OBAMA: Seeking to justify military intervention, the president said the U.S. has “an important strategic interest in preventing Gadhafi from overrunning those who oppose him. A massacre would have driven thousands of additional refugees across Libya’s borders, putting enormous strains on the peaceful — yet fragile — transitions in Egypt and Tunisia.” He added: “I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.”

THE FACTS: Obama did not wait to make that case to Congress, despite his past statements that presidents should get congressional authorization before taking the country to war, absent a threat to the nation that cannot wait.

 “The president does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation,” he told The Boston Globe in 2007 in his presidential campaign. “History has shown us time and again … that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the legislative branch.” 

Obama’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, said Sunday that the crisis in Libya “was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest.”

 OBAMA: “And tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gadhafi’s deadly advance.” 

THE FACTS: The weeklong international barrage has disabled Libya’s air defenses, communications networks and supply chains. But Gadhafi’s ground forces remain a potent threat to the rebels and civilians, according to U.S. military officials.

 Army Gen. Carter Ham, the top American officer overseeing the mission, told The New York Times on Monday that “the regime still overmatches opposition forces militarily. The regime possesses the capability to roll them back very quickly. Coalition air power is the major reason that has not happened.”

Only small numbers of Gadhafi’s troops have defected to the opposition, Ham said.

 At the Pentagon, Vice Adm. William Gortney, staff director for the Joint Chiefs, said the rebels are not well organized. “It is not a very robust organization,” he said. “So any gain that they make is tenuous based on that.”

 For the rest of the “Facts” please go here:

http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2146732&spid= 

Face Forward comments:

To know one’s surprise and after avoiding making a statement or explaining himself for weeks, Obama made his teleprompter guided speech to the American public last night. After hiding in Latin America, Obama returned to the states to declare that his undeclared war on Libya was justified. I will say this for him, while he continues to be the worst modern day president to ever be elected, he is one of the better liars. Had there not been access to the facts I would have turned off the television thinking, “we are so lucky to have him as our leader in this time of crisis”.

What I find particularly interesting about this fact check is that the article was on the WLS website. WLS is the BIG talk radio station in Chicago. If the voice of radio Chicago is reporting on Obama and his poor record of telling the truth, then his support base has really taken a hit.

 While the economy keeps stumbling along, voters continue to express little confidence in government as the solution.

Just 27% of Likely U.S. Voters now think the government bailouts of banks, auto companies and insurance companies were good for the United States. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% regard the bailouts as bad for the country, identical to findings last month. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

The latest numbers are consistent with findings since the first bailout was under discussion in September 2008. Since then, voters have consistently opposed the bailouts for both the financial sector and the auto industry. 

Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters, in fact, still worry that the federal government will do too much in reacting to the nation’s current economic problems. Thirty-nine percent (39%) fear that the government will not do enough. Fourteen percent (14%) are not sure. These findings are in line with voter sentiments since November 2008 just after President Obama’s election and the Wall Street meltdown.  

Two-out-of-three Democrats (66%) fear the government will not do enough in reacting to the country’s current economic troubles. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans and 52% of voters not affiliated with either major party have the opposite concern, that the government will try to do too much.

 For the rest of the please follow this link:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/federal_bailout/march_2011/only_27_have_positive_view_of_government_bailouts

Update: AZ Border Patrol agent killed

Border Patrol agents shot beanbags at a group of suspected bandits before the men returned fire during a confrontation in a remote canyon, killing agent Brian Terry with a single gunshot, records show.

And an illegal immigrant wounded in the gun battle who is now the only person in custody linked to the slaying contends he never fired a shot, according to FBI search warrant requests filed in the U.S. District Court in Tucson.

The documents provide the most detailed version yet of what happened in the deadly gun battle Dec. 14 in Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales.

The documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight.

Border Patrol officials declined to answer questions about protocol for use of force, citing the ongoing investigation.

But Terry’s brother, Kent Terry, said the other agents who were there that night told him that they were instructed to use the non-lethal beanbags first. It’s a policy that doesn’t make sense to Kent Terry.

“You go up against a bandit crew that is carrying AKs, and you walk out there with guns loaded with beanbags – I don’t get it,” Terry said in a phone interview from Michigan. “It’s like going to the Iraqi war with one knife. It boggles my mind. … These guys (Border Patrol agents) are professionals; they should be able to use their judgment call on their own.”

Excerpt From:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/article_681d29cf-845a-5aea-9f34-3837d70b8a31.html

Update 2:

The guns found at the site of the killing were the same that the ATF allowed to be smuggled into Mexico.

The AFT has let hundreds of weapons into Mexico

http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2976/

ATF Agent: I was ordered to let weapons into Mexico

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml

Face Forward Comments:

I feel very bad for the family that lost a member. Everyone realizes that working as a Border Patrol Agent is not easy and often very dangerous. I respect these brave men and women that have taken on this needed dangerous and politically unpopular job.

From Ruby Ridge to Waco the ATF continue to show why they are the most dangerous and out of control federal agency we have. 

FUNDAMENTALS U.S. crude inventories fell last week as imports dropped, but stocks at the key delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma hit a record high, the EIA said in a report on Wednesday. Domestic crude stocks fell 364,000 barrels to 346.38 million barrels in the week to February 25, government data showed, compared with expectations for a 700,000-barrel build in a Reuters poll of analysts. Inventories at the key Cushing terminal rose by 1.13 million barrels to a record 38.57 million barrels.  

Cushing is the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures. “Fundamentally we have surplus oil in the United States and most of the OECD countries,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. “It’s very obvious that the market is being driven by a very different dynamic…geo-politics of the Middle East, and that is going to be in play for a long time.”

Excerpt From

http://www.futurespros.com/news/futures-news/update-1-oil-on-the-rise-as-middle-east,-north-africa-tensions-hot-up-1000008451

Face Forward Comments

I think everybody has known or a long time that Rahm Emanuel policy of “Never wasting a disaster” is something that business has practiced for a long time. I am normally a business supporter but this one has politics and big business collusion all over it and smells bad.

If I look hard enough II can almost see enough to start asking questions. Is there a connection between Obama wanting $5 dollar a gallon fuel? Is there a connection between Obama and GE pushing Electric recharging stations. How about GM’s electric car? Do higher fuel prices help it? And finally who really benefits and who really looses?

Finally, just imagine a voting demographic of Mass Transit users vs Car Owners. I bet you would find the Obama supporter group is far more likely to use mass transit than the conservative Republican /Tea Party group. It is just one of the many reasons he may not be so concerned about the amount of money being puled out of the pocket of the working middle class.

 At this point I am just asking questions. I’m not saying conspiracy yet……….