New Hampshire Senators demand General Petraeus testify to the Congress on Benghazi
It what appears to be a very transparent effort to protect the president General Petraeus resigned abruptly just one week before he was set to testify in front of the Congress on the Benghazi terrorist attack which claimed the lives of Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty, and Sean Smith. This was quickly followed by the news that Hillary Clinton would be out of time and also would be unavailable to testify in front of the Congress. Just like that two key witnesses were gone. At least Barack Obama hoped so, but not so fast.
Barack Obama had hoped that this would be the end of it, that these two witness wouldn’t testify (at least willingly) and nobody would question the motives behind these two announcements, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Veterans Day 2012
At eleven o’clock in the morning, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, bringing the Great War, the war to end all wars, WWI to an end. November 11th is known throughout most of the world as Armistice or Remembrance Day, but after WWII there was growing sentiment in the United States that November 11th should be a time to honor all veterans. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill that turned Armistice Day into Veterans Day, declaring it a national holiday.
To borrow a phrase from President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, “it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
Today is a day for honoring all of our veterans: those that fought and died, those that fought and lived, those who did not fight, those that have served during war and those that served during peace, those that have served in the past and those that are serving now, whether in combat or at home, whether near or far.
Everyone who has ever put on the uniform of the United States and those that are wearing the uniform of the United States are all my heroes. I love you all and I respect everything that you do to secure my freedom and the freedom of my family and of my friends.
You will never know how much I appreciate what you do and have done for the greatest country in the world and there is no way that I can possibly thank you for all that you do and for everything you have given up to serve the country. Please accept the the following video as a small token of my appreciation.
Hillary Clinton will not testify in front of the Congress on Benghazi because she will be out of the country
First we learned the news that General Petraeus abruptly resigned just one week before he was scheduled to testify in front of the Congress on the Benghazi terrorist attack and now we are learning that another key witness will not be testifying either.
Much like General Petraeus’s announcement conveniently benefited the Obama regime and helped to aid the Benghazi cover up, so to does the news that Hillary Clinton will be unavailable to testify to the Congress next week because she will be out of the country.
Isn’t it funny how the General Petraeus news broke so shortly before the hearing and isn’t it just as funny how Hillary Clinton’s schedule will conveniently not permit her to testify either?
Two of the most important figures in this scandal will not be testifying and I think we all know why that is, don’t we?
It is clear to me that the cover up is still ongoing and nobody of any import is going to testify willingly so it appears as if it will be up to the Congress to issue subpoenas in an attempt to make the most transparent administration in United States history come clean.
Because I posted the weekday edition of the open thread on Tuesday instead of on Thursday I have decided to post the weekend edition on Saturday instead of Sunday this week. This is your place to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever topics come up throughout the day.
Many of you are still reeling from the election results so I have decided to make this your official place to vent and to rant about the results. I have decided that because there is nothing we can do about the results it is time to move on, so while I will answer comments on this post until the next open thread on Thursday I will stop answering comments on my two election related posts in order to focus on “moving forward.”
For the musical selection of the day I decided that if the theme was ranting against the government the obvious selection would be a classic punk rock song from back in the day.
When you think original punk rock you have to think about the Sex Pistols, so that is precisely what I have done. So what is the song I chose to showcase? When thinking Sex Pistols one naturally remembers ‘Anarchy in the UK’ or ‘God Save the Queen’ but I have decided to go in a different direction.
Because of the stupid and moronic statements of two Republican senatorial candidates in regard to rape and abortion the Republicans lost whatever chance they might have had at winning control of the Senate so I have decided to feature what is probably the most raw, in your face, unabashedly pro-life and anti-abortion anthem ever written.
If you are not familiar with the song please be advised that the lyrics are very graphic and several “F-Bombs” are included. If you are going to punk out, go all the way right? I decided to post a more recent reincarnation of the Sex Pistols due to the better audio and video quality.
Here is “Bodies” by the Sex Pistols:
Obamacare: Companies announce layoffs now that healthcare reform is “the law of the land”
Now that Barack Obama has been reelected and the very dim prospect that Obamacare would be repealed is lost forever, companies which are facing huge tax increases are forced to make tough decisions if they want to remain profitable in Barack Obama’s economy.
It has only been two days since Barack Obama has been elected but the impact has already been felt, here is a list of companies who have been forced to lay off employees as a result of Obamacare. It must be remembered that this is as good as it gets, it is all downhill from here.
Welch Allyn
Welch Allyn, a company that manufactures medical diagnostic equipment in central New York, announced in September that they would be laying off 275 employees, or roughly 10% of their workforce over the next three years. One of the major reasons discussed for the layoffs was a proactive response to the Medical Device Tax mandated by the new healthcare law.
Dana Holding Corp.
As recently as a week ago, a global auto parts manufacturing company in Ohio known as Dana Holding Corp., warned their employees of potential layoffs, citing “$24 million over the next six years in additional U.S. health care expenses”. After laying off several white collar staffers, company insiders have hinted at more to come. The company will have to cover the additional $24 million cost somehow, which will likely equate to numerous cuts in their current workforce of 25,500 worldwide.
Stryker
One of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, Stryker will close their facility in Orchard Park, New York, eliminating 96 jobs in December. Worse, they plan on countering the medical device tax in Obamacare by slashing 5% of their global workforce – an estimated 1,170 positions.
Boston Scientific
In October of 2009, Boston Scientific CEO Ray Elliott, warned that proposed taxes in the health care reform bill could “lead to significant job losses” for his company. Nearly two years later, Elliott announced that the company would be cutting anywhere between 1,200 and 1,400 jobs, while simultaneously shifting investments and workers overseas – to China.
Medtronic
In March of 2010, medical device maker Medtronic warned that Obamacare taxes could result in a reduction of precisely 1,000 jobs. That plan became reality when the company cut 500 positions over the summer, with another 500 set for the end of 2013.
Others
A short list of other companies facing future layoffs at the hands of Obamacare:
- Smith & Nephew – 770 layoffs
- Abbott Labs – 700 layoffs
- Covidien – 595 layoffs
- Kinetic Concepts – 427 layoffs
- St. Jude Medical – 300 layoffs
- Hill Rom – 200 layoffs
But it gets even worse because there is now a trend emerging in certain industries in which companies are cutting down the hours of full time employees so that they will be considered part time employees under Obamacare so these companies can avoid providing healthcare insurance to its employees:
Beyond the complete elimination of a significant number of American jobs is another looming problem created by the health care law – a shift from full-time to part-time workers.
Sean Hackbarth of Free Enterprise explains:
A JP Morgan economist “points out that 8.3 million people are working in part-time jobs even though they’d prefer full-time work. Unfortunately, because of President Obama’s health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), workers in the hotel, restaurant, and retail industries could be pushed into part-time jobs working less than 30 hours per week.”
“Under the health care law, if a company has more than 50 “full time equivalent” workers, a combination of full and part-time employees, but doesn’t offer “affordable” coverage that meets the government’s minimum value standard, the company will have to pay a penalty. This penalty is determined by the number of full-time employees minus 30 full-time employees. So to reiterate a very important point: part-time workers are not part of the penalty formula. The health care law creates a perverse incentive to hire part-time versus full-time workers.”
America’s Watchtower was one of many conservative blogs which predicted this outcome–in fact many of us believe this was Barack Obama’s desired outcome–and now we are seeing it come to fruition.
Elections have consequences and we got the government we deserve…..
Barack Obama shuts down 1.6 million acres to oil shale drilling
During the debates Barack Obama made the laughable, ridiculous, and downright asinine claim that he was friendly to the oil and coal industries.
Even his most ardent supporters knew that Barack Obama was lying; he promised to shut down the coal industry, and to date well over 100 coal plants have either gone out of business or announced they will go out of business in the near future. Barack Obama promised the price of energy would “necessarily skyrocket” under his plan and he is doing all he can to ensure that result.
Just two days after winning reelection Barack Obama proved he was just as hostile to the oil industry as the regime announced it was shutting off 1.6 million acres to oil shale development.
Elections have consequences and we got the government we deserve…..
General Petraeus resigns suddenly, will not testify on Benghazi
Just one week before he was set to testify on the terrorist attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi which took the lives of Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty, and Sean Smith General David Petraeus abruptly resigned siting personal reasons–he had an affair.
Conveniently enough for Barack Obama this means that a key witness in the Benghazi attack will no longer be testifying. Somehow I get the feeling that this has more to do with his decision than the affair did.
The question is, who is he resigning to protect? There have been questions about the official CIA timeline, is he doing this to protect his own ass? Or was he pushed into this decision by people higher up in the Obama regime to protect Hillary Clinton or possibly even Barack Obama himself?
The timing is very suspect coming only two days after Barack Obama won reelection and one has to think that, much like Iran firing missiles at US drones, this was in the works for more than two days and the decision was purposely withheld until after the election.
The only thing more absurd than this resignation being about an affair is the assertion that the Benghazi terrorist attack was a protest of a You Tube video that nobody had seen.
The cover up continues, we got the government we deserve…..
Barack Obama releases Benghazi documents…..sort of
Next week the hearings begin on the Benghazi terrorist attack which killed Chris Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty, and Sean Smith and the Senate, including John Kerry of all people, have been requesting documents related to the attack in order to prepare for the hearings.
Up to this point the criminal enterprise otherwise known as the Obama regime has been unwilling to release these documents, but that changed today…..sort of.
The Obama regime announced that the documents would be available for perusual by the Senate today and tomorrow. That would be great news if it weren’t for the fact that almost none of the Senate is in town over these two days and virtually nobody will be around to look through the documents.
This move will provide Barack Obama with cover because he will now be able to say he provided the Senate with the documents they requested while knowing all the while that there would be nobody available to see the documents.
The propaganda arm of the Obama regime–the mainstream media–will use this to tell the American people that Barack Obama complied with the requests and the Senate and the House are engaged in a witch hunt, but this is obviously an attempt on noncompliance compliance. Normally I would write that the American people are smart enough to see through this maneuver but sadly most of the 60 million people who voted for Barack Obama are not.
Elections have consequences and we got the government we deserve…..
Remembering Thomas Paine and ‘The Crisis’
I had a few subjects which I had intended to write about today–the UN Small Arms treaty is back, so is LOST, there is talk of a VAT and a carbon tax heading our way, and the Benghazi hearings are upcoming to name a few–but I decided to take a different course today because I sense something in the conservative blogoshpere which I feel must be addressed before we get back to the issues at hand.
Naturally, I see disappointment and despair but beyond that I sense that there are many people who are ready to give up because they now think the cause is hopeless and the battle is no longer worth the time or the effort, and while I understand these feelings–to be truthful that is part of the reason I decided not to write about the aforementioned issues–now is not the time to give up the cause. In fact, it is more important than ever to rejoin the fight as difficult as it may be and as futile you think it may be at this time.
In December of 1776 the American revolution looked lost, soldiers were deserting after several losses and General Washington faced the prospect that many soldiers would leave the battle and return home instead of reenlisting when their enlistment was up at the end of the year.
At that point the revolution was in great peril and could have easily been lost but Thomas Paine was not willing to give up so he penned ‘The Crisis’ in an attempt to rally the troops around a cause he knew was just.
Barack Obama defeats Mitt Romney
Last night Barack Obama won an electoral landslide by capturing over 300 votes, while Republicans were able to hold onto the House because the popular vote remained close all night.
At this time it feels as if the battle for the future direction of the country is over because we have already seen that Barack Obama is more than willing to use the Executive Order to pass his agenda when he can’t accomplish it legislatively and perhaps the biggest, and mostly overlooked, aspect of last night results were the effect it will have on the Supreme Court.
Barack Obama will probably have two Supreme Court nominations and possibly three; the Democrats will have the chance to implement a very liberal agenda through the judicial branch for years to come and there is nothing that we can now do about it, this was our last best hope and we failed.
So now we are all looking for answers, trying to figure out how this happened. There will be some who seek the quick answers–voter fraud, Chris Christie, media bias, Todd Akin, or Mitt Romney himself–and while these issues probably had an impact on the election they did not decide the election, this election was decided some time ago.
The truth is a bitter pill to swallow but the problem goes much deeper than the issues I mentioned above.
America's Watchtower 