Iranian-born Valerie Jarrett, once described as Barack Obama’s “brain”, went on the attack this morning during an MSNBC interview that saw the senior White House adviser defending her now infamous politically-motivated speech at an Atlanta church this past Sunday. Jarrett pointed a finger of blame directly on Republicans in Congress, declaring they were putting American jobs in jeopardy by not allowing full passage of the oft-spoken of ”Obama Jobs Plan” that even Democrats in the Senate have all but ignored due to its increases in deficit spending and little actual job creation – much like the first near trillion dollar Obama stimulus plan that was passed in 2009.

Not satisfied with inciting fear with merely the concept of general job losses, Jarrett went on to (once again) indicate that it would be teachers, firefighters, and police who would be laid off. (It should be noted that federal dollars actually account for a minority of funding for these positions – which are almost exclusive to state and local funding.)

So, yes, all across the country we have teachers and firefighters, first responders, whose jobs are at risk because we don’t have that act in place.

Jarrett is demanding that a tax increase on wealthier Americans be implemented now in order to save the economy – though a wide array of economists have long indicated tax increases have little to do with growing the economy and far more to do with growing government. It is that expansion of government that has been the hallmark of the Obama administration – and most likely then, the direct result of Valerie Jarrett’s significant influence upon “Obama’s brain”.

……………………

Nice going Ulsterman- keep em’ coming!

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werbaz neutronName said:
January 16, 2012

that woman may be the face of Chicago but she is not and will not be the face of the United States of America after election day.

AND I AND SO MANY AMERICANS- AGREE!

Here are but a few of the most hard-hitting excerpts from what is a long-overdue look at what many perceive to be the true power behind the Obama throne:

-“What, exactly, does Valerie Jarrett do?” No one has a clear answer. Whatever she does, the U.S. taxpayer pays her $172,200 a year to do it.
-She seems to function as a sort of third party to the Obama marriage, guarding the president and his wife from bad news and outside influence.

-One might liken her to Don Corleone’s consigliere Tom Hagen, bedecked in a designer shawl, except Hagen gave better advice.

-What Valerie Jarrett does best is represent the Obama administration in microcosm. She embodies its insularity, its cronyism, its cluelessness.

- Her social standing, combined with her positions in government and her well-compensated seats on the boards of many companies, magnified Jarrett’s power. She knew everybody. Everybody wanted to know her.

-President Obama, who grew up partly in Indonesia, seems to be drawn to Americans who have spent considerable time abroad, who feel askew in their native land. Jarrett told author David Remnick that the reason she bonded with Barack Obama was that “he and I shared a view of where the United States fit in the world.

-And Jarrett herself provided some bad headlines: In addition to her public burdens, she ran Habitat Co., which received taxpayer subsidies to manage low-income housing projects seemingly into the ground. The feds seized one complex in 2006; another, Grove Parc Plaza, was exposed as a decrepit slum by the Boston Globe in 2008.

-Jarrett is the leader of the revivalists, and her fingerprints are on every blunder and boo-boo the White House has ever made.

-During this time Jarrett met with George Kaiser, the Obama bundler and investor whose solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra was up for a huge loan guarantee. Jarrett, according to government documents, was warned about Solyndra’s shaky finances on the eve of the president’s visit to the company’s facility in Fremont, California. Obama went anyway.

-She has outlasted her rivals. Gibbs is gone. Internal clashes led to Emanuel’s sudden discovery that he had always wanted to be mayor of Chicago. Emanuel’s replacement, fellow Chicagoan Bill Daley (brother of Richie), was muscled out last week; word is he fought with Jarrett too.

AND PERHAPS THE MOST CHILLING OF ALL:

-“You know what, Mr. President?” she said. “You may not be enjoying your new life, but I am.”

……………………………

Besides Michelle- Jarett is the most terrifying individual so close to the seat of power in our White House- The common thread they all share- None of them could be viewed as Patriots for America. So why are they there in the first place?

Thanks Again, Ulsterman for shining a light on the misfit pretenders plundering America into a Third World graveyard-

Good Read Here

While the White House is brushing aside questions on the reasons behind Bill Daley’s resignation just a year after accepting his position as Barack Obama’s second White House Chief of Staff, there are whispers within D.C. of a festering battle between more business-friendly Daley and the hardline progressive environtmentalism of others at the Obama White House.

Take the following quote from Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, who made clear his disdain for Bill Daley’s more moderate environmental policy stance:

“I say good riddance, goodbye, get out now.”

Last year, both Barack Obama and EPA officials were attempting to impliment tough new ozone standards – standards that many American manufacturers were warning would decimate an already unstable industry during a time of recession. According to a Politico report, it was Bill Daley who managed to shift the president’s decision to not favoring the stricter ozone regulations. How he managed to do so remains unknown.
Another Politico report indicated the following approximately two months ago:

The White House has ordered an independent review of all Energy Department loan guarantees in response to Solyndra’s collapse.

Chief of staff Bill Daley tasked former Treasury Department official Herb Allison to lead the 60-day review into more than two dozen loan guarantees approved since the start of the Obama administration

It should be noted that Herb Allison, the son of an FBI agent and a veteran of the Vietnam War, is also a Republican – and Bill Daley chose him to head up the investigation into the failed Obama green loans program.

And now Bill Daley is gone from the Obama White House…

Thanks to Ulsterman for keeping us in the loop!

Hows that finger pointing going for ya, ERIC?

Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for its excellent coverage of Eric Holder and the Democratic Party’s plan to directly influence the political balance of power within Texas – a state that often leads the charge against the imperial dominance of centralized government that is Washington D.C.

Excerpt:

Attorney General Eric Holder is on a legal roll against the 50 states, and 2012 will be the year the courts rule on some of his federal power plays. The first big test comes today when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Mr. Holder’s challenge to Texas’s Congressional redistricting plan. This could be educational.

…Enter Mr. Holder’s Justice Department, which insists that Texas must add more minority-dominated districts to take account of a growing Hispanic population. Civil-rights groups like the NAACP claim that at least three of the four new districts should be minority districts.

In Texas, the federal district court’s intervention goes beyond merely looking at minority representation. Instead of deferring to the maps drawn by lawmakers or making specifically tailored adjustments, the court changed the boundaries of all 36Congressional districts despite no legal finding of wrongdoing by the legislature’s map-makers.

Texas appears intent on waging a strong challenge against Holder’s Department of Justice, and may find itself a formidable ally in the form of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who in 1994 made clear his disdain for such racial profiling redistricting attempts:

…few devices could be better designed to exacerbate racial tensions than the consciously segregated districting system currently being constructed in the name of the Voting Rights Act. . . . Our drive to segregate political districts by race can only serve to deepen racial divisions by destroying any need for voters or candidates to build bridges between racial groups or to form voting coalitions.

Anyone else think the country would be in far better condition were there more judges with the conservative-leaning outlook of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?

WALL ST ARTICLE
Thanks once again ULSTERMAN for keeping your eyes and ears…OPEN!   For telling US what is going on around US..

Tobin references the New York Times, which reported January 3 that the Obama administration has “embarked on a full-scale effort to ‘engage’ with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.”

What the Lamestream Media is never going to report is that Barack Obama has been “engaged” with the Muslim Brotherhood for many years.

However, before we get to that connection, first the wisdom of the Times:

With the Muslim Brotherhood pulling within reach of an outright majority in Egypt’s new Parliament, the Obama administration has begun to reverse decades of mistrust and hostility as it seeks to forge closer ties with an organization once viewed as irreconcilably opposed to United States interests.

The shift is, on one level, an acknowledgment of the new political reality here, and indeed around the region, as Islamist groups come to power. Having won nearly half the seats contested in the first two rounds of the country’s legislative elections, the Brotherhood on Tuesday entered the third and final round with a chance to extend its lead to a clear majority as the vote moved into districts long considered strongholds.

The reversal also reflects the administration’s growing acceptance of the Brotherhood’s repeated assurances that its lawmakers want to build a modern democracy that will respect individual freedoms, free markets and international commitments, including Egypt’s treaty with Israel.

Long-time readers will recall Project Islamic H.O.P.E., which I first wrote about in August 2008. The controversy then was not only about the appearance but also the apparently ever-changing status of Barack Obama’s photo on the Islamic organization’s website banner.

First, Obama’s photo was scrubbed completely from the group of images featuring black leaders and friends. As recently as mid-June 2008, it was noted as having been replaced with a photo showing Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was still reported as missing that July 7th.

Then, as RBO regular Sure-Shot Oakley pointed out August 20th, within a few weeks the headliner photo on IslamicHope.org changed again to the one pictured above.

At the beginning of September 2008, it was reported that Obama’s picture had once again been removed from the headliner.

In January 2009, the headliner shot below showing Obama with Najee Ali, Director of Project Islamic HOPE (first captured in February 2008) was restored to the website.

The question arose as to how long had Obama’s photo been featured on Islamic HOPE’s headliner? One report from November 22, 2007, stated that it was there.

At one point, Project Islamic HOPE was at least temporarily inactive. The organization’s home page bore a statement “Regarding Najee Ali”:

Project Islamic H.O.P.E. would like to thank everyone for all of the many letters of support during this time. Project Islamic H.O.P.E.’s executive director was the lifeblood of the organization. Due to that fact, there will be no further activities or campaigns under the banner of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. until further notice.

The change in circumstances was the four-year sentence Ali received August 19, 2008:

Activist Najee Ali, known as an outspoken critic of law enforcement, was sentenced to four years in state prison today after pleading no contest to trying to bribe a witness in his daughter’s criminal case.

There was also another obvious change on the website. By January 2009 (or perhaps even earlier) it no longer included an endorsement of Obama’s campaign. In August 2008 there was a direct link to Obama’s official website posted right there on Islamic HOPE’s front page. (Also noted August 20, 2008, by The Jawa Report):

Project Islamic H.O.P.E. proudly supports the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama.

Additionally, Obama’s photo taken with Najee Ali (left), the one used for the headliner, was still included in Project Islamic HOPE’s Pictures Gallery.

What is totally unclear even now — all changes considered — is the unknown relationship Obama shared with Project Islamic HOPE other than the Islamic organization has/had an office in Chicago. Googling for Najee Ali + Obama turned up next to nothing, with the exception of this February 5, 2008, video of Najee Ali speaking on Super Tuesday from UCLA in which he promoted the Obama campaign.

I wrote in August 2008 that, on June 19, 2008, Yid with Lid asked why Obama’s picture was still on Islamic Hope’s website:

The Imam for the Project Islamic H.O.P.E., Wallace Deen Mohammed, aka Warith Deen Muhammad aka W.D. Muhammad was/is a member of the radical Islamist group Nation of Islam, he is also an ex-con. Wallace Deen Muhammad (b. Chicago 1933) is the son of Elijah Muhammad, who was the leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI) until his death in 1975. In 1961, W.D. Muhammad refused military draft and was sentenced to three years in a Federal Prison. When W.D. Muhammad was installed as Supreme Minister of Nation of Islam (NOI) in 1975, he immediately began to reformulate his father’s beliefs and practices to bring NOI closer to American Sunni Islam.

Imam Warith D. Muhammad’s embrace of mainstream Islam was rewarded with political and economic benefits. In 1975, he met privately with Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat in Chicago, and 1976 he received a gift of $16 million from Sheikh Sultan Ben Mohammad al-Qasmini, head of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, to purchase a mosque and build a school.

Imam Wallace (Warith) Deen Mohammed, aka Warith Deen Muhammad aka W.D. Muhammed was linked to Jim Jones and his church in 1976.

What is Project Islamic H.O.P.E.?

Project Islamic H.O.P.E. (Islamic Hope) is based in Los Angeles, California, but has an office in Chicago.

In an August 2001 interview with IslamOnline.net, Najee Ali said:

The goal of Project Islamic H.O.P.E (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere) is to help establish Islam in America by participating in the process; whether it be through social or political activism. … We want to be viewed as an organization that fights for the civil rights of all people regardless of race or religion, by using the Holy Qur’an and the example of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as a guide.

Who’s Najee Ali?

Well, according to the Los Angeles Times, Najee Ali (Ronald Todd Eskew), a Muslim activist and “frequent critic of local police was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to bribe a witness in a case involving his daughter.” (More here about Ali’s plea deal. He has since been released from jail.)

The Muslim Brotherhood Connection

Now, thanks to an astute RBOer, we learn that Project Islamic H.O.P.E. is a member organization of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections, or AMT. (The AMT “About” page is no longer active.)

Other AMT member organizations are:

. American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
. Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
. Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
. Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
. Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)
. Muslim American Society (MAS)
. Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
. Muslim Students Association (MSA National)
. Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA)
. United Muslims of America (UMA)

All have been AMT members and involved in Muslim voter registration and voter education since at least 2004. (The AMT Political Action Committee has been “Administratively Terminated.”)

As you read the following, keep in mind the New York Times just reported that the Obama administration has “embarked on a full-scale effort to ‘engage’ with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.”

World Net Daily reported in February 2011:

Staff investigators with the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are probing the domestic security threat posed by the radical Muslim Brotherhood and, specifically, whether Brotherhood operatives have penetrated the U.S. government.

The true nature, ambitions and global reach of the Cairo-based Muslim Brotherhood suddenly have become the focus of debate in Washington, following unrest in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East.

The fact of the matter is that the FBI knows a lot about the security threat the Muslim Brotherhood poses to both Egypt and the U.S.

The WND article continues:

American Muslim activists deny the Muslim Brotherhood operates inside America. Even Muslims who have attached themselves to the Republican Party have pooh-poohed the internal threat.

“There’s no Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,” former Bush administration official Suhail A. Khan insisted earlier this month at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington.

However, the U.S. Justice Department has identified no fewer than 61 Muslim Brotherhood figures and entities operating within the U.S.

Among those entities are the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, “the umbrella organization for most of the Muslim groups in the U.S. and Canada,” and the “Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the largest Muslim-rights group in the country.”

Both are AMT members.

Again from WND:

Their names were entered into evidence as “co-conspirators” during a federal trial which ended in 2008 with the convictions of several Muslim Brotherhood leaders on terrorism charges. The “list of unindicted co-conspirators” implicated these otherwise mainstream Muslim groups in a criminal scheme to funnel millions of dollars to Palestinian terrorists under the guise of charity.

Several years ago, FBI agents got a “big break” when they “uncovered a stash of secret manifestos, charters and other documents revealing the depth of the conspiracy” in a search of Muslim Brotherhood leader, Ismail Elbarasse’s home in Annandale, Virginia, “following his arrest on suspicion he had cased the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and other bridges for possible terrorist attack,” WND reports.

After translating the Arabic-written papers into English, investigators realized they had seized the archives of the U.S. branch of the militant International Muslim Brotherhood.

The trove of papers exposes the jihadist inner workings of the U.S. Brotherhood, and outlines its broader conspiracy of infiltrating and destroying the American government “from within.”

One secret document found during the raid of Elbarasse’s home lays bare the Brotherhood’s ambitious plans for a U.S. takeover, replacing the U.S. Constitution with Shariah, or Islamic law.

A 1991 strategy paper by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood agent, Mohammed Akram Adlouni, “describes the group’s long-term goal of ‘sabotaging’ the U.S. system. It’s a blueprint for a stealth ‘grand jihad’,’ WND reports.

The document lists “29 organizations working in the U.S. to further the Brotherhood’s goals.”

In addition to ISNA and CAIR, listed organizations include the Muslim Students Association, or MSA, “which actively recruits on college campuses across the country,” and the Islamic Circle of North America, or ICNA, which merged with the Muslim American Society, or MAS, “another Brotherhood front organization based in the Washington suburbs.”

These organizations are all AMT members.

And then we have a direct connection between presidential candidate Obama and AMT member, the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), which my co-author, Aaron Klein, and I wrote about in our recent book, Red Army.

Universal Institute Charter School, owned by Universal Community Homes in Philadelphia, a not-for-profit community development company, was a recipient of stimulus education funds.

We write:

Damaging information is inadvertently divulged in the Department of Education data. Universal was formed in 1993 under the direction of Kenneth Gamble, described as “one of Philadelphia’s greatest talents, world-renowned lyricist, composer, producer.” Gamble serves as Universal’s chairman.

During the 2008 presidential campaign Barack Obama set his field office, the Pennsylvania Campaign for Change, at 1501 Christian Street. Gamble even cut the ribbon. Signage on the building identifies it as home to Universal Educational Management, part of Gamble’s Universal Companies.

What Universal’s grant application does not explain is that Gamble is the property owner of Philadelphia’s first mosque, the United Muslim Masjid, a predominantly African-American mosque which opened in October 1994. Gamble—Luqman Abdul Haqq—is also the face behind the United Muslim Movement (UMM), incorporated in Philadelphia in June 1994. UMM’s goal is to create a “central mosque in the city along with an organization that would be able to ‘respond to the social, economical, political, educational, and religious needs’” facing the UMM communities.

No longer listed on the UMM website is a list of member organizations that have been accused in court documents of terror ties—ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America),— which is tightly connected with the Muslim Brotherhood,—and the American Muslim Council (AMC).

Gamble is also a member of the Board of Directors (Majlis ash-Shura) of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), another Muslim Brotherhood-related group headed by Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Gamble is reported to have been involved with MANA’s leadership since April 2001, when the group was initially established as a national organization at the UMM mosque. The formation of MANA, which focuses its efforts on African-American converts to Islam, was inspired by Jamil Al-Amin, the onetime Black Panther “justice minister,” H. Rap Brown. MANA’s enthusiasm for Al-Amin is said to remain “untainted in the wake of his conviction for the 2000 murder of a sheriff’s deputy.” …

In April 2008, it was reported that the Philadelphia office of CAIR (the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations) was convening a workshop at Gamble’s mosque. It was remarked, “That certainly helps understand Gamble’s political-religious orientation.”

Even more telling is a message Gamble posts on Universal’s MANA web page: “We are not just here for Universal, we are down here for Islam.”

Even more telling is Barack Obama’s association with member organizations of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections.

Also, speaking of politics making for strange bedfellows, AMT and the Green Party and the Libertarian Party have joined in “condemning” Obama’s “signing into law of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorizes the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.”

Go figure.

January 5, 2012

(ht/ to Brenda Elliot for her hundreds of hours of research and due diligence to get the facts and the story out there. Exposing the man in the White House operating his own agenda dangerous to AMERICA  and to the BEST INTERESTS of AMERICANS !

For months Barack Obama has threatened to bypass Congress and simply rule by executive authority – a stance more commonly found among nations ruled by dictators – not freely elected members of a representative government. And while this posturing fits well with the Obama re-election team’s hopes of utilizing the mantra of a “do-nothing Congress”, the fact remains the Democrats control one half of Congress – and it has been Democrats who often have been in opposition to the demands of Barack Obama. In essence, the Obama White House has become an island unto itself – an often whining machine of political posturing that has left members of both political parties shaking their collective heads in disappointment and even disgust.

With the latest threat to appoint Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without the required approval of Congress, Barack Obama is once again placing himself and his agenda above the longheld traditions of American law – stretching the authority of the Executive Branch far beyond its intended purpose. Senator Mitch McConnell made clear the dangers of President Obama’s intent:

“The president’s move lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress’ role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.”

And the Cordray appointment is not the only executive authority appointment the Obama administration is threatening – further appointments to the equally controversial National Labor Relations Board are being indicated. President Obama has hopes of further solidifying labor union dominance of that organization as well.

_______________________

Congress asleep at the wheel aiding and abetting Obama as the Dictator in Chief!

Thanks Ulsterman for once again pointing to our depressing news and the sad state of our affairs allowing the government a free pass for stealing our freedom and liberty out from under our noses with nary a whimper of protest….

Wisconsin Republican congressman Jim Sensenbrenner was reportedly overheard complaining about First Lady Michelle Obama’s demands that American families and restaurants serve healthier foods with the following remark:

She lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself.

Congressman Sensenbrenner quickly apologized for his words and promised to also send an apology to the First Lady – but stood his ground regarding concerns the Obama White House appears intent on telling Americans what they can and cannot eat. Both that stance, and his initial comments regarding Michelle Obama’s rather “ample” backside, has now drawn the ire of the Washington Post – a newspaper now intent on making the congressman’s words a sign of both sexism and racism being directed against the wife of the president. here is but some of the rant Wapo is now attempting as a means to insulate the Obama White House from any and all criticism – with a strong nod to the Obama’s attempted “Home for the Holidays” propoganda campaign alluded to by Insider months ago:

Not only is this disrespect crude, it also proves yet again that you can’t go wrong disrespecting a black woman in the United States of America, even if she lives in the White House – and in some constituencies, especially if she lives in the White House. Sensenbrenner’s nasty rant made me sick and sad because it brings to the surface the ugly history of how black women are viewed in America, stereotyped and dehumanized, our bodies everyone’s business except our own.

…On a tour of the holiday decorations there, I was moved by the tributes to military members who gave their lives, and by the sight of the towering official tree, decorated with cards from military children. First Lady Michelle Obama has taken support of military families as a signature cause. I wonder how long it will take critics to find something wrong with that.

It is a rather remarkable work of irony to see American liberals now so willing to allow government regulation into one of the most basic of freedoms – deciding what each one of us wishes to feed our faces with. Michelle Obama’s campaign for “healthy eating” goes far beyond her mere words – it is a program being aggressively implemented throughout the nation in both schools and restaurants – and soon, if she is to have her way, to the dinner tables of every American family. Such restrictions don’t involve herself though – the rather rich and expansive eating habits of the First Lady have already been well documented – though not by the Washington Post of course…

___________________

Wapo article HERE

CNSNews.com) – An alleged Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from “Operation Fast and Furious” under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.

The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to “continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs” into the United States.

He wants the U.S. government to provide documents relating to the botched gun running sting operation along the southwest border, arguing that it would benefit his defense.

Operation Fast and Furious, which began in September 2009, saw the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervise the sale of guns to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations and prosecuting their members. The ATF allowed about 2,000 guns to be sold in this manner.

The operation came under congressional scrutiny after it was linked to the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican bandits.

An investigative report, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that most of the weapons provided to Mexican criminals under the operation were going to the Sinaloa cartel, arguably one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.

In a court pleading filed last July, Zambada-Niebla made the claims about an immunity deal.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [a Mexican lawyer] on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his defense …,” it said.

“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation will also provide evidence showing that the United States government has a policy and pattern of providing benefits, including immunity, to cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and their members, who are willing to provide information against rival drug cartels.”

The defendant argued that he is protected from federal prosecution for trafficking drugs into the U.S. between 2004 and 2009 under an alleged immunity deal struck between the U.S. government and Sinaloa leaders.

According to court documents, Zambada-Niebla claims that the immunity deal provided the cartel’s leadership with “carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States” in exchange for information on rival drug cartels.

U.S. prosecutors deny the existence of such an immunity deal between the U.S. government and the cartel.

Nevertheless, the U.S. government last September filed a motion to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, which is aimed at assuring that national security information stemming from criminal cases – such as details associated with CIA operations – are not leaked to the public during court proceedings.

In a court pleading filed in September, U.S. prosecutors claimed that Zambada-Niebla’s allegations about Fast and Furious have no merit.

“Defendant requests all information in the possession of the U.S. government related to an ATF investigation referred to as ‘Fast and Furious’…” it said. “Defendants request related to Fast and Furious … and other unrelated matters are gratuitous and wholly unrelated to any legitimate discovery issues in this case.”

Zambada-Niebla, who was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. eleven months later, is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin into the U.S.

He claims he was working on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.

The defendant’s pleading highlighted a July 2011 letter sent by Issa and Grassley to Attorney General Eric Holder, “suggesting that multiple United States agencies were employing as informants members of Mexican drug organizations.”

“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” the pleading added.

LINK

WINNER: Mitt Romney
I will qualify this initial prediction by stating that so long as he finishes in the top 2, Mitt Romney wins in Iowa. His campaign has done a very astute job of lowering expectations in what is always a rather odd caucus format, but recent weeks have seen the Romney camp working hard to close the gap in Iowa, and with Newt Gingrich’s rather drastic fall in the polls, it is clear a good number of voters initially wary of Romney’s “moderate” politics are giving the former governor a second look. If he does in fact secure no worse than a second place finish in Iowa, and then an outright win in New Hampshire, Romney’s momentum, combined with his considerable on the ground organization, will make him very difficult to defeat.

RUNNER UP: Ron Paul

In 2008, the Republican establishment viewed Ron Paul as something of a minor sideshow oddity. Not anymore. The support for Congressman Paul is now a significant and integral part of the Iowa Caucus. While some of that support may be coming from Democrats attempting to game the outcome, and who have no intention of actually voting for him over Barack Obama were he to win the Republican nomination, there remains many others who view Ron Paul’s anti-government stance as the most timely and important message of the 2012 campaign season – and they may very well be right. Rumors are now circulating that the Republican Convention organizers are already making overtures to the Paul campaign to avoid a potential third party run that could prove disastrous to Republican hopes of preventing another four years of an Obama administration. Ron Paul has them worried – as well they should be.

SURPRISE SHOWING: Rick Santorum

No candidate is working harder to earn the support of Iowa conservatives than Rick Santorum. A grueling travel schedule across the state and a willingness to speak with anyone at any time is finally paying dividends for the former Pennsylvania senator. He is earning some well deserved support from caucus goers that will likely propel him to perhaps as high as a 4th place showing once the votes are tabulated. The dedication of his supporters mirrors that of Ron Paul – these folks will show up regardless of weather to make their case for their candidate. If the weather is particular bad during the caucus votes, Santorum might even finish as high as third. On the downside for the Santorum campaign – if he finishes at or near the very bottom in Iowa, candidate Santorum will likely call it a day and end his campaign.

HOPING THEY STAY IN IT: Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry

Newt Gingrich has provided a much needed push against the establishment favorite Mitt Romney. While past positions, statements, and associations will continue to dog the former House Speaker, the intellectual dismantling of Barack Obama’s war on America is a welcome change from the former kinder gentler campaign stylings of Mitt Romney. By necessity, Gingrich has made Romney tougher, and if Romney is to ultimately receive the nomination, toughness will be a critical component in defeating Barack Obama. The last thing Republicans need is a replay of the “don’t say anything bad about my opponent” that plagued the 2008 McCain campaign. Gingrich is still polling well in other states, but lack of money and organization are making him increasingly vulnerable to the Romney machine.

As for Rick Perry, a series of poor debates left his campaign wobbly, but he appears to have found some semblance of balance in recent weeks. The reports that he perhaps attempted to hit the campaign trail too soon after major back surgery appears to have merit – the Texas governor has been considerably more focused and on message of late, and his more recent debates have shown him to be a candidate whose understanding of the fundamental political questions of our time is far greater than initially perceived. The economic successes in Texas, though certainly not due entirely to Perry’s role as governor of that state, are both impressive and a model for what could be in America if only voters demanded Washington D.C. get out of the way and let the free market and the innovations of the American spirit do what this country has always done so well – succeed.

I welcome your own predictions regarding the Iowa Caucus in the comment section below. Please remain respectful of all the candidate as you do so.

Cheers,

UM
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(ht/Ulsterman for a great analysis. Well Done-

While none can dispute the impact Ron Paul is having on the Iowa and New Hampshire caucus/primary polls, a bit of investigation into just those who actually make up the base of Ron Paul’s support is raising more than a few eyebrows among Republicans, with the potential of Congressman Paul being used as a political spoiler gaining traction among those troubled by both his seeming radical foreign policy positions and refusal to rule out a third party run in 2012 – something that would likely ensure Barack Obama’s re-election victory.

A recent Rasmussen poll indicated the following regarding Paul’s strong showing in Iowa:

Paul has a wide lead among non-Republicans who are likely to participate in the caucus… just 51 percent of Paul supporters consider themselves Republicans.

David Woodard, who oversees South Carolina polling data, stated the following:

Paul’s support is higher among those who usually don’t vote in GOP primary elections.

So the question that is now required is whether or not Ron Paul is a candidate who truly enjoys a bi-partisan grass roots base of support, of if there is a real possibility he is being used by Democratic Party operatives as an primary campaign spoiler to instill further chaos and dissension among Republican voters, and possibly set up a disastrous (for those who wish to see Barack Obama defeated) third party candidacy? There is also the media now attacking Ron Paul as a Republican radical – not as a fringe candidate, but rather one being used to represent the mainstream of the Republican party. Double damage inflicted via the Ron Paul campaign.

One bit of evidence may provide a possible answer – President Barack Obama has said not one word against Ron Paul since the Republican primary race began.

Not one…

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(ht/Ulsterman.. Ron Paul is a trip!  I can’t imagine his kick the can down the road ideology is going to get us anywhere productive if he is elected.

Unbelievable as it seems… he may be a factor if he is the nominee… Obama will paint him as a whachadoodle-CRAZY-NUT and scare the bejesus out of voters. Therefore getting himself re-elected! Now, that is a scary thought!