Video: OMB Director Lies his face off for five straight minutes

I seriously do not understand how these people stand existing inside their own skin. For five straight minutes, Barack Obama's OMB Acting Director Jeffrey Zients would not answer a very simple question from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) about whether the proposed budget would increase spending.

Wow, just wow.



h/t Fox Nation

The Question Darrell Issa's Office is not Answering **UPDATE**Issa Letter sent to Holder**

Look, let me be clear. Over the last year, I have been very happy with how Rep. Issa's office has gone out of its way to communicate with the public about what was going on in the Fast and Furious investigation. Issa's Press Secretary Becca Watkins has been very good at this, often sending links to videos, articles, statements, etc. that I wouldn't otherwise see. If I was giving her an evaluation, she'd have gotten an A++++++ (Christmas Story reference).

Over the weekend, I e-mailed Ms. Watkins the recent column penned by Tom Tancredo in which the former congressman suggested that House Speaker John Boehner could be "sabotaging" the investigation. I received a response from her less than two hours later.

Here is that response:

From: "Watkins, Becca"
To: "'benbarrack@yahoo.com'"  
Cc: "Hill, Frederick"  
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: Becca, What is going on here?

Ben,

Please use this on the record from me:
Leadership has been, and continues to be, supportive of oversight's investigation into operation fast and furious. There is no substance to these rumors.

I've cced me colleague above in case he has something to add.

Becca Watkins Press Secretary House Oversight Committee Chairman Issa

I replied and included a CNN news story that reported the following:

A key congressional Republican who had threatened to bring a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder if he did not comply with a demand for "Operation Fast and Furious" documents by 5 p.m. Thursday, has backed off his stated deadline.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, who has the backing of the committee's Republican majority, has granted a Justice Department request for an extension. No new deadline was set.

Here is the reply I sent to Watkins. More than 72 hours later, I still have no response to this question:

From: Ben Barrack
To: "Watkins, Becca"
Cc: "Hill, Frederick"
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: Becca, What is going on here? 

Becca, 

Understood, thanks for the response, and will do. 

Things like the CNN article seem to help feed a perception that you don't want to exist. 

A perception that does exist among those who are demanding justice is that extensions of grace (like the one being granted to AG Holder) do seem a bit misplaced after all that's transpired. 

I understand that your committee has far more information than any of us do but I'm just relaying how it looks. 

P.S. I used to be in the litigation business and from a practicality standpoint, copying or Imaging 80,000 pages (approx. 40 boxes) took less than 48 hours when we used all of the resources we had at our disposal. I'm guessing the IG's office has digital copies at this point. As such, they should only have to hit the "print" button and call a courier to comply with the subpoena. Cole's assertion that it would be "impossible" to turn over all of the documents the IG has doesn't sound believable.

For the record, if there is no deal and there is a legitimate reason why this question cannot be answered, Issa's office surely must understand the concerns of people who are suspicious. I understand their frustration relative to reports of a deal if one doesn't exist but they should look at previous administrations and previous congresses as the source of that frustration, not those of us who question them.

Poor track records matter and have consequences. The track record of Congress very much warrants suspicion.

If there is no deal, I apologize in advance. If there IS a deal, it amounts to obstruction of justice and needs to be stopped. Call your congressman and see if you can find out.

I went into greater detail about this on my February 12th radio show.

----------------------------
***UPDATE*** Just found a letter from Issa to Holder in my in-box from Becca Watkins. It appears Issa is demanding that Holder give the committee a date on which the DOJ will honor the subpoena issued in October that had a February 9th deadline.

Here is an excerpt from the letter:

We cannot wait any longer for the Department's cooperation. As such, please specify a date by which you expect the Department to produce all documents responsive to the subpoena. In addition, please specify a Department representative who will interface with the Committee for production purposes. This individual should also serve as the conduit for dealing with the contempt proceedings, should the Department continue to ignore the Committee's subpoena.

The letter closed with a not-so-subtle jab at ranking member - who has also been registered with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Caucus so his integrity is already next to zero as a result - Elijah Cummings.

As Ranking Member Cummings promised the family of slain BOrder Patrol Agent Brian Terry, "we will not rest until every single person responsible for all of this, no matter where they are, are brought to justice." I applaud his resolve, and I want to make it clear that Congress will not give up until this accountability has been achieved.

At the June 15, 2011 hearing, Cummings looked the Terry family straight in the eye and uttered those words. Despite that, his intellectual honesty in the months since has belied that promise. It has been Cummings and the Democrats who have been politicizing this scandal in what appears to be a blatant attempt to protect a Democratic administration.

Then again, to socialists, lying is like breathing.

Good letter.

Read it all HERE.

Video: Arizona Sheriff says Eric Holder 'Perjured himself'

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu isn't just a no-nonsense officer of the law, he's also running for Congress. Next to Joe Arpaio, you'll be hard pressed to find a tougher sheriff. Babeu spoke at CPAC last week and devoted his entire speech to the Fast and Furious scandal.

Babeu spoke to the Daily Caller at CPAC:

Pinal County, Ariz. Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Republican congressional candidate, told The Daily Caller he thinks Attorney General Eric Holder “perjured himself” before Congress when testifying about Operation Fast and Furious.

“I believe that [Holder], and many sheriffs in Arizona believe that, he has perjured himself,” Babeu said during an interview with TheDC at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. “His story has changed. After there was evidence produced that he did know — he was given briefings, he was given emails — he then started to walk back his statements to say that, ‘well, I misunderstood the question.’”

“As a police officer before I was a sheriff, when somebody I’m talking to starts to change their story — that’s a clue they’re not telling the truth,” Babeu continued. “So, this guy is in charge of the Department of Justice, still — to this day — from Dec. 15, 2010, so it’s been over a year and there’s still been no accountability, we still don’t know who’s approved this program. How can that be? In the Department of What?”

If reports about any alleged deal in the Fast and Furious investigation are true (not saying they are), the constant sunlight being shone on the scandal by the likes of Babeu will help prevent that deal from being sealed.

Keep the pressure on, even if Issa has not been instructed by Boehner to stand down.

Video: Former Al-Qaeda Supporter Endorses Ron Paul

The man you see in the video below is Yousef al Khattab, formerly Joseph Cohen. He is a close colleague of a man named Younes Abdullah Muhammad, formerly known as Jesse Morton.  Muhammad recently pleaded guilty to three counts of, essentially, terrorism.

Via FBI website:

Jesse Curtis Morton, aka Younus Abdullah Muhammed, 33, of New York City, pleaded guilty today to using his position as a leader of Revolution Muslim Organization’s Internet sites to conspire to solicit murder, make threatening communications, and use the Internet to place others in fear.

Here is more on the website the two men co-founded.

Khattab has formerly expressed support for Osama bin Laden and the Revolution Muslim website is tied to quite a few terrorists.

Believe it or not, all of that is secondary to the purpose of this post. In this video, Khattab talks about his friend in sympathetic terms and if you fast forward to the 20:48 mark, he throws his complete and total support behind Ron Paul for president.

Hey Ron Pauliens, it's time to wake up now.

From Jawa via Shoebat

Romney losing to Santorum..... in Michigan?

I don't want to make too much of this but if Santorum beats Romney in Michigan, it may be the equivalent of landing an upper cut on an opponent with wobbly knees. It would be devastating. However, according to the Public Policy Poll (PPP), not only is Santorum ahead of Romney in the latter's formerly home state but he's blowing him away.

Via PPP:

Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich.

Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity (a stellar 67/23 favorability) and GOP voters increasingly souring on Gingrich.  Santorum's becoming something closer and closer to a consensus conservative candidate as Gingrich bleeds support.

Santorum's winning an outright majority of the Tea Party vote with 53% to 22% for Romney and 10% for Gingrich. He comes close to one with Evangelicals as well at 48% to 20% for Romney and 12% for Gingrich. And he cracks the 50% line with voters identifying as 'very conservative' at 51% to 20% for Romney and 10% for Gingrich.

Yeah, that's a 15% lead for Santorum in Michigan. The vast majority of Gingrich's support would likely go to the former Pennsylvania Senator as well if the former Speaker dropped out.

A couple of random thoughts on this.

1.) As a Catholic, Santorum could very well be capitalizing on Obama's contraceptive mandate. It's a rule the administration issued that targets Catholicism more than any other religion since it goes completely against the Church's teachings. Though they're not supposed to endorse any political candidate, the Catholic Church might just be mad enough to do it with Santorum. Obama's Community Organizing tactics work when the CO's are underdogs. In the fight between Obama and the Catholic Church, the CO's are actually the bullies and the Church is the underdog. This, as much as anything, could be giving Santorum the momentum he's got.

 2.) If Romney loses Michigan, it might be time for the establishment to throw up its hands and work for a brokered convention instead of coalescing behind any presumptive nominee other than Romney. Along those lines, if Romney represents the establishment and Santorum represents the Tea Party, how clear would that line of distinction be between Jeb Bush and Sarah Palin?

Via The Hill:

Santorum’s contraception boom — “We’re all Catholics now,” said Mike Huckabee — won’t hold up. Because we’re not. This race could well go to a brokered convention. If Jeb Bush is proposed, so Sarah Palin should be minutes later. She is now and always has been the singular Jacksonian voice in the original Tea Party phenomenon; the only one who can bring it to the mainstream. Her absence from the primary race has left a vacuum and no substitute has been found. Every other possible or potential leadership hopeful has risen and receded in this long Republican primary season.

But as The Hill’s Josh Lederman reports from the CPAC conference, the former Alaska governor received far and away the most spirited and enthusiastic reception at the convention of about 10,000 conservative activists. She drew the audience to its feet more than a dozen times during her keynote address on Saturday.

“The cheers for Palin were so loud that they drowned out her remarks again and again,” he writes. “Conference organizers had to set up three overflow rooms to accommodate the throngs of supporters eager to hear her words.”

Make no mistake. The second it's shown that Romney will not be the nominee, the establishment will fight, tooth and nail, to make sure neither Santorum nor Gingrich gets the nod and it certainly doesn't want Ron Paul (the one thing I agree with the establishment on). These are not just speculative rumors; they're practically self-evident truths.

They're only option at that point is to work toward a Brokered Convention. Jeb Bush and Mitch Daniels are warming up in the bullpen right...this...very...second.

h/t Hot Air

Fox Video Report: DEA and ICE involved in Fast and Furious

These kinds of news reports help to assuage suspicions that the Fast and Furious investigation is losing steam. In much the same way that ATF's involvement leads to Holder's Justice Department, DEA and ICE involvement leads to Janet Napolitano's DHS.

Via Oversight YouTube page: