Buy My Booklet, Meltdown Time and Why Juan Williams?

          DANIEL PIPES, TONIGHT 7;30, JEA! DANIEL PIPES, TONIGHT 7;30, JEA!
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Dick Berkowitz, has written a booklet entitled:"A Conservative Capitalist Offers: Eleven Lessons and a Bonus Lesson for Raising America's Youth Born and Yet To Be Born" Half The Proceeds Go To "The Wounded Warrior Project!" 

By Dick Berkowitz - Non Expert

Dick wrote this booklet because he believes a strong country must rest on a solid family unit and that Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" has morphed into "A Confused, Dependent and Compromised Generation."

He  hopes this booklet will provide a guide to alter this trend.

You can now order a .pdf version from www.brokerberko.com/book that you can download and read on your computer, or print out if you want. Cost is $5.99

In several weeks the book will be available in soft cover format at a cost of $10.99. 

Booklet illustrations were by his oldest granddaughter, Emma Darvick, who lives and works in New York.

Testimonials:

Dick, I read your book this weekend.  I hardly know where to start.  You did an excellent job of putting into one short book a compendium of the virtues which only a relatively short time ago all Americans believed.  It’s a measure of how far we have fallen that many Americans, perhaps a majority of Americans, no longer believe in what we once considered truisms.  I think your father would have agreed with every word, but the party he supported no longer has such beliefs.

  

I would like to buy multiple copies of your booklet..

You did a great job.  I know your parents would have been proud and that your family today is proud.

Mike

You wrote a great book.  The brevity is one of its strong points and I know it was hard to include that in and still keep it brief.  Your father in haste once wrote an overly long letter to our client, then said in the last sentence, “I’m sorry I wrote such a long letter, but I didn’t have time to write a short one.”

"Dick, I indeed marvel at how much wisdom you have been able to share with so few words.  Not too unlike the experience in reading the Bible. I feel that with each read of "A Conservative Capitalist Offers:…." one will gain additional knowledge and new insights…

Regards, Larry"

Dick , 
Your book is outstanding! Due to illness, I've been unable to read it in entirety until today .Your background is often very similar to mine (e.g. Halliburton's influence was very important in my life), and your thoughts reflect very closely the the teachings that I received from my parents and granddad. I will write a more detailed statement in the near future!
All the best,
Bob

Dick attended Georgia Military Academy, in Atlanta, graduating in 1950. He attended The Wharton School of Commerce graduating in 1954, served both a stint in the Marine Corps Active reserves and The Army Finance Corps.  

Upon completing his tour of service he enrolled in The University of Miami Law School (was an associate editor of The Law Review)  graduated in 1960, moved to Atlanta and began his Wall Street career as a stock broker with Courts and Company and became a general partner in 1967.  When Courts merged he opened an Atlanta Office for Burnham and Company in 1970 and when Drexel Burnham demised, in 1990, he took the institutional department , he created, to Oppenheimer going into semi-retirement in 2006 (he still manages money for some clients.).  

Dick resides with his wife of 40 years - Lynn Rudikoff, At The Landings on Skidaway Island near Savannah.

He has three daughters from a former marriage, a son and daughter with Lynn and 7 grandchildren.

During his working career, Dick was a member of The Board of St John's College for nine years (The Great Books School) served on The President's Commission on White House Fellowships during the elder Bush's Administration, and served on the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Board among many other public activities.

After moving to Savannah in 2003, Dick, began The JEA Speaker Series, continues to serve on the Board of The State of Georgia's Museum (GMOA) located on the campus at Athens, is on the advisory board of Spine and Sport and The Skidaway Island Republican Club.  Dick also serves on the investment committee board of the Savannah Jewish Federation.

He recently underwent a knee replacement in the hope that he can continue playing tennis.  

Dick also posts to a web page (dick-meom.blogspot.com) on a daily basis focusing on The Middle East, politics and economics.

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Some post debate ad humor:

 




I love satire but I also want to explain why these ads were possible in my opinion.

When you engage in false advertising and the real object shows up you become vulnerable as a result of your own lies. You are hung on your own petard, so to speak.

When I was in Wall Street and I was taking an analyst to visit a client I tried to tell the client the strengths and weaknesses of the analyst they were about to meet.  I believe the client appreciated my honesty and, of course, they came to their own conclusions after meeting the analyst.

Had I oversold my analyst what would I have accomplished?  My own defeat.

Well, Obama spent millions portraying Romney as someone he was not so when the real Romney showed up and kicked ass it was Obama who shrank not Romney.

The first debate also revealed several other things in my opinion.

First, Romney had his shins kicked pretty hard during the nominating process. He had been battle tested and put through the ringer.

No one is permitted to lay a hand on Obama.  He has been protected by the press and media and Obama has an ego that was enhanced by his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in anticipation of great accomplishments.

Obama truly believes, based on his astounding rise, that he walks on water.  Romney simply pulled the plug and the dam broke.

Second, when you cannot run on substance, ie. failed record, you have to defend fluff.  Fluff is not something one can hold onto with confidence.  Fluff will not support you. Clouds neither support a plane or prevent it from moving forward.

Finally, Obama is not the person the voters elected. He was always a movie set - nothing but facade but, for a variety of reasons, voters oversold themselves on his ability and accomplishments. Obama's resume was pathetically thin but voters, supported by the press and media, saw more than was there.

In the past three years voters failed to 'fact check!"

Does this mean Obama cannot win?  Of course not. It simply means Obama must now regain offense from a defensive position and that is not easy.  It also means stress fractures may  begin to develop within his campaign staff as fingers begin to point, staff will start infighting and laying and/or avoiding blame. I present The Big Bird Ad nonsense as evidence of internal stress, overplaying and possible panic. The ad demeans the office Obama happens to occupy.

What we have been experiencing these last four years is a 13 year old kid driving a car who has no license and who never took any driving lessons. Another way to think about Obama's record  is to visualize  a pin ball machine where the ball ricochets helter skelter  from bumper to bumper.

I have maintained all along, Romney will win and still do and, naturally, recent events have comforted me in terms of my prediction and belief. However, the campaign picture remains fluid and anything can happen to shift the trend so stay tuned, stay engaged, stay aboard for the ride which should get rougher, wilder and nastier! Of this I am sure.
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Another  ominous cloud is developing vis a vis The State Department and The Administration.

As the investigation of the Libyan assassinations is placed under a Congressional microscope, how can Hillary remain disengaged?  The State Department just released a report indicating  spokespersons for the Administration lied and persisted in doing so in the face of the obvious.

I believe Hilary and Obama will ultimately come face to face over this matter and one will be thrown under the bus. If that happens then watch "Old Bill."  Have not heard from Hillary as yet after she was the loyal soldier hewing to the Administration's track of blaming some flaky movie as precipitating the embassy attacks.

Before this campaign is over, it will be better than any Hollywood Movie! (See 1,1a, 1b and 1c below.)
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Is 'INFLUMP' in our future? (Inflation accompanied by an economic Slump!) (See 2 below.)
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Netanyahu faces campaign risks.  (See 3 below.)
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Solid Democrat pollster tells Obama that the rubber has hit the road. (See 4 below.)
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Is Bob Woodward right about Obama? (See 5 below.)

Every time I listen to Juan Williams I think he is the media equivalent of Obama. Williams and was saved by Fox after being fired by PBS and perhaps he is playing the perfect foil role  but he constantly comes across as dumb and unthinking.

I guess Fox, the  fair and balanced renegade TV company, felt compelled to bring a black talker aboard for balance but why him?
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Dick
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1)BOMBSHELL: OBAMA.COM OWNED BY BUNDLER IN SHANGHAI WITH BUSINESS TIES TO CHINESE GOVERNMENT

In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign and fraudulent Internet campaign donations in U.S. federal elections (visitcampaignfundingrisks.com to download the full report).

Breitbart News obtained an advance copy of the bombshell report which reveals that the Obama.com website is not owned by the president’s campaign but rather by Obamabundler Robert Roche, a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, China. Roche is the chairman of a Chinese infomercial company, Acorn International, with ties to state-controlled banks that allow it to “gain revenue through credit card transactions with Chinese banks.”

There’s more.

The unusual Obama.com website redirects traffic directly to a donation page on the Obama campaign’s official website, my.barackobama.com, which does not require donors to enter their credit card security code (known as the CVV code), thereby increasing the likelihood of foreign or fraudulent donations. The website is managed by a small web development firm, Wicked Global, in Maine. One of Wicked Global’s employees, Greg Dorr, lists on his LinkedIn page his additional employment with Peace Action Maine and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights. According to the GAI report, 68 percent of all Internet traffic to Obama.com comes from foreign visitors. 

And still more.

In 2011, Mr. Roche obtained one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate in Washington, DC: a seat at the head table for President Obama’s State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao. How Roche—a man whose infomercial company hawks fitness equipment, cell phones, and breast enhancement products—landed a seat alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, Sen. John Kerry, former President Jimmy Carter, and Chinese President Hu Jintao remains unclear.  

Since 2009, White House Visitor Logs list the name Robert Roche at least 19 times, despite the fact Mr. Roche’s primary residence is in China.  

Mr. Roche, who is originally from Chicago, is a co-chair of the Technology Initiative for the Obama campaign. 

According to Acorn International’s prospectus, the success of Mr. Roche’s company hinges on maintaining access to state-run media and “preferential tax treatments and subsidies” doled out by the People’s Republic of China (PRC):  

Our business depends on our access to TV media time to market our products and services in China….PRC law is vague and is subject to discretionary interpretation and enforcement by PRC authorities…Loss of these preferential tax treatments and subsidies could have material and adverse effects on our results of operations and financial conditions.

In addition to the Obama.com redirect revelation, the Government Accountability Institute report—America the Vulnerable: Are Foreign And Fraudulent Online Contributions Influencing U.S. Elections?—exposes myriad gaping online security holes that stand to threaten the integrity of House, Senate, and presidential elections. 

1a)Subject: The real Obama

NorthernCanuck

…and The US will soon be following the EU over the cliff!

I can’t personally confirm whether all of the allegations made in the following article are accurate or not but it certainly makes for disturbing and thought-provoking reading….

(Obama)”Just Happened”

“As I noted in the introduction to my book, The Obama Timeline, a jury at a murder trial will often find the accumulated circumstantial evidence so overwhelming that a guilty verdict is obvious—even though there may be no witness to the crime. “The jurors in the Scott Peterson trial believed the collection of evidence more than they believed Scott Peterson. Among other things, the jury thought that being arrested with $15,000 in cash, recently-dyed hair, a newly-grown goatee, four cell phones, camping equipment, a map to a new girlfriend’s house, a gun, and his brother’s drivers license certainly did not paint a picture of a grieving husband who had nothing to do with his pregnant wife’s disappearance and murder.”

In the four years I have been gathering information about—and evidence against—Barack Hussein Obama, I have encountered hundreds of coincidences that strike me as amazing. None of those coincidences, by themselves, may mean much. But taken as a whole it is almost impossible to believe they were all the result of chance. Consider the Obama-related coincidences:

Obama just happened to know 60s far-left radical revolutionary William Ayers, whose father just happened to be Thomas Ayers, who just happened to be a close friend of Obama’s communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis, who just happened to work at the communist-sympathizing Chicago Defender with Vernon Jarrett, who just happened to later become the father-in-law of Iranian-born leftist Valerie Jarrett, who Obama just happened to choose as his closest White House advisor, and who just happened to have been CEO of Habitat Company, which just happened to manage public housing in Chicago, which just happened to get millions of dollars from the Illinois state legislature, and which just happened not to properly maintain the housing—which eventually just happened to require demolition.

Valerie Jarrett also just happened to work for the city of Chicago, and just happened to hire Michelle LaVaughan Robinson (later Obama), who just happened to have worked at the Sidley Austin law firm, where former fugitive from the FBI Bernardine Dohrn also just happened to work, and where Barack Obama just happened to get a summer job. Jarrett also just happened to follow Obama as a member of the board of the Joyce Foundation, where she served with Michael Brewer, who just happens to be married to Janet Brown, who just happens to be executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which just happened to select four leftist members of the mainstream media to moderate the 2012 presidential and vice-presidential debates.

Bernardine Dohrn just happened to be married to William Ayers, with whom she just happened to have hid from the FBI at a San Francisco marina, along with Donald Warden, who just happened to change his name to Khalid al-Mansour, and Warden/al-Mansour just happened to be a mentor of Black Panther Party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and a close associate of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and al-Mansour just happened to be financial adviser to a Saudi Prince, who just happened to donate cash to Harvard, for which Obama just happened to get a critical letter of recommendation from Percy Sutton, who just happened to have been the attorney for Malcolm X, who just happened to know Kenyan politician Tom Mboya, who just happened to be a close friend of Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., who just happened to meet Malcolm X when he traveled to Kenya.

Obama, Sr. just happened to have his education at the University of Hawaii paid for by the Laubach Literacy Institute, which just happened to have been supported by Elizabeth Mooney Kirk, who just happened to be a friend of Malcolm X, who just happened to have been associated with the nation of Islam, which was later headed by Louis Farrakhan, who just happens to live very close to Obama’s Chicago mansion, which also just happens to be located very close to the residence of William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who just happen to have been occasional baby-sitters for Malia and Natasha Obama, whose parents just happen not to mind exposing their daughters to bomb-making communists.

After attending Occidental College and Columbia University, where he just happened to have foreign Muslim roommates, Obama moved to Chicago to work for the Industrial Areas Foundation, an organization that just happened to have been founded by Marxist and radical agitator Saul “the Red” Alinsky, author of Rules for Radicals, who just happened to be the topic of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s thesis at Wellesley College, and Obama’s $25,000 salary at IAF just happened to be funded by a grant from the Woods Fund, which was founded by the Woods family, whose Sahara Coal company just happened to provide coal to Commonwealth Edison, whose CEO just happened to be Thomas Ayers, whose son William Ayers just happened to serve on the board of the Woods Fund, along with Obama.

Obama also worked on voter registration drives in Chicago in the 1980s and just happened to work with leftist political groups like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Socialist International (SI), through which Obama met Carl Davidson, who just happened to travel to Cuba during the Vietnam War to sabotage the U.S. war effort, and who just happened to be a former member of the SDS and a member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, which just happened to sponsor a 2002 anti-war rally at which Obama spoke, and which just happened to have been organized by Marilyn Katz, a former SDS activist and later public relations consultant who just happened to be a long-time friend of Obama’s political hatchet man, David Axelrod.

Obama joined Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), whose pastor was Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a fiery orator who just happened to preach Marxism and Black Liberation Theology and who delivered anti-white, anti-Jew, and anti-American sermons, which Obama just happened never to hear because he just happened to miss church only on the days when Wright was at his “most enthusiastic,” and Obama just happened never to notice that Oprah Winfrey left the church because it was too radical, and just happened never to notice that the church gave the vile anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan a lifetime achievement award.

Although no one had ever heard of him at the time, Obama just happened to receive an impossible-to-believe $125,000 advance to write a book about race relations, which he just happened to fail to write while using the cash to vacation in Bali with his wife Michelle, and despite his record of non-writing he just happened to receive a second advance, for $40,000, from another publisher, and he eventually completed a manuscript called Dreams From My Father, which just happened to strongly reflect the writing style of William Ayers, who just happened to trample on an American flag for the cover photograph of the popular Chicago magazine, which Obama just happened never to see even though it appeared on newsstands throughout the city.

Obama was hired by the law firm Miner, Banhill and Galland, which just happened to specialize in negotiating state government contracts to develop low-income housing, and which just happened to deal with now-imprisoned Tony Rezko and his firm Rezar, and with slum lord Valerie Jarrett, and the law firm’s Judson Miner just happened to have been a classmate of Bernardine Dohrn, wife of William Ayers.

In 1994 Obama represented ACORN and another plaintiff in a lawsuit against Citibank for denying mortgages to blacks (Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Federal Savings Bank), and the lawsuit just happened to result in banks being blackmailed into approving subprime loans for poor credit risks, a trend which just happened to spread nationwide, and which just happened to lead to the collapse of the housing bubble, which just happened to help Obama defeat John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

In 1996 Obama ran for the Illinois State Senate and joined the “New Party,” which just happened to promote Marxism, and Obama was supported by Dr. Quentin Yong, a socialist who just happened to support a government takeover of the health care system.

In late 1999 Obama purportedly engaged in homosexual activities and cocaine-snorting in the back of a limousine with a man named Larry Sinclair, who claims he was contacted in late 2007 by Donald Young, who just happened to be the gay choir director of Obama’s Chicago church and who shared information with Sinclair about Obama, and Young just happened to be murdered on December 23, 2007, just weeks after Larry Bland, another gay member of the church, just happened to be murdered, and both murders just happened to have never been solved. In 2008 Sinclair held a press conference to discuss his claims, and just happened to be arrested immediately after the event, based on a warrant issued by Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who just happens to be the son of Joe Biden.

In 2003 Obama and his wife attended a dinner in honor of Rashid Khalidi, who just happened to be a former PLO operative, harsh critic of Israel, and advocate of Palestinian rights, and who Obama claims he does not know, even though the Obamas just happened to have dined more than once at the home of Khalidi and his wife, Mona, and just happened to have used them as occasional baby-sitters. Obama reportedly praised Khalidi at the decidedly anti-Semitic event, which William Ayers just happened to also attend, and the event Obama pretends he never attended was sponsored by the Arab American Action Network, to which Obama just happened to have funneled cash while serving on the board of the Woods Fund with William Ayers, and one speaker at the dinner remarked that if Palestinians cannot secure a return of their land, Israel “will never see a day of peace,” and entertainment at the dinner included a Muslim children’s dance whose performances just happened to include simulated beheadings with fake swords, and stomping on American, Israeli, and British flags, and Obama allegedly told the audience that “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” and there has been “genocide against the Palestinian people by (the) Israelis,” and the Los Angeles Times has a videotape of the event but just happens to refuse to make it public.

In the 2004 Illinois Democrat primary race for the U.S. Senate, front-runner Blair Hull just happened to be forced out of the race after David Axelrod just happened to manage to get Hull’s sealed divorce records unsealed, which just happened to enable Obama to win the primary, so he could face popular Republican Jack Ryan, whose sealed child custody records from his divorce just happened to become unsealed, forcing Ryan to withdraw from the race, which just happened to enable the unqualified Obama to waltz into the U.S. Senate, where, after a mere 143 days of work, he just happened to decide he was qualified to run for President of the United States.

Obama just happened to save $300,000 on the purchase of a $1.65 million Chicago mansion for which he deposited only $1,000 in earnest money, while the seller’s adjacent empty lot which was appraised at no more than $500,000 just happened to be sold at the inflated price of $625,000 to Rita Rezko, who just happened to earn only $37,000 per year working for Cook County government, and who just happened to be married to Tony Rezko, who just happened to be Obama’s main money man for his political campaigns, and who only days before the Obama mansion purchase just happened to obtain a $3.5 million loan from wealthy Iraqi Nadhmi Auchi, who just happened to have been kicked out of Iraq, and who just happened to have been convicted of corruption charges in France, and who just happened to ask Rezko to ask then-U.S. Senator Obama to help him obtain a visa to travel to the United States.

Rita Rezko just happened to borrow the money for the $625,000 empty lot from the Mutual Bank of Harvey, which just happened to be run by Tony Rezko’s pal Amrish Mahajan, whose wife Anita just happened to have been charged with fraudulently receiving $2 million in Illinois taxpayer dollars for drug tests never performed by her company, K. K. Bio-Science, which just happened to have a no-bid contract with the state, and whose computers just happened to disappear right before investigators arrived to take them away for evidence.

Obama just happened to obtain a $1.32 million mortgage for his mansion even though the payments of $8,000 per month (plus at least $1,500 per month in property taxes) exceeded 50 percent of his $162,100 U.S Senate salary income, and even though Michelle Obama was claiming that she and her husband were still paying off substantial student loans and were struggling to pay for piano lessons for their daughters, one of whom just happens to look remarkably like one of the daughters of Malcolm X.

Obama just happened to obtain his mansion mortgage from Northern Trust Bank, whose Board of Directors just happened to include Susan Crown, who just happened to be part of the wealthy Crown family, which just happened to donate to Obama’s campaigns, and which just happened to have ownership in defense contractor General Dynamics Corporation, and the Crown family just happened to sit on the board of energy company Exelon, formerly known as Commonwealth Edison, which just happened to have had Thomas Ayers as its CEO, and the Crown family also owned the Maytag appliance company, which just happened to move its operations to Mexico, after its employees just happened to donate to Obama’s campaign, after he just happened to pledge that he would keep their jobs in Galesburg, Illinois.

In June 2005, just months after Obama became a U.S. Senator, Michelle Obama just happened to be named a “non-executive director” of the board of TreeHouse Foods, a supplier of Wal-Mart, for a salary of $51,200 in 2005 and $101,083 in 2006, and she just happened to be given 7,500 TreeHouse stock options, worth approximately $72,375, even though she just happened to know nothing about the private sector or running a business.

In 2006 Obama pushed for a $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago, and his wife Michelle just happened to be promoted to Vice-President of Community and External Affairs for the hospitals with a salary increase from $121,900 to $316,962, and she just happened to receive public relations help from Obama’s political strategist David Axelrod, whose mother just happened to write for a communist newspaper.

In 2006 Sarah P. Herlihy, an associate of the Chicago law firm of Kirkland and Ellis, whose employees later contributed $87,722 to Obama’s presidential campaign, and whose partner Bruce I. Ettleson just happened to be a member of Obama’s campaign finance committee, just happened to write a paper calling for the elimination of the “natural born citizen” requirement in the U.S. Constitution.

Obama just happened to visit Kenya in 2006 to support his cousin, Raila Odinga, a Muslim socialist candidate for president, who just happened to have ties to both al-Qaeda and Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, and who just happened to have been educated in communist East Germany, and who just happened to name his son Fidel, and who just happened to plan on establishing Shari’ah Muslim law in Kenya, and whose activities prompted the Kenyan government to lodge an official protest of Obama’s passport abuse and misconduct, and Obama’s actions just happened to have been denounced by the U.S. State Department as being in direct opposition to U. S. National Security, and after Odinga, for whom Obama just happened to have raised $950,000, lost the election, his Muslim followers just happened to burn Christian women and children alive in a church where they had sought refuge.

In 2006 Obama endorsed Alexi Giannoulias in his race for Illinois State Treasurer and stated that he is “…one of the most outstanding young men I could ever hope to meet”—even though Giannoulias just happened to be only 29 years old and even though his family’s Broadway Bank just happened to finance Chicago crime figures like Michael “Jaws” Giorango, a Chicago thug with convictions for bookmaking and promoting prostitution, and even though virtually all of Chicago’s Democrat politicians were keeping their distance from Giannoulias, whose reputation was so questionable he even failed to get the endorsement of the Chicago Democrat Party—which just happens to almost never be concerned about questionable reputations.

Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, once worked for the Ford Foundation’s Asia program, which just happened to be run by Peter Geithner, who just happened to be the father of Timothy Geithner, who just happened to neglect to pay Social Security taxes on much of his income, which just happened to somehow qualify him to be Obama’s Treasury Secretary.

During the 2008 campaign Obama’s passport records just happened to have been illegally searched by an employee of a firm headed by John O. Brennan, and Lt. Quarles Harris, Jr., who was cooperating with federal investigators in connection with the incident, just happened to be found with a bullet in his head, and the murder just happened never to be solved, and Obama later just happened to make Brennan his terrorism and intelligence advisor.

On election night in 2008 in Chicago’s Grant Park, Obama just happened to wear a black suit and a red tie, and his older daughter just happened to wear a red dress, and his younger daughter just happened to wear a stark black dress, and his wife Michelle just happened to wear an arguably unattractive black dress that appeared to have a giant red X design, which just happened to prompt some to wonder if their clothing just happened to denote black power, communism, and Malcolm X, and at the very least prompted others to wonder why anyone would have his daughter wear a jet-black dress for a celebratory occasion—or where one could even just happen to find a store that sells black dresses for little girls.

From election night forward there are hundreds of other “just happeneds,” not the least of which is the long-form birth certificate released by Obama in April 2011 which just happened to consist of multiple image layers, including various objects which can be separated and rotated with computer software—which just happens to be impossible if a birth certificate is merely scanned and not computer-constructed by a forger.

Oh, and Obama just happened to have used more than one Social Security number over the years, and one of them is associated with 713 Hart Senate Office Building and starts with the digits 282, which signifies issuance in Ohio, a state in which Obama just happened to have never lived or worked, and another Social Security number used by Obama starts with 042, which signifies Connecticut, another state in which Obama just happened to have never lived or worked, and it just happened that no one in the mainstream media has ever bothered to ask Obama why he has used multiple Social Security numbers or why the 042 number comes up as invalid in the E-Verify system used by employers to confirm whether immigrant job applicants have valid numbers.

I could go on… but you get the idea.

Don Fredrick

September 30, 2012

P.S. If Obama just happens to win reelection on November 6, remember that hyperinflation just happens to be the inescapable consequence of printing trillions of dollars to cover massive government deficits.”

1b)

US officials: We didn't link Libya attack to video

By BRADLEY KLAPPER and LARRY MARGASAK |

 The State Department said Tuesday it never concluded that the consulate attack in Libya stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam, raising further questions about why the Obama administration used that explanation for more than a week after assailants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

The revelation came as new documents suggested internal disagreement over appropriate levels of security before the attack, which occurred on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

Briefing reporters ahead of a hotly anticipated congressional hearing Wednesday, State Departmentofficials provided their most detailed rundown of how a peaceful day in Benghazi devolved into a sustained attack that involved multiple groups of men armed with weapons such as machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars over an expanse of more than a mile.

But asked about the administration's initial — and since retracted — explanation linking the violence to protests over an anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet, one official said, "That was not our conclusion." He called it a question for "others" to answer, without specifying. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and provided no evidence that might suggest a case of spontaneous violence or angry protests that went too far.

The attack has become a major issue in the presidential campaign, featuring prominently in Republican candidate Mitt Romney's latest foreign policy address on Monday. He called it an example of President Barack Obama's weakness in foreign policy matters, noting: "As the administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists."

The administration counters that it has provided its best intelligence on the attack, and that it refined its explanation as more information came to light. But five days after the attack, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, gave a series of interviews saying the administration believed the violence was unplanned and that extremists with heavier weapons "hijacked" the protest and turned it into an outright attack.

She has since denied trying to mislead Congress, and a concurrent CIA memo that was obtained by The Associated Press cited intelligence suggesting the demonstrations in Benghazi "were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo" and "evolved into a direct assault" on the diplomatic posts by "extremists."

Alongside defining the nature of the Benghazi attack, Congress is looking into whether adequate security was in place.

According to an email obtained Tuesday by the AP, the top State Department security official in Libya told a congressional investigator that he had argued unsuccessfully for more security in the weeks before Ambassador Chris Stevens, a State Department computer specialist and two former Navy SEALs were killed. But department officials instead wanted to "normalize operations and reduce security resources," he wrote.

Eric Nordstrom, who was the regional security officer in Libya, also referenced a State Department document detailing 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012 that demonstrated the danger there to Americans.

Nordstrom is among the witnesses set to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to the panel's chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and the head of a subcommittee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the State Department refused repeated requests to provide more security for U.S. diplomats in Libya.

"You will note that there were a number of incidents that targeted diplomatic missions and underscored the GoL's (government of Libya) inability to secure and protect diplomatic missions," Nordstrom's email stated.

"This was a significant part of (the diplomatic) post's and my argument for maintaining continued DS (diplomatic security) and DOD (Department of Defense) security assets into Sept/Oct. 2012; the GoL was overwhelmed and could not guarantee our protection.

"Sadly, that point was reaffirmed on Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi," he added.

Nordstrom said the incidents demonstrated that security in Libya was fragile and could degrade quickly. He added that Libya was "certainly not an environment where (the diplomatic) post would be directed to 'normalize' operations and reduce security resources in accordance with an artificial time table."

Nordstrom also said diplomats in Libya were told not to request an extension of a 16-member special operations military team that left in August, according to an official of the Oversight panel. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and thus spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

The State Department has said it never received a request to extend the military team beyond August, and added that its members were replaced with a security team that had the same skills.

Democrats on the Oversight committee were sharply critical of Issa, the chairman, calling his investigation "extremely partisan."

"The chairman and his staff failed to consult with Democratic members prior to issuing public letters with unverified allegations, concealed witnesses and refused to make one hearing witness available to Democratic staff, withheld documents obtained by the committee during the investigation, and effectively excluded Democratic committee members from joining a poorly-planned congressional delegation to Libya," a Democratic memo said.

It said in the previous two years, House Republicans voted to cut the Obama administration's requests for embassy security by some $459 million.

The Democratic memo said Nordstrom told committee investigators that he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March and July 2012 requesting additional diplomatic security agents for Benghazi, but that he received no responses.

He stated that Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary for international programs, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi artificially low and that Lamb believed the Benghazi facilities did not need any diplomatic security special agents because there was a residential safe haven to fall back to in an emergency.

Issa had a phone conversation Monday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the committee's investigation.

The FBI is still investigating the attack. Clinton also has named a State Department review panel to look into the security arrangements in Libya.

1c)Romney slams Obama for talking Big Bird

By Justin Sink

Mitt Romney on Tuesday slammed President Obama for talking about Big Bird on the campaign trail.

"These are tough times, with real serious issues. So you have to scratch your head when the president spends the last week talking about Big Bird," Romney said at a campaign event in Iowa. "I actually think we have to have a president who talks about saving the American people."

Big Bird has become a theme in the presidential campaign after Romney said during last week's presidential debate that he would cut funding to PBS.

“I like PBS. I love Big Bird. Actually, I like you, too,” Romney said to debate moderator Jim Lehrer, the host of PBS's "NewsHour." “But I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for."

Team Obama immediately seized on the remark to attack the GOP presidential nominee.

Obama slammed Romney on the debate comment at a Thursday rally in Denver, saying "I mean, thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird. It’s about time."

The fight over the yellow puppet, a popular figure on the Sesame Street, came to ahead on Tuesday when Obama's campaign released a hard-hitting adattacking Romney for his remark on cutting PBS funds.

The ad compared Big Bird to corporate titans prosecuted for financial misdeeds.

"Bernie Madoff. Ken Lay. Dennis Kozlowski: Criminals. Gluttons of greed. And the evil genius who towered over them?" a voice-over says as a silhouette of Big Bird moves on screen.

Sesame Street Workshop, the group behind the popular children's show, has requested the Obama campaign take down the ad; the Obama campaign said it would review the request.

The Obama campaign punched back at Romney Tuesday afternoon in a statement from spokeswoman Lis Smith, who pointed out Romney had repeatedly cited Big Bird himself.

“If anyone should be scratching their heads, it’s the American people when Mitt Romney says that he’ll reduce the deficit and pay for $5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by getting rid of PBS and Big Bird, which make up 1/10,000th of the federal budget," Smith said. "That’s not a serious deficit reduction plan – it’s a joke.”

While Romney's swipe at the new Obama ad came at the top of his remarks, the Republican presidential candidate spent most of Tuesday detailing his proposals on farm policy for his supporters in Iowa, a crucial swing state.

Romney advocated the end of the inheritance tax and the repeal of environmental regulations that affect farms.

"We ought to kill the death tax," Romney said. "You paid for that farm once, you ought not pay for it again."

Romney also said the president should have worked harder to get a farm bill passed in Congress, pledging he would do more to bring the chambers together.

"People have been waiting a long time for a farm bill," Romney said. "The president has to show the leadership to get the House and Senate together."

Romney also shared a previously untold story of having met one of the Navy SEALS killed during the recent attack in Benghazi, Libya. The Republican nominee said the man was a guest at a Christmas party he and his wife, Ann, had inadvertently crashed, and praised his service in the attack on the American diplomatic mission.

— Amie Parnes and Daniel Strauss contributed. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2)IMF Sees ‘Alarmingly High’ Risk of Deeper Global Slump

 

The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts as the euro area’s debt crisis intensifies and warned of even slower expansion unless officials in the U.S. and Europe address threats to their economies.

The world economy will grow 3.3 percent this year, the slowest since the 2009 recession, and 3.6 percent next year, the IMF said today, compared with July predictions of 3.5 percent in 2012 and 3.9 percent in 2013. 

The Washington-based lender now sees “alarmingly high” risks of a steeper slowdown, with a one-in-six chance of growth slipping below 2 percent.

“A key issue is whether the global economy is just hitting another bout of turbulence in what was always expected to be a slow and bumpy recovery or whether the current slowdown has a more lasting component,” the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report. “The answer depends on whether European and U.S. policy makers deal proactively with their major short-term economic challenges.”

The IMF’s 188 member countries convene in Tokyo this week as low growth damped by fiscal consolidation in the richest economies hurts developing counterparts from China to Brazil. As the IMF urged measures to boost confidence, uncertainties out of Europe show no sign of abating, with leaders still divided over a banking union and Spain resisting a bailout.

Confidence Fragile

“Confidence in the global financial system remains exceptionally fragile,” the IMF said. “Bank lending has remained sluggish across advanced economies” and increased risk aversion has damped capital flows to emerging markets, it said.

European stocks were little changed as the region’s finance ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss the sovereign-debt crisis. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped less than 0.1 percent at 11:02 a.m. in London.

In Seoul, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told a forum today that he saw mildly encouraging signs in Europe. In Tokyo, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard indicated that yields on Spanish and Italian bonds, which decreased after the European Central Bank’s bond-buying plan announcement, could rise if the countries don’t request bailouts.

The IMF report called for U.S. policy makers to find an alternative to planned automatic tax increases and spending cuts that would trigger a recession. Europeans must follow on their commitments for a more integrated monetary union, and many emerging markets can afford to cut interest rates or pause tightening to fight off risks to their economies, the IMF said.

“It is a call to action,” Blanchard told Bloomberg Television.

Europe’s Contraction

The 17-country euro area economy will contract 0.4 percent this year, 0.1 percentage point worse than forecast in July, and grow 0.2 percent in 2013, less than the 0.7 percent predicted three months ago, the IMF said.

The U.S. is seen expanding 2.2 percent this year, higher than an earlier forecast, and growing 2.1 percent next year, less than previously predicted. Japan’s estimate was cut to 2.2 percent this year and to 1.2 percent in 2013.

Spain’s economy will shrink 1.3 percent next year, 0.7 percentage point worse than predicted in July. German growth is seen at 0.9 percent each year, with the 2013 estimate half a percentage point less than previously forecast.

“Spain and Italy must follow through with adjustment plans that re-establish competitiveness and fiscal balance and maintain growth,” Blanchard wrote in a foreword to the report. “To do so, they must be able to recapitalize their banks without adding to their sovereign debt. And they must be able to borrow at reasonable rates.”

Emerging Economies

Growth forecasts were also lowered for emerging markets, where domestic factors add to external constraints, the IMF said. Brazil had some of the steepest cuts, with growth seen at 1.5 percent this year from 2.5 percent and 4 percent next year.

India’s economy may grow 4.9 percent this year and 6 percent next year, lower than previous forecasts of 6.2 percent and 6.6 percent respectively. China’s estimate was cut by 0.2 percentage point each year to 7.8 percent in 2012 and 8.2 percent in 2013.

Monetary policy should remain accommodative in developed economies, with expectations for slower inflation giving the European Central Bank “ample justification for keeping policy rates very low or cutting them further,” the IMF said. The Bank of Japan may need to ease further, it said.

Other risks to the global economic outlook in the short term include a renewed increase in oil prices and an inability to raise the U.S. debt ceiling, it said.

The IMF forecasts assume oil at $106.18 a barrel this year and $105.10 next year, based on the average prices of U.K. Brent, Dubai and West Texas Intermediate crudes. That compares with estimates of $101.80 and $94.16 in July.

Japan’s Trade

In economic releases in the Asia Pacific region today, Japan reported a larger-than-estimated 454.7 billion yen ($5.8 billion) current-account surplus. In Australia, business confidence recovered in September as the prospect of interest- rate reductions overshadowed weaker sentiment among miners and manufacturers, a private survey showed.

In South Korea, the central bank said today that the nation’s economy faces increased external risks and the finance ministry said it will step up efforts to boost growth.

In Europe, the U.K. may report today that industrial production fell in August, a Bloomberg News survey of economists indicates. 

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Netanyahu’s dilemma: Campaigning on a security ticket when Iran calls the shots

Netanyahu has announced an early general election in January, 2013. Most pundits agreed he would lead his Likud party’s campaign for reelection on the security ticket, namely the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.  

Netanyahu explained his decision by his coalition partners’ refusal to make do with a “responsible budget” and  said he would rather have his government fall than increase the deficit, especially when the country’s top priority was stopping Iran gaining a nuclear bomb.

Running on the Iran ticket subjects him to three major difficulties:

1.   Tehran can be safely guaranteed to place every possible obstruction in the prime minister’s path to an election win because his failure in the polls would not just suit Iran but be popular in the Arab world where he is portrayed as a fire-eating militarist although he has delayed attacking Iran for three and-a-half years.

2.   Tehran, helped by its proxies, the Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami, will dig up every possible stratagem to tarnish his performance, such as the unmanned helicopter flyover which Saturday, Oct. 6 showed Israeli air defenses in a poor light , and the salvo of 55 missiles and mortars from the Gaza Strip two days later.

Until recently, it was generally believed that the Israeli government’s military decisions were motivated solely by considerations of national security without political undertones.

But that was only so long as the prime minister and the defense minister were of one mind.

However, the falling-out between them of late means that neither trusts the other’s decisions any longer. An election campaign in these circumstances could have disastrous fallout.

3.  President Barack Obama’s campaign for reelection in less than a month will no doubt play into the Israeli election contest. The US president, who has accused Netanyahu of interfering in his race for a second term, will no doubt bring his weight to bear on the Israeli poll.  Last-minute cancellation of joint exercises, for example, or other such steps could reflect negatively on Netanyahu’s prospects.

Obama will be swayed most of all by his prospects against the Republican Mitt Romney. This consideration might persuade him to play the Iranian card and thereby indirectly affecting how the Israeli prime minister comes out of his election.

In this respect, Obama has three options: a) To exercise the American military option and blowing away Iran’s nuclear program – with or without Israel. b) To meet Iran’s leaders halfway for a diplomatic breakthrough that would amaze the American voter and be inimical to Israel and set back Netanyahu's chances or reelection; or c) To do nothing.

It is hard to say at this time whether or not Mitt Romney if elected would give Netanyahu a leg up before he takes the oath of office.

The rumor mills in Jerusalem, Washington and Tehran are buzzing with speculation about what to expect in the days ahead.  The new players in the Israeli ring, Labor’s leader Shelly Yacimovich who has never before faced a general election and Yair Lapid who has just founded “Yesh Atid” (There Is a Future) and whose platform is still an enigma, are unlikely to have cruckal effect on the eventual outcome of the high-stakes game of strategy in progress between Obama, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hassan Nasrallah, and Binyamin Netanyahu.

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4)Dem pollster delivers wake-up call to Obama

By Greg Sargent

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is not known for flinching from delivering bad news to Democratic politicians, and his new diagnosis of Obama’s slippage in the polls is no exception.

Greenberg told me in an interview that his new research persuaded him that Mitt Romney beat Obama in the debate for a simple reason. Unmarried women — a critical piece of Obama’s coalition — did not hear Obama telling him how they would make their lives better. By contrast, they did hear Romney telling them he’d improve their lives.

Greenberg says the research also indicates a clear route to winning reelection, however. “This is a major turning point and an opportunity for the president,” he says.

Greenberg did dial sessions among Colorado swing voters during the debate, and also conducted post-debate questionnaires. He found that unmarried women didn’t respond to Obama’s vow to improve the economy — which they found lacking in a clear overarching message.

“They heard nothing there that was relevant to them,” Greenberg says. “They were not hearing about issues or problems or things that Obama would do that affect their lives.”

Romney, however, succeeded in communicating with unmarried women, Greenberg says, by prefacing talk of his five point plan with an extended discussion of the economic strain of middle-income Americans — which Greenberg calls an effective “set up that gave his details meaning.”

“When Romney talked about what he is going to do for the middle class, his five point plan, they were very responsive,” Greenberg says. “The president had a lot of detail but didn’t have the set up in values.”

Unmarried women are a key piece of the “rising American electorate,” which includes young voters and minorities and propelled Obama's 2008 victory. “The key issues for them are the suite of economic issues around rebuilding the middle class,” Page Gardner, the president of Women’s Voices Women Vote, who commissioned Greenberg’s research, says. “They are the most stressed and stretched.”

Greenberg’s research also included a national survey, and focus groups in Ohio and Virginia, that suggest a course correction for Obama. The national survey found that before the debate, Obama was doing extremely well among unmarried women, beating Romney among them by 63-24. He held a 19 point edge among them on who would do better on “issues important to you.”

Greenberg says they were waiting for Obama to reinforce those perceptions — but he didn’t deliver. Greenberg believes that slippage among these voters is partly driving Romney’s gains. But he says Obama can still win them back, with a message fusing attacks on Romney’s comments about the “47 percent” with a passionate thematic contrasting Obama’s “we’re all in this together” values with Romney’s “you’re on your own” approach.

Indeed, Greenberg tested the following and found that 72 percent of unmarried women say it makes them more likely to support Obama:

When I look at our great challenges, I say, we’re all in this together. But the Republicans say, you are your own. Well that’s given us a country of just rich and poor and the well-connected using their power to get more tax cuts and breaks. Well, we need to make our country work for the middle class again. Clean up lobbyists and big money. Let’s keep taxes low for the middle class and small businesses and use the budget to help the middle class by seriously investing in education, rebuilding America, and making sure Medicare is there.

“The 47 percent critique is very important because it says Romney doesn’t understand their lives,” Greenberg concluded. By contrast, Obama needs to signal that he “understands what they are going through. They are looking for him to offer things that will impact their lives.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5)A dereliction of debating

ByDennis Byrne

Watching liberals unravel after last week's presidential debate has been almost as entertaining as witnessing the thumping that Republican candidate Mitt Romney applied to the Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.

Spinning into orbit, liberals have concocted every known excuse for the trouncing: Obama was out of practice; he expected a different Romney to show up; he experienced incumbents' "opening debate syndrome" (that's a new one); he tried to look too presidential and above the fray; he inexplicably failed to exploit Romney's fallibilities (e.g. his reference to the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income tax). And so on.

Most amusing was Al Gore's explanation that Obama choked because the debate was in Denver, the Mile High City. Being an expert on global warming, Gore probably knows what he is talking about when it comes to being lightheaded in thin air.

At least no one blamed former President George W. Bush for Obama's dismal performance. At least no one that I know of.

The explanations are all a function of today's popular liberal narrative: Romney didn't win the debate; Obama lost it. It's a way of minimizing Romney's victory. It's like saying the Cubs lost 100 games because they're terrible, rather than conceding that the opposition just may have been better. It's a difference without meaning.

Romney won because of what I would call the Karate Kid factor. Watching the interaction between Romney and Obama was like watching karate master Mr. Miyagi explaining the realities of life to the kid, Daniel LaRusso. Wipe on, wipe off. Romney clearly was the mentor, Obama was a sheepish protege who was being delivered a lesson. Sitting there if not in silence, in confusion and without a clear, intelligent, unrehearsed response.

It shows Obama's fatal flaw is not just his policies (as bad as they are), but the fact that he isn't and never was cut out to be president. He's not up to it. He's the kid who got thrown into the pool without knowing how to swim. He lacks the experience, composure and certain qualities of leadership required of a president — qualities that Romney put on display. The pro schools the neophyte.

Bob Woodward described it in his new best-seller, "The Price of Politics," which detailed the collapse last year of the "grand bargain" on spending and debt. While Woodward found fault with both parties, he held Obama's insufficiencies mostly responsible for leaving America heading for the fiscal cliff it now faces. Woodward's book describes an arrogant, withdrawn, indecisive and uncompromising president. These are dispositions that would doom Obama to failure as a private sector boss. And ought to in the public sector.

All signs of adolescence, I would say.

Obama's presidency was based purely on hope, change and hot air. Never did he demonstrate executive ability or leadership. He was called brilliant and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize purely on expectation. The debate showed how he has failed to grow into the office.

It's telling that liberals have abandoned the once-popular test of a presidential candidate: gravitas. I never thought that was a legitimate standard, but millions of people who watched the debate witnessed Obama's failure to have it.

True, it's just one debate. As the stock market warning says: "Past performance is no guarantee of future results." In the next debate, Obama may listen to his bug-eyed liberal militants and attempt to tear into Romney. I hope Obama does. I think it could be a further plus for Romney to show off the aplomb and skills he learned as an experienced executive in the public, private and civic sectors. Experience that Obama and his supporters apparently think he doesn't need to be the chief executive of the world's greatest nation.

After last week's debate, it shows.

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