On December 14th, 2011, Obama, speaking to America’s Best and Brightest at Fort Bragg, celebrated the pulling out of American Troops from the country of Iraq:

“As the commander in chief and with respect to a grateful nation, I’m finally proud to express these words: welcome home,” Obama told 100s of soldiers collected in the military base at Fort Bragg in New York.

“It is a historic moment for the country and our military,” stated Obama, who recognized the sacrifices from the military since March 2003 when he started the invasion of Iraq brought through the U . s . States.

“The final American troops will move south and mix the border of Iraq using their heads held high,” stated the leader, dressed whatsoever occasions by his wife, Michelle. “Probably the most remarkable sections within the good reputation for the U.S. military will finish. The way forward for Iraq is going to be at the disposal of its people,” Obama stated towards the military as well as their families.

The most recent U.S. contingent will return from Iraq on December 31. The U.S. military spent the final several weeks closing bases and moving control towards the Iraqis. Obama purchased the finish of procedures in Iraq in mid-2010.

After a preliminary withdrawal of troops, continued to be in the united states some 50,000 troops towards the mission of coaching the Iraqi military and monitor the safety from the bases. Progressively, the dpi continues to be withdrawn in the country and also the last number of soldiers the mission came to the conclusion when the last day of the season.

Throughout his speech, Obama was interrupted by applause and cheers several occasions through the soldiers collected at Fort Bragg, a military base that experienced 202 casualties throughout the war. Obama assured the U.S. military that they’ll respond with “100s of 1000′s of jobs for individuals who offered within the Military.”

Obama known in the speech towards the lengthy and winding route to war, considering that most of the soldiers who visited Iraq were very youthful. “You, the generation of September 11, have gained a location ever,Inch stated the leader, and stated that because of the job from the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, “[Osama] bin Laden won’t walk around the face of the world “and Al-Qaeda is greatly destabilized.

Even as Obama was making with the pomp and circumstance, Islamic Terrorists were raining on Scooter’s parade, according to csmonitor.com:

Output at Iraq’s Rumaila oilfield has been halved from about 1.4 million barrels per day after a bombing hit southern pipelines, but crude exports were normal, Iraqi officials said on Wednesday.

Iraq is looking to its vast oil resources for future stability as it emerges from years of war. But renewed attacks on its oil infrastructure are a challenge to Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops withdraw by December 31.

Salah Mohammad, general manager of the Rumaila Operating Organization, told Reuters production from Rumaila oilfield was cut by around 700,000 bpd since Tuesday due to the bombing on the pipelines network.

Total production from Rumaila was at around 1.4 million before the bombing, he said.

“We halted production in Rumaila South because of the explosion. It has been halted until now since yesterday,” he said. “The pipeline network was a main one.”

Rumaila, the workhorse of Iraq’s oil industry, has estimated reserves of around 17 billion barrels and produces the bulk of Iraq’s total output of 2.95 million bpd now.

The field is being developed by British oil major BP and Chinese partner CNPC.

Three bombs hit an oil pipeline network that transports crude from southern Iraqi oilfields to storage tanks around the oil hub of Basra, causing a fire that raged all night.

Iraqi officials said the blaze had been put out on Wednesday morning, but an oil police source later said strong winds had reignited the fire.

The Iraqis issued an arrest warrant for their chief suspect:

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al- Hashimi denied charges of terrorism and said he is ready to testify in his defense after the country’s top court issued an arrest warrant and barred him from travel.

“I have been rewarded for my eight years of work with what you heard,” al-Hashimi said today in a televised news conference in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, referring to the arrest warrant. He questioned the motivation and timing of the accusations, which come as U.S. troops leave Iraq, and said he wants to be tried in Erbil.

Al-Hashimi left Baghdad for Erbil after security forces searched his home and office late yesterday in the capital’s so- called Green Zone and arrested some staff members, according to a person close to the vice president who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak to the press.

The arrest warrant marks an escalation of tensions between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led allies and Sunni Muslim politicians, such as al-Hashimi, who have been at odds for more than a year over the formation of a unity government. The leader of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, has called for urgent talks to avoid the collapse of the political process.

“The situation is getting more complicated,” Barzani said in a statement late yesterday. “I call upon all powers to reconcile and to be tolerant and review their adamant stances.”

So, has the Obama Administration pulled out prematurely, leaving a country on the verge of being seized by Islamic Radicals?  Opinions vary:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 24% of Likely U.S. Voters think the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months. Thirty-eight percent (38%) feel the situation there will get worse in that time, while 26% say it will stay about the same. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 61% believe the Iraqi people are better off today compared to when Hussein was in power.

Better off?  Yes.  

Are we leaving behind a stable country?  It sure doesn’t seem so.

Yesterday, the G.O.P. Elite showed the country what they’re made of,  spines of jello, once again, by caving in and agreeing to the Democrats’ two month extension of the Payroll Tax Cuts, as opposed to holding out for a one-year extension.

According to cnbc.com:

The decision came after an intense day of maneuvering in which the Senate’s top Republican leader, Kentuckian Mitch McConnell, urged the House to accept the Senate’s short-term fix and negotiations later on a year-long extension. Obama, too, chided Republicans for blocking something all parties agreed upon.

Then a pair of GOP freshmen — the group most opposed to a short-term agreement — pivoted and urged a quick resolution before the tax cut expires Dec. 31. Absent a quick agreement, workers faced an increase of two percentage points in their Social Security taxes, or $1,000 a year for someone earning $50,000.

“I don’t think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington’s dysfunction,” said freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., a former reality show star.

“An `all or nothing’ attitude is not what my constituents need now,” Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. “We are now in a position…that requires Republicans to not only demand a willingness to compromise, but to offer it as well.”

The rapid-fire developments underscored the political peril that House Republicans had courted after they rejected the two-month deal and insisted on dragging the Senate back into session to do it their way. The standoff rippled beyond Washington to Iowa, where Republican presidential candidates were making closing arguments less than two weeks before the caucuses that begin the nomination process.

Under the arrangement between Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the House would pass a new bill mirroring the Senate measure — with modest tweaks to address concerns of payroll processors — in exchange for a guarantee that Reid would immediately name Senate negotiators on the House’s separate, year-long measure.

Just hours earlier, Boehner had criticized the idea.

“A two-month extension only perpetuates the uncertainty that too many employers already have in dealing with the economy and what’s coming out of Washington,” Boehner told reporters.

After the political massacre known as the 2010 Midterm Elections,  John Boehner and the Republicans were as bold as Sir William Wallace, as played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

Boehner was preparing for his big speech in response to accepting the House Speaker’s Gavel from San Fran Nan Pelosi. Wltx.com was reporting on the exciting moment:

“This is the people’s House. This is their Congress. It’s about them, not us,” Boehner is to say. “What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs — a government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves.”

Boehner will acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead for the 112th Congress, which comes into power as the nation struggles with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. “Our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy,” he will say. “Hard work and tough decisions will be required. …No longer can we kick the can down the road. ”

In the speech excerpts, Boehner also touches on the politics and partisanship that has bitterly divided Congress in recent years, recognizing that “a great deal of scar tissue has been built up on both sides of the aisle.” He will urge lawmakers of both parties to “disagree without being disagreeable” and to keep their eyes on common goals.

“It is critical this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas, and resolves our honest differences through a fair debate and a fair vote,” Boehner will say. “We may have different — sometimes, very different — ideas for how to go about achieving the common good, but it is our shared goal. It is why we serve.”

Yeah, right, Mr. Speaker.  William Wallace, you ain’t.

How can I express myself about this unbelievable display of squishiness?

I composed a poem, with heartfelt apologies to Clement Clarke Moore:

‘Twas two days before the night before Christmas,

And all through the House,

The Republicans had shown us,

The courage of a mouse.

They agreed to two months,

Giving in to the Dems,

Why have  the majority?

If you surrender to whims?

Ol’ Mitch he did plead,

To Boehner the Brave,

“To preserve the status quo,

On this bill, we must cave.”

“We must not be seen,

As a stupid roadblock.

For squishiness’ sake,

This is hurting our stock!”

The announcement was made,

With faces sincere,

“A compromise must be made!

Now, let’s all have a beer!”

Throughout our land,

Conservatives sighed.

According to the Repub Elite,

The Tea Party just died.

Now, John!  Now, Mitch!

Now, Cantor and Lindsey!

Run, Jon!  Ron, Mitt!

Your competition is flimsy!

On to Iowa, New Hampshire,

primaries great and small,

Don’t fret the Conservatives,

You’ll beat them all.

While in the Heartland,

Upon hearing the news,

Americans could not believe,

They were ignoring their views.

“Back in November,

Just one year past,

We let our voice be heard,

But their memories did not last.

We have another chance,

This coming November,

To throw these bums out,

And make them remember.

So, in the months to come,

As we near that day,

Don’t forget their betrayal,

Let’s make the Elite pay.”

As you head to vote on November 6th, 2012, remember moments like this.

And vote accordingly.

I’ve had a feeling of rage building up inside of me the last several days, and I’ve been trying to put my finger on it.

Y’know, I think I have.

Before I attempt to explain it, here’s the latest from the Dr. Ron Paul Campaign:

Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is out with a new ad today featuring former patients of Paul, who as an OB-GYN has delivered more than 4,000 babies.

The 60-second Web video features Laura Mays and three other former patients of Paul’s medical practice in Brazoria County, Texas. They attest to Paul’s character as a doctor and as a politician.

“Some people need to have a good word said about them,” Mays says. “Ron is the sort of person that, his life is his good word.”

Kara Gore, another former patient, says Paul “not only protects unborn life, but he also walks through journeys with women.”

The ad is an attempt to highlight Paul’s opposition to abortion, a position that is often overshadowed by his libertarian-style views on monetary and foreign policy.

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said in a statement that the ad “is a clear case of credible subject matter serving as its own convincing message.”

Nothing like a fresh coat of whitewash to repackage a worn-out, old structure.

According to Warner Todd Houston, in an article published by the Canadian Free Press,  even Sherwin Williams doesn’t have enough whitewash to cover Herr Docktor’s issues:

Last year Ron Paul said that the CIA perpetrated a coup over the United States. “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. They’re in businesses, in drug businesses.” That fits in as just another part of the wacky world of Ron Paul that has spanned decades of denigrating blacks, assigning all sorts of crazy conspiracies to the US government, and above all hatred for Israel. It is a disgusting sin that this man is a political candidate for anything much less for the GOP nomination for President of the United States.

A lot of the credit for exposing the worst of Paul’s outrages belongs to James Kirchick who in 2008 wrote a short piece for The New Republic detailing what he found in an archive of Ron Paul’s racist newsletters.

Also back in 2008, then Fox News host John Gibson had a must hear interview with Kirchick asking why so many white supremacists and racists were in such slavish support of Ron Paul when he ran for president in 2008.

Aside from his racist newsletters, Kirchick notes that in 1994, Paul predicted a “holocaust” against South African whites and then advocated for a separate white state in South Africa. Kirchick also says Paul seemed to support the same thing in America.

This week Kirchick wrote a follow up piece on Paul’s 1970s era newsletters that is much more informative than his 2008 piece. In the piece published by The Weekly Standard Kirchick gives a lot more examples of the sort of racist nonsense these newsletters disgorged onto subscribers.

Paul defends himself against the contents of his newsletters by claiming that he never much bothered to read what was being published under his name by his various publishing firms and projects. He then claims not to have supported the racism and off the wall conspiracy theories contained in them.

Kirchick sums his latest piece up with this:

Paul’s more mainstream supporters have always explained away his popularity with 9/11 “Truthers” as an unfortunate consequence of his altruistic, if at times naive, libertarian ethos: The man just loves freedom so much that he’s loath to turn away backers who may think differently from him. To anyone who bothers to look into Ron Paul’s record, that claim is simply not credible.

…What it reveals to me is the utter shame that Ron Paul is thought to be a worthy candidate in any GOP primary for any position whatever. I tend to see that his fan base of racists, Jew haters, and conspiracy nuts don’t tend to vote for the most part and in talking to many of his ardent — and cultic — supporters over the last few years I see people that do not fit in at all with the rest of the GOP. In fact, in talking to his supporters I find few of them have any knowledge at all of politics outside of “Doctor Paul’s” take on it. They see the whole world through the Paul prism and aren’t well informed otherwise. I also feel that most of them will just fade away once Paul himself finally goes away in 2012 (Paul announced that he won’t run for reelection to his House seat, so unless he wins the White House his political career seems to be over).

To which Reagan Conservatives across the nation would say:  Hallelujah!

I guess my rage is two fold.

Part 1 concerns the following news from rasmussenreports.com:

The new Rasmussen Reports survey of Iowa caucus participants shows Romney on top with 25% of the vote followed by Paul at 20% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 17%. Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, both at 10%, are the only other candidates in double-digits. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann earns six percent (6%), former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman four percent (4%), while one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate and eight percent (8%) are not sure.

20%?  Has somebody been injecting the  Iowa corn with tequila or have y’all been smoking the husks?

Do you folks in Iowa not recognize a cranky old isolationist nutjob when you see one?

The second part of my rage has to do with the infiltration of strident, tin foil hat-wearing, Mom’s basement-dwelling, Ron Paul followers into mainstream Conservative websites’ comment sections, where they immediately attempt to treat the site like the ballot box at CPAC, in an attempt to convey a false -bravado powered representation of their Paulian worship, antisemitism, name-calling, and foreign policy naivete as somehow representing the views of the majority of Americans.

Yes, you Paulbots have a right to your opinions, but not to point of accomplishing the written equivalency of stuffing the ballot box at CPAC.

While I believe that Ron Paul has about as much chance of becoming president as Lindsey Lohan does of sobering up,  if some of you are having second thoughts about Ron Paul, remember what President Ronald Wilson Reagan said:

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.

Being old…er…, I can remember then-Consumer Advocate David Horowitz’s regular visits of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, in which he would speak about government spending and other associated rip-offs. Johnny would shake his head and laugh in disbelief over the poor choices made by those that we had chosen to be stewards over our hard-earned money.

David Horowitz has gone on to accomplish other things, but the spirit of his early work lives on.

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) yesterday announced his annual report  , “Wastebook 2011”.  This reports brings to light over $6.5 billion in examples of  just some of the most teeth-grinding ways the Federal Government has spent our money.

“Video games, robot dragons, Christmas trees, and magic museums. This is not a Christmas wish list, these are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars. Over the past 12 months, politicians argued, debated and lamented about how to reign in the federal government’s out of control spending. All the while, Washington was on a shopping binge, spending money we do not have on things we do not absolutely need. Instead of cutting wasteful spending, nearly $2.5 billion was added each day in 2011 to our national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion,” Dr. Coburn said.

“Congress cannot even agree on a plan to pay for the costs of extending jobless benefits to the millions of Americans who are still out of work. Yet, thousands of millionaires are receiving unemployment benefits and billions of dollars of improper payments of unemployment insurance are being made to individuals with jobs and others who do not qualify. And remember those infamous bridges to nowhere in Alaska that became symbols of government waste years ago? The bridges were never built, yet the federal government still spent more than a million dollars just this year to pay for staff to promote one of the bridges.”

Examples of wasteful spending highlighted in “Wastebook 2011” include:

• $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias.

• $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska.

• $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York.

• $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

• $48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry.

• $350,000 to support an International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy.

• $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan.

• $35 million allocated for political party conventions in 2012.

• $765,828 to subsidize “pancakes for yuppies” in the nation’s capital.

• $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.

Here is the link to a 98 page pdf of Coburn’s entire report:

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=b69a6ebd-7ebe-41b7-bb03-c25a5e194365

Given the frivolous nature of  the different projects that this Administration has come up with in order to spend our money, methinks President Barack Hussein Obama doth protest too much, concerning the following impasse:

In a surprise visit to the White House briefing room to demand House Republicans compromise on a two-month payroll tax cut extension — a demand that was promptly rejected — President Obama said Tuesday that the Senate legislation “is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st.”

“It’s the only one,” Obama said shortly after the House voted to effectively reject a Senate measure to extend the payroll tax cut for two months.

Speaking minutes later at a press conference with dozens of GOP members behind him, House Speaker John Boehner said the House has already taken up the Senate bill, which only gives a $166 tax break to Americans, and opted instead for a bill that gives $1,000 to contributors to the Social Security fund.

“We rejected the Senate bill and we moved to go to conference,” he said. “We’ve done our work for the American people, now it’s up to the president and the Senate to do their work as well.”

House Republicans are insisting on a year-long extension of the break and want to force the Senate to return to Washington to hammer out a compromise. The House voted 229-193 on partisan lines to call for a meeting of lawmakers to blend the House version of the bill with a Senate bill that passed 89-10 on Saturday.

In a letter to Obama sent as the House was preparing to vote, Boehner wrote that the House version is exactly what the president had requested — a year-long payroll tax holiday as well as an extension of unemployment insurance for a year and a “doctor fix” that would prevent doctors paid by Medicare from losing 27 percent of their payments.

“You have said that providing Americans anything less than a full year of tax relief and UI benefits would be inexcusable. We agree,” he wrote, adding that with 11 days left in the year, there’s plenty of time to get the conference done even if it means working through the holidays.

“I ask you to call on the Senate to return to appoint negotiators so that we can provide the American people the economic certainty they need,” he said.

But Obama said a “faction” of Republicans in the House “are refusing to even vote on a Senate bill,” and their refusal means 160 million “Americans could face a tax hike in just 11 days.”

“I’m calling on the speaker to bring up the Senate bill for a vote,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he won’t renew bargaining until the House approves the Senate’s short-term measure, and senators have already returned home for the holiday break.

So, let me get this straight: 

1.  The president is upset over the cost to American taxpayers if the tax cuts are not extended.

2.  However, the prez ‘s political underlings in the Senate only extended the cut  for 2 months, while Boehner and the Republicans want to extend it for a year.

3.  Obama is upset that the House Republicans did not pass the Senate’s bill, which will lead to an automatic tax hike in January,putting the monkey back on the Democrats’ back to pass a year-long extension, leading up to the inauguration of the next president in 2013.

Sounds good to me. 

Hey, Mr. President, here’s a message for your fellow Democrats, using the same words back  you used in your failed attempt to force your “American Jobs Bill” down our throats: 

Pass the bill!

On October 5th, 2011, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin made the following announcement on The Mark Levin Show:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.

Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

God bless America.

– Sarah Palin

Her announcement shocked and disappointed a lot of Conservatives.

I remember several years ago, Sean Connery bypassed Producer Cubby Broccoli and appeared as James Bond 007 in a remake of his classic movie “Thunderball” titled “Never Say Never Again”.

There are comebacks in Hollywood.  There are comebacks in professional sports, like Lance Berkman, the former Houston Astro had with the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals (I love saying that).

And there are comebacks in politics.

Is that the call of the Arctic Fox I hear?

Reuters reports:

In an interview to air on Fox Business Network’s “Follow the Money” program, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president was asked whether she would still consider a run for the White House.

“It’s not too late for folks to jump in,” Palin said. “Who knows what will happen in the future.”

Palin, the former Alaskan governor, ended months of speculation when she said in October that she would not seek to unseat President Barack Obama.

John McCain’s vice presidential nominee and favorite of the conservative grassroots Tea Party movement has repeatedly toyed with the idea of running for president. She has even held bus tours and campaign-style rallies attended by a passionate group of supporters who have begged her to run.

The first nominating contest in the 2012 elections will be held on January 3 in Iowa.

Could it be that what is going  on  in regards to the field of potential Republican Nominees going into “The Hawkeye Cauci” is giving Gov. Palin second thoughts?

According to the New York Times:

Our Iowa forecasts, which are designed to be quite aggressive, have had a big reaction to the new Public Policy Polling survey published late Sunday evening. The poll showed Newt Gingrich’s support slipping badly in Iowa and Ron Paul moving into the lead.

The poll has Mr. Gingrich with 14 percent of the vote, down from 22 percent in the same poll one week earlier and continuing a streak of declining numbers for Mr. Gingrich in state and national surveys. Mitt Romney’s support improved to 20 percent from 16 percent in the previous Public Policy Polling survey. But it was Mr. Paul, at 23 percent in the poll, who held the lead. Mr. Paul thus becomes the sixth candidate to have led an Iowa caucus poll at some point this cycle, joining Mr. Romney, Mr. Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain.

Mr. Paul also leads our forecast. The model gives him a 44 percent chance of winning Iowa based on the current standing of the candidates and the historic uncertainty of polling-based forecasts. Mr. Romney has a 32 percent chance of winning, while Mr. Gingrich’s chances have crashed to 15 percent.

Perhaps the thought of Conservatives having to hold their nose and choose between a cranky old isolationist nutjob and the lesser of two Moderates is causing Governor Palin to re-assess her withdrawal from the race.

It she does, things could get awfully interesting.

If you’re an average American like me, you’re getting a headache trying to figure out how to afford Christmas and still pay your monthly bills, much less go on a Hawaiian Vacation.

Heck, I’ll be lucky to be able to travel to Memphis, TN from Southaven, Mississippi, a suburb.

However, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm or is it ho…ho…ho?) and his family don’t have that problem.  Scooter and Moochelle are using us as their bank for a 17-day Hawaiian Vacation.

The Hawaii Reporter has the story:

…The President and his family are traveling separately to Hawaii because he wants resolve the payroll tax cut issue before leaving Washington – and his wife does not want to wait.

But the advanced trip and the cost that comes with it – as much as $100,000 (flight and security) – adds to an already expensive vacation for the taxpayers.

Hawaii Reporter research shows the total cost for the President’s visit for taxpayers far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010 – but is even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed in 2000. In addition, Hawaii Reporter was able to obtain more specifics about the executive expenditures.

The total cost (based on what is known) for the 17-day vacation roundtrip vacation to Hawaii for the President, his family and staff has climbed to more than $4 million.

…TRAVEL: $3,629,622

HOUSING: $151,200

The President and his family pay for their own beachfront rental (they are not staying in the Winter White House this year but rather a house on the same street further to the ocean point).

The Kailua rentals are fronted by the ocean and backed by a canal. So, the taxpayers must cover the costs for housing U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Seals in beach front and canal front homes in Kailua.

That costs about $1,200 a day ($200 allocated per bedroom per day). Since security arrives one day early, homes are rented for 18 days.

That is about $21,600 per home for approximately 7 houses rented at a total cost of $151,200 for security to stay nearby.

HOTEL: $72,216

Moana Surfrider Resort

The President’s staff and White House Press Corps stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. Hawaii Reporter confirmed they are again staying there this year. Besides its stunningly beautiful view of Waikiki, and its traditional architecture, it is one of the most pricey hotels in the state.

Government rates are $177 per night, but that only is available during certain times a year.

Rooms typically start at $250 but can cost on average as much as $450 a night, and are even higher during the holidays. Hotel spokeswoman Marsha Weinert said she could “neither confirm nor deny” the president’s staff is staying there.

View of Waikiki Beach from the Moana Surfrider Hotel

A conservative estimate with rooms at the government rate of $177 per day (excluding a 9.25 percent Transient Accommodation Tax and a 4.712 percent General Excise Tax on each bill, meals, internet charges and other charges) means the taxpayers are covering more than $72,216 in hotel bills for an estimated 24 staff.

LOCAL TAXPAYER COSTS: $260,000

Local police over time for the president’s visit has historically cost Oahu taxpayers $250,000 but may be more expensive this year with the extended vacation.

The city ambulance the accompanies the president 24 hours a day through his entire visit is $10,000, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.

UNKNOWN COSTS

There are several costs the White House annually refuses to release, citing security.

For example, the president’s security usually rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the president’s stay.

There are security upgrades and additional phone lines to several private homes where Obama and friends are staying. That includes bullet proof glass installed, home security systems disabled, new security measures put into place and additional phone lines added.

There is the cost for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel.

And there are additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.

The total cost (based on what is known) for a 17-day round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is an estimated $4,113,038.

That’s almost 4 times more than the Obamas’  Hawaiian Christmas Vacation last year! 

The Hawaii Reporter compiled an estimated account of expenses for the Obama trip and found that, before factoring in unknown costs, taxpayers forked over almost $1.5 million. Here’s how the paper broke it down:

Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii: $63,000 (White House Dossier)

Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii: $1 million (GAO estimates)

Housing in beachfront homes for Secret Service and Seals in Kailua ($1,200 a day for 14 days): $16,800

Costs for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel: $134,400 ($400 per day for 24 staff) – excluding meals and other room costs

Police overtime: $250,000 (2009 costs reported by Honolulu Police Department)

Ambulance: $10,000 (City Spokesperson)

TOTAL COST: $1,474,200

Well, I guess Obama figured that he might as well blow it out before he gets thrown out.

Too bad he’s kissing Moochelle under the mistletoe on our dime.

Unless you been living in another dimension, you are quite aware that the rogue nation of Iran would like to wipe off the face of the Earth both our country and our ally, Israel.

Sure. You’re aware.  However, one of the Candidates for the Republican Presidential Nomination seems to think that if we just left them alone, the Iranians would forget about how badly they despise us, and we could sit on a hilltop and have a Coke and a smile together.

Perhaps this individual needs a history lesson.  Sherman, start up the Wayback Machine:

In 1953, the CIA staged “Operation Ajax,” which unseated a duly elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and reinstated Mohammed Reza Pahlavi as Iran’s traditional and ancestral shah (monarch). The agreement stipulated that, in exchange for military and economic aid to Iran, there would a continuous supply of oil to the U.S.

Pahlavi, however, made some bad decisions. In the early 1960s, he promised his people increased personal freedoms and other social reforms. That didn’t happen.

The shah’s wealth grew, and he succumbed to the temptations of a luxurious western lifestyle, which angered the Iranian people, especially the religious right wing. The clergy began to preach long and loud against the shah and his queen, which stirred the masses to revolt. The shah was forced to abdicate the throne again and leave the country in January 1979.

The new ruler, Ayatollah Khomeini (pronounced Ko-MAY-nee), railed against the American government, denouncing it as the “Great Satan” and “Enemy of Islam.”

When the shah was diagnosed with lymphoma, he requested to be treated by U.S. doctors. His request was granted. That was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back,” and so enraged Iranians that a rabble stormed the American Embassy in Teheran.

On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of some 300 to 500 “students” who called themselves “Imam’s Disciples,” laid siege to the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran, to capture and hold hostage 66 U.S. citizens and diplomats. Although women and African-Americans were released a short time later, 51 hostages remained imprisoned for 444 days with another individual released because of illness midway through the ordeal.

After months of failed negotiations and a failed rescue attempt by the Carter Administration, the hostages were released the very day that Ronald Reagan became the President of the United States.

You’re probably saying, “Certainly the present leadership in Iran has gotten better than it was back then?”

Nope.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country. An engineer and teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor, he was removed after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching. Tehran’s council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the runoff election votes, and he became President on 3 August 2005.

Ahmadinejad is a controversial figure both within Iran and internationally. He has been criticized domestically for his economic lapses and disregard for human rights. He launched a gas rationing plan in 2007 to reduce the country’s fuel consumption, and cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge. He supports Iran’s nuclear energy program. His election to a second term in 2009 was widely disputed and caused widespread protests domestically and drew significant international criticism. In 2011 the presence of a so-called “deviant current” among his aides and supporters led to the arrest of several of them.

Last night, at the Republican Debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Ron Paul caused a lot of jaws to drop in incredulity:

Paul said there was “no U.N. evidence” that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program, calling claims to the contrary “war propaganda.”

“To me the greatest danger is that we will have a president that will overreact, and we will soon bomb Iran,” he said. “We ought to really sit back and think, not jump the gun and believe that we are going to be attacked. That’s how we got into that useless war in Iraq and lost so much.”

Paul said it “makes more sense” to directly engage with Iran diplomatically. And he even praised President Obama for “wisely backing off on sanctions” against Iran, which he called overreaching.

“We have 12,000 diplomats in our services. We ought to use a little bit of diplomacy once in a while.”

Rick Santorum and then Michele Bachmann rebutted Paul. Santorum equated the leadership of Iran to Al Qaeda and said that the U.S. should be ready to strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We know without a shadow of a doubt that Iran will take a nuclear weapon, they will use it to wipe our ally, Israel, off the face fo the map,” Bachmann said. “And they’ve stated they will use it against the United States of America. We would be fools and knaves to ignore their purpose and their plan.”

Or Ron Paul and his devout followers.

I wonder how much tin foil hats cost the days?

I know what the price of naivety in Foreign Affairs is:  Nuclear Annihilation.

I can remember sitting in the lecture hall of the (then) Memphis State University Journalism Building, listening to Dr. Williams, whom we all swore did the first newscast of KDKA, America’s first radio station, in 1920.  The class was “Introduction to Journalism” and Dr. Van Williams was telling us that the ” key to being a good journalist was objectivity”.

Yesterday, some 35 years later, MSNBC traveled as far away from objectivity as Janeane Garafalo is from being a runway model.  In an act of blatant Obama sycophancy:

MSNBC daytime anchor Thomas Roberts seizes on Mitt Romney’s use of the phrase “Keep America America.” The network claims the phrase plays homage to the Ku Klux Klan slogan of “Keep America American.” According to left-leaning news outlets, the “Keep America American” expression was apparently used by the KKK in the early 1900s.

Somehow the folks at MSNBC believe Mitt Romney is acknowledging his Klan roots by using a similar phrase in his 2012 campaign for the presidency.

The Ku Klux Klan of the era that the nincompoops at MSNBC were trying to link Mittens to is known as

The second Ku Klux Klan [which] was founded in 1915 by William J. Simmons, an ex-minister and promoter of fraternal orders; its first meeting was held on Stone Mt., Ga. The new Klan had a wider program than its forerunner, for it added to “white supremacy” an intense nativism and anti-Catholicism (it was also anti-Semitic) closely related to that of the Know-Nothing movement of the middle 19th cent. Consequently its appeal was not sectional, and, aided after 1920 by the activities of professional promoters Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Y. Clarke, it spread rapidly throughout the North as well as the South. It furnished an outlet for the militant patriotism aroused by World War I, and it stressed fundamentalism in religion.

Professing itself nonpolitical, the Klan nevertheless controlled politics in many communities and in 1922, 1924, and 1926 elected many state officials and a number of Congressmen. Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and Maine were particularly under its influence. Its power in the Midwest was broken during the late 1920s when David C. Stephenson, a major Klan leader there, was convicted of second-degree murder, and evidence of corruption came out that led to the indictment of the governor of Indiana and the mayor of Indianapolis, both supporters of the Klan. The Klan frequently took extralegal measures, especially against those whom it considered its enemies. As was the case with the earlier Klan, some of these measures, whether authorized by the central organization or not, were extreme.

At its peak in the mid-1920s its membership was estimated at 4 million to 5 million. Although the actual figures were probably much smaller, the Klan nevertheless declined with amazing rapidity to an estimated 30,000 by 1930.

The phrase used earlier, “according to left-leaning news outlets”, refers to americablog.com, which, in turn, is quoting two books on the subject of the Second Klan, which refer to the  use of that phrase in the Klan’s literature that it distributed.  Although, I see no copies of that literature presented on the blog, just authors’ opinions.

The closest phrase to the one causing all the consternation which I found in my research is the following:

In an attempt to gain a foothold in education, the Klan in 1921 bought Lanier University, a struggling Baptist university in Atlanta. Nathan Bedford Forrest, grandson of the confederate general by the same name, was appointed business manager, and the school would teach “pure, 100 percent Americanism”. Enrollment was dismal and the school closed after its first year of Klan ownership. Ironically the complex would later be used as a synagogue.

To use a current popular phrase, MSNBC definitely jumped the shark and by yesterday afternoon, they were backing off as quickly as they could:

UPDATE: On tonight’s edition of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” host Chris Matthews apologized for the “irresponsible” and “incendiary” attack on Mitt Romney.

UPDATE: Al Sharpton, on his show tonight, gave his seal of approval for MSNBC to apologize. Sharpton says he believes Romney deserved the apology because he has also been a “victim” of half-truths.

By trying to link Mitt Romney to a racist organization’s past, an organization which remains active even today, MSNBC has made Josef Goebbels proud.

No longer will they be able to falsely claim objectivity in this upcoming Presidential Election.  They might as well release all of the Republican pundits they have on retainer and change “Morning Joe” over to “Morning Mika”.

Any self-respecting Republican, no matter how squishy they are, needs to refuse any interview with any NBC Channel, and that includes Mittens, himself.

Let this be a lesson to you “Moderate” Republicans who have been so eager to “reach across the aisle”.  The hand behind the back of the Lib’s hand that you are shaking is holding a rhetorical knife.

And, by using a Progressive blog as their source for news, MSNBC has joined the Emperor in parading around in their birthday suit.  Their true nature has been exposed for all of America to see.

MSNBC has leaned forward…and stepped in it…Big Time.