But what you might not know about Gov. Patrick is a company on whose board he sat, and for which he was handsomely paid, ACC Capital Holdings. What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, this, according to the Daily Caller:

[snip] Beginning in 2004, Patrick served two years on the five-member board of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest Mortgage. He was paid a $360,000 annual salary for his efforts, according to “All The Devils Are Here,” a history of the financial crisis by Bethany McClean and Joe Nocera.

Ameriquest had already been the subject of numerous criminal complaints when Patrick joined the board of ACC. But despite its troubles, the mortgage company was the country’s “dominant subprime lender” in the years preceding the housing crisis, according to McClean and Nocera.

The company’s short-term success had much to do with the fact that it would loan money to just about anyone, regardless of income. In an effort to compete, other mortgage companies began issuing loans that were unlikely to be repaid, a practice that would eventually cripple the industry and later the American economy itself.[snip] (Click here to read the rest, and there is definitely more you will want to read.)

Ruh roh…I am certain Obama’s diehard minions will find a way to dismiss this, or sweep it under the rug. But those of us our here in the Reality-based community are actually able to connect the dots. And what a picture this paints, eh?

You know, at some point, I would hope that some of these folks will have the wool pulled from their eyes, put down the Kool Aide, the Hopium pipe, and hopefully, before November. Then they can sing along with The Band Perry:

Right? Great tune – love these young folks (they are siblings).

Speaking of Obama’s lies, Investors.com has a great piece detailing the big ones Obama told in his energy speech on Thursday. And does he have some doozies (what else is new?). Here is the first big doozy of a lie Obama told:

[snip] “We’re focused on production.”

Fact: While production is up under Obama, this has nothing to do with his policies, but is the result of permits and private industry efforts that began long before Obama occupied the White House.

Obama has chosen almost always to limit production. He canceled leases on federal lands in Utah, suspended them in Montana, delayed them in Colorado and Utah, and canceled lease sales off the Virginia coast.

His administration also has been slow-walking permits in the Gulf of Mexico, approving far fewer while stretching out review times, according to the Greater New Orleans Gulf Permit Index. The Energy Dept. says Gulf oil output will be down 17% by the end of 2013, compared with the start of 2011. Swift Energy President Bruce Vincent is right to say Obama has “done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting.” [snip] (Click here to read the rest of this informative article.

Whooey, that’s a big one right off the bat. Notice how Obama is all too quick to blame Bush for everything, and all too ready to take credit for policies Bush set into place? Yeah, that seems like his standard MO. Typical.

I am sure today will bring more lies from the White House and its respective spokesweasel, Jay Carney being chief among them. Did you catch it when he claimed Obama did NOT put the kabosh on the Keystone Pipeline? Oh, yes he did (and kudos to Jake Tapper for being a real journalist):

[snip] Jake Tapper: “How can you say that you have an all the above on approach if the President turned down the Keystone pipeline? And you blame the Republicans for making it political.”

Carney: “But the President didn’t turn down the Keystone pipeline. There was a process in place, with long precedent, run out of the State Department because of the issue of the pipeline crossing an international boundary, that required an amount of time for proper for review after an alternate route was deemed necessary through Nebraska at the request of the Republican Governor of Nebraska and other stakeholders in Nebraska and the region that needed to play out, to be done appropriately. You can’t review and approve a pipeline, the route for which doesn’t even exist.snip

Good grief. How does he not get dizzy with all of this spin? And you know on whom he blamed this non-existent route, or denial by Obama: the Republicans, of course:

“The Republicans were the ones who unfortunately decided because they were looking for scalps, I guess, or wins in a situation where they somehow found themselves on the wrong side of cutting taxes for 160 million Americans last December. They decided to play politics with this decision and attack the payroll tax cut extension. Even though it was made clear by the State Department that doing so would make it impossible for them to conduct the review responsibly, they did it anyway knowing what the result would be.” (Click here to read the rest.)

But, Mr. Carney, you JUST said this was a non-existent route, a State Department issue, blah, blah, blah, but now it’s the Republicans’ fault? Wow.

Jay Carney gives me a headache.

Good thing I have just the remedy for that. Tonight, this is what we will be doing:

We get to see “Celtic Woman, Believe!” Isn’t that incredible??? I cannot wait. Woohoo! Nothing like some beautiful music to ease the frequent head exploding that results in the news coming out of the White House, is there? Here is a fun one from the “Believe” show to ease the headaches from a double-speaking, duplicitous administration:

What’s on your minds today? What music helps to keep your head from exploding? Let’s hear it!

Meanwhile, two more NATO forces were killed by a man dressed in an Afghan Army uniform, an increasing issue for NATO soldiers there. I bet Karzai is jumping right on writing a letter of apology himself. Right.

And meanwhile, right this minute, a Christian Pastor sits in an Iranian prison, where he has been since 2009. His crime? He refuses to denounce his Christian faith. As of Wednesday, this pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, has been sentenced to death:

[snip] Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.

It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.

“The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

“This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past.”

It is also feared that Nadarkhani will be executed in retaliation as Iran endures crippling sanctions and international pressure in response to its nuclear agenda and rogue rhetoric. The number of executions in Iran has increased significantly in the last month.

“This is defiance,” Sekulow said. “They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do.” [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

What a tragic situation. Pastor Nadarkhani is married, and has two children. Efforts are being made by the State Department for his release, but his imprisonment has gone on too, too long. And the threat of death for his beliefs is simply unacceptable.

Speaking of a death penalty, here is some News From The Bizarre. A US woman attempted to hire a hit man to kill the first person he saw wearing fur. Yes, she is a BIG animal rights person and this was how she wanted to make her point: by killing a real live human being. I am not kidding you about this. I could not believe my eyes when I saw it in yesterday’s paper (I saw that Coach Collins has a post about this very story today, too).

Now, y’all know I am a HUGE animal supporter. My partner and I give a boatload of money to rescue organizations, wildlife organizations, ocean groups, and the whole shebang. ALL of our animals are rescues, including our horse. I LOVE animals. We have deer coming through my yard every single night that we stop and watch every single night. Animals are large in our hearts. But this is nuts. People are animals, too, not for nothing. And committing murder is so far from making one’s point, it is not even on the same planet.

Holy crap. What is WRONG with people?!?

Finally, and this really is an Open Thread, one very sad story broke today, news still forthcoming about it. Tragically, two helicopters collided today in CA, killing 7 Marines. My heart goes out to their families, and their fellow Marines, in this terrible, terrible tragedy. My deepest sympathies to them all, and to us, for losing 7 Marines here at home. Semper fidelis…

And just why did they burn these Korans, you might ask? Because they were being used to exchange extremist messages. The burning is being described as an “accident” by the White House, which was quick to apologize, as was the top US military official there:

[snip] “We apologize to the Afghan people and disapprove of such conduct in the strongest possible terms,” they said in a statement quoted by the embassy on Twitter. “”This does not reflect the great respect our military has for the religious practices of the Afghan people.”

U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, ordered an investigation into the incident, which he was “not intentional in any way.”

“These kinds of incidents, when they do occur, will be corrected in the fastest and most appropriate manner possible,” Allen said in a statement quoted by the embassy on Twitter. “We’ve been dying alongside the Afghans for a long time because we believe in them, and we want to give them a bright future.”

Allen thanked the local Afghans “who helped us identify the error, and who worked with us to immediately take corrective action.”

“We are thoroughly investigating the incident and are taking steps to ensure this does not ever happen again,” he said in a statement. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

As a result of the protests against the US following this action, the US Embassy was in lockdown, and warned people of the violence there, as the article highlighted.

Wow. Seven people dead now, and a number of others injured.

Meanwhile, two reporters were killed in Syria, including one American, Marie Colvin, and a French reporter, Remi Ochlick. Colvin has long been a highly regarded war correspondent:

[snip]Colvin, from Oyster Bay, New York, had been a foreign correspondent for Britain’s Sunday Times for the past two decades, making a specialty of reporting from the world’s most dangerous places. She lost the sight in one eye during an ambush in Sri Lanka in 2001 — but promised not to “hang up my flak jacket,” and kept reporting on the world’s most troubled places.

“Marie had fearlessly covered wars across the Middle East and south Asia for 25 years for The Sunday Times. She put her life in danger on many occasions because she was driven by a determination that the misdeeds of tyrants and the suffering of the victims did not go unreported,” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Sunday Times said of Colvin.

“So, was I stupid? Stupid I would feel writing a column about the dinner party I went to last night,” she wrote in the Sunday Times after the attack. “Equally, I’d rather be in that middle ground between a desk job and getting shot, no offense to desk jobs.

“For my part, the next war I cover, I’ll be more awed than ever by the quiet bravery of civilians who endure far more than I ever will. They must stay where they are; I can come home to London.”

Easily recognizable for her black eye patch, Colvin was known for focusing on the plight of women and children in wartime. In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, she vividly recounted the death of an infant in Syria.[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

What a tremendous loss, for Colvin’s family, friends, and colleagues, as well as for the family of the French photographer, Ochlick. The sacrifices these reporters make to get news out to us is extraordinary in the regular course of events, but especially so when their lives are lost as they try to do their jobs. What a sad day.

And a troubling day. It is frustrating to see the level of vitriol directed at the USA in Afghanistan, especially over the burning of a book. I certainly understand the importance of religious texts, but in the end, a book, as much as I cherish books, is paper and ink. Surely the actual book is not worth someone’s health or life, is it? What is important is the content of the book, of the Scripture, which ultimately, is carried in one’s heart. That is all to say, it seems like an extreme overreaction to stage deadly protests over the removal of books being used to exchange messages among dangerous people. But that’s just me.

Again, my heart goes out to the families of these reporters, whose lives were lost in the course of their dedication to their work…

And just so you know, tonight is another Republican Debate at 8:00pm (EST), on CNN. It could be worse – it could be on a NBC-affiliate channel, or ABC. Ahem. This one takes place in Arizona, which should be particularly interesting.

UPDATE: WaPo had an article detailing the proper way to dispose of religious texts. Again, minister here, I very much appreciate the importance of sacred texts. But despite the appropriate manner that should be utilized with, say, the Koran, it is NOT worth a human life, in my estimation, if one is burned instead of buried.

In case you are keeping score, Protestants and Catholics aren’t so rigid, even including burning, though Catholics say the ashes should be buried, the article claims. But a former Lutheran Bishop says pretty much what I said: [snip] “Dispose of it as you would any other book. Recycle the paper if you can,” writes former Lutheran bishop Wayne Weissenbuehler on TheLutheran.org. “It’s how the Bible is used and treated when it is working that matters most.”[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Well, now it is looking like that isn’t their only problem. It seems they may be engaging in some “pay to play” machinations. I suppose this should be predictable by now, but still, it amazes me that these folks don’t know they are leaving records here and there that actual intrepid journalists may put together. And that is just what The Daily Caller has done in this article, “Documents: LightSquared shaping up as the FCC’s Solyndra.” Well, you know that headline grabbed my attention from the get-go, having followed the money at Solyndra since Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News broke that story.

Seems the DOE isn’t the only Federal Department making some questionable choices. Add the FCC to that group, as the DC story reports:

Documents and copies of communications obtained by The Daily Caller indicate that the Federal Communications Commission propped up broadband company LightSquared with favorable regulatory decisions and other special treatment, while driving its competition out of business.

In August 2008, Wall Street hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, owned by longtime Republican political donor Philip Falcone, sought to buy a majority stake in the satellite company SkyTerra — the company that would later become LightSquared. On June 27 of that year, just before Falcone’s Harbinger Capital sought FCC approval for that purchase, Falcone donated $28,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But on Sept. 3, 2008, $20,000 of that donation was returned for an unknown reason.

The donation was unusual for Falcone: He had only donated to Democrats in and around New York City over the past decade, and he had a long record of donating to Republicans, including to George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 1999 and 2004. But Falcone’s DSCC contribution was the first in what would become a pattern of major Democratic donations in the coming months and years.

Before Barack Obama became president, he was personally an investor in SkyTerra. Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners donated $50,000 to Obama’s inaugural committee on Jan. 20, 2009, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. At the time, Falcone was still looking for the FCC’s sign-off on his hedge fund’s desire to purchase a majority stake in SkyTerra. The George W. Bush administration had failed to green-light the deal.
[snip]

Gee, you mean no one can blame Bush for this? Well, that’s a red-letter day, isn’t it? Because you know Obama’s minions have tried to claim Solyndra was a Bush decision. Come to think of it, it was, too – he said no to that one as well.

Back to the point of the story. How interesting that Obama had connections to SkyTerra, and that he received money from them for his (over-the-top) inauguration. What a big surprise. As much of a surprise as the head of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, being a Harvard classmate of Obama’s. Right.

While this is a complex story, I do want to share this piece of the puzzle from the beginning of the Obama White House involvement:

[snip]According to White House visitor logs, Obama’s new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, a classmate of the president’s from Harvard Law School, met with White House Personnel Director Don Gips on Feb. 18, 2009. Gips’ personal financial disclosure forms show he had between $250,000 and $500,000 of his personal finances invested in SkyTerra via stock options. Gips bundled at least $500,000 in donations to Obama’s 2008 election campaign, and served on the advisory board of Obama’s White House transition team.

It’s unclear what specifically Gips and Genachowski were discussing at that White House meeting; but shortly after that meeting SkyTerra named two members of Obama’s White House transition team to senior leadership positions at the company. On March 9, 2009, SkyTerra hired Gary Epstein, an FCC political appointee for the first few months of the Obama administration and a member of Obama’s transition team, as its executive vice president. On May 11, 2009, SkyTerra named Jeff Carlisle, another Obama transition team member, to serve as its vice president of regulatory affairs.

Not too long after those Obama-tied hires, lawyers for Falcone’s Harbinger fired off an email that may suggest FCC coordination to approve the sale of SkyTerra to Harbinger outside of what is procedurally acceptable. In an email titled “we’re signed off with Team Telecom,” Henry Goldberg of Harbinger’s law firm, Goldberg, Godles, Weiner & Wright, wrote to FCC International Bureau Chief Howard Griboff on July 24, 2009.[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Whooey, did the plot ever thicken after that.

There are so many twists and turns in this case, I cannot possibly include them all here, so I urge you to read the DC article to get the full gist of the shenanigans that have gone on regarding SkyTerra-now-Lightsquared, and contributions to the Democrats. Oh, and how George Soros fits into all this. I know THAT is a big surprise, too, that he somehow has a hand in all of this. Amazing how intertwined he is in our government.

And amazing how intertwined this FCC decision is with Obama cronies and donations to Democratic organizations.
As many of us suspected would be the case, what is happening in Washington, SC, under the Obama Administration is like Chicago-style politics on steroids. Revelation after revelation of the way Obama and cronies do business, at our expense, is increasingly disturbing.

At least it is for me. What do you think?

But I digress. Allow me to share some of Goldberg’s piece with you, though I urge you to read the whole piece:

‘My rival in this race,” President Obama announced early in 2007, “is not other candidates. It’s cynicism.”

It’s now clear that what he meant by this was other people’s cynicism — not his own.

As you may recall, Obama came into office a very inexperienced politician, spouting a lot of hopeful and idealistic rhetoric. He had made a name for himself by refusing to demonize conservatives and Republicans.

For instance, during a Nevada Democratic debate, then-senator Obama told the late Tim Russert that, “My greatest strength, I think, is the ability to bring people together from different perspectives to get them to recognize what they have in common and to move people in a different direction.”

Whether that was a lie at the time or simply unwarranted self-confidence is unknowable. What is plainly knowable is that it was untrue.[snip]

Oh, SNAP – did he really just say that? Yes, yes, he did, and he is absolutely spot on in his assessment. Every single one of us can tell stories about the ways by which Obama has definitely NOT brought us all together. The divisiveness, the bitter rhetoric, the ad hominem attacks, the flat out lies, have been on the rise in this “Uniter’s” Administration. No doubt about it. Obama has managed to so thoroughly pit us one against each other that the work of the country has ground to a halt, for all intents and purposes.

Obama is quite clear whose fault it is, and you know it isn’t his, like Jeffy in “Family Circus,” his refrain is, “Not me!” Mainly, as we all know, it is the Republicans’ fault. Everything is, you should know that by now.

To Goldberg’s piece:

[snip] Also this month, the president proposed a budget that assumes everyone in this country is too stupid to understand what he’s up to. It simply pretends there’s no debt or deficit problem. It assumes that entitlement spending is nothing to worry about. It “saves” money by cutting spending no one ever planned to spend. And it proposes huge tax hikes nobody believes that even Obama wants.

Why? Because Obama expects Republicans to vote against the budget — as any responsible legislator of either party would — so he can then further demonize the “do-nothing Congress” while pretending to be serious about fixing our problems.

By the way, the only part of Congress worthy of that sobriquet is the Democrat-controlled Senate, which hasn’t proposed a budget in over 1,000 days (longer than the entire run of the Kennedy administration). Why hasn’t it? To make it easier for the Democratic president to demonize his opponents. [snip] (Click here to read the rest of this outstanding piece.)

Precisely. It is just blatant flat out lying to blame the Republicans for NOT doing anything. As 2Harp had in a comment at Katz Porch this morning, as reported at Hot Air, there are a number of bills sitting on Sen. Harry Reid’s desk that deal specifically with job creation. Four Republican Senators are pushing for Reid to put these forth for a vote. All four of the bills passed the House with bipartisan support.

But it’s the Republicans’ fault, dontcha know. Riiigghhtttt.

I think we all know why the Democrats are throwing blame the Republicans way, and not doing their jobs by passing a budget in the Senate, or voting on some of these bills. I hate to be, um, cynical, but it is all about getting Obama re-elected.

Then again, I don’t think that’s cynical. I think that is reality.

Happy President’s Day to everyone! A Happy Birthday to our first president, George Washington:

What an incredible president he was then, and I would say, a true role model for what it means to be president. What do you think?