Americans Don't Share Feinstein's (and Obama's) Outrage Over CIA Torture

Democrats are still trying to understand why they lost so big in November's elections.   I think the answer is simple:  Americans don't share the extreme liberal viewpoints of the Democrat party.

A perfect example, was the partisan Torture Report that Senator Dianne Feinstein  released a week ago.  In three new polls, Americans say that what the CIA did was necessary when put in the context of 9/11. 

In a PEW poll, 51% say torture was justified and only 43% thought the report should have been released.

A Washington Post/ABC poll showed an even more dramatic difference with 59% in support of the CIA interrogations; while only 31% agreed with Feinstein.  Then, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that just 28% believed that the interrogations "went too far and were wrong."  On the other hand, 51% supported what was done.

Lastly, the NJ.com (New Jersey.com) website has been conducting an online poll. While the voting is a small sample and multiple votes are possible, it does show that those being polled don't think that it was appropriate for Feinstein to have released the report:

Americans get it.  Given what happened on 9/11, our government should have done everything possible, within reason, to protect us, and in the minds of most Americans, enhanced interrogations were within reason.

References:

PEW Research: About Half See CIA Interrogation Methods as Justified: http://www.people-press.org/2014/12/15/about-half-see-cia-interrogation-methods-as-justified/

Washington Post/ABC Poll: New poll finds majority of Americans believe torture justified after 9/11 attacks: http://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/new-poll-finds-majority-of-americans-believe-torture-justified-after/article_69fb9c64-6aff-52cc-a292-805bf61537d6.html

Americans don't share outrage on CIA techniques: Poll: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102273140

NJ.com: Poll: Should the Senate have released its report on CIA torture?: http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/12/poll_should_the_senate_have_released_its_report_on_cia_torture_during_the_bush_administration.html

Californians: You Made Your Own Bed Of Gasoline Shortages

California, in your zeal to have the cleanest gasoline in the country, you isolated yourselves from all the less-clean supplies that the rest of us enjoy throughout the United States.  Your shortages and high gasoline prices are of your own making.  All it took was two major, plant-shutting-down accidents at two very critical refineries -- refineries dedicated to making your state's very stringent blends of summer gasoline -- to send your Golden State into serious supply shortages.  Now you whine.  Like Kermit The Frog once sang: "It's not easy being green".  So, accept your fate.

U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein is calling for an investigation.   This is so typical of all Democrats: Eager to imply that any shortages are due to price manipulation by the big oil companies when, of course, the real blame goes to the Democrats of the California State legislature who mandated cleaner fuels than the rest of the U.S..  California only has 21 operating refineries; working full-time to meet the state's high EPA standards.  Take at least 10% of them offline and, you wind up with serious shortages; especially if those refineries were high output plants (see note below).  And, the refineries in other states can't help you out because their blends are illegal for sale in California. So, get over it.  You voted for "greener" fuel standards and you got them.

Note: Capacities of the two refineries that were shut down. The Richmond Chevron Refinery processes 240,000 barrels of oil per day. That is 12% of the nearly 2 million barrels of oil that are processed daily in California.  Exxon-Mobil's Torrance facility produces nearly 10% of California's gasoline.  So, in effect, those two plants produced 22% of all the gasoline in California.

References:

--- L.A. Times: Gassing Up Conspiracy Theories In California: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gasoline-20121009,0,7222847.story

--- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): California Refining Statistics: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pnp_cap1_dcu_sca_a.htm

--- Wikipedia: Chevron's Richmond Ca. Refinery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevron_Richmond_Refinery

--- Exxon-Mobil: About the Torrance Refinery: http://www.exxonmobil.com/NA-English/PA/about_where_ref_torrance.aspx

Oh So Feinstein!

One of the major blunders by a mayor of any city in the U.S. came in 1985 when the then-Mayor, Diane Feinstein, decided to hold a press conference and release a lot of what had been intentionally kept secret about the serial killer named Richard Ramirez (aka: The Night Stalker). Her press conference literally destroyed any chance of catching this gruesome killer because she released information that should have never been given out. Further, she even jeopardized the criminal case against Ramirez by releasing the details of how he killed. Ramirez, too, listened to the press conference and, as result, quickly left San Francisco for Los Angeles to kill; and, keep killing again. This all took place at a time when the San Francisco police were so close to catching this guy.

Consistent with her stupidity of the past, the now U.S. Senator Feinstein pulled another loose-lipped stunt in the Senate yesterday by releasing information about the cooperation of the Pakistani government in using Predator drones, based in Pakistan, to attack Pakistani/Taliban strongholds along the border of Afghanistan (Click to See Diane In Action). She did it by releasing confidential/secret data in the setting of public hearings so that all of Pakistan could hear about it. All along, the Pakistani government has taken heat from its own citizenry over the attacks on the tribal areas of Pakistan by U.S. military forces. Now, thanks to our brilliant Ms. Feinstein, we may lose any cooperation of the Pakistanis in further attacks on those tribal areas. A cooperation that is so desparately needed in containing the Taliban and Al Qaeda; and, in finding Bin Laden.

This is a perfect example of why Senators and Congressional Representatives can not be trusted with classified information. All throughout the Bush Administration, classified and secret activities of our government came to light through press agencies like the New York Times. Speculation was that it came from within the CIA and other agencies. One can only wonder if it wasn't actually from the likes of Diane Feinstein. While she might not have anymore need to attack the Bush Adminstration, this latest blunder might actually be an intentional disclosure in support of her own, predominately anti-war constituency. Who knows.