Russian Government Should Stop Blaming U.S. For Russian Inferiority Complex: Get Your Own House in Order, President Putin

The Russian inferiority complex was on full display at the United Nations, with the Russian foreign minister blaming NATO, the West and the U.S. for destabilizing the world and interfering with Russian affairs.

He was referring to the illegal Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, of course, and the Western and Arab decision to deal with the ISIS problem in Iraq and Syria.   Putin’s also still seething about the Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia and the quick Western recognition of Kosovo as a new nation.  He’s also angry that the South Ossetian declaration of independence from Georgia has only been recognized by Russia and a couple of Russian allies.

Then there was the statement that the U.S. had to abandon it’s claim of “eternal uniqueness.”  This guy needs to go back to grade school and learn that everyone is unique, and so is every nation.  We teach our Young 5s to play nice with others, and to share.  Russia’s the bully on the playground, taking other people’s stuff and breaking what it can’t have, like a petulant child.  For a Russian strongman, he sure has thin skin.

Putin’s just upset that he can’t pull out the carving knife and start slicing off parts of other nations without economic consequences.  The Russian ruble is down sharply since they started using their carving knife against Ukraine, and that’s probably going to worsen if Russia doesn’t start behaving and being a good neighbor.

President Obama Should Stop Deployment of U.S. Troops to Ebola-Hit Countries: It’s Too Little, Too Late and Not a Proper Mission for the U.S. Military

Mistake after mistake has been made in the fight to contain the Ebola virus currently rampaging across Western Africa, and President Obama made a big one in deciding to send American troops into Ebola-ravaged country to “fight” it.

They have no business there.

Medical professionals are getting hit by the virus as well, so why send ground troops there and expose more Americans to it?    They should have been setting up field hospitals many weeks ago, if they wanted to take that course, but now it’s almost too late.   The victims number in the tens of thousands.  

We need to impose a blockade on air travel to the U.S. and Europe from Africa, to stop the spread of Ebola.  That’s what the U.S. military should be doing.

If Global Warming is “Settled Science,” Then Why Does the Scientific Community Keep Changing the Data Around to Suit Their Needs? This is Why There Are SO Many Global Warming Skeptics---They Can’t Trust The Data That The Alarmists Are Presenting

Global warming skeptics cannot trust any data coming from the global warming alarmists, as the latter keeps changing the data or suppressing new data that proves that their theories are nothing but hot air.

If the data from the alarmists were genuine, they could present it immediately, and without data alterations or changing how they read the information.   And it would be accepted by all—as-is.

The term “settled science” throws out the much-vaunted scientific method, which involves  forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and so forth.   All they’ve given to us is a whole lot of hot air that they themselves have been generating about their “settled science.”

This is what happens when politics mixes with science: HOGWASH!

They prepare hockey stick data, falsified data, omitted data, changed data, ignored data, and when all else fails---name calling the skeptics.  Al Gore is an expert at this, and he’s the worst of the lot.  Then they “correct” the data when skeptics blast the incomplete or incorrect data full of holes.

If they’d simply present their data in an unbiased form, we might be able to come to some kind of consensus.   But the alarmists are trying to ramrod shoddy information down everyone’s throats, in the hope that their half-baked theories convince a public that they hope is dumbed down enough to believe it.

Just present the data—as-is—and let the rest tend to itself.  If the data is truthful, many would be more inclined to look at it.   Those involved with the data manipulation should no longer be involved in the discussion or research.  They’re political hacks, not legitimate scientists.

If global warming is going on, these discredited alarmists have sabotaged their own cause.  They can’t blame the skeptics for that.  The responsibility is theirs.    Does anyone in the alarmism ranks even remember the scientific method?

Biden Uses the “Let’s Take Back America” Quote That President Obama and Secretary Holder Think is Racist: Biden Gets a Pass From the Left on This Too, But the Next Republican to Say the Same Thing Will Be Greeted With Screams of “RACIST!” and “RESIGN!!”

Once again, we see the racial double standard in play on the left.  Vice President Biden used the “Let’s take back America” line that President Obama and Eric Holder think is racist.  And nothing is being said by the left.

This begs the question…is this statement racist or not?   I think not.   This is the line that both parties use when they’re not in power or lose a bitterly contested election.

Another question…who is Biden suggesting we take the country back from?  The liberal arm of the Democratic Party, to which he belongs?  What an excellent idea!   I’ll bet someone in the White House communications office was facepalming when they heard Biden utter those words.

Waiting to see what the left will do when a Republican suggests the same thing down the road.   It’s a no-brainer, especially when Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton get into the act.

Massive Breach of iCloud Security Leads to Hundreds of Celebrities Having Nude Photos Leaked Online: Why Did These Hollywood Stars Use iCloud to Store Nude Photos of Themselves?

The headline should read “Hollywood Celebrities Stupidly Store Nude Photos of Themselves on iCloud” or “Massive Security Breach Exposes Danger of Posting Nude Photos Online.”  These celebrities brought this down on themselves.

I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for these actors and actresses who naively posted their nude photos in iCloud.   Uploading these kinds of photos for storage purposes?   STUPID!

If someone else uploaded them without the celebrity’s consent or knowledge, then I do feel bad for them, but if they did it to themselves, that’s just too bad.   Internet safety rules and common sense apply to them as well. The top rule is this:

Never post a photo or revealing information you aren’t prepared to have the entire world to see, in high definition and in multiple places.

“Celebrity is as celebrity does.”  And celebrity does stupid!

“Government Publishes Detailed Instructions on How To Roast Marshmallows”: WHAT??! Did the Government Actually Pay For Such a Study and Document?

The U.S. Forestry Department just published a detailed step-by-step document on how to safely roast marshmallows. 

Excuse me?

The U.S. Forestry Department just published a detailed step-by-step document on how to safely roast marshmallows.

THE GOVERNMENT PAID SOMEONE TO RESEARCH AND PUBLISH THIS KIND OF THING??!   If I want a step by step guide, they should have gone and asked a Boy Scout or Girl Scout to write it down on a piece of paper for them.  They wouldn’t have needed to come out with a 700-word manual on roasting marshmallows.

What is this wacko government doing??!

Double Standard in Progress: Harry Reid Uses Racial Slurs AGAIN, and the Dems Are Going to Let Him Off the Hook AGAIN

Harry Reid and the political double standard on racism are at it again.

Senator Reid was at the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce and used some racial slurs during his speech; he quickly offered a lame apology and everyone seems to have accepted it and forgotten about it.

What would have happened if a REPUBLICAN had used such language?  There would be have been much more of a reaction, and pressure would have quickly built up among Democratic politicians and in the media for the Republican to apologize and resign. 

If it’s a liberal Democrat with Harry Reid, there is an embarrassed silence.   He’s a repeat offender…this double standard must end. 

Media Should Stop Treating Israel and Hamas Like They’re Some Kind of Equals: Hamas Should Be Looked At in the Same Way That the Islamic State “Caliphate” Is

I’m tired of the way the media has been treating Israel in their recent air and ground offensive against Hamas.  They’ve also been very reluctant to compare Hamas to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terror group, which has seized vast amounts of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

• Israel doesn’t use human shields to protect their military assets.  Hamas and the IS do.  
  
• The Israelis don’t execute people for practicing a different religion than they do.  Hamas and the IS do. 
  
• Israel is a democracy.  Hamas and the IS are not.  In fact, Hamas seized total power by overthrowing the Palestinian Authority in a raging gun battle with Fatah in 2006.  Over the last four days, reports have come out that Israel disrupted a Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank as well.
    
• Israel protects it’s people.  Hamas and the IS murder their own people by the bushel. In fact, if ordinary Gazans get in the way, Hamas makes an example out of them.  See the video above on the Hamas overthrow of Gaza.

On a side note, can you imagine what would happen if Israel were captured by Hamas?   They wouldn’t offer the Israelis the opportunity to convert to Islam; they’d slaughter every last man, woman and child.  It would be a slaughter, on a scale unseen since the darkest days of World War II and the concentration camps.

The media needs to get its act together and stop treating Israel and Hamas as equals.

Texas Governor Perry Charged With Political Crimes: Texas Really Needs to Get a Handle on What is a Crime and What is Political Tactics, Because the Texas Judiciary is Acting Political and Not Like a Judicial Arm of the Texas Government

First, a couple of definitions…

Political Crime:   a violation of the law or of the public peace for political rather than private reasons; specifically :  one directed against a particular government or political system (credit: Merriam-Webster Online).   My perception of this term is that it’s a political act which inconveniences the other side of a political argument or debate and the other side retaliates by misusing the legal system. 

Criminal offense: a REAL crime.  For example, sexual harassment, rape, wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, lying under oath, driving under the influence, sexual assault, murder, embezzlement, extortion, racketeering, money laundering, insurance fraud, bribery, conspiracy, lewd conduct, manslaughter, obstruction of justice, child pornography, voter fraud, perjury, theft, drug possession, contempt of court/Congress, destroying evidence, treason.  (These are crimes committed by federal officials—credit to Wikipedia)

What has Governor Perry been accused of? 

Abuse of power in the form of a vetoing of a budget of a Texas state government department whose department head was arrested and spent THREE MONTHS in jail for her crime.  Governor Perry wanted her resignation, she said ‘no’.    So when their budget came up for his signature, he vetoed it.  His reason is that the head of the Public Integrity office should have some integrity.  Without it, the department has no reason to continue operating.

So now, if a governor attempts to get a convict to resign from public office, he’s going to be charged with a crime?  This is a political crime, not a real one.

Texas really needs to separate politics from criminal law.   A political act like a veto is not a criminal action in any circumstance.   The correct action for the opposition would be to try to override the veto, but they chose to abuse the legal system instead.  Some sanity in the Texas legal system would be appreciated.

Media’s Blatantly One-Sided and Nonstop Coverage of Killing of A Criminal (Who Happened to be African-American) is Another Example of the Press Trying to Stir People Up Instead of Calming Things Down: No More Media Activism!

I’ve been watching the unfolding story coming out of Ferguson, Missouri with a growing sense of unease, due to the media’s political activism and presenting only their version of what they wish happened, instead of what actually happened.  Right, CNN?

Witness after witness has stated that the “gentle giant” charged the police officer and that the cop opened fire to protect himself.  They’re being called liars by protesters who don’t care about what really happened.   They have their narrative and they’re sticking to it, no matter what the evidence says.

The people on TV stating that marijuana doesn’t alter how a person acts are a joke!  Mind altering drugs DEFINITELY affect how a person acts.   For the media to treat these people as anything other than crackpots is totally ridiculous.

How can showing the “gentle giant” robbing the store be considered to be “character assassination?”   Missouri is required under their “sunshine laws” to share all evidence in the case.  The Jackson/Sharpton crowd are unhappy because, again, it doesn’t fit the chosen narrative.

Finally, the peaceful protests are one thing.  The outside agitators coming in from outside the area to riot and loot are another.  If the demonstrators want to demonstrate peacefully, then they should do so during daylight hours, because the agitators own the night.

If the local prosecutor decides not to pursue the police officer who shot the kid, will all sides accept the decision?  Not a chance!

Germany and Other EU Members Condemn IS Butchery in Iraq: Ho, Hum…If They’re So Worked Up About It, Why Doesn’t the EU Do Something About It?

Germany was quoted as saying they can’t stand idly by while the Islamic State (IS) butchers ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq.

Oh, really?

Sounds like some in the EU are drawing a political “red line” similar to President Obama’s, when he said that use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war would trigger a strong U.S. response.  Chemical weapons were used in Syria, and there was no U.S. response.  Russia’s President Putin saved and humiliated President Obama at the same time.

It’s become obvious that the 2014 version of Iraq will not survive in one piece.   If the EU and the United States arm the Kurds heavily against the Islamic State, who is to say they won’t declare independence from Baghdad, and fight for their political and economic freedom using American and NATO arms?

And what of the Sunnis, who don’t want anything to do with the Shiites?   Seems like the Islamic State is supporting them.

I can see a partition of Iraq, with Sunnis and Shiites crossing into their own territory, such as what happened when India and Pakistan were partitioned.  Hopefully none of them become nuclear-armed like India and Pakistan did.

If the EU wants to take the lead, then they should lead from in front, and not behind the United States, which is engaging IS with air strikes so far.

Please, no more red lines from the West.

Hamas Tunnels Are Proof That Blockade Against Gaza Needs to Be Strengthened, Not Lifted: Concrete Used in Tunnels Was Diverted from Projects Designed to Help Palestinian People and Instead Used to Benefit Hamas’ Militarism

Israel’s stunning photos of Hamas’s underground tunnels show that Hamas is willing to hurt the Palestinian people to benefit itself at their expense.  The tunnels are huge, and constructed of steel and concrete, materials that should have been used for building apartments, hospitals, schools, power plants and other similar projects that would have eased the suffering of the Palestinian people.  Instead, Hamas diverted the materials and built tunnels to bring rockets and explosives across the border, and to transport terror cells under the border into Israel.

In addition, the U.N. has reported that its buildings and schools have been used as ammunition depots and launching areas for Hamas rockets; Hamas uses densely populated civilian neighborhoods to do the same thing, hoping that Israel will attempt to knock out Hamas rocket launchers that are near lots of civilians.

We already knew that Hamas couldn’t be trusted to abide by any international norms in its dealings with Israel, but the tunnels are the proof that the Palestinian people are being used as Hamas pawns, and that Hamas will continue to steal resources and lives from ordinary Gazans who just want to live out their lives in peace.   Gaza really needs a civil war to throw Hamas out, so that this can happen.

Israel recently suggested that the Gaza Strip be demilitarized in exchange for a permanent cease-fire.  This is a great idea, and one that Hamas will never agree to, so long as they refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

I see no quick end to this.

GOP Plays It Smart on Impeaching Obama: It’s Off the Table and Denounced as a Democratic Ploy to Get Attention Away From Obama Administration Failures

The Republicans will not impeach President Obama for his many failures, which is the smart move for the GOP to make.  They are right in denouncing the impeachment talk as a Democratic ploy to create an issue for their liberal base to rally behind.

Hopefully the Republicans keep the legal heat on the Administration.

If Obama Wants to Be Impeached, Why Doesn’t He Save Everyone the Trouble and Resign Instead? GOP Should Stay Away From Impeachment Talk and Let the Lawsuits Play Out

Drudge has a headline that blares “Obama Begging to Be Impeached” and a story outlining the rhetoric that has started in Washington and in the news media about all the actions that President Obama is taking or not taking in terms of the invasion along our southern border, the war between Israel and Hamas, the Ukraine crisis, and the subsequent airliner shootdown in eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed rebels.

The “trigger” for an impeachment is being reported by the media as an Executive Order granting amnesty to five million illegals.

Another news story reported that President Obama is no longer “in” the White House, that he’s mentally checked out of it.

If President Obama wants to be impeached because he wants out of the job, he should spare us the trouble and resign.   But that’s not why he “wants” to be impeached.

As outlined in this WND report, Democratic leaders believe they’re heading for a massive defeat in November and possible loss of the Senate.   If Obama is impeached before the election, it will turn out the unenthusiastic Democratic voters, which could stave off defeat in November.

If that’s the case, the GOP should avoid any mention of impeachment whatsoever.  It’s an unwise course of action to take, and it’s a trap. 

They’re better off suing over illegal Executive Orders and restoring the checks and balances system which is seriously out of whack under President Obama’s Administration.    I hope the GOP focuses their energy on that instead of trying to convince the Democratic-controlled Senate to convict President Obama of impeachable offenses.  

It’s the GOP’s election to lose, so don’t blow it GOP.

If Eric Holder is Having Sleepless Nights Because He’s Afraid of Homegrown Violent Extremists, Perhaps He Should Resign and Let Someone Less Provocative Than Him Run the Justice Department

Eric Holder says that he has a lot of sleepless nights, thinking about homegrown violent extremists among other people.

I don’t know how he sleeps at night anyways.   His Justice Department has lead an assault on the Constitution in ways that will have ramifications for generations to come.   Like the Clinton Administration before it, this Justice Department is being used as a political shield against the President’s enemies.   So much for an independent Justice Department.

I also noticed he mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers, but forgot to mention that this was an attack by terrorists from Chechnya. They were not American citizens, and court papers seem to indicate that while the Chechens were moving in that direction, their foreign radicalization in their native lands shows that they were use the immigration process as a step in carrying out terrorist attacks on Boston and New York.

Perhaps the Democrats should take that into consideration before manufacturing this crisis on our southern border to create new Democratic voters.

IRS Conduct Over Lerner Probe is Disgraceful: IRS Doesn’t Lose or Misplace Documents When It Goes After People Who It Thinks Owe Them Money, So Are We REALLY Supposed to Believe They Actually “Lost” Anything?

OK, so we have the most powerful tax collection agency in the world, which spares no expense at getting every penny they’re owed by American taxpayers, saying that they lost a ton of emails and other data that has been subpoenaed by a Congressional committee that is looking into the targeting of conservative and other groups by the IRS.

Their claims of having “lost” emails baffles the mind.  They don’t lose or misplace information, so the only logical conclusion is that the emails were deliberately deleted by political people inside the IRS who are trying to protect the Administration from another scandal.

Of all the federal agencies, this agency is well-known for its daily data backups of every digital record in its possession.   The thought of anything “lost” beyond recovery at the IRS points to deliberate deletions of both the original emails, and the deletion of the data from the daily backups.    Who has that kind of access at the IRS?

This is going to get a whole lot worse, especially since this is taking place in a poisoned political environment.   If these emails were deleted, the responsible parties should be facing jail time.   And not the poor mid-level patsy that they decide to throw under the bus to throw the bloodhounds off the scent.

And there should be criminal penalties for the IRS taking sides in political discourse, as they appear to have done.   I don’t know if this behavior is already banned by law, but if it isn’t, then it should be.    The IRS has no business furthering the political agenda of an Administration or a political party.

Reserving Judgment: We Need to Let the Military Sort Out Fact From Fiction in Case of Exchanged POW

I’m not going to weigh in on the case of the American soldier who was traded for five top-tier Taliban prisoners until more facts are known.   When I first heard of this story, I thought it was a promotional thing for an episode of the TV series “Homeland.”   Really surprised when I read that it was not a promo.

The military needs more time to figure out if this soldier was captured, or if he deserted as members of his platoon are saying in the media.  Everybody needs to settle down for a while, and stop throwing words like “traitor” around until the military figures out what the circumstances were behind the soldier’s disappearance. 

I’ll wait for new developments before saying more.

Bundy’s Race Comments Are Major Screw-Up: Whatever Goodwill He Had Built Up Went Out the Window and He Won’t Get It Back

Clive Bundy decided to discuss race relations following his victory against federal agents who were sent to rustle his cattle, and managed to turn many sympathetic people against him in the space of a few short minutes.

What an idiot.

Captains Who Abandon Ship Before Every One of Their Passengers is Accounted For Should Be Charged With Crimes: Recent Cruise Line/Ferry Disasters Had Captains Who Left While Leaving Passengers to Their Fates on Sinking Ships

I do not expect captains of stricken ships to go to the bottom of the ocean with their vessels, but they should be leaving their ships on the last lifeboats, or jumping into the water along with the passengers that they’re responsible for.   In two major passenger disasters, the captain of the Costa Concordia and the captain of the recent South Korean ferry abandoned ship before all hands and passengers were safely off.

The captain of the Costa Concordia abandoned ship and refused an Italian Coast Guard order to re-board the ship and take charge of the evacuation of the rest of the passengers.  He was charged with crimes by Italian authorities.  The captain of the South Korean ferry left on the very first lifeboat.  Authorities are seeking his arrest.

Some other examples of captains evacuating themselves before their passengers (credit to Wikipedia):

• November 12, 1965: Captain Byron Voustinas of the SS Yarmouth Castle
• April 7, 1990: Captain Hugo Larsen of the Scandinavian Star.
• August 3/4, 1991: Captain Yiannis Avranas of the cruise ship MTS Oceanos.
• January 13, 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia.
• April 16, 2014: Captain Lee Joon-seok of the "Sewol ferry." The Captain and all of the crew (except one) escaped first, abandoning nearly 300 junior high school students to drown.

Some examples of captains going down with their ships, or choosing to stay aboard when they realized there were people still on board (credit to Wikipedia):

• September 12, 1857: William Lewis Herndon was in command of the commercial mail steamer Central America when it encountered a hurricane. Two ships came to the rescue, but could only save a fraction of the passengers, so Captain Herndon chose to remain with the rest.
• April 15, 1912: Captain Edward Smith was in command of the RMS Titanic when it struck an iceberg. Smith knew within minutes that the ship was doomed and did all in his power to prevent panic. Smith did not survive the sinking. As the ship went down, Smith was seen walking towards the bridge, only a few minutes before it and the rest of the ship's forward superstructure were engulfed by the sea.^[3] When the ship's lamp trimmer Samuel Hemming entered the bridge seconds after Smith was seen walking towards it, he found the bridge apparently empty.^[4] There are conflicting accounts of what happened to Smith: Some, including second radio operator Harold Bride,^[5] claimed to have seen him jumping in the water, or in the water swimming either toward a lifeboat or near the capsized collapsible lifeboat "B," while others claimed he committed suicide by shooting himself.^[6] Others including first class passenger Robert Williams Daniel said that Smith entered the wheelhouse on the bridge and died there when it was engulfed.^[7][8] The actual fate of captain Smith will probably remain uncertain.
• February 7, 1943: Commander Howard W. Gilmore, captain of the American submarine USS Growler (SS-215), gave the order to "clear the bridge," as his crew was being attacked by a Japanese gunboat. Two men had been shot dead; Gilmore and two others were wounded. After all others had entered the sub and Gilmore found that time was critically short, he spoke his last order: "Take her down." The executive officer, hearing his order, closed the hatch and submerged the crippled boat, saving all of the crew from the attack of the Japanese convoy escort. Commander Gilmore was never seen again, but the submarine made repairs and returned to battle. Gilmore received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his "distinguished gallantry," the first submariner to receive this award.
• October 29, 2012: Captain Robin Walbridge of the Bounty, a replica of the HMS Bounty, stayed on the ship until it capsized during Hurricane Sandy. Fourteen crew members who made it to life boats survived the sinking of the sailing ship and were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. Walbridge's last known words were to his crew: "Abandon ship."^[9]

In the case of the USS Growler, the captain sacrificed himself to save his crew, hence his Medal of Honor.  Smith of the Titanic and Walbridge of the Bounty sailing replica were heavily criticized for their command decisions prior to their ships going down, but they still stayed aboard their sinking ships.

The captains of the South Korean Sewol ferry and the Costa Concordia could have chosen to stay on board until the last minute, before jumping into the water or being rescued by local Coast Guard and military rescue crews. They chose to save their own skins.

Some thoughts:

--All cruise line and ferry crews should speak a common language.   On too many cruise ships (all of them?), the crews can’t understand the captain or officers because they speak their own languages.   In worldwide aviation, English is the spoken language.  This should be a cruise line standard as well. Crews and officers need to be able to communicate with each other instantly, and not just through a translator, IF they’re fortunate to have one on board.

--Captains need far more training than they currently get.  It might be better if captains have a naval background and possesses the military ethos on their responsibilities to their passengers and crew.

--Captains are not bystanders when a disaster strikes aboard their ship.   They need to do their duty and save the lives of others, AND STAY ABOARD THEIR STRICKEN VESSEL to do it.

Something has to change.  I hate hearing stories that captain and crew abandoned ship and left passengers behind when a disaster at sea strikes.  That isn’t right, and no amount of apologizing by the dishonored captain or crew members will be sufficient to make up for their bad decision making, or for the people who die because the captain decided to save his own neck and then watch his own ship sink from the safety of a life raft.

Harry Reid Needs to Retire: He’s Acting Like Nevada’s Emperor over the Bundy Ranch Situation Instead of Acting Like the Senate Majority Leader and Dealing With More Pressing National Issues…Get With the Program, Reid, or Get Out of the Way!

Harry Reid is up to his eyeballs in the federal government vs. Nevada rancher situation, calling the civilian militias “domestic terrorists” and vowing that the fight “isn’t over.”

Get real, Reid, and do your job.  You’re not the Nevada Emperor, and not a particularly good Senate Majority Leader either.   Either do the job your Nevada constituents (including Clive Bundy) elected you to do, or retire. 

This situation was created by the Obama Administration ignoring legal protocol and going over to a direct armed confrontation, which brought the armed civilian militias out in droves to stop the federal rustlers.

The Obama Administration is at fault here.  

Reid needs to start acting like the Senate Majority Leader and get off his high horse, or retire.  The militias are playing him like a drum.