Fence Post

Noticeable
But China’s growth in the American auto industry is drawing notice in Washington. Last year, the Obama administration filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization that China’s government was unfairly subsidizing the production of some parts shipped to America. And the country’s inroads into American-made batteries and electric vehicles have drawn scrutiny because that sector of the industry has been heavily subsidized by the United States government. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

Has so much irony ever been found in two sentences? Obama is mad at the Chinese government for subsidizing auto parts at the same time that the American government subsidizes electric car parts.


Hand Out
Republican lawmakers have become reflexive in rejecting every extended hand from the administration, even if the ideas were ones that they themselves once welcomed. Under the circumstances, Mr. Obama would be best advised to stop making peace offerings. Only when the Republican Party feels public pressure to become a serious partner can the real work of governing begin. (New York Times editorial, 5/12/2013)

Well, we found more irony. Democrats - who famously worked so well with George Bush - cannot fathom why Republicans would snub President Obama's "peace offerings." (We tried to come up with a joke about the white man bargaining with native Americans, but we couldn't get the racial components worked out.)

So one more time:
-Democrats would not work with George Bush. They despised him.

-Republicans do not trust Obama or the Democrats because of the way in which they passed Obamacare.

-Both sides are posturing (and waiting) for the mid-term elections.


Suggestion
The New York Times obtained a 12-page timeline from the inspector general’s audit on Sunday. It suggests that the effort to single out Tea Party groups goes back to March 2010 when a special Determinations Unit in the Cincinnati office of the I.R.S. began searching tax-exemption applications that focused on groups on one side of the political spectrum, rather than broadly on political groups without a social-welfare mission. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

Halfway through an article on the IRS investigation of conservative groups we get this, giving hope that the Times does remember its past ability to do investigative journalism. Perhaps the Times has finally found an Obama scandal that they can run with. There have been numerous opportunities after all....


Lean To
President Barack Obama said if any Internal Revenue Service staff targeted groups based on their political leanings, they would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.  “If in fact IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that have been reported on, and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous,” Mr. Obama said, in his first public remarks on the issue. (WSJ, 5/13/2013)

Obama added; "And when I say 'fully accountable' I mean just like those responsible for Fast and Furious, the collapse of Solyndra, and the debacle in Benghazi were held fully accountable." Meanwhile, Jay Carney said the IRS scandal was "old news."


Down Below
The State Department board that reviewed last year’s attack on a diplomatic outpost in Libya never questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state at the time, because it had already decided responsibility lay below her level, the board’s chairman said Sunday. Thomas R. Pickering, a former ambassador who led the review, said his group discussed its findings with Mrs. Clinton but did not pose any questions because it had established the facts to its satisfaction and concluded that mistakes were made by less senior officials. Likewise, he said, the panel did not question her two deputies. (NYT, 5/12/2013)

This is precious. Why have a review if you have already determined the answer? And why not question the person who accepted responsibility? 

While we are on Benghazi-gate, we saw Rudy Guiliani a couple of nights ago make a brilliant point. The Obama/Clinton administration contends that they did not send help to the beleaguered ambassador in Libya because they would not have gotten there in time. To which Guiliani responds: "Oh really, how did Clinton/Obama know how long the attack was going to last?" 

Pay Attention

Rivets
A veteran diplomat gave a riveting minute-by-minute account on Wednesday of the lethal terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last Sept. 11 and described its contentious aftermath at a charged Congressional hearing that reflected the weighty political stakes perceived by both parties. (NYT, 5/8/2013)

The New York Times jumps on the Benghazi-gate bandwagon! Just yesterday they told us it was a partisan witchhunt and buried it as the sixth story. Today it's the second story. Our cynical side tells us that this is so that when Benghazi-gate is brought up when Hillary runs for president in 2016, the Times can say that the story has already been exhaustively reported.

Speaking of the former Secretary of State, it struck us that she has a somewhat dubious distinction: namely she is probably the only person who can be attacked for both declaring that Iraq had WMDs and for claiming that the Benghazi attacks were the result of a YouTube video! 

Not to worry, she will be the Dems choice if she decides to run.


Salty
The hedge fund faithful, more than 1,800 strong, have come here for the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, or SALT. Held over four days, SALT is a Wall Street schmooze-fest.
...
Appearing at this year’s event are Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister; Mike Krzyzewski, the Duke University men’s basketball coach; and Barney Frank, the former Massachusetts congressman. (Dealbok.nytimes.com, 5/8/2013)

Barney Frank is a guest-of-honor at a hedge fund 'schmooze-fest?' Hello, anyone there?

We are guessing that See No Evil Frank (recall he famously told police that he did not realize his live-in boyfriend was growing weed in the front parlor of their house nor did he know that a previous boyfriend was running a male prostitution ring from the basement of his Washington townhouse) was not invited to chastise hedge fund 1%ers. 

So what IS he doing there?


The End
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body has been buried, according to Worcester police, ending a days-long saga that left the Boston Marathon terror mastermind’s corpse in limbo as multiple cities refused to accept it. (Bostonherald.com, 5/9/2013)

Why is it that it is left to RedStateVT to come up with the most obvious solution? Instead of taking up valuable space in a Connecticut cemetery why not give Tsarnaev the Osama treatment? You know, wrap him up in burlap and push him overboard out at sea. Too late now, but let's remember this in the event there is a next time. 

And while we are at it, never mind the Islamic rituals and respect for the body stuff. New policy: you kill Americans and we dump you in the ocean. No ceremony, no anointing, no prayers. 

Jester to the Clown

Frayed
Many Democrats also want to see a more aggressive and visible president to push the law across the country. This week Mr. Obama is returning to the fray to an extent unseen since he signed the law in 2010, including a White House event on Friday to promote the law’s benefits for women, the first in a series of appearances for health care this year. (NYT, 5/6/2013)

As we recently joked with a long-time reader, Liberals have brilliantly commandeered the term "women's health" as an omnipotent shield with which to either explain the validity of any crazy idea they might have or to attack any opposing opinion. 

Do you oppose Obamacare?  You are against women's health!
Do you oppose free contraception?  You are against women's health!
Do you oppose gun control?  You are against women's health!


Short Stuff
Without the participation of that generally healthy young population, insurance premiums for everyone else would increase — threatening support for a law already short of it. (NYT, 5/6/2013)

You already knew this, but just to be clear: Obamacare is a transfer tax (primarily) on the young to pay for the medical expenses of those who couldn't be bothered to get insurance on their own. However, everyone who now has insurance will pay more. 


Benghazi-gate!
The Obama administration wants to consign the Benghazi terrorist attack to the history books, but this week three State Department officials will tell Congress that the Obama administration’s version of history is false — and that the falsehoods it told the American people were willful and deliberate. (Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post, 5/6/2013)

Some in the conservative blogosphere are bubbling up the idea that Benghazi-gate will mean the end of the Obama administration. In addition to Fox News and Breitbart, CNN has even dipped its toe into the scandal. We wish the pundits were right - actually, more than that we wish the truth would come out. 

In our view, the odds are long. The New York Times completely ignored the story again today, despite pending potential blockbuster testimony from whistleblowers.