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TheDC Morning: Fast and Furious and Furtive

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1.) Obama says words about 9/11 — The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks could mean only one thing: yet another campaign speech from Obama. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports: “President Barack Obama used his speech on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity to paint a picture of overseas military losses and of domestic resilience under stress. ‘Two million Americans have gone to war since 9/11 … Too many will never come home. Those that do carry dark memories from distant places, and the legacy of fallen friends,’ Obama said in a speech to the invited audience at a ‘Concert for Hope’ held Sunday evening at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. ‘Our strength is not measured in our ability to stay in these places; it comes from our commitment to leave those lands to free people and sovereign states, and our desire to move from a decade of war to a future of peace,’ said Obama, who promised in his 2008 race to end what he said were two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… His tone was sharply different from the speech former President George W. Bush gave Saturday. ‘The temptation of isolation is deadly wrong,’ Bush said. ‘A world of dignity and liberty and hope will be safer and better for all. And the surest way to move toward that vision is for the United States of America to lead the cause of freedom,’ Bush said, reprising his strategy of undermining Islamic terrorism by promoting political and economic freedom in the Arab world. After lionizing the passengers of Flight 93 for ‘launching the first counteroffensive of the war on terror,’ Bush also praised the the military. ‘They have kept us safe, they have made us proud,’ he said at the Shanksville, Pa., memorial to the 40 passengers and crew killed when that flight crashed.” Incidentally, Obama didn’t mention who the attackers were, who supported them, or what motivated them. Apparently that would’ve been a faux pas.

2.) Disney sends 9/11 docudrama to Never Never Land — TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports: “Activists tell The Daily Caller that The Walt Disney Company is refusing to re-air a 9/11-related docudrama, effectively burying politically inconvenient facts about the events which led to the 9/11 terror attacks, in order to protect the political future of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ‘The Path to 9/11,’ first aired on ABC in 2006, portrayed President Bill Clinton’s administration as ignoring warnings and signs that Osama bin Laden and al Qaida were planning a major attack on the United States — a finding supported by The 9/11 Commission Report. But since 2006 Disney CEO Bob Iger has repeatedly refused to rebroadcast it, or to sell the rights to other broadcasters… ‘The Path to 9/11’ was nominated for seven Emmy awards, and won one. It also received an American Cinema Editors ‘Eddie’ award. But the film, which cost $40 million to make, has not aired in the U.S. since, nor has it been released on DVD… Tom Borelli, the director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise project and a Disney shareholder, told The Daily Caller that he has formally offered to purchase the film’s rights from Disney — only to be ignored… Borelli has pressed Iger on the film’s disposition at several Disney shareholder meetings, but the CEO hasn’t budged for years on the issue — even telling Borelli ‘F*** you!’ during one such meeting.” 9/11: Never forget… unless it reflects badly on the Democrats.

3.) Fast and Furious and Furtive — What’s the latest on the investigation into the Fast and Furious fiasco? Obama would rather you didn’t ask, so here we go. Matthew Boyle reports: “Congressional investigators digging into Operation Fast and Furious have, for the first time, asked a senior White House official for documents and communications regarding the gun-walking scandal. In a Friday letter to President Obama’s national security adviser Thomas Donilon, House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Senate judiciary committee Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley requested all records and communications involving three senior Obama administration officials regarding Fast and Furious and gun trafficking cases in Phoenix, Ariz. Issa and Grassley also requested copies of all communications those three officials had with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) field personnel in Phoenix. The written request from Capitol Hill came shortly after it was discovered that the lead ATF agent on Operation Fast and Furious, William Newell, communicated with three White House officials about some details of the operation.” How many more people have to be killed by these guns before the Obama administration comes clean about what happened?

4.) Weprin-Turner Overdrive — The wace to weplace Weiner is heating up, according to TheDC’s Alexis Levinson: “Two days before the special election in New York’s 9th Congressional District, yet another poll confirms that Bob Turner, the Republican, holds an improbable lead in the heavily Democratic district. A Public Policy Polling poll released Sunday night found Turner leading his Democratic opponent, David Weprin, by a 47–41 margin. A Siena poll released last week found Turner leading by the same split, 50 to 44 percent… Turner has a strong lead with independent voters, 58 percent of whom say they will vote for him. Just 26 percent plan to vote for Weprin. Turner also has the majority of the Jewish vote, a demographic that makes up 36 percent of the district according to PPP’s results. Fifty-six percent of Jews say they will vote for Turner, while 39 percent say they have chosen Weprin… The PPP poll illustrates a major shift in the district, which Obama won with 55 percent of the vote in 2008.” What a difference three years and a disastrous presidency can make. It also can’t help that the only reason they’re having a special election is because their Democratic representative sent pictures of his erect penis to a bunch of strangers. It’s pretty tough for Weprin to, um, rise above.

5.) Charlie Sheen’s career officially over — Associated Press: “Charlie Sheen smiled through a Comedy Central roast as Mike Tyson, William Shatner, actress Kate Walsh and half a dozen comedians riffed on his high-profile year… The 46-year-old actor is the subject of the latest roast, which was taped Saturday night at Sony Studios and will air Sept. 19 on Comedy Central… The actor, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and red tie, smiled and laughed as roasters jabbed at his famous family, his notorious taste for drugs and prostitutes and his primetime firing… ‘Charlie’s meltdown was so bad, Al Gore’s making a documentary about it,’ quipped comedian Jeffrey Ross, who was dressed as Muammar Gaddafi in a military outfit with fringed epaulets and a sash… Comedian Jon Lovitz also took a timely swipe at Sheen: ‘How much (cocaine) can Charlie Sheen do?’ he asked. ‘Enough to kill two and a half men.’ Priceline pitchman Shatner reminded Sheen to ‘book your next rehab stay through Priceline.com.’ Walsh, who is best known for her roles on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Private Practice,’ gave standup a shot at the roast. ‘It’s amazing, despite all those years of abusing your lungs, your kidneys and your liver, the only thing you’ve had removed is your kids,’ she said to Sheen.” That’s what really had to hurt Sheen the most: out of all the comics and “celebrities” who lined up to mock him, the only one who really got him was a woman.

6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “A woman named Amber Sutherland from the Post JUST CAME TO MY APT BLDG!! ON THE 9-11 ANNIVERSARY!!! To ask me about Starbucks.”

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Jim Treacher