President Obama Should Withdraw Hagel Nomination

So are we the only ones that think Chuck Hagel isn't fit to be the next Secretary of Defense??   Not if you read today's reviews of his pitiful performance before the Senate Armed Forces Committee?

Below is what Rich Galen had to say.    You may know him from his appearances on Fox News and other news channels.   He is a conservative Jew whom we would have expected to support Hagel and he did, at least until today.    Galen writes a three-times-a-week blog known as Mullings.   

Here is what he had to say:

I subscribe to the general theory that a President - Republican or Democrat should be able to have the people running his Departments, Commissions and Agencies that he wants.

Unless there is some overriding disqualifying reason to reject him or her, the Senate should abide by the terms of Article II, Section 2 that says the President,

"shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint � Officers of the United States."

 

The nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense is an excellent case in point.

I may not agree with Hagel on the 3 I's - Iran, Iraq, and Israel - but we don't generally allow Secretaries of Defense to make foreign policy. Nor, for that matter, do Secretaries of State make foreign policy.

The President makes foreign policy and that policy is carried out by State and Defense.

If you don't believe me, ask Hillary Clinton.

Hagel, as a former Republican U.S. Senator from Nebraska and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee might be uniquely qualified to oversee the long-term re-ordering of our military forces in a time of withdrawal from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the short term issues that attend the looming sequester.

A former infantryman in Vietnam with two Purple Hearts, Hagel should have been sailing through the confirmation process as easily as former Navel officer in Vietnam, John Kerry, sailed through his confirmation to be Secretary of State.

Hagel, to my knowledge never tossed his medals over the White House fence as Kerry infamously did.

Among other things, Hagel once said that Members of Congress were "intimidated" by what he called the "Jewish Lobby." Hagel opposed the concept of the surge in Iraq that, no matter what you think about the totality of the adventure, certainly stabilized that country enough for the U.S. to get out.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Hagel voted against unilateral sanctions against Iran, and, according to the Associated Press,

"co-authored [a study] last year that called for an 80 percent cut in U.S. nuclear weapons, and elimination of all nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles."

Even with all that, my thinking, though shaken, remained on the side of giving the President the Cabinet Secretaries he wants.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday Chuck Hagel spent eight hours in a Senate Office building essentially denying everything he has written and/or said since before he campaigned with Barack Obama in 2008.

The Twitterverse was bubbling with hallway comments of Republican and Democratic Senators who were "shocked" at how badly he was performing.

CNN's Dana Bash filed a piece saying:

"One senator who is undecided but was not at the Armed Services Committee hearing says it is 'all the talk - I mean all the talk.' Fellow senators are 'shocked' by how ill prepared Hagel seemed for basic questions about controversial comments he has made, this senator said.

It is possible that Hagel was lulled into a false sense of comfort testifying before many of his old Senate buddies on the heels of the love-in that greeted Kerry a week earlier.

 

It is no secret that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) doesn't like Hagel, and I would be very surprised if, in his rehearsals for yesterday's appearance, the staffer playing Sen. McCain didn't bombard Hagel in the same rude tone the real McCain used yesterday.

But that wasn't enough. Hagel didn't have very good answers to what appear to be reversals in position on issue after issue.

At one point he said he supports the Administration's concept of "containment" when it comes to Iran getting nuclear weapons.

That is most assuredly not the Administration's position on Iran's nukes. The position is denying Iran nuclear weapons, not containing them once Iran has them.

According to numerous sources a staffer passed Hagel a note after which, having read it, Hagel said:

"I misspoke and said I supported the president's position on containment. If I said that, I meant to say we don't have a position on containment."

But, as the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), pointed out,

"We do have a position on containment, and that is we do not favor containment. I just wanted to clarify the clarify."

 

The current Senate split is 55 Ds and 45 Rs so Hagel will probably be approved on a straight up-or-down vote.

Sara Murray and Julian E. Barnes wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

An outright filibuster of a cabinet nominee would be unprecedented. Senate records reflect no instance of a filibuster being used to block a cabinet nominee, although nine have been defeated outright, without filibusters, and another 12 were withdrawn, sometimes in the face of a filibuster threat.

With all that, I hope President Obama withdraws the Hagel nomination for Secretary of Defense. If yesterday was any test, he is simply not up to the job. "

 

Pro-life Hagel Now Okay With Murdering Infants in Military Hospitals

We are still cleaning off the projectile vomit that covers our televisions and computer screens after enduring the Armed Forces Committee hearing for failed Nebraska U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.   But that won't keep us from letting you know what our friends at the Family Research Council had to say about this indecisive, incompetent, mentally ill, un-re-electable, indecisive (maybe) guy with no core values.   And certainly, this guy who became pro-life after his disappointing inability to decide whether he was or wasn't on Joe Jordan's television show in 1996, appears to have 'evolved' enough (done a 180 as he has on virtually everything he ever claimed to stand for) to now support the murdering of human life in military hospitals......

He will do anything to be relevant!

Here is a short summary from our friends:

"Although the GOP seems reluctant to endorse Hagel, Iran is not. In one of the hearing's most shocking moments, Sen. Inhofe asked why the Iranians were so eager to support Hagel. He couldn't answer. As far as social issues go, the President's nominee seems to have also "evolved," providing written assurances to the committee that he would abandon his objections to homosexual partner benefits. "Hagel stressed that he fully supports the repeal of [Don't Ask, Don't Tell]... and added that he would work to extend personnel benefits to the families of gay members of the military." He also believes taxpayers should be forced to pay for military abortions--promising Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that he would protect "women service members' reproductive rights." To learn more on the possible chief of America's defense, click over to FRC's special Hagel backgrounder."

Welcome to Free Health Care

May be that the 'middle class' is about to have an 'eureka' moment when they find out how much their free health care is going to cost them.   Yes, the I.R.S. is starting to give us an idea of just what to expect it isn't going to be pretty.

Check this out:

IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family

by Admin on January 31, 2013 Print This Post

 

"In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.

The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.
“The annual national average bronze plan premium for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) is $20,000,” the regulation says.

Bronze will be the lowest tier health-insurance plan available under Obamacare–after Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Under the law, the penalty for not buying health insurance is supposed to be capped at either the annual average Bronze premium, 2.5 percent of taxable income, or $2,085.00 per family in 2016."

This article was written by Matt Cover for CNS News; continue reading at CNS News …

"

Hagel Still A Terrible Choice

We spent most of the day listening to Nebraska's sad excuse of a former, un-re-electable, indecisive Senator Chuck Hagel answer questions at his confirmation hearing for his potential and likely appointment to become the next Secretary of Defense.   Sadly, we saw nothing that changed our opinion that this is an elitist, arrogant, mentally unstable individual who has no core values.

Time after time Hagel basically recanted everything he has ever said.   Time after time we heard him say, "I don't recall."   Time after time we heard him say, "consider the context."  Time after time he obfuscated by saying that, "I don't have that speech in front of me."

When asked a simple yes or no question by Senator McCain, Hagel couldn't do it. Why?

After suffering through this ordeal, we not Hagel, haven't changed our mind.   This man simply wants to be relevant.   He has no core values. 

Lastly, his temperament and his mental instability remain major questions.   We continue to assert that Hagel suffers some form of late onset post traumatic stress disorder brought on by the Iraqi war.   

Hagel's instability was further reflected in his pseudo-press-conference announcement when he announced that he wasn't going to announce anything.   If a man can't understand the ramifications of such an inane call to the national media how is he fit to make decisions at a national level?  Perhaps there is more here and we are working on it.

The bottom line here is that this man should not be confirmed.  Sadly, he will be.
'

The Sky is Still Falling

From our friends at 'The DC Morning' we have this to share with you.   After all it's been quite a while since we've discussed 'global warming' and who knows that now with Al Gore having sold his network to Al Jazeera there just may be a dearth of news on this topic that is becoming a factor in our daily lives.   Why, just look outside and it's obvious that we are to blame for this:

"Blame global warming. For everything -- Protip: When there's a problem --- any problem --- just blame global warming. TheDC's Jeff Poor reports:

"On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe,' the Center for American Progress’ Christie Hefner said that Chicago’s sky-high murder rate could be blamed — at least in part — on climate change. 'Yes, last year we hit a record number of murders from guns [in Chicago],' Hefner, the former chairwoman and chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises, said. 'And this year we are already outpacing last year’s numbers. Now, there are contributing factors that are not under anybody’s control and may seem odd, but it is factually true. One of them is actually the weather. There is a dramatic increase in gun violence when it is warmer. And we are having this climate change effect that is driving that.'"

Kids, take note. Why didn't you do your homework? Global warming, obviously. You failed a test? Sure you didn't study, but also remember you took it while suffering under global warming. You punched your principal in the face? Everyone knows that's a predictable consequence of global climate change, duh!"

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Vote for Brad Ashford---If (Part 3)

Over the last two days we've shared with you Brad Ashford's record on spending and taxing.  His record in the legislature hasn't been exactly what you would call pretty unless you believe in Barack Obama's fantasy of redistributing wealth through higher taxes and more spending.    But sadly, Ashford's liberalism doesn't end there.   No, he is right on with Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor Suttle, Joe Biden and Barack Obama when it comes to gun rights.

Ashford is no friend when it comes to gun rights.    He has led the fight in the legislature for gun control over lawful gun owners.    In 1993, he told the Omaha World-Herald (11-11-93) that, "It takes guts to stand up to the National Rifle Association."   In 1994, in his plan to fight crime, Ashford pledged to ban semi-automatic firearms not used for hunting (Omaha World-Herald, 4-2-94).   In a 1997 editorial (Omaha World-Herald 2-12-97) and in the legislature he opposed a law allowing lawful citizens to carry concealed handguns.  

Yes, if Ashford wasn't liberal enough for you on taxes and spending, he certainly is liberal enough when it comes to joining the likes of Mayor Suttle, Mayor Bloomberg, Joe Biden and Barack Hussein Obama when it comes to your Second Amendment gun rights.   

Yes, vote for Ashford if.........

Governor Makes Solid Appointment with Tim Gay for O.P.P.D.

We received the following e-mail from the governor's office.   Governor Heineman has made a solid choice in appointing former State Senator Tim Gay to serve on the O.P.P.D. Board, filling a vacant 'suburban' district position.

"(Lincoln, Neb.) Gov. Dave Heineman today announced that he has appointed Tim Gay of Papillion to the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) Board of Directors representing the utility’s Suburban Subdivision.

Gay, 48, works as a Senior Advisor at Husch Blackwell of Omaha. Prior to joining the firm, he represented the 14th Legislative District in the Nebraska Legislature from 2006-2010. He served as a Commissioner for Sarpy County from 1995-2006.

In 2010, Gay received the Attorney General’s Legislative Leadership Award. In 2009, he received the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency Regional Citizen Award and in 2008 he was recognized by the Sarpy County Chamber of Commerce as the Political Official of the Year.

OPPD’s Suburban Subdivision is bordered to the east by the Missouri River, to the north by Harrison Street, to the west from 108th to 84th, and to the south by Fairview and Platteview Roads."

Is Iowa Bob Kerrey's Future?

After his humiliating defeat in his 2012 senate campaign we are wondering if perhaps Bob Kerrey doesn't have a future in Iowa?   With Senator Tom Harkin retiring in 2014 maybe Bobby could sell his Omaha home and move across the river?   After all he is an Iowa guy isn't he?   He has an Iowa bridge named after him doesn't he?    And he spent time in Iowa when he was making his bid for the presidency didn't he????

Yes, Bob Kerrey For Senate Iowa 2104!!!!

Hagel Was the Second Worse Boss on Capitol Hill

On January 22, 2013, the Washington time published this information about our dear incompetent, indecisive failure of a former Nebraska U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.  Tittled, "Who are the best and worst bosses on Capitol Hill?", it was written by Luke Rosiack.

"Second-highest
It’s not the company Chuck Hagel wants to find himself among as senators consider his nomination to be defense secretary. Yet during the Republican’s tenure as a senator from Nebraska through 2009, his office’s turnover rate ranked second-highest of any in the past decade.

In 2005, 20 of 51 staffers left Mr. Hagel’s office, the vast majority of whom left Capitol Hill altogether and were replaced quickly by people with no legislative staff experience. Only George Allen, the former Virginia senator and governor, had a higher turnover rate in the Senate.

“He was ‘The Cornhusker wears Prada’ to his staff, some of whom describe their former boss as perhaps the most paranoid and abusive in the Senate, one who would rifle through staffers’ desks and berate them for imagined disloyalty,” former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin told political analyst Taylor Marsh about Mr. Hagel."

Vote For Brad Ashford, IF (Part 2)

Yesterday we talked of State Senator and Omaha Mayor want-to-be Brad Ashford's 'accomplishments' in the area of taxation.    There is no question that Ashford loves taxes---all taxes.    But Ashford's political philosophy doesn't end with just raising your taxes and your fees.    No, Ashford is also a big spender extraordinaire.

Big spender Ashford has lots to take credit for when it comes to spending your tax dollars.   Here is a sample of what he did for you in 2012:

• LR 373 CA: Voted to raise his state senator salary from $12,000 to $22,500 annually, about an 88% increase.
• LB 540: Voted to allow Medicaid to cover family planning services for families earning up to 185% of the federal poverty level.  26,000 NE women would qualify.
• LB 599: Voted to provide prenatal care to poor, illegal alien women ineligible for Medicaid, costing the state over $655,000 annually.  Passage of this bill guaranteed NE as a magnet state for migrating illegal aliens.
•   LB 821: Voted to create another bureaucracy, the Dept. of Childrens Services.  The leftist NE Appleseed Center supported this bill.
• LB 1079: Voted to fund programs through $200,000 annual grants from the state education dept. to provide English reading, writing, and math skills to the poor, including illegal aliens.  Funding paid for job coaching and  personal expenses. 

Of course, the above were just bills he supported in 2012.   Let's see what he did in 2011:

• LB 200: Voted to provide up to $150,000 annually in grants to help establish socialist food cooperatives.
• LB 465: Voted against the bill, which saved NE about $3.9 million annually by stopping food stamps and Medicaid to illegal aliens. 
• LB 468: Voted against the bill, which allowed the state to add and increase co-pays for Medicaid goods and services. 
• LB 543: Voted to raise the income limit on savings and checking accounts for food stamp applicants to $25,000 and force the state to develop an outreach program with counties to encourage the maximum number of people to apply for food stamps.

Of course, Ashford didn't just start being a big spender,   He record goes on and on.  In fact, in 2010 he even voted (LB 1105) to make it financially inconvenient to administer the death penalty in capital cases.

 

But just to show you how good Ashford is at handling finances, we point out the fact that during his ill-fated campaign to run for Congress in 1994, his campaign forgot to pay Social Security taxes for the campaign

Oh well, we think that between yesterday and today we've given you some pretty good reasons to believe that Brad Ashford as your mayor could be counted on to not only raise your taxes but also spend more of your money.   But there is more to the liberal Brad Ashford so tune in tomorrow for even more reasons to vote for Brad If.......

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Vote For Brad Ashford-----IF.........

Yes, if you love higher taxes, illegal immigration, more regulations and more spending you'll love State Senator and want-to-be Omaha Mayor Brad Ashford.  Over the next few days we'll share some of Ashford's 'accomplishments' which would no doubt warm the heart of our national Messiah Barack Hussein Obama.

Ashford's voting record during his years in the Legislature has cost taxpayers mightily.  His political activities expose him as a liberal who wants to use government to socially engineer the state and destroy the middle class and its values.  

So, lets talk about Brad Ashford and his love of taxes.  In 1993 Ashford was the main legislative sponsor in an effort to hike the Omaha City sales tax.   Again, just last year Ashford worked diligently with liberal spender and taxaholic Mayor Suttle to get the legislature to pass LB 357 which was passed and which will give Suttle or Ashford the opportunity to ask Omaha voters for yet another 1/2 cent sales tax increase.  

But there has been lots more of Ashford's efforts to increase taxes.    In 2011, he supported the following bills:

• LB 106: Voted to expand county sales taxes up to 1.5%.
• LB 211: Voted to facilitate mail order and internet sales and use taxes on consumer purchases.
• LB 251: Voted to increase court filing fees by $20.
• LB 283: Voted to allow school districts to levy property taxes and issue bonds without a public vote.
• LB 357: Voted to allow cities to raise their local sales tax by 1/2c per $1.
• LB 400: Voted to extend the sunset date for an additional natural resources district property tax of 3c per $100 of valuation. 
• LB 421: Voted to raise the cost of annual state park resident permit fees by 25%.

Of course, that was just in 2011.   Let's look at 2010:

• LB 686: Voted to increase county fees.
• LB 861: Voted to raise fees for farm winery licenses from $45 to $400.
• LB 867: Voted to increase from $200 to $1,000 annual shipping license fees, hurting small businesses.
• LB 910: Voted to raise kennel fees by thousands of dollars. 

We could go on and on with Ashford's record but suffice it to say that Brad Ashford, like President Obama, is a guy who has never found a tax that he didn't support.    If he per chance should become Omaha's mayor you can only imagine what tax increases Omahans will face.

Stay tuned for more on the liberal Brad Ashford tomorrow....

Suttle Makes a Fool and a Liar Out of Himself

If anyone heard the Tom Becka Show on 1290 KOIL today they got to hear Omaha's Mayor Suttle make a fool of himself by lying about what he knew about the recently passed fire contract and when he knew it.   Of the contract, he said he, "did not have to read the details." He also told Becka he did not get the contract until a week before the vote.

Well, the contract was posted on the City of Omaha website on November 21st, a month before the council voted on it......

When asked about the jobs he promised he would create in North Omaha when he ran for mayor and what jobs he had actually created he once again fumbled around, stammered, aha'd and couldn't give any specifics.

Time For Women to Register For Selective Service

With all the talk about allowing women in combat we think it finally is time that they also be required to register for Selective Service at or before age 18 and be held to the same restrictions for failure to do so as are males.  

Times and technology have obviously changed and while we may have some reservations it is clear that women want the opportunity to be equals in the service and the opportunity to get assignments that further their career opportunities.    And with those opportunities and equality come the same obligations that men have.

Let them serve and let them register and if the time comes again let them be drafted along with the men.....

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Secret Donors Go After Pathetic Chuck Hagel

Poor pathetic Chuckie Hagel.    It seems the poor guy is under assault by 'secret donors'.    They are the bad guys that are running hundreds of thousands of dollars in television ads against the guy in five states in an effort to convince those Democrat senators to vote against his nomination.   Perhaps, just to be sure, some of that money should be spent in Nebraska on its two senators although we have less worry about Senator Fischer than we do about Senator Johanns.  

In any event, we believe there is more to come out on Hagel.    This poor excuse of a statesman has virtually recanted everything he has ever said or stood for in the past in hopes of becoming relevant and winning the Secretary of Defense nomination.

As we've noted in the past, this is a guy who didn't know whether he was pro-life or pro-choice when he first came back to Nebraska.   We wonder on how he would stand now on performing abortions in military hospitals which he was against.

This is a guy who didn't know whether he was pro-gun or pro-gun-control when he came back to Nebraska

This is a guy who supported the war in Iraq before he decided he was against it.  And we believe he decided he was against it for two reasons.   First, a delayed onset of post traumatic stress disorder, second a willingness to abandon all he said he stood for in hopes of taking advantage of the politics of the situation and running for president after his re-election.

This is a guy who told former Nebraska Republican congressional nominee Ally Milder that she was nothing but a f__king instrument of AIPAC.  Yes, this and his other actions and comments toward Israel demonstrate that he is indeed anti-Jewish.

This is a guy who has a demonstrated past of hating gays in comments and actions.

This is an indecisive shell of a man who embarrassed himself and his state by calling a national press conference to announce that he had decided not to announce anything. 

This is a guy that could NEVER have been re-elected from his 'home' state of Nebraska after demonstrating all of the above.

This is a guy who claims to be Republican, no doubt to give President Obama an opportunity to show his bipartisanship, but who actively campaigned for a liberal Democrat Bob Kerrey last fall against a conservative Republican.  

This is a guy who excused his Obama yard signs at his VIRGINIA home because they were put out by his wife.....

This is a guy who openly supported the president's health care polices even though he couldn't share in the 'Cornhusker Kickback" which he surely would have had he been miraculously re-elected which he wouldn't have been.

We could go on and on but it is clear that this guy is simply a man with no core values, one who will do anything and say anything to become relevant.

Secret Donors Finance Fight Against Hagel

By JIM RUTENBERG

"A brand new conservative group calling itself Americans for a Strong Defense and financed by anonymous donors is running advertisements urging Democratic senators in five states to vote against Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, saying he would make the United States “a weaker country.”

      

Another freshly minted and anonymously backed organization, Use Your Mandate, which presents itself as a liberal gay rights group but purchases its television time through a prominent Republican firm, is attacking Mr. Hagel as “anti-Gay,” “anti-woman” and “anti-Israel” in ads and mailers.

      

Those groups are joining at least five others that are organizing to stop Mr. Hagel’s confirmation, a goal even they acknowledge appears to be increasingly challenging. But the effort comes with a built-in consolation prize should it fail: depleting some of Mr. Obama’s political capital as he embarks on a new term with fresh momentum. 

      

The media campaign to scuttle Mr. Hagel’s appointment, unmatched in the annals of modern presidential cabinet appointments, reflects the continuing effects of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which loosened campaign finance restrictions and was a major reason for the record spending by outside groups in the 2012 election. All told, these independent and largely secretly financed groups spent well over $500 million in an attempt to defeat Mr. Obama and the Democrats, a failure that seemed all the greater given the huge amounts spent.

      

While the campaign against Mr. Hagel, a Republican, is not expected to cost more than a few million dollars, it suggests that the operatives running the independent groups and the donors that finance them — many of whom are millionaires and billionaires with ideological drive and business agendas that did not go away after the election — are ready to fight again.

      

“We were anxious to get back into the battle,” said Nick Ryan, a Republican strategist and the founder of the American Future Fund, which started as a small, Iowa-based political committee in 2007 and has grown larger since taking a leading role now against Mr. Hagel. “Postelection we have new battle lines being drawn with the president; he kicks it off with these nominations and it made sense for us.”

      

Groups like his would have been able to operate freely against Mr. Hagel even before Citizens United. But the ruling has served to erase what had been traditional fears among donors that their involvement in the fight of the day would lead to legal trouble or, for those who prefer to stay anonymous, unwanted public exposure. That confidence, in turn, has helped spur the increase in the number of political organizations that pop up to engage in the big political entanglement of the moment. 

      

American Future Fund was formed under a section of the tax code that allows it to keep its donors secret. It spent more than $20 million seeking to defeat Mr. Obama and the Democrats last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group. Other major conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity — partly financed by the industrialist Koch family — and Crossroads GPS are not involved in the Hagel nomination, but have made it clear that they will continue to combat the president’s agenda on several fronts.

      

The outside activity is not confined to Republicans. Mr. Obama’s campaign apparatus has transformed itself into a nonprofit political group, though it said it would disclose the names of its donors (and it is not getting involved in the Hagel fight). 

      

After Mr. Obama won re-election in November and Democrats kept their majority in the Senate and made inroads in the House, Republican Party officials and senior strategists with conservative outside groups predicted that some of the big financiers of the larger outside efforts would pull back and reassess their involvement and whether their millions were wasted. But while the donors have said they will insist that the groups they finance find lessons in last year’s losses, their interest and stakes in what happens in Washington have certainly not waned.

      

For instance, the biggest individual financier of the so-called super PACs that sought to defeat Mr. Obama, Sheldon Adelson, is so invested in the fight over Mr. Hagel that he has reached out directly to Republican Senators to urge them to hold the line against his confirmation, which would be almost impossible to stop against six Republican “yes” votes and a unified Democratic caucus.

      

Given the more than $100 million he donated to the anti-Obama effort last year, no lawmakers need to be reminded of his importance to their future endeavors. People briefed on his involvement said Mr. Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and a longtime supporter of Israel, was calling in conjunction with the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group he has financed for several years.

      

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in December, Mr. Adelson said he was prepared to “double” his investment in politics in the coming year.

      

But it is unclear whether he is directly financing any of the anti-Hagel advertising. An associate of his, speaking about Mr. Adelson’s thinking on condition of anonymity, said he did not believe that expensive television campaigns are the answer to every political push given that Mr. Obama’s re-election team accomplished so much of its success through online and volunteer efforts.

      

Citing similar reasons, another major Republican donor, Foster Friess, said in an interview that he had developed his own skepticism over “the whole idea of these multimedia ads from 45,000 feet.” After last year’s losses he said he was devoting most of his resources to an effort he called “Left-Right, Left-Right Forward March,” which finds projects liberals and conservatives can support together, like water purification in developing countries.

      

Still, he said, “no one in this effort is going to give up the values that they think are important.” For him, that extends to Mr. Hagel, whose “past statements about Israel should be really taken into consideration” Mr. Friess said, adding, “and I would hope they could find a better person to serve in that position.”

      

Whatever its chances of success, the blitz against Mr. Hagel is of a sort that has generally been reserved for elections and some Supreme Court nominations. The last major cabinet skirmish, over President George W. Bush’s nomination of John R. Bolton as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, had no comparable outside media blitz. Though goaded along by a phone campaign organized by the political action arm of the liberal group MoveOn, Democrats succeeded in blocking him in the Senate, forcing Mr. Bush to appoint him during a congressional recess.

That was before the Citizens United decision.

      

“This is the first big cabinet fight since Bolton,” said Michael Goldfarb, a strategist for a conservative group opposed to Mr. Hagel called the Emergency Committee for Israel and a founder of a conservative Web site called The Washington Free Beacon, which is running a steady stream of anti-Hagel news articles. “And things have evolved in the last seven years.”

      

The most mysterious of the new groups is Use Your Mandate. Portraying itself as a gay rights group, it has sent mailers to voters in seven states — including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Montana — and run television ads against Mr. Hagel in New York and Washington. It has sent out posts on Twitter questioning his gay rights record and asking, “Is this what we worked so hard for?” Established gay rights activists have expressed skepticism about the group’s authenticity.

      

It has no Web site and it only lists as its address a post office box in New York. But paperwork filed with the Federal Communications Commission link it back to Tusk Strategies, a bipartisan political group founded by Bradley Tusk, a former strategist for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

      

In an interview, Mr. Tusk would only identify its financiers as Democratic “gay and L.G.B.T. people who have been active in campaigns around the country.” 

      

Yet federal records show that Use Your Mandate uses Del Cielo Media, an arm of one of the most prominent Republican ad-buying firms in the country, Smart Media, with clients that have included the presidential campaigns of former Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah and Senator John McCain of Arizona; the 2010 Senate campaign of Christine O’Donnell, who was known for positions against homosexuality, in Delaware; and, as it happens, the Emergency Committee for Israel."

      

Mike McIntire, Kate Zernike and Derek Willis contributed reporting.

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Another Clinton Lies Under Oath -- Doug Patton

Did anyone believe a word Hillary Clinton told Congress about the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of September 11, 2012? Did anyone believe her about what she knew and when she knew it? Does anyone believe that Republicans laid a glove on her during her testimony? The answers: no, no and no.
 

Hillary’s testimony began with a weepy opening statement that would have won her an Oscar had it been in a Hollywood movie. Fighting back crocodile tears, she told the committee how terribly personal it had been for her to have to meet those four flag-draped coffins, to put her arms around those family members and to comfort them. I got all choked up just thinking about what poor Hillary must have endured that day, didn’t you?
 

She then proceeded to tell breathtaking lies to Congress: “The Department of Defense took every action it could to respond to this attack,” she said at one point. “I did not say it was a video that caused this attack,” she said at another juncture. And on and on it went.
 

However, the most audacious part of her testimony had to be in response to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, who wanted to know why the administration had continued to put forth the narrative that it was, in fact, an offensive video and not terrorism that sparked the attack.
 

Hillary nearly shrieked: “What difference does it make?!?”
 

In the end, Hillary demonstrated why she is the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Senate and House Democrats fawned over her as if she were about to be crowned queen, each of them auditioning for the role of court jester (vice president). And with few exceptions — notably the aforementioned Sen. Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — Republicans did little but make speeches. John McCain’s performance was particularly annoying. He asked her five different questions in a rambling lecture that generated little in the way of useful information from her and served as nothing but a photo op for him.
 

Congressional committees are usually poor vehicles for investigating anything, and Wednesday’s charade was no exception. But clearly, Hillary came to the hearings far better prepared than did her interrogators. And why not? After all, she has learned from the best. Remember in 1998-1999 when her philandering husband lied through his teeth about his tawdry relationship with a young woman only slightly older than his own daughter? Remember when he perjured himself before a grand jury? Remember when the United States House of Representatives impeached him for it?
 

But then the case headed over to the laid-back U.S. Senate, which, though it was controlled by Republicans, had absolutely no chance of convicting the man. After all, it took a two-thirds majority to do that, and short of videotaped proof that Clinton had committed cold blooded murder, two-thirds of that body was not going to remove him from office. (Then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-MS, was reported to have stated that even that wouldn’t do it for the Democrats.)
 

The felon and his bride figured out a long time ago that they could tell the nation a whole boatload of whoppers and get away with it. No resigning in shame like Richard Nixon after Watergate. No mea culpa like Ronald Reagan after Iran-Contra. The Clintons were above all that. The agenda came first, last and always. So Bill wagged his bony index finger at the American people and simply lied: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, and I never told anybody to lie, not one time.”
 

He sent Hillary out to tell the dark tale of a vast, rightwing conspiracy to their willing accomplices in the mainstream news media, who ate it up with a spoon. And finally, under oath, Bubba himself gave us the tortured phrase, “It all depends on what the meaning of the word is is.”
 

Of course, today, Bill Clinton is the rock star senior statesman of the Democratic Party, and Hillary’s little dog and pony show before Congress proves that she is now a seasoned Washington liar who does not like to be challenged.
 

And why not? It has served her husband and her current boss very well indeed.

______________________________________________________________________________

© 2013 by Doug Patton

______________________________________________________________________________

Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself more often than not. His weekly columns are syndicated by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Readers are encouraged to email him at dpatton@cagle.com and/or to follow him on Twitter at @Doug_Patton.

Photo of the Day

A Five Year Old Terrorist

Okay, we're sure you've heard about this, but we just had to repeat it here.   We frankly wonder why the folks at Mount Carmel aren't insisting on a criminal trial with a death penalty......

This from our friends at NetRight Daily:

By Chris Freind — Fire them. Fire them now

It is time to immediately boot all school administrators who had any involvement in suspending a five year old kindergartener from the Mount Carmel Area Elementary School in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. And we should require that their official employment records always — ALWAYS — disclose the exact reason why they were terminated. Hopefully, such a scarlet letter would prove so weighty that their education careers would sink into oblivion.

Come to think of it, they should be barred from ever working around children again. Judgment, discretion and common decency are — or at least should be — mandatory skills for those working around our young people, but appear to be nonexistent in the Mount Carmel District.

And what was the child’s offense? What was so ignominious, so dastardly, so outright diabolical that the Mount Carmel brain trust saw fit to suspend her for ten days and mandate she undertake a psychological evaluation?

Did she swipe the school computer password to inflate her show-and-tell grade? Boycott naptime? Not share her crayons?

Far worse. She talked about using her pink Hello Kitty Bubble Gun — admittedly, a device that has been known to completely eradicate sad faces with one trigger pull.
That’s it. Case closed. Crucify her!

Honest to God, this makes the Manti Te’o story look tame.
*****
Earlier this month, while waiting for a school bus, the kindergarten mastermind was overheard talking about shooting a classmate with the bubble gun, which, it should be noted, she did not even possess.

For that, she was actually accused of making a “terroristic threat” and branded as a “threat to harm others.” According to reports, the girl was questioned the following day for 30 minutes without a parent present, and, her mother stated, was told she could go to jail for making such a threat. Despite being evaluated as “normal” by the District’s psychologist (what a surprise), the student was suspended anyway. Officials have since reduced the suspension to two days, but have refused to expunge the incident from her permanent record.

The family’s lawyer, Robin Ficker, simply wants the incident removed from the child’s record and the school district to apologize, admitting it made a mistake. But no can do.

The District is fighting back, having released a statement that reads, “…we are confident that much of the information supplied to the media may not be consistent with the facts in this matter. The Mount Carmel Area School District has investigated the issue and will continue to do so…When given the opportunity in the appropriate forum, we look forward to presenting information that will portray our school district in a more positive light.”

What are they doing? Bringing in the CSI team?

Assuming there are no national security secrets in this case, this one is simple. School administrators wildly “jumped the gun,” choosing to bow at the altar of political correctness and get their fifteen minutes of fame rather than rationally think this situation through to its logical conclusion. And now they are too proud to admit they screwed up. In the process, they have traumatized a little girl, stigmatized her family, and perhaps worst of all, stolen a bit of childhood innocence from every student in that school.

And the more we sit back and allow these situations to occur, the faster America will decline. It is not enough to have the lawyers settle this behind the scenes, even if the girl and her family “win” everything they are seeking. The damage is done, and nothing short of firing Superintendent Bernard Stellar and other administrators complicit in the suspension will make it right.

Is advocating the firing of these officials for their “zero tolerance” …. itself zero tolerance? Absolutely. And it should be. We all make mistakes, which is why God made erasers, but mistakes like this are unforgivable. We entrust these people with our most precious gift: our children, indeed our future. And when they cannot even handle the most basic, common sense situation, it is time for them to find another profession.

But, sadly, America is becoming a nation that doesn’t act in common sense, decisive ways, but one that overreacts to damn near everything without actually solving its problems. That way, faceless bureaucrats can feel good about themselves and justify their existences.

It’s time to fight back. It’s time for the silent American majority to be heard. It’s time to send the message loud and clear that political correctness is the greatest enemy this nation faces, and that we must enact zero tolerance for moronic decisions that so negatively affect the most innocent among us.

Demand that the Mount Carmel School District administrators be fired, and burst their politically correct bubble once and for all."

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television/radio commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com His self-syndicated model has earned him the largest cumulative media voice in Pennsylvania. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Scarey

We're still cleaning up our computer screen after a sudden case of projectile vomiting so that should be your warning that if you check out this video and read the message below you should take pre-emptive measures to cover your computer screen and anything else of value in the vicinity.

Okay, we first saw this when the newly sworn-in Commander in Chief sent us an e-mail on Tuesday thanking us for our support.   He mentioned 'Organizing for Action' in that e-mail.

So now we get an e-mail from the guy who is going to lead this Nazi training camp organization along with the above video from the First Lady.    This is really scarey.

"Dear Paul

I'm Jon Carson, the new executive director of Organizing for Action.

I hope you're as excited as I am for this new organization, and for what our grassroots movement can accomplish in the next four years.

If you haven't already, you should check out this short video First Lady Michelle Obama recorded about our organization, and then say you're on board.

Just a little bit about me. I'm a Wisconsin guy, and I grew up on a farm in the western part of the state. In 2007, I joined Barack Obama's campaign and served as the national field director. After the election, I went to work for the President in the White House, most recently in the Office of Public Engagement.

That brings me to now, when very soon, my family and I will be moving back to Chicago as I start this new role with all of you.

I first joined the President's campaign because I was inspired by his belief that ordinary people have the power to change our country if we work together to get it done -- and that belief will be at the core of this new organization as it unfolds.

And the way we'll get it done can be summed up in one word: local.

That means each city or region will have its own OFA chapter, and you'll decide the issues your community cares about most, the work you want to do to make progress on them, and the kind of support you'll need to get it done.

At a neighborhood and regional level, OFA members will grow their local chapters, bringing in new leaders and helping train a new generation of volunteers and organizers to help fight for the issues at stake.

There'll be times when we pull together at the national level to get President Obama's back on passing major legislation, like reducing gun violence or immigration reform. And we'll all work to help transform Washington from the outside while strengthening our economy and creating jobs.

But for the most part, the direction our work takes will be completely in your hands -- with the support of this organization behind you every step of the way.

In the next few weeks and months, I'll be asking for your input on putting together an OFA plan for 2013, we'll be holding online briefings about the issues we want to tackle, and we'll start organizing on those issues as they're debated in D.C.

But for right now, I just want to say thanks and welcome. There's a lot to be done, without a doubt -- and I couldn't be more thrilled to be part of OFA with you.

Take a look at the video the First Lady recorded this week, and go ahead -- say you're in:

http://my.barackobama.com/Organizing-for-Action

I'll be in touch soon.

Thanks,

Jon

Jon Carson
Executive Director

P.S.   And here is an equally scarey follow up sent to us after we signed up to be supporters:

"Hi --

Thanks for saying you’re in for the next phase of our grassroots movement.

I’m excited to get the chance to work with you as we set out to finish what we started.

Over the next four years, we’ve got an incredible opportunity to keep moving this country forward. This grassroots movement has shown time and again that ordinary people have the power to change our country if we work together to do it.

So locally and nationally, OFA will fight for our shared values on issues like immigration reform, climate change, gun violence, balanced deficit reduction, and more.

We’ll be working with you and other supporters to write a plan for 2013. This organization will be volunteer-led, always guided by the core principles of "respect, empower, include."

That starts now. Make sure your friends and family know about Organizing for Action, and ask them to add their names now to get involved:
http://OFA.BO/aftLVr

Thanks so much for being a part of this. See you in the field.

Jon

Jon Carson
Executive Director
Organizing for Action"

Photo of the Day

Ashford Promises Salary Cuts

So mayor hopeful Brad Ashford wants to cut the mayoral staff salaries by 25-50% if he's elected?   And he wants to take only 75% of the current mayor's salary?   Guess you get what you pay for.....

Yes, the current incompetent who occupies the mayor's office has lots of overpaid folks on his bloated payroll but we doubt it will be possible to cut salaries as much as Ashford says he will.   It is good to know that he wants to be his own driver.....   

Douglas County Republican Party Gets New Leader



The Douglas County Republican Party elected a new county chairman last night.    Bryan Baumgart was elected by a unanimous vote of the central committee members at their monthly meeting held at the Comfort Inn.  

Baumgart thanked members for their confidence in him and thanked outgoing Chairman Scott Petersen for his efforts over the last two years.

Pahls a Worthy Candidate For City Council

Our staff has been busy so we apologize for our late coverage of former Nebraska State Senator Rich Pahls' announcement for the Omaha City Council.   Pahls made his official announcement on Saturday January 19 at 10:00 a.m. at the Rockbrook Garden Cafe where he spoke to an audience of about 40 supporters.

Pahls is a two-term Nebraska State Senator who just left the legislature due to term limits.    He chaired the legislature's Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee and has been a long-time supporter of reviewing sales tax exemptions and is probably more knowledgeable of the status of those than the governor who is proposing changes to them in hope of eliminating personal and corporate income taxes.  Pahls had a 30 year career in the Millard School District.

At this point Pahls has no competitors for his District 5 City Council seat which will replace Jean Stothert who is running for mayor.

We can think of no one more qualified to serve the citizens of Omaha.  

Senator Janssen Moves Agressively Against Obama Gun Legislation Efforts

 

State Senator Charlie Janssen is letting constituents (and potential constituents if he runs for governor) know just where he stands on gun legislation by the federal government. Unfortunately, even if it passes, we doubt the feds will abide by it.

 

Fellow Nebraskans,

Last week, the Obama Administration announced 23 Executive Orders to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights guaranteed to us in the United States Constitution.

I do not believe we, as Nebraskans and Americans, can sit idly by and let this Administration tread on these rights. As State Senator and as a Persian Gulf War Veteran who has served this country and defended our inherent freedoms, I have a responsibility to act now and fight for the rights of law-abiding Nebraska citizens.

So, as the Nebraska legislature commences with the 103rd Legislative session, I wanted to let you know about a bill I filed today to defend the Constitution and protect our 2nd Amendment rights. My legislation will do two key things here in Nebraska: 

1. Make any federal law which places new restrictions on firearm or magazine ownership unenforceable in Nebraska; and
2. Make any federal law that places new registration requirements on firearm ownership unenforceable in Nebraska.

It is time to send a message to those in Washington, D.C. that we will not stand for the continual erosion of our rights and freedoms. The 2nd Amendment is clear, and its constitutional protections should be honored.

Now, there will be loud criticism of my proposal and your support of constitutional gun rights, given the epidemic of violence in this country. Friends, I am just as saddened and horrified by recent events as anyone, but taking away the constitutional rights of law abiding Americans is just not the answer.

 After all, the 2nd Amendment was created by Our Founders to help us protect our homes and our families from violent oppression against our enemies or a tyrannical government. We must continue to uphold these basic rights, not tear them down, to maintain a free and just society.

Today, I am going to stand up and defend Nebraskans from an over-reaching federal government that believes it should weaken or dissolve our rights rather than protect them.

Will you join me in this effort to defend our rights? Please click here to sign the petition today to defend your 2nd Amendment rights in Nebraska.

Thank you,

 Senator Charlie Janssen

Ad Watch: ONE Omaha - Dan Welch for Mayor of Omaha

Dan Welch is the first Omaha mayoral candidate to go on television.   His theme of One Omaha would seem to evoke his contentions that there is little civility at city hall between the current council and the city's incompetent mayor.

Welch isn't the first to go public.   Brad Ashford, has some large billboard signs across Omaha, touting, 'Ashford Mayor for Omaha'.  

Shameful Nebraska State Senator Paul Schumacher Once Again Trying to Enrich Himself Through Expanded Gambling

The self-serving Nebraska State Senator Paul Schumacher is at it again, this time trying to convince folks that Nebraska voters should give the legislature the right to decide on gambling in Nebraska.through a constitutional amendment, LR34CA.   Of course, this self-serving guy whose company, Community Lottery Systems runs keno games for 100 communities in the state has a lot to gain by such legislation.   But he's also living in lala land if he believes that the voters of the state are about to turn him loose in determining how he can enrich himself.....

Anti_Hagel Ads Going Up

Seems some are not ready to throw in the towel and accept the fact that Chuckie Hagel, the failed and un-re-electable, unreliable, indecisive, anti-Semitic, anti-gay nominee of Barack Hussein Obama for Secretary of Defense should be confirmed:

New anti-Hagel group targets vulnerable Senate Democrats with TV ads

By Jeremy Herb - 01/22/13 01:58 PM ET

"A new group that’s joined in the campaign against former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), President Obama’s nominee to be the next Defense secretary, is airing TV ads targeting vulnerable Democratic senators.

Americans for a Strong Defense, which launched last week, released five television ads on Tuesday in states where Democrats are running for reelection in 2014, urging them to vote against Hagel's confirmation.

The ads will run in the states of Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.).

The group's spokesman, Ryan Williams, would not say how much money was going into the ad campaign, but said the ads will run on broadcast and cable in each state.
Americans for a Strong Defense is the latest anti-Hagel group to jump into the campaign against his nomination. The American Future Fund, Emergency Committee for Israel and Log Cabin Republicans have all run advertisements against the former Nebraska senator.

About a half-dozen Republican senators have said they will oppose his nomination. No Democrats have come out against Hagel, but many have raised concerns about his positions on Israel, Iran and gay rights.

The American Future Fund put out an ad against Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat known for his pro-Israel views, after he said he’d back Hagel.
The Americans for a Strong Defense ads claim that Hagel wants “an end to our nuclear program”and “devastating defense cuts.” They ask viewers to tell the targeted senator to vote against Hagel’s confirmation.

A source close to the Hagel confirmation said the ad was “demonstrably false.”
“Hagel has made it clear that he is committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, for example,” the source said. “But this ad purposefully distorts his record to try to score cheap political points."

Hagel continues to meet with senators ahead of his confirmation hearing next week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he was meeting with Hagel Tuesday afternoon. McCain said he was going to ask Hagel about his statements on Israel and opposition to the Iraq surge."

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/278555-new-anti-hagel-group-targets-vulnerable-dems