US Ambassador To Libya Killed?

Horrible

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack on their car, a Libyan official said, as they were rushed from a consular building stormed by militants denouncing a U.S.-made film insulting the Prophet Mohammad.

Gunmen had attacked and burned the U.S. consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, a center of last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, late on Tuesday evening, killing one U.S. consular official. The building was evacuated.

The Libyan official said the ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was being driven from the consulate building to a safer location when gunmen opened fire.

“The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them,” the official in Benghazi told Reuters.

via Paco

We better not get another goddamned apology from the White House.

update: yep, looks to be true.

Animals.

Update: What the hell?

The Americans were targeted in an attack in their car, trying to move to a safer venue away from the violent protests that erupted at the U.S. Consulate, Reuters reported. Stevens died of suffocation, while the three other personnel were killed by gunshot wounds, CBS News reports. Their names have not yet been released.

update: more

Al-Sharef said Stevens died of suffocation, while two U.S. Marines sent to Benghazi when the clash erupted were shot and killed by well-armed protesters. It was not immediately clear whether the Marines were part of Stevens’ security detail. The American whose death was confirmed on Tuesday also died of a gunshot wound.

details are of course still sketchy but I wonder if the Marines were allowed to be armed?

update: well here you go. President Sorry’s apology

I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers. They exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe, and stand in stark contrast to those who callously took their lives.

I have directed my Administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe. While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants.

On a personal note, Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States. Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi. As Ambassador in Tripoli, he has supported Libya’s transition to democracy. His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice. I am profoundly grateful for his service to my Administration, and deeply saddened by this loss.

The brave Americans we lost represent the extraordinary service and sacrifices that our civilians make every day around the globe. As we stand united with their families, let us now redouble our own efforts to carry their work forward.

You know, I’m not a big fan of over-profanity here but in response to the highlighted phrase I simply have to say HOW FUCKING DARE YOU PROVIDE THESE MURDEROUS FUCKING BASTARDS SOME COVER.

Update: more details: so perhaps not a rocket attack on their car but rather they were betrayed by Libyan “security”

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the other diplomatic personnel got moved to another building by Libyan security forces when the consulate was attacked, and then betrayed by them to the attackers

Well We Have A Potemkin Village Economic Recovery

So it makes perfect sense that to show their patriotism and honor our veterans in their own special way the Democrats displayed Russian naval vessels at their convention

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

Reporting for duty, Comrades!

So It’s 11:30 p.m. Central Right Now

We’ve heard a strong, perfect statement from Mitt and a number of other Republicans have spoken out, including this gem of a tearing-him-a-new-asshole from Sarah Palin:

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The Embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)

But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

Who haven’t we heard from today? When Islamic mobs waving Al Qaeda flags climbed our sovereign embassy walls, MURDERED yet another innocent American and stripped our flag from her post on THIS day of ALL days? And we could only apologize for hurting those tender Muslim sensibilities yet again.
Still not one word from him, not one. Single. Peep? The only guy missing today.

The President of the United States.

And don’t you ever forget it.

And Here We Go

White House disavows Cairo apology

The White House is disavowing a statement from their own Cairo embassy that apologized for anti-Muslim activity in the United States.

“The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” a senior administration official told POLITICO.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo put out a statement early Tuesday that apologized for an anti-Muslim film being circulated by an Israeli-American real estate developer.

They do have buses in Cairo, you know.

ths update: And BOOM! Romney drops his embargo and a statement:

“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi.”

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn the attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.“

What HE said.

ths more: Oh, it’s late (like, 10:30 central), but you KNEW this was gonna happen. I think the technical term is “POOF!”

Cover-up. RT @buzzfeedandrew: .@usembassycairo has now deleted their tweet standing by their original statement.

— Bryan Preston (@texasbryanp) September 12, 2012

Lotsa people retweeted the thing and I’m so, so sure that someone’s got it screen-capped just for the shits and the giggles.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Dumb.
And what Stephanie Cutter would call a “FELONY” if Mitt Romney had done it.
Update: Well shazZAM! Whoever said these Gen xers were underachievers?? They’re up to FIVE deleted Tweets from that snappy OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT TWITTER account.

“It’ll be like like they never existed!” –Anne W. PattersonMT @buzzfeedandrew: Now 5 deleted tweets @usembassycairo. bit.ly/RQUEUa

— rdbrewer (@rdbrewer4) September 12, 2012

RT @buzzfeedandrew: Three of the @usembassycairo tweets deleted today. twitpic.com/atot54 twitpic.com/atot6q twitpic.com/atot8g

— Ryan Williams (@RyanGOP) September 12, 2012

The Holy Grail Tweet Credits. The Baseball Crank’s already got “møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti” Cairo Embassy threads going…

Paging Eric Holder! There’s Justice to be done!

@mbaha2 No, that’s not true. We consistently stand up for Muslims around the world and talk abt how Islam is a wonderful religion

— US Embassy Cairo (@USEmbassyCairo) September 11, 2012

It’s WUNNERFUL, WUNNERFUL!

Oh, I’m SURE Bibi Told Obambi, When Asked “Could You Schmaybe Swoop On Down to DC, Homeboy?”

…to “Suck a stone.”

2) WH says POTUS/Bibi skeds didnt overlap. Israeli official tells abc news they offered to come to DC. WH says thats not the case…

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 12, 2012

Sure.

Romney needs to shove this entire mess right up Pennsylvania Avenue and let it bulldoze that loser OUT.

On this day of ALL days.

BASTARD.

Everything That is Wrong With This President

…right here.

Mob attacks Embassy, replaces US flag w/al Qaeda flag. Embassy responds by condemning people hurting Muslims feelings?egypt.usembassy.gov/pr091112.html

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) September 11, 2012

ths update:

American killed in attack on US Consulate in Libya protest at US embassy | Fox News fxn.ws/RIwwPa// turn it to glass. PERIOD

— RachelWells (@GenRachel) September 12, 2012

Have we ever sunk so low? Two attacks by al Qaeda or AQ sympathizers on the anniversary of 9/11 prompt an Obama apology powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/…

— John Hinderaker (@jhinderaker) September 12, 2012

Personally, I think the douche has a lot lower he can go. Goddamned unlimited potential for the dregs, in fact.

Bittersweet?

What the hell is “bittersweet” about September 11th?

Vice President Joe Biden drew on the sorrow of his own personal losses as he addressed the memorial marking 11 years since United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

“It is a bittersweet moment for the entire nation,” Biden told families, friends and dignitaries gathered at the memorial to the 40 passengers and crew who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Show me the “sweet” aspect of 3,000 of our citizens being murdered.

I Just Don’t Know What To Say About This

Other than I’m sitting here at my desk bawling.

For Fundraisers Or Golf, Obviously

The Washington Post asks a rather impertinent question

Why is Obama skipping more than half of his daily intelligence meetings?

President Obama is touting his foreign policy experience on the campaign trail, but startling new statistics suggest that national security has not necessarily been the personal priority the president makes it out to be. It turns out that more than half the time, the commander in chief does not attend his daily intelligence meeting.

The Government Accountability Institute, a new conservative investigative research organization, examined President Obama’s schedule from the day he took office until mid-June 2012, to see how often he attended his Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) — the meeting at which he is briefed on the most critical intelligence threats to the country. During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent. By contrast, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush almost never missed his daily intelligence meeting.

Of course, we all know that Chimpy had to go to all those meeting because he was just so schtupid; The One’s Transcendent Mind is already filled with comprehensive knowledge of all of the whirling machinations of the Universe so he can skip such mundane trivialities like meetings.

And unscripted press conferences.

Yep.

September 11th. No need to rehash who we lost or where we were; no, those memories are with us forever (even though the pictures seem to have vanished; I’ll find them) and should be honored with raised glasses and quiet conversations amongst loved ones held close. My feelings today burn as they ever did, perhaps not with such as bright and showy a flame as they once may have but like the coals of a fire produce an even deeper, more enduring heat.

We have a lot of work still to do.

ObamaCare in One Sentence

Dr. Barbara Bellar, ladies and germs.

A Scary Number

There’s a report in today’s Financial Times quoting the CEO of Kraft as saying that a minimum of 1/6th of their revenues come from…food stamps.

Good god.

If The Rain Comes

they run and hide their heads

DVF is a Bee-Yotch Liberal Elitest

…who doesn’t want your money, you filthy Republican.

Diane Von Furstenberg Doesn’t Want Any Republicans at Her Store

So don’t give her any. And make sure everyone else knows she doesn’t want their EE-VILLE lucre, either.

ths Hmmm:Come to think of it, didn’t the Left go apeSHIT when the Chik-fil-A owner DIDN’T say anything LIKE this?

Thought so. But DVF is ‘clever’ and Cathy’s a homophobe H8Tr.

And ‘bigot’. Dammit, I forgot ‘bigot’.

ths update: Well, there we go:

#DVF: “This is a non-republican audience!!!” Crowd: “Cheers, Screams” instagr.am/p/PQrOZdnpTa/

— Essence Gant (@TheEssenceOf_) September 7, 2012

A portion of my screen-cap of the event picture, just in case it goes down the rabbithole. The caption reads:

#DVF:”This is a non-republican audience!!!” Crowd: “Cheers, Screams”

More ths: What makes this even more replusive is that she did this during Fashion’s Night Out, whose reason for existence is to celebrate fashion, yes, but also “The official beneficiary charity of the Fashion’s Night Out collection is the New York City AIDS Fund in the Community Trust.” Perhaps she’d care to remember that there’s been one helluva a lot of Republican and conservative faces on the frontlines and in the trenches of the Aids/HIV care movement from the very beginning. RELIGIOUS organizations, especially Catholic Charities, began nurturing and caring for gay men mysteriously dying horrible deaths in San Francisco and points beyond in the 70’s, long before it became trendy and politically acceptable for fashion icons to cavalierly dismiss a whole class of people while sashaying to a soiree.

Plenty of us support(ed) FNO, for just that very fundraising. Do ALL the organizers feel this way, too?

Running as a Democrat From the State of Nebraska

…in a most peculiar fashion: Bob Kerrey.

…He singled out a portion of the plan that says if a company with more than 50 workers stopped offering health coverage it would face a fine of $2,000 per employee.

Questions have been raised about whether companies would stop paying for employees’ insurance and send them to obtain their own coverage from new insurance exchanges.

“I hate the employer mandate,” Kerrey said. “I think it’s going to have a counterproductive impact. We don’t have any (insured employee) that costs us less than $7,000 (a year), and the fine’s $2,000.

We’ll dump ’em off. We won’t call it dumping, we’ll say … ‘Go get it from the exchange.’”

He said the employer mandate “will accelerate an already breaking-down employer-based system.” That portion of the law should be repealed, he said.

Speaking of “Jobs”, Rep. Joe Walsh Thinks Sandra Fluke Should “Go Get One”

DAY-YUM! That’s almost as insensitive as calling someone a “slut” or something, isn’t it?

Republicans are SUCH H8Rs.

Hilary Rosen Can Either Kiss My Ass or Clean the Smudgies From Her Rose Colored Glasses, But Mostly KISS MY ASS

Which is as polite as I can possibly keep it after she steps in it again:

Hillary Rosen: Being Out of a Job Is a Good Thing

Hilary Rosen, the Obama strategist who infamously disparaged Ann Romney back in April, saying Romney never worked a day on her life, had a quite different take on the new unemployment numbers for August, which showed that the labor participation in the United States was at a 31 year low.

Rosen tweeted:

Entrepreneurs and self employed leave the “work force”. That is a hopeful thing. People leaving aren’t necessarily bad.

#ObamaIsntWorking

ths Sunday Talk Show update: Oh, wait! Another Obama rocket scientist has the rest of the explanation!

On @foxnews, a clueless Austin Goolsbee shrugs off shrinking work force as “children going to school” and people retiring

— Eric Fehrnstrom (@EricFehrn) September 9, 2012

No wonder we’re in such great shape.

In These Trying Times, Nothing Restores Confidence Like a Moment With…

…Mort.

368,000 Americans GIVE-UP Looking For Work

…and consequently the jobless rate slips to 8.1%. I’m sure someone in the Obama administration is thinking this sounds like a “Plan”.

The administration finally has results-oriented advice for the jobless that is bringing down the unemployment rate: stop looking.

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) September 7, 2012

A 30 YEAR LOW in the workforce.

Dear GOD.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Stars, Shining on

…Obama.

If he was gonna be outside tonight, that is.

Fancy that and whoda thunk it?

ths update: Via Fox just now, apparently USAir (I hope I have that airline right) is letting disaffected ticketholders, who flew in for the BIG EVENT THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED AND NOW AIN’T HAPPENIN’, is shuttling folks out of Charlotte a day early free of charge.

Since 50,000 or so of them got some free time now. Can’t have them wandering the convention grounds all pissed off and talking to bloggers or Fox reporters, can we?

Why Stop at “Nazi”?

Just bump off the head of the ticket.

Democrats are so wonderfully uninhibited, aren’t they?

H/T American Thinker

Fruits Of The Garden

Well not actually fruit, if you want to get all technical. I have tried and tried for the past few years to grow some type of garden here in the Garden State. The results have been, alas, well let’s just say that if my Beloved Family is forced to depend upon my agricultural prowess for sustenance we will easily survive a solid, oh, thirty minutes.

However, I can proudly point to the many obese deer, rabbits and chipmunks inhabiting our yard and neighborhood as clear signs that I do have some skills in this regard. The not-so-little-now bastards have merrily munched upon damn near everything I’ve gotten growing in the sandy rocky iron-ore-y craptastically sandy soil we are blessed with to the point of extinction…with one exception: none of them are fond of jalapenos

I’ve got lots and lots of terrifically yummy peppers that are getting hotter as the Summer gets cooler, and last night I was aching for some cheeseburgers and these little beauties added just the right zing to the meal

Good simple happy eats.

I’m Bingley, and I’m all about locally grown and sustainability.

or not.

God and Jerusalem Walkin’ Back on the DNC Plank: Pretty Much the Way They’ve Governed

All SORTS of confusion and lots of booing.

Deemed and passed, baby.

ASS backwards.

A Letter to Mitt Romney

…that he might consider answering:

The First Four Years Are The Hardest…

Dear Governor Romney,
My name is Mike Rowe and I own a small company in California called mikeroweWORKS. Currently, mikeroweWORKS is trying to close the country’s skills gap by changing the way Americans feel about Work. (I know, right? Ambitious.) Anyway, this Labor Day is our 4th anniversary, and I’m commemorating the occasion with an open letter to you. If you read the whole thing, I’ll vote for you in November.

First things first. mikeroweWORKS grew out of a TV show called Dirty Jobs. If by some chance you are not glued to The Discovery Channel every Wednesday at 10pm, allow me to visually introduce myself. That’s me on the right, preparing to do something dirty.

When Dirty Jobs premiered back in 2003, critics called the show “a calamity of exploding toilets and misadventures in animal husbandry.” They weren’t exactly wrong. But mostly, Dirty Jobs was an unscripted celebration of hard work and skilled labor. It still is. Every week, we highlight regular people who do the kind of jobs most people go out of their way to avoid. My role on the show is that of a “perpetual apprentice.” In that capacity I have completed over three hundred different jobs, visited all fifty states, and worked in every major industry.

Though schizophrenic and void of any actual qualifications, my resume looks pretty impressive, and when our economy officially crapped the bed in 2008, I was perfectly positioned to weigh in on a variety of serious topics. A reporter from The Wall Street Journal called to ask what I thought about the “counter-intuitive correlation between rising unemployment and the growing shortage of skilled labor.” CNBC wanted my take on outsourcing. Fox News wanted my opinions on manufacturing and infrastructure. And CNN wanted to chat about currency valuations, free trade, and just about every other work-related problem under the sun.

In each case, I shared my theory that most of these “problems” were in fact symptoms of something more fundamental – a change in the way Americans viewed hard work and skilled labor. That’s the essence of what I’ve heard from the hundreds of men and women I’ve worked with on Dirty Jobs. Pig farmers, electricians, plumbers, bridge painters, jam makers, blacksmiths, brewers, coal miners, carpenters, crab fisherman, oil drillers…they all tell me the same thing over and over, again and again – our country has become emotionally disconnected from an essential part of our workforce. We are no longer impressed with cheap electricity, paved roads, and indoor plumbing. We take our infrastructure for granted, and the people who build it…

It’s a good letter and goes on to, as Mike tends to do being an well-spoken guy, make some hard-to-argue points.

And finishes with one not-so-shocking note:

…PS. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I wrote a similar letter to President Obama. Of course, that was four years ago, and since I never heard back, I believe proper etiquette allows me to extend the same offer to you now. I figure if I post it here, the odds are better that someone you know might send it along to your attention.

You “never heard back“. See, Mike, the problem is, you were talking about Average Joe guys like…plumbers.

And we all know how Obama feels about guys like Joe the Plumber.

ObamaCare Summed Up In One (Long) Sentence

(via our good friend Dan Collins)