Issa follows up Gruber grilling with subpoenas

Your Obamacare Money at Work!

The powerful lawmaker who put loose-lipped ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber on the hot seat earlier this week isn’t quite finished with the MIT economist.
Rep. Darrell Issa, the Republican congressman who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform, has issued a subpoena demanding all of Gruber’s documents and communications with federal, state, or local government employees regarding his work on the controversial health care law.
“As one of the architects of ObamaCare, Jonathan Gruber is in a unique position to shed light on the ‘lack of transparency’ surrounding the passage of the President’s health care law, however he has so far been unwilling to fully comply with the Oversight Committee’s repeated requests,” Chairman Issa said in a statement. “This week, Dr. Gruber repeatedly refused to answer several key questions, including the amount of taxpayer funds he received for his work on ObamaCare. The American people deserve not just an apology, but a full accounting, which Dr. Gruber must provide.”
Gruber, who was captured on several recently-surfaced videos alluding to the “stupidity” of the American voter and acknowledging that the Affordable Care Act was intentionally written in a dense fashion because it would never pass if people understood it, was called before the committee on Tuesday. He sought to apologize for his remarks, but GOP lawmakers accused him of evasion and of  creating a false model as part of "a pattern of intentional misleading" to get ObamaCare passed.
 “You made a series of troubling statements that were not only an insult to the American people, but revealed a pattern of intentional misleading [of] the public about the true impact and nature of ObamaCare," Issa said on Tuesday.
Gruber has made several million dollars from state and federal governments as a consultant on the plan, although he disputes the “ObamaCare architect” label.
"I sincerely apologize for conjecturing with a tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion," Gruber said. "I knew better. I know better. I'm embarrassed and I'm sorry."
But when asked how much money he had been paid for his work, Gruber referred lawmakers to his attorney.
The subpoena seeks all documents and communications referring or relating to funding — for research or otherwise — from any federal, state, or local government agency, including any contracts with federal, state, or local government agencies.  It also seeks work products that Gruber created, as well as  communications with government officials related to the ACA, and federal and state exchanges.

Fool of the Week: Sandra Fluke

Sometimes the Fool of the Week is tough to call.  I have to consider the  nominee, consider the comments, consider the context and then judge the comment fairly. 
Other times.. the "Fool" just falls into my lap.
This week that happened. Just moments after the CIA interrogation report was released.
Sandra Fluke...tweeted this:
Sandra Fluke @SandraFluke
Horrified by #TortureReport & by how it mirrors domestic challenges of #sexualassault & violence against men of color by authority figures.
Yep. Sandra Fluke just compared  Eric Garner and sexual assault victims. Wait for it... to terrorists..
In other words, Sandra Fluke. You take a terrorist report and make it about racism & rape?
America was lucky you lost that congressional race in California.
For that asinine tweet.. Sandra Fluke, you are the “Fool of the Week.”

  

By Eric Bolling at Fox.

House buys Senate some time on budget bill; approves second stopgap measure

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. House passed a second stopgap measure Friday afternoon, buying the Senate additional time to discuss and vote on a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill. 
The House vote provides a pad to make certain the government doesn’t shut down at midnight Saturday when current funding authority runs out.
It’s still unknown whether the House measure, passed by a voice vote while the chamber was virtually empty, will be needed. Senate leaders say they hope to wrap up action on the omnibus budget bill by Friday night but say that goal is looking less attainable.
Washington woke up to “Fallout Friday,” with liberal Democrats openly outraged at President Obama and conservative Republicans disgusted with House Speaker John Boehner after both did enough wheeling, dealing and arm twisting to push through a spending bill three hours shy of the midnight deadline.
The surprise beneficiary in this latest political conundrum could be Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a relative newcomer to the Senate but looking more and more like the liberal Democratic answer to who might challenge Hillary Clinton for the party's 2016 presidential nomination.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday morning that he hopes to take up and finish the omnibus bill as soon as possible but said getting it done would require cooperation from both sides of the aisle. Reid, speaking from the Senate floor, acknowledged there were some provisions he was not happy with but pitched it as a compromise nonetheless.
“We’re going to consider this legislation to keep our government open and funded and we’re going to do it today – I hope,” he said. He later warned, “There isn’t much time… government funding runs out on Saturday at midnight.”
The House narrowly approved a sweeping spending bill Thursday night despite deep misgivings among liberals and conservatives alike, sending the measure to the Senate as lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown.
The bill passed on a 219-206 vote, following an intense lobbying effort by House Republican leaders and the White House.
Current government funding technically runs out at midnight Thursday, but lawmakers late Thursday approved a stopgap measure to keep the government running through midnight Saturday as the Senate considers the main $1.1 trillion spending package. That debate could last through the weekend and potentially into Monday.
"We will not have a government shutdown," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., pledged.
Passage in the House followed hours of urgent appeals from an unlikely alliance: President Obama and House GOP leadership.
Obama and Vice President Biden worked the phones to sway Democratic lawmakers. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough also met on the Hill with the Democratic caucus. Despite sources inside the meeting initially saying he did little to persuade lawmakers, a rift emerged in the Democratic leadership late Thursday. As House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi continued to oppose the bill, her deputy, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged passage.
Meanwhile, House GOP leaders did what they could to sway conservative members who, for different reasons, were opposed to the package.
In the end, 67 Republicans defected, but 57 Democrats voted for it.
Many conservatives opposed the bill because it does not address Obama's executive actions on illegal immigration, while liberal Democrats were angry over provisions dealing with campaign spending and financial regulation.
The debate saw Pelosi flexing her clout, recognizing that House Speaker John Boehner needed Democrats to pass the bill.
She pushed back not only against GOP leaders but Obama's lobbying effort.
In a rare public rebuke of the president, Pelosi said she was "enormously disappointed" he had decided to embrace the bill, which she described as an attempt at legislative blackmail by House Republicans.
Pelosi, D-Calif., sent an email note to colleagues in the afternoon saying they had "leverage" to make demands -- namely, to remove two provisions her party doesn't like. They are: a provision rolling back one of the regulations imposed on the financial industry in the wake of the economic collapse of 2008, and one that permits wealthy contributors to increase the size of their donations to political parties for national conventions, election recounts or the construction of a headquarters building.
Right before the vote, according to a source in the room, Pelosi told lawmakers: “We have enough votes to show them never to do this again.”
But perhaps an overriding desire on both sides not to risk another government shutdown prevailed.
The current plan would fund the government through September 2015, but immigration services only through late February, teeing up a battle over immigration for early 2015.
Earlier in the day, the bill narrowly cleared an important procedural hurdle, on a 214-212 test vote. But the tight vote, which almost failed, exposed serious problems. GOP leaders then delayed a final vote and spent hours trying to round up support, as the White House did the same with Democrats.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said earlier that Obama supports the bill and would sign it -- despite having reservations about certain provisions.
Hoyer ultimately took a similar position.
The bill’s fate in the Senate remains unclear.
Warren, now a member of leadership, has fought the bill in an effort to preserve the financial regulatory policy known as Dodd-Frank. Debate in the Senate on the main spending bill could easily last several more days.

Word Origin and History for omnibus

n.

1829, "four-wheeled public vehicle with seats for passengers," from French (voiture) omnibus "(carriage) for all, common (conveyance)," from Latin omnibus "for all," dative plural of omnis "all" (see omni -). Introduced by Jacques Lafitte in Paris in 1819 or '20, in London from 1829. In reference to legislation, the word is recorded from 1842. Meaning "man or boy who assists a waiter at a restaurant" is attested from 1888 (cf. busboy ). As an adjective in English from 1842.

Sony execs Obama emails: White liberal hypocrisy revealed in all its glory

White liberal hypocrisy on race is so delightful for conservatives.
White conservatives are always on defense against charges of hating President Obama because he is black; suppressing minority voters and indifference to the difficulty minorities have living everyday with the legacy of slavery and a culture filled with stereotypes of black inferiority.
This week white conservatives can take a break, step out of the dock and make way for white liberals.

I know from personal experience at National Public Radio that white liberals can be very intolerant if they suspect they are dealing with a black person who is not afraid from depart from liberal orthodoxy.

Hacked emails from Hollywood’s white, liberal elite show them belittling the president by assuming his taste in movies is confined to racial stereotypes fitting just another black guy.
“Should I ask him if he likes’ DJANGO?’” asked Amy Pascal, a Sony Pictures’ co-chair. Scott Rudin, a movie producer, responds: “Or ‘The Butler’… or ‘Ride-Along. ‘ I bet he likes Kevin Hart.”
Where to begin unpacking that powder keg of race and class bigotry?
Pascal is one of Hollywood’s most powerful people and certainly at the top of the movie industry’s list of most influential women. She must have a penetrating intellect and tremendous business savvy.
So how is it possible for her to think that a 53-year-old, Harvard trained constitutional lawyer who is now president of the United States, is to be solely defined by his race?
She assumes that he is sure to share the working-class, juvenile delight of Hart’s racial slapstick. And it does not make much sense in her racial construct but she also thinks the president must also be interested in movies about the weighty topics of slavery and the civil rights movement.
Pascal and Rudin, on their way to meet the president at a Democratic fundraiser, have no hesitation about painting Obama into this limited, one-dimensional personality. What they have revealed is how demeaning and patronizing their liberal minds can be even when the man is the leader of the nation.
Chris Rock, the comedian and actor, recently said Hollywood is a “white industry… it just is.” He added they don’t hire black men.
I imagine they do hire some black people. But those black people have to color inside the lines of what white liberals think is the right kind of black person. Black conservatives have no chance in that world.
Black intellectuals and even black left wingers have no chance either. But that is a different story. In the restrictive confines of the white liberal world they would be seen as threatening black people.
Pascal and Rudin have both apologized for the content of their private emails.  “The content of my e-mails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am. Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
Rudin gave a statement to Deadline.com, explaining that his emails were "written in haste and without much thought or sensitivity," he understood the notes were out of line. "I made a series of remarks that were meant only to be funny, but in the cold light of day, they are in fact thoughtless and insensitive," he said.
I know from personal experience at National Public Radio that white liberals can be very intolerant if they suspect they are dealing with a black person who is not afraid from depart from liberal orthodoxy. In my case I was fired and afterwards described as a bigot in need of a psychiatric care.
In Pascal’s moment of crisis she is, even today, sticking to the game of racial boxes by taking calls from Al Sharpton as if he is the president of black America. Sharpton will no doubt end up with a contract in exchange for not staging phony demonstrations or challenging Sony on their lack of honesty about race.
Malcolm X, during his Nation of Islam radicalism, once said white conservatives are not friends to black people but “at least don’t try to hide it.” The separatist minded Malcolm X had even harsher words for white liberals. He judged them to be “more hypocritical than the conservative.” He accused white liberals of “perfecting the art of posing as the Negro’s friend and benefactor” while using black people as a “pawn or tool” in their political fight with white conservatives.
One word of caution is due as conservatives enjoy this moment of white liberal hypocrisy.
These emails were obtained as the result of a malicious act of cyber-criminality. The conversation was a private exchange and protected under all laws governing private communications.
The paltry benefit of skewering Sony executives should not obscure the danger of criminals gaining access to every e-mail you and I have sent or received and then posting it in the public domain for the entire nation to read. Confidential health information on Sony employees was also disclosed. Would you want all of your private, unfiltered communications with friends, family and co-workers plastered all over the web for people to make judgments about you?
So while the contents of the emails are a dazzling display of white liberal hypocrisy it should not distract anyone from the need for the nation to condemn this intrusion as criminal, unacceptable behavior and punished to the fullest extent of the law. Congress needs to move cyber-security to the top of their agenda next year.
But for the moment, let’s take a long look at white liberals revealing themselves so nakedly,  condescending to even the president of the United States because he’s black.

Palestinian throws acid at Jewish family, then shot and arrested by police

A Palestinian posing as a hitchhiker threw acid at an Israeli family in the West Bank Friday, before he was shot by a passer-by and arrested, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli family -- a Jewish man, his wife and three young girls -- were sitting inside a car when the Palestinian hurled acid at the woman and the girls at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem, the military said.
The army said the Palestinian also tried to attack the father of the family with a screwdriver and then started to run away, but a civilian passer-by shot him in the leg. Israeli police arrested him and evacuated him to hospital for treatment.
The Israeli man had stopped to pick up the Palestinian as a hitchhiker when the attack occurred, authorities said. An Israeli civilian hit the attacker with his car and then shot him, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday. The suspect is in moderate condition, according to emergency services.
The Israeli family members sustained light injuries, the police said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The incident occurred as tens of thousands marched in the Gaza Strip in celebration of the 27th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist Hamas group.
About 600 Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Hebron Friday. Israel Defense Forces soldiers were using crowd-dispersal methods to break up the demonstrations.
Friday’s attacker was identified as Jamal Abd al-Majid Ghayatha, 45, Haaretz reported, citing Ma'an News Agency. Ghayatha was imprisoned in Israel from 2004-2007 for activities related to Islamic Jihad, army sources said.  Israeli army forces raided his home in Nahalin.
Tension has been mounting between Israelis and Palestinians, especially in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent months since a five-week war between Israel and Hamas ended in August. More than 2,100 Palestinians-- most of them civilians-- died in the conflict, Palestinian officials said. More than 70 Israelis died in the fighting, most of them soldiers. 
In the past month, 11 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly in Jerusalem, but also in Tel Aviv and the West Bank. Ten Israelis and a foreign visitor were killed by Palestinians in knife or car-based attacks in the last four months, Reuters reported.  At least a dozen Palestinians have also been killed in the violence.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated the Israeli victims of Friday's acid attack, who included a 27-year-old man, another man in his 50s, a 52-year-old woman and three girls, aged 11, 12 and 18. The victims in the car reported feeling a burning sensation on their skin and in their eyes as well as shortness of breath.
Acid attacks are rare in Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 2001, a Palestinian girl seriously injured a young Israeli woman when she entered a Jerusalem shoe shop and threw acid at a saleswoman.
Earlier Friday, a Palestinian rammed his car into a bus stop where Israeli soldiers were waiting in the West Bank. The troops were not hurt, the military said. The driver was lightly hurt and taken in for questioning to determine whether it was an accident or an intentional assault.
Palestinians have used vehicles as weapons to carry out attacks in several instances in recent months, resulting in deaths and injuries.

A politically correct Christmas song by Scary Pete

Gretchen Wilson & Merle Haggard - Politically Uncorrect

I Want My Country Back ( Country artist Jason Green )