Beach Peanuts

Will Rubio Have The Guts To Vote For Background Checks On Explosive Powders Used In Bombings?

Last week it was reported that authorities searching for clues in the Boston Marathon bombing were hampered in their efforts because of an NRA backed law that prevents tracing explosives. Had the law not been in place, the investigation might have moved along quicker and perhaps could have saved the life of a policeman who was shot by one of the bombers. 

In addition to that, current laws on the books also allow anyone to purchase up to 50 pounds of explosive powders without a background check. 

That may be about to change:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require background checks to be run on anyone buying explosive powder, a reaction to last week's Boston Marathon bombing.

Reid introduced the bill, S. 792, for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has been out sick for much of the year. But in a press statement, Lautenberg said the Boston bombing shows that background checks are needed for explosive materials.

"It defies common sense that anyone, even a terrorist, can walk into a store in America and buy explosive powders without a background check or any questions asked," Lautenberg said Tuesday. "Requiring a background check for an explosives permit is a small price to pay to ensure the safety of our communities.

The bill would not only require background checks on purchases of the powder, but would also stop the sale of explosives to suspected terrorists, and require a permit to make homemade explosives.

Last week Republicans filibustered gun background checks, so it will be interesting to see if they'll have the guts to actually do something about this, especially when it's a law that could have helped just days ago in the investigation of a terrorist attack. 

More to the point, will Marco Rubio once again block any legislation that would protect the public safety of his constituents? Given his track record, I would say the chances of him doing anything that the public wants doesn't stand the chance against his big donors like the NRA.

I sincerely hope he'll prove my assumption wrong.

Mitt Romney Gets Fact-Checked On Libya During Debate

One of the best moments from last night's debate was when Mitt Romney came unglued while getting fact-checked on Libya while he continued to politicize it. Not just fact-checked by President Obama, but by moderator Candy Crowley.

Romney criticized the President on his actions, and had the facts wrong, again.

The exchange:

MR. ROMNEY: Yeah, I — I certainly do. I certainly do. I — I think it’s interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror. You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Please proceed.

MR. ROMNEY: Is that what you’re saying?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Please proceed, Governor.

MR. ROMNEY: I — I — I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Get the transcript.

MS. CROWLEY: It — he did in fact, sir.

So let me — let me call it an act of terrorism — (inaudible) —

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy? (Laughter, applause.)

MS. CROWLEY: He did call it an act of terror.

President Obama's actual statement from 9-12-12 on Libya, in the Rose Garden:

"No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."

Mitt Romney proved here once again that he isn't Presidential, nor prepared to be Commander in Chief, and President Obama again demonstrated just why he is.

Not only that, but Romney's clearly willing to politicize such an event and twist the facts for his own personal gain. Even by using the victims to do so until family members of those victims have asked him to stop.

Pathetic.

 

Allen West And Military Policy: What Would Demi Do?

What's the latest GOP outrage directed against President Obama? That he banned waterboarding and calls it what it is: Torture. (Or, as Republican debate audiences would say: "BOO!")

Who says that the President is raining on his torture parade? Why, that would be none other than Allen "Excuse-Me-While-I-Fire-This-Pistol-Over-Your-Iraq-Detainee-Head-For-Psychological-Purposes" West, (R-FL). Shocking, I know.

After Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann boasted that they would be just dandy with torture for crazy-cred purposes during the latest GOP debate, President Obama addressed the subject durng a press conference in Hawaii yesterday. Cain "preferred" to call it "enhanced interrogation" because that's what Dick-tator Cheney called it, and Bachmann doesn't care if you call it "waterboarding" or not ("enhanced synchronized swimming" perhaps?) just do it already!

The adult we call our President, said this:

"They're wrong. Waterboarding is torture," he said. "It's contrary to America's traditions. It's contrary to our ideals. That's not who we are. That's not how we operate. We don't need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice."

That won't do for Allen West, no siree! Civilized behavior will not stand!

From Politico:

“As the president, you need to do those things which are necessary to make sure that the American people are kept safe....” 

I'll get back to the rest of that quote in a minute, but first, West is a firm believer in "you do what you gotta' do" whether the rest of America does or not. He was never shy about saying so, and apparently he still isn't:

“I used a psychological intimidation tactic to fire a pistol over his head, and it kept my men safe,” West said. “Of course, they took it to an investigative hearing, but I’m here today as a congressional representative, and I still continue to fight for the men and women in uniform.”

No, they took it to an investigative hearing, West was fined, and then he suddenly retired from the military. West is "here today as a congressional representative" because he preyed on the fears of unsuspecting Tea Party followers along with many other members of the GOP. (Psst! Rep. West: They're onto you now. Enjoy it while it lasts.)

Just in case you need further review of West's expertise on torture, here's the rest of that quote from Politico:

“As the president, you need to do those things which are necessary to make sure that the American people are kept safe,” the Republican congressman continued, adding, “and furthermore, in the movie ‘G.I. Jane,’ Demi Moore was waterboarded.”

Oh well, if Demi Moore was waterboarded in "G.I. Jane"....say no more! If we had a dime for every time a general on the ground in Iraq or elsewhere hesitated before resorting to torture, but then said "well, if it's good enough for Demi Moore, who am I to judge?," all of Bush's wars would be paid for, and then some? Seriously Rep. West? Demi Moore also spent some quality time at the pottery wheel with the ghost of her dead husband in "Ghost," and she once appeared in an episode of (cover your ears folks) "Will and Grace!" Oh. My. God. Allen West sees dead people, and is now in favor of gays in the military? Do the Tea Baggies and the evangelicals know? What about Bruce Willis? I thought he was the right-winger's go to guy? Jilted again?

Why, the only thing nuttier than that is West's fellow Koch campaign beneficiary Herman Cain, who was rumored to have gotten the idea for his "9-9-9 Plan" from the computer game Sim City. Cain denied this, but then Cain is also someone who feels the measure of a man is how many toppings he chooses for his pizza. (The more toppings, the more manly.)

What's next GOP, asking gamers and Demi Moore for tips on job creation....?

Memo To MSNBC: Pat Buchanan Needs To Go

When is enough enough?

From a network that routinely suspends and dismisses its anchors for saying things it doesn't like, I can only assume that MSNBC is good with its resident bigot Pat Buchanan. Buchanan, as far as I know, has never been suspended or thrown off the network for making outrageous and offensive statements, and he's done it again. He's now an apologist for the crimes of extremist Anders Breivik in Norway. As Think Progress noted (below) Buchanan seems to think Breivik "may have had a valid point."

Offering his take on the horrendous terrorist attacks in Norway, Buchanan joined the Wall Street Journal and the Jerusalem Post in arguing that the far-right extremist perpetrator Anders Breivik may have had a valid point. Arguing that Breivik was bringing attention to his cause, “a Crusader’s war between the real Europe and the ‘cultural Marxists’ and Muslims,” Buchanan declares that, on the “climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world…Breivik may be right“:

But, awful as this atrocity was, native-born and homegrown terrorism is not the macro-threat to the continent.

That threat comes from a burgeoning Muslim presence in a Europe that has never known mass immigration, its failure to assimilate, its growing alienation, and its sometime sympathy for Islamic militants and terrorists.

Europe faces today an authentic and historic crisis.

With her native-born populations aging, shrinking and dying, Europe’s nations have not discovered how to maintain their prosperity without immigrants. Yet the immigrants who have come – from the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia – have been slow to learn the language and have failed to attain the educational and occupational levels of Europeans. And the welfare states of Europe are breaking under the burden.[...]

As for a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries, on this one, Breivik may be right.

The sad reality is that Buchanan helps mainstream anti-Muslim intolerance. A regular MSNBC contributor and frequent guest on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Buchanan once invoked the Nazis’ attempt to march in Skokie, Illinois as an argument against the Islamic Center proposal in New York. He also used this platform to defend Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) “McCarthyesque hearings” on the threat of terrorism from American Muslims, saying American Muslims are “most susceptible or vulnerable to the recruitment” by terrorists who will “radicalize them and make them enemies of America.”

It's people like Pat Buchanan who fan the flames of intolerance again and again, (and when the flames contribute to an actual fire, they absolve themselves of blame) and you would think that would rate MSNBC disassociating themselves from him. This is only the latest example in a long line of outrageous, bigoted and racist statements Buchanan has made. 

Before I'm accused of not believing in free speech, that isn't the case. Far from it. But MSNBC routinely bans and fires people who don't share their views, and suspends anchors for saying offensive things about FOX-GOP-TV anchors who make statements similar to Buchanan on a regular basis, but if a statement like the one above by one of their own is OK, that's practicing quite a double standard. 

By continuing to put Pat Buchanan on the air and giving him a platform to say things like this brands the network as the same, and we can only assume that Pat Buchanan in turn speaks the views of MSNBC or he, like others, would be banned, suspended or fired. 

Clearly, by their own standards, MSNBC feels the same as Buchanan.

If not, then Pat Buchanan needs to go.

Sarah Palin's Mission: Destroy The Republican Party

CBS News reports today that President Obama has decided not to release photographs of Osama bin Laden's body, in spite of "skeptics" who demand photographic proof of the demise of the Al Qaeda leader, in part because it would do little to reassure them anyway.

Probably true. Those very skeptics probably wouldn't accept bloody photos as proof any more than they would accept that President Obama was born in the U.S. in spite of the release of his birth certificate on numerous occasions.

That of course was just one of the reasons, and a minor one at that:

..officials at the Pentagon and State Department expressed qualms about releasing gruesome photos of Bin Laden’s bloodied corpse, with some arguing that the photos would not silence those who doubt that he was killed. Some lawmakers also opposed releasing the photos, arguing that doing so would serve little purpose and could endanger American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not only would it endanger the troops, but it could further inflame tensions in the Muslim world. That decision, and the reasoning behind it makes sense.  

To most people.

It's hard to believe, but there is at least one person who would jump at the chance to inflame and offend those very people, (the troops be damned!) and she's perfectly willing to go "on the record" to say so.

Who else?

"Inflame Muslims and endanger the troops? You betcha'!"

 

As one who has seemed hell-bent on doing her part towards the destruction of America since running for VP in 2008, the beast of Wasilla has spoken! 

Yes, by all means, show that photo, as gruesome and bloody as it may be, get it out there "as a warning" she says! For Palin and her war-mongering, blood lust pals, it's much more than a warning. This is a trophy to be displayed! This is so much bigger than shooting wolves from helicopters! To think that before she came on the national scene she had to settle for mere moose heads on a wall, or bear skin area rugs! That was before she signed on with John "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran but seriously folks" McCain. Now she's a wannabe with the crowd who go after the really big fish. Not the ones who send them to sleep with the fishes!

Yes Sarah, that's some warning you're sending out there! Especially since you're giving all the credit to the wrong President for getting bin Laden in the first place: President Bush.

"No pussy-footing around" you say? That's right! Nothing says "pussy-footing around" like going to war in the wrong country and then "not caring about, or looking for" Osama bin Laden as nearly ten years go by, while tens of thousands of soldiers and innocent men, women and children are killed. Make that "pussy-footing" through two wars, which we are still fighting as you Tweet.

President Obama on the other hand, who actually did what you credit Bush for, did not "pussy-foot" around. We know you weren't paying attention during the campaign, but President Obama made a campaign promise in 2008 to get Osama bin Laden, and he did get bin Laden. In 2011. Take your time adding up and comparing the years between the two Administrations and see what you come up with there, Sarah.

"No politicking!" you say? Wrong again there pit bull! Unlike your Republican party which politicizes everything, especially the tragedy of 9-11, which has become a virtual GOP cottage industry and morphed into the largely fictional "Tea Bagger Party," there was nothing political in Pres. Obama's decision not to make those photos public. It's a carefully thought out decision to prevent more deaths, more destruction. Not just of American and for Americans, but other countries and their citizens as well. It's also a decision made out of respect for others, yet another concept that would be foreign to you, Sarah. "Politicking" would be proudly marching around and waving pictures of a bloodied corpse as a threat to anyone not like yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to be the message in your "Tweet."

"No drama." One has to wonder what you define as "drama." I can think of nothing quite as dramatic and dark as displaying photos of a violent death in your "mission" to traumatize and intimidate those you see as enemies. To dream that one up, Ms. Palin, it takes a mighty sick minded individual. You must be so proud of yourself.

"It's all part of the mission." Death and violence, it seems, are things to be taken lightly as you go about your "mission." Whatever that mission is, we've all witnessed it in its ugliest forms, more recently with your SarahPac crosshairs map incident. You chose Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as a target in Arizona. Even after she was shot, you not only continued to laugh it off and dismiss the map as "typical" of a political campaign, and the shooting as merely a coincidence, but you exploited Rep. Giffords as she lay gravely wounded in a hospital to gain yet more exposure for yourself.

We can see by this latest "Tweet" that you haven't learned anything since, nor have you changed. This week we learned that three years after running in, and losing the 2008 election, you still can't name a significant newspaper that you read. I would guess that even now, after being taught by as many coaches as the Republican party could possibly afford, you still couldn't identify Pakistan on a map if you had to.

Thanks to all this, there may be one mission you actually have succeeded at. You've illustrated once again what a mistake this country would have made if they had elected John McCain and yourself instead of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

More to the point, you've improved on it in the last three years. You have become accurately symbolic of the Republican party, and you've reminded the country once again what a mistake it would be to hand the next election to anyone,  ANYONE from the Republican party. For that, we can thank you.

Mission accomplished!

This Is The Guy The Right Wing Wants To Credit For Getting Osama Bin Laden?

Seriously. Is this really the guy you Republicans want to credit for getting Osama Bin Laden?

Two words:

Reality. Bites.

 

Yes. This Is Change You Can Believe In

A "top priority" and a promise kept.

Yes. We. Can.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON OSAMA BIN LADEN

East Room

11:35 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.

And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.

On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family.

We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda -- an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.

Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan, we removed the Taliban government, which had given bin Laden and al Qaeda safe haven and support. And around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or kill scores of al Qaeda terrorists, including several who were a part of the 9/11 plot.

Yet Osama bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile, al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world.

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.

Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.

For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.

Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must –- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad.

As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.

Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we’ve done. But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.

Tonight, I called President Zardari, and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations. And going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates.

The American people did not choose this fight. It came to our shores, and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle, and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander-in-Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one, or look into the eyes of a service member who’s been gravely wounded.

So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done.

Tonight, we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work, nor know their names. But tonight, they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice.

We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. And they are part of a generation that has borne the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.

Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss, nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores.

And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.

The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.

Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.