On The Fourth of July Thank The Founding Fathers - AND THANK THE FRENCH!

Many think of the United States as being the product, the “child” of Great Britain, after all, the American people literally went to war with the Empire twice, the first time to get their freedom, and the second time to keep it. Two hundred years later, the two countries officially still speak the same language, English - although an Alabama drawl is a far cry from Scottish. It is a metaphor often used; that of a new nation, the child, by 1776, having grown into “adulthood,” was ready for independence, however the parent, not willing to grant that independence instead places more punishing restrictions on the child, resulting in further rebellion rather than submission and compliance.

In keeping with the motif of the United States taking on the role of child, and Great Britain playing the parent, restrictions imposed on the “British Subjects” that England gave "birth" to, were done so without the natural benefits and privileges normally associated with being "family." The Colonies weren't family, but quasi-citizens of the United Kingdom, forced to obey rules without due representation, or perhaps more accurately, assignations defined as unbearable and burdensome measures, that specially targeted the Colonies, designed to constrain their freedom through oppression and taxation. Those that failed to obey the King’s rule were severely dealt with, charged with treason, their property confiscated, punished by imprisonment, slavery, and possibly, even consigned to death by hanging. What child wouldn’t want to flee such despotic ruthlessness, to break away, secure liberty? And if the above metaphor is in fact appropriate, perhaps more accurately the United States was the “abused stepchild” of Great Britain and King George, he the evil “stepfather,” guilty of "child abuse." If that’s the correct picture painted, then "who" is America’s mother, that other primary parent, the one that provides comfort, protection, and sanctuary in order to facilitate escape? The answer is obvious, and I need only look to my own mother for a reminder – France (this is not a metaphor for my personal relationship with my father, who would have been right there with the patriots of 1776, and happily obliged my efforts for independence).

Three hundred years ago France and Great Britain were at peace in Europe, in North America, and around the world, their “marriage” conciliatory, and their young child, “America,” growing, learning, and gaining independent thoughts. Essentially, there were two major colonies on the continent of North America, one French and one English, coexisting in relative harmony, but only so long as their parents remained at peace. The people of France however, nearly at the end of their rope, were exhausted by centuries of oppressive monarchies inside their own borders. When hostilities between the two empires ignited again in the mid eighteenth century (there has been a long, painful history of disagreements between the two), the fighting spilled over onto the new continent, a land that both countries sought for an apparent never-ending abundance of resources - and that was before the discoveries a century later for the industrial uses of coal, oil, and natural gas, let alone the intellectual resources that freedom of thought fostered within American shores.

The British Isles having limited natural resources, North America’s wealth and prosperity were essential for the expansion and colonization goals of the 18th century British Empire, and the Colonies provided a continuous source of funds for the conflicts King George III was provoking around the world as a result. The crown's cruelly aggressive, bulldozer approach to governance gave assurance that the shakedown would continue. The “New World” was a sweeping, seemingly ever changing and unending beautiful terrain, with vast millions and millions of acres of forests full of billions of trees; trees useful for building forts, fleets of war ships (Man o’ War), muskets and pistols, as well as precious metals and ore for the barrels of those weapons, and cannons, cannon balls, and lead for the muskets, and all kinds of other weapons. The newly discovered territory, sparsely inhabited by indigenous, mostly nomadic unrelated tribal "Indians," was equally bountiful, and fertile for crops, the newly discovered tobacco, the “amber waves of grain,” the cotton picked by slave labor and indentured servitude, that could be exported at great profit. And of course, the original Colonies were the purveyors of newly discovered deposits of other precious metals, such as silver and gold, to pay for George III’s wide autocratic rule, and more importantly for that despot, the colonies were an important source of revenue from harsh taxation, "taxation without representation." And the population of the Colonies was growing exponentially.

King George III in happier days.

Of course King George III would be reticent to give up such a source of never-ending funding, which is exactly what tyrants and their bloated, corrupt administrators that know no boundaries for greed, avarice, power, and spending do with selfish aplomb. Not surprisingly the narcissistic King George III’s imperial reign of the late 18th century is not unlike the repressive nature of corrupt forces that have followed, and that are at work two and a half centuries later. Of course that was before America’s independence had been won by a poorly armed militia and small army against the most powerful army in the world, and almost 30 years before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, when the young United States bought the land west of the Mississippi from France for $15 million in cash and debt cancellation. The transaction turned out to be one of the great business deals ever negotiated, let alone by the federal government, the reality of the purchase being a ridiculously asymmetric acquisition, shrewdly negotiated by Thomas Jefferson, considered the most brilliant president to ever reside in the White House, agreed to by an increasingly desperate, and cash-strapped Napoleon Bonaparte, who had a slave revolt in Haiti and an impending war with England to deal with.

Called unconstitutional by Jefferson’s political opponents, which surprisingly Jefferson actually admitted, the Louisiana Purchase soon proved to be a triumph for the president far exceeding his, or anyone’s wildest expectations. Upon the completion of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806 it was confirmed that Jefferson had made the deal of the millennium, the land west of the Mississippi teaming with unimagined mountains, rich valleys and waterways, and never before seen wonders that stretched the imagination. America’s connection with France had continued following the priceless aid the French had provided the Continental Army in Washington’s victory over the British a quarter century before, when French cargo ships provided valuable supplies, and a young Lafayette provided valuable advice and generous checkbook. We can thank the French for our independence. We can thank the French for our increasing success. Of course the British took note of that new wealth, and again waged war against the United States in 1812 in attempt to take that wealth and our freedom away, an error that only emboldened our resolve, further sealed our independence, and gave us a national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

Every year on the Fourth of July, many, but far from a majority, of liberty-loving Americans understand that the nation’s most important holiday isn’t just about fireworks and a possible three-day weekend, but a celebration of our nation’s “Declaration of Independence,” the statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of American history, and has been included among one of the most important documents ever to be written, not just in the history of the United States of America, but history everywhere.

Never actually using those familiar words “Declaration of Independence” as a phrase anywhere in the document itself, the carefully drafted one page pronouncement of 1338 words, and signed by 56 representatives of the newly independent sovereign states, declared that those states were no longer a part of the British Empire, but instead they were a new nation – the Unites States of America. An indictment as well as a declaration, the Colonies had finally had enough of the tyranny of Great Britain as an empire and of King George III personally, in a vitriolic sort of way, citing the monarch for numerous and repeated injuries which he had personally placed upon the Colonies by imperial decree.

The Founding Fathers. George III called them "rebels."

Although the majority of the colonists were clearly disgusted with the dreadful repression of George III, many were not; nearly half, the start perhaps of the first great social and political divide that exists even today. The “loyalists,” often the recipients of spoils taken from the majority by George III, blindly pledged their loyalty to the crown, considered the “rebels,” the “tea partiers,“ as disloyal and treasonous. The loyalists might very well have won out had the French not intervened with money, munitions, soldiers, and naval forces fighting alongside Americans in their brave struggle for “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” These were historical favors that would never be forgotten by a very grateful band of “Founding Fathers,” Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Monroe, Franklin, and Jay, as well as their “children,” citizens of a new great nation, and that would forever cement France and the United States as allies, and why we would immediately, and naturally come to their aid twice in the 20th century, most notably liberating France from Nazi plunder and occupation in World War II.

Marquis de La Fayette

It should also not be lost to history the significance of Thomas Jefferson’s years spent in France following the American Revolution, our nation’s third president replacing Benjamin Franklin as the Minister to France, spending four and a half years there from 1785 to 1789. Not without coincidence it was in the year that Jefferson left Paris that the French people began their own ten-year, bloody revolution against the autocratic rule of another king, Louis XVI. 

Therefore, on the Fourth of July, while Americans should celebrate our independence from Great Britain, we should also celebrate our deep relationship, and enduring friendship with France and her people. Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian museums are modeled after those in Paris. France modeled her struggle for independence after our own; Jefferson’s work a blueprint. Finally, France gave us our colors, she gave us our Statue of Liberty, and she also gave us our “toast” and our “fries.” Vive la France and long live the United States of America – Happy Fourth of July!

Paris is perhaps my favorite city anywhere, certainly in my opinion, the most beautiful. Paris is the definition of chic. It is the epicenter for fashion, for bohemian artists, writers, dancers, musicians, photographers, and film directors. The French Riviera is my favorite coast. My favorite wine is from Bordeaux. And the best kiss is of course a French kiss. I have been to France many times in my life. The French people, as Americans, are proud, and rightfully so. Many non-French say they have an unmistakable swagger, an "exceptionalism," even arrogance. They say the same about Americans as well. Oui, it is true. And we Americans are the children of France.  

The Declaration of Independence, broken down into five distinct, but unofficial parts; the Introduction; the Preamble; the Indictment of King George III; the Denunciation the British people; and finally, the Conclusion, is as follows:      

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.  He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these statesFor taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

             New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

             Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine,                  Elbridge Gerry

             Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

             Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

ALL THE WORLD'S GYPSIES OFFENDED

Hildabeast - the old gypsy who cast the curse.

OLD WOMAN ATTACKS MICHELLE OBAMA
Western Journalism - 1 day ago

Milan, Italy - An old woman believed to be around 70-years old, sprung up behind the first lady while Michelle Obama was attending a fashion show in Milan, Italy, grabbing her arm. Secret Services agents responded in split seconds, but not before the old woman, who's name this reporter has learned is "Hildabeast," uttered a sentence, which those familiar with gypsies in the Milan area said was a gypsy curse.

"It's a very distinct she say. She a say 'Michelle I curse you a mouth and teeth rottener,'" says Fabio Dulchetti, a worker at the big event in Milan. "She a curse her and then she a cackle with some kind a wild crazy laugh."

Other witnesses said that the Hildabeast woman has been seen near Michelle Obama many times before. "I've even seen her at the White House," said one of Mrs. Obama's aids. "I think she believes she used to live there and says it's her house and she wants it back."

Hildabeast was taken away by the Secret Service who apparently released her just a few feet from another group of Secret Service that helped her into a waiting limousine, which then sped off. The loud, cackling laughing could be heard over the sirens of the police escort.

Gypsy curses date back nearly a thousand years, come in a variety of forms, usually presenting the cursed with physical maladies that range from hair loss, to blindness and deformities, eventually even death. The only known cure comes from the very gypsy who made the curse in the first place. "I feel a bad for ah Mrs. Obama. There's ah nothing she can ah do. She can ah expect ah her breath ah to be like a dragon breath and all her teeth ah to get a rotten - and a fall out," Dulchetti explained.

La Zingara (the gypsy in Italian) and spokeswoman for WADG, the World Alliance of Displaced Gypsies, said that the curse was clearly in response to the denigration and racial slur recently made by Michelle Obama "about a gypsies everywhere when she use the 'g' word saying she was a ripped-off. She wouldn't have been ripped-off if she knew how to spend less money," La Zingara said.

With origins in Romania, Gypsies are a wandering nomadic people who travel in wagon caravans, and practice such cultural celebrations as sitting in a circle around an evening campfire clapping while a beautiful young woman dances widely and provocatively to a fast-paced fiddle. They are also known for curses and curse removal, as well as fortune telling. Some police authorities have branded them as thieves and pickpockets, a label that La Zingara said is overblown and causes the fragile self-esteem of gypsies everywhere to suffer.

Mrs. Obama had been attending a White House Summit on Working Families earlier in the week when she was quoted by ABC's Robin Roberts as saying, "The first thing I tried to do, which was a mistake, was that I tried the part-time thing…I realized I was getting gypped on that front."

When asked for comment, senior twitterer for the Administration, Mary Harf responded with continuous use of her fingers as quotations that, "The First Lady wasn't saying that gypsies are rip-off artists, in fact, she didn't even say the word 'gypped' with a 'g' at all. She said 'jeeped' with a 'j,' as she was being driven somewhere in a 'jeep.' And what she was also saying was that she did not do a very good job in 'jewing' them down. So there's no need for FOX News and their reporters to be running around all over the place like it's a 'Chinese fire drill' or something, making baseless accusations."

When pressed further by reporters about the altercation with Hildabeast, Harf added, "The First Lady is not concerned by the attack on her - by this woman - a very sick woman, who is apparently mentally ill, and that the first lady has compassion about and feels very sorry for. In the meantime Mrs. Obama will finish her shopping, she's here to buy some custom-designed shoes and dresses, and then fly back on Air Force One's spare 747 to LA for the Beyonce and Jay Z Democratic fund raiser." Harf was later seen climbing into a leased van carrying a carton that appeared to contain Listerine antiseptic mouthwash.

La Zingara was not satisfied with the first lady's explanation and has said that her organization is planning a million wagon caravan to Washington D.C this fall as a protest. In addition to the caravan, all gypsy fortune tellers worldwide have been asked by WADG to begin casting mass curses at both Michelle and Mr. Obama. Those spells are set to start immediately it was said.

In a related story, an IRS official has announced that all traveling bands of gypsies will need to immediately file paperwork substantiating a permanent mailing address so that they may be audited. The source of that announcement cannot be confirmed and all associated eMails pertaining to the announcement have been deleted in fear of reprisals by curse.

Mitt Romney Was Right About ...EVERYTHING!

I was recently shown an article in Rolling Stone from August 29, 2012. Written by Matt Taibbi, it was titled  "Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital". I remember that one very well, having read it while on vacation in Kauai during the middle of September 2012 just after learning of an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. That attack had occurred on the 11-year anniversary of 9/11, something the Obama seemed to attribute to being coincidental to a fantastic and far from believable reason. Interested in  additional sources of information regarding the attack, and also looking for something to read while relaxing on the beach, (I was convalescing from a recent shoulder injury and surgery - so no surfing) I had bought the Rolling Stone at the Outrigger on Waikiki during a day trip to Oahu, along with a USA Today, a Vanity Fair and the Economist.  That article sticks in my mind precisely because of what had just happened in Benghazi, an event that had occurred the week that issue hit the newsstands.

Kicked back on on beach chair, I threw the USA Today down on the sand and sipped on a Mai Tai I just been served. The newspaper had run through a fuzzy timeline of the murderous events in Benghazi, conducted by a "wound up group" the president of the United States and his Secretary of State had repeatedly described as "protesters angered because of an anti-Mohammed video." Having recently been to that very location in  Libya, I wanted to know more about that event and what had lead to it. Disgusted with the flimsy explanation offered so far, I wanted something "light" to read. I decided I'd go for the Rolling Stone. Intrigued by the ridiculousness of the cover story, I opened the magazine and went straight to the story. 

Although I found the article well written and entertaining, as most of the contributions in Rolling Stone generally are, it still doesn’t change the fact that it was a very cynical, and biased piece, published in a magazine that was publically endorsing President Obama in 2012. There was plenty of name-calling, character assassination, but no real substance or accuracy, instead, from start to finish exaggeration and overkill, as well as conveniently using obvious hyperbole as sincerity.

“Last May, in a much-touted speech in Iowa, Romney used language that was literally inflammatory to describe America's federal borrowing. "A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation," he declared. "Every day we fail to act, that fire gets closer to the homes and children we love." Our collective debt is no ordinary problem: According to Mitt, it's going to burn our children alive.”

Really? Mitt Romney actually means the National Debt will literally “burn our children alive?” The writer even slammed Bill Clinton while he was at it, which wasn’t alarming since it’s well known Barack Obama and Bill Clinton despise each other.

As the founder and editor of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner's can publish what he wants. That’s his prerogative. And since he has a readership that is predominately northeast and west coast, a demographic that trends heavily towards very liberal points of views, and always has, his writers will therefore have an exceedingly left-leaning slant. When that issue came out at the end of August 2012, both the Democratic and Republican conventions were over, and the campaigns were in the heat of battle. The media heavily supported Obama, and there was some serious ugliness being thrown at Romney from every corner, warning of the evil that lurked within, the Darth Vader that ran Bain Capital like the Evil Empire, killing Alderaans by the bushels. According to the mythology perpetuated by Taibbi and the 99% (occupy Wall Street and every other street you’ve cost millions of tax payer dollars to clean after wrecking) he was trying to fire up, Mitt Romney was forcing companies to take on unrealistic amounts of debt, then syphoned off that debt as investing banking fees until the company either filed for bankruptcy or fired most of its workers. That’s fallacy, and one of the examples of such unethical “fee layering” that Taibbi sites occurred in 2000 when Romney was in fact no longer even with Bain Capital, he was heading up the turnaround of the 2002 Winter Olympics financial meltdown, which Taibbi also paints as evil work because Romney got the U.S. Treasury to help. Huh?

Romney at opening of 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. 

Taibbi uses a number even larger than what was touted by the DNC at their 2012 Convention, $1.3 billion. Taibbi’s figure is $1.5 billion; money that Taibbi claims was more taxpayer money than the previous seven U.S. hosted Olympic games combined. What Taibbi and the DNC failed to clarify was that most of the money was federal money previously earmarked for “Federal Highway Spending” on roads and interstate highway and bridges. According to the U.S. GAO report the government actually spent $342 million on direct costs related to the Olympic games, which was primarily associated with post 9/11 security measures. One other caveat mentioned in the GAO report, and overlook by Taibbi, who obviously has a problem writing the truth, was that the federal share of the costs associated with hosting the Olympic games has gone down over time. In1980 the federal government picked up 50% of the overall tab, and in 2002 it was 18%. If Romney hadn’t sought all sources of money, including that from local, state, and federal sources, he wouldn’t have been doing his job, but the far left tends to not support political candidates that can - Obama case in point. 

Another favorite misnomer of the hypocritical left, and Obama himself during the 2012 campaign, was the false claim that Governor Romney didn’t pay his “fair share” of taxes. Senator Harry Reid went even so far as to go on the floor of the Senate, make up a straw man, who he claimed he had from a reliable source that Romney “hadn’t paid any taxes” for the tax return years not made public. Unfortunately it’s not a crime to tell lies on the floor of the Senate. Taibbi called Romney a “private equity pirate,” who “pays less than half the tax rate of most American executives – less, even, than teachers, firefighters, cops and nurses,” which again, is grossly inaccurate. Taibbi continues, “Asked about the fact that he paid a tax rate of only 13.9 percent on income of $21.7 million in 2010, Romney responded testily that the massive windfall he enjoys from exploiting the tax code is ‘entirely legal and fair.’"

Not having a degree in accounting or finance, and having worked only as a journalist his entire career, I would hardly a view the calculations of Matt Taibbi as a credible source for financial accuracy, even though he’s considered an authority on financial matters, unfortunately only by obscure, rather dubious and irrelevant cable programs and magazines. Matt Taibbi’s accounting shouldn’t be trusted for even the simplest of tax returns. Forbes explained the Romney taxes based upon the latest tax return available at the time of the election this way:

“There are two reasons that the Romneys’ tax bill is below 15%. According to their 2010 tax return (the latest available), Mr. and Mrs. Romney reduced their taxable income by the $3 million they gave to charities. 

The second and most important reason is the majority of the Romneys’ income is taxed twice – first at the corporate level, and a second time when they report it on their personal income tax return. 

Taxable interest income accounted for $3.3 million of their $21.7 million in total income. Since companies are able to reduce their income dollar for dollar with the interest they pay out, interest income is not taxed at the corporate level, but only once as personal income.  In the case of the Romneys, it was taxed at 35%, the top marginal personal income tax rate. 

The Romneys also reported $4.9 million in ordinary dividends, of which $3.3 million qualified for the 15% tax rate.  Unlike interest payments, corporations may not deduct dividends from their income.  Dividend income therefore is taxed twice, first at the corporate level, and then again when it is reported on an individual’s personal income tax return. 

A precise calculation of this double tax is impossible to make because the tax rates paid by different corporations vary widely – from 0% by GE and General Motors to the top corporate tax rate of 35%.  A rigorous economic analysis would use the top marginal tax rate because that is the rate that affects economic decisions. However, for the purpose of this analysis, a reasonable estimate would use the average U.S. corporate tax-rate, which over longer periods of time, has been 25%. 

Based on a 25% tax rate, for every $133 a corporation earned, it had to first pay $33 in federal income taxes before it could distribute $100 in dividends.  Next, on every $100 of dividend income received, the Romneys paid an additional $15 in taxes.  The combined tax of $48 totals out to a 36% rate on dividend income ($48/$133), which approximates the top personal income rate imposed on interest income.”

In layman’s terms, what that means is that Romney’s actual “effective tax” before charitable donations, is greater than 30%.  Thus, the Romney’s total income and taxes paid must also be adjusted up by 33% (1.33-(.25*1.33)=1) of the amount of their $12.6 million in capital gains income, or $4.2 million.  After this adjustment, the Romney’s “Adjusted Total Income” is $27.0 million, and their “Adjusted Total Federal Income Tax Payments” are $8.3 million, $5.3 million more than reported on their tax return and 30.7% of their Adjusted Total Income.

Taibbi also goes on to create a guilt by association fable, tying Romney to Michael Milken, as if by just doing business with Milken makes him guilty wrongdoing that should have landed him in the “Big House,” in fact just working at a company with links to Wall Street in the 1980’s and during the “Internet Bubble of 1997-1999,” according to the Taibbi theory of finance, is in itself corrupt. The accusations leveled at Mitt Romney of tax evasion isn't even worth the electrons Taibbi, and every left leaning news organization from Mother Jones to ABC News used to make that claim.  Here are the facts yet again:

The trustee for the Romney family’s investments -- Brad Malt of the law firm Ropes & Gray -- set up the account in 2003. There were no tax advantages to holding the Swiss account, said Malt in a conference call with reporters in January 2012, when the campaign released Mitt and Ann Romney’s 2010 tax returns.

The account contained approximately $3 million, and it was held by Union Bank Switzerland, or UBS.

"The tax is fully paid, just as if this were a U.S. bank account, nothing more complicated than that," Malt said then.

In addition to that factoid, numerous Democrats that included Debbie Wasserman Shultz and even Obama himself had mutual fund accounts or trusts with assets located in "offshore" accounts.

Such was the ways of the 2012 Obama campaign as it was getting into full swing, and with a billion dollars in the war chest, the Chicago style politics was operating on all cylinders and at peak performance. In spite of that firepower, they had the added bonus of having unashamed media support from all three major television News Networks, Public Television Networks, all Cable News Networks with the exception of one, many high circulation newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc., on and one, and then a number of magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone. Unfortunately for the Clintons, like Romney in 2012, the 2008 Hillary Clinton primary campaign saw some of that as well, when the Obama minions and their media surrogates so viciously, (and justifiably) attacked Hillary Clinton. Those particular wounds have never really healed, as the Clintons and the Obamas hate each other, although they do a good job of putting on a great game face when on stage and the lights for the cameras are on.  The animosity between them is so bad in fact, that among friends and in private Valerie Jarrett and Michelle Obama refer to Hillary Clinton as “Hildabeast.” And the next election campaign, 2016, will be just as ugly as 2012, if not uglier.

Romney family in 2012

I happen to personally know Mitt and Anne, and four of their sons. I first met Governor Romney the 90s after hanging up my flight helmet and G-suit for pinstripes.  Wall Street had been always been my plan following the joyrides of F-14’s while a twenty-something. I was planning on Harvard Business School, and then to seek my fortune. Desert Storm delayed that plan some, but I managed to finally get going, and perhaps with a bit more seasoning, as well as crucial character building under my belt.

I had interviewed with Bain Capital, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and a couple of others. In an era of post Michael Milken, Ivan Bosky and the Wall Street insider trading scandals of the late 1980’s, Mitt Romney was a real anomaly. He was far from the Gordon Gekko label Matt Taibbi tagged him as. He didn’t drink he didn’t smoke he didn’t cuss. He didn’t flaunt his money. He didn’t fly around in private jets. And he drove himself around in his own crappy car. He was very affable, very kind, and very complimentary.  And very, very smart. When it came to disseminating a sophisticated deal, he could see through the clouds of structured financing confusion quickly, much like Warren Buffet, and was swift and decisive - a hallmark of leadership. His management style was equally adroit. I would have gone to Bain Capital, but since I was geared more to the trading floor rather than investment banking, and Bain was still pretty small at that time in 1993, I chose instead to go with Morgan Stanley. That’s one decision I regret.  

Being an unusually humble man, especially for a politician, who seldom uses the word “I," you’ll never hear the Governor tell you about the following personal “attributes,” facts that speaks volumes for his character, and flies in the face of the insinuations made by Taibbi and Rolling Stone. Mitt Romney can’t change who his father was, who by the way was an honorable, self-made man, and passed on many of those positive traits to his youngest child son Mitt. George Romney was himself very successful, the youngest CEO of a major automobile manufacturer, in addition George Romney was very civic minded, serving on the board of directors or chairing numerous foundations, educational committees, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, mostly within the Detroit area, and ultimately the Governor of Michigan. In spite of George Romney’s successes, his did not receive money as inheritance. What they did receive was an education, love, family structure, and values. In reality, despite the blatantly false claims made by Obama campaign surrogates in an attempt to paint him as a privileged elitist, Mitt Romney didn't take one dime of “inheritance” from his father.

As a missionary in France during his college years Romney lived on a $100 a month. When Mitt Romney was at Harvard in the MBA/Law program, Mitt and Anne lived in married-student housing. There was no doubt in my mind that Mitt Romney was the right man for the job when the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics needed bailing out. He spent three years there and agreed to only take a salary and severance if the Games posted a profit, which they did. But instead of accepting the pay package, he gave it all to charity, plus another $1 million that he and Anne donated to the organizing committee. When he became governor of Massachusetts he refused to take the salary, instead, as before, directing it to charities, as did his lieutenant governor, which is indicative of his infectious management style. Of course by that time he was extremely wealthy from the investment banking deals done years and years ago, but his lifestyle had remained the same – simple.  Every year of his adult life and throughout his marriage to Anne, he has donated 20% of his gross income to charity. I recall that in 2011 he and Anne donated $4 million.

So it was very sad and heartbreaking to see how unfair the media was to the Mitt and Anne Romney. Especially by “hatchet job” writers, and unconscionable reporters bent on character assassination, and not one had even actually met either the governor or Anne in person. They still do it to this day, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry recently making fun of the photo of Mitt and Anne with their grandchildren because one was an adopted African American. The entire panel that was on air then joined in with Harris-Perry ugliness they saw as being funny, zeroing in on Kieran who is an infant. That prompted an apology from MSNBC, but that kind of awfulness came after the election, after the Romney’s had returned to private life. Always a class act, when asked about the scurrilous MSNBC slurs, Romney simply shrugged it of saint, "It's fine - she apologized."  

Anne and Mitt with grandchildren in 2013

Melissa Harris-Perry

In my many years of association with politicians, and it goes back away, I’ve never met better man. I worked for Governor Bob Graham, yes Senator Bob Graham when he was governor. I was an intern. My dad worked for George Bush, and I’ve met them all, knowing Jeb the best. I went to prep school with Ed Chiles, the son of Florida Governor Lawton Chiles, and was invited into their home. I’ve known Charlie Crist for over thirty years, introduced him to Carol his wife. These are personal relationships, and not simply those that I’ve met and had my picture made with that person because I kicked in a donation or two. And there are more politicians that I've known, or whose campaigns I've been associated with; John McCain, Rudy Giuliani’s. None of them are like the Romney family.

I’ll even go a step further and say that even when I include private citizens, those never having been in the public spotlight, without an iota of fame, I've never seen a more loving family in my life, a family that so deeply cares about people from every corner of life, that are deeply patriotic, and love this country with historical pride. It's brutal when the surrogates attack unflinchingly. It's a shame that the fair Mitt Romney story couldn't have been told by the majority of the media. There were accurate sources of reporting for sure, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and a few others. Fox told the truth, fair and balanced, about both candidates, but NBC, CBS, ABC, and most newspapers sought smear him at best and to destroy at worst. 

The 2012 election is history, but for me now, it's about setting the record straight regarding Mitt Romney "the man," the most honorable and humble man I've ever met. I receive Christmas Cards from Mitt and Anne Romney. And let me say one last thing about Mitt Romney "the candidate," he was right on almost everything he said regarding the economy and the disastrous effects that Obamacare would have on it's fragility, the threat that Russia posed to the United States, the calamity facing the world regarding Iraq, and most unfortunately, the utter failure of Obama as a president and the decline of the United States as a leader in the eyes of the world. 

THE HOWARD HUGHES BUNGALOW RULES - BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL

Subject: Proper operating procedure for Bungalow 1 C Date October 13, 1958

There are certain areas within the Bungalow 1 C area that have been set aside by Johnny Holmes for the storage of my personal things. There are also other areas that have been set aside for future use by Johnny and his people. These designated areas, which Johnny will mark clearly or designate verbally to all concerned, should be avoided by everyone outside of Johnny’s area of operation. I do not want anybody, under any circumstances, no matter what the emergency may be, to touch these areas or go anywhere near them. I do not want anyone to touch the telephone that Johnny uses, nor any of his equipment that he has put away in storage in the Bungalow or any of my things there, or anything connected with my things.

It is extremely important to me that nobody ever, under any circumstances, no matter what the emergency may be, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter what pressures are put on, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, or any other area which is either used by Johnny or indicated by Johnny to be reserved by him for my things in connection with my food operation or any other phase of my operation that Johnny takes care of. I want to make sure that nobody opens any doors to any rooms, closets, cabinets, drawers or in any way, touches any portion of these areas.

I say again, no matter how strong the emergency may be, no matter how extreme the emergency may be, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, no matter how extreme the emergency, it is extremely important to me that nobody – nobody ever, ever goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, bathroom, which is either used by Johnny or indicated by Johnny to be reserved for him, or which is used to store any of the things used in connection with my food, magazines or anything that is used for me.

I say once more, no matter, no matter what the emergency, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter how unusual the circumstances, it is extremely important to me; I say once more, no matter how extreme the emergency, no matter how unusual the circumstances may be, no matter what may have arisen, it is extremely important to me that nobody ever goes into any room, closet, cabinet, drawer, bathroom or any other area used to store any of the things which are for me – either food, equipment, magazines, paper supplies, Kleenex – no matter what. And, it is also extremely important to me that no matter what the emergency, no matter how unusual the circumstances, no matter what may have come up, no matter what kind of emergency, it is also equally important to me that nobody ever goes into any room or bathroom or any other area which Johnny has indicated is to be reserved to him only, and it is also equally important that nobody ever touches my telephone or piece of furniture or any fixture or anything of that kind which Johnny has indicated is reserved for him.

Instructions should be given for the operators so that they are not allowed to put calls through there into Johnny’s telephone – which is Bung. I C – so that nobody calls there. Sometimes it rings and the third man has to stall around getting through to the operator to have it switched. Something should be done so the other phone is the one that rings – do you have that kind of deal? I don’t want the third man using that phone, and when it rings it’s a temptation for him to pick it up.

I want you to get the third man on the phone and give him all these Instructions and be awfully, awfully sure when you are talking to him, be sure, be certain, be absolutely positive when you are talking to your third man today or any other time, be sure that he is not using Johnny’s phone, that he is not in a room reserved for Johnny and that he is not in a room used to store any of my things. This is awfully, awfully important to me. I want you to be sure, awfully sure, be certain, be positive that nobody goes into any room or cabinet or closet that is used to store any things in connection with my operation. This is equally important to me – it is equally important to me that nobody ever opens any door or opening to any room, cabinet or closet or anything used to store any of my things, even for one-thousandth of an inch for one-thousandth of a second. This applies even when he does not go in, you understand, even if the man does not enter, it is equally important to me that nobody ever opens the door or the drawer even for a fraction of an inch for a fraction of a second – any drawer, closet, or room, you understand – that is used to store any of my things, whether they be stored or just sitting there, because I don’t want the possibility of dust or insects or anything of that nature entering. I want every thing I have indicated here to be followed to the letter.

I want everything I have said here to be clearly gone over, reviewed, and repeated to everyone concerned. Maybe it ought to be written up – typewritten – and given to the men out in Bungalow 1 C. In fact, I think it not only should be written up and handed to them, but they should commit it to memory and repeat it back to you (Kay) so that you are convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have it down thoroughly.

Until further orders from me, I want nobody ever to set foot in that Bungalow (1 C) or any of those rooms we have anywhere near the Bungalow excepting only Johnny Holmes, and the two waiters – Karl and Charlie – and the number three men and Harvey. This instruction includes Roy, Harris and George.

…obtain a brand new knife, never used, to open a new box of Kleenex, using the knife to open the slot. After the box is open you are to take the little tag and the first piece of Kleenex and destroy them; then using two fingers of the left hand and two fingers of the right hand take each piece of Kleenex out of the box and place it on an opened newspaper and repeat this until approximately fifty sheets are neatly stacked…

TEN TIMES OBAMA "JUST LEARNED ABOUT IT." And if you don't agree, you're a racist.

Have you ever heard anyone that's disagreed with President Obama's policies being called a racist by the intellectually bankrupt leftist minions? You say say, "Only all the time." I figured as much. Me too! 

The race card accusation is the standard defensive argument hurled by blindly loyal Obama supporters, who like lemmings jumping off a cliff, or mice following the Pied Piper, have been carried away to the vapid noggin, "blank-stare" (aka BS) corral in 2008 and 2012, captivated by a cult of personality. The very limiting argument is used against a white person, usually male, when that person disagrees with the policies, or even just one policy of the Obama administration. If the person happens to be an African American and they disagree, they are called “Uncle Tom,” and said to be disloyal sell-outs to their race (Dr. Ben Carson, Col. Allen West, Herman Cain, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice). Such unintellectual proclamations further fuels a divisive narrative that Obama himself loves to fan via political and media surrogates. It should be pointed out however, that corruption and gross incompetence are conditions perfectly capable of being as racially blind as the theoretical application of justice is, when correcting that corruption and incompetence. With this administration, however, those conditions that violate the Constitution and break law after law have become so pervasive, reality itself has been warped and is now unrecognizable. 

“Oh a real CIA guy, the station chief in Afghanistan had his cover blown? Don’t worry about it. It’s not like he was as important as a desk clerk at Langley.” Unfortunately, the application of those checks and balances regarding justice is becoming more and more theoretical, while the wide scale corruption and gross incompetence is an unfortunate reality, and mushrooming in scale.

We have all but forgotten about the unfortunate White House slip up that blew the Station Chief’s cover (violation of law right? - Scooter Libby went to jail for the Valerie Plame cover leak), and that’s because it was squeezed in between the VA Scandal blowup and the Bergdahl fiasco. By the way, Valerie Plame had this to say about the White House's goof: that they (White House) were "Colossally Stupid." Is she a racist? Outed CIA agent Valerie Plame calls leak of Kabul operative 'colossally stupid' 

Former Outed CIA Agent Valerie Plame

And since the Bergdahl FUBAR situation we now have the crisis on the boarders with illegal immigrant children (60,000 since the beginning of the year) and of course, Iraq igniting (see my post from the June 18). All of those events have occurred in the just in the month of June, and we are only at the end of the third week.

Sad to break the news to the diehard defenders of Obama, the president's troubles do actually exist, and are not the making of a Congress that's bent on countering the administration at every turn because he’s a black man. The gridlock is primarily Obama's fault - he is the president, and is supposed to lead. Rather than attempt to work with Congress as the Constitution calls for, the president invents a Republican straw man, blames things on him, and then uses that awful fictitious person or persons to justify the use of his pen in an Executive Order.

Fortunately, in an effort to restore the balances designed by the establishment of three branches of power, and thwart Obama's further attempt at an unconstrained imperial presidency, executive order after executive order has been struck down by the Supreme Court, as being unconstitutional and in violation of the law, but not before the damage has been done. Obama's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was deemed unconstitutional. Obama's minimum wage executive order was deemed unconstitutional. During the 2012-2013 term the high court the court rejected Obama’s arguments on property rights, affirmative action, and voting rights. These were loses on significant cases with unanimous decisions, where Obama couldn't even hold the votes of its own appointees — Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. 2013-2014 is proving to be even more of a disaster for the Obama v. Supreme Court scorecard. Those mounting unanimous decisions going against Obama are not because Obama is black and the justices are nine racists. The failed policies are stacking up and coming home to roost as well, drooping the administration’s shoulders with the weight of an albatross weighing as much as $18 trillion in debt and $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

Aunt Jemima - Stacey Dash

The VA Scandal is not a right-wing, racist conspiracy, unless you believe that the veterans intentionally opted not to keep their appointments on the chance they would get sick and die in order to make Obama look bad because he’s black. Diane Feinstein did not criticize Obama for ignoring Congress and not informing them on the Bergdahl swap because she’s a racist – or are the racists just the Republicans that disagree with him? The real racists are those that continue to use the race card at every turn in order to suit their own agenda. Al Sharpton is a racist. Jesse Jackson is a racist. The rancher in Arizona is a racist. The NAACP is a racist organization, but not blind to honoring accused racists and praising them for benevolence after big dollar donations are made. Obama is failing on foreign policy and as a president, and I believe most reasonable Americans will agree with those observations. Recent polls support that notion, case in point a Washington Post/ ABC poll.

Obama’s overall approval according to that Washington Post/ABC poll is just 41%, and only 37% approve of his handling of Foreign Policy. 30% approved of the Bergdahl swap. Chuck Todd of NBC said that these numbers are “a disaster for the president.” He further added that scandals coming one after another, every single week a new one, are taking their toll, equivocating that “Essentially the public is saying, ‘Your presidency is over.’”

Show me successes that Obama has without detrimental consequences to a majority. Give me evidence of Obama’s engagement on relevant issues where decisiveness and the best interests of the people that elected Obama on both occasions, are major part the game plan - not his legacy. Remember, Obama doesn’t just represent the slightly more than one third of the country that now approves of his job handling skills, he also represents that other larger percentage, the majority of the country most negatively impacted by his weakness and dithering on foreign policy, and his horrendous executive orders that squeeze American businesses, target political opposition with the illegal use of government agencies such as the IRS, and writes off every actual scandal as something he just learned of on the news. He says that often - probably his most quotable comments. I believe he's said that at least ten (10) times - that he was blindsided or just learned about "it."

1. Islamist militants gaining in Iraq

AP
The New Yorker (1/27/2014): "In the 2012 campaign, Obama spoke not only of killing Osama bin Laden; he also said that Al Qaeda had been 'decimated.' I pointed out that the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Fallujah, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria; Al Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too.

'The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,' Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. 'I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.'"

The Wall Street Journal (6/11/2014): Iraq Drama Catches US Off Guard

2. Russia's intervention in Ukraine

AP
Politico.com (3/4/14): "A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Obama was satisfied with the intelligence he received on Russian intentions in Ukraine. But spokesmen for the U.S. intelligence community defended its work.

The Central Intelligence Agency says it’s always noted the possibility of aggressive military action.

'Prior to and throughout the situation in Ukraine, the intelligence community has provided timely and valuable information that has helped policy makers understand the situation on the ground and make informed decisions. That continues to be the case today,' said Shawn Turner, a spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. 'Any suggestion that there were intelligence shortcomings related to the situation in Ukraine are uninformed and misleading.'

... While officials appear to disagree about the insights offered by U.S. intelligence, it’s beyond dispute that a lot of public commentary pundits offered as the Ukraine crisis unfolded was less than clairvoyant."

3. NSA spying on foreign leaders

AP
Wall Street Journal (10/28/2013): "Obama was unaware for the last 5 years, the NSA had been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other members of world leaders. Only after an internal Obama administration review in 2013 did the White House know of the spying."

President Obama news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (5/16/2013): "I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the I.G. report before the I.G. report had been leaked through press -- through the press."

4. VA waiting list scandal

AP
Jay Carney during a White House press briefing (5/19/2014):

JIM ACOSTA, CNN: "When was the president first made aware of these problems? Of these fraudulent lists that were being kept to hide the wait times, when was he first made aware of those problems? And when did other White House officials, top White House officials, become aware of these problems?"

JAY CARNEY: "When you say these problems, the fact that there have been bureaucracies --"

ACOSTA: "The delays have been known for some time."

CARNEY: "You mean the specific allegations that I think were reported first by your news network out of Phoenix, I believe. We learned about them through the reports. I will double check if that is not the case. But that is when we learned about them and that is when I understand Secretary Shinseki learned about them, and he immediately took the action that he has taken."

5. IRS targeting scandal

AP
President Obama in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Cameron (May 13, 2013): "Well, let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday."

6. HealthCare.gov failing

Reuters
Remarks by President Obama on HealthCare.gov (10/21/2013): "Of course, you've probably heard that HealthCare.gov -- the new website where people can apply for health insurance and browse and buy affordable plans in most states -- hasn't worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work. And the number of people who visit the site has been overwhelming which has aggravated some of these underlying problems."

Jay Carney during a White House press briefing (10/23/2013): "While we knew that there would be some glitches and actually said publicly that we expected some problems, we did not know until the problems manifested themselves after the launch that they would be as significant as they have turned out to be."

7. DOJ obtaining AP phone records

AP
Jay Carney during a White House press briefing (5/14/2013):

QUESTION: "When did the president find out about the Department of Justice's subpoenas for the Associated Press?"

CARNEY: "Yesterday. Let me just be clear. We don’t have any independent knowledge of that. He found out about the news reports yesterday on the road."

QUESTION: "What was his reaction to that? Does he believe that this was an overreach?"

CARNEY: "All I can tell you is that I cannot and he cannot comment specifically on an ongoing criminal investigation or actions that investigators at the Department of Justice may or may not have taken. It would be wholly inappropriate. And if we did comment on it, or if we did have insight into it, you would appropriately ask why and is that correct procedure, because it would not be."

8. Fast and Furious scandal

AP
Jay Carney during a White House press briefing (6/27/2012): "The president did not know about this tactic until he heard about it through the media; the attorney general did not know about it."

9. Air Force One flyover in Manhattan

Reuters
President Obama during media availability on arrival at FBI headquarters (4/28/2009):

QUESTION: "Sir, what do think of the Air Force One incident --"

THE PRESIDENT: "No -- no questions --"

QUESTION: "-- over New York City yesterday, sir?"

QUESTION: "Are you concerned about New York City yesterday, sir, with the Air Force plane?"

THE PRESIDENT: "It was a mistake, as was -- as was stated. It was something we found out about along with all of you and it will not happen again. Thank you."

10. CIA Afghanistan Station Chief cover blown when a list of VIP attendees at Obama's surprise visit to Bagram Air Field was distributed by ?, in an e-mail to 6000 recipients, mostly news agencies including Al Jazeera, at e-mail addresses worldwide. Here's one case of saying "we learned about it from the news" that apparently can't be refuted. The White House actually did learn of this "colossally stupid" mistake from the news when the Washington Post's Scott Wilson caught the major blunder and told them. 

There you have it. And if you believe any of it, or don't agree with Mr. Obama's assertion that there's, "not a smidgen of corruption" at the IRS, you just might be labeled a racist, southern white man, even if you're name is Stacey Dash.