

I don't know how this can be sustained. A blogger at ZeroHedge.com, a guy named Tyler Durden, which is a stage name, says things just keep getting worse for the American employee, and by implication, the US economy, where, as we've shown many times before, it pays just as well to sit back and collect disability and various welfare and entitlement checks than to work. The best manifestation of this, the number of people not in the labor force, which in March alone grew by 663,000. They want to tell us that there were 88,000 new jobs in March, when the number is 663,000. Over a half million people dropped out of the labor force. That means they either lost their jobs or stopped looking for one.

What is this 88,000 people found work? Compared to the 663,000 who dropped out. A record 90 million Americans are no longer even looking for work. I don't even want to get into whether it's their fault or not. Folks, everybody has to eat, and they are. The Democrat Party's seen to it. This was the biggest monthly increase in people dropping out of the labor force since January of 2012, when the Bureau of Labor Stats did its census recast of the labor numbers. Even worse, the labor force participation rate plunged to the lowest level since 1979.

But, in a perverted way, that many people leaving the workforce shrinks the universe, and it makes it possible to say that unemployment's improving. I'm not kidding you. Even Mr. Durden makes the point. If you shrink the universe, then the percentage of people not working gets smaller, and you can say, "We added 88,000 jobs, not like we want, but we're working at it. We're adding 88,000 jobs. The unemployment number is coming down." And as far as low-information Americans are concerned, that's it, and that's all there is to know.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The Drive-By Media, State-Controlled Media is either pretending that the March jobs report is good news -- some of them are. Some of them out there are actually trying to pump up 88,000 new jobs as a sign of Obama's robust recovery and his expertise. Others are saying it's bad news and it's the fault of the sequester. If you want to say it's the fault of anything and you want to get that specific, you'd have to look at the payroll tax holiday ending first.

But this is all happening because of the policies the president. There's no argument about that. I mean, I know that people still want to blame Bush, and I know that the president -- the Limbaugh Theorem -- is running around still trying to fix all this. None of this is his. People don't attach his policies to this. Amazingly, the low-information population still views the president as working tirelessly to fix all this, trying to come up with something that'll work, 'cause he cares about everybody. But this has nothing to do with sequester. It has nothing to do, really, with the payroll tax cut.

END TRANSCRIPT

“The president’s policies continue to make it harder for Americans to find work. Hundreds of thousands fled the workforce last month and unemployment remains far above what the Obama administration promised when it enacted its ‘stimulus’ spending plan,” Boehner said in a statement. He urged the president to “follow the House and outline a balanced budget next week – one that includes entitlement reforms that are not conditional on enactment of more tax increases, which will suppress growth instead of encourage it.”  But the leaked White House’s plan to blame everything on the Sequester and the Republicans tells us that things are right on course… according to plan!

Video: Trump on the slowing economy, unemployment rate 

'The Donald' takes on the new jobs report, its bleak implications and why he believes the unemployment rate is higher than what's being revealed

Related:

Exclusive: Disney to begin layoffs in studio, consumer products - sources

PM Note: Sequester Furloughs Quietly Start, Obama Apologizes to AG, Fisker Layoffs

Disney to shut LucasArts games studio, lay off workers

Technorati Tags: unemployment,jobs,Sequester,Rush Limbaugh,blame Republicans,Donald Trump,Obamaland,smoke and mirrors,debt,layoffs,blame game,blame Republicans game

Insider: Obama Plans to 'Kill' U.S. Dollar

Video:  Insider: Obama Plans to 'Kill' U.S. Dollar

Related:

ALERT: YOUR BANK DEPOSITORS RIGHTS HAVE BEEN STOLEN AWAY LEGALLY BY A SIMPLE WORD CHANGE  -  Please check this out and get it public. People need to know, their money is no longer safe in any way shape or form! -  http://www.fdic.gov/about/srac/2012/gsifi.pdf

Video:  Santelli to Liesman: 'Let's Put the Sickle on It!'

AMERICA’S FUTURE… WHERE DO WE GO NOW… HOW TO WIN THE BATTLE… AND WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING

The goal is a world currency by 2018. The currency probably will be called "The Phoenix"

Thanks, World Reserve Currency, But No Thanks: Australia And China To Enable Direct Currency Convertibility – Without US Dollar intermediation

Video: New World Order Gun Grabbing Hypocrites

George Soros: Japanese Policy Dangerous, Yen Could Collapse 

George Soros was on CNBC tonight for a rare interview. George Soros mostly spoke about Japan and the BOJ’s new aggressive pro inflation policy. The interview took place at the Institute for New Economic Thinking in Hong Kong. He thinks Japan should have acted long ago to fight deflation while Europe is now making many of the mistakes Japan made 20-25 years ago. Some key points:

What Japan is doing is a sensation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke some of the rules of monetary policy. its a very daring undertaking

European austerity program is actually leading the eurozone into exactly same policy Japan is now trying to escape after 25 years

George Soros noted that the total amount of quantitative easing  underway in the Japan is the same as America. However, Japan is only one third the size of the USA. Therefore, the QE in Japan is three times as large as the Fed’s QE in the US.

What Japan is doing is actually quite dangerous…They may not be able to stop it. “If the Japanese yen starts to fall in value and the people of Japan lose faith and don’t want to invest their money in the Yen, they may put their money abroad, which could cause the Yen’s fall to become an avalanche.

When asked about reports that Soros has made a billion by shorting the Japanese Yen, Soros responded ”I think the Bank of Japan is eager to have people do that.”

George Soros says Myanmar is on the right track. It’s a good investment and they need it.

Regarding China, Soros thinks the country probably has the most dynamic market in the world. However, the country has to change it’s growth model, deflate its property bubble.

Related Reading:

Fabian Socialist H. G. Wells wrote the book The New World Order (1939)

New World Order: The Rise of Techno-Feudalism

The Road To Socialism and The New World Order

Technorati Tags: U.S. Dollar,dollar,convertability,World Reserve Currencny,manipulation of the public,world currency,global currency,NWO,New Economic World Order,the plan,banksters,Jeb Bush,smoke and mirrors,George Soros,International bankers,global elites,wake-up America,stand-up America,China,Austrialia,ruling elite,sheeple. destroying America,fundamental transformation of America,economic collapse,you be the judge,crisis,chaos.

Watcher’s Council Nominations… From My Cold Dead Hands Edition

JoshuaPundit on Apr 03 2013 | Nominations.

Tyranny always wears a face of mocking, condescending faux concern on the Left, as Democrat dominated Blue States compete to see who can can come up with the most egregious laws to make an ordinary citizen exercising their constitutional Second Amendment rights expensive, difficult and even shameful. New York’s law actually banned non-existent magazines and is now going through the embarrassment of having its governor appeal to the state legislature to repeal a law he shoved through in the dead of night would make it illegal for any New York resident to own a firearm…even the police.

California and Connecticut, who already have ridiculous anti-gun laws on the books have proposed sweeping bans on owning over 100 different types of weapons by law abiding citizens, and are now weighing proposals to charge an annual to fee for the right to to buy ammo and slapping heavy ‘sin’ taxes on the purchase price.

Since these laws would make it prohibitive for minority families to protect themselves, such laws are not only unconstitutional and in violation of both the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, but racist.

A number of other states are not far behind. And in the UN, the Obama Administration instructed its ambassador to vote for the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which would create a national firearms registry overseen by UN bureaucrats that is currently prohibited by federal law.

Make no mistake that the desired end result by our ruling class is confiscation and a disarmed populace. As Machiavelli said in The Prince, when you’re disarmed, you’re not only helpless but despised.

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion and The Pirate’s Cove earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Google Honors Cesar Chavez on Easter
• Rhymes With Right – I Really Didn’t Want To Write About The Obama Girls’ Vacation
• The Colossus of Rhodey – The latest comicbook P.C. — no more using term “mutant”
• The Razor – Why Laws Banning Unrestrained Pets Are Misguided
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Iran’s Navy
• Simply Jews – Pregnant Kim Kardashian is still being slightly annoying
• The Political Commentator – Cast Your Vote: Whose rhetoric is more believable, Barack Obama or Kim Jong Un?
• Joshuapundit - North Korea Beats The War Drums
• The Right Planet – Freeflowing On Tyrants
• The Glittering Eye -Chicago’s “Flash Mob” Violence
• The Mellow Jihadi – On Fandom, Past and Present
• VA Right! - The Theory of ‘Extremist’ Relativity
• Bookworm Room – When to marry? When you find true love — not shallow infatuation or mere passion, but true love
• Gay Patriot – Random Thoughts on Gay Marriage

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Obama’s shock Easter sermon: ‘Captains of the religious right’ want blacks ‘in the back of the bus,’ women ‘back in the kitchen’
• The Pirate’s Cove – The Marcott “Abrupt Warming” Meme Dying A Slow Death

Non-Council Submissions

• Gates of Vienna/Baron Boddisey – Keeping a Close Eye on the Right Wing, Part 2 submitted by The Noisy Room
• American Thinker – The one question about immigration reform no one asks submitted by Rhymes with Right
• The First Street Journal – Sequesternomics: What we were told would happen doesn’t seem to be happening yet submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Thomas Sowell – How Guns Save Lives submitted by The Razor
• Via Meadia – OK, Now We’re Worried submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Mick Hartley – The UN Steps In submitted by Simply Jews
• Stratfor - Beyond the Post - Cold War World submitted by The Political Commentator
• Victor Davis Hanson – The California ‘Mordida’ submitted by Joshuapundit
• Edward J. Erler/Hillsdale College – The Second Amendment as an Expression of First Principles submitted by The Right Planet
• Abu Muqawama – The Limits of Proxy Warfare in Syria submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Michelle Malkin – Academia hearts the Weather Underground: Kathy Boudin at Columbia and NYU submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Canada Free Press – Rotting The Soul Of A Nation submitted by VA Right!
• The Daily Beast/Megan McArdle- Health and Human Services Secretary Doesn’t Understand What Insurance Is submitted by Bookworm Room
• Soopermexican – NO Illegal Amnesty Without Border Security: Reject Any Rehash of Reagan’s Immigration Error submitted by The Watcher
• Hot Air – Dr. Ben Carson: ‘White liberals are the most racist people out there’ submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher's Council,alternative media,news,news nuggets,bloggers,blogosphere,educate yourself,gun laws,guns,second amendment,Obamaland,amnesty,wake-up America,war on religion,dictators,gay marriage,politics

FBI probe of defense tech allegedly leaked from NASA stonewalled, sources say

Shown above is an aerial shot of the Ames Research Center. (NASA.gov)

FoxNews.com – h/t to AJ:  A four-year FBI investigation into the transfer of classified weapons technology to China and other countries from NASA’s Ames Research Center is being stonewalled by government officials, sources tell FoxNews.com.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com, which summarize these and other allegations and were given to congressional sources last week by a whistle-blower, described how a “secret grand jury” was to be convened in February 2011 to hear testimony from informants in the case, including a senior NASA engineer. But federal prosecutor Gary Fry was removed from the case, which was then transferred from one office in the Northern District of California to another where, according to the documents, “this case now appears to be stalled.”

“The information is staggering,” the whistle-blower told FoxNews.com.

A Justice Department spokesman on Thursday told FoxNews.com it “does not comment on grand jury proceedings,” as a matter of longstanding policy. Fry, reached for comment late Thursday, also would not confirm or deny the claim.

'When I mentioned the tech that was compromised to the Armed Services Committee, their jaws just dropped.'  …Congressional source

The claims originate with several past and current NASA employees concerned with the systemic leak of highly sensitive information relating to missile defense systems, as well as what they call a troubled investigation into the leak.

The documents claim the FBI has been working with other agencies since 2009 on an investigation into foreign nationals working at Ames. This follows allegations by two Republican lawmakers earlier this month that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern California district was ultimately denied by the Justice Department when it tried to proceed with indictments.

Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, denied claims her office was blocked in trying to proceed with the case.

“I am aware of allegations our office sought authority from DOJ in Washington, D.C. to bring charges in a particular matter and that our request was denied,” she said in a written statement. “Those allegations are untrue. No such request was made and no such denial was received.”

Yet two members of Congress, Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in a statement to FoxNews.com that Haag’s denial “conflicts with information we have received from federal law enforcement sources,” and added “we hope that the DOJ Inspector General will take our request seriously.” The lawmakers had requested, via letter, an IG investigation.

Rob Storch, a spokesman for the DOJ inspector general’s office, confirmed to FoxNews.com the office received the letter from Wolf and Smith. “We’re evaluating (the letter),” he said.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Ames Research Center has been a center of high tech innovation for more than 60 years. As the space agency’s mission has changed over the years since it was built, NASA has turned it into a commercial research facility, leasing out space to a number of companies including rocket firm SpaceX and tech giant Google, which leases 42 acres there through a holding company called Planetary Ventures.

The accusations stem from a reported violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which governs the export of defense weaponry. In 2006, Ames adapted specialized rocket engines -- originally developed for the Pentagon missile defense “Kinetic Kill Vehicle” program -- for a moon lander prototype that ultimately became NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The robotic moon orbiter is set to launch on Aug. 12, 2013.

Information on guidance and terrain-mapping systems from the Tomahawk cruise missile and a radar from the F-35 were also shared, according to one report in Aviation Week.

"When I mentioned the tech that was compromised to the Armed Services Committee, their jaws just dropped," a congressional source told FoxNews.com.

The sources allege that Ames Center Director Simon P. “Pete” Worden and Will Marshall, a British citizen, shared that moon lander project - and the missile defense technology – with individuals from foreign countries including China, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

“Will Marshall in particular had demonstrated far too great an interest in locating U.S. spy satellites, giving interviews to Chinese and American newspapers on curtailing U.S. space security,” reads a document that was purportedly given to the FBI. Marshall could not be reached for comment by FoxNews.com.

The document claims foreign nationals, under the direction of Worden, were since 2006 brought in to work on space flight projects, without the proper export control licenses. Further, the document claims they were planning to share technology with the Chinese and other countries through the International Space University.

The document also charges the Department of Homeland Security “intercepted” Marshall at the San Francisco airport, and “confiscated” his NASA-issued computer, suggesting it contained sensitive information.

“Foreign nationals had access to technology and even brought foreign visitors in to see it. Three left the country and talked about the technology,” congressional sources told FoxNews.com. “The case was referred to the U.S. attorney – it’s a clear violation of ITAR.”

A NASA engineer was subpoenaed to testify before a secret grand jury in February 2011 in San Jose, according to the documents. But the attorney assigned to the case – Gary Fry -- was removed at the last minute, before the case was transferred to another office within Haag’s district. Fry still works out of the San Jose office.

NASA headquarters deferred questions to the Department of Justice. The Justice Department headquarters also declined to comment to FoxNews.com.

But Worden told FoxNews.com the accusations are “rubbish.”

“I take very seriously our responsibility to safeguard sensitive information. I say this unambiguously — I have not, would not, and could not impede a law enforcement investigation. To the best of my knowledge I am not the subject of a current investigation,” he said in a statement.

On Feb. 8, Reps. Wolf and Smith sent letters to the Justice Department inspector general and the director of the FBI regarding the allegedly illegal movement of this crucial technology. Wolf chairs the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee. Smith heads the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

The letters allege the FBI had uncovered the ITAR violations, and the U.S. attorney was prepared to issue indictments. But it says the case has been stalled for more than a year, agents in the case were reassigned, and the statute of limitations on the violations is already beginning to expire.

“It is our understanding that this illegal technology transfer may have involved classified Defense Department weapons system technology to foreign countries, including China, potentially with the tacit or direct approval of the center’s leadership,” the letters read.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, also wrote to NASA as early as April 2012 asking about allegations that Worden “allowed foreign nationals” to access Ames – along with “NASA secrets and cutting edge technology” in violation of ITAR.

Technorati Tags: FBI,watch the other hand,NASA,DOJ,ITAR,Fox News,smoke ane mirrors,Armed Services Committee,technology,China,Ames,Senator Chuck Grassley,destroying America,foreign nationals,impeachment,wake-up America,stand-up America,Asshats,Ames Research Center,treason,whistleblowers,grand jury

Battered America Syndrome

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – The NoisyRoom

The assault on the Constitution and our Founding Principles has accelerated. Americans seem to be assailed by Marxist/Progressive propaganda at every turn. The most serious threat to our God-given rights currently, is the attack being mounted on the Second Amendment by the Progressive Left. They worked hard to manufacture a crisis with the Fast & Furious project which, to their disappointment, was exposed for the corrupt scandal it was before it could be leveraged to generate the outrage they hoped for. Their prayers for violence and horror, however, were answered. Using ginned up hysteria from convenient, current mass shootings and the slaughter of children – they never let a crisis go to waste. The Marxists see an opening to gut the Constitution and they are making their move. We dare not passively wait to be stripped of our rights.

The time for physical resistance has not yet arrived. Violence is always the very last resort. But neither has the time to just protect your own. Yes, we should take stock of our food, ammo, weapons and survival materials. Yes, we should brief our families and be more vigilant in protecting them. Yes, we should get to know our neighbors and form alliances. No, we should not just regroup and wait. That is a swift path to dictatorship. Pray for the best, plan for the worst. People should be doubling down on calling their politicians and letting them know that we are massively against these fascist moves towards banning and confiscating our guns. This is a battle we cannot — must not — lose, not if we wish to avoid civil conflict and bloodshed. This is it, boys and girls. We are fighting for all the marbles here. Throughout history, each time there is a genocide (or, “ethnic cleansing”), arms are regulated, registered and confiscated. Obama is threatening to go down that path and he relishes the thought.

This is the fight of our time and we will not submit to tyranny forced on the American people. That is not how this country was built and patriots will not sit this dance out. We must stop this abridgement of the Second Amendment at the government level or the fabric of America will be torn asunder. This is what Obama wants – he wants to ban guns, force every gun owner into a gun registry and then he wants widespread confiscation of our weapons. Patriots at that point will fight back and Obama also wants that, so he has an excuse to kill and imprison those who stand against him. He would then declare martial law where he can really and truly rule as an iron-fisted dictator. It’s been his end goal all along. Before door to door confiscation though, look for bank account seizures to force registration or submission of arms, just as the IRS uses in tax collection techniques. Banks have already started using this as a weapon against gun retailers and it will only get worse.

It’s not just the Second Amendment that is being attacked here. America’s liberties are being methodically beaten and pummeled from front and back. Virtually all of our Constitutional rights are under siege. If the administration gets its way, gun prohibition will spawn new speakeasies and black markets. Our prisons will fill up with those whose religious rights are violated under Obamacare, those who won’t relinquish their guns, people who are subjected to illegal search and seizure, as well as surveillance and on and on, while we struggle to understand “what we did to deserve this.” Meanwhile, Obama will release into the populace the real criminals, causing more violence and chaos. “For our own good,” of course. Obama will keep pushing Cloward and Piven and collapse the financial system. He will encourage “localized” Shariah law and pull more and more of the Muslim Brotherhood into our government. Massive amnesty for illegal immigrants is also in the political cards. Yes, it will hurt employment and wages, but we probably “had it coming.” For those who think I am an alarmist, you better take a long, hard look at what is happening. It is right in front of you. The systems are being overwhelmed with so many small fires, they cannot all be extinguished and anyone who tries will fail from exhaustion. It is the Soros school of regime change.

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” ~ Mao Tse-Tung

We have the Police Chief in Chicago now stating that it doesn’t matter if you are licensed legally to carry a firearm – if you are armed, the Chicago police will shoot you. Armed gangs are ruling our major cities and Obama wants to disarm the people, so the only ones who have guns are the criminals. The NRA’s membership has skyrocketed in the last month by 250,000 and Americans are now carrying MORE guns than before. They are patrolling neighborhoods and protecting those under attack. Walled communities in isolated regions are beginning to surface as well. Americans will try anything and everything to protect themselves.

Many of the actions by this President are, in my opinion, impeachable offenses. If Obama uses an Executive Order to forward the banning and confiscation of guns, he will be in direct violation of the Constitution and should be impeached. I have no faith our politicians will do so, though. They don’t have the spine for it, much less the political will. If they don’t move against him, soon he will control solely through the Executive branch with no fear of reprisal. Our 3 branches of government will not matter, nor will the Constitution. This has to be stopped.

Everywhere you turn now, you hear the whispers of resistance. Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Michael Savage among many others are ringing the warning bells. Our leaders should listen and carefully. I wonder, will it take a “burning bed” event before the abuse will stop?

Sultan Knish on Crime and Disarmament:

The old urban lesson of the seventies is that the difference between civilization and the jungle is security. And there is no substitute for security, whether it’s the security of one man with a gun, or a very expensive police department of men with guns carrying out the marching orders of statistical analysts.

The political left has forgotten the lesson of Willie Horton in its arrogance and its base of metal working artists in converted warehouses has forgotten the lessons of that old Times Square that they never visited, but still nostalgically pine for. And as they work to disarm the people and dismantle police forces, it is inevitable that it is a lesson that they will be forced to learn again.

We are suffering from Battered America Syndrome. As Tammy Bruce has astutely pointed out, Obama is like the abusive husband who beats his wife and tells her it is for her own good. In fact, the abusers have formed a gang called the “Progressive Left.” They are ruling as bullies would and they don’t plan on ever leaving. The unvoiced threat is that if we push them, they will beat us to death. But, you know what? This battered spouse is a fighter and will fight back with all the courage and fury they can muster. Any bets on who will be left standing?

See video on site at the NoisyRoom...

Technorati Tags: Ronald Reagan,socialism,Progressivism,second amendment,freedom,guns,Thomas Jefferson,Marxism,Bill of Rights,individual freedoms,gun laws,disarming America,patriots,gun and ammo bans,Cloward and Piven,Obamaland,George Soros,ObamaCare,destroying America,saving America,Battered America Syndrome,Shariah Law

Former FBI Informant: Obama Will Destroy America Once He Has All The Guns

Video: Former FBI Informant: Obama Will Destroy America Once He Has All The Guns

Video:  Connecticut School Massacre Looks Like False Flag Says Witnesses

Gun-Free Zones Are a Magnet for Attacks Like the Tragedy In Binghamton and Connecticut

Gun-control laws failed Connecticut children

China school knife attack in Henan injures 22 children  -  Taking away our second amendment rights will not stop violence!

The Federal Government is Guilty Accomplice in School Shooting in Newtown Connecticut

Technorati Tags: FBI,Insider,guns,gun control,watch the other hand,Obamaland,gun-free zones,Connecticut,wake-up America,destroying America,stand-up America,manipulation of the public,Alex Jones,The Plan,second amendment,never let a good crisis go to waste,creating chaos,false flags,FBI Informant

The End of "Bill of Rights"

US Senate votes to end Bill of Rights,  authorizes military to occupy U.S. cities and detain Americans

Natural News:

In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

It's being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to."

Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:

...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn’t limited to foreigners. It’s confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas’ Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — “U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/12/senate-military-detention/

The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the "legitimate assassination" of U.S. citizens right here on American soil!

If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we've been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America -- no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.

Read my red alert warning on this urgent development at:  http://www.naturalnews.com/034291_SB_1867_war_on_terror.html

... and watch this urgent interview with Alex Jones of InfoWars.com at: http://www.infowars.com/stewart-rhodes-crossroads-ndaa-bill-is-pure-treason/

The mainstream media is engaged in a shameful and conspiratorial news blackout of this entire issue:http://www.businessinsider.com/the-medias-blackout-of-the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-shameful-2011-12

... and even the ACLU is outraged about this potential law:  http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/senate-rejects-amendment-banning-indefinite-detention

Are you getting all this? Do you realize America is about to be overrun by our own military?

The rule of law is about to be utterly destroyed. No due process. No legal representation. Not even a right to know what you're being charged with when you are (indefinitely) detained.

This is an urgent time for action to protest the overreaching military police state in America. Immediately call your representatives in Washington and urge your House members to reject this bill in the reconciliation phase with the Senate. Call the office of the President and urge Obama to veto this bill if it is passed by both houses.

Call your local newspapers and protest this outrageous and traitorous attempt to nullify the entire Bill of Rights.

Do not be fooled by the trolls and disinfo agents who claim this bill does not apply to U.S. citizens -- a fact which has already been established without question. If this is signed into law, military humvees will roll down the streets in U.S. cities, with gunpoint checkpoints, illegal arrests, secret torture operations and the outright murder of U.S. citizens right in their own home towns.

In observing all this, you might ask WHY is this happening right now? Why would the U.S. Senate deliberately nullify the Bill of Rights and seek to authorize military action on the streets of U.S. cities?

The answer, my friends, will not comfort you: A global economic collapse is coming, and once started, it will likely unleash a wave of social unrest and rioting that could burn many U.S. cities to the ground. The U.S. Senate is probably trying to rush authorization of the military to operate in American cities before the economic collapse arrives, thereby placing troops deep within the roughest U.S. cities where they stand a chance at halting the runaway riots that are sure to materialize when peoples' life savings vanish as the banks collapse.

Keep reading NaturalNews.com for updates on this situation. We will continue to cover the Eurozone economic crisis as well as this Senate bill 1867, which is not yet law. Our last-ditch hope would be for Obama to veto it. We'll issue a red alert if that action is needed...

And remember, folks, the Bill of Rights protects us all -- liberals, conservatives, libertarians, agnostics, Christians, Jews, everybody! If you lose the Bill of Rights, you lose America and all the freedoms many generations have fought for. Right now protecting the Bill of Rights is perhaps the single most important thing we can do for our collective futures.

All of us who have been screaming about the importance of the U.S. Constitution have been trying to protect YOU from exactly this kind of scenario. The whole purpose of the Bill of Rights is tolimit the power of government so that this kind of Senate action is never allowed.

MBY NOTE 

Not only has the Senate voted for this bill, while many Americans were SLEEPING, but another bill was passed under American's noses as the media has kept quiet concerning our freedom of speech.

Watch and wake up, these bills are being passed before the elections, and I wonder why, an economic collapse possibly?  Yes, but also the president/dictator is passing these laws to take over, possibly before the elections or before Romney is sworn into office February 2013.  

Suppressing Free Speech:  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7SGWH3kirzg&vq=medium  -  The Bill of Rights is about gone and the free speech in America is now gone.  America is NOW OFFICIALLY a FASCIST country and when the Bill of Rights is gone it will be officially a COMMUNIST country.

Get out there while you still have a chance… right now!  This is the most important election of your life time!!  Vote and promote Romney-Ryan.  If Obama wins again there will be no turning back!

Technorati Tags: media blackouts,Bill of Rights,Constitution,destroying America,saving America,military,troops on American soil,enemies within

Hillary Clinton Aide Tells Reporter To “F _ck Off” And “Have A Good Life”

BuzzFeed Politics:

As the State Department's story about what happened in Benghazi crumbles, Clinton's personal spokesperson, Philippe Reines, loses his temper. “Have a good day. And by good day I mean Fuck Off.”

Clinton and Reines in China in 2010. Source: farm5.staticflickr.com

Posted Sep 24, 2012 1:11pm EDT

On Sunday morning, BuzzFeed correspondent Michael Hastings emailed Philippe Reines, Hillary Clinton's longtime aide and personal spokesman at the State Department, asking a series of pointed questions about State's handling of the Benghazi fiasco, and Reines' over-the-top attack on CNN. The emails quickly got personal, with Reines calling Hastings an "unmitigated asshole" before an exchange of harsh words on both sides.

The email chain concluded with Reines writing that Hastings should "Fuck Off" and "Have a good life."

The full exchange (with one typo fixed) is below.

From: Michael Hastings
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 10:32 AM
To: Reines, Philippe I
Subject: Request for comment

Hey Philippe:

A few quick questions for you. Why didn't the State Department search the consulate and find AMB Steven's diary first? What other potential valuable intelligence was left behind that could have been picked up by apparently anyone searching the grounds? Was any classified or top secret material also left? Do you still feel that there was adequate security at the compound, considering it was not only overrun but sensitive personal effects and possibly other intelligence remained out for anyone passing through to pick up? Your statement on CNN sounded pretty defensive--do you think it's the media's responsibility to help secure State Department assets overseas after they've been attacked?

Let me know if you have a second.Michael

______________________________________
On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:

Good morning Michael

I'm adding my colleague Toria Nuland who I believe you know. She has addressed much of your questions below during her daily press briefings, so I'll let her weigh in to remind you of what's already been thoroughly answered. As far as the tone of my email, I think you're misreading mine as much as I'm misreading yours as being needlessly antagonistic.

But on your questions pertaining to CNN's handling of the diary:

• You know that all USG personnel were evacuated from Benghazi after the attack. So I'm not sure why you're asking why State didn't find the diary first.

• On material, I'll let Toria reiterate, but the answer is no. Though you might want to ask CNN if they took anything else from the crime scene that they haven't yet told anyone about.

• In terms of the media's responsibility, I'll start with the outlandish statement that I believe the media does have responsibilities. Your question seems to imply they have none and any expectation of responsible behavior is too much to ask. To be specific:I believe CNN had the responsibility to act as human beings and be sensitive to their loss when they first approached the family.

I believe CNN had a responsibility to not make promises to the family it would not keep.

If that's too much to ask, I believe CNN had at the very least a responsibility to make their intentions on the use of Chris's diary clear to the family from the outset.

I believe CNN had a responsibility to not deceive its own viewers for more than 48 hours on the source of their reporting, using convoluted attribution they themselves had to clarify, before admitting it was the diary they were relying on.

I believe that when they finally did admit to using Chris's diary, they had a responsibility to their viewers and to the family to explain why they broke their pledge.

I believe that many within CNN agree with everything I'm saying.

More than anything else, I believe that CNN - since they had already read every word of the diary before calling the family on Friday the 14th, the day Chris's remains were returned home - had all the information they needed at that point to make an editorial decision on whether the contents of the diary compelled them to report on it. I believe the time to invoke their standards to justify using the diary came six days late. I believe that CNN, if they felt strongly that they had an obligation to use the diary should never have presented the family with a choice in the first place that they'd later disregard.

I don't believe that CNN should get credit for issuing a flimsy confession only when caught with their hands in the cookie jar. I believe the statement CNN issued late last night, 24 hours after Anderson Cooper's ill-conceived statement on air, basically says they agreed not to use it until they didn't feel like it anymore, and only admitted to it when they were about to be caught. I don't believe that's much of a profile in courage.

Lastly, I believe that you of all people, after famously being accused of violating agreed upon ground rules and questionable sourcing, would agree that it's important for a news organization to maintain its own integrity if it is to be trusted. That begins with keeping its word. If you can't manage that, then don't give it.

I realize that the way this works is that you only you get to ask me questions, but I have one for you: if you were in Benghazi, went to the scene of the attack, found the ambassador's diary, read every word of it, would you have called them and asked their permission to use it, then when you weren't granted that permission agree that you wouldn't use it in any way, and then a few days later just change your mind?

If the answer is yes, then you obviously agree that CNN handled this perfectly fine.

If the answer is no, if you would have decided its contents demanded reporting immediately, how would you have handled this differently then CNN?

And you should feel free to use every word above, in its entirety. Though I suspect you won't.

Philippe

______________________________________
From: Michael Hastings
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 12:04 PM
To: Reines, Philippe I Cc: Nuland, Victoria J
Subject: Re: Request for comment

Philippe:

Thanks for getting back to me. No, you read my email correctly--I found your statement to CNN offensive.

From my perspective, the scandal here is that the State Department had such inadequate security procedures in place that four Americans were killed. And then the Ambassador's diary--and who knows what else--was left behind for anyone to pick up. Thankfully, it was CNN--and not Al Qaeda or some other militia--that found it and was able to return it to the family. That CNN used portions of the material in the diary they found at the scene--material that appears to contradict the official version of events that State/WH has been putting out--is completely in line with practices of good journalism.

I don't know how involved Arwa Damon has been in this. But for what it's worth, Arwa is one of the best war correspondents working today. She's consistently risked her life to get these stories, and to find out what actually happens in these conflict zones.I do agree that the media has lots of responsibilities, and CNN fulfilled its responsibility by returning the diary while still managing to inform the American public of newsworthy information. So it's unfortunate that you are trying to make a scapegoat out of CNN. That State was forced to flee Benghazi--again, because of such inadequate security, leaving behind all sorts of sensitive information--tells us more about DoS than CNN.

The misinformation here seems largely to be coming from State and the administration. The defense that the administration has offered that there was no intelligence warning of an attack is weak. If there was no intel, then clearly the CIA and other intel agents stationed in Benghazi weren't doing their jobs well. If there was intel, then we have some kind of cover-up--whether out of incompetence or ass covering before the election or just the trauma of losing four good men, it's hard for me to say at this point.

All the best,

Michael

______________________________________
On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:

Why do you bother to ask questions you've already decided you know the answers to?

______________________________________
From: Michael Hastings
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 12:50 PM
To: Reines, Philippe I Cc: Nuland, Victoria J
Subject: Re: Request for comment

Why don't you give answers that aren't bullshit for a change?

______________________________________
On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:
I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you're an unmitigated asshole.

How's that for a non-bullshit response?

Now that we've gotten that out of our systems, have a good day.

And by good day, I mean Fuck Off

______________________________________
From: Michael Hastings
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 01:40 PM
To: Reines, Philippe I Cc: Nuland, Victoria J
Subject: Re: Request for comment

Hah--I now understand what women say about you, too! Any new complaints against you lately?

______________________________________
On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 1:48 PM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:

Talk about bullshit - answer me this: Do you only traffic in lies, or are you on the ground floor of creating them?

And since Fuck Off wasn't clear enough, I'm done with you. Inside of 5 minutes when I can log into my desktop, you'll be designated as Junk Mail.

Have a good life Michael.

______________________________________
From: Michael Hastings
Date: Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Subject: Re: Request for comment
To: "Reines, Philippe I" Cc: "Nuland, Victoria J"

I'll take that as a non-denial denial.

All the best,

Michael

Technorati Tags: Hillary,Hillary Clinton,Benghazi,State Department,reporters,media,Hillary Aide,Hillary Clinton Aide,watch the other hand,Philippe Reines

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EU Times:

World-famous mistress of former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Monica Lewinsky decided to make some more money on her controversial past. Lewinsky will write memoires. The former White House trainee negotiates the details of her book with major publishers.

Reportedly, the forgotten sex scandal star has already requested $12 million for her confessions, including those about her relationship with Clinton. Many believe that her story is not worth the money. However, Lewinsky has not signed the deal, although several publishers are interested in the publication of the book.

Meanwhile, American journalists try to show as much humor as they can in their comments about the Lewinsky confessions, BFM.Ru reports. TJ Walker, a famous columnist with Forbes and The Wall Street Journal tried to guess what the new book was going to be about: “What is it? A time capsule? What time is it? 1998? It’s been 14 years since we had to look at this woman day after day. She got her millions from that. She had her Barbara Walters sit-down. And now she is going to write another book. What in the world is she going to say in it? Is it – “nobody has given a damn about me for 14 years?” Second chapter: “I am an idiot. I’ve never done anything interesting in my entire life other than fooling around with the president.” Chapter Three: “I’ve done a handbag campaign and a bunch of other things, but they all were a failure because everyone thought of me as that one thing.”

Monica has not confirmed her plans about the memories yet, but her friends told reporters what her new book could be about. According to one of them, she can share what she knows about Bill’s insatiable desires for threesomes, orgies and sex toys of all kinds, RBC says.

The president’s ex-lover recalled how he spoke disparagingly of his wife, calling her a “cold fish” and making fun of her “non-existent sex life.” Bill Clinton also suggested that Hillary had also cheated on him.

Rumor has it that Hillary Clinton knows about Lewinsky’s plans and is furious about it, Express Gazeta wrote. If the book is ever published, the sitting secretary of state will hardly ever become president.

Of course the possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidency is all but gone now, anyway, now that Americans realize that it was Hillary who made the decision not to send Marines to our Consulate in Benghazi Libya that resulted in the murder and torture of our Ambassador Christopher Stevens and 3 additional Americans, added to by 9-days of lies by Hillary herself, the State Department and the White House about the cause of the events in Egypt, the terror attack on American soil (our Consulate) in Libya and throughout the Middle East and much of the world.

Related:

Bill, Ted, Antonio, Joe, Debbie and Friends Take Us All to an Alternative Universe….

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