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Three whistle-blowers from the State Department testified yesterday at the Benghazi hearings held by the Congressional Oversight and Reform Committee. Eric Nordstrom, Mark Thompson and Gregory Hicks appeared before Darrell Issa and the rest to give their version of what happened during the terrorist attack on our facilities in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. There was general agreement that the version of the story portrayed by the White House, and by Hillary Clinton, was inaccurate. That the Accountability Review Board was very limited in it′s investigation, never interviewing high-level officials nor even having stenographers present while taking testimony. Gregory Hicks, the Deputy Mission Chief in Libya, second only to Ambassador Chris Stevens, gave perhaps the most important statements. He said of the video-protest story which U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice presented on Sunday talk shows that he was ″stunned″ and ″embarrassed″. That ″my jaw dropped″ when he heard about her talking points.

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I for my sins am covering the President’s State of The Union speech tonight. I’ll say that, in the past, I have not been an avid watcher of President Bush’s SOTU speeches either. But, I must admit to some curiosity. Will the president mock or deride members of the Supreme Court or perhaps political opponents tonight?

How many times will he blame our economic troubles on Republicans in general and President Bush in particular? How will he use the bully pulpit tonight to put pressure on Republicans to give him what he wants over spending and raising the debt limit?

And, most importantly, how will Chris Matthews segue from the Dorner coverage to the SOTU speech? He’s got his work cut out for him! Good luck Mr. Matthews!

Actor Clint Eastwood slams partisan politics during an interview on CNBC′s ″Sqauwk Box″ on Friday. Already known for his criticism of Barack Obama during the infamous ′empty chair′ speech at the Republican National Convention last year, Clint Eastwood also isn′t satisfied with Congress, either. ″It′s almost like they don′t give a damn.″, said Eastwood, who went on to say, ″So if they don′t give a damn, why do they expect anybody else to?″ Clint did have kind words for former Senator Alan Simpson and ex-White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles for their efforts in providing an outline for a solution to our fiscal woes. But even Obama rejected the Simpson-Bowles Plan, so is it any wonder that the New Normal is turning into a repeat of the old Jimmy Carter malaise?

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Barack Obama once again missed a legal deadline for sending a budget proposal to Congress. For the fourth time in five years, the Obama Administration proves that it is the laziest and most illegal presidency in the history of America. Only in 2011 did the White House send its budget proposal to Congress before the deadline of the first Monday of February. Propaganda Secretary Jay Carney claims that they are late due to the Fiscal Cliff debate. But this simply does not pass the smell test as each administration has a team which should be doing nothing but working year-round on budget issues. So is this a case of a lack of leadership, or just another sign of the contempt that Obama has for the laws of our nation, including the Constitution?

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Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent five and a half hours on Wednesday testifying before various Congressional hearings about the September 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. For the most part the affair was a love-fest with members of the House and Senate praising her for her time at the State Department. Almost 90 minutes passed in her first appearance before a Senate committee when Ron Johnson (R-WI) questioned her about the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Hillary took offense at the question and responded ′What difference does it make now?′ in regards to why the American people have yet to hear from the survivors of the terrorist attack. When confronted by other serious questions, Clinton answered that she never read any cables from Stevens, had no input on the talking points given to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, and generally was too busy talking to world leaders to deal with details.

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While most of us were celebrating New Years Eve for 2013, the U.S. Senate passed a bill overnight to prevent the dreaded Fiscal Cliff from happening. With plenty of drama and nonsense, the proposal crafted by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden is an ugly one which may not pass in the House of Representatives. But my guess is that enough House Republicans will go along with Speaker John Boehner and together with House Democrats, the bill will pass. In the Senate, the vote, which happened about 2:30am EDT, wound up being 89 to 8 with 5 Republican and 3 Democrat Senators voting NO. The bill postpones the sequestration measure for two months, sparing the military and domestic programs from facing spending cuts, makes the Bush Tax Cuts permanent for those earning under $450,000 per year, and extends unemployment for another full year. Estate and Capital Gains taxes are also increased. All-in-all, the last-minute Fiscal Cliff bill increases revenue by some $620 Billion dollars with only a vague promise of some $15 Billion in spending cuts. Not exactly a ′balanced approach′, is it?

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The clock is ticking in Washington, DC! Yes, the Fiscal Cliff is looming with only a few days left before taxes go up on January 1, 2013. But now our Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, is warning about the debt ceiling, the limit of which we will hit on December 31, 2012. You may recall that the debt ceiling was raised in August of 2011 to $16.4 Trillion dollars. Depending how you count, we′re there now! Geithner says that with some creative accounting, he can keep paying the government′s bills through February, 2013. But after that, the United States of America will begin defaulting. Nice way for Barack Hussein Obama to start his second term in office, isn′t it?

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Unfortunately, we’re going to go off the Fiscal Cliff. Our Washington Lawmakers have started their vacations, the President is in Hawaii, and Nancy Pelosi’s vacation starts Monday. Negotiations have stopped (as of now), and even though the GOP has stated that they will stay in Washington to work something out, they probably won’t. If a major deal would have been made, it would have been made weeks ago. I predict that a deal will be made, somewhere in the $50-80 Billion dollar range, holding up the Government for a few more weeks.
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