As Obama Starts His Second Term

He won't dampen the hate his supporters feel!

Back before the last election, Obama supporters warned that America will erupt in violence if Mitt Romney won the election.

Some say their anger was due to Obama's divisive campaign. Some in the know say that his campaign was the most divisive in modern U.S. history. And yes, to say that Obama supporters are peace loving tolerant folks is a load of crap!

While ultra-liberal groups asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate what they called an onslaught of anti-Obama text messages.

Most of the groups saying the same thing in the there were unsolicited messages (spam), which reached an unknown number of people - and according to them were a "blatant" violation of anti-spamming rules and urged the commission to impose the maximum fine on those responsible.

The texts supposedly covered a variety of topics such as gay privilege, abortion abuse, Obama Medicare cuts, and other subjects. Things that Obama supports don't want to hear, never the less receive them.

According to the liberal groups, the messages were sent from websites rather than phone numbers. According to records on GoDaddy.com, a Web registrar, the sites belonged to ccAdvertising, a GOP advertising firm based in Virginia.

While filing complaints with the FCC is their choice, all in an effort to stop conservative organizations from doing what they are doing, these same liberal groups had nothing to say about the unacceptable death threats that were launched by Obama supporters and liberal groups.

When it comes to threatening to kill Mitt Romney, Obama supporters didn't hold back.

Twitchy has compiled a laundry list of assassination threats by Obama supporters made during and after the debates, and more continued right up to the election. Here are examples:

WARNING OBAMA SUPPORTERS USE A GREAT DEAL OF ADULT LANGUAGE WHEN THREATENING TO ASSASSINATE MITT ROMNEY IF HE WERE TO HAVE WON.

The death threats are being made by both black and white people, emphasizing that merely drawing attention to the issue has nothing to do with “race-baiting,” as the Obama front group Think Progress claimed.

It is important to stress that these Twitter accounts are genuine, they are not fakes. Many of them have thousands of previous tweets.

The following Tweets are just some of the ones compiled by Twitchy during and after the debates:

- “If Romney win this election, he might as well wear a shirt that says “Assassinate Me Bitch”.

- “Yall ready to assasinate romney?”

- “Somebody needs to asassinate This mofo Romney.”

- “Romney make me wanna hop through the tv & just assasinate his ass.”

- “I aint gone lie… Food stamps the shit! I mite assasinate romney my damn self if he get elected!”

- “If romney get elected i hope a nigga assasinate his bitchass.

- “No birth control???? Lol rlly Romney the american population is going to overflow and then we’ll have to resort to murder and you’ll be #1.”

- “At this point in time I am completely prepared to MURDER ROMNEY MYSELF!”

- “If Romney win, IM GOING TO JAIL FOR MURDER cuz imma whack his bitch ass ASAP.”

- “If Mitt Romney wins, which I doubt, someone should assassinate him before he ruins the lives of our generation & our children.”

- “IF ROMNEY GETS ELECTED AND TAKES AWAY MY FOOD STAMPS IMA SEND SOMEONE TO MURDER HIS ASS.”

After reading the above posts, you're probably thinking that Obama supporters all sound like a really classy well educated group of people? Right.

It is important to emphasize that these are just a tiny selection of the scores of threats to assassinate Mitt Romney that exploded on Twitter during the final 12 hours before the election. This is not counting what was seen on Facebook or any other social networks.

And as for the FBI, looking into threats to assassinate the president if Mitt Romney were to win?  

Well the FBI's approach to the threats to assassinate Mitt Romney is the very same approach they used toward threats to kill President George W. Bush during his 8 years in office.

I read where the FBI stated something to the effect that they were unconcerned with the threats because "those people are just letting off steam."  

They did make it very clear that all threats to President Obama will be investigated.  

Now Obama supporters are being encouraged by the Obama White House to threaten gun owners and National Rifle Association members.   

Obama supporters all over the country, even those in positions of political leadership are encouraging people to kill anyone who belongs to the NRA.

This is no joke. No kidding!  

NRA president David Keene told talk show host Ernest Istook that he has received "hundreds" of death threats since the first of the year.   Those threats, he said, reflect attempts by liberals and President Obama “to demonize and blame those who disagree with him for everything he doesn’t like.”

Keene said that even his children have also received death threats. Yes, his children.

"My son, who has the same name as I do, had someone post a death threat on his Facebook page," Keene said.

When his son said they had targeted the wrong person, "they came back and said, 'well, now that we know you're their children, we wish you'd be killed,'" Keene added.

NRA president Keene "is literally targeted by a video game that invites people to shoot him, which he calls the 'Kill David Keene' game."

The video game, probably by the same scumbags who made the Kill George W. Bush instructional video, call their hate video "Bullet to the head of the NRA." And yes, it lets players murder NRA officials by shooting them in the head.

"The good news, according to Keene, is that those who play the game are unlikely to be gun owners," Istook wrote.

"Meantime," Istook added, "much of America’s media show little concern for Keene’s safety. Instead, they attack the NRA for its video ad that asserts other schoolchildren deserve the same safety as President Obama’s daughters enjoy at school."

NRA president Keene places part of the blame on the mainstream news media.

"The national media is basically at this point a cheering section for the President, particularly on guns because the elite media has always been a part of the effort to gut the Second Amendment," he said.

Since the Newtown shootings, media personalities like Piers Morgan have targeted supporters of gun rights, while others have expressed their hatred in a variety of ways.

Some, like John Cobarruvias, a member of the Texas Democratic Party Executive Committee, have openly called for supporters of the NRA to be killed.

After Obama challenged Americans to stand up to the NRA, national media outlets stepped up their attacks on the NRA, with CBS anchor Bob Schieffer comparing Obama's struggle with the pro-gun group to America's war with Nazi Germany.

Liberals on Twitter call for murder of NRA members after NRA press conference

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre held a press conference in which he blasted the Democrat liberal mainstream media and called for armed police in America's schools.

Predictably, Twitchy said Friday, liberals on Twitter responded by flooding the social media site with calls to murder member of the NRA, including LaPierre.

-"I generally don't condone gun violence, but Wayne Lapierre (sic) should do us a favor and shoot himself in the face," said "Sam Malone's wig."

-"Can...can we shoot...the NRA?" asked "Nicholas Assunto."

-"At times like this I wish that I was an American so that I can shoot the s**t out of Wayne(the w****r Lapierre (ironic Brit) (sic)," added "Elsie Assap."

-Unhinged liberals on Twitter call for murder of NRA members, including CEO Wayne LaPierre.

- "Its time to stop NRA .Kill Wayne LaPierre.They whant war?Its time to kill all NRA top members.Save the children, kill al top NRA members (sic)," tweeted "Ahlberto."

- "'The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun,' LaPierre concluded. someone should shoot this guy," added "Max Erwin."

One person said LaPierre should "f**k himself with an assault rifle," while another suggested that someone "should shoot Wayne LaPierre in his kneecaps."

Yes, as I said before, calling Obama supporters peaceful loving tolerant folks is a load of crap!

After the tragic shooting in Connecticut, liberals, including a member of the Texas Democratic Party Executive Committee, called for the murder of NRA members.

Obama supporters claim that the NRA, not Adam Lanza, killed over a dozen children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"Good thing leftists believe in nonviolence," Twitchy said.

Liberalism is an ideology based on rage and hate. And yes, maybe during Obama's inaugural speech today he'll mention how things have gotten much worse because of his rhetoric - but I doubt it.

And not Obama supporters making threats against the NRA doesn't stop with threats against NRA officials - the bastards want to kill NRA members in general.

CSI Actress Marg Helgenberger says "One can only hope" NRA members are shot dead

CSI Las Vegas gun totting television actress Marg Helgenberger lost a few viewers recently when she let her mouth over-run her ass.

The old actress was responding to a tweet by author Joyce Carol Oates, when actress Marg Helgenberger said "one can only hope" that members of the NRA get shot, Twitchy reported Tuesday.

"If sizable numbers of NRA members become gun-victims themselves, maybe hope for legislation of firearms," Oates tweeted Friday.

"@JoyceCarolOates One can only hope, but sadly I don't think anything would change," the CSI star tweeted in response.

"@MargHelgen @JoyceCarolOates are you encouraging violence against those who dare disagree with you?" asked "Jeremy Avery."

"Congrats for becoming yet another clueless, VIOLENT, liberal 'elite' who shoved her foot in her mouth. Shame on you, lady," added "Conservative Girl."

"Bet you didn't know the NRA was started to arm Free Blacks so they could protect themselves from the Democrat-founded KKK," another person said.

Since the tragic Connecticut school shootings last Friday, liberals across the country have been busy proving that theirs is an ideology of hate and rage.

Instead of blaming the person who pulled the trigger, liberals have blamed the NRA, the Second Amendment and gun owners in general. Many, including Helgenberger, have called for the deaths of NRA members in response to the shootings.

University professor calls for beheading of NRA CEO, calls NRA a terrorist group

Professor with the University of Rhode Island calls for NRA CEO Wayne LaPierreto be decapitated.

Erik Loomis, a professor at the University of Rhode Island, went on a profanity-laced tirade on Twitter, calling the NRA a terrorist organization and saying he wanted to see the head of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre "on a stick," Campus Reform reported.

-"I was heartbroken in the first 20 mass murders. Now I want Wayne LaPierre's head on a stick," he wrote.

Loomis continued his tirade, blaming the NRA for the school shootings in Connecticut and claiming that reports of his tweet amounts to "intimidation" adding that there is some correlation between conservative reports of his violent messages and those "who think Obama is the Kenyan usurper."

A few of the tweets highlighted by Twitchy include these gems:

-"Can we define NRA membership dues as contributing to a terrorist organization?"

-"I bet terrorist NRA head Wayne LaPierre will sleep well tonight."

-"Larry Pratt and the group Gun Owners of America are terrorists and should be dealt with as such."

Loomis also called for a repeal of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in another tweet linking the NRA to the shootings.

-"The NRA pushes for policies that make it complicit in mass murders in the US and Mexico. Repeal the 2nd Amendment," he added.

Since the shootings, unhinged liberals, including a member of the Texas Democratic Party Executive Committee, have called for the death of NRA members and those who support gun rights in extremely violent tweets.

Texas Democrat Party leader wants NRA members shot!

Yes, liberals on Twitter called for the murder of NRA members.

One of those making the calls was identified Sunday as John Cobarruvias, a blogger, Democratic precinct chairman in the Houston area and a member of the Texas Democratic Executive Committee.

-"Can we now shoot the #NRA and everyone who defends them?" he tweeted.

After reading about the tweets on another site, Yvonne Larsen noticed a familiar name.

"Among the selection of tweets advocating for the murder of NRA President Keene and all NRA members was a name familiar to me; probably familiar to many readers of Houston’s Liberal blog sites," she wrote at Big Jolly Politics.

Larsen said she "pasted a screen shot from the Freedom’s Outpost story in case NASA employee and Democrat Precinct 699 Chair John Cobarruvias of the Houstonblog Bay Area Houston tries to delete his tweet."

"You are an embarrassment to precinct chairs everywhere - and Americans. You sound like the next crazed shooter," one person tweeted in response.

And yes, this jerkweed John Cobarruvias is a NASA employee.

NASA may want to get this man an appointment to see a Psychiatrist ASAP! He sounds as unstable as some of Obama's other supporters.
Ironically, after calling for the deaths of NRA members and their defenders, Cobarruvias called the NRA domestic terrorists.

"Let's face it. The #NRA is nothing but a domestic terrorist organization. They have done NOTHING to stop this violence except make excuses," he added.

Cobarruvias has posted a comment on his Facebook page asking NRA members to "un-friend" him and issued a disturbing message:

"They [NRA members] need to [be] wiped off the face of the earth," he wrote, speaking of the NRA and those who support owning guns.

"Personsally if they were wiped off the planet it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit," he wrote in another comment.

Liberal newsman calls for killing of NRA members, drag GOP leaders behind trucks

"I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner... to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot..."

Hard-left leaning syndicated columnist Donald Kaul temporarily came out of retirement to call for the killings of National Rifle Association (NRA) members who refused to surrender their legally owned weapons, as reported by NewsBusters.com reporter Tim Graham on Dec. 31, 2012.

The Iowa-based writer recently retired due to health problems, but in the wake of the Sandy Hook School shootings, has emerged to the spotlight of publicity to pen violent threats not only to members of the NRA, but also to torture the top Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress.

As cited by News Busters, Kaul describes his "madder-than-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-it-anymore" program for ending gun violence in America:

“"Repeal the Second Amendment, the part about guns anyway. It’s badly written, confusing and more trouble than it’s worth. It offers an absolute right to gun ownership, but it puts it in the context of the need for a 'well-regulated militia.' We don’t make our militia bring their own guns to battles. And surely the Founders couldn’t have envisioned weapons like those used in the Newtown shooting when they guaranteed gun rights. Owning a gun should be a privilege, not a right."

Kaul failed to mention the constitutional process required to repeal or make changes to any given Constitutional Amendment.

Kaul also failed to remind his readership that many of the Founding Fathers were scientific and mechanical innovators themselves.

It would defy common sense to adhere to the belief that the Founders ever believed the evolution of firearms has ceased and would remain at the level of Kentucky Long Rifles and Brown Bess Muskets.

Kaul stretches his credibility when stating that "we" made membership in the Communist Party "illegal," as well as leveling a none-too-subtle threat on the lives of American who happen to be law abiding citizens:

“"Declare the NRA a terrorist organization and make membership illegal.

Hey! We did it to the Communist Party, and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization’s headquarters, clear the rubble and salt the earth, but that’s optional.) Make ownership of unlicensed assault rifles a felony."  Kaul said.

But he didn't stop there, as he went on to say, "If some people refused to give up their guns, that 'prying the guns from their cold, dead hands' thing works for me."

Not quite done, the ultra-left writer made it very clear as to what he would personally do.

“"Then I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control,." he said.

The responsibility for the physical protection of both McConnell and Boehner falls upon the Chief of the Capitol Police in conjunction with both the Senate and House Sergeants-at-Arms.

According to 18 USC (United States Code) § 115, Kaul's threat alone could result on a 10 year prison sentence if found guilty.

If an assault as described by Kaul was carried out and should result in serious bodily injury to either Senator McConnell or Representative Boehner, the sentence could be up to a 30 year stretch in federal prison.

So will Kaul be investigated by the FBI? No, he's an Obama supporter. So yes, he like those in Hollywood or in America's Universities, or in the Democrat Party, or some how affiliated with the Democrat Party, all get a pass.

Yup, they get a pass to say anything they want. If like Obama, they too want to incite and encourage felony homicide - then so be it. They can because Obama is in power.

If Conservatives did any of the things that I have posted in this article, they would be jailed - or at least investigated.

You see, as Obama starts his second term, he is still in campaign mode. All in an effort to get his agenda passed.

He will not try to relieve the fear that more and more Americans have pertaining to his curtailing of our civil rights under the constitution. He will not stop the loose talk about killing NRA members.

He will not come out and say that he is appalled by those of his supporters who are making reference to doing harm to law abiding citizens.

He will not even come out and show himself as a leader and tell the country that there is nothing wrong with the NRA, that that organization was founded by men who wanted to give free slaves rifles to fight the terror of the Ku Klux Klan.

“A Winchester Rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, ” said by civil rights icon Ida B. Wells Barnett.

Born in the midst of the Civil War in 1862, born the daughter of slaves in Holly Springs, Mississippi, she became an early leader in the civil rights movement -  years before Dr Martin Luther King Jr was born.

On this day, the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Obama should remember that it was the National Rifle Association who opposed gun laws that restricted black Americans from gun ownership and offered support to black Americans seeking to defend themselves with firearms. 

Even as recently as the late 1950s and 60s, retired Marine Robert Williams opened a chapter of the NAACP in Monroe, North Carolina. Monroe was also Klan country, and the KKK mounted several vicious assaults against black Americans in Monroe.  

In 1960, Williams applied for and was granted a charter to establish an NRA chapter in Monroe; the NRA provided firearms and training materials. Mr. Williams and other black NRA members in Monroe subsequently successfully defended themselves with firearms against an attack coordinated between the KKK and the local police.

Trust me when I say that this sort of history does not help Obama's case to ban guns or start a national database for law abiding gun owners.

Can you just imagine how helpful it would have been to the KKK or sympathizing local police departments if they had a database to know exactly which black American was a gun owner and which was not?

Can you imagine what it would have been like if they knew who could defend themselves and who would be completely helpless? Or who the local law had to see when wanting to confiscate their guns?

It would have been like giving Hitler all of the addresses where to find Jews, especially those armed!

Obama will keep this truth from his supporters. After all, he needs them to be angry. And yes,I feel that he will no doubt lie to his supporters - if he does not fully lie, I'm sure he will dance around and evade the truth.

Obama will not talk about how all blacks should be supporters of the NRA.

He will not tell us the fact that Dr Martin Luther King, Jr was denied a concealed weapons permit on the basis of his skin color and it was the NRA who defended him. 

He will not remind Americans that, as with slavery itself, it was the Republican Party and the NRA that were on the side of black people.

He will not mention that it was Democrats, backed by the Democrat Party, that maned the fire hoses and the dogs in Selma and other places. Yes, they were Democrats.

I believe, that as he starts his second term, he will increase the rhetoric to inflame his supporters. Instead of putting out the fires that divide us, he will fan the flames of hatred between income earners, religious groups, and political parties.

And yes, against all of the teaching of Rev Martin Luther King, President Barack Hussein Obama will not do anything to unite Americans of all colors, faiths and ideologies. Instead he will increase the racial divide, and stoke the flames of hate.

It wasn't enough to make history by being the first black man to be president. He has to remind us daily that the color of his skin is vital to who he is as a man and president.

And yes, after reading about the different presidents, I can't think of any other president who is so absorbed with his ethnicity while in office as Obama is.

While he is the first black President, that saw has really gotten old. It is now a matter of who cares. No one cares about him being a black man, only he does.

He is the first modern President who has made it his mission to get all Americans to focus more on the color of a man's skin than on the greatness of a man's character.

Because of that, I feel that on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's speech at the Lincoln Memorial, that he has spit on the efforts of great men like Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

I remember as a boy, hearing the words, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I was brought up with the belief that America wants to be a color-blind society. And yes, that was what Dr King worked so hard for.

Yet now the dream of a color-blind society that Dr King wanted so badly, has been lost on a fool like Obama who wants to make his color his priority.

It is interesting to note that 50 years ago, Malcolm X called, the famous March on Washington, the "Farce on Washington". Back then, the Nation of Islam forbade its members from attending the march.

By his actions, and not his lip service, it seems that maybe Obama has more in common with Malcolm X then he has in common with Dr Martin Luther King Jr. It is just my opinion, but like Malcolm X, I believe Obama is a hatemonger setting one American against the other.

In Dr King's effort to see an America that was truly color-blind, he marched with the hope to see positive changes in how we Americans treat each other. He preached unity.

He tried to end racial segregation in public schools, have meaningful civil rights legislation including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment, protection of civil rights workers from police brutality, a minimum wage for all workers, and a nation where all will not be judged by the color of their skin - but by the content of their character.

On this the 50th anniversary of the March, the second day of the beginning of his second term, I wish Obama would be concerned about unity, about something other than himself, about upholding the Civil Rights of all Americans as set fourth in our Bill of Rights.

I wish Obama were half the man that Rev King was, but he is not.

I don't say that because he is a black man. I say that because he is a divisive president.


Story by Tom Correa

Random Shots - Obama's Fixing Job Numbers, Holder Has Amnesia, California Whales, And More!

FIRST SHOT!

Dirty Politics - Obama Administration Manipulating Jobless Numbers To Show Less Unemployed and More "Green Jobs"

Congressman Darrell Issa says Obama Administration classifies jobs with political purpose.

The Obama administration is manipulating how it reports and provides information about U.S jobs - in some cases for "clearly political reasons" - said U.S. Representative Darrell Issa.

Rep. Darrell Issa, who is Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, made the assertion during a hearing on how the Obama administration counts so-called "green jobs" and the Labor Department's recent, unannounced change on how Reporters can access key unemployment reports and other information.

The Labor Department "has jeopardized the integrity of employment data in some cases for clearly political reasons," Issa said.

Issa said the administration is reclassifying such jobs as welder, college professor and diesel mechanic as "green jobs" to prove that Billions of taxpayer dollars have created alternative-energy jobs -  though they in fact haven't.

Under questioning by Issa, senior U.S. Labor Department officials revealed that the Obama administration counts oil lobbyists, bus drivers, welders, garbage men, bicycle shop employees and used-record store clerks as "green jobs."

The exchange occurred between Issa, Bureau of Labor Statistics Acting Commissioner Josh Galvin and Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Jane Oates at the "Addressing Concerns about the Integrity of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Jobs Reporting" hearing Wednesday in Washington

Bottom line: the Obama administration is trying to fix the reports so that it look like that huge Federal stimulus package which cost Taxpayers almost a Trillion Dollars actually produced new jobs - when in fact it didn't.

Of course, so-called "green jobs" is a major initiative for President Obama, so why not fix it to make it look like he has accomplished more than he in reality has. 

"It’s about politics. It’s always been about politics," said Representative Issa, R-Calif. "If you work at the Salvation Army, that’s a green job?"

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of RealClearMarkets.com, said the administration should be focused on simply creating jobs, not classifying them.

She cited the administration putting $3.5 million into the failed Solyndra solar-energy company as an example of the administration appearing to misleadingly or incorrectly tout green-job creation.

Besides the Obama administration trying to now classify truck drivers, school bus drivers, and those riding the bus as "green-jobs," there is another concern to all of this that screams of Obama's idea of Big Brother telling Americans how to conduct themselves.

This second concern has to do with the Labor Department recently ordering Reporters to use government-issued software and other equipment to access Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, perhaps a violation of free-speech laws.

"This proposal threatens the First Amendment," said Daniel Moss, a Bloomberg News executive editor, testifying at the hearing.

This whole idea of having to use equipement issued by the government to access information from the government would have made famous Communist leaders like Linin, Stallin, Moa, and Castro proud.

It is just another attempt of the Obama administration to impose authoritatian measures on Americans. It's seems to be his way of imposing a dictatorial government - one that is run with unlimited power by the head of government or head of state - on Americans.

Some folks might have forgotten, but in March of 2011, Obama had told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China - as one official put it, "No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square."

Then of course, it was in August of 2011, when Obama slammed American Democracy - although technically, we are a Republic - when Obama blamed our terrible economy on what he called a "big, messy, tough Democracy."

Imagine that!

SECOND SHOT!

Fast & Furious Amnesia Hits Attorney General Eric Holder

Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost either by physical or psychological reasons. It's a condition that can be slow in coming, or in the case of Attorney General Eric Holder very sudden - almost, let's say, convenient.

When asked about the Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious which gave thousands of weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels, and which high-ranking Obama administration officials knew about the botched operation, Holder can't remember at of very pertinent facts.

Out of convenience or not, Holder's new found amnesia helped him evade questions by Rep. Darrell Issa about some of the smallest details - such whether he or other Justice Department officials had even started to pull together Fast and Furious documents requested in an October 2011 subpoena Issa sent the agency.

"Nothing has come from your department, not a shred of paper," Representative Issa said during a House Judiciary Committee meeting.

Representative Darrell Issa, (R-CA), is the Chairman of the chamber’s Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs which issued the subpoena to the Justice Department.

The subpoena demanded "all" documentation regarding Operation Fast and Furious and the gun-running which has been linked to the 2010 death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

"You are not a good witness," Representative Issa said in frustration, after Holder essentially repeated Issa's questions over and over again.

Issa has vowed to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to respond to the subpoena. Holder has testified he has given congressional investigators the requisite information. Holder has stated that he has turned over "relevant" documentation while steadfastly refusing to turn over all documentation and not just that that he deems relevant.

On Monday, Representative Issa released information about six wiretap applications that he says prove high-ranking Justice Department officials knew about the Justice Department's gun-running operation.

Issa says the applications were signed by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Holder’s second in command.

The Obama administration has repeatedly said high-level Justice Department officials had no specific knowledge of the gun-running of thousands of weapons into the hands of criminals and murderers in Mexico.

Holder has testified at least seven times before Congress on Fast and Furious and has acknowledged the program’s failures.

"We now know … inappropriate tactics were used in an attempt to stem the flow of illegal guns across the Southwest border," he said Thursday in opening remarks. "Although these law enforcement operations … were focused on the laudable goal of dismantling illegal gun trafficking networks, they were flawed in both concept and execution."

The Justice Department responded to Issa’s interpretation of the wiretap applications in a letter saying the agency disagrees with his assertion but is "legally prohibited from commenting on the content of sealed court documents."

The gun-walking tactic had the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Arizona stage gun sales across the Mexico border with alleged arms dealers, with the hope that the thousands of weapons would lead to organizers of Drug Cartels.

Instead, yes the guns have been used in murders across Mexico. One of the Fast & Furious weapons was used to murder U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

In another tense exchange Thursday, Representative Lamar Smith asked Holder, whether he or anybody else told the White House about so-called "gun-walking tactic" after it appeared to contribute to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry?

Attorney General Holder replied “I don’t know.”

The exchange occurred during a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee, on which Smith is the chairman.

"When was anyone in the White House informed of the tactics used under Operation Fast and Furious?" asked Smith, (R-TX).

Holder replied: “I don't know.”

When Representative Smith asked Holder if he personally told the White House?  Holder replied, "There was contact between staff. .. I don't myself remember any direct contact."

Yes, it sounds like a sudden onset of amnesia. And as I stated be before, amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost.

The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into certain categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia.

Functional causes are psychological factors, such as mental disorder, post-traumatic stress or, in psychoanalytic terms - defense mechanisms.

Since it's almost certain that the Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder has not fallen on his head lately, I can only wonder if his new found state of amnesia is being caused by psychological factors, such as a mental disorder - or say some defense mechanism like that of not wanting to go to prison.

THIRD SHOT!

Voters From Two Heavily Democrat California Cities Vote To Curb Pension Abuse

Is it Pension Abuse? Damn right it is, and Voters are tired of it.

Decisive victories for ballot proposals cutting retirement benefits for government workers in two of the largest cities in the U.S. emboldened advocates seeking to curb pensions in state capitols and city halls across the nation.

The voter responses in San Diego and San Jose were stinging setbacks for public employee unions, which also came up short on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's recall victory in Wisconsin.

"The message is that if elected officials and public employee unions do not responsibly deal with this issue, voters will take things into their own hands," said Thom Reilly, former chief executive of Clark County, Nevada, now a professor of social work at San Diego State University. "We could see more draconian measures from citizens."

In San Diego, two-thirds of voters favored the pension reduction plan. And the landslide was even greater in San Jose, where 70 percent were in favor.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a chief backer, said he was surprised by the margin of victory and considered it a statement that voters won't tolerate benefits that are more generous than those they receive working at private companies.

Voters in two major California cities overwhelmingly approved cuts to retirement benefits for city workers in what supporters said was a mandate that may lead to similar ballot initiatives in other states and cities that are struggling with mounting pension obligations.

Supporters had a simple message to voters in San Diego and San Jose: Pensions for city workers are unaffordable and more generous than many private companies offer, forcing libraries to slash hours and potholes to go unfilled.

"The public is frustrated," said San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, a Republican who staked his mayoral bid on the pension measure and advanced to a November runoff in Tuesday's election to lead the nation's eighth-largest city.

In San Diego, 66 percent voted in favor of Proposition B, while 34 percent were opposed. Nearly 97 percent of precincts were tallied by early Wednesday.

The landslide was even bigger in San Jose, the nation's 10th-largest city. With all precincts counted, 70 percent were in favor of Measure B and 30 percent were opposed.

"The voters get it, they understand what needs to be done," said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a Democrat who has called pensions his highest priority.

Shrinking tax revenues during the recession are also responsible for service cuts in San Diego and San Jose, but pensions were an easy target. San Diego's payments to the city's retirement fund soared from $43 million in 1999 to $231.2 million this year, equal to 20 percent of the city's general fund budget, which pays for day-to-day operations.

As the pension payments grew, San Diego's 1.3 million residents saw roads deteriorate and libraries and recreation centers cut hours. For a while, some fire stations had to share engines and trucks. The city has cut its workforce 14 percent to 10,100 employees since Sanders took office in 2005.

San Jose's pension payments jumped from $73 million in 2001 to $245 million this year, equal to 27 percent of its general fund budget. Voters there approved construction bonds at the beginning of the last decade, but four new libraries and a police station have never opened because the city cannot afford to operate them.

The city of 960,000 cut its workforce 27 percent to 5,400 over the last 10 years.

Tuesday's votes set the stage for potentially lengthy legal challenges by public employee unions. The measures are unusual because they address pensions for current employees, not just new hires.

Opponents argued that the measures deprive workers of benefits they were counting on when they got hired. They tried to pass along the idea that some workers decided against potentially more lucrative jobs with private companies, figuring their retirement was relatively safe.

Voters didn't accept what the opponents had to say. They simply were not accepting the arguement that workers decided against making more money with private companies to opt for those jobs. It didn't make any sense. It sounded like a line of bullspit!

The ballot measures differ on specifics.

San Diego's imposes a six-year freeze on pay levels used to determine pension benefits unless a two-thirds majority of the City Council votes to override it. It also puts new hires, except for police officers, into 401(k)-style plans.

More than 100,000 residents signed petitions to put the San Diego measure on the ballot.

Under San Jose's measure, current workers have to pay up to 16 percent of their salaries to keep their retirement plan or accept more modest benefits. New hires would get less generous benefits.

Mayor Reed joined an 8-3 City Council majority to put the measure on the ballot. He said after Tuesday's vote that he expected other cities in financial binds to pursue similar measures.

"It's novel but it's certainly not radical," he said. "Mayors across the country are very interested. We're at the leading edge but we're not alone."

FOUTH SHOT!

Coyotes cause temporary closure of Palo Alto trails to dogs

Some trails in Palo Alto California's Pearson Arastradero Preserve have been temporarily closed to dogs, following encounters with coyotes.

The closed trails are Ohlone, Bay Laurel and Woodland Star, according to the city's Community Services Department. Parts of the Juan Bautista de Anza and Meadowlark trails have also been off limits to dogs since May 31.

The coyotes may be acting aggressively because they have pups in a nearby den.

Trail users are encouraged to pay close attention to their surroundings. They shouldn't approach, bark at, feed or attempt to tame the animals. Children should also be kept close.

They advise people who are followed by a coyote to make loud noises and throw rocks if that doesn't.

Of course, there is always the concept of having a gun on you - but that's the liberal San Francisco Bay Area and no one would think of such a thing!

FIFTH SHOT!

Post Election Voter Message: We Want Fiscal Responsibility!

Voters sent a clear message Tuesday to their local leaders.

This was the message that voters sent: Get your financial houses in order, Don't ask for more money until you start responsibly spending what we've already given you. We're tired of losing public services as you siphon off our tax money to pay mounting costs of overly generous public-employee retirement benefits.

Nowhere in the San Francisco Bay Area that message clearer than the city of Alameda and the East Contra Costa Fire District, two very different public agencies that were both asking for more money.

Neither had yet to address their badly underfunded pension systems. Voters resoundingly rejected both measures.

Nowhere in the state was that message clearer than San Jose, where voters overwhelmingly approved a pension reform plan that will force city employees to pay more toward their pensions or accept reduced retirement benefit accruals in the future.

San Jose voters are tired of closed libraries, streets pocked with potholes, and neighborhoods unnerved by upswings in gang violence. They've watched the cost of employee pensions triple over the past decade while the number of city employees providing public services plunged.

San Jose's plight is not unique. Indeed, it has become the new normal for local governments across the state. But San Jose residents benefit from an unusual charter provision that makes it legally easier to impose changes on current employees.

Thus, while the city has become a poster child for pension reform, it doesn't provide a legal road map for the rest of the state. Some other local government will have to find the path. But the vote by the residents of the city sends a political message of growing discontent that state and local politicians must heed.

East Bay voters sent a similar message. They did not flatly reject new taxes. When a legitimate need was demonstrated and meaningful efforts had been made to control costs, voters were generally supportive.


That was true in the Dublin and Hayward school districts, as well as the cities of Hercules, San Pablo and Pittsburg. Conversely, Alameda and east Contra Costa voters definitively rejected new taxes - and with good reason.

In Alameda, leaders wanted to add a half-cent sales tax levy for 30 years to raise money for capital projects, but the proposal did nothing to address the city's staggering $285 million debt for unfunded retirement benefits. That's equal to four years of general fund revenues.

The East Contra Costa Fire District proposed the East Bay's most irresponsible tax plan on Tuesday's ballot. The 10-year levy, starting at $197 per parcel annually, would have more than doubled the district's revenues. And it would have all gone to increased services, keeping more stations open and adding costly paramedics to every fire engine. 

But it would have done nothing to address the district's ballooning retirement debt. Within a decade, the district will be spending far more on retirement benefits than on salaries. The tax proposal ignored that; indeed, it would have exacerbated the problem.

Voters demonstrated that they are willing to tax themselves when local leaders make reasonable proposals. But they're unwilling to continue digging the financial hole deeper.

It all sounds like the Tea Party is taking shape in California!

Yes, as shocking as that sounds, it is happening. The desire for fiscal discipline and reduce taxation is what started the Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party movement is a grassroots movement of Millions of like-minded Americans from all backgrounds and political parties. Tea Party members share similar core principles supporting the United States Constitution as the Founders intended, such as: Limited federal government. Individual freedoms. Personal responsibility. Free markets. Returning political power to the states and the people.

As a movement, the Tea Party is not a political party nor is looking to form a third political party any time soon. The Tea Party movement is, instead, about reforming all political parties and government so that the core principles of our Founding Fathers become, once again the foundation upon which America stands.

It seems apparent that this is exactly the message that the voters of California sent.

Could it be possible that there are more Tea Party folks in California than anyone in Sacramento wants to admit to? I think so!

SIXTH SHOT!

Humpback, blue whales spotted near the Farallon Islands

The Farallon Islands are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones, off the coast of California.

They lie 27 miles outside of San Francisco's Golden Gate and 20 miles south of Point Reyes. And yes, they can be seen from the California mainland on clear days.

The islands are officially part of the City and County of San Francisco. The only inhabited portion of the islands is on Southeast Farallon Islands (SEFI), where research residents of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory are located.

The islands are closed to the public. And yes, it might just be for the birds because the Farallon Islands are an important reserve protecting a huge seabird colony.

Because of the position of the islands in the highly productive California Current and Eastern Pacific upwelling region, as well as the absence of other large islands that would provide suitable nesting grounds, this all results in a seabird population of over 250,000. Believe it or not, 12 species of seabirds and shorebirds nest on the islands

Boaters are being warned that humpback and blue whales are starting to appear in the waters outside San Francisco and have been sighted in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Around 40 humpback whales were first spotted from Southeast Farallon Island in April, and even a few blue whales, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said.

Blue and humpback whales are often seen along the West Coast between late spring and fall, feeding on dense swarms of krill - small shrimp-like crustaceans - and small fish like anchovies and sardines.

A Blue Whale compared to the size of a Diver

The blue whale is a marine mammal. At about 98 feet in length and 200 short tons or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed on earth. They were almost hunted to extinction.

The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. Adults range in length from 40 to 53 feet and weigh approximately 79,000 pound.

A Humpback Whale compared to the size of a Diver

Blue whales and Humpback whales are most frequently found near the islands in the summer and fall, when strong upwelling may support a rich pelagic food web.

Killer whales are also found around the islands. That may be due to the five species of seals that come to shore on the islands, and in some cases breed. These are the Northern Elephant Seal, Harbor Seal, Steller's Sea Lion, California Sea Lion, and the Northern Fur Seal.

Gray whales are reliably found near the Faralons during their spring migration north and the fall/winter migration south. Some Gray whales may also be found during the summer, when a few whales skip the trip north to Alaska and spend the summer months off the coast of Canada and the continental United States

The gray whale is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of about 52 feet, a weight of 40 short tons, and lives 50 to 70 years. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted.

A Gray Whale compared to the size of a Diver

The humpback whales appearance was right on time, sanctuary officials said, however the blue whales were spotted unusually early.

Whale sightings are common throughout the year, however, because from the winter through the spring migrating gray whales traveling between Mexican breeding grounds and Arctic feeding grounds pass through the sanctuary, as well. 

Much of a whale's body is often not visible from the surface, but observers can watch for the whale's blow, which looks like a puff of smoke, 10 feet tall for humpbacks and 30 feet tall for the enormous blue whales.

Boaters who encounter whales are legally required to keep their distance as the animals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA officials recommend boaters who do encounter whales keep a distance of about 300 feet, and ask that boaters please don't cut across a whale's path, avoid sudden speed or directional changes, and absolutely don't get between a mother and her calf. It might lead to a huge problem for the boater.

Here's something that happened off of South Africa! Think Moby Dick!

SEVENTH SHOT!

All's NOT OK with Vanity License Plates

When Whitney Calk sought a personalized license plate from a Tennessee state agency to tout her vegetarian ideals, she was annoyed when she was told no. Turns out the letters ILVTOFU can be construed to mean more than enjoying bean curd.

"When I see T-O-F-U, I see tofu," says Calk, who requested the so-called vanity plate from the Tennessee Department of Revenue last September.

"I can't control the way anyone else interprets that," said Calk, 26, an animal rights activist from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The dilemma faced by Tennessee authorities last year is not unusual, as officials at motor vehicle agencies nationwide consider hundreds of thousands of personalized plate requests each year. There are an estimated 9 million personalized license plates in the United States.

The vast majority of the requests are not objectionable, but thousands provide insight not only into the boundaries of free speech but the amount of human ingenuity expended to display seven and eight character insults, sexual references and descriptions of bodily functions to other motorists.

The battle to keep highways free of offensive phrases means state officials must track everything from Internet slang to foreign languages to commands like 3MTA3, which reveals its meaning when read backwards in a rear view mirror.

Virginia may be the capital of vanity plate mischief. Personalized plates in the state cost just $10 more than regular license plates—compared with $40 in Texas and $94 in Illinois. One million of the Virginia's 7.8 million vehicles have them.

In 2009 alone, the state denied more than 700 plate requests including IHAV2P and IAMHIGH along with 100 requests beginning with the letter ‘F' and myriad proposals involving the number ‘69,' according to state documents.

Questionable formulations are so common that a 20-person committee of motor vehicle staffers meets for an hour each month to review suspicious applications.

State guidelines ban deceptive plates such as FBI or confusing configurations like O0O0O and NOTAG as well as excretory, sexual, racial or drug references.

"It's the only time you get to talk like that at DMV, that's for sure," said Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Melanie Stokes, who sits on the review panel. Less offensive and more playful ideas, including EWOBAMA, IPUNCHU and DMYANKI, have all been reviewed and rejected at the meetings.

Some slip through.

Pictures have been posted on the internet of the Virginia-issued 370H55V — which has to be read upside-down to get the full message.

In Maryland, a software program checks requests against 4,331 banned license plate formulations, a list that includes WILDPIG, TOILET and GAY.

State prisoners who make the plates also help out by identifying drug, gang or sexual references that slip by the computer and the civil servants, said Philip Dacey, a spokesman for the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

"A lot of these are gray areas," said Dacey. "TOILET is on the list and if people want to challenge it they can have a hearing."

That's what one motorist did after Maryland revoked his MIERDA vanity plate following a complaint. Though the Spanish term would seem to embody the state's ban on "scatological" references, an administrator is currently considering the man's appeal that the license plate should be interpreted as a non-vulgar reference to a form of fertilizer.

More recently Maryland attempted to revoke a plate reading WTF, an abbreviation for a three-word phrase beginning "what the ..." that is widely used in Internet chat. The agency reversed course after an investigation revealed that the plate predated the Internet, and was a reference to the motorist's waterfront home.

In Florida, the state's motor vehicle agency takes a permissive stance towards celebrations of clothing optional bathing. O2B NUDE, BARE ALL and BE NAKED have all been deemed acceptable by the director of the agency, who nonetheless spiked 4NICK8, CAT BUTT and COW PADY, according to records released by the state.

Other states are less permissive. Utah, which faced a lawsuit in the 1990s for issuing plates with the term "Redskins" because it offended Native Americans, has recently denied ‘IH8TBYU,' ‘MNKYBUM,' and ‘MYSHRAZ' for being derogatory, vulgar, and an alcohol reference to a popular wine.

Massachusetts' vanity application form now instructs motorists that the letters "I" "O" "Q" and "U" can only be used "as part of a word that is clearly defined and correctly spelled."

California requires applicants to explain the meaning of any request. So yes, if you're in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles and find yourself behind someone trying to explain their NOBAMA license plate renewal - have patients - DMV might not accept a short explaination.

LAST SHOT!

This is a Wow! Photographer captures a "Moonbow" over Waimea on the Big Island

Yes, this is a Wow! It's something that happens rarely, but believe it or not, this incredible image of a "Moonbow" was captured this last weekend over Waimea on the Big Island.

The photo was taken by photographer Ethan Tweedie who says conditions for the Moonbow were excellent, a 98 percent full moon low in the sky, along with wind and rain.

In fact, as the winds hit about 40-miles per hour, Ethan says he had trouble standing long enough to get the shot.

A moonbow, also known as a lunar rainbow, is produced by light reflected off the surface of the moon, rather than from direct sunlight.

This is outstanding! And yes, I thought you'd like to see it.

Have a great day! 

Story by Tom Correa