US NAVY SEALs are used to bullets and bombs, but a book by one of the commandos who killed Osama bin Laden has deployed the secretive unit into the even bigger electoral battle for the White House.
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account Of The Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden is due to come out on the politically charged date of September 11, less than two months before President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney face off at the polls.
Dutton, an imprint of Penguin, says the author was one of the SEALs who entered bin Laden's hideout in May 2011 "and was present at his death."
The writer is identified by the pseudonym Mark Owen and is said to have left the military after 13 consecutive combat deployments, culminating with Operation Neptune Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The book is co-written with Kevin Maurer, a US journalist.
In the book, Owen says, he wants "to set the record straight about one of the most important missions in US military history. 'No Easy Day' is the story of 'the guys,' the human toll we pay, and the sacrifices we make to do this dirty job."
The cover of the book, already advertised on Amazon, shows the ghostly figure of a soldier holding a rifle, but gives little away about what's inside.
Speculation is rife over how the likely sensational story will play in a tight election where Mr Obama is touting the al-Qaeda founder's killing in Pakistan as one of his major achievements.
#1
The author could face prosecution if the book reveals information that compromises national security Obama's re-election bid, he added. "A decision has to be made as to the seriousness of the disclosure and the Department of Justice would be the department to follow up."
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/23/2012 16:37 Comments ||
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#2
conflicted a bit here.
While how proud of our SEAL's I am, it'll be hard to hold the White House solely accountable for the leaks with this book coming out IMO.
I don't feel any secrets will come out as I'm sure he doesn't want to compromise anyone or anything, it just doesn't smell right. Even with the proceeds going to wounded warriors charities. I can't imagine other warriors are happy about this book being written about guys that want to remain covert. This is more splash.
I will certainly read it however.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/23/2012 18:25 Comments ||
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#3
Apparently the government isn't happy that he left out the part with Obama scaling the wall with a knife in his mouth, rescuing the crew of the downed chopper, killing the guard dogs with his bare hands and them went up, found, and pointed out OBL to the guy with the rifle.
Justice Department officials joined a whistle blower lawsuit and alleged that The Gallup Organization, a major polling firm, intentionally overestimated the amount of time it would take to complete a job for the government and was paid accordingly.
"Contractors who do business with the federal government must honor their obligations to provide honest services and products," said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. in a statement on the lawsuit. "Working with regulators and federal investigators, we will do all that we can to act against those who illegitimately bill the American taxpayers."
Gallup, known as one of the premier polling firms with respect to presidential politics, had contracts to conduct surveys for the U.S. Mint and the State Department in addition to other government agencies.
"According to the whistle-blower's complaint, Gallup violated the False Claims Act by giving the government inflated estimates of the number of hours that it would take to perform its services, even though it had separate and lower internal estimates of the number of hours that would be required," the Justice Department explained. "The complaint further alleges that the government paid Gallup based on the inflated estimates, rather than Gallup's lower internal estimates."
The latest Gallup daily tracking figures show Mitt Romney leading President Obama 47-45.
#3
It's quite common, in my experience, for contractors to puff up their estimates with the expectation the govt will have to cut 20-30% so the contractor doesn't make "too much profit". Besides, it's too much work to really look into and understand the contractor's estimate...
Sounds like some governemnt drone was too lazy to even wack the 'customary 25%', so now the contractor will be punished!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/23/2012 6:01 Comments ||
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#4
Pole changed to Poll.
Relators changed to regulators.
#6
"According to the whistle-blower's complaint, Gallup violated the False Claims Act by giving the government inflated estimates of the number of hours that it would take to perform its services, even though it had separate and lower internal estimates of the number of hours that would be required," the Justice Department explained. "The complaint further alleges that the government paid Gallup based on the inflated estimates, rather than Gallup's lower internal estimates."
"Not to exceed" contracts are commonplace. No fool except the Fed fool, I guess, pays the estimate without backup, unless it was an agreed "lump sum price". In which case there's no crime here. It is intimidation
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/23/2012 8:23 Comments ||
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#7
I recommend gummit oversight funded by.... Poll Taxes.
#9
Some of us work 10+ hour work days 7 days a week. But we didn't build it ourselves. Uncle Sugar was there helping me at the keyboard every step of the way, and he left me with a good minority of the business earnings! So generous.
#11
Chicago is after all the home of Al Capone. Rahm Emanuel reportedly threatened to send a dead fish some one who ticked him off. Another time it has been said he plunged a knife in a tabletop for er, punctuation. Gangster Government (2011) by David Freddoso documents some of the more egregious shenanigans in Chicago while Obama was earning his bones. Of course much has happened since 2011. Maybe there will be a sequel documenting the other stuff since then.
#12
Telecommuting is the way to go. With jobs like mine I don't need to be here 90% of the time. I can do it all online from any place that has an Internet connection. I ask them about it but they won't let me. They'd rather I waste a couple of hours every day commuting the old fashioned way. Not to mention all the money spent on petroleum products and the pollution. Nuts.
But with Obama and Holder, the DOJ is nothing more than a political weapon.
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! According to the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets), the New York-based realm of the major media industry has made quite a few more campaign contributions to Democrats and to President Obama than to their Republican challengers. Basing their numbers on both donations by a company's PAC and any donor who listed that company as their employer, the center reports that (via NYT):
News Corporation has donated $504,162 to individuals, Super PACs and candidates in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics's OpenSecrets Web site. Eight of the 10 top recipients of that cash are Democrats. (Mr. Murdoch's personal contributions largely favor Republicans, though his wife, Wendi Murdoch, has donated to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York.) ...
Other media companies have contributed more significantly to Mr. Obama, including Time Warner, owner of CNN and the magazine publishing house Time Inc. The company, which is based in New York and also owns Warner Brothers and HBO, has contributed $191,834 to Mr. Obama in the 2012 election cycle, compared with $10,750 to Mr. Romney. The Walt Disney Company, owner of ABC and ESPN, donated $125,856 to Mr. Obama and $9,950 to Mr. Romney.
Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation, owner of NBCUniversal and one of the biggest spenders in lobbying money in Washington, has given $206,056 to Mr. Obama and $20,500 to Mr. Romney.
No surprise that most people think the MSM is in the tank for teh 0ne, since they are. Go indie media!
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will lay out policies on Thursday aimed at achieving North American energy independence by 2020 by pursuing a sharp increase in production of oil and natural gas on federal lands and off the U.S. coast.
Romney is to unveil his plan at a truck and supply business in Hobbs, New Mexico, as he seeks to draw a sharp contrast between his energy policies and those of President Barack Obama and detail in part how he would rekindle job growth in the United States.
His emphasis on the economy amounts to an effort to return the campaign to the central issue Romney believes is most critical in the November 6 election and the key to a victory for him.
The economic debate has to a certain extent been sidelined in recent days by controversial remarks about rape by a Senate Republican candidate in Missouri, Todd Akin, who Romney has denounced.
Romney's energy policies are heavily tilted toward increased production of carbon-based resources, oil, gas and coal, that environmentalists blame for global warming. He is outlining the policy two days after going over some of the details with executives from the oil industry who contributed to his campaign at fund-raising events in Texas. They also need to point out that our C02 emissions are dropping rapidly without government intervention. His goal is doable and we can still cut the legs of the evironweinies out from under them.
Supposedly, the model's been accurate to within 20 or so electoral votes in every election since 1980. Dude?
Using a state-by-state analysis of unemployment and per-capita income, academics Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry of the University of Colorado project that Romney will win 52.9% of the popular vote and 320 electoral votes. The political scientists discuss their findings here.
Their forecast suggests that President Obama will lose in almost all of the swing states, including North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida...
Bickers said much of the polling thus far means relatively little, with much of the electorate still not focused on the race. The academics said their model focuses on the preeminent issue of the economy. Applied retrospectively, the model predicts the correct winner in every presidential contest going back to 1980, they said.
I'm highly skeptical that Romney's going to come back to take Pennsylvania, even though O's lead there right now isn't prohibitive. But like the man says, the model's usually off by 20 or so EVs. Number of electoral votes Pennsylvania has this year: 20. Golden. I would love to see it. It would be a complete voter rejection of Obama and his communist policies. But, it is still early and don't get cocky.
#4
In a related news article: Household income is down sharply since the recession ended three years ago. Incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself.
#6
>Household income is down sharply since the recession ended three years ago. Incomes have dropped more since the beginning of the recovery than they did during the recession itself.
Implies that the measure they're using for "recovery" is total bunk....
Oh it's GDP, the measure of debt! So yes it is total bunk.
The Obama campaign and its allies have accused Gov. Mitt Romney of killing a man's wife, committing a felony, and abusing animals. But now things are getting dirty. President Obama is charging that Romney would cause more traffic. Well, certainly! there'll be more people working, and they'll be able to afford gas again!
In an Obama campaign radio ad running in Northern Virginia, two faux radio news announcers report that traffic is bad, and Mitt Romney would make it worse.
Female Announcer: Traffic in Northern Virginia is backed up again . . .
Male Announcer: Could things get any worse?
FA: Actually, traffic and our roads could get worse with the Ryan-Romney budget plan . . . Paul Ryan put forward a budget plan that slashes investments in road and infrastructure projects . . . and Ryan has even opposed bridge repair and safety bills.
MA: So what does that says about Mitt Romney, if he picked this guy as his running mate?
FA: Well, it says Mitt Romney doesn't really understand Northern Virginia
MA: Or what it's like wasting time in traffic. There's a link to the ad at the link.
I live in Northern Virginia, and I can tell you, short of saying that Romney is going to raise the heat in the summer, this is the worst accusation Obama could make. Traffic is terrible, and the endless road projects don't seem to help much.
In fact, half the traffic I'm in is caused by a lane being closed off for construction. But the mostly-privately-funded High-Occupancy or Toll lanes will open two new lanes in each direction for most of the northern Virginia beltway in a few months. Our Pub Gov is taking credit for that.
Note the snide little reference in the ad to Romney's wealth -- that he doesn't know what it's like wasting time in traffic. Just in case you think the author doesn't have an axe to grind....
Actually, the candidate who has travelled only by motorcade for the past four years is more likely the one who has forgotten what traffic is like. In fact, as everyone in the Washington area knows, presidential motorcades cause traffic, which is stopped in its tracks by police cruisers so the royal procession can pass. Ask us in Chicago about our traffic when Champ comes to town...
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/23/2012 06:43 ||
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Link ||
[11133 views]
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#1
Actually, if you close the Dept of Education, slash the EPA, etc., not only the government contribution to traffic will reduce, so will the traffic of all the parasites that feed on them. Reduced traffic and a good fall in housing prices in the area would do the rest of the country a lot of good.
#2
372K new jobless claims filed (just released numbers). Last weeks revised upward - unexpectedly
"LOOK! Squirrel! Abortion! War on Wymyns!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/23/2012 8:26 Comments ||
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#3
Better commentary at RedState
Sez Pubs should go on offensive and let states spend the tax money without skimming by and interference from the Feds.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/23/2012 8:34 Comments ||
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#4
I recommend an eight lane Telegraph Road connecting to a "shovel ready" floating highway near Fort Belvoir with the first exit at Occoquan and ending somewhere near Duck Head.
#5
I recommend changing laws that force a five day work week upon us. i would suggest most Americans would prefer four 10 hour days, and a number (especially the young) would prefer three 12 hour days.
These are not options in many places because the unions fought for the five day work week (from the existing six) and for the 8 hour work day (from the existing whatever). But this is not giving up hard earn rights, this is flexibility.
People off the road means less traffic, less gas, less pollution. Its not rocket science and even the liberals aren't pushing for it because they are unserious about these issues and beholden to those inflexible unions.
#6
Oooo... not more traffic! I better vote for the guy that will keep everyone unemployed and in feudal debt so they don't go more than 30 miles away from their homes in a lifetime!
#7
Part of Champ's solution is to make everyone live in the city, not the suburbs, and have them give up their cars, ride mass transit and take high speed rail when they want (and are allowed) to travel elsewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/23/2012 11:28 Comments ||
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#8
Cuz the proles are so much easier to control when you've forced them into compact urban ghettos, limited their access to independent travel modes, and can appoint block captains to watch for..... unapproved thoughts and activity
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/23/2012 12:14 Comments ||
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#9
I remember when Obama came to Minneapolis for a fundraiser. He arrived right at rush hour. He then commandeered the main highway to downtown, stopping traffic in both directions. Did I mention that the road was already under construction? That meant most of the exits had been closed off so you couldn't even get off and use surface streets.
His Highness halted rush hour traffic for 45 minutes so he could go to a FUNDRAISER! It's high handed stunts tike this that are turning Minnesota purple.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/23/2012 12:29 Comments ||
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#10
Yeah, driving to work is much worse than waiting for food credit rations to download, catching the bus, and laboring home the allottment of government cheese.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! According to the Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets), the New York-based realm of the major media industry has made quite a few more campaign contributions to Democrats and to President Obama than to their Republican challengers. Basing their numbers on both donations by a company's PAC and any donor who listed that company as their employer, the center reports that (via NYT):
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will lay out policies on Thursday aimed at achieving North American energy independence by 2020 by pursuing a sharp increase in production of oil and natural gas on federal lands and off the U.S. coast.
Three reasons why: Economy, economy, economy.
