IRS Scandal Agency Draws Bipartisan Fire At Hearing Hearing

IRS Scandal Agency Draws Bipartisan Fire At Hearing Hearing Update! - Megyn Kelly

published on May 17, 2013

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Kevin McCullough - Obama's Israel

This last Tuesday I awaited the reporter's next question.

We were sitting in the ultra modern business lounge of the Mamilla hotel in East Jerusalem. The reporter had been tailing me as I toured some yet-to-be-made-public excavations in the City of David, just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

My seven days in Israel went by in such a flash it was genuinely difficult to focus on doing an interview with the nation's leading newspaper. My mind raced as the people I had been with were much on my mind, and the sights I had seen--especially those that were relevant to my faith--stirred something deeper in me than I had realized. Nonetheless my visit was almost over and here I sat with a reporter who wished to ask my opinion of the things I had experienced.

Finally, in somewhat broken English came the query, "What do you think President Obama will do when he visit's Israel next week?"

Having been warned by my hosts to be leery of reporters from Israel's largest newspaper, I wished to choose my words carefully.

"What I hope President Obama will do on his visit here... is to listen twice as much as he speaks," I replied.

You could visibly see that she was taken by surprise by this answer. I had not mentioned Iran, Palestinians, Netanyahu, or even Syria.

She was curious and wished to understand my response further.

I had just concluded six days of listening to Israel personally.

I had listened to incoming Knesset members--like former Deputy Speaker Danny Danon--explain to me their worries about Iran. I had listened intently to the son of Israel's beloved Prime Minister Itzak Shamir--Yair--a newly seated Knesset member himself--beam with pride over Israel's explosion in start-up technology businesses.

I had just listen to Dani Dayan, president of the YESHA council who has responsibility for the protection and safety of 450,000 Jewish residents in communities (the Israeli and American press call them "settlements") inside of Judeah and Samaria (the Left call these "The West Bank" even though we were 30 miles from the Jordan river's edge.) Mr. Dayan spoke passionately about the safety of the region, the commitment of keeping the Palestinian and Jewish communities safe, and the beauty of the agricultural industry in the region that employs both Arabs and Jews in helping them provide for their families. This agricultural excellence has been proven by the numerous awards the Israeli wineries are now dominating the competition in.

I had also listened to the CEOs and founders of some of Israel's most successful medical technology firms. One from Jerusalem that is heavily traded on the Nasdaq, and one in Tel Aviv that soon will be because the technology they offer is so profound in correcting the musculoskeletal effects of osteoarthritis.

As a Christian, I also listened to the heart of the people, as I was invited to Friday night prayer at the wailing wall, and following that a Shabbas dinner at the home of Aba and Pamela Claman.

The Clamans have restored one of the most beautiful homes in the Old City. Every Shabbat they have anywhere from 30-60 Israeli Defense Forces troops in--many--whose families are far from them. The night I was there IDF members stemmed from London, Belarus, South Africa, and some 20 other places. These IDF were mostly women, and not unlike the U.S. the dominant left in Israel's media often besmirch the motives, intention, and service of their military forces. It was an honor to hear each of them tell why they serve (most had gone well beyond the government mandated two years.)

I even listened as an Israeli Arab spoke passionately in the beach town of Joffa about a community center he has been running for the past few years. In a booming but gentrifying community Arab, Jewish, and Christian children learn instruments, sing in choirs, learn acrylic and oil paints, play sports, together as children of the same community. According to that Arab--Ibrahim Shindi--no such center exists in any Palestinian area, nor any Arab or Muslim country surrounding Israel.

I also listened to the heart of an Israeli feminist explain her critique of modern American feminists and her passionate desire to develop an ongoing conversation about women's roles in Israel. She keeps that conversation lively through her online blog and Facebook pages.

And on my final night, backstage at the Tel Aviv equivalent of Manhattan's Lincoln Center, I sat in a reserved theater for thirty minutes listening and learning about Israeli popular art and entertainment with Aki Avni, who--as many Israeli girls described to me in advance of the interview--is the Tom Cruise or Johnny Depp of Israel.

Since the press are reporting that President Obama's trip which kicks off this Wednesday will be largely to tour sites he wishes to see, my advice stands.

Listen twice as much as you speak Mr. President! Your mind, heart, and soul just be surprised by something you had not expected.

Israel is our most important ally in the region, but their heart and ours beat almost as one. And in us listening to them we might learn more than we believed we could!

Kevin McCullough

Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" weekdays (7-9am EST) & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio" Saturdays (9-11pm EST) on 289 stations & Sirius/XM . His newest best-selling hardcover from Thomas Nelson Publishers, "No He Can't: How Barack Obama is Dismantling Hope and Change" is in stores now.

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Star Parker - What I Saw in Israel

As President Obama prepares for his first trip to Israel, I hope when he gets there he sees what I saw.

Several weeks ago I returned from my first trip to Israel. I went with a delegation headed by Governor Mike Huckabee, who visits Israel at least once every year.

What did I see?

I saw kids, no more than 18 years old, walking down the street, waiting at bus stops, wearing Army green khakis, and carrying machine guns on their backs. One young girl was as black skinned as me.

Kids doing their compulsory army service as part of Israel’s citizen army. Three years for boys, two years for girls. No university deferment. First high school, then army, then university.

I also saw Masada. The fortress at the top of a mountain rising high above the Judean Desert, where, almost 2000 years ago, a contingent of Jewish zealots, having fled Jerusalem after the fall of the second Temple, took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman troops closing in on them.

New recruits into Israel’s army, the Israel Defense Forces, climb the long winding path to the mountaintop fortress at Masada and vow to not let Masada fall again.

I also saw Israel’s Holocaust Museum, Yad VaShem – the name taken from a verse in Isaiah, “….I will give in mine house and my walls a place and a name…an everlasting name which shall not be cut off…” that documents the horrors out of which the State of Israel emerged.

I walked through the halls of deep mourning and saw the displays, the photos, the books and papers, documenting the unimaginable.

The unimaginable and intentional slaughter of 6 million Jews, a third of the world’s Jewish population, done less then three quarters of a century ago and perpetrated by a German nation which was home to some of the foremost scientists, writers, and philosophers of modern times.

A crime of dimensions beyond human conception, perpetrated by a madman whom at the time some in the Western world thought they could do business with. Now today a madman in Iran, who some in the Western world think they can do business with, denies these events even occurred.

My thoughts turned with agony back to my own home in America where the lives of 55 million unborn children have been taken since 1973.

I saw the prime minister of Israel take 40 minutes out of his busy day, in the midst of trying to form a new government in this boisterous democracy, to welcome our small group into his office in the parliament building and take our questions. He even took one from me, which he answered at length and with care.

I saw a once barren land – a land once described by Mark Twain as “a desolate country…. a silent and mournful expanse” - now fruitful and ripe. Everything the Israelis have touched seems to have come alive and then some.

You see the result of the relationship of a land that uniquely goes with a people and the people that uniquely goes with that land, and you think of the Song of Songs: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine: he browses among the lilies.”

I saw the great hope of my scriptures come alive right before my eyes, and I was left exuberant and confident that the God of truth and justice is still speaking today.

In the words of the Psalmist: “When the Lord brings about the return to Zion we will have been like dreamers…. Then they will say among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them, The Lord has done great things for us. We will then rejoice.”

Yes, I pray that when the president of the United States lands in Israel, for his first time, that he sees what I saw.

Star Parker

Star Parker is founder and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based public policy to fight poverty, as well as author of the newly revised Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can do About It.

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Crystal Wright - Who Sunk Our Foreign Policy: the Last Face Off Between Obama and Romney

President Obama is so wrapped up in being Obama, he can’t see that not having a plan for the next for years is a problem when you’re running for re-election. During the final debate on foreign policy, Obama oozed with revisionist history of his record and added a theatrical element to his delivery, glaring at hole through Romney. Meant to be intimidating I’m sure, Romney responded to Obama’s stares and interruptions with calm and confidence, leaving Romney looking like the only adult in the room, as someone commented to me.

Romney described the debate and Obama’s re-election campaign well: “Attacking me is not an agenda.” Throughout the 90 minutes, Obama resorted to his worn out, false attacks on Romney: tax cuts for the rich, Bain Capital shipping jobs to China and so on and so on.

When Romney cautioned the Navy is the smallest since 1917, Obama mocked Romney like a bullying teenager. “We also have fewer horses and bayonets, than in 1916 said Obama, so the question isn’t a game of battleship, it’s what are our capabilities.” Uhmm, for the past four years, Obama seems to have been handling foreign policy like it’s a game, without focus. Who sunk America’s foreign policy?

If anyone looked like he had a “reckless” foreign policy that was “all over the map,” it was President Obama. As Romney pointed out time and time during the debate, America isn’t safer under Obama’s presidency. “We can’t kill our way out of this mess,” referring to the killing of Osama bin Laden, which Obama seems to think defines a foreign policy strategy.

One of Romney’s strongest moments was his exchange with Obama over Israel and the threat of a nuclear Iran. Obama declared the relationship between America and Israel has never been stronger and Israel is our greatest ally in the region. I’m sure this was news to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who all but pleaded with Obama to take a stand against Iran’s nuclear ambitions with the threat of military action yet Obama refuses.

In scathing clarity, Romney pointed out not only is Iran four years closer to building a nuclear weapon, Obama has never visited Israel. “You went to middle East, flew to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey Iraq and you skipped Israel and they noticed you skipped Israel.” Romney added that the relationship with Israel is so strained that 38 Democrat Senators sent Obama a letter telling him he needs to repair tensions with our greatest ally in the Middle East.

From the beginning of his presidency, Romney noted Obama said “he would meet with the world’s worst actors Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and Kim Jong Il,” and couldn’t wait to give a speech to the Muslim world in Egypt, apologizing for America.

What would Romney do differently? He would go after the bad guys, as he said, but also show American leadership abroad with a comprehensive strategy that doesn’t abdicate decision making to the United Nations, particularly Russia and China. Among other things, Romney would stand with Israel and tighten sanctions on Iran and demonstrate unequivocally there will be consequences if Iran doesn’t end its nuclear ambitions.

After two years of witnessing President Assad butcher 30,000 Syrians and take no action, Obama declared in the debate “Syria must determine its own future” and said he was “confident Assad’s days are numbered.” Romney, on the other hand, called the crisis “a humanitarian disaster” and said while he doesn’t want to engage America in another war, we have to “take leadership.” If elected president, Romney said he would work with our allies and arm the insurgents to topple Assad because Syria is the only partner Iran has in the region and is arming Assad to gain strategic control in the Middle East.

In the face of his failed record, Obama retreated back to domestic policy and talked about the critical importance of “nation building here at home.” Of course this is code for more spending. I thought the $800 billion stimulus was supposed to build up our nation again. He like Romney pointed out America can’t be strong abroad if it’s fiscal house isn’t in order but in contrast to Romney’s plan to create 12 million jobs, Obama offered no plan.

Instead Obama sang the same tune, declaring America can reduce its deficit by asking the wealthy to pay more to fund more investments at home. Raising taxes and continuing to spend while making no cuts to government won’t reduce our $16 trillion debt.

Obama also said he wants “to hire more teachers in math and science.” Taking this all in like the older, wiser uncle, Romney simply responded, “we have to grow the economy and it’s not going to happen by just hiring teachers.” Or rather creating more union jobs. As he did successfully in the two previous debates, Romney reminded voters again of the obvious, Obama’s plan “hasn’t worked.”

Closing out the ball game, Romney ended with this. “I'm going to make sure that we get people off of food stamps, not by cutting the program, but by getting them good jobs,” he said. Romney promised to take responsibility as president and “work with” Americans “to get the country back. “

In Contrast, Obama closed with more of the same, government spending and debt but curiously added “I always listen to your voices.” This is ironic thing to say because Obama never listened to the American people. In 2009, Americans wanted jobs but Obama gave us what he wanted Obamacare.

The problem with Obama is his narcissism gets in the way of him doing his job. The “rise of the oceans didn’t slow and our planet didn’t begin to heal,” as Obama arrogantly predicted his election would produce in his victory speech. A fiscally conservative Democrat told me the day after the debate Obama blew a great opportunity being elected the first black President. After so much ego over the past four years, America needs humility of leadership. America needs Mitt Romney.

Crystal Wright

Crystal Wright is a black conservative woman living in Washington, D.C. Some would say she is a triple minority: woman, black and a Republican living in a Democrat dominated city. She’s contemplating moving back to her home state of Virginia, where her vote would count for something. By day, Crystal is a communications consultant and editor and publisher of the new website, conservativeblackchick.com. Crystal earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown University and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Wright is the principal owner of the Baker Wright Group, LLC , a full service public relations firm, specializing in communications counseling, media relations, message development, media training and crisis communications. The firm’s approach is straight forward counseling: an unvarnished approach to public relations.

Visit Crystal's Website by clicking HERE

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Kevin McCullough - Why Rice Resigning, Misses The Point

Dr. Susan Rice should resign her post as the U.N. Ambassador of the United States.

The bald-faced lies that she blatantly repeated five days after the savage and brutal attack against the American compounds (plural) in Libya on September 11, 2012 are enough to bar her from being allowed to represent the United States in any position of trust for a very long time to come. Americans don't like it when facts get mixed up or miscommunicated, but purposefully using the media megaphone that is the top television news platforms to openly lie to the American people defies Nixonian and Clintonian levels of brash arrogance and contempt for the Americans who pay her salary.

But it also must be clearly understood, that Dr. Susan Rice simply resigning from her post as a highly placed official within the current administration accomplishes almost zero.

It's not like Dr. Rice has been all that busy pressing for human rights and the spread of freedom at the United Nations. She, like her supervisor President Obama, was evidently too busy for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and boycotted his speech before the General Assembly--just like Iran.

Her lack of importance within the administration was in fact probably one of the ideal reasons she was touted as the mouthpiece on something as important as the U.S. rapid response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2012.

But Dr. Rice is not the only one who participated in the blatant falsehoods told to the American people, told to the media, and most importantly told to the families of the victims of the 9.11.12 attacks.

According to multiple sources, including Israeli and British journalists, Fox News' Catherine Herridge, and finally some outlets in American broadcast media, the trail of dereliction, disaster, and dishonesty was shared by many.

Reporters who work for the Jerusalem Post were able to confirm, that as early as September 4th, Libyan intelligence was issuing warnings to the Obama administration as to the looming violent environment, the intentions of the organized terror forces on the ground in Benghazi, and the approximate timeline of a coming attack. This was followed closely on the heels with British media on September 9th.

The Ambassador's itinerary still had him out of Libya and tending to matters in Europe. Instead of acting on the early intelligence, keeping the ambassador out of country for a few more days, the administration took no action--an epic shoulder shrug if ever there was one.

This was followed by direct communication from Libyan intelligence to U.S. intelligence in the final 48 hours that conditions on the ground were hardening and that an attack on an American outpost was imminent. These concerns were mirrored by thoughts that Ambassador Stevens had been documenting in his own personal journal, in his own personal handwriting, fearing for his own life.

Sources confirmed this week that after the attack the U.S. was told clearly of Al Qaeda's involvement, and what meticulous planning had gone into shelling both the American consulate, but also the CIA safe-house. It was nearly 5 days later that Dr. Rice began disseminating a narrative that President Obama continued to repeat--even to the U.N. this week, and having the creator of the film at question in the narrative arrested.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton also both repeated the known-false-narrative at the memorial homecoming ceremony of the four dead Americans, as the ceremony was carried live to Americans by news networks.

In large measure the pro-Obama media had been willing to overlook the entirety of this story. After Obama's repeated false assertions at the U.N. and more sources beginning to speak with journalists, not to mention the Prime Minister of Libya--on NBC--was seen openly laughing at the idea that a YouTube video had caused the attack, only then did senior officials Clinton and Panetta change their public confession of the narrative. Meanwhile Press Secretary Jay Carney seemed stunned and offended when the White House press corps asked him simply why the President hadn't clarified his view of the events.

But now we--The American People--are to believe that a resignation from perhaps the least effective U.N. Ambassador we've ever had, would somehow solve the issue of the dishonest narrative, the mangling of intelligence, the negligence of sending a great Ambassador to his own assassination, lying to the national media, forcing an innocent man to do a perp walk, arresting him, and continuing to tell the same lie to the gathered body of nations?

Does anyone suppose that the families of the ambassador, the retired air-force officer, or the two navy seals that we buried would believe that was good enough?

The perpetration of this lie, the continuation of this false narrative, and the attempt to distract the whole of the American people did not end without severe loss. We not only lost one of our best ambassadors--who was dearly loved by even the people of the nations he worked in. We not only lost heroes of the first degree as those Airman, and Seals did all they could to protect our sovereign space on that hostile night. We did not only lose most of the intelligence that had been gathered and many of our live assets in the almost forgotten about attack on the CIA secret safe house. We lost hard drives with information, lists of assets across our northern Africa operation. And we lost our dignity as other terrorists in other nations seized upon that moment of American weakness.

It is of no surprise that our assessment can only be--of this entire operation--total and absolute failure on every level.

For such outcomes people should lose jobs at minimum, and in some cases where criminal lying was perpetrated, perhaps even harsher outcomes for some of those involved.

And if this is but one snapshot of our effectiveness and readiness in that region of the world.

Kevin McCullough

Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" weekdays (7-9am EST) & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio" Saturdays (9-11pm EST) on 289 stations & Sirius/XM . His newest best-selling hardcover from Thomas Nelson Publishers, "No He Can't: How Barack Obama is Dismantling Hope and Change" is in stores now.

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Michael Brown - Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem

We all know about the shocking, Democratic waffling on the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s (undivided) capital in the current party platform. But there’s another important issue that no one seems to be talking about: If Jerusalem is really Israel’s capital, why haven’t we moved our embassy there?

To be sure, this is not the first time that Jerusalem has been at the center of controversy. Twenty-five hundred years ago, when the returning Jewish exiles were attempting to rebuild the city, their opponents sent a letter of warning to the king of Persia. (At that time, Judah was a province of Persia). “Be it known to the king,” the letter stated, “that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired.” (Ezra 4:12-13)

They even urged the king “that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste.” (Ezra 4:15)

How interesting that more than two-and-a-half millennia ago, Jerusalem had a bad reputation (at least to its enemies). It was already branded “rebellious and wicked,” a hotbed of sedition, and a bane to rulers and nations.

The warning even went one step further: “We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River” (Ezra 4:16) In other words, once the Jews rebuild Jerusalem, you will lose the entire province of Judah in Trans Euphrates.

Five hundred years later, Jesus himself referred to Jerusalem as “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matthew 23:37) And the ancient prophet Zechariah predicted that at the end of the age, “all the nations of the earth will gather against it.” (Zechariah 12:3)

But as fascinating as these texts are, given the current controversy about the status of Jerusalem, they do not answer the question I have raised: From a political perspective (as opposed to a biblical perspective), why haven’t we moved our embassy to Jerusalem? If we truly recognize it as the undivided capital of Israel, as affirmed now in both party platforms, why haven’t we relocated our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

Considering the fact that Jews have been saying, “Next year in Jerusalem” for the last 20 centuries, it’s no surprise that Jerusalem was declared Israel’s capital in 1950. And the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, “passed by overwhelming bipartisan majority in both the House and Senate,” states that “Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel and the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999.”

We have now passed the 13th anniversary of that Congressional deadline, and yet our embassy remains in Tel Aviv (along with the embassies of virtually all other countries that recognize the State of Israel). How has this happened? As noted on the United with Israel website, “since the congressional act allows the President to implement a waiver at six-month intervals, that’s exactly what has happened every six months since 1995.”

But why? Why pass the Jerusalem Embassy Act – note that word “Embassy” – in such overwhelming, bipartisan fashion and then not move the embassy? Even Ron Paul, not known as a staunch supporter of Israel, once said, “If Israel wants their capital to be Jerusalem, then the United States should honor that. How would we like it if some other nation said, ‘We decided to recognize New York City as your capital instead, so we will build our embassy there’?”

In 2008, candidate Obama declared that any agreement with the Palestinians “must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.”

In July, candidate Romney declared, “A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel's capital. I think it’s long been the policy to ultimately have our embassy in the nation's capital of Jerusalem.” And now, both party platforms reaffirm Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

So why not move the embassy? Mr. Obama (or Mr. Romney), will you do it? If not, why not?

Dr. Michael Brown

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and is the author of 20 books. He has served as a professor at a number of seminaries and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.

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