The Government Accountability Office tells Whispers it is now investigating large ammunition purchases  made by the Department of Homeland Security. Chuck Young, a spokesman  for GAO, says the investigation of the purchases is "just getting  underway."

[MORE: DHS Denies Ammo Purchases Aimed at Civilians]

The congressional investigative agency is jumping  into the fray just as legislation was introduced in both the Senate and  the House to restrict the purchase of ammo by some government agencies  (except the Department of Defense). The AMMO Act,  introduced Friday, would prevent agencies from buying more ammunition  if "stockpiles" are greater than what they were in previous  administrations.

Donelle Harder, a spokeswoman for  Sen. Jim  Inhofe, R-Okla., who introduced the legislation in the Senate, tells  Whispers the bill would also require GAO to share the findings of its  report on DHS purchases with Congress.

#NARRATIVEFAIL:  Brendan O’Neill:  Where is the mob of Muslim-hating Americans going crazy after Boston? It’s a figment of liberals’ imaginations.  Kinda like those oft-imagined but seldom-seen Tea Party Terrorists.

The Red Hook Middle School in New York uses the buzz word ‘anti-bullying’ to demoralize and indoctrinate the children with homosexual behavior lessons. As if approaching adolescence isn’t confusing and difficult enough for young students, the school has decided to rob them of their innocence and pervert their understanding of something this private. Amazingly, people have a problem with this lesson plan… who would have thunk?

CBN News reports the following:

Parents of children attending a Red Hook, New York, middle school are outraged after a recent anti-bullying presentation at Linden Avenue Middle School. [...]

Parents say their daughters were told to ask one another for a kiss and they say two girls were told to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date.

Parent, Mandy Coon, spoke with reporters saying, “she told me, ‘Mom we all get teased and picked on enough, now I’m going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I could kiss her.’”

Coon says parents were given no warning about the presentation and there was no opportunity to opt-out. Both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops and advising they will schedule more.

“The school is overstepping its bounds in not notifying parents first and giving us the choice,” another parent said. “I thought it was very inappropriate. That kind of instruction is best left up to the parents.”

“I was absolutely furious — really furious,” a parent who asked to remain anonymous told reporter Todd Starnes, “These are just kids. I’m dumbfounded that they found this class was appropriate.”

Superintendent Paul Finch told The Poughkeepsie Journal the presentation was “focused on improving culture, relationships, communication and self-perceptions.” [...]

Read more here.

ChristianNews and Moonbattery offer more insights:

During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a kiss. They were also taught words such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.” [...]

“I am furious,” she declared. “I am her parent. Where does anyone get the right to tell her that it’s okay for her to have sex?”[...]

According to reports, during the workshop for the adolescent boys, the students were counseled to keep a condom in their pocket at all times, and were taught how to identify a woman who is a “slut.” [...]

However, both the school principal and the district superintendent are defending the workshops, and are advising that they will schedule more.

This is child abuse IMO. Time to insist Congress defund the Department of Education and take back the education system to the local individual and community level. Take corrupt Big Government out of the equation.

Voters are divided over how the White House is handling the September 11,  2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed a U.S.  ambassador and three other Americans.  

On President Obama’s role, however, voters are clear:  he should have  been more involved.

A Fox News poll asked voters about their reaction to former Defense Secretary  Leon Panetta’s testimony to Congress in February on the Benghazi attack.   Panetta testified that after the initial 5:00 PM briefing with the  president, he didn’t hear from the President Obama or anyone at the White House  again that night.  

CLICK  TO VIEW THE FOX NEWS POLL

While almost a third of voters (29 percent) think there was “probably a good  reason” for the president not to be personally involved, most voters -- 61  percent -- say Obama should have been directly involved “no matter what.”

Most Republicans (82 percent) and over half of independents (57 percent) feel  the president should have been more engaged in responding to the assault.   Among Democrats views are split: 43 percent say Obama had a good reason  not to be involved, while 45 percent say there’s no excuse.

The new poll, released Wednesday, also asked voters to react to former  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony that she hadn’t seen a cable from  the consulate asking for additional security and warning the administration  about the dangerous situation diplomats were facing.  

Some 39 percent of voters say it is “troubling” Clinton didn’t see the cable,  while an equal number don’t believe her testimony and actually think she was  aware of it (39 percent).  Few -- 11 percent -- say it’s no big deal that  she didn’t see the ambassador’s request for help.  

Voters have mixed views about how the White House is handling the situation:   46 percent say the administration is covering up what happened.   Almost as many -- 43 percent -- say there’s no cover up.

Republicans (72 percent) are almost three times as likely as Democrats (24  percent) to think there is a cover up.  Among independents, 46 percent feel  the White House is hiding what happened, while 39 percent do not.  

The administration eventually acknowledged the attack in Benghazi was a  planned terrorist attack.  Early on it pointed to a controversial online  video sparking spontaneous violence.  

Although Panetta and Clinton have testified, so far Congress hasn’t heard  from the U.S. government personnel who survived the attack.  By a 67-26  percent margin, voters think lawmakers should subpoena them if the State  Department and CIA don’t volunteer to let the witnesses be interviewed by  Congressional investigators.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,009  randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint  direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R)  from April 20 to April 22.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of  plus or minus three percentage points.

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/24/fox-news-poll-obama-should-have-been-more-involved-during-benghazi-attack/print#ixzz2RTSSiJSP

GOSNELL FALLOUT?  Obama backs out of Planned Parenthood keynote address.  Instead, he’s suddenly planning to visit the scene of the Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

Congress Ought to at Least Show Up to Vote:  The House and Senate both violate the Constitution’s quorum requirement.

Congress’s approval rating continues to hover just above all-time lows, an abysmal 15% in the most recent Gallup poll. Americans are clearly frustrated by the apparent inability of elected representatives in Washington to address critical issues like government overspending. Yet even when Congress does act, it is often acting unconstitutionally—because it lacks a quorum.

The Constitution imposes a straightforward quorum requirement on both houses of the legislative branch. Article I, Section 5 states that “a majority of each [house] shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number of them may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members . . .”

The plain meaning is that a majority of the membership must be in attendance to conduct legislative business. When any group smaller than a majority is present, it can do only two things: adjourn and compel the attendance of absent members.

Yet Congress—particularly the Senate—too often proceeds without a quorum. The Senate conducts much of its business by “unanimous consent.” This is a procedural device that allows virtually any action to be taken so long as no senator actively objects.

Early this morning, Scott linked to this article by Anne Bayefsky. I want to give it some further attention.

Anne pointed out, and responded to, a repellent column in Foreign Policy Journal by a man named Richard Falk, titled “A Commentary on the Marathon Murders.” You almost have to read it to believe it, but here are a few excerpts:

[T]he neocon presidency of George W. Bush was in 2001, prior to the attacks, openly seeking a pretext to launch a regime-changing war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and the 9/11 events, as interpreted and spun, provided just the supportive domestic climate needed for launching an aggressive war against the Baghdad regime. The Iraq War was undertaken despite the UN Security Council failure to lend its authority to such an American deadly geopolitical venture and in the face of the largest anti-war global demonstrations in human history. In 2001, the preferred American grand strategy, as blueprinted by the ideologues of the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution, was given a green light by the Bush/Cheney White House even in the face of the red lights posted both at the UN and in the streets of 600 or more cities around the world.

Every word of this is false, but what it has to do with the terrorist attack in Boston is anyone’s guess.

Obama came to Washington as outspoken opponent of torture and of the Iraq War. He also arrived after the failed wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, which had devastated two countries, seemingly beyond foreseeable recovery, while adding nothing to American security, however measured. These unlawful wars wasted trillions expended over the several years during which many Americans were enduring the hardships and pain of the deepest economic recession since the 1930s. In other words, temporarily at least, the Beltway think tanks and the government are doing their best to manage global crises without embarking on further wars in a spirit of geopolitical intoxication that was hallmark of the unipolar moment that was invoked by Republicans to chide the Clinton presidency for its wimpish failure to pursue American strategic interests in the Middle East.

Huh? Besides being a lousy writer, this guy is starting to come across as insane. But wait; there is more.

At least it seems that for the present irresponsible and unlawful warfare are no longer the centerpiece of America’s foreign policy, as had become the case in the first decade of the 21st century, although this is far from a certainty. The war drums are beating at this moment in relation to both North Korea and Iran, and as long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy.

Tel Aviv? Huh? We are evidently in the presence of one of those obsessives who cause you to start edging toward the door. Falk goes on to argue that Boston had it coming:

Unlike the aftermath of 9/11, there are a few hopeful signs of awakening to this one-eyed vision on the part of the citizenry. Listening to a PBS program hours after the Boston event, I was struck by the critical attitudes of several callers to the radio station: “It is horrible, but we in this country should not be too surprised, given our drone attacks that have killed women and children attending weddings and funerals in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” Another caller asked, “Is this not a kind of retribution for torture inflicted by American security forces acting under the authority of the government, and verified for the world by pictures of the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib?” And another asked, “In light of the authoritative reports of officially sanctioned torture as detailed in the 577 page report of a task force chaired by two former senators, one a Republican, the other a Democrat, and containing senior military and security officials, has not the time come to apply the law to the wrongdoers during the Bush presidency?” … Should we not all be meditating on W.H. Auden’s haunting line: “Those to whom evil is done/do evil in return”?

I think all of this is a fabrication. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist bombing, PBS callers were generally convinced that the terrorists were Tea Partiers, not Muslims seeking revenge for Abu Ghraib.

RAND PAUL TO HARRY REID:  Suspend Immigration Bill Until National Security Considerations Studied.  “Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sent a lengthy letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today asking to table the immigration reform bill until the Boston attacks are better understood and national security considerations are addressed in the legislation.”

The government will not treat suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dhokhar Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday.

The White House came out against the demands of some hawkish Republicans to declare Tsarnaev an "enemy combatant," which would give them more leeway in questioning the alleged bomber for the purposes of gaining intelligence about the Boston attack.

"He will not be treated as an enemy combatant," Carney said at Monday's press briefing. "We will prosecute this terrorist through our civilian system of justice."

While many Republicans have largely acknowledged that Tsarnaev would be tried eventually in criminal court, some urged the administration to assert the ability to treat Tsarnaev as an combatant. The Chechnya native is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and is being questioned in a hospital bed under a public safety exception to the Miranda rule.

USA TODAY POLL:  Public Support For Gun Control Ebbs.

“So much of the support for gun control is emotional, following the Newtown tragedy,” says Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report. The December shooting at the Connecticut school left 20 children and six educators dead. “The longer you get away from there, people start thinking of other issues. They start thinking about terrorism or jobs or immigration, and not surprisingly, then some of the momentum behind gun control starts to fade.”

The Boston Marathon bombings last Monday also may have had an effect, he speculates. “It wouldn’t be shocking if people sitting in their homes in Massachusetts cities and towns thought to themselves, ‘Boy, I wish I had something to protect myself with if a terrorist came through the door now.’”

BOSTON BOMBINGS:  Lawmakers Question FBI’s Handling Of Case. And then there is news today that there may be a sleeper cell of 12 who were supposed to activitate after the bombings.

Highlights of the Boston bombings:

Group linked to Tsarnaev brothers...
Pair 'specially trained' for attack...
'No doubt brothers not acting alone'...
Two from Kazakhstan in custody...
Boston mayor: Acted alone...

There's more - a lot lmore.

"...Boston marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was  thrown out of his local mosque for 'crazy' behavior after getting involved a  'shouting match' with his imam according to one member of the  congregation.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was ejected from his Boston mosque for  aggressive behavior after insulting Martin Luther King Jr. during a Friday  prayer service three months ago

Described as being full of rage by a  worshiper who would give his name only as Muhammad, Tamerlan was ejected from  the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center three months ago for claiming that  Martin Luther King Jr. was not a man Muslims should look to  emulate.

This revelation comes as Ruslan Tsarni, an  uncle of Tamerlan, claimed that his nephew had fallen under the spell of a  mysterious religious leader in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who radicalized him and  his brother Dzhokhar into committing Monday's terror outrage.

The dramatic confrontation between Tamerlan  and his imam began when the 26-year-old interrupted a solemn Friday prayer  service three months ago.

The imam had just offered up assassinated  civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. as a fine example of a man to emulate -  but this reportedly enraged Tamerlan.

'You cannot mention this guy because he’s not  a Muslim!' Muhammad recalled Tamerlan shouting, shocking others in attendance  according to theLA  Times.

Kicked out of the mosque for his outrageous  behavior, Tamerlan did return to the prayer service after his outburst according  to Muhammad.

'He’s crazy to me,' said Muhammad. 'He had an  anger inside.… I can’t explain what was in his mind.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312470/Tamerlan-Tsarnaev-Boston-bomber-thrown-mosque-raged-filled-rant-Martin-Luther-King.html#ixzz2RBqddg6e Follow us:@MailOnline on Twitter |DailyMail on Facebook

Several posts on what several news organizations have confirmed as the Twitter profile of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev indicate that that the 19-year-old Chechnyan immigrant was a supporter of Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.

If that is indeed the case, it does not mean that Obama has any sort of connection with or responsibility for the bombing suspect or his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. It does, however, completely reverse the fantasy that many American liberals were openly hoping for: that the bombing suspects might be revealed as Timothy McVeigh 2.0, someone whose very name they could use to smear and deride anyone who stands against their belief system. In other words, one of those "dog whistles" we keep hearing so much about.

[Description: http://newsbusters.org/sites/default/files/main_photos/2013/April/dzhokhar-tsarnaev.jpg]

Now that information has emerged which not only indicates the suspected bombers were not radical conservatives but that one of them appears to be a supporter of President Obama, how widely will it be spread in the endless series of reports trying to report as many details about the two suspects?

Several news agencies have tracked down a Twitter account<https://twitter.com/J_tsar> which is believed to belong to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of the two brothers whom the FBI has identified as the people responsible for a pressure cooker bomb which killed three people and injured nearly 150.

Blogger Bob Owens discovered<http://www.bob-owens.com/2013/04/twitter-feed-suggests-boston-marathon-terrorist-was-an-obama-supporter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BobOwens+%28Bob+Owens%29> that Tsarnaev made clear his political preferences as he celebrated the reelection of President Obama on November 6th.

As one can see frome the timeline linked above, Tsarnaev retweeted a statement from Obama's official Twitter account after he won which stated "This happened because of you. Thank you."

He also retweeted a statement from a Twitter user named "TnL 4/20 Monty" which expressed approval of Obama's defeat of Romney but urged caution: "Barack you my dawg but we all puppets in this bitch."

The owner of the account also explicitly stated his own approval of Obama saying "america is impervious to the fuckery #justforthisoneday."

[Description: Picture-11-500x257.png]

Now that this information is known and liberal news organizations are known to be quoting from the J_tsar Twitter account, will they quote the above statements?

Update: As an assist to liberal readers of this article, here are some recent posts from NewsBusters documenting how various left-wing media figures sought to blame the bombing on conservatives:

*   MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Blames NRA For Slowing Down Investigation In Boston Bombing<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-vespa/2013/04/18/npr-heavily-hints-boston-was-bombed-anti-government-right-wing-individua>

*   NPR Heavily Hints Boston Was Bombed by 'Anti-Government Right-Wing Individuals' Who Love Hitler<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-vespa/2013/04/18/npr-heavily-hints-boston-was-bombed-anti-government-right-wing-individua>

*   Boston Bombing: NYT Reports, National Journal Speculates On 'Right-Wing, Antigovernment Extremist Groups'<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-vespa/2013/04/18/boston-bombing-nyt-reports-national-journal-speculates-right-wing-antigo>

*   CNN Claims Pressure Cooker Bombs Somehow 'Signature' of Extreme Right Terrorists<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/randy-hall/2013/04/18/cnn-claims-pressure-cooker-bomb-signature-right-wing-extremists-offers-n>

*   Actual Salon Headline: 'Let's Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber Is a White American' <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/04/17/actual-salon-headline-let-s-hope-boston-marathon-bomber-white-america>

*   MSNBC Brings On Harvard Professor to Speculate 'Far Right' May Be Responsible For Boston Attack <http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2013/04/17/msnbc-brings-harvard-professor-suspect-far-right-may-be-responsible-b>

In light of the absurd statements referenced above, might it be time for the organizations who made them apologize for their errors?

Update 17:25. Both CNN<https://twitter.com/SteveKrak/status/325286146475171841> and Buzzfeed<http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-might-be-djohar-tsarnaevs-actual-twitter-account> have confirmed that the Twitter account referred to in this piece indeed belongs to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The lede of this post has been rewritten to reflect this confirmation.

About the Author

Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and president of Dialog New Media, an internet marketing and design firm. Click here<http://twitter.com/mattsheffield> to follow Matthew Sheffield on Twitter.

POLICE: 1 MARATHON BOMBING SUSPECT DEAD

Manhunt on for Suspect 2

• Much of Boston on lockdown
• Residents told to stay in, lock doors
• Transportation shut down
• 1 officer killed, 1 hurt | FULL STORY

 

• While you slept: Developments
• LIVE BLOG: Mass transit shut down
• Cops move in, families flee  
• Photos: Chaos in Boston area  
• Photos: Feds identified suspects  

President Obama angrily blamed the defeat Wednesday of his centerpiece  gun-control proposal on lies spread by the National  Rifle Association, calling it “a pretty shameful day for Washington.”

“The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill,” Mr. Obama said  in the White House rose garden about 90  minutes after the vote. “It came down to politics.”

SEE RELATED: Senate shoots down background checks for guns,  angers Obama

As he spoke, Mr. Obama was surrounded by family members of victims of the  Newtown, Conn., school shooting. Also with him was former Rep.  Gabby Giffords of Arizona, wounded in an assassination attempt.

Senators voted 54-46 late Wednesday to expand background checks of gun  purchases, six votes shy of the 60 needed for passage of the amendment.

The vote was a huge blow to the president’s efforts since the Newtown, Conn.,  school massacre last December to enact a broad package of new gun laws. Mr.  Obama and his team had considered background checks the most likely gun  restriction to be approved by Congress, with  polls showing as much as 90 percent of the public in favor of the measure  immediately after the Newtown shootings.

The president put the blame squarely on the NRA,  which he accused of spreading falsehoods that the legislation would lead to a  national gun registry.

“They claimed that it would create some sort of big-brother gun registry,  even though it did the  opposite,” Mr. Obama said. “This pattern of  spreading untruths … served a purpose. A minority in the U.S.  Senate decided it wasn’t worth it. They blocked common-sense gun reforms,  even while these families looked on from the Senate gallery. It’s not going to happen because 90  percent of Republicans just voted against that idea.”

Mark Barden, father of 7-year-old Daniel who was killed in Newtown, said any  father in America could be in his shoes.

SPECIAL  COVERAGE: Second Amendment and Gun Control

“It’s a proposal that will save lives,” he said of the measure. “We’ll return  home now, disappointed but not defeated. We’ve always known this will be a long  road. We will keep moving forward and build public support. We will not be  defeated. We are not going away.”

Mr. Obama vowed not to give up on seeking more gun restrictions.

“You’ve got to send the right people to Washington,” he told voters. “That  requires strength and it requires persistence. I see this as just Round One.  Sooner or later, we are going to get this right. The memories of these children  demand it.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/17/obama-denounces-gun-rights-groups-willful-liars/#ixzz2QoSVrZqn Follow us:@washtimes on Twitter

A new poll from NBC New York and Marist College says that disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who lied to the American public about tweeting pictures of his junk to random women around the country, is now running a hard second in a potential mayoral matchup. Christine Quinn, the current Speaker of the House in New York, runs first with 26 percent of the vote; Weiner follows with 15 percent. While Nate Silver of the New York Times suggests that this number is actually limp for Weiner, given his 100 percent name recognition, it still gives him a leg up on the rest of the crowd.

It’s no coincidence that Weiner is now preparing to get on his hands and knees before the public in New York. As USA Today reports, Weiner says “I think I’ll be spending a lot of time, here on out, saying I’m sorry.”

It's a cliché that men  just don't understand women.

Now, new research suggests men really do  struggle to read women's emotions — at least from their eyes.

The  research, published Wednesday (April 10) in the journal  PLOS ONE, showed that men had twice as much trouble deciphering women's  emotions from images of their eyes compared with those of men. Parts of the male  brain tied to emotion also didn't activate as strongly when the men looked at  women's eyes.

While pop culture claims that men are from Mars and women  are from Venus, both sexes are pretty similar. Yet despite the genders'  psychological overlap, a few small studies in men have suggested they have  trouble "mind-reading" and guessing what women are thinking and feeling. For  instance, one study found that  men  interpret friendliness from women as sexual come-ons. [ Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond]

 Research also  shows that women  prize men who try to understand them.

My first job was a "runner" for the Leawood Drive-In in suburban Kansas City. For those unfamiliar with a drive-n, you pull your car into a paved parking lot with speakers that can be hung on your window. There is a playground under a giant screen that little kids can clambor over, while the adults grab popcorn and Dr Pepper from the food stand.

Everyone comes back to the car for the feature film, and once the kids are asleep, a good deal of necking went on.

Sigh.

These days appear to be over.

"..COMING SOON:  The Summer When You’re Expected to Save Drive-In Movie Theaters.“Later this year, movie studios are scheduled to stop distributing films in old-fashioned 35-millimeter format. Everything will go digital, which is fine for the vast majority of indoor theaters that have already upgraded to digital projectors. It’s a different story with drive-ins, however, many of which find themselves in need of handouts to pay for the upgrade. Care to cough up a $100 donation on top of the cost of popcorn?”

AP

BOSTON BOMBING: All-Out Effort To Find Out Who Did It — and Why

FBI says there is 'a lot of work to do' as authorities comb through evidence and pursue new leads to find who is responsible for deadly twin bombings near Boston Marathon finish line, as a senior White House official tells Fox News the blasts are believed to be an act of terrorism. The blasts left at least 3 dead and at least 144 injured.

• Obama: Those Behind Blasts Will Feel 'Full Weight of Justice' | Secret Service Expands Security at White House
• DR. MANNY: Medical Personnel on Site Saved Countless Lives | Cops Ramp Up Security in Major Cities After Bombings
• British Police Review Security Plans for London Marathon | MAP: Bombing at Boston Marathon Finish Line
• WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Blasts Rock Boston | WATCH: Video Captures Explosions | VIDEO: Blasts Rip Finish
• VIDEOS: What Type of Bomb Caused Blasts? | DR. ABLOW: Why Terrorism Strikes Fear

My initial take on this Boston Marathon bombing? It's not Al Qayada. But first, my sympathies for the families and victims.

Our guys WILL find out who did this, but it's iffy whether they can be caught. My money is on US.

Meanwhile, let's pray...

via Drudge

Saudi man, 20, questioned at hospital...
Apartment in Boston suburb searched...
... Cops carry out 'several large bags'...
Bombs packed with ball bearings; 3 dead, 140+ wounded...
'25, 30 people have at least one leg missing'...
Martin Richard, 8, among dead...
Elderly runner in iconic photo finishes race...
HEROES: Kindness, humanity amid the carnage...
Witnesses recount war zone at Boston Marathon... ***WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT***
Runner:  'They must have had some sort of threat called in'...
FBI takes charge of investigation...
Pakistan Taliban denies any role...
Blasts put world's cities on alert...
NYC deploys 1,000 cops to top landmarks...
UK police review London Marathon security...
MINISTER:  Will not be 'blown off course'...

VOTING WITH THEIR FEET:  As Jerry Brown Touts California In China, Its Citizens Pack Their Bags.  “While Governor Jerry Brown is in China touting the state’s rebound and recovery, many Californians are busy packing their bags for a move to Texas, Nevada or Arizona.  Why?  Because it appears that the once-Golden State may finally be overpriced, underperforming and ungovernable.”

 California Governor Jerry Brown (R)

MICKEY KAUS:  Border Rush Starts:  “Where Do I Go For My Amnesty?”

This shows the percentages of the U.S. population medically defined as obese, which means a body mass index of 30 or greater. BMI isn't an ideal metric to evaluate obesity, but it's still what the U.S. standardly uses.

By now everyone knows obesity is a serious issue, but it always helps me to see things moving and in color, and makes the "epidemic" terminology make sense. Meanwhile, through 2012, no state has met the CDC's nationwide goal to reduce obesity to 15 percent. According to a Gallup poll out this morning, here are the least and most obese metropolitan areas:

So if we all just move to Colorado we should be fine.

Shades of Benghazi: State Department changes story on Afghanistan blast that killed diplomat

The State Department has acknowledged that five U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan, including 25-year-old diplomat Anne Smedinghoff, were on foot when they were attacked by a suicide bomber, and not in an armored vehicle, as officials had told bereaved relatives earlier this week.

• TWT coverage of the Benghazi attack and aftermath

I'm STEAMING! My son attends USC and I'll be damned if he has to put up with this crap!

"..Tyler Talgo was fed up.

For two years the University of Southern California student had listened to the classroom ranting of liberal professors. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Darry Sragow, his political science professor, launched into an anti-Republican tirade on the first day of class.

FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CULTURE WAR NEWS. CLICK HERE TO JOIN!

“I knew that this was going to be a professor that was very left-wing, very biased,” Talgo told Fox News. “I knew this would be one of those classes where the professor would be biased all the time.”

So Talgo decided to fight back.

“As soon as I got back to my dorm, I decided to video his lectures,” he said. “I got inspired.”

The 20-year-old political science major bought a hidden camera disguised as a shirt button. And that’s how he was able to secretly videotape every single lecture delivered by Professor Sragow.

“It’s one thing to say this happened,” Talgo said. “It’s another thing to show that it happened.”

Talgo culled 15-minutes worth of Republican, Tea Party and conservative ranting from Sragow’s lectures and shared them with Campus Reform reporters Oliver Darcy and Josiah Ryan.

“On the first day of class he talked about how Republicans prevent blacks from voting,” Talgo said. “He also said that he used to work for Democratic candidates and it was his job to kill Republicans.”

The video shows Sragow peppering his lectures with curse words and ridicule for Republicans – with his teaching assistant joining in on the attacks.

“They’re really stupid and racist,” Sragow said at one point. “The Republican party is increasingly the last refuge of old, angry white people who don’t like what’s going on in this country.”

“Old white guys are stubborn sons of bitches,” he noted.

Professor Sragow told Fox News that he has absolutely no regrets over any of his classroom lectures.

“I have said them many times to many audiences, and if the student had told me he was taping my comments I still would have said them,” he told Fox News. “I had had this exact conversation with many of my Republican colleagues and friends.”

Sragow said it is possible Talgo may have violated the student code of conduct by secretly taping his classes.

“While I am very candid and direct, I never say anything unless I am willing to have it repeated with attribution,” the professor said. “If he thought he was playing a dirty trick by taping me, it lacks creativity and the effort deserves maybe a C-plus.”

The video shows the professor opining on a number of issues ranging from Mitt Romney to accusations that the GOP suppressed the black vote.

TODD’S AMERICAN DISPATCH – A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF CONSERVATIVE THOUGHT.  CLICK HERE!

“Republicans are trying to prevent people of color and people of lower income from voting by requiring voter I.D.,” he said.

During one lecture, a student asked how to stop Republicans from voting.

The teaching assistant chimed in, “Put up Panthers outside of the polling place.”

The professor responded, “Yeah, yeah. You can do that.”

He also railed on the Bush-Gore presidential campaign and claimed Republicans had stolen the election.

“Al Gore won the presidency of the United States,” he told students. “He didn’t get to be president. That’s power. He got more votes, right? We all know he got more votes. That’s a fact. You think the Bush people did what they did in Florida for fun? The presidency was at stake.”

“There are tens of thousands of people who are now dead because George Bush, even though he got fewer votes, became the president of the United States,” the professor said. “That’s a fact.”

The day after the 2012 election, Srago trumpeted a Democratic victory in California.

“I believe we will continue to allow Republicans to live here – but Republicans will be totally, completely, utterly irrelevant,” he said. “But we don’t need them anymore. They are totally irrelevant and clinically depressed.”

He also took pot shots at Mitt and Ann Romney.

“Ann Romney to me looks like she’s out of 1955,” he told students. “I looked at Ann Romney during the convention and I thought, holy crap, this is the country club in 1955.”

As for Romney?

“All campaigns have a message it communicates to voters,” he said. “Vote for Obama because he’s going to create jobs, keep the peace, and protect Social Security. Vote for Romney because Obama is all f***** up.”

Sragow suggested that his harsh words were meant as a wake up call for the Republican Party.

“If the Republican Party in California doesn’t broaden its appeal, within the next few years there will be more independent voters in California than Republicans,” he said. ‘We need two strong parties in the state.”

Talgo, who is a registered Republican – but considers himself a libertarian, said his video is proof that university campuses are hostile places for non-liberals.

“There are definitely some classes where professors give no regard to the other side and it’s a class that slanders people who disagree with them,” he said. “It’s hard for students. The professors are often times so intimidating you can’t bring up your own point of view. And even if you do – you risk your grade being retaliated against.”

That’s why he waited until after the semester had concluded and after his grade had been posted before posting the video.

“I’ve been in many classes like that before and in those instances I tried to stand up to the professor – and by the time the test or essay grades came back, I always felt they were less than what I earned,” he explained.

The professor scoffed at the notion that conservative students aren’t given a fair shake.

“If this student was offended, he knows perfectly well that I encourage an open debate and active student participation in my classes,” Sragow told Fox News. “He could have challenged me.”

Talgo said he hopes other students will take a stand and help expose other liberal professors.

“My major concern is that these professors are indoctrinating students,” he said.

Todd is the author of Dispatches From Bitter America – endorsed by Sarah Palin and Mark Levin. Click here to get your copy!

Isn't it every guy's secret sex fantasy to sleep with his best friend's beautiful, yet off-limits wife?

Apparently not. In fact, guys are biologically programmed to follow the rules of man code.

That's according to a newly published study that says men have a natural aversion to the idea of having sex with their best friend’s wife.

Researchers from University of Missouri found that a man's testosterone levels drop when they interact with their friend's significant other. Other studies have shown that men are biologically wired to care for their offspring, since new fathers tend to have lower amounts of testosterone.

"Although men have many chances to pursue a friend's mate, propositions for adultery are relatively rare on a per opportunity basis,” says Mark Flinn, lead researcher of the study and professor of anthropology in the university’s College of Arts and Science. "Men’s testosterone levels generally increase when they are interacting with a potential sexual partner or an enemy's mate. However, our findings suggest that men's minds have evolved to foster a situation where the stable pair bonds of friends are respected."

More from YourTango: 5 Great Gatsby-Themed Dates [PHOTOS]

What does this mean? It means that (despite what you might see on any given episode of Jerry Springer) we as human beings have evolved to a new level of forming alliances. We like to think of ourselves as a highly-evolved faithful species, but when it comes to monogamy, some men (and women) still resort to their baser instincts. But if we go by the findings of this study, wouldn't this mean that a man's baser instinct is to respect another man's relationship? So no excuse anymore, guys. It should be your nature.

FORGET TEXTING:  Study finds daydreaming the top cause of distracted driving accidents.  “A study by the Erie Insurance company of the roughly 6,500 fatal accidents that occurred in 2010 and 2011 which involved distracted driving found that it wasn’t cell phones at texting that were mostly to blame, but simple daydreaming.  According to police reports of the incidents, 62 percent of the accidents involved one or more drivers that were ‘lost in thought,’ compared to just 12 percent that were using a phone to text or make a call.”

The obvious solution:  Ban thought!

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri State Highway Patrol has twice turned over the entire list of Missouri concealed weapon permit holders to federal authorities, most recently in January, Sen. Kurt Schaefer said Wednesday.

So...does the apple fall far from the tree?

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Jeremiah Wright’s daughter has allegedly been a naughty little money launderer, and if true, it would appear as though her chickens are coming home to roost.

Jeri Wright, 47, faces two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to officers and seven counts of giving false grand jury testimony. She couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Federal prosecutors in the Illinois’ central district say Jeri Wright received about $28,000 in grant-tied paychecks in 2009, but $20,000 of that was deposited back into accounts controlled by Evans. Prosecutors also say Wright then lied to officers and a grand jury.

Michelle Obama exemplifies the word "hubris." Google it.                

FLOTUS: 'I Am' The Same As Murdered Teen

Maryland Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley has instituted a tax on citizens for the amount of rain that falls on their property. The tax, officially known as a "storm water management fee," will be enforced in nine of the state's counties. The state legislature passed it in 2012 purportedly to "raise revenue to cleanup [sic] the Chesapeake Bay," according to MarylandReporter.com.

TRANSPARENCY:  EPA memo promises emphasis on transparency after FOIA lawsuits.

Acting Administrator Robert Persiacepe circulated an agency-wide warning to Environmental Protection Agency employees yesterday about complying with the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Persiacepe’s memo was issued as EPA faces a growing controversy in the news media and federal courts sparked by revelations earlier this year that his predecessor used a fake email name to conduct official business. . . .

The EPA has been hit with a series of lawsuits seeking emails and instant messages and accusing the agency of hiding information from watchdog groups. The most recent lawsuit, filed last week by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the American Traditions Institute, seeks to force the agency to disclose how evenly its transparency policies are applied to environmental groups and transparency watchdogs.

“It is clear from Bob Perciasepe’s memo that our IM lawsuit prompted discovery of more EPA violations of record-keeping and disclosure laws,” said Chris Horner, lead attorney in the EPA FOIA suit. ”His mention of IMs for the first time publicly indicates EPA is about to reveal whether it has been sloppy, deceitful, or possibly even criminal in its refusals to turn these records over to FOIA requesters and Congress.”

Horner said he suspects the EPA has been destroying IM chat records to avoid being forced to release them.

Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin are two very disturbed individuals, apparently without shame or dignity.

He's sick. She's an enabler. Knock yourselves out and see just how much the people of New York want to elect a guyy who Tweets his (weiner) to young women.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need  warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic  communications, according to internal agency documents.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, released the  information on Wednesday.

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, government  officials only need a subpoena, issued without a judge's approval, to read  emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old.

Privacy groups such as the ACLU argue that the Fourth Amendment provides  greater privacy protections than the ECPA, and that officials should need a  warrant to access all emails and other private messages.

Traditionally, the courts have ruled that people have limited privacy rights  over information they share with third parties. Some law enforcement groups have  argued that this means they only need a subpoena to compel email providers,  Internet service companies and others to turn over their customers' sensitive  content. 

But in 2010, a federal appeals court ruled that police violated a man's  constitutional rights when they read his emails without a warrant

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/292989-irs-claims-it-can-read-emails-without-a-warrant#ixzz2Q9VzGrjl Follow us:@thehill on Twitter |TheHill on Facebook

EPA acknowledges releasing personal  details on farmers, senator slams agency

FILE: Sept. 6, 2012: Dairy cows at the Sunburst Dairy farm are seen eating in  Belleville, Wisc. (REUTERS) 

The Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday that it released  personal information on potentially thousands of farmers and ranchers to  environmental groups, following concerns from congressional Republicans and  agriculture groups that the release could endanger their safety. 

According to a document obtained by FoxNews.com, the EPA said “some of the  personal information that could have been protected … was released." Though the  EPA has already sent out the documents, the agency now says it has since  redacted sensitive details and asked the environmental groups to “return the  information.”

But Sen. John Thune, who originally complained about the release, slammed the  EPA for trying to retroactively recover the sensitive data. 

"It is inexcusable for the EPA to release the personal information of  American families and then call for it back, knowing full well that the  erroneously released information will never be fully returned," he said in a  statement to FoxNews.com. "While EPA acknowledging that it erred is a first  step, more must be done to protect the personal information of our farmers and  ranchers now and in the future. I will continue to demand answers from the EPA  on how this information was collected and why it is still being distributed to  extreme environmental groups to the detriment of our farm and ranch  families."

The information on livestock and produce farmers was sought through a Freedom  of Information Act request by the groups Earth Justice, the Natural Resources  Defense Council and the Pew Charitable Trust. The groups, which have not  commented on whether they plan to return the documents, were originally given  information on roughly 80,000 farmers and ranchers. 

The agency acknowledged the information included individual names, email  addresses, phone numbers and personal addresses

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/09/epa-acknowledges-giving-out-personal-info-in-request-that-included-data-on/?test=latestnews#ixzz2Q4D68Pew

...a budget that is 65 days late. Imagine sitting down at your kitchen table and saying screw it, I'll pay these bills later.

The Obama administration released an outline  of its fiscal 2014 budget to reporters on Tuesday, forbidding its release until  6:00 a.m. Wednesday. The preview promises that President Barack Obama's budget  'reduces the deficit and puts the Nation on a sound fiscal course.'

'Every new initiative in the plan is fully  paid for, so they do not add a single dime to the deficit,' the White House  pledges.

An initial walk through the budget proposals,  however, suggests that Republicans in Congress will need some  convincing.

The budget will hit congressional offices  less than 24 hours after the government's top watchdog agency declared that  nearly $100 billion was wasted last year in duplicative and overlapping programs  stretching into every corner of the Washington bureaucracy.

Seeing things differently: House Speaker John Boehner  won't like what President Barack Obama has to say about the federal budget on  Wednesday

The star attraction of Tuesday's Capitol Hill  hearing on the subject was the tale of three separate government agencies that  spend money inspecting catfish, and the annual waste of $14 million that goes  along with it.

House Republicans in the oversight committee  hearing room were not amused. And GOP budget hawks won't be smiling when they  read a prominent declaration in the White House's outline that has already been  shown to be an exaggeration.

The budget, it says, 'would achieve $1.8  trillion in additional deficit reduction over the next 10 years, bringing total  deficit reduction to $4.3 trillion. This represents more than enough deficit  reduction to replace the cuts required by the Joint Committee [on]  sequestration.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306688/Obama-2014-budget-analysis-Numbers-based-imagined-spending-cuts-middle-class-tax-hike.html#ixzz2Q3lBWtBU Follow us:@MailOnline on Twitter |DailyMail on Facebook

By the way, we won the Iraq War.

Plus:  “Isn’t it odd how everybody stopped keeping a death toll of Americans killed overseas on January 20, 2009? But then, as the great lady once said: What difference does it make?”

Wyoming Republican Sen. Mike Enzi may be gearing up to run for re-election in  2014, but that doesn’t mean Liz Cheney is ruling out a run for the Senate seat  now.

A source close to the politically active daughter of Vice President Dick  Cheney tells The Daily Caller that she is still seriously considering running.  (RELATED:  Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi reportedly will run again for  Senate)

Over the weekend, The Casper Star Tribune reported that Enzi told a meeting  of the GOP state party committee that he is looking forward to running for  re-election — something he has yet to formally announce.

An Enzi spokesman confirmed the senator’s remarks.

“Senator Enzi’s statement to the central committee stands on its own,” Enzi  press secretary Daniel Head told TheDC on Monday. “He won’t make an official  announcement until later. If that changes, we’ll let you know.”

For months, there has been speculation in the media that Cheney would run for  the Wyoming seat, especially if Enzi retired.

Cheney, a lawyer who has served in various positions in government, has not  commented publicly about whether she’s eying the seat. But her activities seem  to signal that she could be interested in a run of some sort: She recently moved  to Jackson Hole, Wyo., with her family. She has also been giving speeches at  various events in the state.

Her father represented Wyoming in Congress from 1979 to 1989.

Read more:  http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/08/source-liz-cheney-seriously-considering-running-for-wyoming-senate/#ixzz2Pyesdbao

Supporters of comprehensive gun control legislation are ratcheting up  pressure on wavering lawmakers, trying to clear the way for Senate Democratic  Leader Harry Reid to proceed with a bill in the face of mounting roadblocks from  conservative members. 

At least 14 Republican senators have threatened to filibuster the firearms  legislation, complaining that it would curb the rights of the law-abiding while  doing little to reduce crime. "The more people learn about the consequences of  current gun control proposals, the less they will support the new restrictions,"  Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. 

If Lee and his colleagues succeed, their objections would require any bill to  garner 60 votes, a heavy lift for Reid and the White House. 

But as negotiations continue on a compromise measure that could sway moderate  hold-outs, powerful advocacy groups are rolling out new ads and campaigns to win  them over. 

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/09/as-vote-looms-gun-control-backers-ratchet-up-pressure-on-congress/#ixzz2PyKtG5Js

You should be having three times as much sex as work, according to science.

We used to just have intercourse for making babies. Then, it must have been at least three or four years ago, we discovered it felt really good AND made you sort of like the person you were trying it with. Before that life was work, work, work. It turns out that even though we're more enlightened about the benefits of sex, we're still not likely doing it enough.

Per Quartz (based on a report from ScienceDirect), the optimal ratio for having a great day is 106 minutes of sex per 36 minutes of work. While it seems like this could very easily be filed away under "Duh, Science," the authors took into account the old law of diminishing returns even in something pleasurable. The authors, Christian Kroll of Jacobs University in Germany and Sebastian Pokutta of Georgia Tech, use a technique called the Day Reconstruction Method to focus on the pleasure derived from each of our daily activities. They then extrapolated the results over a 16-hour day. My experience with both Georgia Tech and Germany makes me wonder if sexual repression doesn't sometimes lead to strikingly obvious discoveries.

My friend Andrew Breitbart would have loved this:

VOTE FOR THE WHOLE PACKAGE:  Conservatives Suggest Bumper Stickers For Anthony Weiner Mayoral Campaign

'IRON LADY' DEAD AT 87

Yesterday was a very solemn day for Jews across the world as they marked the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising also known as Holocaust Memorial Day.

How did the Progressive cyber warriors of Anonymous mark Holocaust Memorial day? By launching a cyber war called #OpIsrael, and attempting to hack and deface the website of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum website in Israel.

Nothing says I hate Jews like attacking a Holocaust memorial….on Holocaust Memorial day.

Mandy Nagy is covering the story over at Legal Insurrection, where they’ve posted this very accurate tweet:

If you call yourself a member of Anonymous after this, or even a supporter of the group of so called hacktivists, you’re not much more than a Jew hating bigot. Silence is consent.

All of this begs the questions: Exactly how tight is the Progressive Left with the Jihad? And for how long has this relationship been in operational effect?

Obama will release his budget this week, and we already know that he's going to  try to stake out a treacherous "middleground" as he attempts to cast himself as  a bold centrist, willing to stand apart from leftist Democrats.

He'll do so by, reportedly, introducing  a Chained CPI, which is a way of cutting Social Security by using a  different inflation measure that won't rise as much.

Liberals are already livid.

Congressman Jerry Nadler — who is part of the Democratic party's Progressive  Caucus — slammed the reports in a comment made on Friday:

 I am quite concerned by reports that the  forthcoming White House budget proposal might include chained CPI and other  accommodations to Republicans determined to dismantle our social safety net and the  progress our nation has made since the New Deal.  I must reiterate  that I will never support any reductions in Social Security, Medicare or  Medicaid benefits – and chained CPI is a direct reduction in Social Security  benefits.  Along with my fellow progressives, I will vehemently oppose any  such cuts.    

We cannot lose sight of the facts.  Social  Security is one of the bedrocks of our middle class society and is an essential  safety net for millions of American seniors and their families.  Millions  of Americans rely on Social Security benefits for medical care, food, housing,  and other needs.  We cannot force seniors to pay even more to fill the hole  left by unnecessary and irresponsible cuts to Social Security.

Other, more grassroots leftists, are even more livid.

Here's the pseudonymous  New Deal Democrat, who writes great economics analysis for The Bonddad Blog,  and who used to be part of the Daily Kos community:

For many grass-roots democrats, this is a bridge  - no, an ocean - too far. Any "democrat" who supports these proposals is never  going to get my vote. Period. I will support any primary opponents and I will  accept a one term GOPer if necessary to end the political career of any Grand  Betrayers, replacing them with a progressive in 2 or 6 years. And I know I am  far from alone.

In a blog post, Paul  Krugman argues that all Obama is doing is trying to appeal to the "Very  Serious People" who insist that both parties are to blame for Washington  dysfunction. Krugman argues that if anything, Social Security benefits should be  increased, given the collapse of other retirement vehicles  (401Ks and such) that haven't panned out as well as people thought.

Obama's gambit will blow up in his face, he argues, as the political points  he thought he could score will not materialize:

So what’s this about? The answer, I fear, is that  Obama is still trying to win over the Serious People, by showing that he’s  willing to do what they consider Serious — which just about always means  sticking it to the poor and the middle class. The idea is that they will finally  drop the false equivalence, and admit that he’s reasonable while the GOP is  mean-spirited and crazy.

But it won’t happen. Watch the Washington  Post editorial page over the next few days. I hereby predict that it will  damn Obama with faint praise, saying that while it’s a small step in the right  direction, of course it’s inadequate — and anyway, Obama is to blame for  Republican intransigence, because he could make them accept a Grand Bargain that  includes major revenue increases if only he would show Leadership (TM).

Oh, and wanna bet that Republicans soon start  running ads saying that Obama wants to cut your Social Security?

Anyway, we'll know more this week.

But while everyone is talking about the "civil war" inside the GOP, watch to  see if it's the Democrats who implode over this issue.

Read more:  http://www.businessinsider.com/liberals-furious-at-obamas-chained-cpi-2013-4#ixzz2PsHCyGKa

So that's what Assange has been doing inside the embassy! WikiLeaks releases  1.7m US diplomatic and intelligence reports covering every country in the  world

• Wikileaks  releases database of U.S. diplomatic records from 1973 to  1976
• Henry  Kissinger was U.S. Secretary of State and National Security  Adviser
• Julian  Assange worked on project inside Ecuadorian Embassy in London
• Australian  Wikileaks founder, 41, sought refuge at the embassy last  June

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305437/WikiLeaks-Kissinger-Cables-Julian-Assange-releases-1-7m-US-diplomatic-intelligence-reports.html#ixzz2PryIVawc Follow us:@MailOnline on Twitter |DailyMail on Facebook

PYONGYANG PREPS MISSILES

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/03/obamacare-in-trouble-exchange-provision-delayed-as-lawmakers-push-to-repeal/?test=latestnews#ixzz2PUdupaPR

Sneak Peek: World Trade Center Observation Deck

Why do disgraced, cheating, lying politicans always think that the public can't live without them? Let's ask Mark Sanford, shall we?

"..Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday cleared another hurdle in  his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council  member to win the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat he held for three  terms.

"It's been a very long journey. And in that journey I am humbled to find  ourselves where we find ourselves tonight," said Sanford, whose political career  was derailed four years ago when, as sitting governor, he disappeared from the  state only to return to acknowledge an extramarital affair with an Argentine  woman.

That woman, Maria Belen Chapur, and Sanford are now engaged. She appeared at  Sanford's side during his victory speech, smiling and applauding the former  governor, who thanked her for being long-suffering while he was campaigning. She  did not address the crowd.

As President Obama prepares to head to Colorado on Wednesday to push gun  control legislation, some are calling into question the validity of a key  statistic he’s using to tout his message on near-universal background  checks.

During several speeches, Obama has said 40 percent of all gun purchases were  made without a background check.

But that number is nearly two decades old and comes from a poll with a  relatively tiny sample size. Gun rights groups like the National Rifle  Association, as well as The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker,” are calling out  the president’s stat, saying his numbers on background checks need a background  check of their own.

During a speech last week, Obama asked, “Why wouldn’t we want to make it more  difficult for a dangerous person to get his or her hand on a gun? Why wouldn’t  we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40 percent of all gun  purchases to take place without a background check? Why wouldn’t we do  that?”

Read more:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/03/obama-criticized-for-using-dated-disputed-gun-stat-to-sell-background-checks/#ixzz2POombeMY

BIGGEST BROKE CITY: Bankruptcy Judge Lets Stockton, Calif., Go Bust

• VIDEO: Stockton Ruling Key to US Cities' Bankruptcy Options
• Obama Nominates Economic Aide Brian Deese for No. 2 Budget Slot

INTRODUCING THE COMMON SENSE RESTORATION PROJECT:

The East Walpole baker who took a stand against food-stamp fraud at the Braintree Farmers Market last year by refusing to accept EBT cards for her whoopie pies and pastries is now starting her own political movement.

It’s called the Common Sense Restoration Project.

“We’re going to show these guys we’re paying attention and that we do care what’s happening with our tax dollars,” said Andrea Taber, the owner of the Ever So Humble Pie Co., who captured national attention after the Herald broke the story of her refusal to accept EBT cards for her confections at the Braintree Farmers Market.

The first meeting at the bakery drew 75 people a few weeks ago, Taber said. The next session is slated for April 16 from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring guest speakers state Reps. Shaunna O’Connell and Keiko Orrall.

“It’s become like the Liberty Tree Tavern,” Taber said. “Everybody’s saying, ‘What are we going to do about our country?’ There’s just no common sense.”