Wednesday, September 11, 2013

ROBERT HALL 09/11/2013

Twelve years since we were attacked, and America is weaker than ever, still losing. But both Carlos Danger and Client Number 9 lost in NYC, and the gun grabbers lost in CO, so some good news. Big news day today—I couldn’t use everything I was sent, it’s too long already. I know you can’t read everything, just scroll through and pick those that interest you. Syria articles grouped at the end. ~Bob
Good Column: One On Nine-Eleven Twelve Years Ago. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Last year on the anniversary four Americans (our ambassador among them), on duty to country, were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, by al Qaeda. Why was our guard down? There have been no arrests. No one has been held accountable. Our President, and subordinates, not only lied about the attack but he now refers to it as a phony scandal.

9/11: Twelve Years Later. By Bruce Bawer 
Excerpt: 9/11 was a moment of utter moral clarity that has been succeeded by twelve years of moral chaos. Twelve years of duplicity, flim-flam, double-dealing, humbug. Twelve years of timorousness, incompetence, impotence.
Col. Allen West: Remembering 9/11: Today, think of those who died, those who attacked us, and those who wish to deceive us regarding why.
Excerpt: Today we remember the 12th anniversary of the horrific attacks of 9/11. We also remember the four Americans who were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. I knew on that day we would be called upon by our country to avenge this attack — the Pearl Harbor of our time.
Excerpt: The next morning, September 11, 2001, Mohammed Atta slashed Tom McGuinness’ throat in the cockpit of Flight 11 and piloted the plane into the the World Trade Center.…Steve, a pilot and pastor of a church plant in Maine, was originally scheduled to fly American Airlines flight 11 to Los Angeles that day but was bumped the night before by Tom McGuinness, who ultimately ended up in the cockpit on that cloudless Tuesday morning. Megan tells their story in her book, In My Seat: A Pilot’s True Story from September 10th-11th.
Excerpt: America awakened that sunny September morning to azure blue skies and with an innocence that would dissolve in the shadows of that very same evening. But that was later. The day began with an unfolding of America's joyous embracing of life...and of carrying out the business of being who we are.
Voting in Mexico
Colorado Senate President John Morse, state Sen. Angela Giron ousted
Excerpt: An epic national debate over gun rights in Colorado on Tuesday saw two Democratic state senators ousted for their support for stricter laws, a "ready, aim, fired" message intended to stop other politicians for pushing for firearms restrictions.
A Famous Victory in Colorado: A grassroots effort delivered an unprecedented blow to gun-control advocates. By Charles C. W. Cooke
Excerpt: Nevertheless, by the end of the process, so anxious were the opponents of the recall that they felt compelled to rely heavily on Michael Bloomberg, who sent $350,000 to Colorado to fight the threat; members of Obama’s ground team were brought in to boost turnout, and even former president Bill Clinton was wheeled in at the last minute to try to tip the scales. None of it worked. 
Only Democrats, after losing an election in which they outspent EVERYONE 6:1, claim the Koch Bros and NRA lost it for them.
Benghazi office of Libya Foreign Ministry hit by bomb on anniversary of Sept. 11 attack on U.S. Consulate
ExcerptL: A powerful car bomb exploded Wednesday near Libya's Foreign Ministry building in the heart of the eastern coastal city of Benghazi, security officials said, exactly one year after an attack there killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. (I wonder what YouTube video the Obama administration will blame this time. --Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt)
10 Ways Obamacare Isn’t Working. By Chris Jacobs
Excerpt: Obamacare is an unworkable law. It’s obvious because the Administration keeps trying to “fix” it—to no avail. It has delayed parts of the law, ignored others, and carved out exemptions for its political allies. (Nice summary of the various glitches in the ACA that mean we don't know yet its full impact, although we do know for sure that it is not going to give more care to more people for less money. And we know for sure that a lot of people who are responsible for the Act are making damn sure it doesn't apply to them. Nice, very nice. --Del)
The Last 24 Notes: Tom Day and the volunteer buglers who play 'Taps' at veterans' funerals across the country. By Matt Labash
Excerpt: But to Tom Day, “duty .  .  . honor .  .  . sacrifice” aren’t just Memorial Day buzzwords that trigger the Pavlovian anticipation of picnic foods and mattress-outlet sales. They are words that actually require something of him, the dwindling resource you can’t buy more of: time. For the 73-year-old former Marine serves those who serve.
Australia: Camp of the Ain'ts. By Jim Goad
Excerpt: “What,” you might ask, “is the difference between these new boat people and the nearly one million Vietnamese boat people who relocated to the USA in the 1970s and the 125,000 or so Cubans who paddled to Florida in 1980?” “The difference,” I would answer, “is that Australia is turning these new boat people away.”
New York City Bus Passenger Attacked for being White.
Excerpt: The War on Whites — which was escalated dramatically by the Obama Administration and its mainstream media friends by distorting and hyping the Trayvon Martin shooting — has claimed another victim in New York City: 'An attacker pummeled a bus passenger so hard he smashed the bones in his face after calling the victim a “cracker” in Manhattan – marking the second time in two days [in NYC] that people appeared to be randomly targeted in racial tirades against white people, authorities said.' [I was attacked for being white in NYC in 1970. Three black girls and a black boy followed my friend and I into our office building after we'd had lunch and cornered us in the elevator. The boy punched me in the stomach and I doubled over. There was an older woman from our office in the elevator while this was happening. She said, "What did you bring them in here for?" Kate]
Map and History of the United States... Don't Miss
This is a simple, short, yet elegant presentation. It will make your grandkids better understand the history of their country ( and maybe some of the older generation, too ). This is a “moving” map of the country, showing it from the beginning of the 13 states and going through the present.
It includes the acquisitions from England and Spain, the Slave states, the Free states, a segment on the Civil war. It includes some mentions of Central and South America, etc.Click on each State for further info. Turn on your sound, as the narration is a significant portion of the presentation. When it opens, do not click on Go at the bottom ..... click on Play at the top.
Google loses appeal in Street View snooping case. By Martha Mendoza 
Excerpt: Attorneys suing Google for enabling its camera-carrying vehicles to collect emails and Internet passwords while photographing neighborhoods for the search giant's popular "Street View" maps look forward to resuming their case now that a federal appeals court has ruled in their favor.
Eternally optimistic Guardian reader finally admits Obama is dreadful. By The Daily Mash
Excerpt: A GUARDIAN reader who has worshipped Barack Obama for five years without interruption has finally admitted he is just awful. Martin Bishop, who until last week was still insisting Obama was a mixture of Martin Luther King and John F Kennedy, has now realised that America’s first black president is basically just that. Bishop said: “I read in the Guardian this morning that he’s now saying there would be no attack on Syria if Assad gives up his chemical weapons. I just thought – ‘he’s an arse’.
Choosing God Over Government Cheese
Excerpt: Combine this with Obama’s war on Christianity, and the following story should come as no surprise: 'A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy. “They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.'
Does Poverty Lead to Poor Decision Making?
Excerpt: Poverty and the worry that goes with it uses up so much mental energy that the poor have little room in their brains for anything else. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by, and perpetuate, their financial woes.
Watch Out Higher Education, Obama's Coming
Excerpt: President Obama has identified yet another sector of the economy in dire need of government help: higher education. And it seems he wants to use ObamaCare as the model for improving education quality and lowering cost. The one problem is that ObamaCare will do neither, says Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation. … But as Vedder points out, the high cost and diminishing returns of college are largely results of federal government involvement, not the lack of it. And now the president wants to double-down on the government's role. To paraphrase humorist P.J. O'Rourke, you think college is expensive now, wait until Obama tries to make it affordable.
Obamacare Premiums Will Vary Widely By State And City: Report
Excerpt: The premiums for coverage available on the health insurance exchanges created by President Barack Obama's health care reform law will vary widely from state to state, according to a new Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data published by 17 states and the District of Columbia.
MS-13 member convicted of shooting teen mom and her toddler
http://www.examiner.com/article/ms-13-member-convicted-of-shooting-teen-mom-and-her-toddler
Excerpt: The convicted murderer, Adalberto Ariel Guzman, also known as “Gringo,” is facing a sentence of life in prison as a result of his conviction, since the federal prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in the case, according to a New York police veteran who closely monitored the case.
"We already have a permit" 'Justice for Benghazi' Organizers Invite '2 Million Bikers' to Join them on Capitol Hill.
Excerpt: Today the Justice for Benghazi Rally Organizers, Patriots4America and Special Operations Speaks invite the 2 Million Bikers to ride into the Capitol as ‘Bikers for the Benghazi 4’ and join their approved and permitted rally on the Capitol West Lawn at 12:30-6:00 pm on September 11, 2013.
Special Ops group invites bikers to join 'permit approved' rally. By Janeen Capizola
Excerpt: What could have been a one or two hour ride through will now likely be an all-day event,” the bikers’ organizers wrote on Facebook. “We will be obeying all laws. We will be stopping at all stoplights, stop signs, and yielding to all pedestrians.” With everyone on the gas Wednesday, the thunder will be unmistakable as these American patriots ride past the Capitol, the national memorials, and the Muslims marching on DC with their approved permit to rally in the “Million Americans Against Fear” demonstration.
DC Grants 9/11 Permit to Anti-American Muslims, Denies it to Patriotic Bikers. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The countdown to Sept. 11 commemoration demonstrations by patriotic bikers versus a fringe Muslim “truther” group is taking shape.
Denied a permit by the nation’s capital for a special “non-stop” ride through town with a waiver for red lights, stop signs and other traffic controls, organizers of the “2 Million Bikers to DC” ride to remember 9/11 are undeterred.
A September Evening. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Islam is the bitter beggar forever looking to steal what it cannot have, worrying over the imaginary history of its own greatness and cursing the upstarts in the streets of a foreign city for taking the glory was rightfully theirs. The American who shares his good fortune with the rest of the world cannot understand that there are some people who would rather steal than accept a gift, who would rather destroy than build and who would rather drown the world in darkness than accept someone else's light. With some difficulty he might accept the existence of a small number of people who think this way, but an entire civilization built in this mold is too obscene an idea.
Libyan government commemorates September 11 by refusing to arrest Benghazi killers. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: No it’s actually very simple. 1. The Libyan government has no enforcement abilities 2. Neither apparently do we.
Excerpt: The military is ramping up its ability to respond to a potential attack on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi terror attack that left four Americans dead…. One year ago Wednesday, the U.S. consulate and CIA outpost in Benghazi came under a prolonged attack that lasted almost eight hours. The fact that no armed military support beyond a small team of Marines from Tripoli was ever sent to Benghazi later became an enormous point of scrutiny for White House and Pentagon leadership. (A little late. –Barb. We usually have a MAU [Marine Amphibious Unit] on float in the Med. That’s an infantry battalion with attached units like an artillery battery, tanks sometimes, choppers, etc. Makes sense to have them close to potential trouble. ~Bob)
Ex-FBI lawyer linked to surveillance abuses poised for federal judge post
Excerpt: A former senior FBI official implicated in surveillance abuses is poised to become a federal judge in one of theUS's most important courts for terrorism cases. Valerie Caproni, the FBI's top lawyer from 2003 to 2011, is scheduled to receive a vote on Monday in the Senate for a seat on the southern district court of New York. Caproni has come under bipartisan criticism over the years for enabling widespread surveillance later found to be inappropriate or illegal.
Car bombs hit army site in Egypt's Sinai
Excerpt: At least six soldiers have been killed and 17 others injured in car bomb explosions at an intelligence facility in Rafah on Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, state TV reported. Two cars driven by suicide attackers drove into the outside gates of the military intelligence service building in the Imam Ali area in Rafah on Wednesday. (Muslims killing Muslims for Allah. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Since Barack Obama took office almost 10 million people have dropped out of the labor force. More than half a million dropped out in the last month alone. Today, a record 90 million people — almost one third of the entire population — are not working and not even looking for a job. “How did that happen?” Krugman asks. One answer is supplied by University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan — one of the top labor market economists in the country and a regular contributor to The New York Times economics blog. In a new book, Mulligan estimates that roughly half of the excess unemployment we have been experiencing is due to the lure of entitlement benefits — food stamps, unemployment compensation, disability benefits, etc. In other words, we are paying people not to work. In a separate analysis, Mulligan estimates that much of the remaining unemployment may be due to other Obama administration policies, especially the Affordable Care Act. So what does Krugman have to say about Mulligan’s study? Nothing. Nothing? Not a thing.
Jeb Bush keeps distance in awarding Hillary Clinton the Liberty Medal
Excerpt: Clinton was honored with the center's Liberty Medal for her public service and ongoing advocacy efforts on behalf of women. "We are drawn here today by a common purpose," Bush said, going on to extol the values of the Constitution. Critics were aghast that Bush would celebrate Clinton, particularly with controversy still raw over the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (HC had been shown getting off plane wearing black/red colors; at awards chose black/white. –Barb)
Official: 19 Firefighters Possibly Saved Had Air Tankers Responded
Excerpt: The incident highlights an increasingly critical shortage of large air tankers used to fight wildfires across the country. An ABC News investigation found that the federal fleet of the planes has shrunk over the last decade from 44 to 11. In the case of the deadly Yarnell blaze, air tankers had been hitting the fire, but none were on site when it took a sudden, vicious turn. (They asked for 6; none came. 19 died in AZ. The head of Forest Service could only repeat a Regime campaign slogan some umpteen times, “We’re moving forward.” His eyes looked glazed over. He could not say why no replenishment of fleet, which dates back to Korean aircraft. Just kept mumbling “Moving forward.” Nyet. –Barb)
U.S. officials identify extremist groups in Benghazi attack
Excerpt: But on the first anniversary of the attack, there is not “anyone in custody who can tell us” specifics, including when, where and by whom the plot was hatched, and whether the Sept. 11 date was selected in advance or was a last-minute choice of opportunity, a counterterrorism official said. “That is a huge gap,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation. “What we lack is a source of information that puts us where we need to be.” (Just as they blocked the 9/11 Commission….Barb)
US consulate attack in Benghazi: a challenge to official version of events
Excerpt: The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi was striking for a number of reasons: the date, 11 September, the toll – four diplomats killed, including an ambassador – and the knock-on effects on the careers of senior American politicians. But what is perhaps most striking is the inconsistencies: the US version of events compared with those of witnesses and the facts on the ground. The two do not tally. (It’s called coverup…just as before, same old, same old. “What’s it matter?” Where are the witnesses? Oh, we’re having a crisis and emergently closing embassies….Where are the witnesses? Oh, they’re using gas inSyria and we KNOW it is Assad, even though he was winning. He decided to do the one thing that would bring in the consternation of the world to his civil war….the CIA funneling weapons to rebels? Naw, they wouldn’t use it to bring down Assad and open the doors for all the saber-rattling US corporations….backed by all those politicians with all that war-machine conglomerate money in their pockets. Look! Wall Street went back UP. –Barb)
More Former Guantanamo Bay Detainees Return To Terrorism
Excerpt: Of the 603 former detainees tracked by US intelligence services, a total of 100 have now been confirmed as reengaging in "terrorism" or "insurgent" activities, while another 74 are suspected of reengaging. This brings the total rate of recidivism to nearly 29 percent, up from 28 percent as of the last report six months ago.
Excerpt: The administration what wants America to trust it on Syria is continuing its cover-up of Benghazi. CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson posted this on Facebook this afternoon. Secretary of State John Kerry has told House Oversight Committee he will not comply with Republican requests to make Benghazi survivors available for interviews by Congress. Chairman Issa R-CA says if Kerry doesn’t change his mind, there could be subpoenas.
The Princess and the Brotherhood: For nine decades, Egypt has fled modernity. 
Excerpt: In February, the government advised the people to eat less and cut back the food subsidy to about 400 calories a day — which even Nanny Bloomberg might balk at. Amidst all the good news of the Morsi era — the collapse of Western tourism, the ethnic cleansing of Copts, the attacks on the Israeli embassy, sexual assaults on uncovered women, death for apostasy, etc. — amidst all these Morsi-era success stories, even a Muslim Brother has to eat occasionally. Egyptians learned the hard way that, whatever their cultural preferences, full-strength Islam comes at a price.
The Million Muslim March on 9/11
Excerpt: So, naturally, a group called the American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) has been granted permission to hold a "Million Muslim March" in Washington, D.C. on September 11th. AMPAC claims that Muslims have been "victimized by being made the villains" and "to this day every media outlet and anti-Islamic organization has committed slanderous and libel statements against us as Muslims and our religion of Islam." On August 20th, the Center for Security Policy, using data published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, published "Religious Bias Crimes 2000-2009, Muslim, Jewish and Christian Victims: Debunking the Myth of a Growing Trend in Muslim Victimization." (Bet Al-Jazeera America covers it. –Barb)
Washington Post shocked that gun companies were serious about leaving anti-gun states
Excerpt: Someone please inform the Washington Post that their order of schadenfreude is ready. Gun companies were not kidding when they said they’d leave if states passed anti-gun laws that outlawed their products. Apparently, the concept of companies being honest is alien to those poor souls trapped inside the Beltway:
Herman Cain Mocks Obama and Kerry
Excerpt: Herman Cain mocks Obama - often. This week he and his PR team add Secretary of State John Kerry to his list too. It's attacks like this one that have kept Cain in the Republican spotlight since his ill-fated Presidential nomination run in 2012.
Excerpt: But the anecdotes are piling high enough that they now constitute a body of data that can help gauge the impact of the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate.
Excuses, excuses: Nashville school officials blame budget woes on city’s high-performing charters
Excerpt: At the heart of the budget controversy are two competing schools of thought – one represented by reformers who believe performance and accountability should guide education decisions in the Music City, the other by education bureaucrats who want to prop up failing government-run schools and preserve their top-heavy administration.
3 important things we still don't know about Benghazi
Excerpt: So what are these unanswered questions? Here are three. (Gee, it’s almost like the administration doesn’t want answers. ~Bob)
September 11...also a day of remembrance for American journalism, which passed away after a long illness 1 year ago today. #Benghazi
Excerpt: The letter makes no mention of Yellen's top competitor for the job, Larry Summers, although several of the points addressed in the letter appear to highlight perceived concerns about how Summers would lead the central bank. (BO will have to ask Putin first. ~Bob)
Trader Joe's To Drop Health Coverage For Part-Time Workers Under Obamacare
“If you like your plan, you can keep it.” Right. ~Bob
The Left called Bush the "Cowboy President" because he acted tough. We call Obama the "Coward President" because he's weak & incompetent. (Black conservative I follow. ~Bob)
‘2 Million Bikers' Roar Over Muslims In D.C.
Excerpt: Mark Segraves of the NBC affiliate in Washington reported that only “about 25 people,” including activist Cornel West, were at the Muslim march as of 12:30 p.m…. At approximately 1 p.m., “2 Million Bikers to DC” Facebook page co-founder Belinda Bee posted that police have counted nearly one million bikers are on the streets of Washington. (The bikers were denied permits but have come from across America and Canada. –Barb)
Monday Map: Top Marginal Tax Rates on Sole Proprietorships and S-corporations
Great map. –Bard Thor.
N. Korea may have restarted nuclear reactor at Yongbyon: sources
Because, you know, Obama’s strong and scary. ~Bob
Excerpt: A new Reason-Rupe poll finds President Obama's standing on foreign policy "has taken such a hit" that 64% of Americans -- including 68% of independents and 41% of Democrats -- believe his handling of foreign policy is worse than, or the same as, former President George W. Bush's handling of foreign policy.
Pence and The Revolution: Five reasons he might be the 2016 dark horse to watch
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/10/pence-and-the-revolution-five-reasons-he-might-be-the-2016-dark-horse-to-watch/
Excerpt: He’s more charismatic than Scott Walker, more conservative than Chris Christie and, unlike so many of the top-tier 2016 Republicans, he has actually run a state.
So why isn’t Indiana Gov. Mike Pence generating the kind of buzz worthy of a top-tier candidate?
9/11 Fireboat That Could
Excerpt: In the panic of Sept. 11, 2001, as tens of thousands of people tried to leave the island of Manhattan, an aging boat once headed for the scrap heap became a hero of sorts. …Firemen battling blazes at the World Trade Center had no water because the twin towers had fallen on the water lines….For three days, the Harvey joined three active-duty fireboats to provide the only water there was to keep the 9/11 fires from getting worse. (Built in 1931, the owners are now trying to raise funds for its preservation. –Barb)
Excerpt: Wind energy facilities have killed at least 67 golden and bald eagles in the last five years, but the figure could be much higher, according to a new scientific study by government biologists. The research represents one of the first tallies of eagle deaths attributed to the nation's growing wind energy industry, which has been a pillar of President Barack Obama's plans to reduce the pollution blamed for global warming. (Most of the deaths from 2008-2012. Obama’s legacy. The USSR realized that Command economic systems ruled by top-down dictates do not function productively; cause and effect; demand/supply, capitalism had to be instilled for growth. If the demand goes away, maybe Siemens will quit building and advertising shipping these death machines around the world in the name of “greenness.” Kill the birds, grow the bugs, grow the bugs, get the pestilence. Think. –Barb)
Palestinian Authority Denounces Women Protesting Against Honor Killings, Urges them to Kill Jews Instead
Public Policy Polling Withheld Poll They Did Not Like
Excerpt: On Wednesday, the left-leaning polling firm Public Policy Polling revealed that they purposefully suppressed their polls about one of the races because they did not believe the results.
Syria
Syria crisis: Obama leans to diplomacy on chemical weapons impasse
Excerpt: The US president said that although he had suspended a congressional vote to authorise force against Syria, he had ordered the military to "maintain their current posture to keep the pressure on Assad and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails". (I didn’t listen to him, or, being bi-partisan, to Rand Paul either. With my health, bedtime comes early if I’m to get up at 6:00 for work, but I would have skipped anyway. I didn’t use to listen to Bush either. Set piece speeches are spin for the bobble heads. I do read the commentary and the key points of these things. That seems to keep me in the loop. ~Bob.)
Krauthammer: ‘One of the most odd presidential speeches ever delivered’
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/11/krauthammer-one-of-the-most-odd-presidential-speeches-ever-delivered/
Excerpt: “That’s what makes this one of the most odd presidential speeches ever delivered,” Krauthammer said. “Here is a president who urgently addresses the nation on all channels to call for a pause in assuming that the nation does not want to do in the first place. This is, you know, almost unbelievable. And the fact that he puts so much weight on the Russian proposal, which is a farce.”
Obama submits to Putin’s Syrian strategy [VIDEO]
Excerpt: This new focus on diplomacy is a stunning retreat from Obama’s much-touted and very unpopular promise to punish Syria for an August nerve gas attack on rebel-held neighborhoods.
Obama’s Speech and Syria
I have to give him credit, he did one smooth move last night. Totally defused the situation of the upcoming negative vote with a super reasonable idea that puts the onus on Russia to fix the situation. We are still the good guy, because it was his threat of maybe military action that got Russia and Assad to come up with this lovely decoy. And it is a decoy. To actually set up a force of inspectors to go into a country with a war going on is very close to impossible in the first place, and they will be going to where Assad sends them in the second place. It will take months to even start to set this up, and many months more to try to make it work. In the meantime, if one of the many rebel groups has access to any of the chemical weapons, they just need to set up an incident where it can be blamed on Assad and the whole thing gets super messy again. But no matter what, it has Obama off the hot seat he had built for himself, at least for the near future. And it has let him play the concerned humanitarian, but eager to avoid getting the US into the mess at the same time. Excellent posturing. This does put Assad in the business of avoiding any use of the gases, since that would then be a bright green light for the US to go ahead and bomb the crap out of his resources. Meanwhile, all the rest of the killing can go on without a hitch, and who knows, Assad's forces may yet turn things around and really start taking back territory. Certainly by now the local Christians and other non-Muslims will welcome them. So we don't have to worry about peace breaking out anywhere in Syria for now. --Del
Obama Rescues Assad: The President lets Putin outmaneuver him on Syrian chemical arms
Excerpt: What could be worse for America's standing in the world than a Congress refusing to support a President's proposal for military action against a rogue regime that used WMD? Here's one idea: A U.S. President letting that rogue be rescued from military punishment by the country that has protected the rogue all along. (Well, Obama's supporters will continue to see his speech as wonderful, and perhaps too many other Americans will buy into the deal, like people outside the restaurant smelling the steak and hearing the sizzle. But with time that old question "Where's The Beef?" is going to come up, and I wonder how things will shake out for Mr. Obama's status both here and abroad then. The good news is that we have plenty of time now before the 2014 elections for the Syrian debacle to develop further, which may serve to finally disillusion a large chunk of the Independent voters, and bring down disaster on the Democrats. Watching Syria may almost be fun (aside from the detail of actual human murders and suffering that will continue) as the plan to pick up all the bad chemicals unravels. What kind of scrambling will the White House get into then? --Del)
Guest Post: When a Faux Pas Becomes a Potential Outcome
Fifteen Minutes of Foreign Policy Malfeasance. By Bruce Thornton 
Excerpt: On the eve of the 12thanniversary of the terrorist strikes on 9/11, President Obama last night addressed the nation and reprised every delusional and bankrupt internationalist idea that contributed to that disaster. The current Syrian crisis––merely the latest Middle Eastern example of Obama’s incompetence––exemplifies more thoroughly than the rest just how politicized, incoherent, hypocritical, and dangerous to this country’s security and interests Obama’s foreign policy has been.
Excerpt: In short, while posing—as he habitually does—as the only adult in the room scolding critics of his Syria policy on both the right and the left, his contradictions and weakness made their critiques look smart. It’s not just that his claim that diplomacy will succeed because of a “credible threat” of U.S. force that we all know was not credible is a flat-out lie. Having already demonstrated incompetence on a historic scale in flubbing this crisis, no speech could have retrieved the situation and restored Obama’s credibility. 
Excerpt: Sixty percent of those questioned said it was not in the national interests of the U.S. to be involved in the bloody two year old Syrian civil war, and more than half said the speech did not change their confidence in the president's leadership on military and international issues.
Victor Davis Hanson On The President’s “Mini-Munich” Speech and America’s Looming Challenge
Excerpt: I was underwhelmed. I’d like to think everybody was. He wants to use force, but he doesn’t quite want to use force. It’s going to be substantial, but not very substantial. He really thinks it’s important to consult Congress, but he wasn’t going to do it. But then when he got in trouble, he was going to do it, and then when they were going to vote no against him, he postponed it. He really believes you always have to do it, but of course, he didn’t do it in Libya. 
Excerpt: How this works, in practice, is almost impossible to imagine. Western intelligence agencies do not even know where all of Assad’s chemical-weapons stockpiles are located. Remember how much trouble UN inspectors had in verifying Saddam Hussein’s compliance with UN resolutions in the 1990s? The difficulties will increase ten-fold in Syria where the chemical-weapons arsenal is scattered across a large, dangerous battlefield.
Obama faces pressure from Putin, Hill to back off Syrai strike ahead of speech.
Excerpt: But one of his top congressional allies, as well as Putin himself, are now calling for Congress to back off the strike vote. Putin reportedly said Tuesday that the only way the diplomatic option can work is if "we hear that the American side and all those who support the United States in this sense reject the use of force." The comment came as Syria's foreign minister embraced the proposal to turn over chemical weapons. (The ruskies are runnin' the country. Better Putin than no president at all. --Kate)
Putin: Syria chem arms handover will only work if U.S. calls off strike
Excerpt: President Putin’s comments came shortly after the Syrian government said it would agree to place its chemical weapons arsenal under international control. On Tuesday, Britain, France and the US said they would table a resolution on Syrian chemical weapons to the UN Security Council later in the day. An emergency closed-door meeting at the Security Council is scheduled to take place at 4:00pm EST (20:00 GMT), the UN press office said.
Syria, chemical weapons, and the worst day in Western diplomatic history. By Charles Crawford 
Excerpt: Chemical weapons are relatively easy to make and store (and fire), but much harder to dismantle safely. The chemicals themselves are fiendishly dangerous and need to be destroyed with specialist equipment without creating environmental hazards. Plus the explosive part of the delivery shell needs careful handling. Destroying CW stocks is therefore a complex and expensive operation, even under calm conditions. Both the United States and Russia have both heavily failed to meet internationally agreed deadlines for destroying their massive Cold War legacy chemical weapons stocks. There is no precedent for attempting anything like this in a country wracked by civil war. It just can’t happen. No Syrian chemical weapons will be destroyed or "handed over" quickly.
Excerpt: Without much effort, his Alice-in-Wonderland proposal of collecting WMD from Assad, in the midst of a civil war no less (does this mean a mandatory 24-hour time-out so that U.N. inspectors can rush in with clipboards and audit the ten warring sides?), all at once seems to have kept his Mediterranean coastal client Bashar Assad not just alive, but with the upper hand in the war just by — in theory, though unlikely in fact — eliminating 1 percent of the combined killing capacity so far demonstrated in the fighting. 
High Degree of Confidence
Sadly true. ~Bob
Good Column: Making Sense of Syria. By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: The president’s problem with his own base was probably startling to him, and sobering. He knows he was going to lose Congress, not only the House but very possibly—likely, I’d say—the Senate. The momentum was all against him. … And only in part because this White House is full of people who know nothing—really nothing—about history. They’ve only seen movies.
Rand Paul tells White House to call off war vote. By John Hudson
Excerpt: While Paul was skeptical that Moscow would carry through on its proposal, he encouraged the president to pursue the potential breakthrough energetically. "We have to trust but verify whether they're going to be sincere," he said, echoing the statement by Obama on Monday night. "All of us are concerned about Syria's chemical weapons. No one wants them used on civilians or our soldiers."
Russian Parliament Gloats As Putin Checkmates Obama Over Syria
Excerpt: Monday morning, Secretary of State John Kerry made what an administration official called a "major goof" with a never-going-to-happen hypothetical that suggested Syria could avoid American airstrikes by surrendering their chemical weapons. Even the State Department walked Kerry's statement back. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov immediately seized upon Kerry's flub, and now a member of the Russian parliament is gloating over Putin's checkmate of Obama.
Obama's Syrian Rebels at Play. (Moderates! ~Bob)
Excerpt: Catholic nun Mother Agnes Marium el-Salib reports: 'A total of twelve Alawite villages were subjected to this horrendous attack. That was a true slaughterhouse. People were mutilated and beheaded. There is even a video that shows a girl being dismembered alive — alive! — by a frame saw.
World War III in Pictures
Excerpt: Obama has worked his way out onto a cracked limb. He can fall off on either of two sides. Either he can admit that Putin has played him like a balalaika and back down, or he can blunder forward into a senseless war that could quickly escalate into Armageddon.
Op-Ed: Germany is the Supplier of WMD Technology to Syria
Excerpt: Recent chemical warfare developments in Syria bring to mind the study, authored by a US investigator, Kenneth Timmerman (who in 2012 made an unsuccessful run for a Maryland congressional seat) entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Cases of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya," which was hand delivered to our agency in Jerusalem in late February 1991, at the end of the Gulf War by Tilman Zulch, head of a German organization known as THE SOCIETY FOR THREATENED PEOPLES. This study, later published in full by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in August 1992, documents how WMD technology for these four nations emanated from more than 80 German firms, all of whom exported such lethal substances through subsidiary companies outside of Germany, since German law forbids their direct export from Germany itself. … (Have seen articles in UK saying Britain sent substances as well…Barb)
What an attack on Syria will mean for US-Iran relations. A strike on Assad would abort the recent "testing of the waters" between US and Iran since Rouhani's election. By Geneive Abdo
Excerpt: If President Barack Obama does indeed attack Syria, with or without congressional approval, he will forfeit an opportunity to make headway with Iran over its nuclear programme and risk allowing Tehran once again to reap the greatest benefit from Washington's military excesses in the Middle East. (Consider the source. ~Bob.)
Obama’s Psychotic Syrian Rebels Dismember Precious Little Girl While She Was Still Alive 
Excerpt: Should the United States be allied with radical Islamic jihadists that dismember little girls while they are still alive? That question sounds ridiculously absurd, but that is precisely what Barack Obama is proposing.
Humiliating: Kerry’s Syria ‘Expert’ Fired for Claiming to Have a Ph.D.
Excerpt: The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University. 
Americans 12 Times More Interested In Miley Cyrus Than Syria Debate
Any of you wonder how BO got elected? ~Bob
Attention Saturday Night Live writers: This is how you satirize President Barack Obama.
Excerpt: The Second City Network takes both the president and his glassy-eyed followers to task in a biting new video about Obama's heated Syria rhetoric. Help Kickstart World War III is a faux crowd funding pitch aimed at Obama worshipers who will nod their heads at any decision the president makes.
Who funds Syrian rebel advocate O’Bagy and the Syrian Emergency Task Force? You do
http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/09/who-funds-syrian-rebel-advocate-obagy-and-the-syrian-emergency-task-force-you-do/#ixzz2ec2mx7GQ
Excerpt: In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller earlier last week, O’Bagy explained how she got paid. O’Bagy has been roundly condemned for working for a pro-Syrian lobbying group at the same time she was casting the Syrian rebels in a positive light. She works as an analyst at the neoconservative think tank, the Institute for the Study of War.
Excerpt: The panel said both sides had committed offenses such as torture, rape and indiscriminate attacks on civilians on a large scale, The New York Times reported. (We are going to bomb only in behalf of moderate rapists. ~Bob)
Obama lifted his Syria speech from Bush. By Marc A. ThiessenWashington Post
Excerpt: If Bush was so bad, then why did Obama lift so much of his speech making the case for military action in Syria from Bush’s speech making the case for military action in Iraq? (Don’t blame Obama—the teleprompter did it! ~Bob)

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