cosmoscon

These People vote.

https://twitter.com/jimgzmail/status/307679566149844992

https://twitter.com/TheYoungLibs/status/307344266726866945

https://twitter.com/odanu/status/307695021052788737
https://twitter.com/tlpwife/status/307694536715558912
https://twitter.com/martimr1/status/307694203541004288
https://twitter.com/CletisStump/status/307689930799329280

https://twitter.com/Norberto7549/status/307673665204547584

https://twitter.com/Stwallace23/status/307669993657602048
https://twitter.com/mikeallenlong/status/307669902657978368

Bob Woodward (of Woodward and Bernstein fame who broke Watergate) was threatened by a Senior Obama White House Official, Director of White House Economic Council Gene Sperling, over a story Woodward plans to run tagging Obama as the originator of the Sequester Cuts.

Buzzfeed was quick to come to the White House’s defense:

“Officials often threaten reporters that they will “regret” printing something that is untrue, but Woodward took the remark as a threat.”

Apparently they are right!  Remember last year when Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threatened to punch a reporter?

“After being questioned about a major wild horse buyer who is under federal investigation and with whom he has business ties, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Interior Ken Salazar threatened to punch a reporter allegedly.

KKCO aired a clip of the exchange between Salazar and reporter Dave Philipps of The Colorado Springs Gazette at an election-day rally in Fountain, Colo.

“You know what. You can never do that. This is the Obama … You know what. You do that to me again. I’m gonna punch you out.”

Or maybe it’s just the Obama administration that threatens reporters.  I don’t remember any stories of the Bush 41, Clinton or GW Bush White Houses threatening reporters …..but I digress.

The State Run Media (SRM) appears to be taking several tactics to diffuse this Woodward situation – 1) say it happens all the time, 2) ignore/deny it or 3) discredit Woodward.

It’s predictable that Media Matters for America Eric Boehlert did all three on Twitter:

Woodward is no rookie reporter and he’s definitely no Right Wing blogger so there is no reason for him to make up this accusation.  A man who was on the front lines of Watergate will not be intimidated nor will he neglect his journalistic integrity (and there are few out there who can match Woodward’s).  If Woodward says he was threatened then the man’s reputation precedes him and we must take it at face value until further evidence contradicts his story.

I asked BuzzFeedAndrew if he was really serious that this sort of intimidation happens all the time.

There are two things that disturb me about the ‘it happens all the time’ defense.

First, I think that is a lie because if the Bush WH had said the same thing to reporters then the SRM would’ve pounced on Bush and rapidly come to the defense of the reporter.  Can you imagine the reaction if a senior official from the George W. Bush White House would’ve said this same comment to Woodward 10 years ago?  SRM would’ve pounced and it would be the lead story for weeks!

Second, if reporters are routinely intimidated by White House officials then this needs to be reported more often and stopped.  Are there ‘journalists’ out there who have had similar treatment and remained silent?  How do they live with themselves?  There used to be a time when journalists would wish for an elected official’s administration to threaten them.  They could break a story wide open and maybe even win awards.

If we have come to the point where the White House intimidates reporters from writing stories detrimental to the President then we are no better than Cold War Soviet Union.  Without an independent 4^th Estate doing their jobs then we are vulnerable to an Executive branch that can violate the Constitution and take away our Freedoms.

This is very troubling and let’s watch how other ‘journalists’ react to this obvious attempt of intimidation of Woodward.

I have a good idea how events will play out over the coming weeks after the Obamaquester spending cuts kick in.  The blamestorming from Team Obama and the State Run Media will be fierce for a few weeks but once their dire projections fail to materialize, there will be better times once we push through it.

But before I get to that, let’s review two key facts:

• The Sequester Cuts were Obama’s idea.
• The 2013 budget cuts amount to $85 billion which works out to 2.4% of the estimated $3.6 trillion our Federal Government will spend in 2013.

So, even though the Sequester cuts were Obama’s idea and the cuts are a mere 2.4% of our estimated spending in 2013, Obama is telling the American people that these cuts will be devastating.  Even NPR is supporting the Obama message by generating this scary headline.

As was pointed out in a comment from one of my recent blog posts, the American people were forced to cut their paychecks by 2% when the payroll tax holiday expired in January so we should expect our Federal Government to (at least) match those cuts in their own spending.

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University put together this chart showing the Federal Government spending with and without the Obamaquester cuts and you can see these ‘deep’ cuts are nothing of the kind.

Notice that spending is STILL INCREASING but that won’t stop Team Obama from demagoguing those who oppose these minimal cuts.

Now Here’s What Will Happen

In the week after the Obamaquester cuts kick in you can expect to see each of Obama’s cabinet Secretaries calling separate press conferences where they’ll tell how these ‘devastating’ cuts are hurting America.

Secretary of State John Kerry will tell us how massive cuts in his department will hamper National Security.

Secretary of the Treasury Neil Wolin will tell us how cuts to his department will curtail efforts to prevent money flowing to terrorist organizations.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will tell us how cuts to his department will force civilian contractors to have reduced work weeks and will hurt our national security and hurt the economy.

Attorney General Eric Holder will tell us how cuts to his department will force prosecutors to let criminals go free.

Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar will tell us how cuts to his department will limit oil/gas permitting and will drive up energy prices.

Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack will tell us how cuts to his department will shut down meat plants.

Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank will tell us how cuts to her department will limit patent approvals which will hurt startups and the economy.

Acting Secretary of Labor Seth Harris will tell us how Obamaquester will be the reason for the increased Unemployment rate we’ll see in March.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will tell us how cuts to her department will result in people being turned away from hospitals and implementation of Obamacare will be delayed.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun L. S. Donovan will tell us how cuts to his department will result in hundreds of thousands more homeless.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will tell us how cuts to his department will result in flight cancellations and vital road projects put on hold.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will tell us how cuts to his department will result in rendering our energy grid less secure and scuttle many green energy projects.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will tell us how cuts to his department will result in kids being booted from Head Start programs and massive teacher layoffs.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki will tell us how cuts to his department will result in closing VA hospitals and longer waits for wounded veterans coming home from Afghanistan.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will tell us how cuts to her department will result in limited border security, decreased security in airports and limit their fight against terrorism.

Fast Forward To The End Of March

After weeks of the Obama cabinet spewing their fear mongering and the State Run Media parroting the memes, Americans will slowly realize that all the gloom and doom never materialized.  The economy was not affected.  Our national security was not compromised.  Cutting Federal Government spending was actually a good thing.  Maybe we should do more to limit our Federal Government spending.

After the Obamaquester cuts hit, the blowback will be sever but have faith.  We need to lean into the Team Obama scare tactics for a few weeks and good things will come out of it.  The primary weapon of Obama – Government spending cuts will hurt America – will be utterly destroyed and he’ll never be able to use it again.  We must push through this Obamaquester spending cuts to reach a turning point in the US.

Saul Alinsky Rules For Radicals – Rule #9 – “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”

Anyone who has stood up to a bully, dove off a cliff, started a new career or faced other fears knows this rule is mostly true.  We can get so worked up over the anxiety of facing a fear that we are paralyzed and sometimes never muster the courage to face those very fears that are holding us back.

My son went through this process during his first year in football.  He is a fairly aggressive kid and loves sports but God didn’t bless him with the frame of a football player.  While my son has loved football since as long as he could talk, he was one of the smallest kids on the team and I expected him to be disappointed once he realized this game was for much bigger people.  I noticed early on that due to his inexperience and after he was a little intimidated by the older, bigger kids, he held back during the first few practices.  For the first time in my son’s short life, I saw anxiousness and a little bit of fear.

Then the first practice came with full pads and this was when full contact was allowed.  He had several drills where he lined up with bigger kids and they’d run into each other and there was more than one occasion where my 8 year old son took a big blow and I wondered how he’d react.

After that first full pads practice was over, he came to the sidelines to gather his stuff and I asked him how the practice went.  His response?  “Dad, that is exactly why I wanted to play football, it was great!”

My son just discovered that the fear of getting hit was much more terrifying than actually getting hit.  He went on to have a great time with his first season of football and sure enough he got smacked around pretty good but he escaped with no injuries and best of all, he came away with confidence knowing that he can face other fears that will come his way.  It feels good to conquer a fear or stand up to a bully.

And now the American people are facing a bully and his name is Obamaquester.  If you don’t know him, go here to find out about him and go here to see who created him.  Keep in mind this isn’t the first time this monster has bullied us around.  In the recent past he has gone by other names – TARP, Fiscal Cliff, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Cash for Clunkers, Shovel Ready Jobs, Budget Control Act of 2011, Raising the Debt Limit and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).  Just to name a few…..

Over the course of the past 4+ years a new crisis comes up every few months and we’re told by Obama that if we didn’t act (and SOON!) then our whole society would come crumbling down.  It was during the Fiscal Cliff negotiations late last year that I finally realized that Team Obama prefers this “crisis around every corner” environment and they really don’t have any desire to address our country’s most pressing long term fiscal problems.

The election is over.  Obama is in his 2^nd term as POTUS and can’t be re-elected so why is he still in campaign mode and not actively working with Congress to address our out of control entitlement spending that will destroy our country?  You can dismiss this crisis-every-few-months mode of operation if you realize that is the guy’s campaign strategy.  Obama won in November so stop it!

But Obama doesn’t stop it.  Why he continues to act in this manner is anybody’s guess – He’s ignorant, He’s being controlled by those who wish to destroy the country, He really hates America, He is so delusional that he thinks Keynesian Economics actually works, etc. – I don’t care the reason behind it.  The fact remains that he is destroying America as he continues to demagogue the Republicans and scare the American people into following his disastrous course.

Enough!

It’s time for the Republicans in the House to stand up to the bully and let the Obamaquester cuts kick in.  Obama proposed these cuts, mandated they be included in the BCA of 2011 and both sides in the House and Senate voted for them.  Let it burn.

And here’s the best part about letting the Obamaquester cuts kick in. 

Something wonderful will happen months after these supposedly disastrous cuts take place – Americans will wake up and realize everything is OK.  The economy didn’t collapse over $85 billion spending cuts from a Federal ‘budget’ that is expected to spend $3.8 trillion in 2013.  Independent voters across the land will realize that reducing the size of the Federal Government isn’t nearly as terrifying as Obama and the other Democrats made it out to be.  People who only get their news from the Leftist, State supported news organizations will realize people like Chuck Todd, Brian Williams and Chris Matthews are really just shills for the Obama administration.  Maybe those talking heads aren’t really telling us the unbiased news after all.

The epiphany that most US citizens will have post-Obamaquester is exactly what terrifies Obama and the Democrats.  The American people will call the Left’s bluff, take a hit and realize there is nothing to be feared from a smaller government.  The main weapon of fear for Team Obama will be nullified and the American people will realize the threats coming from Obama were really much less than advertised.

Stand up to the bully and let the Obamaquester happen.  I don’t call Obamaquester a crisis – I call it a good first step.

It’s a fact that the Sequester spending cuts were not only the product of Team Obama but they were made law because of Obama’s insistence.  Remember what Obama told House Republicans in November 21, 2011 (emphasis mine):

“Already, some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple:  No.  I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending.  There will be no easy off ramps on this one.”

That means Obama forced House Republicans to include the Sequester cuts in the budget deal of 2011 because those were exactly the kinds of cuts he wanted.

But now that we are days away from these Sequester cuts kicking in Obama has reversed his stance and says these cuts are now bad and he’s blaming the House for them.

“So these cuts are not smart.  They are not fair.  They will hurt our economy.  They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls.  This is not an abstraction — people will lose their jobs.”

Again, here is the video (money quotes come after 1:10 mark):

I saw this tweet from @RBPundit and his simple yes or no question made a lot of sense.

Surely Obama supporters won’t deny an obvious fact that it was indeed Obama who pushed for these across the board cuts and wanted the Sequester included in any deal.  I put that theory to the test with two Leftists who engaged me on twitter.

My first encounter was with @dirkz1:

https://twitter.com/DirkZ1/status/304361474766295041

But that is exactly what the Sequester cuts are – across the board cuts with half of them hitting the Department of Defense.  So why is Obama upset?

I gave @Dirkz1 an opportunity to answer the simple yes or no question.

I’m still waiting on that response.

Here is another exchange with @gemimms:

He answered the yes or no question (he said no) but I don’t think he watched the video all the way through so I gave him another chance to watch the video and on two occasions he denied an easily proven fact.

https://twitter.com/gemimms/status/304418330310230016

https://twitter.com/gemimms/status/304422385728225281

It appears that this simple yes or no question is like Kryptonite to Leftists!

The Sequester Backfiring

We are now days away from the Sequester kicking in and Obama is having a hard time convincing House Republicans that we need more tax revenue as part of a deal to avert the Sequester cuts.  Remember that Republicans already caved on tax increases in January with the Senate Fiscal Cliff deal and this was supposed to take tax increases off the table but Obama is calling for more.

“To prevent the spending cuts, worth about $85 billion in between March 1 and Dec. 31, Obama called for tax increases and some spending cuts.”

Obama is now faced with spending cuts but his handlers won’t allow him to do that so what is his strategy?  Blame the Sequester cuts on the Republicans!

There’s just one problem with that tactic, Sequester cuts were Obama’s idea.  Even his Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted that!  Plus, the Sequester was approved by both Houses of Congress and signed by The One so I say let it happen.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, It’s Cliffs All The Way Down!  We keep bouncing from one manufactured crisis to another so let’s take our medicine, let the Obamaquester spending cuts happen and Let It Burn.

Supporting and Promoting Rape

I didn’t think anyone could be more senseless and disrespectful than ex-Indiana men’s basketball coach Bob Knight when he said in 1988:

”I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.”

Then Bob Beckel (Democratic member of Fox News’ The Five) came along and told a lie about rapes on college campuses:

“When was the last time you heard about a rape on campus?”

That was bad enough but then he doubled down and said this:

“Well, date rape, yeah, that’s one thing.”

So when a woman is raped by her date then it’s not that big of a deal, right?  I think the women who are raped on college campuses by their dates and most decent human beings take a far different view.

And don’t forget why The Five was even discussing this rape topic.  Colorado state congressman Joe Salazar (D) recently made the idiotic comment that women should uses whistles to defend themselves against rapists instead of guns.

“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at. And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop around at somebody.”

In my opinion, the statements by Beckel and Salazar are worse than the one moron Todd Akin (R) made last year.  Remember when Liberals blasted him (as did I) about the term ‘legitimate rape’?  Where is the Leftist media outrage at Beckel’s denial of college campus rape, Beckel’s dismissal of date rape or Salazar’s suggestion that women limit their defense options against rape?

Crickets.

Gun Memes Blowing up

Leftists are pimping for tougher gun laws and banning ‘assault’ rifles as well as high capacity clips since the Newtown shooting (As Rahm Emanuel said – You never want a serious crisis to go to waste).  They think these new laws will prevent gun homicides.

But real events are not cooperating with their meme.  Recently, in California, a mad man went on a carjacking spree and killed several innocent people with a shotgun.  Notice that the murderer used a shotgun, which would not be banned under existing Leftist proposals, and he carried out this killing spree in a state that has the toughest gun laws in the US as rated by the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence.

I love it when the Left gets cocky and overplays their hand.  The last time they did this they nominated John Kerry against George W. Bush in 2004 and we know how that turned out.  Even with the Main Stream Media on their side, once average Americans see the true Leftist ideals, they turn away in mass.

It’s starting to happen.  Popcorn!

It’s obvious that after the 2012 elections the GOP is looking to fix what is broken and it appears they are saying the right things and recognizing there is a problem.  Since I consider myself a Conservative, the GOP is the party I would rather see in power and I hope they can get this ship turned in the right direction so we can then get the country turned in the “right” direction (pun intended).

While the GOP is going through this process, I hope they take the time to listen to Conservative youths and I found a recent NPR article that should be required reading for any GOP leader.  In this article, 14 members of The Ohio State University College Republicans watched the SOTU and gave their feedback to an NPR reporter.  Here are just a few of their comments/suggestions.

Younger Leaders

“There was also a strong sense in the room that the Republican Party can revive itself by attracting new, youthful leadership. They say that’s what Democrats did with Barack Obama.”

“One prime candidate is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who delivered the official GOP response to the president this week.”

“Immediately after listening to the response, the talk turned to the senator’s potential.”

“He’s definitely sending the party in the right direction,” college senior Shanae Brown said.”

“Others stressed the depth of the GOP bench when it comes to new, young leaders.”

Having John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell be the voice of the GOP is not doing us any favors and we need more of Rubio, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul and Tim Scott.

Messaging

“The area where these Republicans showed the most frustration with the party is in messaging.”

“We don’t know how to brand our message and we are getting outworked on that, and I think that’s our major issue,” Lucas Denney, 21, said.”

“Some of the students say that is especially true when it comes to social media, a critical tool for reaching young voters.”

“That was the biggest problem. … I would go on Twitter and I would see Obama promoted. I would go on YouTube, there’s an Obama ad. I would go on Pandora and there’s an Obama ad,” Dan Morgano said, adding “[I] never heard anything from Romney when I was online.”

Sending out information via the US postal service or robo-calling is not going to win elections in the future.  The GOP needs to embrace social media and view it as a critical piece of its marketing machine.  Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are not fads that will be going away anytime soon so if the GOP chooses to dabble in this media instead of using it as part of their primary messaging then we’ll continue to lose elections.

The Coming Wave of GOP Members

“There is another big thing these college Republicans seem to be banking on when it comes to the GOP and their generation: When they do get out of school and get jobs and mortgages, taxes and government spending will suddenly become greater worries.”

“They say that’s when the Republicans will have a chance at winning over a generation that has been very elusive for the party.”

Over the coming years, a large population of college graduates will enter the workforce, start families and realize that they are in serious trouble financially.  They will be looking for a way to get out of this mess and Conservatives have a method to do just that.  We need to be there for them so we can communicate the fiscally Conservative message and win them over to our side.  Team Obama’s message is the only one getting to them now but eventually Math will win in the end and thinking people (not the O-bot sheeple) will grow weary of that message when they are faced with the harsh realities of making ends meet and saving for the future.  In the absence of communications from the GOP, people will develop their own Worldview based on messaging from the State Run Stream Media and we can’t let that happen.

Same Sex Marriage

“…Sam Zeidema, 20, who calls himself “a real conservative.” On social issues, though, he is out of sync with some of the GOP’s positions, such as its stance against same-sex marriage.”

“Zeidema, chairman of the College Republicans group, says he doesn’t feel strongly about the issue either way — and so he is not going to campaign for or against it.”

“I am not one that’s going to go out and advocate for or against the issue because I hear both sides. I understand both sides, and, I guess, it’s just hard because it doesn’t affect me personally,” he said.”

We had a classic example of how out of touch the GOP is with regard to younger people when the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) recently announced they are banning GOProud (an organization of gay Conservatives) from this year’s event.  Stupid!

I’m a big tent guy when it comes to the GOP and feel we need to welcome EVERY person who believes in fiscally Conservative principles if we have any hope of rescuing the US from its path to Socialism.  I’ve made it clear before that I am totally against making legalized same sex unions a Maginot Line for the Republican Party.  If two consenting adults are interested in fighting for fiscally conservative principles then I could care less what they do in their bedroom.  If you feel that homosexuality is a sin and it should be labeled as such then there is a place for that conversation – It’s called Church.

Republicans lost big in 2012 because of messaging and our position on social issues.  We can continue to try and legislate morality or we can focus on the common ground that will unite our party and win elections.  Nominating and voting for candidates that must pass some litmus test on social issues only ensures Leftists will continue to win elections.  There are areas where we should fight for social issues that are near and dear to our hearts – which include Same Sex Marriage, Abortion, Birth Control, Drugs, Alcohol, etc. – and we should continue to do that (even more than we’ve been doing!) but right now the political arena isn’t the place for those fights.

I agree we need to change the culture in the US and I weep because so many people in this country endorse the killing of babies every day through legal Abortion.  I want to change that and I will fight to change that but it will require a battle that will take place over years, maybe even decades, and that battle will be even harder to fight if we don’t start electing Conservatives and fix our fiscal and economic problems.  Losing more elections will not move the US culture closer to Conservative principles!

The relationship between young and old Conservatives can be a symbiotic one – New Conservative college graduates can learn much from their GOP elders and the GOP leaders would be wise to listen to the counsel of the youth.  If we work together we can start winning elections again.

In case you missed it, Dr. Benjamin Carson spoke at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington Thursday and it is a must-watch 27 minutes for anyone concerned about the path the United States is on.

I don’t need to add anything to this except to say that I wish our elected officials in Washington DC had 1% of the character and passion that Dr. Carson has.   I’d vote for Dr. Carson right now to replace about 90% of the people in Congress and the White House.

Watch all of this and pay attention to the expression on Obama’s face.

Unbelievable!

NBC has obtained a copy of a Department of Justice Whitepaper justifying drone attacks on US citizens without going through due process – otherwise known as the 5^th and 14^th Amendments to the US Constitution.

Here are a few shocking excerpts from the NBC report (emphasis mine):

“A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.”

“The condition that an operational leader present an ‘imminent’ threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,” the memo states.”

“Instead, it says, an “informed, high-level” official of the U.S. government may determine that the targeted American has been “recently” involved in “activities” posing a threat of a violent attack and “there is no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities.” The memo does not define “recently” or “activities.”

“This is a chilling document,” said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, which has sued unsuccessfully in court to obtain administration memos about the targeted killing of Americans. “Basically, it argues that the government has the right to carry out the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen. … It recognizes some limits on the authority it sets out, but the limits are elastic and vaguely defined, and it’s easy to see how they could be manipulated.”

“A lawful killing in self-defense is not an assassination,” the white paper reads. “In the Department’s view, a lethal operation conducted against a U.S. citizen whose conduct poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States would be a legitimate act of national self-defense that would not violate the assassination ban. Similarly, the use of lethal force, consistent with the laws of war, against an individual who is a legitimate military target would be lawful and would not violate the assassination ban.”

The US is in a war with radical Islamic terrorists and I have no issues with killing these terrorists when we have justifiable intelligence but that only goes for those who are not US citizens.  We have a Constitution that provides special protection to US citizens and before we kill them we have to go through a due process.  If the President, who swears an oath to uphold the US Constitution, ignores these laws then the US is no longer a Republic but a Dictatorship.

I hate to say I told you so but……Elections have consequences!