Daylight Savings Time (starts)

Daylight Saving Time (United States) begins Sunday, March 11, 2012, 2:00am, and ends Sunday, November 4, 2012, 2:00am. Except Arizona and Hawaii. Move your clocks ahead 1 hour in spring and back 1 hour in fall ("Spring forward, fall back"). Reminder: Change your smoke detectors' batteries.

The big news yesterday was that Energy Secretary Steven Chu does not own a car. But his wife owns a 2002 BMW 325i, which gets 21 MPG, according to the Daily Caller. Why did Chu not get her to trade in the Beamer for a Chevy Volt?

◼ Chu chooses a BMW over a Volt - Don Surber/Daily Mail

In fact, why does the president not trade in The Beat Cadillac that he rides in for security reasons for a Chevy Volt? Could it be that this Motor Trend Car of the Year and European Car of the Year be a piece of crap that has no speed, no range and takes 10 hours to refill?

If Volts ain’t good enough for our hired help, why should we bother making Volts?

Thomas Sowell warns GOP candidates may ‘end up giving this election to Obama

◼ “[I'm] in fear and trembling because I have this terrible feeling that they’re going to end up giving this election to Barack Obama,” Sowell said. “And I cannot imagine what this country will be like after a second term for Obama, after he has had a chance to pack the Supreme Court with his own nominees who will rubber-stamp anything he does regardless of how much it may violate the Constitution.” - Daily Caller

“He is an extremely clever politician. He knows that one of the ways to get votes is to simply create dependencies. And he’s doing it all over the place and no one seems to be calling him on it. Most recent thing I heard is he’s going to bail out housing speculators who are one of the reasons for the boom and bust in the housing market. But the point is those are the people who are going to vote for him.”

Incoming UC Students May Be Asked To Declare Their Sexual Orientation

◼ The UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools had mixed reactions but agreed that the question would allow them to collect important statistical information. They recommended putting the question on the SIR forms instead of college applications to protect students’ privacy. - CBS

The data would be collected from incoming freshmen and transfer students.

SHOCK POLL: ROMNEY 48% OBAMA 43%, OBAMA LOSES TO SANTORUM, TOO

◼ Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen via Drudge

With the perception growing that he will be the GOP nominee, Romney leads President Obama by five points in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Today's numbers show Romney at 48%, Obama at 43%...,

If Santorum is the Republican nominee, he is up by one point over the president, 46% to 45%. This is the second time since polling began in 2011 that Santorum has had a slight lead over Obama. Romney is the only other candidate to lead the president more than one time in the polls.

Newt to Obama: This is What a Drilling Platform Looks Like

◼ Obama: 'I'm Going To Keep Doing Everything I Can To Help You Save Money On Gas'... - CBS

Now that we’ve all had a few words to say about the inappropriate use of certain words toward certain people, what were we originally talking about, again?

◼ Freedom is forged from responsibility - John Hayward/Human Events

Oh, that’s right: forcing Catholic institutions to act against their religious conscience, and violating the economic liberty of people in general, by forcing them to pay for “free” birth control.

Why are we doing this? According to leftist agitator Sandra Fluke, it’s because female students at Georgetown are being driven into penury by the financial burden of paying for their own birth control. She claimed to have conducted a study showing it cost them $3,000 over the course of a three-year law school education for these supplies. As a result, “forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy,” by which she meant those stuffy Catholics refusing to pay for contraception.

Right about the time liberals went mad over radio host Rush Limbaugh’s attempt to satirize Fluke’s demands, people began asking where this thousand-dollar-per-year figure could possibly have come from, since condoms are widely available for little or no cost, and birth control pills were readily available in the Georgetown area for less than $10 per month without insurance coverage....

It shouldn’t be “important enough” at $1,000 a year either, or $10,000 for that matter. What we’re really embroiled in here is a very old argument, made possible by conceding the foundational principle of socialism: some people’s needs are important enough to over-ride other people’s rights.

Once that door has been cracked open, and the concept of “inalienable rights” derived from an authority higher than the State has been discarded, all else is negotiation.

IRS May Make Political Groups Pay Dearly for Keeping Donors Secret -- And Out Them

◼ For years, the IRS has done little or nothing to check the rise of overtly political groups that claim a special tax-exempt status in order to funnel secret money into election-related advertising. - Huffington Post

Wikipedia Editing War Erupts Over Obama's Connection to Radical Derrick Bell

◼ In light of video surfacing this week showing President Barack Obama fully embracing radical Harvard Professor Derrick Bell, the man who said he lived to "harass white folks," an editing war on the Derrick Bell Wikipedia page has erupted. - Katie Pavlich/Townhall

It looks as though editors are arguing about whether or not to even mention Obama's affiliation with Bell, despite evidence showing that the two were closely connected. It also looks like the page was set as "protected" at one point to avoid controversy. Notice the editing war started on the evening of March 7, just after the connect between Bell and Obama was made on Fox News' Hannity and has continued since then. highlights at the link

◼ THE VETTING: OBAMA'S SUPREME COURT AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY - Breitbart/Big Government

Critical Race Theory is emerging as an important theme among some of President Obama's most important influences--and most important appointments.

"When even casual sex requires a state welfare program, you’re pretty much done for."

◼ The Fluke Charade - Mark Steyn/National Review Online

...Oh, and the “young coed” turns out to be 30, which is what less evolved cultures refer to as early middle age. She’s a couple of years younger than Mozart was at the time he croaked, but, if the Dems are to be believed, the plucky little Grade 24 schoolgirl has already made an even greater contribution to humanity. She’s had the courage to stand up in public and demand that someone else (and this is where one is obliged to tiptoe cautiously, lest offense is given to gallant defenders of the good name of American maidenhood such as the many prestigious soon-to-be-former sponsors of this column who’ve booked Bill Maher for their corporate retreat with his amusing “Sarah Palin is a c***” routine...)

◼ I’m with Patty Murray - Kathryn Jean Lopez/National Review Online

Don’t be dismayed and don’t buy the pile-on. Fight back with information to counter the misinformation.

Women, and men with women in your lives, counter the women of the Senate and their talking points by sharing — over e-mail, over Facebook, with handouts at Church — any of these links just from the past 24 hours or so:

◼ Pray for the Mandate - Yuval Levin

◼ The ‘Accommodation’ That Isn’t - James Capretta

◼ Obama’s Contraception Spin Machine - George Weigel

◼ The Contraceptive Mandate and the Indignity of the Law - Q&A with Grace-Marie Turner

◼ No More Contrived Victims - Ed Whelan

◼ Birth-Control Agitprop - Jonah Goldberg

◼ The Devil & Daniel Brenner - Mario Loyola

There’s more and will be more. But that’s a start. Fight back if you’ve had enough of the insults to our intelligence.

◼ The left’s respect for women: a look back - Jim Treacher/Daily Caller

◼ Hey, Remember When NBC Thought Calling Someone a 'Slut' Was Hilarious? - Kyle Drennen/Newsbusters

As Andrea Mitchell began an interview with left-wing activist Sandra Fluke on the March 2 edition of her MSNBC show, the NBC correspondent denounced Rush Limbaugh for having, "attacked her [Fluke] with language that we will not repeat on the air."

Well, it turns out that Andrea Mitchell thought use of the word "slut" – one of Limbaugh's offending remarks – was perfectly fine when it was to get laughs for a network sitcom. Back on the September 30, 2010 episode of NBC's 30 Rock, Mitchell made a cameo playing herself and called Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon a "slut" following rumors of an office romance.

Mitchell wasn't the only NBC News personality in the scene, her nasty remark was set up by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, a comedic genius in his own mind who has made regular guest spots on the show. Mitchell and Williams proceeded to laugh and fist bump each other after the insult.

EMAILS SHOW WHITE HOUSE INPUT ON SHERROD OUSTER

◼ White House officials were in close contact with the Agriculture Department in the hours leading up to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's decision to fire USDA employee Shirley Sherrod in 2010, according to nearly 2,000 pages of internal emails released by the administration. - Breitbart/Big Government

But they do show the White House and Agriculture Department officials were sharing information and advice from the first minutes after the scandal began to emerge until Sherrod submitted a resignation hours later at the request of a senior USDA official.

The email exchanges confirm what White House and Agriculture Department officials acknowledged in background interviews in the weeks after the incident _ that the White House was more involved in the immediate response to the video of Sherrod's remarks than officials initially let on. Several emails detail White House and USDA calls to members of Congress, civil rights groups and Vilsack the night Sherrod was fired.

No one stepped in to stop Vilsack from telling his subordinates to get Sherrod to resign. But it's clear that the White House kept itself in the loop on the decision to oust her.

"We're good with this version on this end. Counsel has cleared the language," White House cabinet communications director Tom Gavin said in an email to the Agriculture Department's Mather after Mather sent him Vilsack's initial statement on Sherrod's firing.

BARTON CALLS OBAMA ‘AMERICA’S MOST BIBLICALLY-HOSTILE U.S. PRESIDENT

◼ (F)or Barton, the situation transcends the current discussion about religious freedom and the Catholic Church - Billy Hallowell/The Blaze

When one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular. So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor. In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions.

◼ America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President - David Barton/Wallbuilders

Latest delegate count for GOP

◼ via gretawire

AP Delegate Count (as of 11:50am on 3/10)
Romney: 440
Santorum: 181
Gingrich: 107
Paul: 46
Huntsman: 2
Uncommitted: 1
Needed to nominate: 1,144

Allocated thus far: 777
Yet to be allocated: 1,509
Total delegate votes: 2,286

Romney claims victory in Guam, Northern Marianas

◼ Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney claimed victory in Saturday caucuses in Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, saying he secured support of all 18 delegates at stake in the US Pacific territories. - Google/AP

Senator Rick Santorum wins Kansas

◼ Rick Santorum has overwhelmingly won the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses. - Gretawire

GOP front-runner Mitt Romney did not campaign in Kansas. Rival Newt Gingrich cancelled a scheduled trip to the state late last week to concentrate on Tuesday’s upcoming primaries in Alabama and Mississippi.

◼ Santorum projected winner of Kansas GOP caucuses - FOX
◼ Santorum wins big in Kansas GOP caucuses - The Hill

Forty delegates are at stake in the Kansas contests.

“Everybody was telling us, including the Americans, ‘don’t expect that much from us during the election year because the president will be focusing on how to be re-elected, and in order to do so, he should really shift his attention … to other issues”

◼ AP Interview: US asks Palestinians to sit tight - AP via NH Journal

The Americans held out the promise of vigorous U.S. mediation in the Mideast conflict if President Barack Obama is re-elected, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said in an interview.

Palestinians are aware of the constraints of domestic U.S. politics and will act responsibly, Malki said, suggesting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not take steps in the coming months that might damage his ties with Washington.

Trailer for Obama Campaign Film Narrated by Tom Hanks

◼ The inclusion of the director of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” came about because the producers sought somebody to guide the project who was comfortable working in the myth, fantasy, science fiction, action, true crime and disaster genres. - Michelle Malkin

Note: Hanks is also the producer of the factually-challenged movie “Game Change.” How surprising that a bunch of Tinseltown lefties apparently couldn’t pull off an accurate portrayal of a conservative woman.

Local: Elections office validating candidates' signatures; Friday marked end of candidacy filing period

◼ As of 5 p.m., all candidates who have announced their intention to run had filed paper work. The filing period for the 1st District supervisor's seat will stay open until March 14 with incumbent Jimmy Smith deciding not to seek reelection. - Donna Tam/Times-Standard

...Rex Bohn filed his paperwork for the 1st District race, along with Eureka resident and retired school teacher Annette De Modena and former Wiyot Tribal Chairwoman Cheryl Seidner.

In the 2nd District, current 2nd District Humboldt County Supervisor Clif Clendenen and former Humboldt Coalition for Property Rights Executive Director Estelle Fennell both filed their paperwork.

Current 3rd District Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace and Bayside resident and former Assembly candidate Karen Brooks filed their paperwork for the 3rd District.

Assemblymen Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, was the only candidate to file for the District 2 Assembly race.

The Fortuna Union Elementary School District had 11 candidates file paperwork for the five board seats -- two members from each ward and one at-large member. An interim board is in place until June.

For the Fortuna Ward, the candidates are John Miller, Times-Standard Circulation Director Peter Fennell and interim board members Don Brown and Janice Olkin. For the Rohnerville Ward, the candidates are Paul Glennie, interim board member Richard Barsanti, Marilyn Strehl and Daniel Coleman.

At-large candidates include Robert L. Long, Kendra Dwelley Guimaraes and interim board member Kenneth A. Steele.

Hannity: Thomas Sowell discusses Derrick Bell

◼ via TheRightScoop

Mark Levin speaks live at the Reagan Foundation at 9PM ET tonight.

◼ via The Right Scoop

It’s disgusting. It’s revolting. And it’s rapidly becoming clear why the mainstream media refused to vet the President in 2008.

◼ DERRICK BELL’S 'SPACE TRADERS' REVIEW: RACIST PARANOIA ... AND GEORGE CLINTON'S DISEMBODIED HEAD - Breitbart's Big Hollywood

Move over, "Citizen Kane": Derrick Bell’s racist-commie-sci-fi extravaganza "Space Traders" is clearly the greatest motion picture ever made.

Oh, not on an aesthetic level – it’s an artistic disaster by any sane criteria.

And not on any moral level either – it’s a rancid conglomeration of the most feverish of leftwing, race-hustling fever dreams spiced up with a dash of anti-Semitism and some gratuitous anti-white racism.

In other words, it’s pretty much what you’d expect if someone was dumb enough to give a Harvard Law critical race theorist a camera.

It’s great because it gives a clear picture of what the guy our President figuratively and literally embraces really believed about his country – something the mainstream media refused to explore, and which it continues to conceal.

...So, "Space Traders" perfectly captures the stupidity, paranoia, and shameless race-hustling of the people that Obama embraces. This is the idiocy that Obama believes we should open up [our] hearts and our minds to. Pass.

Video at the link.

Voters targeted with illegal robocalls linking Republican politicians to Rush Limbaugh and his 'slut' comments

◼ A group calling itself "The Women of the 99 Percent" is making robocalls across the United States in an attempt to link Republican members of the House of Representatives to "the war on women led by Rush Limbaugh". - Toby Harnden/Daily Mail

The automated calls are illegal because they do not state who they are from (there is no known group called The Women of the 99 Percent) or provide a callback number, as required under the US Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.

They appear to be the most aggressive attempt yet by Democrats to exploit politically the recent furore over comments by the controversial conservative radio talk show host.

◼ Women of 99% Robocalls Target Rush



Telephone calls and emails to the DCCC and the Democratic National Committee asking whether either organisation was connected to the robocalls were not returned.

The comedian and TV star was scheduled to headline the annual event; Fox News host Greta Van Sustren said she would refuse to attend if he hosted.

◼ Louis C.K. Pulls Out of Radio & Television Congressional Correspondence Dinner Speech - Hollywood Reporter

Webmaster note: No mention in this article about Louis C.K.'s extreme and disgusting comments about conservative women. It is completely ignored. As if it never happened.

Government Sues Warren Buffett's NetJets Unit for Unpaid Taxes

◼ NetJets Inc, a private jet-sharing company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, was sued for $366.3 million by the government to recover unpaid taxes, four months after sued the government for nearly twice as much. - NYT/Reuters

Four NetJets units have "failed, neglected or refused" to pay excise taxes and related penalties between 2003 and 2009, according to the countersuit filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, where NetJets is based.

NetJets Aviation Inc owes $302.1 million, NetJets International Inc owes $53 million, Executive Jet management Inc owes $10 million and NetJets Large Aircraft Inc owes $1.19 million, according to the countersuit.

NYT: White House Organizing Prayer Vigil Outside Supreme Court During Hearing on Obamacare

◼ Well, Congress passed the health care law, and contrary to Nancy Pelosi’s assurances, Kathleen Sebelius still doesn’t know what’s in it. That, however, isn’t delaying Obamacare’s expected arrival at the Supreme Court, where Team Obama will pull out all the stops. - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

Alabama and Mississippi polls: Gingrich on top, but not by much

◼ A slew of new polls have recently been released showing that the Presidential campaign in the southern states is essentially a dead heat. Newt Gingrich appears to have a tenuous lead over the other candidates but, in almost every poll, he is within the statistical margin of error. - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
In Alabama, Rasmussen reported Gingrich on top with 30%, while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum were close behind at 29% and 28% respectively.

Mississippi presents a bit of a conundrum with its conflicting poll numbers. An American Research Group poll has Newt leading Romney by four points 35%-31%, and Santorum lagging way behind with 20%. However, a recently released Rasmussen poll has Romney leading the state with 35%, while Newt and Santorum are deadlocked at 27% apiece. Its not immediately clear why the two polls, taken only one day apart, came up with such differing results among the candidates but, as with Alabama, it appears to indicate that there is still room for any of the top 3 candidates to push their way to victory in the state.

Advertiser Begs Limbaugh To Take Them Back – Limbaugh Says NOPE

◼ With the fabricated public outrage campaign against Rush Limbaugh already diminishing, advertisers who had long benefited from the massive and loyal Limbaugh audience who broke off relations with the radio program following the Sandra Fluke controversy, are now asking to be welcomed back. Unfortunately for them – Rush Limbaugh ain’t having it… - Ulsterman

When it was further learned that birth control was not only easily available to Georgetown law students – but in fact FREE for lower income students, the premise of Fluke’s rehearsed portrayal began to truly crumble.

Now add the even more recently revealed fact that Sandra Fluke’s agenda is being directly controlled by none other than Anita Dunn – former Obama White House communications director! This relationship gives a strong suggestion that the entire Sandra Fluke “controversy” was planned and initiated by Barack Obama operatives from the outset – with ample assistance then given by their supporters within the liberal media.... with Sandra Fluke’s credibility in a spiral, and yet more egg on the biased face of the liberal media, those advertisers who had fled Rush Limbaugh for fear of a public backlash are now scrambling to once again enjoy the profitable benefits of having their products being given an audience of millions each day of the work week...

…Limbaugh spokesman Brian Glicklich on Thursday forwarded a copy of an email that he said had been sent to Sleep Train Chief Executive Dale Carlsen. In it, Glicklich wrote that Limbaugh had personally received the company’s requests to resume advertising on his show.

“Unfortunately,” Glicklich wrote, “your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh’s character or the intent of his remarks. Thus, we regret to inform you that Rush will be unable to endorse Sleep Train in the future.”

FBI Director Can't Answer Basic Question About Due Process - Targeting US Citizens on US soil...

The Authoritarian Mind

◼ link - Glenn Greenwald/Salon on Twitter: @ggreenwald



Hollywood producer and director Davis Guggeinheim just produced a 17-minute “documentary” hailing the greatness of Barack Obama and his many historic and profound accomplishments, and it will be released this week by the Obama campaign. Please just watch this two-minute interview of Guggenheim by CNN’s Piers Morgan in which Guggenheim explains that nothing critical can or should be said of our President other than the fact that he is so Great that his Greatness cannot be sufficiently conveyed in a single film

◼ Download Cult of the Presidency for Free! - CATO

Last week, the New Republic‘s Jonathan Chait praised Cult of the Presidency, and the Economist quoted the book. Which reminds me, I provided a link in my last post, but forgot to stress the fact that we’re now literally giving it away with free online downloads (especially nice for those of you who are Kindle owners).

With presidential “daddyism” rampant, and our National Father-Protector’s manifest failure to protect us from oil spills and tornadoes, there couldn’t be a better time to check out the comprehensive libertarian indictment (if I do say so myself) of the presidency, the very model of a modern constitutional monstrosity. Download it here h/t: Parke

In this manufactured “war”, “feminists” have drawn a line in the sand and dared “submissive” conservative women to cross it. We have.

◼ Game on, witches. - Sister Toldjah @sistertoldjah (FOLLOW on Twitter)

FLASH: Conservative women STRIKE BACK against #WarOnWomen demagogues

◼ The left’s respect for women: a look back - Jim Treacher/Daily Caller

Waste: D.C. has no count of jobs from stimulus... MORE

◼ Received $885M from feds since 2009 - Washington Times

Despite receiving more than $885 million in federal economic stimulus funds since 2009, the D.C. government — whose residents face one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation — cannot say how many jobs it actually created for those who live in the District.

◼ House reviews DOE money upgrading yacht - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner

House investigators wrote the Port of Los Angeles yesterday to review the decision to spend almost half a million dollars in stimulus money on retrofitting a luxury yacht with environmentally-friendly engines.

"The Port of Los Angeles owes the public greater transparency about this project and a full accounting of the cost-benefit analysis used to justify spending on this type of project," House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to the executive director of the port, Dr. Geraldine Knatz.

◼ Drip, Drip, Drip: Yet Another Green Energy Stimulus Recipient Hits the Skids (the third this week!) - globalwarming.org

...the Las Vegas Sun reports that Amonix, Inc., a manufacturer of solar panels that received $5.9 million from the Porkulus, will cut two-thirds of its workforce, about 200 employees, only seven months after opening a factory in Nevada....

◼ Electric-Car Firm That Received Biden Visit and $118M in Stimulus Funds Files for Bankruptcy - CNS
◼ Online soap opera cleans up with stimulus broadband cash - Washington Times

Through the federal economic stimulus program, a company owned by actor-director Robert Townsend was paid more than $230,000 to produce and direct the Web-based show, records show. Other production costs on the show paid to different vendors total more than $700,000.

The money came through an award by the Department of Commerce to One Economy Corp. for more than $28 million last year to help boost broadband Internet service in underserved areas across the country.

One Economy is using more than $1.5 million of that money to create programming such as “Diary of a Single Mom,” which the group says will help provide an incentive for people to connect to the Internet.

RNC’s delegate count shows Gingrich ahead of Santorum

◼ Rick Santorum may have won more primaries but the Republican National Committee’s current delegate count shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has more bound delegates than Mr. Santorum in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. - Washington Times

Frontrunner Mitt Romney has earned 339 delegates to the August nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., or more than the rest of the field combined, according to a chart the RNC sent to its members on Thursday.

Mr. Gingrich is second with 107 delegates, topping Mr. Santorum’s 95 delegates and the 22 delegates pledged to Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Winning the nomination will take 1,144 delegates.

Derrick Bell and critical race theory

◼ Busted by Twitchy: @Soledad_OBrien Loves Her Some ‘Critical Race Theory’ - The Other McCain

Well, here’s some more awesomeness: Much like Barack Obama, Soledad O’Brien is a huge fan of Professor Derrick Bell, the “critical race theory” guy the Breitbart.com video was all about.
The Internet doesn’t forget, and the new site Twitchy has aggregated Soledad O’Brien’s Tweets and re-Tweets paying tribute to Professor Bell when he died last October.

◼ CNN beclowns itself painting Breitbart editor-in-chief as racist - HotAir

Sacramento Occupiers Protest Capitol Building -74 Arrested

◼ Video: At Moonbattracker

“As we reported last night ‘The Factor’ believes Sandra Fluke contraception controversy was manufactured to divert attention away from the Obama administration’s disastrous decision to force non-Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for birth control and the ‘morning after’ pill. That might very well be unconstitutional.

◼ Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke is being represented by a former Obama adviser’s PR firm, Bill O’Reilly explained on his Thursday night program “The O’Reilly Factor,” suggesting that the young woman was indirectly planted at the center of the contraception controversy by the Obama administration. - The Daily Caller

“Now, late today we found out that Ms. Fluke is now being [represented] by the progressive PR industry SKDKnickerbocker where Anita Dunn, the former Obama communications director is the managing [director]. Ah-ha. So this whole deal comes back to the White House, at least indirectly.”

◼ ANITA DUNN'S PR FIRM REPRESENTING SANDRA FLUKE - Breitbart/Big Journalism

Bill O'Reilly revealed that it's a good thing former Obama communications director Anita Dunn's PR firm is representing Sandra Fluke for free, since she can't afford to buy birth control pills... Maybe Fluke's boyfriend, the son of entrenched Democrat William Mutterperl, can pay for her contraception. His father donates heavily to Democrat candidates. The couple is currently enjoying spring break in California, which poses the question of how Fluke can afford a trip across the country when she can't afford birth control pills.

◼ O’Reilly: Sandra Fluke’s boyfriend son of ‘Democratic stalwart William Mutterperl’ - Daily Caller

O’Reilly found on Friday that Fluke is also dating the son of “Democratic stalwart” William Mutterperl, who has made numerous donations to the Democratic Party and liberal candidates in recent years.

“For six days, we have been telling you that the 30-year-old Georgetown law student has become a major player in the presidential election,” O’Reilly said during his “Talking Points Memo” segment. “Last night, we reported that she is now being handled pro bono, for free, by the PR firm SKDKnickerbocker, which is good, because Sandra doesn’t have enough money to buy birth control pills, as we know. But there is more to Sandra’s story than just contraception. Right now, she’s on spring break in California with her boyfriend, who is the son of Democratic stalwart William Mutterperl. He has made at least 56 donations to Democratic candidates or organizations. Nothing wrong with that — I’m just pointing it out.”

O’Reilly then questioned whether Fluke was receiving some sort of backing in exchange for her advocacy. Despite claiming that it is financially taxing for her to afford contraception, Fluke is somehow able to travel across the country and make numerous media appearances.

O’Reilly also noted the timing of Fluke’s rise. The law student came on the scene right when the Obama administration was being criticized for a controversial contraceptive mandate requiring some religious institutions to supply contraception against their will.

“Of course, that’s when Sandra Fluke suddenly appeared — popping up at congressional hearings, showing up in the media,” he said. “Polls show President Obama’s poll numbers among women now on the rise, and he has Ms. Fluke to thank [for] that. If you don’t pay close attention to this story, it looks like President Obama is simply helping out a young woman under siege, but again, that’s not what’s going on here.”

ShePAC strikes back at misogynist Bill Maher

◼ (C)ountless conservative women out there are fed up and pushing back. - Michelle Malkin

ShePAC, which supports principled conservative women in public office, has just released a video exposing the depths of Maher’s misogyny. The ladies’ hands are probably red from the beatdown they’ve just administered.

I call this damning clip “Speaking Truth to Coward.”

PANETTA: 'INTERNATIONAL PERMISSION’ TRUMPS CONGRESSIONAL PERMISSION FOR MILITARY ACTIONS

◼ Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared at a Senate Armed Services Committee congressional hearing, where he said “legal basis” was needed to initiate a no-fly zone over Syria. - Breitbart.com

Under questioning from Sen. Sessions at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey indicated that "international permission," rather than Congressional approval, provided a 'legal basis' for military action by the United States.

Obama vs. Israel: Priority No. 1? Stop Israel

◼ If the administration were serious about achievement rather than appearance, it would have warned that this was the last chance for Iran to come clean and would have demanded a short timeline. - Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post

Obama garnered much AIPAC applause by saying that his is not a containment policy but a prevention policy. But what has he prevented? Keeping a coalition of six together is not prevention. Holding talks is not prevention. Imposing sanctions is not prevention.

Prevention is halting and reversing the program. Yet Iran is tripling its uranium output, moving enrichment facilities deep under a mountain near Qom and impeding IAEA inspections of weaponization facilities.

So what is Obama’s real objective? “We’re trying to make the decision to attack as hard as possible for Israel,” an administration official told The Post in the most revealing White House admission since “leading from behind.”

Revealing and shocking. The world’s greatest exporter of terror (according to the State Department), the systematic killer of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, the self-declared enemy that invented “Death to America Day” is approaching nuclear capability — and the focus of U.S. policy is to prevent a democratic ally threatened with annihilation from preempting the threat?

Indeed it is. The new open-ended negotiations with Iran fit well with this strategy of tying Israel down. As does Obama’s “I have Israel’s back” reassurance, designed to persuade Israel and its supporters to pull back and outsource to Obama what for Israel are life-and-death decisions.

◼ AP Interview: US asks Palestinians to sit tight = AP via NH Journal

The Obama administration has told Palestinian leaders to expect little help with their statehood bid during the U.S. presidential campaign, the Palestinian foreign minister said Friday.... (with) the promise of vigorous U.S. mediation in the Mideast conflict if President Barack Obama is re-elected, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said in an interview.

White House Proposal to Stimulate Volt Sales: Jack up the Taxpayer Subsidy to $10,000 Per Car

◼ Cranking up the Chevy Volt subsidy from $7,500 to $10,000 isn’t “fresh” news. - Doug Ross/Michelle Malkin

The proposal is in the White House 2013 budget that Harry Reid is sitting on, but President Obama continues to promote the idea as essential to decreasing America’s dependence on the free market… er, I mean oil...

Senator Rubio Discusses the RESTORE Act Vote

‎"Today’s RESTORE Act is far different than the one I proudly supported last July. What started as a genuine bipartisan effort to dedicate as much BP fine money as possible towards Gulf Coast restoration has now turned into a raw deal that increases taxes, creates a new environmental bureaucracy, and could steer money to places like the Great Lakes and West coast that had nothing to with the oil spill. This is no longer a Gulf Coast restoration bill, it’s a federal power grab that exploits the BP spill to pay for special interest projects driven by the usual 'what's in it for me' Washington mentality. I will not support raising taxes to pay for BP’s mess or to pay for new spending projects across the country that have nothing to do with Gulf Coast restoration. It’s unfortunate to see a good idea to help people along the Gulf Coast be turned into another Washington tax-and-spend feeding frenzy.”

Iran and Obama

◼ The track record of Barack Obama's pronouncements on a wide range of issues suggests that anything he says is a message written in sand, and easily blown away by the next political winds. - Thomas Sowell/Creators.com

If you were an Israeli, how willing would you be to risk your national survival on Obama's promise to stand by your country? If you were a leader of Iran, what would you make of what Obama said, except that an election year might not be the best time to attack Israel?

Members of the Obama administration have been pointing out how hard it would be to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, now that they have been built deep underground and dispersed.

That would have been something to consider during the time when President Obama was taking leisurely and half-hearted measures to create the appearance of trying to stop the Iranian nuclear program, while vigorously warning Israel not to take military action.

Time was never on our side. The risks go up exponentially the longer we wait. When the Iranian nuclear program was just getting started, it could have been destroyed before it became so big, so dispersed and so deeply dug in underground.

Now, if we wait till they actually have nuclear bombs, the same kinds of arguments for inaction will carry even more weight, when the price of an attack on Iran can be the start of a nuclear Holocaust. Read the rest...

Democratic megadonors like Soros to benefit from Nat Gas act

◼ Sen. Robert “Bob” Menendez (D – N.J.) introduced an amendment to the transportation bill that included provisions from a bill he introduced to the Senate in November, the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions act, or Natural Gas act. - S. E. Robinson/Human Events

Less than a day after the Menendez amendment was filed, an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – Nev.) to reach cloture failed. Although Wednesday’s Senate debate raised amendments both sides agree are unrelated to the bill itself, the Menendez Amendment – aka the Nat Gas act – is a hidden gem for Democrats and two of their most generous supporters....

The Senate version would make 100 percent of the cost of building natural gas stations tax deductible and would create a spike in demand for natural gas engine systems such as those offered by Westport—a NASDAQ traded company whose top investors include George Soros and Kevin G. Douglas, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Both Soros and Douglas have given considerable sums of money to President Barack Obama and Democrats in recent years, according to Federal Election Commission records. Douglas and his wife Michelle M. contributed more than $130,000 to President Barack Obama and Democrats, according to Federal Election Commission records. Read more

The Influence Industry: Obama gives administration jobs to some big fundraisers

◼ Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama’s reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers. Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration. - T.W. Farnam/Washington Post

Obama campaigned on what he called “the most sweeping ethics reform in history” and has frequently criticized the role of money in politics. That hasn’t stopped him from offering government jobs to some of his biggest bundlers, volunteer fundraisers who gather political contributions from other rich donors.

More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs. Nine more have been appointed to presidential boards and committees....

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was a bundler, raising at least $50,000, as was Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who raised at least half a million dollars.

Obama hired bundler Steve Spinner as a liaison in the Energy Department. According to internal e-mails turned over in a congressional investigation, Spinner pressed for staff members to finalize a government loan for Solyndra, the now-shuttered solar company in which another campaign bundler was a major investor. Spinner, according to the Obama administration, did not make any decisions affecting Solyndra....

"Quit playing politics!" Obama lobbying Dems over Keystone XL pipeline

◼ President Barack Obama is intervening in a Senate fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline and personally lobbying Democrats to reject an amendment calling for its construction, according to several sources familiar with the talks. - Politico

The White House lobbying effort, including phone calls from the president to Democrats, signals that the vote could be close when it heads to the floor Thursday. The president is trying to defeat an amendment that would give election-year fodder to his Republican critics who have accused him of blocking a job-creating energy project at a time of high gas prices....

The president has accused Republicans of playing politics with the pipeline, which is strongly opposed by the environmental community. He’s called for more studies on the project before making final permitting decisions.

◼ President Who Didn’t Turn Down Keystone Working Phones in Effort to Stop Senate Pipeline Amendment - Michelle Malkin (image source)

Just a couple of weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed that it wasn’t President Obama who turned down the Keystone pipeline, and that Obama’s denial was only due to Republicans forcing his hand by playing politics.

Today, Republicans are again forcing Obama’s hand… to pick up the phone and call Senate Dems to convince them to vote down a pipeline amendment that would bypass the White House completely

◼ Senate falls four votes short of overturning Obama’s Keystone pipeline rejection - HotAir

IS SANDRA FLUKE COORDINATING WITH THE WHITE HOUSE?

◼ Anyone who follows the Institutional Left was probably suspicious when President Obama called Ms. Fluke on the phone in his unofficial role as Community Organizer in Chief. - Breitbart TV

Ms. Fluke pulled back the curtain midway through her interview on "The View" when she suggested that viewers head over to the website of Media Matters for America. As The Daily Caller recently exposed, there's been a high level of coordination between the White House and Media Matters for America, so of course it's no shock that Ms. Fluke chose MMFA as her leftist propaganda arm of choice.

Documents Show Obama Admin Played Key Role In Firing of USDA Employee Shirley Sherrod Despite Repeated Denials, Then Tried To Cover It Up…

◼ Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents suggesting the Obama White House approved of the decision to fire U.S. Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod on July 19, 2010, based on what were thought to be racist statements made by Sherrod during a speech at a NAACP meeting on March 27, 2010. - Judicial Watch via ◼ Weasel Zippers

Each local group has portrayed itself as an independent community organization not tied to any special interest. But they were founded, incorporated, and led by SEIU personnel.

◼ Part 1 Secretive nationwide network gives SEIU new organizing muscle - Daily Caller

The politically aggressive Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has quietly created a national network of at least eight community-organizing groups, some of which function alongside the Occupy Wall Street movement, a Daily Caller investigation shows.

Incorporated by the SEIU as local non-profits, the groups are waging concerted local political campaigns to publicly attack conservative political figures, banks, energy companies and other corporations.

The individual activist groups use benign-sounding names including This Is Our DC; Good Jobs, Great Houston; Good Jobs, Better Baltimore; Good Jobs Now in Detroit; Fight for Philly; One Pittsburgh; Good Jobs LA; and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy.

In reality, they are creations of the wealthy and influential labor union, amounting to a secret network of new SEIU front groups.

◼ Part 2 of Daily Caller’s Occupy/SEIU investigation - Michelle Malkin's Twitchy.com

◼ Part 2: Secretive SEIU network partners with Occupy movement, raises nationwide hell - Daily Caller

The organizations — including This Is Our DC; Good Jobs, Great Houston; Good Jobs, Better Baltimore; Detroit’s Good Jobs Now; Fight for Philly; One Pittsburgh; Good Jobs LA; and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy — employ “flash demonstrations” and other tactics to deluge their political targets with protesters, sometimes numbering in the hundreds.
TheDC first reported Monday on the secretive ties between these organizations and the SEIU. Their elaborate and sometimes lavish protests, some with expensive-looking production values, advance the giant labor union’s interests without exposing the SEIU directly to criticism from the public.

Since Monday, TheDC has identified another organization in this network: “Working Washington,” whose Seattle-based website mentions nothing about its SEIU ties. That site, however — like those of the other front groups — is hosted on a server that TheDC traced back to the SEIU.

One year ago today an the Wisconsin protests: the "fleebaggers" holed up in Illinois.

◼ Remembering at Althouse

“We hid this throughout the 2008 campaign. I don’t care if they find it now.”

◼ OBAMA: 'OPEN UP YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR MINDS' TO RACIALIST PROF - Breitbart.com

...footage of Barack Obama praising and hugging Professor Derrick Bell. It was spliced and diced by the media to avoid showing just how close Obama was to Bell. More than that, a close associate of the Obama campaign, Harvard Law School’s Professor Charles Ogletree, admitted on our exclusive tape, “We hid this throughout the 2008 campaign. I don’t care if they find it now.”



...This is just the beginning. And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.

Controversial ‘Lorax’ a threat to Dr. Seuss legacy?

◼ Does green fable’s box office success mask long-term risks for beloved name in children’s books? - Washington Times

...while the left has bemoaned the film’s commercialization of its own anti-commercial message, conservatives have deplored the message itself....

A weak win for Romney in key Ohio race

◼ In the end, Romney won by a tiny margin, with 38 percent of the vote to Santorum's 37 percent. - Byron York/Washington Examiner

Team Santorum began talking about second place again. But their point was the same as if their man had won. "I think it shows the fundamental weakness in Romney," former senator and current Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. "He cannot, even with this massive advantage in money, blow Rick away here. This is not a strong candidate."

◼ Romney can't seal the deal on Super Tuesday - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
◼ Santorum rides Ohio blue-collar vote, falls short - Hayley Peterson/Washington Examiner
◼ Santorum, Romney duel in Ohio, split other states - AP

Why Newt Gingrich shouldn’t drop out

◼ Gingrich is right. He shouldn’t drop out of the race. At least not yet. Here’s why. - Chris Cillizza//Washington Post

A quick look at the calendar for the rest of March tells the story. The marquee contests next Tuesday are in the South when Alabama and Mississippi are set to vote. (Hawaii also votes that day.) Louisiana holds it caucuses on March 24.

Gingrich has already made clear today that he will focus all of his time and resources over the next few weeks in the South, skipping the Kansas caucuses — set for this Saturday — in the process. “Everything between Spartanburg all the way to Texas, those all need to go for Gingrich,” said campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond.

If Gingrich can win in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana — and, to be clear, that’s a big “if” — he will have stockpiled enough delegates in the most reliably Republican region in the country to give himself a bit of bargaining power with the eventual nominee.

BREITBART OBAMA VIDEO SET FOR RELEASE

◼ Via Breitbart: Earlier today, Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith announced on Twitter that video researcher Andrew Kaczynski had released “the mysterious Harvard/Obama/race video that the Breitbart folks have been talking about.” The video, which Kaczynski says was “licensed from a Boston television station,” shows a young Barack Obama leading a protest at Harvard Law School on behalf of Prof. Derrick Bell, a radical academic tied to Jeremiah Wright--about whom we will be releasing significant information in the coming hours.

From the comments: WILL_ANTONIN - So let me get this straight:

After all these years, Buzzfeed just happens to find the same video Breitbart promised to release. A video no one in the mainstream media -- with all their resources -- could be bothered to find during the '08 election cycle.

Now, with the threat of the Bigs publishing it, Obama's palace guard preemptively distributes it -- with severe edits.

The corruption in the media has gone too far. They are open partisans and must be countered with everything we have.

BUZZFEED'S SELECTIVELY EDITED OBAMA RACE VIDEO:



Watch Hannity tonight for the whole tape.

Students Punished as “Racist” for Chanting “USA”

◼ High School’s Chant of “USA, USA, USA” Deemed Racist - conservativebyte

◼ If there’s one thing moonbats hate, it’s love of country — to the point that honoring it by chanting “USA” can get you in hot water if you find yourself under the thumb of the liberal ideologues running our schools: - Moonbattery

◼ A local school district is apologizing after an apparent incident of racism at a boys high school basketball game this past weekend. - KSAT

When the final whistle blew Saturday, Alamo Heights celebrated a convincing victory over San Antonio Edison.

Alamo Heights Head Coach Andrew Brewer said he was proud of his team. … But it was just after the trophy presentation when the coach was not proud of the chant coming from Alamo Heights fans.

“USA, USA, USA,” they chanted.

Alamo Heights has apologized to [San Antonio Independent School District] and the students identified will also have to apologize and have been banned from the state title games....

Both districts are now just trying to move past this disturbing incident.

Redwood Alert: March Issue

March 2012 HRWF Redwood Alert

EDITORIAL: Obama undermines coal

◼ It’s lights out for growing number of power plants - Washington Times

The shutdowns represent a victory for President Obama, who in a 2008 interview as a candidate signaled his intention to run the coal industry into the ground: “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s emitted.”

The president has made good on his promise. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has squeezed coal producers in its campaign to halt carbon dioxide, the same “greenhouse gas” all animals produce when exhaling. In December, the agency announced new regulations limiting mercury emissions that will force many power plants out of business within four years.

Vulture Capitalism

◼ (I)n a real free market -- no government privileges or barriers to competition -- capitalism is great. It's the only system with a moral core because it's based on freedom, not force. - John Stossel/TownHall

It’s the progressive left in this country that has viciously and systematically slimed female conservatives for their beliefs.

◼ The war on conservative women - Michelle Malkin

...A reporter asked Obama to comment on examples of liberal hate speech at Tuesday’s press conference. He whiffed, of course. This is, after all, the brave leader who sat on his hands while his street thugs attacked tea party mothers and grandmothers as “Koch whores” during the fight over union reform in Wisconsin. (As I reported last week, his re-election campaign is now targeting the Koch brothers’ private foundation donors in a parallel effort to chill conservative speech and activism.) He’s leading by example.
So no, we won’t get any phone calls from Mr. Civility. Acknowledging the war on conservative women would obliterate The Narrative. Enjoy the silence. Red the entire piece.

◼ Hypocritical Cable Networks Eagerly Bash Rush But Embrace Crude Bill Maher - Rich Noyes/MRC
◼ Obama mega-donor calls women 'boobs,' 'bimbos,' 'tw*t,' 'c*nt'... - previous post
◼ Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist - Kirsten Powers/thedailybeast

◼ The left’s respect for women: a look back - Jim Treacher/Daily Caller

Interesting statistic:

Latest Wikileaks dump shows Dems effort to throw 2008 election

◼ (Last week) Wikileaks began its latest document dump in a series of cables that it calls 'The Global Intelligence Files.' Part of the information contained in the files shows that the Democratic Party engaged in an effort to throw the 2008 election. - examiner.com

The Democrats may have succeeded, and the election results from 2008 may be entirely skewed....

In an internal email dated Nov. 7, 2008, a Stratfor operative sent the following information to the company's chain of staffers:

From: Fred Burton [mailto:burton@stratfor.com]

Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 7:41 AM
To: secure@stratfor.com
Subject: Insight - The Dems & Dirty Tricks ** Internal Use Only - Pls Do
Not Forward **
** Internal Use Only - Pls Do Not Forward **

1) The black Dems were caught stuffing the ballot boxes in Philly and Ohio as reported the night of the election and Sen. McCain chose not to fight. The matter is not dead inside the party. It now becomes a matter of sequence now as to how and when to "out".

2) It appears the Dems "made a donation" to Rev. Jesse (no, they would never do that!) to keep his yap shut after his diatribe about the Jews and Israel. A little bird told me it was a "nice six-figure donation". This also becomes a matter of how and when to out.

3) The hunt is on for the sleezy Russian money into O-mans coffers. A smoking gun has already been found. Will get more on this when the time
is right. My source was too giddy to continue. Can you say Clinton and ChiCom funny money? This also becomes a matter of how and when to out.

Stunner: Obama loses Dem primary in 15 Oklahoma counties

◼ President Barack Obama collected the most votes in the Oklahoma Democratic primary, but lost in 15 counties - AP

Oklahoma earned the nickname "reddest of the red" states after Obama's failed to win a single county in the 2008 presidential race.

◼ Obama sees protest vote in Democratic primary - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

While the Republican primaries have gotten all the attention, many of the states that have voted have also held Democratic primaries or caucuses — and in Oklahoma's primary on Tuesday, President Obama only won 57 percent of the vote....

Coming in second with 18 percent of the vote was Randall Terry, a pro-life activist who founded Operation Rescue, which made its reputation blocking abortion clinics. And in third place was Jim Rogers, an Oklahoman who was Democrats' nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and who won 14 percent of the vote.

◼ Obama renomination won’t be unanimous - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

President Obama will not win the Democratic nomination unanimously after a pro-life activist won 18 percent of the votes in Oklahoma’s primary on Tuesday, ensuring he’ll win delegates to the national nominating convention in September.

Nine Republican attorneys general declared Monday that the Obama administration is riding roughshod over the law, and is using its regulatory powers to impose huge costs on the states

◼ GOP attorneys general litigate, push back against Obama regulations - Daily Caller

CBS News exit poll: Gas prices loom large in the South on Super Tuesday

◼ Gas prices were an important factor for a significant majority of voters in primary states today, according to CBS News early exit polling. - CBS

That may be good news for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has campaigned in recent days on a promise to bring gas prices down to $2.50. Gingrich, who has only won one nominating contest so far, is hoping strong performances in Southern states will revive his campaign.

Super Tuesday: Newt Gingrich says he's a survivor

◼ Newt Gingrich, racking up a Super Tuesday win in the state where he launched his extraordinary political rise, predicted he would win the GOP nomination despite opposition from the nation's elites because "people power" will trump "money power." - LA Times

"We survived the national elites' effort to kill us," he told a boisterous crowd of more than 400 supporters in a ballroom at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel, where he said he was when he learned in 1994 that the Republicans had taken over the House. "Wall Street money can be beaten by Main Street work."

Gingrich noted that political observers had predicted other Republican candidates would eclipse him, and he pointed out that they are now gone from the race. The latest, he said, is Rick Santorum. "There are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. I am the tortoise," he said.

Obama's muddy transparency record

◼ President Barack Obama set a high bar for open government, and he set it quickly. - Politico

A minute after he took office, the White House website declared his administration would become “the most open and transparent in history.” By the end of his first full day on the job, Obama had issued high-profile orders pledging “a new era” and “an unprecedented level of openness” across the massive federal government.

But three years into his presidency, critics say Obama’s administration has failed to deliver the refreshing blast of transparency that the president promised.

“Obama is the sixth administration that’s been in office since I’ve been doing Freedom of Information Act work. … It’s kind of shocking to me to say this, but of the six, this administration is the worst on FOIA issues. The worst. There’s just no question about it,” said Katherine Meyer, a Washington lawyer who’s been filing FOIA cases since 1978. “This administration is raising one barrier after another. … It’s gotten to the point where I’m stunned — I’m really stunned.”

The one word that that was on the lips of nearly every Hawaii Republican I spoke to regarding the March 13 caucus was "excited."

◼ Hawaii conservatives to stage first ever GOP presidential caucus in Obama's home state - Washington Times

The Aloha State will see its first ever Republican presidential caucus in one week and local conservatives are already motivated and anxious to cast their votes for what may very well be the next president of the United States.

Hawaii, which has 17 proportionately awarded delegates at stake, trails the drama of today's Super Tuesday contests but has unique significance as President Obama's home state. Conservatives believe that the upcoming caucus, if turnout is large enough, could serve as a symbolic vote of no-confidence against the Obama Administration.

SUPER CHOOSEDAY...

RESULTS: TONIGHT
◼ Dividing the spoils: Santorum takes Tenn. and Okla.; Romney wins 3 states and Gingrich captures Georgia - Washington Post via Drudge

As polls closed on Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were dividing up Republican primary votes around the nation, with each winning important states , but the key battleground of Ohio remained too close to call.

Romney won Republican presidential primaries in Virginia, Vermont and Massachusetts, the state he served as governor, while Santorum snagged an important victory in Tennessee and also won Oklahoma. Gingrich boosted his struggling campaign with a victory in his home state of Georgia.

In Ohio, Romney was battling Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania who has emerged as his chief rival in the tumultuous Republican presidential primary fight. The contest remained too close to call. Official results have not come in from North Dakota, where caucuses ended at 8 p.m. Eastern time....

In all, more than 400 delegates will be awarded Tuesday, more than the combined total of all 12 states that have voted so far. That won’t be enough to give any of the candidates the nomination, but Super Tuesday could still be super enough to reshape the primary season.

◼ SANTORUM WIN OK, TN... - New York Times

Mr. Romney did less well than usual with some of his of the groups that have provided him the most supporters in the past. While Mr. Santorum won less-educated voters, he essentially tied Mr. Romney among the better educated, which has not been the usual pattern.

Mr. Santorum did well among strong Tea Party supporters, but he he also did well among those less supportive of the Tea Party movement.

Like the voters in other states, 4 in 10 Tennessee voters said Mr. Romney was most likely to defeat Mr. Obama in November.

◼ Super Tuesday Results - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Super Tuesday Thread - Ohio Too Close, Romney Wins VA But Has Major Problems In South - Marooned in Marin
◼ Super Tuesday Update: Romney Declared Winner in 3 States; Santorum 2; Gingrich 1; Ohio Too Close to Call - Michelle Malkin
◼ Super Tuesday Backgrounder * Open Thread [Updates] - NoQuarter
◼ SUPER TUESDAY RESULTS HQ - The Other McCain

Newt Gingrich - The Truth

__________________
Newt Gingrich

March 6, 1857: Dred Scott v. Sanford

On this day in 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves (or their descendants, whether or not they were slaves) were not protected by the Constitution and could never be U.S. citizens. - via Human Events

Buy this not that! Rally for Rush.

◼ What would Breitbart do? Once again American companies are choosing sides. This time some leading sponsors are pulling their ads from Rush Limbaugh’s show. - justbarkingmad

Jeffery Lord of The American Spectator discovers that many of the founders and CEO’s of these companies are actually huge backers of groups like MoveOn.org....

◼ Carbonite background - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

◼ Competitors to Advertisers Abandoning Rush - JasonD at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

◼ Welcome to total political war - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Which brings me to the present dispute with Rush Limbaugh, and radio show host Kim Komando, who has a very well-known computer talk show.

What did or does Komando have to do with the dispute? Nothing, except that one or more of the advertisers targeted by the anti-Limbaugh groups also advertises on Komando’s show. Komando received a flood of e-mails demanding that she drop the advertisers.

◼ Investors flee Carbonite after Limbaugh announcement - Daily Caller

Ripping the lid off of Colorado’s Solyndra

◼ Yet another solar company that received loan guarantees from the Department of Energy has dismissed factory workers, lopping off 70 percent of its U.S. employees. Loveland, Colo.-based Abound Solar announced Tuesday it would lay off 280 workers at its production plant near Longmont, leaving 120 still employed. - Michelle Malkin

DOE’s $400-million loan guarantee to Abound closed in December 2010, after President Obama delivered a weekly message a few months earlier hyping his jobs plan in a “clean energy economy,” in which he cited his plans for Abound[.]

Energy Secretary Steven Chu was equally boastful about the Abound loan....

News Web site The Complete Colorado revealed “fingerprints” of a “pay-to-play agenda” when Abound received its conditional approval in September 2010. Wealthy philanthropist Pat Stryker, whose Bohemian Companies has significant investment in Abound, donated $475,599 to federal Democrat candidates and causes over the 2008 to 2012 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Included in that amount is $11,900 in maximum contributions to President Obama’s two campaigns for the White House. Stryker also was an $87,500 bundler for the president’s Inaugural Committee, the People’s Press Collective discovered, and donated $50,000 herself. The Sunlight Foundation reported that she gave $35,800 to the 2012 Obama Victory Fund. In October 2009 Stryker also visited a former assistant to the deputy chief of staff at the White House, Kristin Sheehy, who also hosted several visits from SEIU president Andy Stern. The purpose of Stryker’s visits is undisclosed.

Stryker is known to have contributed millions of dollars to Democrat candidates for state and federal office in her lifetime. Among those are gifts to former U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, whose district includes the Abound facility – $9,400 made up of max contributions for her 2008 and 2010 successful runs for office. Abound helped pay for ads in 2009 that thanked Markey for voting for the cap-and-trade bill that passed the House that year, which would have benefited renewable energy companies. And according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan, Markey also pushed for approval of the loan guarantee for Abound.

◼ Surprise! Another DOE Solar 'Bet' Produces Green Job Losses - NLPC
◼ ABOUND SOLAR HAD PREVIOUSLY UNANNOUNCED PRODUCTION SHUTDOWN
+ + + + WORRIED ABOUT 'RUMOR MILL' - CompleteColorado.com

SUPER TUESDAY

10 states go to the polls to vote today, and many questions remain about Mitt Romney's candidacy. Will he be able to resonate with conservative voters in dark red states like Tennessee, Oklahoma and Georgia? Can Romney's spending in Ohio (he's spent $1.3 million on TV ads alone) push him over the goal line in the battleground state that is a MUST win for Republicans in November? All of those questions are answered by Tony Lee and John Gizzi today in their respective preview stories. Both are must reads for all you need to know about today's votes. - Adam Tragone/Human Events

◼ Playbook for Super Tuesday: What to look for in presidential contests in five key states - Tony Lee/Human Events

◼ Super Tuesday: State-by-state snapshot of polls, voting habits and other data - John Gizzi/Human Events

◼ Ohio the Key to Super Tuesday Victory - Rick Moran/PJM

◼ Super Tuesday voters put imprint on GOP race - AP

With 419 delegates at stake around the country, Tuesday's voting represents a sizable slice of the 1,144 needed to nail down the GOP nomination.

Benjamin Netanyahu Addresses AIPAC 2012 (3.5.12)

◼ AIPAC: The Bibi Solution - Roger L. Simon/PJM

...Then Bibi finally arrived. He was welcomed like a conquering hero and began to speak. He soon was getting standing ovation after standing ovation for his impassioned and perfectly executed delivery, his love of Israel and America. He was a master, of the AIPAC audience at least, and probably many others. Something was becoming abundantly clear....

Scott Brown pulling ahead in polls

◼ Scott Brown pulling ahead in polls - Washington Post

A Western New England Polling Institute survey taken Feb. 23 to March 1 has Brown beating Warren 49 percent to 41 percent if the election was held today.

It was the third survey in a row showing Brown in the lead. A poll done last week by the consulting firm Opinion Dynamics shows Brown winning 52 percent to 42 percent; a Suffolk University poll in mid-February gave Brown a nine-point lead.

The most recent poll was taken after Brown backed an amendment allowing moral exemptions from prescription coverage (a failed attempt to limit mandatory cost-free birth control coverage) — suggesting that in the short-term, that position has not hurt him.

Obama mega-donor calls women 'boobs,' 'bimbos,' 'tw*t,' 'c*nt'...

◼ Will Obama Super PAC Return Misogynist Bill Maher's Million-Dollar Donation? - John McCormack/Weekly Standardvia Drudge

In response to the media firestorm surrounding Rush Limbaugh's insulting comments about Democratic activist Sandra Fluke (comments for which Limbaugh apologized), Kirsten Powers writes about the liberal men who have used misogynistic rhetoric without facing the same outrage. Powers notes that "the grand pooh-bah of media misogyny is without a doubt Bill Maher—who also happens to be a favorite of liberals—who has given $1 million to President Obama’s super PAC."

◼ Rush Limbaugh apologized on Saturday for calling a Georgetown Law student a slut for testifying about contraception and starting a firestorm of outrage. Kirsten Powers says the liberals who led the charge need to start holding their own side accountable. - Kirsten Powers/thedailybeast

Did you know there is a war on women?

Yes, it’s true. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Matt Taibbi, and Ed Schultz have been waging it for years with their misogynist outbursts. There have been boycotts by people on the left who are outraged that these guys still have jobs. Oh, wait. Sorry, that never happened.

Boycotts are reserved for people on the right like Rush Limbaugh, who finally apologized Saturday for calling a 30-year-old Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke, a “slut” after she testified before congress about contraception. Limbaugh’s apology was likely extracted to stop the departure of any more advertisers, who were rightly under pressure from liberal groups outraged by the comments.

◼ Obama invokes his daughters in response to Limbaugh controversy - The Hill

◼ Sarah Palin To Obama: If Rush Was Offensive, Why Are You Taking Money From Bill Maher

◼ "Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized..." - Althouse

"... liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout," tweets Bill Maher.

◼ Investors flee Carbonite after Limbaugh announcement - Daily Caller

PROTEST FEAR: G-8 MOVED OUT OF CHICAGOLAND

◼ Obama shifts location of G-8 summit from hometown of Chicago to his Camp David retreat - Washington Post via Drudge

The White House abruptly announced Monday that it had scuttled plans to hold the upcoming G-8 economic summit in Chicago, and would instead host world leaders at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland.

It was an unusually late location change for a large and highly scripted international summit and came with little explanation from the White House. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — the former White House chief of staff who personally lobbied President Barack Obama to hold the summit in Chicago — was informed only hours before the official announcement....

The White House announced plans last summer to hold both summits back-to-back in Chicago, giving the president a high-profile opportunity to tout his foreign policy and diplomatic credentials on his home turf in an election year.

President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You’re on your own.

◼ White House to Congress Dems: Expect no money - Politico

Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have privately sought as much as $30 million combined from Obama for America and the Democratic National Committee — a replay of the financial help they received from Obama in 2008 and 2010.

But that’s not going to happen...More...

ARKLEYS NAMED REPUBLICANS OF THE YEAR

Eureka philanthropists and civic activists Cherie and Rob Arkley will be honored as the “Republicans of the Year” by the Humboldt County Republican Party at a dinner on April 14 at the Ingomar Club. Invitations are in the mail for the event.

Rob is a native of Humboldt County and Cherie of Piedmont, California. They and their daughters own SN Master Holdings, a group of real estate, loan servicing and insurance companies, based in Eureka.
Their company was founded in Anchorage, Alaska in 1987, expanded to Baton Rouge, Louisiana then made its headquarters in Eureka.

Since the 1990s the Arkleys have been active in civic projects, creating the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts, funding a major upgrade of the Sequoia Zoo and contributing $2 million to the City of Eureka for the waterfront boardwalk. They are the founders of Economic Fuel, an annual competition among hopeful entrepreneurs--college students and recent graduates--for seed money with which to establish new businesses.

Among the Arkleys development and redevelopment projects have been the Vance Hotel, Fifth Street Plaza, the Eureka Co-op, Fairhaven Business Park and the old Woolworth Building (now Security National’s headquarters). Their current project is the proposed Marina Center.

Cherie Arkley served on the Eureka City Council from 1998-2002. She is active in North Coast Dance, The Arkley Center, Miranda’s Rescue, the Humboldt Arts Council and the HSU President’s Advisory Board. Rob Arkley has served on the boards of the Pacific Legal Foundation and Access Humboldt.

They live in Eureka and have two daughters Allison and Elizabeth.

The Obama-Democrat-Media Complex In One Photograph

◼ Via Doug Ross

This is where the unions and the Occupy movement and the academy all come together under one big anti-capitalist umbrella. Lerner, representing labor, says that the job of labor is to shut down business; Occupy says that its job is to smash the machines of capitalism; academia provides them the forum to recruit.

◼ EXCLUSIVE: SEIU HELPS OCCUPY ‘ABOLISH CAPITALISM’

Breitbart.com has received exclusive tape of an Occupy Strategy Session at New York University, billed as a group talk on “The Abolition of Capitalism.” One of the headline speakers at this session was Stephen Lerner, former leader and International Board Member of the SEIU and frequent Obama White House visitor. Lerner argued in favor of people not paying their mortgages and “occupying” their homes; he spoke in favor of invading annual shareholders meetings to shut them down. But his big goal was to get workers to shut down their workplaces. That’s where the SEIU agenda and the Occupy agenda truly meet: once workers begin to occupy.

All of the above energy. The GOP response

This weekend, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Doc Hastings (R-WA) provided the weekly Republican address to the nation. The topic, lest we forget about one of the most pressing issues of the day, is the real “all of the above” energy policy America needs. (Significantly different from what Barack Obama is delivering thus far.) Below is the video and transcript of the remarks. Not only should you listen, but we should make sure that both the President and the rest of Congress tunes in. ◼ via HotAir

Sunday Talkers: Newt hits homerun on Meet the Press

Washington has accomplished a great leap, from a plea for choice to a roar of entitlement. No doubt, this approach works well with intolerant liberals who want to impose their views on others. But it is enough to cause some of us social moderates, who worry about the encroachment on religious and personal liberty, to go into the loving arms of social conservatives.

◼ From a Plea for Choice to a Roar of Entitlement - Debra Saunders/Real Clear Politics

The Story of Obama and Israel

BILL MAHER TO LIMBAUGH: I CAN CALL PALIN C**T, ‘I DON’T HAVE SPONSORS – I’M ON HBO’

(WARNING: Language)

◼ Shorter ‘Washington Post’: Bill ‘C*nt’ Maher’s Million Okay For Obama, GOP Must Abandon Limbaugh - Dan Riehl/Big Hollywood

Santorum has failed to get onto the ballot in some districts in Ohio

◼ link - @Breitbart