Cave News

Daily scandal avoidance keeps Jay Carney on the defensive

Beleaguered White House press secretary Jay Carney (pictured) has been kept on the defensive as he continues his almost comical daily exercise in scandal avoidance.

On Monday Carney was escorted by reporters down several nightmarish paths.

The most ghastly of them all was the one on which he was forced to acknowledge that more White House officials than previously disclosed knew about the Treasury inspector general’s IRS report, and that the information was far more substantive than the simple “heads up” Carney had said it was.

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“Are you going to ask me about Myanmar?” Carney joked Monday as yet another White House reporter teed up a question about one of the various scandals swirling about the administration. (The leader of Myanmar was to meet with President Obama later in the day).

But it’s no joking matter!

Carney is trying anything to move attention away from a White House swirling in scandals.

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Leaks turn to deluge as wheels come off Obama administration

A report at the link below is titled, “Leaks turn to deluge for reeling White House”.

The wheels came off the Obama administration yesterday.

We learned of a startling assault on freedom of the press by the Department of Justice, following the revelation last week of the unprecedented information-gathering foray by that department against The Associated Press.

Then, a few minutes later, the Justice Department’s inspector general released a report declaring that the US attorney in Arizona used the leak of a confidential memo to try to discredit a whistleblower in the notorious “gun-walking” scandal known as Fast and Furious (which got two federal agents killed).

The leak was called “egregious.” The US attorney, Dennis Burke, was an Obama political appointee.

It will be a full time job for the liberal media to try to ‘right the ship’ of state.

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Belize home of antivirus pioneer John McAfee burns to the ground

The Belize home of John McAfee has reportedly burned to the ground.

A building manager reportedly called the fire department as a bush fire closed in, but by the time they got there it was too late to stop the blaze.

The property, which was reportedly for sale, was where Mr. McAfee (pictured) was living when his American neighbour Gregory Faull was shot dead in November.

It was subsequently raided by Belize police who found guns and ammunition. Mr McAfee was named as a "person of interest" but not a suspect in the case.

McAfee has denied any involvement and claimed he was being persecuted by corrupt authorities.

Mr. McAfee now lives in Portland, Oregon.

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Obama Scandals drag MSNBC to 7-year low while Fox News rises

The scandals of the Obama administration are hurting not just the White House but MSNBC as well while Fox News Channel scored its second-best week of the year.

After double-digit gains during last year’s presidential election, May 13-17 saw the progressive-aligned “Lean Forward” news network hit new lows as the IRS scandal erupted and revelations that the Justice Department secretly obtained AP records became public.

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IRS scandal magnifies ObamaCare’s flaws

The scandal involving the IRS, one of the key agencies charged with enforcing ObamaCare is adding fuel to the political fire over the controversial new law according to a report at the link below.

Republicans in the House are directly linking the news that the IRS was inappropriately targeting tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status to its battle to get rid of ObamaCare.

Top House leaders are making it clear that railing against the health care law remains a central focus in the next midterm election.

Republicans on Capitol Hill say most Americans don't yet realize that the IRS is charged with key parts of ObamaCare, including enforcing the mandate that individuals carry health insurance.

Now that the agency has lost credibility they plan to capitalize on the increased public attention by calling into question whether the IRS is up to the task.

Given the political potency and fact that Obama is still dogged by the issue, Republicans are determined to continue linking the two issues.

Americans will rue the day ObamaCare was foisted on them - especially after they learn just how toxic the IRS and ObamaCare mix really is.

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1975 report: Tornado outbreaks blamed on global cooling

A Newsweek article from April 28, 1975 was titled, The Cooling World. The report blamed tornado outbreaks on global cooling.

Al Gore did not seem to be available for comment.

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Report: IRS breaks the rules

There is a growing body of evidence that the IRS was used as a blunt instrument to harass and intimidate conservatives, Republican donors, and anyone who might be an Obama opponent.

The question remains who is responsible.

Who gave the order?

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S&H Green Stamp collector box

Sperry & Hutchinson, distributor of S&H Green Stamps, was the most popular of literally dozens of savings stamp programs available in the last half of the 20th century.

Although S&H Green Stamps were available before 1900, most of the other savings stamps came out much later.

After you filled up a Green Stamp book, and tried your best to get the glue taste out of your mouth, you drove down to the S&H Redemption Store (pictured) to shop for merchandise.

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This is a “Stamp Saver” collection box made to hang on a wall. This is the one we used. It sat on top of the refrigerator and over the years collected enough stamps to fill several booklets.

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There were other similar stamps available in our area but the only ones we collected besides S&H Green Stamps were the Blue Community Savings Stamps that were available in Lincoln, Nebraska where we lived at that time.

Blue Stamps were given as premiums to many shoppers in Nebraska starting in the 1950's. Although available at many other area stores they were sponsored by Miller and Paine department stores in Lincoln and Grand Island Nebraska.

Blue Community Savings Stamps were popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s but lost their luster in the 1970's and finally died in the 1980's when Miller and Paine department stores were purchased by Dillard’s.

One of the first things Dillard’s did was to close the “flagship” Miller and Paine store (shown above) at 13th and “O” in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska.

The value of each blue stamp was 1/20th of of one cent.

Free speech at risk after IRS and AP scandals?

Chilling effect. That's the term lawyers and judges use to describe the result of government actions that deter people from exercising their right of free speech.

There have been plenty of examples in the past 10 days.

From Michael Barone’s report:

The Obama administration's Justice Department issued a sweeping demand for two months of office, cellular and home telephone records from multiple Associated Press reporters and editors to investigate an alleged breach of national security.

The AP story in question, on a foiled terrorist plot, had been withheld for days at the request of the CIA. It finally went out on the wire on a Monday, after the AP was told that administration spokesmen would officially announce it the next day.

That tends to undercut Attorney General Eric Holder's claim that the story was based on one of "the top two or three most serious leaks that I have ever seen" and "put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole."

Full report is here.

No way Obama told the truth about when he learned of the IRS scandal

The report at the link below quotes an article in the Wall Street Journal:

The White House’s chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups, a senior White House official said Sunday.

Obama knew. He didn’t just “read about it in the newspaper,” or whatever horsecrap he said last week.

He knew it was going on, and he was okay with it. Just like he knew Benghazi wasn’t a spontaneous protest triggered by a dumb YouTube video. Just like he knows Eric Holder is a lying thug. It’s his administration, and he’s well aware of the example he’s set.

The only alternative is that he’s utterly, criminally incompetent. Either way, he’s unfit for office.

Strong words in the quote above but what else can we expect when the president acts more and more like a dictator who knows he can do anything he wants with impunity.

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