Friday, November 30, 2012

Don’t Let the Door Slam on Your Back

Eduardo Saverin - Facebook cofounder
John R. Houk
© November 30, 2012

I have to admit my first thought on someone who renounces their citizenship to the still freest nation in the world is to screw that person over, even if it is to tax the cheese out of them. However, calmer moments of thought lead me to believe in Liberty more than anger.

The blurb of President Washington allowing Americans to leave for Great Britain because they favored British rule is a good story of Liberty. Nonetheless a big dog like Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin that leaves the same USA that made him rich should be made more difficult to continue business in the USA.

After further investigation I discovered that Saverin is moving to tax haven Singapore. If Brazilian born Saverin actually resides in Singapore he may have to go underground with his reputed playboy ways. Singapore is NOT real big on the Liberty thing like the good old USA. I don’t know though, Singapore’s courting of the world’s wealthy to avoid socialist style taxation may look the other way. I’m not sure if there rule of law enforcement for the average guy and rule of law looking-the-other-way for the wealthy or the immigrant wealthy.

Saverin still is a Brazilian citizen in the land of his birth. Since Saverin does not reside in Brazil and Facebook is an American company/corporation I think Saverin is safe from capital gains taxes from Brazil.

All I can say is that Saverin is abandoning U.S. Liberty for money, ergo no more U.S. protection for him.

JRH 11/30/12 (Hat Tip: Danny Jeffrey)
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Those Fleeing Obama’s America: Prepare to be taxed

November 28, 2012

Senator Charles Schumer has recently proposed a new law to tax Americans heavily for leaving the United States. It was in reaction to the news that Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, had renounced his American Citizenship and was taking his $2 billion dollars in capital gains with him.

Schumer proposed to tax him 30%. Sadly John Boehner, Republican, Speaker of the House (I still think he’s a disguised Democrat), said he would support the measure.

Schumer must thank Adolph Hitler for this idea. The Fuehrer instituted the Reichsfluchsteuer tax of 25% on Jews leaving the Fatherland in the 1930s. So Herr Schumer has merely taken the basic idea and upped it by 5%.

Richard Samuelson, history professor at California State University, San Bernardino, quoted by National Review points to the historical significance of Schumer’s bill.

“Schumer’s attack is fundamentally misguided, and reveals a disturbing attitude toward private property. Should it impose such a tax, the American government would be saying that property is no longer truly private.”

He goes on to point out that George Washington, in January 1777 made the heart-rending decision to allow his followers to cross to the English side and take all of their property and savings with them if they felt they would be better off under the rule of the King. This was one of the darkest periods of American history, but Washington knew that liberty was of paramount importance and felt he had no right to impound the property of the settlers. His followers were fighting for the liberty to live where they pleased and to be free of arbitrary taxation. Why should it be different now?

It is my opinion (and only my opinion at this point) that starting very soon the IRS will begin collecting an exit tax of up to 30% on any of your savings leaving the country. The first stage would be to tax only very large assets but later I believe the ceiling will come down to cover even modest nest eggs because this government is in deep financial trouble. Obama and the Congress continue to spend money at an alarming rate and only your savings can pay the bills.
But you still have time to avoid it.

During the 2007 legislative year of the US Congress, a bill entitled “Tax Collection Responsibility Act of 2007” almost became law. This bill sought to impose an exit tax on all persons leaving the USA to take up residence abroad and thereby renouncing permanent resident status in the US, or people who renounced their US citizenship.

It was introduced by Rep Charles Rangel (Harlem NY), and co-sponsored by Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Joseph Crowley, John Larson, Sander Levin, John Lewis, Jim McDermott, Kendrick Meek, Earl Pomeroy and Chris Van Hollen. You will be amazed to learn that all of these Congressmen are Democrats. Not one Republican sponsored this bill.

As an Independent Republican who thinks that most Democrats are 100% wrong about practically everything, I almost hesitate to mention that I actually liked some things about Charlie Rangel. Of course there were many things I did not like about him too. I saw him as a Democrat who always stood up for his constituents (even if they were wrong). He was a flamboyant, charming, extrovert; a showman who loved publicity. I used to think of him almost as a later version of W.C Fields; a character you love, but you know you should hate. He was a Democrat with a sense of humor and probably the only one unless you count Biden and his humor is singularly unintentional.

Charlie distinguished himself in the U.S. Army. He was, in fact, a hero with a Purple Heart and a bronze Star. After leaving the army he attended University and became a lawyer (always a suspicious move in my opinion). In 1971 Charlie won a seat in Congress representing the heavily Democrat district of Harlem. In 2007 he became chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. And that was probably the turning point at which Charlie went bad. He wasn’t really bad - bad, like some other Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents. He fudged his taxes and flirted with the finer points of the law. But, he was bad enough to be forced to resign when, on December 2, 2010; the full House approved a sanction of censure against him. Anyway, Charlie was the sponsor of that tax collection bill because Charlie wanted to keep the money close to home where he could keep an eye on it.

Similar bills were put forward many times. None of them passed.

Don’t hold your breath citizens. It will come up again soon. So, if you have any plans for leaving the country with your hard-earned savings you had better do it very soon.

30% tax on all assets above $600,000. This included the cash value of property and bank accounts

The general idea of the “Tax Collection Responsibility Act of 2007” was to discourage people from leaving the United States and taking their savings with them. In essence, it imposed a 30% tax on all assets above $600,000. This included the cash value of property and bank accounts.

While similar bills have failed, and Schumer’s may also fail, how long do you think it will be before some of Obama’s thugs bring up a version that will pass? And, how long would it take the next Congress to vote that bill into law?

Most people do not have $600,000 anyway, but I’m sure this dedicated President will get to them eventually.

Let’s face it people—-the government is in trouble. They have a President who spends money like water. He can’t get his hands on enough of it and he will find many ways to tax you out of all of your savings until he has brought you down to the financial level of his half-brother in his native Kenya. In fact, his avowed aim is to make all men in the world equal in poverty, except for himself, of course. In his philosophy all men are equal except that some are more equal than others.

Even before I researched this bill, I knew that Obama would be coming after those who leave the country to live in other lands early on. Few of those who remain in the United States would care about the fate of those who want to leave. Most Americans would not be able to leave anyway and they certainly would want your hard earned savings to be available for their use in the form of welfare. They would be horrified to think someone like you who wants to leave the Obama Utopia would be allowed to take their savings with them.

My wife Marcia and I saw this coming ten years ago and that is one of the reasons we felt compelled to find a home in another country. We were never rich. But we took what little we had and invested it in land and real estate seven years ago. We have never regretted that wise move.

We pay taxes to the IRS just as we did when living in the United States. The little we owe on our Social Security payments is not worth worrying about. We have not renounced our citizenship and have no plans to do so in the future. We are simply Americans living abroad.

This bill may never affect you as long as you move before it becomes law. In past versions it was not retroactive.

So, if you buy property abroad before the bill becomes law you should not have to worry. How long this will be I can’t say. But I would suggest that if you plan to move anyway, do it as soon as possible.

This message is for those who want to leave and have the means to do so.
Do it NOW. A year from now it may be too late.
________________________________
Don’t Let the Door Slam on Your Back
John R. Houk
© November 30, 2012
___________________________________
Those Fleeing Obama’s America: Prepare to be taxed

David Rushton was born in London where his parents were staunch conservatives. He immigrated to the United States in the sixties and formed a patriotic organization advocating conservative principles which include rallies and marches. He had his own radio talk show for many years and was also a guest on many radio and Television talk shows.

In the last few years David wrote several books about the dangers of radical Islam and spoke on this subject in some of the largest Conservative Churches in the United States.

He now resides with his wife Marcia in Costa Rica.  David can be reached at DavidRushton@yahoo.com


Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Drain

TheMeccanDrain
Here is an Eric Allen Bell email that all should read.

JRH 11/29/12
*****************************
The Drain

By Eric Allen Bell
Sent: Nov 26, 2012 at 7:36 AM

THERE IS A DARK SPOT and seen from the sky, it appears as a drain, with people circling around it in a brainwashed daze. This drain sucks away human potential. It speaks to what is good in a person and says, "Bow in this direction 5 times a day" and then it sucks all of their goodness away. It speaks to what is bad in a person and says, "Now this is the way to be. Evil is good and good is evil". The dark drain is heavily protected, not just by a military, but by a dark doctrine, which surrounds itself with a ring of ignorance, foolishness, corruption and censorship - both voluntary and involuntary.

The dark drain sucks in more souls every single day. It drains resources, it takes lives, it appeals to the darkest side of the human mind. The cowardly masses, who are not captured directly by the strong gravitational force of the drain, turn their heads away and try to pretend it is not there, that it does no harm. Some go so far as to tell themselves it is peaceful and beautiful and worthy of respect. Such is the power of evil.

Those who speak for the drain tell me that women are second-class. But it is women who bring life into the world. Every one of us was cared for and nurtured by a women when we were hungry and naked and helpless. It is the love of a mother that has allowed us all to stand on our feet, to speak and to go forth into the world. Evil despises this. It sees real truth, real power, real beauty and it tries to suck it all into its drain.

The drain says that killer and a rapist was the final prophet of "god". But that which is Infinite needs no such final spokesman. That which is Infinite, it thinks you, it breathes you. It needs no special vows, chants or hymns, as all of creation sings its praises. It is nameless and all names. You can hear it in every word and in the silences between each word. You can hear it in the sound of the breeze. You can find it looking out through your eyes.

The dark drain in the dry desert sucks in only those who seek to avoid knowing who and what they truly are. But if we remove the drain, if we were to blast it from the sky - would we remove also the condition in man which caused it to be built? To see the drain is to be free of it.

- Eric Allen Bell


____________________________
About Global Infidel TV:

In the summer of 2010 I began production on a documentary called "Not Welcome" about the backlash against construction of a 53,000 square foot mega mosque in Murfreesboro, TN.  I took the position that Islam was just another religion, that this conflict was nothing more than political opportunism, with Evangelicals trying to maintain the home turf advantage in their small town.  Eventually I came to discover I was wrong about this - very wrong.

For more on how and why I did an about face and came to see Islam as both a human rights disaster and greatest threat to national security today, read my article "The High Price of Telling the Truth About Islam".

Later I returned the money to my backers and ended up becoming committed to the struggle for human rights and liberty known as "Counter Jihad".

So why don't I just take this video down, now that I have "seen the light"?  I keep it up as READ THE REST

Free Hector Aleem Administrator Displeased with Me

Hector-Aleem-Before-After-arrest
John R. Houk
© November 29, 2012

Whew! Ouch!

Ms. Aleem has given me a good old fashioned scolding for posting Shamim Masih’s bad opinion of Hector Aleem and his family. Ms Aleem posted her displeasure on my Facebook Timeline. I note this because Ms. Aleem in restrained anger ordered me not to post this on my blog. Since my Facebook page is a public page I feel impelled to post her response to Shamim Masih calling the Aleems a family of lying frauds.

I have to say that even though the tone of Ms. Aleem’s response filled with righteous indignation and anger, she comported herself as a good lady and refrained from profanity and presented her refutation in the most detail I have ever received from her or have read on the Facebook Group – Free Hector Aleem.

Ms. Aleem’s Facebook post on my Timeline claims she has never withheld anything from me. Unfortunately that is not true. Her Free Hector Aleem posts initially were only about Hector Aleem being charged with breaking the Blasphemy Law in Pakistan. Even Shamim Masih reports that the Blasphemy charge was unjust and indeed after the slow machine of Pakistani justice moved at a snail’s pace Hector was exonerated of the Blasphemy charge.

When I say “snail’s pace” I mean a few years in a Pakistan jail in which he was mistreated and felt the threat of Muslim mobs intimidating Pakistan Judges. I still believe that harrowing experience Hector endured while awaiting exoneration.

I expected Hector to be released from jail after his exoneration. He was not. When I began to openly wonder about that on my blogs that Mehwish Aleem had been reading the only posts on Free Hector Aleem was that Hector faced insignificant technicalities that kept in jail (The words “insignificant technicalities” are my paraphrase because I cannot remember the exact words Mehwish Aleem posted). Ms. Aleem never wrote about those insignificant technicalities. And yet I continued to support Hector’s cause, believing the insignificant technicalities would be wrapped up shortly. They were not.

That is when I stumbled up a Shamim Masih article (Shamim did not initiate any emails, I did that). Shamim gave great detail of those “insignificant technicalities”. The reality is those technicalities were not so insignificant but are charges in defrauding Christians.

Mehwish defends the charges by stating these Christians were of poor stalk in the first place and were ejected from the land connected to the Church building issue that Mehwish in the past uses as the reason for the trumped up Blasphemy charge. When Muslim mobs ransacked that Church and Hector was tossed in the clink these poor Christians returned to being homeless with a government official moving them to essentially a refugee camp living in tents. Mehwish Aleems says on my Facebook Timeline that this refugee camp is government land and that the low caste poor Christians will eventually face expulsion again and then someone else will be the bad guy to them and Hector will be off the hook as the poor Christians’ villain-in-chief.

At this point let’s do a refresher moment of Shamim Masih’s investigative findings:

According to Basharat Khokher, Hector Aleem was running an organization with the name “peace worldwide” and produced good repute worldwide on the name of helping the poor Christians in Pakistan but the facts behind this were bitter to chew”. He has been involved in many unethical activities which brought him to this stage now.

In 2008, he was involved in the land mafia group and grabbed the piece of land in Rawal Town, Islamabad unlawfully and taking money from the poor Christians he made them to sit on piece of land, which he did not own or bought for them but of government’s land. He made a church there unlawfully to have sympathy of the world with him. He called many Christians families from different cities of the country to Islamabad. Poor Christians far from different villages came there and become the pray of his ensnare. He took Rs.3500/ from 1000 families on the name of registration for the land and thus collected Rs. 35, 00,000/- from the poor Christians.

Mehwish Aleem castigates Basharat Khokher as a nefarious person that converted to Islam from Christianity. Shamim does not mention this detail about Basharat; however Shamim played a huge part in protecting Rimsha Masih (Khokher’s heroic part can be read HERE and HERE), the 14 year old girl Christian framed for burning Quran pages breaking the Pakistan Blasphemy Law. I’ll let the readers decide if Khokher convert to Islam from Christianity. As a Muslim protecting Rimsha it would seem to me the typically violent Muslim mobs would have physically assaulted Khokher, wife and children for giving aid to a Christian and by extension a Christian family.

Moving on with Shamim’s finding on Hector Aleem:

On August 09, 2008 a delegation from the government include Mumtaz Alam Gillanin (Minister Human Rights), joint secretary Khalid Amin and Farid Khan (secretary), Khush Dil khan (Deputy Secretary) came to him on the piece of the land he was holding unlawfully to negotiate and to provide the alternate land for the poor Christian families.

But the stubborn Hector Aleem didn’t listen to them; he went to Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani who showed his sympathy towards poor Christians and made a committee to investigate the issues raised by him intentionally.

Meanwhile Hector took passports from few Christians include Bashaarat Khokhar working for him promising them to visa stamp for abroad.

A committee includes Dr. Moen Masood (SSP) Ishaq Warraich (DSP) and few other officials went to investigation and found him guilty.

Chief Minister Punjab took action against them in November 2008 and police arrested Christians involved in it including, Basharat Khokher, David Akmal, Arif, Qazi Asharaf, Hanok Bhatti and Hector Aleem.

Hector Aleem than planned a false story involving his Muslim friends to file an FIR against him of a blasphemy case, in which he took Basharat Khokher with him.

“I have been falsely implicated in a blasphemy case. I am a human rights activist. How could I hurt feelings of Muslim brothers? I never used SMS for any kind of purpose,” Hector Aleem told the CLAAS fact-finding team.

And then he intentionally knotted his so called spokesman Basharat Khokher saying he has been using my cell phone and he may have done this.

Part of Shamim’s investigation led him the respected Christian Human Rights organization Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). Mehwish Aleem never mentions CLAAS but rather extols the fairly unknown organization founded by Hector Aleem Peace Worldwide (Not to be confused the Peace Worldwide Organization located in the USA).

Mehwish Aleem asks me why I trust Shamim photo and investigative evidence and not that which she has provided. I completely trust Ms. Aleem’s evidence pertaining to her father when it comes to being framed for Blasphemy. It is the other charges I am a bit sketchy on the truth.

Ms. Aleem finishes the very sincere sounding scolding with an - I didn’t ask for your help and you cheap skate you only donated ten bucks which I will return to you some day because I don’t want anything from you (Yes, it’s a rather loose paraphrase).

The thing is Shamim Masih’s credibility is high in my estimation because of the journalism that other news have picked up from him and Shamim’s promotion of other Christian Human Rights people in Pakistan that the Facebook Group never mentions in its perpetual asking of donations for unexplained legal fees. Mehwish Aleem claims she owes no explain to me or anyone else, yet operating a Pakistan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) does deserve explanations of where their finances go.

I just had a thought. I have never checked to see if Hector Aleem’s Peace Worldwide is a registered NGO. Maybe someone can check into that and see how legit Peace Worldwide is. After all a registered NGO would definitely have some public record, especially in a Muslim nation such as Pakistan.

Ms. Aleem throws dispersions on Shamim Masih’s legitimacy which is only natural for certainly Shamim findings are not exactly a gleaming light of approval for the Aleems. One thing that might help you decide on whom to believe is to read some of the posts on Free Hector Aleem and some of the articles by journalist Shamim Aleem. I have posted some of the emails from Shamim Masih of which some are obviously articles that were posted elsewhere. I posted a group of those emails at SlantRight 2.0 which you can read HERE. Here is an article about Christian Human Rights activist Romana Bashir. Shamim Masih is listed on the staff page (scroll down to find it) Salem-News.com located in Salem, Oregon, USA. Here is a succinct profile of Salem-News.com from its Linked in page.

Shamim is associated with Christian Human Rights activism and Christian News Services:

§  British Pakistan Christian Association (BPCA) – Article on Shamim’s involvement with children, Christmas at Mardan Church


§  Masih’s articles are picked up by the Pakistan Christian Post

If I looked a little harder I would probably find more associations that involve Shamim Masih and Christianity. My point is that Shamim has credible credentials as a published journalist relating to his home nation of Pakistan.

If you visit Mehwish Aleem’s post on my Facebook Timeline you will notice that I tried to do a little editing without changing the original meaning for a little easier reading. If Ms. Aleem reads my editing and feels I changed any intent of her meaning I humbly apologize.

JRH 11/29/12

***************************
November 25, 2012

My dear brother John,

Once a great supporter of my dad and now a hater, greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

First of all I am surprised to hear the news that you have stopped supporting our dad Hector Aleem by calling him a fraud and I also came to know that you were investigating on the matter but didn’t even once consulted me, like you did when you received comments about my character.

Anyways I am here to tell you something about the case and the facts on which you were convinced to stop supporting us. I would never ever convince you to start supporting us again, but do you know how this Shamim guy appeared on the scene? A sister, I would mention her name after asking her, contacted him and told him that he should help us but what he said to her? He said I cannot help them coz they are fraud but I want to escape from Pakistan. How? Why?

Why all of a sudden he was in danger? And when she stopped contacting him he contacted you and told you every fake detail about my dad’s case i.e. he said that the he was arrested in November 2008, BUT he received a PEACE award in December 2008. Isn’t it strange???

Let me tell you that before he received the Peace Award by the Government of Pakistan in 2008, the PM and the authorities who were responsible to award my father THE PEACE AWARD received same kind of mails and messages you received now or have received before.

Like this Shamim guy said, daddy involved himself in the blasphemy case to go abroad. FYI my daddy used to go to USA, UK, Germany, South Africa and other countries thrice a year and sometimes four times a year. Plus his visits were for a week or four days. And once when Peace Worldwide School was attacked by extremists we – the whole family - were offered an asylum in Canada but my father refused. So I dare this guy to ONCE, just ONCE only, to set an example that really shows my father did this for an asylum ... involve himself in any blasphemy case. He might have so many Muslim friends that he can do this. And when he will get an asylum, he can rest his case. Isn’t it an easy job? I dare him to do it.

Then he said Khushdil Khan, Khalid Amin and Fareed Khan tried to stop him. Another FYI, they were deputy, assistant deputy and secretary in the Human Rights Ministry. They are still friends of daddy, there are pictures of them in Peace Worldwide page with daddy and they were the first who wrote letters against daddy’s arrest. I can still show you all those pictures. They were never against daddy. Now about the pictures he took, do you really know that they are the real people who claim that my father took their money? Was my father THAT low class? He is a retired Air Force Officer; my mom was a registered Head Nurse in one of the most expensive hospitals of Islamabad. I was doing a job and my sister too.

Do you still think that we wanted other people’s money? We used to live in a luxurious condition and house that you can only imagine while living in the USA. It’s only these circumstances we faced after the case is the reason why we are forced to ask for his lawyer’s fee.

Now back to the pictures: if you don’t believe in our pictures then how can you believe in Shamim’s pictures? He may be a fraud like he said that we are.

Now about the people he was talking about, to whom he claims that my father took money for plots: it was only about the Church not any plot. They were only sitting there for the protection of the Church because when daddy got arrested, the Church was completely destroyed and all people were kicked out. Now as he said they are sitting in a graveyard and they named the colony Akram Masih Gill colony because Mr. Akram Masih Gill gave them that place to live. Now as that graveyard is a government property, one day the government will surely kick them out of that place, then what will happen? They will curse Akram same as they are cursing daddy. It happens people are so ungrateful and every Pakistani leader has faced this situation, especially Christian leaders and those who have not faced any criticism at anytime, isn’t a leader.

Let’s take an example of Shahbaz Bhatti: when he was alive everybody talked against him and said he is against Christians and Christianity, but when he died he suddenly became a hero. This is the nature of people here. They will curse you, call your names, but when you die they will make you their hero.
 
In Pakistan there is a rule, it’s a law actually that when a person is in custody, no other case can be registered against him BUT you will see that all these corruption cases Shamim is talking about have been registered against daddy after his arrest. Was he doing these frauds and corruption from inside the jail? Haven’t I told you each and every bit of the case? Didn’t I ever mention that these are the fraud cases? I have never hidden anything from you guys.

And he said there is no lawyer who charges this much of a fee. FYI our lawyer is a senior lawyer of Supreme Court and an ex-president of Supreme Court Bar Association. He even charges for suggestions he gives to his clients, yes, there are lawyers who charge a much lower fee, but they will ruin our case. BTW would you tell me what have I done? You saw a guy character assassinate me. Did I do fraud too or maybe I’m getting a punishment of favoring my dad?

In the end, you once called me pro-Pakistani. Now this guy says we are mixed in with Muslims. Let me tell you one thing, you are living in a Christian country not we. You can survive without talking to non-Christians but we cannot because every person here is a Muslim. What do you think? He has never made ANY Muslim friend? He might have MANY Muslim friends. Mixing up in Muslims and changing your faith are two different things. In the end he said that faces like ours are not the faces of victims, victims are like Basharat and other people. Again FYI Basharat was daddy’s bodyguard this is why he was involved in the case because he was the second person they were suspecting after daddy, BUT another thing I want to mention here is that he has converted to Islam from Christianity. IF he will ever be persecuted, it will not be because of the Christian faith but for his Muslim faith and BTW this was the reason daddy kicked him out of his job.
 
In the end, I would like to say that I am a proud daughter of my dad, I don’t need to explain anything to you, neither do I want you to post this or that in our favor. I personally believe that it’s not what you believe but it’s what you WANT to believe. THERE IS A GOD, and I am only bound to explain to HIM anything and not to you or any other person.

I have never asked you to help us. You yourself came and started to help, I am of the view that everybody has his own role in another’s life and my dear friend I think your role has finished here. You may kick me out of your friends list because I am assuming now that you have always hated me because of my pro-Pakistani posts. It was never for me to explain to you anything. It was about telling you that you have no right to judge my dad. He may be a far much better Christian than you OR your new friend. You will only come to know about this when you will ever get into situation like this and you will have to explain your innocence.

Stay cool and stay calm I never wanted and still don’t want your help and this mail is not for your blog. As I have promised to every donor, I promise you, whatever amount you donated for daddy (as far as I remember it was $10 but you can tell me if you donated more), I will return it to you and to others. As soon as we get better, as soon as we return to our normal situation, I will return you your donation.

Also, we are not cowards like Shamim or Basharat or others who would leave Pakistan, we will stay there and we will work for Christians from here and we really don’t care if someone kills us or whatever because we are brave. We only fear God.
 
ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME, MY FATHER AND MY FAMILY

Regards

[Ms. Mehwish Aleem]
______________________________
Free Hector Aleem Administrator Displeased with Me
John R. Houk
© November 29, 2012
______________________________
Once a great supporter of my dad and now a hater

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

SlantRight Thoughts on ‘McCain, Graham, Rice Will Meet - An Apology Is Owed’

Benghazi Liars
By John R. Houk
© November 27, 2012

Burr Deming is my Liberal friend (no I did not choke those words – Burr is a Christian man) in which obvious reigns true; i.e. we rarely agree on a point of view.

Burr is taking the view that Susan Rice can be excused for lying to the Senate oversight committees and the American Public about what the cause actually was for the Benghazigate murder and atrocities to a diplomatically protected Ambassador and three other Americans.

The liberal logic runs that Republicans are to blame because they voted to decrease Embassy security. Let’s never mind that Obama is slashing the military budget to unconscionable lows for the security of America. Never mind that regardless of Embassy security cuts it was probably a compromise to not cut the military budget even further. Never mind that a budget cut does not mean the Obama Administration through the State Department leaves an American Ambassador unprotected in a volatile nation that had glaring evidence of al Qaeda activity. Never mind that was security that was told to hold on help for Ambassador Stevens and a couple of ex-Navy SEALs dispatched themselves to aid Stevens after hearing no help was forth coming. Never mind that took the State Department spin about an insignificant anti-Muslim movie that was made on the scale of garage home videos and that only a trailer was posted on Youtube.

Yes, my fellow Conservatives it is smoke and mirrors to deflect the truth that Susan Rice was the mouthpiece for Obama/Clinton lies to Americans to exonerate their hind quarters for a dishonorable travesty that could have been prevented.

That is my two cents. Here is Burr Deming’s nickel that he sent by email that is published by now on the blog Fair and UNbalanced.

JRH 11/27/12

****************************
McCain, Graham, Rice Will Meet - An Apology Is Owed

By Burr Deming
Sent: 11/26/2012 11:31 PM

The surprise news last night was that UN Ambassador Susan Rice will be visiting select Senators including her most vocal critics, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Both Senators have been explicit in their criticisms of Ambassador Rice. Her public statements about the Benghazi attack that resulted in four deaths, including that of a US Ambassador, have been riddled with omissions.

As Senator McCain put it:

"My judgment at this time is that four Americans were killed, and the information that our U.N. ambassador conveyed was clearly false."

It is now an established fact that Susan Rice failed to mention important facts about the lack of protection afforded to the facility in Benghazi, and what that suggests about security for the rest of the foreign service.

What Ms. Rice knew at the time of her public statements, but failed to tell the American people was that the Obama administration had begged for a minimum of $1.654 billion for the Worldwide Security Protection program of the Department of State for this year. Republicans slashed that amount to $1.557 billion. When the Senate balked at the lower amount, Congressional Republicans reluctantly put back .034 billion.

This goes beyond scandal. Senator McCain spoke the truth when he said this:

"You know, somebody the other day said to me this is as bad as Watergate. Well, nobody died in Watergate."

Someone should be held accountable. Senator Lindsey Graham was right in pointing to Ambassador Rice as that very someone.

"I am going to hold her accountable. She volunteered for this assignment"

Ms. Rice certainly was aware of who was responsible for the lack of security. Nobody could entirely blame it on the cuts in security levels imposed by the Republican Congress for 2012. In point of fact, she could have addressed a problem that goes back further and is more serious than funding for a single security program.

The Department of State had made an urgent request for over $1.8 billion for security, construction and maintenance for this year. Republicans in Congress slashed that down to just over $1.4 billion. After the Senate balked at the increased danger to US diplomats, Republicans finally agreed to restore a little over a billion.

Ambassador Rice was aware of Republican efforts to slash diplomatic security for this year, but said nothing in her television appearances.

Senator Lindsey Graham was blunt about the consequences of this lack of candor.

"I don't trust her. She doesn't deserve to be promoted."

It's easy to see why. In appearance after appearance, Ambassador Rice failed to point out that a single year's cuts to diplomatic security was not the entire picture. In 2010, Democrats provided over 1.8 billion for basic security, the entire amount asked for by the State Department. After Republicans took over, they knock it down for 2011 to about $1.6 billion.

She could have revealed how much Republicans had reduced security for diplomats as soon as they got a majority in Congress. For some reason, she chose not to say a word about it. Could she have been covering up for the administration's failure?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on record about the cuts. Early last year she practically pounded the podium:

"The scope of the proposed House cuts is massive. The truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to America's national security."

If the administration was serious, why didn't they force Congress to act? Susan Rice was notably silent about that failure of the Obama administration to convince Republicans to protect our embassies.

Senator McCain accurately outlined the seriousness of the situation:

Four Americans died! Is that picking on anybody when you want to place responsibility and find out what happened so that we can make sure it doesn't happen again?

Quite so. At very least, Ambassador Rice should have told the American people what steps had already been taken to keep future danger to a minimum.

She could have talked about the increase to $2.15 billion that the Obama administration had said was needed for next year's security. But if she did that, she would have had to discuss President Obama's failures.

He has already demonstrated his lack of leadership. He has been unable to convince Congress to improve diplomatic security for the coming year. Republicans have already prepared slashes to that 2.15 billion, slamming it down to $1.9 billion.

She could have mentioned the Republican cuts to next year's security. She didn't say a word about it.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) wasn't afraid to speak up early last year, slapping down administration efforts to increase diplomatic security. At the time of the Clinton statement, he bravely articulated the Republican position:

"Right now, we need to stop the Washington spending spree so the economy can grow and the private sector can create more jobs. We have confidence that the soldiers and diplomats serving in harm's way will have the resources they need to protect America."

That confidence that members of America's foreign service were as safe as they needed to be was supported by other Republicans. Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) added his voice:

"My position, as far as that funding is concerned, we asked the appropriators to go about trying to identify cuts that we could withstand to bring spending back to '08 levels without jeopardizing our national security."

Senator McCain has paid a heavy price for his forthright quest for the truth. He has been relentlessly badgered by the press. When members of the news media hounded him about missing intelligence briefings while complaining about the lack of intelligence information, he would not yield:

"I have no comment about my schedule and I’m not going to comment on how I spend my time to the media."

Senator McCain is not one to meekly accept abuse or shrink from his responsibilities. As reporters demanded to know why he would not comment, he responded:

"Because I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?"

CNN even attempted to suggest that McCain was missing meetings about the very information he was upset about not having. The Senator quick set the record straight:

"I’m upset that you keep badgering me."

The badgering, the bullying, the attacks that Senators Graham and McCain have been forced to endure for simply doing their jobs, the pressure to vary from their established talking points has been intense.

But they have stayed on target, letting the American people know what information they had been provided just as soon as it was provided to them. They have been unwavering in their attack on the way Ambassador Rice blindly repeated information she had been provided just as soon as it was provided to her.

Withholding information is simply another way of lying. It is lying by omission. The consistent pattern of security slashes should have been at least mentioned. Not stating the facts was itself misleading. Senator McCain nailed the issue:

"It was overwhelming evidence that it was completely false and she should have known what the information, what the circumstances were and not tell the world on all the Sunday morning talk shows."

Exactly.

Well Ambassador Susan Rice will be meeting with her critics today. It is clear that somebody owes somebody an apology.
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SlantRight Thoughts on ‘McCain, Graham, Rice Will Meet - An Apology Is Owed’
By John R. Houk
© November 27, 2012
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McCain, Graham, Rice Will Meet - An Apology Is Owed

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