What Defense Secretary Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee Feb 7 directly contradicted the claim President Obama made in October that he had issued "three very clear directives" as soon as he learned "what was going on" in Benghazi.  The president made no phone calls to the Pentagon, the CIA or the State Department requesting updates or giving orders, the White House confirmed in a letter to Congress.  Their claim the president called the Libyan government the night of Sept. 11 also was false, the White House later acknowledged. This would explain why the White House refused requests from the news media for photos of Mr. Obama meeting with senior officials in the Situation Room.  No such meeting took place. During the time the president wasn't communicating with the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA, Ambassador Chris Stevens was reported missing.  Where was Mr. Obama?  What was he doing?  The White House won't say.  The President lied, he just let his Ambassador and three other Americans die, and no one in the major media cares in the slightest.

Listening to Dr. Benjamin Carson's keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 7 may have been the longest 27 minutes of Barack Obama's presidency, thinks John Giokaris of Policymic.com. Dr. Carson began by quoting Proverbs 11:9: "With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous escape," and Proverbs 11:12: "A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue," to open a discussion of the perniciousness of political correctness and class envy.  He spoke eloquently about individual responsibility, the consequences of moral decay and soaring debt.     He concluded with a ringing endorsement of America's founding principles, and by citing God's promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Without saying a word critical of the president himself, Dr. Carson eviscerated the core assumptions of the Obama administration.  No wonder a lot of folks want him to run for President.

When you're in a situation and you feel like reacting with anger, or fear, or hurt feelings - anything that feels like it's an automatic, purely emotional response - you have a choice as to what to do about it. You can react, or you can choose to do something different. This choice is our capacity for self-regulation and self-control, and it is fundamental to what makes us human. Stephen Covey, in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, talks about this as the "pause button." If you feel yourself swept up into a tide of emotion, in reaction to something somebody has said or done, you may want to express your feelings, or you may not. The pause button is our conscious awareness; it is our capacity to feel something, to feel a reaction coming on, and to think about it before we act on it. One of the common features of criminals is that they do not use this very well. They tend to think in terms of short term, immediate gratification. They are tuned in to basic reactions of pleasure and pain, and have not developed their capacity to stop before they act, and consider what they really want to do; what would really make their life better over the long term. Liberals can be like this too.