Shocking Charge Against White House [Obama]

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Newsbusters is accusing the White House [Obama] of suborning perjury from Petraeus in the Libya debacle:

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Tuesday said the White House used David Petraeus’s affair to get the CIA director to give testimony about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that was in line with the administration’s position on the matter.

This seems rather strong especially given the quote provided [go there to read it].  It seems more like the way the White House mis-lead Cardinal Dolan in the ObamaCare debate with the fact the Church thought they would get an exemption for birth control and abortifacents.  The Church did not, obviously, get the exemption they thought they would get.   This seems to be the MO for the Obama Administration – tell people what they want to hear and walk away.  Why Petreaus thought he’d be able to keep his job if he offered testimony beneficial to the White House is beyond me; he’s generally regarded as an honorable man – who cheated on his wife – these people when caught tend to try to make it right.

The claim by Newsbusters seems out of bounds.  I don’t even see what facts Krauthammer has to back up his – lesser charge – of Petreaus expecting beneficial treatment.

Congressional Perjurer to Speak to DNC

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Sandra Fluke – who could not afford $9 per month for birth control, but could afford a trip to Italy – is set to speak at the DNC.  Probably espousing more ideas that she and Obama agree with.

Actually – I think she already spoke.  I’m at a loss for why she is a part of these proceedings, or I would be if I were to posit that the Democrats were being reasonable and intelligent, and open for discourse.  I don’t believe that to be the case.

No He Won’t

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Give a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ speech.

At NRO:

“Obama will offer some hope-and-change, there’s-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel, the-sun-will-come-out-tomorrow convention speech…”

This is completely out of character for 2012 Obama.  He’s going to bash a ‘do-nothing’ Congress [while simultaneously praising Reid] and blame the whole thing on Bush. 

Meanwhile the world economy continues to burn and he’s doing the modern version of fiddling.

Breaking Toes to Achieve Performance Breakthroughs

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At the BBC – Paralympic athletes apparently injure themselves to increase performance.  I have to say – damn – not something I would have thought to do.

“When able-bodied competitors engage in hard physical activities like running or swimming, blood pressure and heart rate increase automatically. Athletes with spinal injuries do not get that response. “Boosting” is a short cut to higher blood pressure and the improved performance that comes with it.”

Interesting concept – to boost your adrenaline and heart rate by breaking a bone or two.  Just to achieve improved performance.  Nice that they can avoid the issues that broken toes typically cost.  Shows a different level of dedication than most arm-chair athletes are capable of?

The Cost of Being Green

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8% higher heating costs for Milwaukee Downtown area business as a coal plant is converted to natural gas for lower CO2 emissions – story via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  An attempt is made to include $20 million in operational savings that the plant operators have discovered – but there is no connection drawn between the two.

The story tries to assign cause equally to lower natural gas prices and environmental regulations – neglecting the fact that it is the increased environmental regulations that are mostly to blame for higher costs of coal.

The switchover will also cost 50 jobs.  Not included in the story is how many of these jobs are lost due to improvements in automation that could have happened without the switch vs those that are lost due to the ease of natural gas combustion.

A Sierra Club member is quoted as saying: “This is what happens when people use their power together.”  Indeed.  The cost of doing business in Milwaukee just got higher.  Note the list of businesses affected by the higher costs: Hotels and MillerCoors.

Finally – “In discussions with investors, We Energies executives have said the company’s move to upgrade its plants before other utilities around the country have to do so, positions its customers to have competitive rates when utilities around the country make the sizable investments to upgrade or convert their coal plants.”  Yep – electricity rates across the state are going to rise due to the increased environmental regulations.

50 direct jobs lost; unknown quantity of indirect jobs lost due to higher electricity rates.