Sunlight answers a question – Last week the New York Times and the New York Post ran articles based on a classified congressional hearing.
In essence Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Stephen Lynch, who was present for the hearing, was used to push a story centered around his proposal to Congress to pass a resolution asking President Obama to declassify an entire 2002 report, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”
The context of Lynch’s request centers around this newly identified intelligence community report which, according to non-specific leaks, outlines Saudi Arabia’s involvement in supporting the 911 hijackers.
The question we had at the time was “why now”?    Obviously someone is seeking to gain some form of benefit from this discussion – it would be intellectually dishonest to think such a conversation would happen in a political vacuum.
The answer to the “why” question can be found in an article published a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal.   Within the Journal article you discover how much current anxiety and tension exists between the current Obama administration and the Saudi government against the backdrop of Obama’s failed Syria “Red Line”, and the Iranian Nuclear goals. (more…)

The chatter amongst the Inside-the-Beltway C&CCS* set is the recent flare up in the barely simmering ideological flame war between the Establishment “Main Street Republican” Decepticons and grassroots Tea Party activists leading into the 2014 election cycle for the very soul and future direction of “Conservatism” in America.
In addition to not-so-subtle chats with martial industry lobbyists, at a fundraiser held in early November McConnell personally demanded Defense contractors pony up to stop the Tea Party assault or face a defense contract spending drought in the next Congress.

Sources close to the discussions state McConnell is looking for deep pockets to fund his “one issue” campaign to “teach” those who seek to primary “approved” Establishment Republicans a “lesson” as some type of ill conceived anodynic salve that will simultaneously heal the internecine rupture and rally the troops while affirmatively castigating the wayward “wild eyed” Tea Party patriots and extinguishing any lingering questions about his impoverished ability to lead fence sitting middle America into rallying behind a resurgent majority Republican Congress. Overall support from the defense industries has tapered significantly since the 2008 cycle, and McConnell is demanding they open the spigot – wide.

(more…)

The word is out now on all major media, well, *almost all, about George Zimmerman selling his original artwork on eBay.    The current top bid at this writing is over $110,000.
*Some media outlets are not sharing the story probably due to their left-wing editorial decision not to assist higher bids with increased publicity.
We saw in the run-up to the trial how many media outlets were vocally allowing their leftist ideology to determine the content of their publications;  especially those with race-driven (ie black) ideologues as editors – such as the Orlando Sentinel.
However, the artwork by Zimmerman representing the patriotic resilience of the U.S. flag, and the uniting principle of the pledge of allegiance is very apropos.   As a first artwork it should fetch a considerable sum.   In part for what the image represents, but in larger part for what the artist represents in the work itself.
We can envision a Four Series Set.   The Foundational Flag as the first;  The Scales of Justice as the second, The Liberty Bell as a third, and a Blindfolded Lady Liberty as the Fourth.
The actual target audience of potential buyers is large.  It’s quite easy to imagine  a large law firm, or wealthy person in the legal field being willing to pay large amounts of money for what the image represents to Justice and Liberty.
Good Luck George Zimmerman and..

…MERRY CHRISTMAS !

A video of HHS Kathleen Sebelius is making the rounds on social media and blogs.   In the video she admits that “some will pay more” for health insurance under the ObamaCare program.

Cut to chase.  Get down to brass tacks.   Stop the BS.   Say what is.  She says “some”.
Here’s what is taking place – If you had insurance prior to ObamaCare you will pay more, period. (more…)

The more I read about what, where, when, why and how Snowden came to find out about the scope of the NSA intelligence gathering – the more I accept there was no other way for him to reveal the entire mess.  
(Via The Guardian) Edward Snowden, the former security contractor who leaked a trove of National Security Agency documents, welcomed a court ruling on Monday that declared the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records to be a likely violation of the US constitution.

Snowden said the ruling, by a US district judge, justified his disclosures. “I acted on my belief that the NSA’s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts,” he said in comments released through Glenn Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist who received the documents from Snowden.
“Today, a secret program authorised by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights. It is the first of many,” said Snowden, whose statement was first reported by the New York Times. (more…)

25 year old 2nd Lt Paul deWolf, USAF, third year medical student and active duty officer on an Air Force scholarship at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor,  was murdered by three black thugs during a home invasion robbery of his residence, an off campus fraternity house he shared with other medical students.

DeWolf was asleep in his own domicile – a bedroom in the basement of the Phi Ro Sigma fraternity house – when he was startled awake by the noise the intruders were creating during their return to the residence after previously stealing and removing a PlayStation 3 game system.  At a hearing held this week, it was revealed by Ann Arbor police that the still unnamed alleged trigger puller currently jailed in Michigan on a bond violation in a different case, had not yet been charged with deWolf’s murder. (more…)

 (Via Allahpundit)  Here’s Matheson’s announcement. He’s only 53 years old. Either there’s some as-yet-unknown bad news that’s forced him out or, as a Democrat from Utah, he’s tired of fighting for his political life every two years.
In 2002 he won his race by fewer than 1,700 votes. Last year, against tea-party favorite Mia Love (pictured) and with Mitt Romney at the top of the ballot, he won by fewer than 800 — despite having trailed in one poll by 12 points heading into election day.
Love already declared in May that she’d challenge him again next year; maybe he looked at the political landscape, especially with what’s in store for ObamaCare, and figured he might as well retire before the voters eventually retire him.  (link)

Looks like there’s another congressional seat who doesn’t want to Run on the new Pelosi/Wasserman-Schultz campaign message pictured here in this logo.   

One of the interesting aspects of the Treehouse is the international readership and how they contribute to our understanding of events. A recent link from a South African reader was sent to us outlining accuracy within a particular regional article was. So here it is:

[…] In South Africa, the signing man told the world, you don’t actually have to know what you are doing in order to get a job. You don’t have to have any ability whatsoever, as long as it looks, to most, as though you can go through the motions — whether you are a teacher, a police officer, a bureaucrat, a government official or (as some have suggested) a state president.
There are those who see through you and complain, but they are ignored. Ours is not a culture of accountability. So one gig leads to the next. You’ve done it before so you get to do it again, because everyone in a position of power agrees that the emperor’s new threads are stylish.
You stand there and tell us that the appearance of something becomes more important than the substance of it. Your obvious inability to do your job does not prevent you from getting ahead, until you reach the most prominent stage in the world, and then pretending suddenly isn’t enough. Too many people noticed — too many people who couldn’t just be dismissed because of their politics or race, which is how criticism is normally dealt with. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †