Piling On Pelosi
May 15, 2009 Political
The Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, issued a letter to his people indicating that the CIA had been honest with Congress and that they should not let the noise interfere with their job of keeping America safe. In other words, this Obama appointee called Pelosi a liar.
That’s right. Panetta said the CIA told the truth to Congress even though Pelosi said that the CIA lied. Looks like Pelosi has ticked off a lot of spies who are fighting back against allegations made for political purposes.
Pelosi is in deep and many Democrats are moving away from her so as not to be associated with her and her ever changing story about what she knew and when.
The Republicans are all over this and Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has called for Pelosi to resign as Speaker. The hits just keep on coming for the clueless Pelosi.
As of now there are no Democrats publicly calling for her to step down but I am sure there are plenty who want her to. Many did not support her being selected as Speaker and those who did are now seeing why it was a bad idea.
If this keeps going (and there is no reason to think it will not) then there will be more calls for her resignation. Pelosi is a black eye for the Democrats and for Congress in general. The media are going after this story which in and of itself is unusual. Once they turn against a Democrat the end cannot be far behind.
If we are lucky she will resign and then be voted out of office.
What a disgrace.
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: CIA, leon panetta, lies, memo, nancy pelosi
Maryland Guard Takes DHS Rightwing Report To Heart
Apr 17, 2009 Military, Political
On April 9th the Maryland National Guard put out an FPCON (Force Protection Condition) Advisory regarding the upcoming Tea Party Protests. The Advisory came out just about the same time as the DHS report on rightwing extremism and from the sounds of the Maryland Guard report, the same people wrote them.
HEADQUARTERS, MARYLAND ARMY NATIONAL GUARD
13620 Meuse Argonne Circle
Camp Fretterd Military Reservation
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136JFHQ-MDARNG-G3 9 April 2009
MEMORANDUM FOR SEE DISTRIBUTION
SUBJECT: Planned TEA Party Protests (FPCON Advisory 09-004)
1. (U) This Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG) Force Protection advisory is in response to a nationwide planned protest activities scheduled for April 15, 2009. Although there is no known direct threat to MDNG facilities and MDNG members, they may become a target of opportunity during plan protest activities throughout Maryland.
2. (U) FORCE PROTECTION CONDITIONS.
a. (U) USNORTHCOM FPCON baseline for the continental United States, Alaska, and Canada remains unchanged at ALPHA.
b. (U) MDARNG is not recommending a FPCON baseline change at this time.
3. (U//FOUO) SITUATION: Numerous entities have formed recently to express displeasure/anger over recent federal/state government actions: more taxes, increased spending, higher deficits, a surge of borrowing to pay for it all, bailout of the financial institutions, and etc. This movement can be identified by different variations of “TEA Party” or “Tea Party.” Past “TEA Party” events have been peaceful. There was a “Tea party” event at Solomons, Maryland, on March 22, 2009. “TEA” stands for “Taxed Enough Already.”
4. (U) KNOWN LOCATIONS AND EVENTS: According various websites and open source information, planned protest locations and time on April 15 in Maryland are:
*Annapolis, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Campbell Park (Dock/Boardwalk), Annapolis Harbor
*Baltimore, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, The Inner Harbor
*Bel Air, 12:00 pm, Bel Air Courthouse Plaza on Main Street
*Cecil County, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Elkton Christian Academy, 144 Appleton Road
*Frederick, 3:00 pm, City Hall then march to Winchester Hall
*Cumberland, 12:00 pm, Baltimore and Mechanic Streets
*Havre de Grace, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Tydings Park Gazebo
*Salisbury, 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Downtown Salisbury
*Westminster, 6:30 pm, Legends Cafe off of Route 140 in Westminster
*Washington DC, 12:00pm-2:00pm, US Treasury Department – National Stage; 11:00am-3:00pm Lafayette Park – Grassroots Stage (not MD)
5. (U) FORCE PROTECTION RECOMMENDATIONS:
a. (U) Full-time personnel (i.e. armories) and recruiters need to be aware their surroundings. Contact local law enforcement when feel threaten by protesters or protesters trespass into MDNG property.
b. (U//FOUO) Commanders at all levels should establish relationship with local police in order to understand the local threats. Keep family members informed. Talk to other service personnel to share information. Practice OPSEC. Don’t provide personal information to anyone you don’t know. Avoid high risk areas.
c. (U//FOUO) Commanders are encouraged to update alert rosters and review emergency evacuation plans/rally points. Ensure all facilities have emergency phone lists posted (i.e. FBI, FIRE, POLICE, HOSPITALS, EMS, ETC…). Be aware of and avoid local protests. Report all potential protest activities to your next higher headquarters.
d. (U//FOUO) Continue implementation of RAM and a review of policies and procedures, especially in regards to cooperation or assistance with local emergency responders.
5. POC is Antiterrorism Program Coordinator, –[redacted- at (410) 702-[redacted] or by e-mail [redacted]@us.army.mil
[Redacted LTC author’s name]DISTRIBUTION:
ATOs
MSCs CDRs
[Source: Southern Maryland Online]
I spent 24 years in the Army and 14 of those were with the Maryland Guard. In all that time I cannot ever remember seeing this kind of message regarding citizens and protests. The old timers certainly knew about the violence of protests because they served during the Vietnam War when those screaming for peace ran around blowing things up and attacking people.
I certainly understand the need to be prepared but I can’t help feeling that citizens were targeted as terrorists because they wanted to protest. The report talks about military members and armories becoming targets of the crowds. The crowds were mostly right wing people who do not attack armories or military members. Still, I realize the importance of being prepared.
However, hundreds of thousands of people protested peacefully. No reports of violence, no reports of arrests and no reports of vandalism.
But still, the military must be prepared. Unfortunately, these guys were not this prepared during and after 9/11. I never saw these kinds of orders for any other protests like when ILLEGALS all marched around on May 1st and became violent. Never saw an FPCON Advisory warning about military members and armories being targets from the illegal immigration protest crowd.
But still, they need to be prepared.
For civil disturbance you jackasses. You have decided to treat Americans who are exercising their First Amendment right as terrorists. The Point of Contact for the Advisory is the ANTITERRORISM coordinator. If you did not think of the protesters as terrorists then why would you have the antiterrorism coordinator as the POC?
I served as a First Sergeant in two units in Maryland and I have to give some advice to these folks. You encourage units to update recall rosters and make sure that other contingent items are in place. All well and good but this should be at a high level of readiness at all times. If your recall roster is not up to date you are not doing your job. If any of the other stuff is not up to snuff then you are not doing your job. This stuff should be in a high state of readiness at all times. Armories have full time guard members so there is no reason for it to be out of date. If this stuff is not up to par then the First Sergeant needs to have his rear end kicked.
A piece of advice from an old soldier to the new:
It is easier to stay ready than to get ready.
I don’t know the names that were redacted but I bet I know the people. They should know better. Even if the antiterrorism coordinator handles all of this stuff as part of his duties, it is not smart to use that title when discussing who should handle citizens exercising their rights.
The cited article indicates that Col. Kohler of the MD Guard Public Affairs Office confirmed the memo. Sir, how about you guys get your heads out of the warm smelly place you are storing them (rectal cranial inversion) and realize that we are not the bad guys. We are not terrorists.
You would do well to discard that DHS memo and use some common sense.
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: maryland guard, memo, tea party, terrorists
Obama’s Plan; Wishful Thinking
May 7, 2008 Political
Throughout this never ending campaign season Barry Obama has trumpeted to the masses that he is different than the others. He has told us that he is a DC outsider and that he has the vision for America that is not clouded by politics as usual. This, of course, is a crock of excrement and one only needs to look at his career to see that politics as usual played a big part in how he was elected in Illinois and how he eventually got a seat in the elite club known as the US Senate.
After the primaries yesterday Obama put out a press release (I know it was his campaign but they speak for him) which stated that Rush Limbaugh had encouraged people to vote for Clinton because he wanted her to win and that Republicans were scared of Obama. The underlying theme is that she only won by 2% with all of Limbaugh’s “help.”
The first thing to address is this idea that Republicans want Hillary to win because she will be easier to beat and that Limbaugh leads that charge. The idea behind Operation Chaos is to keep Hillary close enough so that the Democratic primary continues to its convention. While Hillary might be easier to beat (polls differ on this on any given day) the sole intent is to keep this circus going. If Hillary loses and drops out it will give Obama more time to fight the Republican. By keeping this close we take that option away and allow Democrats to damage each other. Fear of one or the other has nothing to do with wanting Hillary to stay in the race.
In the overall scheme of things there is no need to fear any president because a president has limited power. The real damage to this country is done by the Congress. Congress does not have term limits so people get elected and they stay there a long time and they stagnate. They introduce and pass unconstitutional legislation and they spend our money recklessly. Congress is the reason this country is in bad shape. For those of you who oppose the war, Congress gave the authorization for it. Blame Congress for giving the President permission. A President Obama or Clinton would do little harm if there were a small Democratic majority or a Republican majority. Even as the minority, Republicans can block judicial and other nominations. We can obstruct any president as the Democrats have done to George Bush during the last seven plus years. Congress is the root of all evil but can place a president in check.
Ideally, we need to replace ALL the members of the House and every Senator who is up for reelection. Barring that, we need to have a divided government with gridlock. The less they are able to accomplish the less damage they can inflict. Now, back to the memo.
While the memo is long on Limbaugh it also contains other items of interest. There is a statement that the Obama camp expected Hillary to win Indiana “where she has the support of Senator Evan Bayh’s political operation and the demographics heavily favor her.” I can just imagine how the cries of racism would have sounded had Bill Clinton stated that they expected Obama to win North Carolina because the Demographics heavily favored him. There is no doubt in my mind that black voters and the race baiters who speak for them would claim that the statement was racist and did not belong in the campaign. I don’t see the statement as racist and feel that either is a statement of fact but I think it would be viewed differently by the black community had Bill said it. The question that the statement begs is, if the demographics heavily favored her how will Obama overcome them in the general election given that only 12% or so of the population is of a Demographic that has supported him at a 90% level. There is little support left given those numbers. Anyone who thinks this campaign is not about race has not paid attention to who is voting for Obama. Many blacks are voting for him because he is black. That means it is about his race.
The last part of the memo that I found interesting (it is full of distortions typical of a politician) is this:
But leaving that aside, this simply isn’t the kind of tactic that Democratic voters and superdelegates want to say. As President Clinton himself said a couple of years ago, “if one candidate’s appealing to your fears and the other one’s appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.” Lynn Sweet
The first thing is that Obama has been repudiating Clinton and the politics of the past and has put some of the blame for where our country stands on the former president. I find it odd Obama would use Clinton’s words to make his case for a fresh start when he continues to link him with the past. I also know that hope is not proper mission planning. People can hope for many things and often it is an expression of wishful thinking as in I hope gas prices go down or that it does not rain. It is not prudent to hope for things, it is prudent to plan for them. Obama talks a lot about hope and he talks a lot about change but he does not talk about plans. He has no plans that extend beyond taxing people. He has nothing more than “I bring you hope [wishful thinking].” People don’t want hope, they want well defined leadership and Obama does not fit that bill.
People who live their lives based upon hope will fall for anything and follow anyone.
Enter Barack Obama…
Tags: Clinton, indiana, memo, north carolina, Obama, Rush Limbaugh, typical politician