“It’s one of the worst-kept secrets in Jerusalem that Kerry’s team leaks anti-Netanyahu quotes and claims to the Israeli press."

◼ Inside the White House’s Secret Campaign to Scapegoat Israel - Washington Free Beacon

The Obama administration has been waging a secret media war in capitals across two continents blaming Israel for the recent collapse of peace talks with the Palestinians, according to former Israeli diplomats and Washington, D.C. insiders familiar with the peace process.

Multiple sources told the Washington Free Beacon that top Obama administration officials have worked for the past several days to manufacture a crisis over the reissuing of housing permits in a Jerusalem neighborhood widely acknowledged as Israeli territory.

Senior State Department officials based in Israel have sought to lay the groundwork for Israel to take the blame for talks collapsing by peddling a narrative to the Israeli press claiming that the Palestinians were outraged over Israeli settlements, the Free Beacon has learned.

These administration officials have planted several stories in Israeli and U.S. newspapers blaming Israel for the collapse of peace talks and have additionally provided reporters with anonymous quotes slamming the Israeli government. Disgraceful! Read the rest at the link.

Hillary running away from Obama?

◼ link

The Clintons’ critiques in recent days have been explicitly aimed at congressional Republicans, who helped spur a 16-day government shutdown and potential debt default in October. But their remarks also seem to contain an implicit rebuke of President Obama’s failure to change Washington as he pledged when first running for the White House.

The arguments suggest a way that Hillary Clinton could attempt to run in 2016 as an agent of change — potentially putting her at odds with the two-term Democrat she would be seeking to replace.

If so, then this should be filed in the Someone Left The Irony On Department. The Clintons are hardly known for their soft-pedal tactics in politics, and Hillary especially has been seen as a hard partisan. She coined the phrase “vast right-wing conspiracy” to describe how her honest husband was being hounded by his opponents, until the Clintons had to admit that Bill wasn’t being all that honest in the first place. As Secretary of State, she may best be remembered for yelling What difference at this point does it make? at a Republican Senator for interrogating her over the State Department’s lies about the al-Qaeda attack on Benghazi.

Let’s step away from the irony for the moment. Can Hillary distance herself from Obama? It’s possible, but it would be a difficult task. The only executive experience Hillary has comes from her time as Secretary of State under Obama — and she has few accomplishments to her credit for those four years anyway.

Now, this is speaking truth to power:

◼ Female Member of Israeli Parliament Obliterates John Kerry: You will "cause the whole region to spin out of control" - Doug Ross

In letter publicized to the press, Shaked attacks US pressure to release terrorists: "You are putting me and my children's lives at risk"

Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has released a scathing open letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, for pushing the Israeli government to release convicted terrorist murderers...

"In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I cannot be bound by the restraints of 'politically correct' wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion... By forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the US would never dream of releasing if it was their own citizens murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children's lives at risk..."

..."Mr. Secretary: the price of releasing over a hundred convicted murderers will be borne by my family and my people, not by you." she continued, asking "How will you carry the burden of the terrible price toward which you are leading us?"

"You forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation in which we cannot and will not make any concessions."

By "raising expectations to a dangerous level" in this way, Kerry is threatening "to cause the whole region to spin out of control," she claimed... Shaked ended the letter with a word of "advice" for the US Secretary of State.

"The past four years in Israel have been as quiet and peaceful as ever. Therefore I suggest you perform your job in a much more effective and relevant fashion by focusing your attention on Syria and Egypt, where people are actually being slaughtered."

"Leading from Be-Heinz" WATCH: CNN Analyst Defends John Kerry for Being on Yacht During Egypt Coup: ‘To Be Fair…He Has Been Going Through a Grueling Time’

#JohnKerryYachtNames. Leading From Be Heinz

— Debbie Robinson (@Dmooder2) July 6, 2013

◼ “He deserves a break on this.” - Madeleine Morgenstern/The Blaze

CNN analyst David Gergen said Secretary of State John Kerry should be given a break for being on his yacht while crisis was unfolding in Egypt.

Gergen, a former White House adviser to Presidents Clinton, Reagan, Ford and Nixon, said the State Department “blew it” by first denying a CBS producer’s report that Kerry was on his boat, only to have to turn around and admit otherwise after photos emerged.

◼ On the other hand: Sarah Palin: John Kerry’s yacht cover-up worse than the ‘crime’ - Twitchy

The photo of John Kerry climbing on to his yacht in Nantucket pretty much settled the question of whether Kerry was on his yacht in Nantucket this holiday while Egypt erupted into chaos. The State Department, which originally denied that Kerry was out sailing, finally corrected the record, saying the Secretary of State was on the yacht “briefly” on Wednesday. Fox News’ Brit Hume wondered if that admission would have happened at all without photographic proof, while others wondered why the State Department would lie over such a seemingly minor detail.

◼ Sarah Palin called out Kerry for his “crime” in a lengthy Facebook post. The whole thing is worth reading, but her concern is the cover-up — something that comes a little too easily to the Obama administration.

...Being on his boat isn't the issue. Blatantly deceiving the American people is the issue.

Our government, yet again, either had no idea where the boss was, or worse yet, they lied to us. (Oops-a-daisy. Correction. In Obamaspeak, we were told the "least untruthful statement.") Our government directed its swift-ly boat changing denials to what one can only surmise is their perception of who we are: a nation of sheep – heads down, grazing away, gullible, ignorant, and undeserving of truth.

Confronted with photographic evidence, the State Department merely tossed the public a handful of hay today in its tepid effort to kinda-sorta explain the whole thing away. Something about, well, yeah, so the evidence contradicted all their public claims, but… eh, no harm, no foul. And like good herder dogs, with calm authority to avoid commotion, the bureaucrats barked the suggestion that we all just move along now....

While celebrating America's glorious Independence this week, be secure in knowing that there are more of us who support men and women ready and willing to fight on our behalf for freedom and truth than those who would continually deceive us. Thank God. And thank a Vet.

State Department: say you're sorry and don't ever do this again. CBS News: thank you for doing your job on this issue.

Happy 4th of July weekend, America.

- Sarah Palin

FLIP-FLOP: State Dept. confirms Secretary Of State John Kerry was yachting during Egypt crisis

◼ Cavalcade of conflicting info: Where in the world was John Kerry as Egypt lurched into chaos? - Twitchy

◼ As regime change was unfolding in Egypt, Secretary of State John Kerry spent time on his boat Wednesday afternoon in Nantucket Sound, the State Department acknowledged to CBS News on Friday, after repeatedly denying that Kerry was aboard any boat. - CBS

A "CBS This Morning" producer spotted Kerry on his boat Wednesday afternoon on Nantucket, where Kerry has a vacation home. When "CBS This Morning" senior producer Mosheh Oinounou tweeted about the sighting, Psaki issued a denial, calling the tweet "completely inaccurate" and said Kerry has been "working all day and on the phone dealing with the crisis in Egypt."

Also on Wednesday afternoon, the White House released a photo of the president and his national security team meeting in the situation Room. Kerry was not present in the photo, but his office said he did participate in the meeting via a secure phone line.

◼ SPOTTED: Back out on 'Isabel' today - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

New: @CBSNews obtained photo of Kerry on boat Weds. Asked State abt it Thurs night. They stood by their denial... pic.twitter.com/hkSWWBVUxQ

— Mosheh Oinounou (@Mosheh) July 5, 2013

◼ Shiver their timbers! State Dept. backtracks, admits Kerry ‘was briefly on his boat’ - Twitchy

◼ Hey, any guesses where John Kerry is ‘briefly’ today? [photo] - Twitchy

◼ Twitter user: ‘Kerry sailed right by me yesterday on the Nantucket sound’ [photo]; Update: Boston Herald confirms Kerry is on Nantucket - Twitchy

The Kitchen Cabinet - Oh boy... we were lied to again. On Wednesday when the military coup was happening in Egypt, CBS News reported that Secretary of State John Kerry was aboard his yacht, the "Isabel". State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki issued a categorical denial, stating: "Any report or tweet that he was on a boat is completely inaccurate."

Today they acknowledge that it was Psaki's statment that had been 'inaccurate' and that Kerry actually had been on the Isabel on Wednesday, but only for a little while and that he was hard at work all the time.

This Jen Psaki was Obama's campaign press secretary "where she walked back claims that the campaign had not known of an accusation that Mitt Romney had caused a worker's wife to die of cancer" and as "White House Deputy Communications Director, Psaki had been deeply involved in a campaign to exclude and discredit the Fox News Channel, calling Special Report host Bret Baier a "lunatic."" Meaning, this woman is well versed in manipulation of the truth, so it's no surprise her first inclination was to lie about the whereabouts of the Sec. State when the Egyptian coup was in progress.

"Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro noted: In other words, the American people were directly lied to about the whereabouts of the Secretary of State as a coup took place in one of the most strategically important countries in the world--a country where the President of the United States chose to launch his foreign policy in 2009, where the U.S. embassy was overrun in 2012, and where the Obama administration planted its flag with the Arab Spring in 2010. Only an administration completely secure in its control of media spin could pull such a stunt."

But what about today, with the Islamic pushback against the Egyptian military and interim government that it has installed, where is our Secretary of State?

Back at the helm of the Isabel (front boat/center), again... apparently having a blast. We wonder if they will deny this yachting escapade as well...

◼ Thousand pictures of John Kerry boating prompts State Dept. to retract denial that Kerry was boating - Michelle Malkin

...(A)fter denying that John Kerry was sailing on Nantucket during chaos in Egypt (kind of surprised they didn’t blame the rumor on a YouTube video), the State Department acknowledged that Kerry was in fact on Nantucket but working constantly, which is what everybody goes to Nantucket for...

Sequester that: U.S. quietly gives $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt despite rights concerns

◼ Kerry made the decision well before an Egyptian court this week convicted 43 democracy workers, including 16 Americans, in what the United States regards as a politically motivated case against pro-democracy non-governmental organizations - Reuters

Weiner’s Wife Concealed Consulting Work She Did While Serving in State Dept.

◼ The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. - New York Times

Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income. An adviser to Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, said that Ms. Abedin was not obligated to do so.

The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat, prepares for a mayoral run in New York City. Politico reported the arrangement on Thursday afternoon.

Ms. Abedin declined a request for an interview, but the picture that emerges from interviews and records suggests a situation where the lines were blurred between Ms. Abedin’s work in the high echelons of one of the government’s most sensitive executive departments and her role as a Clinton family insider....

Officials in the State Department and Clinton circles seem especially sensitive about the arrangement, and no one would speak about it on the record. Earlier this month, Mr. Weiner released a copy of the couple’s 2012 tax return showing that they had income of more than $490,000.

◼ More Secrets From Huma Abedin - Arnold Ahlert/FrontPage Magazine

The disclosure was revealed as Abedin’s husband, disgraced former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, has begun preparations for a New York City mayoral run next year in an attempt to resuscitate his career.

...The Obama administration could quickly put an end to this controversy by revealing the contents of Abedin’s responses contained in Standard Form 86, a “Questionnaire for National Security Positions.” That questionnaire should have been completed prior to Abedin serving in her capacity at State beginning in 2009.

No doubt a State Department up to its neck in the Benghazi scandal is too busy to respond.

◼ Weiner to seek erection, will announce bid for mayor - DAVID SEIFMAN/New York Post

Sharyl Attkisson tweets House report; Reveals Hillary Clinton lied under oath about Benghazi; Update: WH altered talking points

◼ Hillary, you have some answering to do. And, you know, truthfully this time. - Twitchy



◼ VIDEO: Krauthammer on Benghazi: Obama Administration in denial, trying to pretend all attacks are 'one-shot deal' - /Washington Free Beacon

Columnist Charles Krauthammer called out the Obama administration Tuesday for its consistent refusal to acknowledge the threat of al-Qaeda in light of the 46-page report released about the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

Among the accusations were government officials purposely altered talking points about the attack to remove references to participation of “Islamic extremists,” and that, Krauthammer said during a panel discussion on “Special Report,” was part of a larger pattern of denial by the administration.

“The other damning evidence here, again … that they did edit the talking points to remove references to al-Qaeda, which fits in the pattern that we discussed even earlier,” Krauthammer said. “The attempt always to try to pretend that these aren’t part of a global jihad, whether it’s here, it’s Boston, the Underwear Attacker or the Fort Hood shooter. It’s a constant in this administration, a way to say ‘No, it’s not. It’s a one-shot deal and let’s go on.’ And I think that really is the problem that underlies all of this.”

Senator Rand Paul’s $250 Million Dollar Question To John Kerry

◼ Sen. Paul Questions Secretary of State Kerry at Foreign Relations Hearing - paul.senate.gov

TRANSCRIPT: Thank you, Secretary Kerry, for coming today. You mention in your remarks that we don’t need politicians to go home and say that we need to end foreign aid and spend that money at home. Well, this might come as news to one of the most prominent politicians in our country who said in his re-election campaign that we need to do less nation building abroad and more nation building at home, and that would be your current boss, the President of the United States. So I don’t think this is unique to Republicans or Democrats. In fact I think this crosses all party lines. It is not me going home and creating an atmosphere where people are doubtful of foreign aid. It’s that 80 to 90 percent are doubtful.

We have two bridges in my state that are over 50 years old. The President came, and I flew down with him, to talk about re-building them. I’m in favor of replacing bridges and rebuilding our infrastructure. But at the same time, we seem to not have enough money to keep the doors open around here, not enough money to keep the touring of the White House open. This Administration sent and extra $250 million to Egypt. Many of us find that offensive.

We cannot even run the basic functions of government, and yet we send an extra $250 million in addition to the $2 billion we already send over there. So, many of us are offended by this. The question I have for you is, the Mubarak family is said to be worth more than $10 billion dollars. Most people say that a lot of that money came from our foreign aid.

Mobutu ruled for many, many years in Central Africa. He was said to be worth millions upon millions, if not billions of dollars. His wife was called “Gucci” Mobutu. She was famous for going to Paris and shopping for shoes with a Louis Vuitton bag full of $500,000 in cash to $1 million in cash. That money was looted from the American Treasury. There are all kinds of examples of theft and kleptocracy. There’s examples of our foreign aid being used to buy tear gas in Egypt and used to spray on the Egyptian people. So I don’t think it even buys the good will of the people because often it’s stolen by their leaders who are unpopular in their country. So I think it’s often counterproductive. But I think we are missing the boat here if you think that we’re stoking the fires and that the people don’t already believe this.

This is something that is already in the psyche of the people. People are upset about it and would rather spend money at home. But, I’d like your comments on the President’s position but also on the idea that a lot of foreign aid has been stolen by these leaders.

HON. KERRY: Well Senator, I think there's a difference between some of the nation building that we've seen sometimes engaged in and good foreign aid programs that don't rise to the level necessarily of some nation building. But, that's a quibbling probably, and we'll wind up arguing over the smaller issue rather than the larger one here. So, let me try to frame it this way.

Has some money been stolen? Absolutely.... read the rest, at the link

"I think it is really unfortunate that there has been so much focus and attention in the media and elsewhere on the subject of war, when what we really ought to be talking about is the possibility of peace. And I think there are those possibilities," Kerry earlier told a news conference in Tokyo...

◼ Kerry was in Japan for the final stop on an Asian tour aimed at solidifying support for curbing North Korea's nuclear program, and reassuring U.S. allies.... says U.S. ready to "reach out" to North Korea - Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday stressed the United States is willing to engage with North Korea as long as it takes steps to give up nuclear weapons.

He also vowed Washington would protect its Asian allies against any provocative acts by the North, but said it wants a peaceful solution to rising tensions in the region.

"We are prepared to reach out but we need (the) appropriate moment, appropriate circumstance," Kerry told a small group of reporters, adding that North Korea had to take steps toward giving up its nuclear programs.

"They have to take some actions. Now how many and how much I want to have a discussion with folks back in Washington (about)... but they have to take action," he added.

The North has threatened for weeks to attack the United States, South Korea and Japan since new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February. Speculation has mounted of a new missile launch or nuclear test.

◼ North Korea's Kim Jong-un missing amid escalating threats against the US and South Korea - IB Times (warning, video autoplay)

◼ Secretary of State John Kerry flew to China on Saturday and sought to elicit China’s help in dealing with an increasingly recalcitrant nuclear armed North Korea by saying that American missile defenses could be cut back if the North abandoned its nuclear program. - NYT

In a news conference, Mr. Kerry suggested that the United States could remove some newly enhanced missile defenses in the region, though he did not specify which ones. Any eventual cutback would address Chinese concerns about the buildup of American weapons systems in the region.

Panetta: Obama Absent Night of Benghazi

◼ Panetta said, though he did meet with Obama at a 5 o'clock prescheduled gathering, the president left operational details, including knowledge of what resources were available to help the Americans under siege, "up to us." - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

In fact, Panetta says that the night of 9/11, he did not communicate with a single person at the White House. The attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Obama did not call or communicate in anyway with the defense secretary that night. There were no calls about what was going on in Benghazi. He never called to check-in.

...As Bill Kristol wrote in the month after the attack, "Panetta's position is untenable: The Defense Department doesn't get to unilaterally decide whether it's too risky or not to try to rescue CIA operators, or to violate another country's air space. In any case, it’s inconceivable Panetta didn't raise the question of what to do when he met with the national security adviser and the president at 5 p.m. on the evening of September 11 for an hour. And it's beyond inconceivable he didn't then stay in touch with the White House after he returned to the Pentagon."

◼ Petraeus and Panetta Speak—But Not the President - Bill Kristol/Weekly Standard

Seven weeks later, the White House still hasn't explained what President Obama did and didn't do during the seven hours of the attack on Benghazi on September 11. And there's been no response from the White House to questions ◼ linkasked by senators or ◼ linkTHE WEEKLY STANDARD or ◼ David Ignatius in the Washington Post.

We have, to be sure, heard from some government officials. But the information they've provided raises still more questions.

◼ Lingering questions about Benghazi - David Ignatius/Washington Post (Oct. 30)

◼ "Panetta said that Obama left operational details, including knowledge of what resources were available to help the Americans under seize, 'up to us.'" - Althouse

◼ Panetta: no one to blame for Benghazi - neoneocon

◼ Panetta Testifies that Obama Was Not Engaged During Benghazi Attack - Bryan Preston/PJM

...The attack went on for several more hours. Many have questioned why there have been no photos released of Obama monitoring the attack from the White House situation room. The answer appears to be that he never went to the situation room, and was not monitoring the attack.

◼ Obama Campaign: Vegas Fundraiser on Day After Benghazi Massacre was "Appropriate" - Guy Benson/Townhall (Oct.1)

U.S. 'backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad's regime'

◼ Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying 'the idea is approved by Washington' - Louise Boyle/Daily Mail

Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country....

The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumés and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.

The U.S. State Department had not returned a request for comment on the alleged emails to MailOnline today at time of publication....

◼ LEAKED EMAILS PROVE OBAMA "BACKED PLAN TO LAUNCH CHEMICAL WEAPON ATTACK ON SYRIA AND BLAME IT ON ASSAD" - Atlas Shrugs

Thanks to Armaros for sending this news story. He laments: "Obama brought me to a point where, contrary to how I always felt and most of us do wanting to win debates and be proven right, I am now days hope to be wrong. I hope that the story I am reading is not true as much as I despise this impostor. Your book was one of the first, if not the first series of information I was hoping to be proven wrong. Now daily I see stuff I wish turning out as some Alex Jones conspiracy or FB hoax or whatever...except the truth."

The terrifying mindset of Secretary Clinton

◼ link - Joseph Curl/Washington Times

Her words are already long gone from the daily flow; in fact, they never really resonated at all, were all but ignored by the mainstream media, and were characterized more as a feisty in-your-face comeback than what they truly were.

And what they truly were was horrifying — but at the same time a deep insight into the Democratic mindset, as well as a peek at what may be coming in 2016.

...from her perspective, there doesn’t need to be any investigation into why the administration said what it said. It’s like a child breaking a lamp, lying about it to his parents, and then saying, “Look, we could go on and on about who said what about breaking the lamp, but fixing the lamp now is really all that’s important — let’s move on.”

And that is terrifying. The secretary of state said simply, “The ends justify the means.” The Obama administration had lied about what happened in Benghazi to help secure a second term for the president, buried the murder of Americans in a private investigation, then, when finally questioned, said, “What difference does it make!?” what we said way back then.

"What difference does it make?"

◼ The difference between life and death. - Ramirez at Townhall
◼ Asked and answered, sweetie. - Protein Wisdom

Live Blog: Gov. Jerry Brown's State of the State

◼ At the Sacramento Bee

◼ 'California did the impossible,' Brown says in State of the State - LA Times

Gov. Jerry Brown says California has averted fiscal collapse. He calls for investing in water and rail programs, but warns: 'Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them.'

January 24, 2013 - FULL TEXT:

The message this year is clear: California has once again confounded our critics. We have wrought in just two years a solid and enduring budget. And, by God, we will persevere and keep it that way for years to come.

Against those who take pleasure, singing of our demise, California did the impossible.

You, the California legislature, did it. You cast difficult votes to cut billions from the state budget. You curbed prison spending through an historic realignment and you reformed and reduced the state's long term pension liabilities.

Then, the citizens of California, using their inherent political power under the Constitution, finished the task. They embraced the new taxes of Proposition 30 by a healthy margin of 55% to 44%.
Members of the legislature, I salute you for your courage, for wholeheartedly throwing yourself into the cause.

I salute the unions--their members and their leaders. You showed what ordinary people can do when they are united and organized.

I salute those leaders of California business and the individual citizens who proudly stood with us.

I salute the teachers and the students, the parents and the college presidents, the whole school community. As the great jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said when describing what stirs people to action: "Feeling begets feeling and great feeling begets great feeling." You were alarmed, you stirred yourselves to action and victory was the outcome.

That was 2012 and what a year!

In fact, both 2011 and 2012 were remarkable.

You did great things: Your 1/3 renewable energy mandate; the reform of workers compensation; the reorganization of state government; protecting our forests and strengthening our timber industry; reforming our welfare system; and launching the nation's first high speed rail system.

But, of course, governing never ends. We have promises to keep. And the most important is the one we made to the voters if Proposition 30 passed: that we would guard jealously the money temporarily made available.

This means living within our means and not spending what we don't have. Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them. It is cruel to lead people on by expanding good programs, only to cut them back when the funding disappears. That is not progress; it is not even progressive. It is illusion. That stop and go, boom and bust, serves no one. We are not going back there.

The budget is balanced but great risks and uncertainties lie ahead. The federal government, the courts or changes in the economy all could cost us billions and drive a hole in the budget. The ultimate costs of expanding our health care system under the Affordable Care Act are unknown. Ignoring such known unknowns would be folly, just as it would be to not pay down our wall of debt. That is how we plunged into a decade of deficits.

Recall the story of Genesis and Pharaoh's dream of seven cows, fatfleshed and well favored, which came out of the river, followed by seven other cows leanfleshed and ill favored. Then the lean cows ate up the fat cows. The Pharaoh could not interpret his dream until Joseph explained to him that the seven fat cows were seven years of great plenty and the seven lean cows were seven years of famine that would immediately follow. The Pharaoh took the advice of Joseph and stored up great quantities of grain during the years of plenty. When famine came, Egypt was ready.

The people have given us seven years of extra taxes. Let us follow the wisdom of Joseph, pay down our debts and store up reserves against the leaner times that will surely come.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt said: "There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation has a rendezvous with destiny."

We --right here in California-- have such a rendezvous with destiny. All around us we see doubt and skepticism about our future and that of America's. But what we have accomplished together these last two years, indeed, the whole history of California, belies such pessimism.

Remember how California began.

In 1769, under King Charles III, orders were issued to Jose de Galvez, the Visitor General of Baja California, to: "Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of Spain.´

Gaspar Portola and a small band of brave men made their way slowly north, along an uncharted path. Eventually, they reached Monterey but they could not recognize the Bay in the dense fog. With their supplies failing, they marched back to San Diego, forced to eat the flesh of emaciated pack mules just to stay alive. Undaunted, Portola sent for provisions from Baja California and promptly organized a second expedition. He retraced his steps northward, along what was to become El Camino Real, the Kings Highway. This time, Father Serra joined the expedition by sea. The rest is history, a spectacular history of bold pioneers meeting every failure with even greater success.

The founding of the Missions, secularized and sold off in little more than 50 years, the displacement and devastation of the native people, the discovery of Gold, the coming of the Forty-Niners and adventurers from every continent, first by the thousands and then by the hundreds of thousands. Then during the Civil War under President Lincoln came the Transcontinental Railroad and Land Grant Colleges, followed by the founding of the University of California. And oil production, movies, an aircraft industry, the longest suspension bridge in the world, aerospace, the first freeways, grand water projects, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Venture Capital, Silicon Valley, Hewlett Packard, Apple, Qualcomm, Google and countless others, existing and still just imagined.

What is this but the most diverse, creative and longest standing mass migration in the history of the world. That is California. And we are her sons and daughters.
This special destiny never ends. It slows. It falters. It goes off track in ignorance and prejudice but soon resumes again--more vibrant and more stunning in its boldness.

The rest of the country looks to California. Not for what is conventional, but for what is necessary--necessary to keep faith with our courageous forebears.
What we have done together and what we must do in the coming years is big, but it pales in comparison to the indomitable courage of those who discovered and each decade thereafter built a more abundant California.

As Legislators, It is your duty and privilege to pass laws. But what we need to do for our future will require more than producing hundreds of new laws each year. Montaigne, the great French writer of the 16th Century, in his Essay on Experience, wisely wrote: "There is little relation between our actions, which are in perpetual mutation, and fixed and immutable laws. The most desirable laws are those that are the rarest, simplest, and most general; and I even think that it would be better to have none at all than to have them in such numbers as we have."

Constantly expanding the coercive power of government by adding each year so many minute prescriptions to our already detailed and turgid legal system overshadows other aspects of public service. Individual creativity and direct leadership must also play a part. We do this, not by commanding thou shalt or thou shalt not through a new law but by tapping into the persuasive power that can inspire and organize people. Lay the Ten Commandments next to the California Education code and you will see how far we have diverged in approach and in content from that which forms the basis of our legal system.

Brown complaining about too many laws! so why did he sign over 800 laws last year? @jerrybrowngov #CASOS

— Thomas Del Beccaro (@tomdelbeccaro) January 24, 2013

Education

In the right order of things, education--the early fashioning of character and the formation of conscience--comes before legislation. Nothing is more determinative of our future than how we teach our children. If we fail at this, we will sow growing social chaos and inequality that no law can rectify.

In California's public schools, there are six million students, 300,000 teachers--all subject to tens of thousands of laws and regulations. In addition to the teacher in the classroom, we have a principal in every school, a superintendent and governing board for each school district. Then we have the State Superintendent and the State Board of Education, which makes rules and approves endless waivers--often of laws which you just passed. Then there is the Congress which passes laws like "No Child Left Behind," and finally the Federal Department of Education, whose rules, audits and fines reach into every classroom in America, where sixty million children study, not six million.

Add to this the fact that three million California school age children speak a language at home other than English and more than two million children live in poverty. And we have a funding system that is overly complex, bureaucratically driven and deeply inequitable. That is the state of affairs today.

The laws that are in fashion demand tightly constrained curricula and reams of accountability data. All the better if it requires quiz-bits of information, regurgitated at regular intervals and stored in vast computers. Performance metrics, of course, are invoked like talismans. Distant authorities crack the whip, demanding quantitative measures and a stark, single number to encapsulate the precise achievement level of every child.

We seem to think that education is a thing--like a vaccine--that can be designed from afar and simply injected into our children. But as the Irish poet, William Butler Yeats said, "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire."

This year, as you consider new education laws, I ask you to consider the principle of Subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is the idea that a central authority should only perform those tasks which cannot be performed at a more immediate or local level. In other words, higher or more remote levels of government, like the state, should render assistance to local school districts, but always respect their primary jurisdiction and the dignity and freedom of teachers and students.

Subsidiarity is offended when distant authorities prescribe in minute detail what is taught, how it is taught and how it is to be measured. I would prefer to trust our teachers who are in the classroom each day, doing the real work - lighting fires in young minds.

My 2013 Budget Summary lays out the case for cutting categorical programs and putting maximum authority and discretion back at the local level--with school boards. I am asking you to approve a brand new Local Control Funding Formula which would distribute supplemental funds -- over an extended period of time -- to school districts based on the real world problems they face. This formula recognizes the fact that a child in a family making $20,000 a year or speaking a language different from English or living in a foster home requires more help. Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice.

With respect to higher education, cost pressures are relentless and many students cannot get the classes they need. A half million fewer students this year enrolled in the community colleges than in 2008. Graduation in four years is the exception and transition from one segment to the other is difficult. The University of California, the Cal State system and the community colleges are all working on this. The key here is thoughtful change, working with the faculty and the college presidents. But tuition increases are not the answer. I will not let the students become the default financiers of our colleges and universities.

Health Care

California was the first in the nation to pass laws to implement President Obama's historic Affordable Care Act. Our health benefit exchange, called Covered California, will begin next year providing insurance to nearly one million Californians. Over the rest of this decade, California will steadily reduce the number of the uninsured.

Today I am calling for a special session to deal with those issues that must be decided quickly if California is to get the Affordable Care Act started by next January. The broader expansion of Medi-Cal that the Act calls for is incredibly complex and will take more time. Working out the right relationship with the counties will test our ingenuity and will not be achieved overnight. Given the costs involved, great prudence should guide every step of the way.

Jobs

California lost 1.3 million jobs in the great Recession but we are coming back at a faster pace than the national average. The new Office of Business and Economic Development -- GoBiz --directly assisted more than 5,000 companies this past year.

One of those companies was Samsung Semiconductor Inc. headquartered in Korea. Working with the City of San Jose and Santa Clara County, GoBiz persuaded Samsung to locate their only research and development facility in the world here in California. The new facility in San Jose will place at least 2,500 people in high skill, high wage jobs. We also leveled the field on internet sales taxes, paving the way for over 1,000 new jobs at new Amazon distribution centers in Patterson and San Bernardino and now Tracy.

This year, we should change both the Enterprise Zone Program and the Jobs Hiring Credit. They aren't working. We also need to rethink and streamline our regulatory procedures, particularly the California Environmental Quality Act. Our approach needs to be based more on consistent standards that provide greater certainty and cut needless delays.

California's exports are booming and our place in the world economy has never been stronger. Our ties with The People's Republic of China in particular are deep--from the Chinese immigrants crossing the Pacific in 1848 to hosting China's next President in Los Angeles last February. This year we will take another step to strengthen the ties between the world's second and ninth largest economies. In April, I will lead a trade and investment mission to China with help from the Bay Area Council and officially open California's new trade and investment office in Shanghai.

Water

Central to the life of our state is water and one sixth of that water flows through the San Joaquin Delta.

Silicon Valley, the Livermore Valley, farmers on the East side of the San Joaquin Valley between Fresno and Kern County and farmers on the West side between Tracy and Los Banos, urban Southern California and Northern Contra Costa, all are critically dependent on the Delta for Water.

If because of an earthquake, a hundred year storm or sea level rise, the Delta fails, the disaster would be comparable to Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy: losses of at least $100 billion and 40,000 jobs. I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that does not happen. My proposed plan is two tunnels 30 miles long and 40 feet wide, designed to improve the ecology of the Delta, with almost 100 square miles of habitat restoration. Yes, that is big but so is the problem.

The London Olympics lasted a short while and cost $14 billion, about the same cost as this project. But this project will serve California for hundreds of years.

Climate Change

When we think about California's future, no long term liability presents as great a danger to our wellbeing as the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

According to the latest report from the World Bank, carbon dioxide emissions are the highest in 15 million years. At today's emissions rate, the planet could warm by more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, an event unknown in human experience. California is extremely vulnerable because of our Mediterranean climate, long coastline and reliance on snowpack for so much of our water supply.

Tipping points can be reached before we even know we have passed them. This is a different kind of challenge than we ever faced. It requires acting now even though the worst consequences are perhaps decades in the future.

Again California is leading the way. We are reducing emissions as required by AB 32 and we will meet our goal of getting carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

Key to our efforts is reducing electricity consumption through efficiency standards for buildings and appliances. Over the last three decades, these pioneering efforts have saved Californians $65 billion dollars. And we are not through yet.

We are also meeting our renewable energy goals: more than 20% renewable energy this year. By 2020, we will get at least a third of our electricity from the sun and the wind and other renewable sources--and probably more.

Transportation and High Speed Rail

In the years following World War II, California embarked on a vast program to build highway, bridges and roads.

Today, California's highways are asked to accommodate more vehicle traffic than any other state in the nation. Most were constructed before we knew about climate change and the lethal effects of dirty air. We now expect more.

I have directed our Transportation Agency to review thoroughly our current priorities and explore long-term funding options.

Last year, you authorized another big project: High Speed Rail. Yes, it is bold but so is everything else about California.

Electrified trains are part of the future. China already has 5000 miles of high speed rail and intends to double that. Spain has 1600 miles and is building more. More than a dozen other countries have their own successful high speed rail systems. Even Morocco is building one.

The first phase will get us from Madera to Bakersfield. Then we will take it through the Tehachapi Mountains to Palmdale, constructing 30 miles of tunnels and bridges. The first rail line through those mountains was built in 1874 and its top speed over the crest is still 24 miles an hour. Then we will build another 33 miles of tunnels and bridges before we get the train to its destination at Union Station in the heart of Los Angeles.

It has taken great perseverance to get us this far. I signed the original high speed rail Authority in 1982--over 30 years ago. In 2013, we will finally break ground and start construction.

Conclusion

This is my 11th year in the job and I have never been more excited. Two years ago, they were writing our obituary. Well it didn't happen. California is back, its budget is balanced, and we are on the move. Let's go out and get it done.

ANGRY CLINTON EXPLODES AT QUESTIONING ON LIBYA PROTEST: ‘WE HAVE FOUR DEAD AMERICANS…WHAT DIFFERENCE AT THIS POINT DOES IT MAKE?’

◼ Video: Rand Paul Hammers Hillary Clinton Over Benghazi During Senate Hearing, “I Would Have Relieved You Of Your Post”… - Weasel Zippers

◼ VIDEO: CLINTON LOSES HER COOL DURING BENGHAZI HEARING - Human Events
Wednesday morning, during her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got into a heated confrontation with Wisconsin’s Republican Sen. Ron Johnson over the cause for the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi. At times pounding her fist on the table in front of her, Clinton insisted that regardless of whether the attack was carried out by a “protest, or guys out for a walk one night who decided they would go kill some Americans,” it is their job to to now prevent anything like it from happening again.

◼ CLINTON ON THE HILL FOR BENGHAZI HEARING - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o



◼ ANGRY CLINTON EXPLODES AT QUESTIONING ON LIBYA PROTEST: ‘WE HAVE FOUR DEAD AMERICANS…WHAT DIFFERENCE AT THIS POINT DOES IT MAKE?’ - The Blaze (warning, autoplay)

◼ [VIDEO] Pressed for Answers on Her Response to the Benghazi Attack, Hillary Clinton Fumes ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ - Bryan Preston/PJM

◼ Clinton shouts at Ron Johnson over talking points - Washington Free Beacon

◼ Hillary Clinton’s Laughter At Benghazi Hearing, After Feigning Tears - Sooper Mexican

“What difference does it make?!” For one, it makes a difference if you don’t know what the motives are of the murderers who killed 4 Americans. She wants us to believe they’re sincerely seeking after them without understanding their reasoning for the attack? And finally, it matters because a government shouldn’t be lying to it’s citizens when it’s attacked. But you won’t see any of that in the media – you’ll just see her tears, and not her laughing at us all behind our backs.

Drudge Headlines: Gets emotional over Benghazi attack... Shouts: 'What Difference ... Does It Make?!' Disses Rice: 'I Wasn't Involved In Talking Points'... NYT: Some Algeria Attackers Hit US Embassy in Libya... SecState: I never saw requests for more security... Blames Congress for lack of funding... Rand Paul: 'I would have relieved you of post'... Dem Sen brings up WMD's in Iraq...

It makes a difference.

— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) January 23, 2013

Senate Republicans to Hold Kerry’s State Nomination Until Hillary Clinton Testifies on Benghazi

◼ Since she took to Peruvian TV to accept responsibility for the lack of security that played a starring role in the deadly attack, Hillary Clinton has done everything in her power to avoid said responsibility. She has disappeared from public view. She floated the possibility that she might not testify before Congress at all. Then she mysteriously became ill just before her testimony was to take place. Those four State officers who supposedly quit in the wake of the Accountability Review Board’s report, have not quit at all. The Accountability Review Board’s report itself admits that mistakes were made, just not by anyone in particular. I guess the Universe itself made all those mistakes. - Bryan Preston/PJM

The sixties are now complete: A president supported by an ex-Weatherman and the New Black Panthers might as well have a Winter Soldier in his cabinet for the complete Radical Chic Meets Geritol experience

◼ “Source: Obama has chosen John Kerry as Secretary of State.” - Ed Driscoll/PJM

The Rice vs Kerry battle has wider implications. An open Senate seat can mean an opportunity for Scott Brown to get back into the Senate.

◼ Did Hillary Put One Over Obama One Last Time? - Daniel Greenfield/Front Page

If Susan Rice fails to become the next Secretary of State it will be due less to Republican Senators and more to the quiet civil war of staffers that has been raging inside the Obama Administration for the last four years. While Obama’s people have retained most of their hold on domestic policy, foreign policy has been slipping into the hands of Clinton loyalists. And with Hillary Clinton leaving, allowing her position to fall into the hands of the woman who betrayed her would be a reversal of the Clintonization of Obama’s foreign policy....

The Clintons know that an attack from the right will have no traction, that is why they instead veered to the left, targeting Rice on Keystone. They know that attacking a black Obama loyalist is dangerous territory, so they outsourced the work to African hands who are calling Rice to account for her sympathy for African tyrants.

The endgame is to create another sticking points for the Democrats to make Rice seem not worth defending against the Republicans. It’s an effective pincer movement that may end up spelling the doom of Susan Rice’s career. Once you’ve tried to get through the gate and failed, the resistance to trying a second time will be far higher.

Orchestrating John Kerry’s closing number as Secretary of State would give the Clintons a moral and political victory, while humiliating the Obama loyalists one more time. The Clintons are hardly conservative, about as much as Kerry is, but in the face of the radical left that is now running things, they tend to look it and have staked out that corner of the office. Foreign policy, particularly Iraq, was where Obama picked his fight with Hillary Clinton. Hijacking Obama’s foreign policy has been Hillary’s revenge.

The editorials are already lining up.

Earlier this evening, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "the buck stops with her" in terms of the terrorist that killed the American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

◼ BUCK STOPS WITH ME: HILLARY TAKES BLAME FOR BENGHAZI... - CNN via Drudge

"In the wake of an attack like this, in the fog of war, there's always going to be confusion," Clinton said. "And I think it is absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone who spoke tried to give the information that they had. As time has gone on, that information has changed. We've gotten more detail, but that's not surprising. That always happens."

She added, "What I want to avoid is some kind of political gotcha or blame game."
"I know that we're very close to an election," Clinton said. "I want to just take a step back here and say from my own experience, we are at our best as Americans when we pull together. I've done that with Democratic presidents and Republican presidents."
Her remarks drew a quick response from three Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including ranking member John McCain.

◼ Senators Insist Buck Must Stop with Obama - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

"We have just learned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has claimed full responsibility for any failure to secure our people and our Consulate in Benghazi prior to the attack of September 11, 2012. This is a laudable gesture, especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever," the senators say in a joint statement.

"However, we must remember that the events of September 11 were preceded by an escalating pattern of attacks this year in Benghazi, including a bomb that was thrown into our Consulate in April, another explosive device that was detonated outside of our Consulate in June, and an assassination attempt on the British Ambassador. If the President was truly not aware of this rising threat level in Benghazi, then we have lost confidence in his national security team, whose responsibility it is to keep the President informed. But if the President was aware of these earlier attacks in Benghazi prior to the events of September 11, 2012, then he bears full responsibility for any security failures that occurred. The security of Americans serving our nation everywhere in the world is ultimately the job of the Commander-in-Chief. The buck stops there.

◼ Secretary of State Hillary Clinton granted an interview with CNN live from underneath the bus, and it was one that the White House will welcome… at least for now: - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

It’s worth mentioning that one of the topics at Tuesday’s Obama/Romney spar will be national security, so Hillary saying she wants to “avoid political gotcha” by absorbing responsibility for Benghazi the day before the debate doesn’t feel genuine no matter what the motive. But what about the administration’s evolving spin on this story does feel genuine?

◼ HILLARY TRIES TO THROW HERSELF UNDER THE BENGHAZI BUS: Says She Was Responsible For Diplomats' Security - Doug Ross

Gee, you mean the Secretary of State is responsible for the State Department? Well, I'll be damned.

"Political gotcha"?

An Ambassador is dead and the administration trotted out a series of lies from the outset. And the key questions remain unanswered:

• Who ordered security removed from Ambassador Stevens when he and other personnel were requesting more security?

• Who made up the story about the video and the non-protest in Libya?

• And why were the false stories promoted for weeks on end?

Four Americans are dead and more than a month has elapsed during which the administration has lied, evaded and misdirected. Perhaps a few of these questions will be asked in in the remaining presidential debates. Dare to dream.

◼ Obama Hides Behind Hillary’s Skirt - Larry Johnson/No Quarter

Talk about a spineless wimp. That is Barack Obama when it comes to Libya. Hillary Clinton tonight, while speaking in Peru, takes full responsibility for the failure to have the consulate in Benghazi properly secured and Ambassador Chris Stevens appropriately protected. And she’s right. She is at fault.

But having Hillary take the hit does not get Obama off the hook. She ultimately may have been responsible for the security failure in Libya, but she was not the one who sent Susan Rice out to lie to the American people. That was Barack Obama’s call. Here is the irony–when Obama was busy spiking the football for taking out Bin Laden he was quick to claim the credit for making the tough decision. He could not wait to get in front of the cameras and set in motion leaks that completely exposed a top secret US Navy Special Ops unit.

But while Ambassador Stevens’ corpse was still warm, what did Barack do?

He jetted off to Las Vegas to raise campaign cash. He had no time nor inclination to brief the American public on this epic fail on 9-11, 2012. His campaign was counting on doing a triumphant foreign policy march waving the body of Osama Bin Laden as a victory scalp. That meme turned to ashes with the shell of the burned out US Consulate and annex in Benghazi more than one month ago.

So, Hillary accepts responsibility? Fine. She should tender her resignation. She failed to do her job and four Americans are dead that should not have died. If she stays on the job, then we know this is just a cheap, political gesture with no substance. MORE at the link.