Category Archives: Media

Benghazi & the FBI wiretaps – the connection

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This morning, the Washington Post reported that the FBI wiretap investigation of the Associated Press was initiated because of leaks of classified information from the government. In the words of the Post:

“The aggressive investigation into the possible disclosure of classified information to the AP is part of a pattern in which the Obama administration has pursued current and former government officials suspected of releasing secret material. Six officials have been prosecuted, more than under all previous administrations combined.”

The Post also reported:

“The two leak inquiries were started after Republicans in Congress accused the Obama administration of orchestrating news stories intended to demonstrate the president’s toughness on terrorism and improve his chance for reelection. The Republicans sought a special prosecutor, but Holder instead named two veteran prosecutors to handle the inquiries.”

If you recall, in June of last year, in the heat of the election, Senators Dianne Feinstein, John McCain, and others accused the White House of leaking information on the highly classified Stuxnet cybervirus program to the New York Times. Of course the Democrats called it politics but it was serious enough to force meetings with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Clapper then suggested wider polygraph testing of intelligence officials.

In fact, the suspected source for this leak was at the very top at the White House.

In May of 2012, world headlines reported the arrest of a second underpants bomber in Yemen. It was later reported that the United States government blew the cover of an allied agent in place who tipped off the British intelligence services. Even Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta condemned the leak. A full investigation was supposed to have been launched, but then it sank mysteriously into obscurity. Again, the White House was the prime suspect.

For an Administration that has been more aggressive in policing the intelligence community than any of its predecessors, there is a gaping hole in its narrative.

And so now the important facts are coming out about the Benghazi attack. It was a coverup and it was political.

And the FBI has been caught in delicto flagrante wiretapping one of the Administrations favorite news organizations for vague, unspecified reasons. Again quoting from the Washington Post article.

“This investigation is broader and less focused on an individual source or reporter than any of the others we’ve seen,” said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists. “They have swept up an entire collection of press communications. It’s an astonishing assault on core values of our society.”

Translated into English, it was a fishing expedition.

So as the Administration has been using intimidation and threats to our intelligence apparatus at every step it has itself been engaging in a Byzantine level of political corruption to forward its narrative.

CIA Director David Petraeus was humiliated on a national stage 2 days after the election. This wasn’t an accident. It was an act of political destruction. The Benghazi coverup wasn’t an accident. The FBI investigation was a political fig leaf meant to both show Congress that something was being done on the larger scandals while being used as a tool to quash the Administration’s enemies.

Machiavelli and Boss Tweed and the Borgias have got nothing on this bunch of treasonous crooks.

 

The Smoking Gun in Benghazi

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Ambassador StevensWe are still being fed a narrative by the media on Benghazi. The problem runs much deeper than they are willing to admit.

First we were told it was a protest against a video. Then, after weeks of lies, we were told the Administration was looking into it. Then there were Congressional hearings where State Department officials were pilloried. Then Hillary Clinton faced Congress and said:

hillary-clinton-testifies-on-benghazi-2

” The fact is; we had four dead Americans! Was it because of a protest? Or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?”

Then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said:

Panetta covers ass

“The United States military is not and should not be a global 911 service capable of arriving on the scene within minutes to every possible contingency around the world,”

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff denied that there was time to send a response team or for that matter any support until hours after the attack was over. The attack went on for at least 5 hours.

Panetta then went on to say:

“You can’t willy-nilly send F-16s there and blow the hell out of place. … You have to have good intelligence.”

And yet in later testimony it was acknowledged that there were drones broadcasting real time data back to Washington and to other sites almost all through the entire attack. The defenders of the Consulate were lasing targets in the expectation of strike aircraft support. We had good intelligence and we had specific targets.

The resignations at the State Department after the hearings were another smoke screen. State has been underfunding security around the world partially because their embassy construction budget is insanely high.

Our new embassies look like and are fortresses, which projects a terrible image across the world. But that is the policy of the our government these days.

The crisis on 9-11-12 was a multi-jurisdictional crisis. DoD, CIA, NSA, and all the other alphabet agencies were involved and the manager was supposed to be the DNI, James Clapper, who has very little actual authority.

Every agency involved fell flat on its face either through incompetence or the orders of the political masters running the show. Obama checked out at 5:00pm, and Hillary and Panetta and even Petraeus shortly thereafer. No one with authority was on-line to hear the screams or watch the tracers and RPG’s that finally ended this debacle. There was clear dereliction of duty.

Someone at the very top pulled the plug and let these people die and in all likelihood it was Obama and his minions. The 5:00PM checkout is a smoking gun.

It’s like one of those bad movie devices when they turn off the computers and the phones and the lights and the last person out of the room closes the door and the screen goes black.

And the next morning the lies and the coverup began. And even now the media are doing their best to cover up the truth.

Walking the Camino – Six Ways to Santiago – Newport Beach Film Festival – Review

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The Camino de Santiago has been one of the sacred pilgrimages of Christianity since the latter part of the first Millennium. Pilgrims travel the path, which starts wherever they embark on the journey, as a symbol of faith or of repentance.

Munich, Paris; Cluny, Carcassonne, Madrid and Lisbon are the overland start points of some of the many paths that all lead to the same incredible Galician city that sits not far from Cape Finisterre, which the Romans believed was the end of the world. Some journeys are a few miles. Some are a couple of hundred. These are the real thing.

In the Middle Ages traveling the Camino and receiving the Compostela (certificate) means also receiving a plenary indulgence, which remits full temporal punishment, which was quite harsh in the Middle Ages. Today, spiritually, it is a sign of submission and reverence.

In the 1980′s the Camino became a European Cultural Route which really opened the doors to all as a part of the common heritage. It is an incredible journey that can be started on foot or by bicycle or on horseback from all over Europe depending upon the faith and available time and the stamina of the pilgrim.

Walking the Camino is the work of Lydia Smith; her first as a director I believe.  A documentary, it is a labor of love from start to finish. Funding the work was hand to mouth from friends, donors, and a wide range of “angels” along the way.

The production values are simple but profound. The light of Spain turns out to be a pretty good way to find a warmth and spiritual glow that reflects beautifully the images captured.

The pilgrims in their common humanity and in their differences tell the story. The Camino is not easy. Most of them started from 500 to 600 miles away in Spain. The weather can be harsh. Rain and hail and 20-25 miles/day of hiking for 45 days can challenge the endurance and health of anyone.

One pilgrim is a French single mother with her young child and a rather free-spirited, unbelieving brother. She is committed to the Camino as an act of faith. Another is a Portuguese college graduate who took up the Camino as an adventure. Another is a Brazilian/English woman whose life has left her wondering how she will go forward. Another pair are two Canadians; one a priest, the other his friend, adrift after having lost his wife. The choice of stories and individuals who made the final edit is inspired but I am sure everyone who traveled on this particular journey had their part in the film’s success.

Each of the pilgrims has a different reason. Each has their own interpretation of the Camino. Each has their own challenges. It is a hard journey not meant to be undertaken lightly. An American woman walks the Camino but has to struggle with both her own competitiveness and her physical frailty. Along the way she encounters incredible kindness that has a deep impact on her understanding of the Camino, of herself, and of others.

Cutaways of priests discussing the religious meanings of the Camino and its ways; of Hospitaleros along the way give a varied and very enjoyable view into the care and feeding of pilgrims,  and various religious and temporal highlights add depth and meaning beyond a conventional narrative.

The pilgrims tells us their stories along the way and the camera is a willing listener and diarist. They tell us without art or artifice what they are feeling and how they are reacting and interacting with the Camino and their fellow travelers.

The film is beautifully framed and edited. You are in the modern but can sense the timelessness of the journey. The scenery is often incredible and takes the pilgrims through mountain passes; dirt trails one pilgrim wide; and major cities.

The pilgrims discuss faith and their varying beliefs matter of factly. Some are devout Christians. Others are not. But all of them are changed and Ms. Smith captures these metamorphoses beautifully. The act of completion is liberating both spiritually and physically. It is a passage and it is something that no one can ever take away from the those who have completed a Camino.

There is no preaching; only the story. Tough to do when picking an inherently spiritual subject. Films tell stories. They educate us and they entertain and once in a great while they enlighten us. Walking the Camino does all of these.

 

 

Obama’s Middle Finger to America

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Obama FingerSince when has an Administration given the finger to virtually the entire American People?  And since when has there been an almost complete silence on the issue by the media?

The President badly misjudged  the effects of Sequestration on the American political landscape. The first few weeks had been a non-event despite the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth by everyone from the President himself to the Cabinet to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

So now the President has ratcheted the game up, Chicago-style.

The Sequester represents a 2% cost reduction from the increased budget for this year and the next 10 years. This year’s portion is approximately $85 Billion (2%) from a budget of $3.8 trillion, 40% of which is being borrowed. In most families and companies, this would mean a few less nights out for pizza or movies. To the Federal government under President Obama, it means war.

Consider the following:

White House tours cancelled. White House parties continue.

Aircraft carrier deployment cancelled. Military exercise with Morocco cancelled. Air shows cancelled. Worthless programs continue.

Government threatens the most vulnerable; education, HIV patients, Meals on Wheels; HeadStart

. Government threatens closure of  national parks.

Government orchestrates air traffic control slowdown.

In other words, the leadership in government wants you to feel the pain while they continue to spend beyond all reason.

When he was selling Obamacare to the American people, the President said that he had identified $65 Billion in waste and fraud in the Medicare program that would offset higher costs for wider coverage. Not a thing has been done about that fraud since. Even some reform would have mitigated the cuts.

The Federal government has added hundreds of thousands of additional jobs, year after year until it has become a bureaucracy more bloated that any in the world. Federal unions have some of the most generous pension plans and benefits in the country as well. Taking care of your special interests is vital to crony capitalists. Think of the hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on green energy projects.In a time of lean, one must consider anything that is peripheral to the common good, but not this government. Not now.

And when one tries to discuss greater efficiency or common sense solutions, the reply is crickets. They don’t want the problems solved.

Our government has never set out to oppress its own people until now. Now, we are all pawns in the President’s battle to assert his will. Never before has a President been so arrogant as to do so. He is directly confronting us with his power and daring us to respond.

And to date no one has directly responded.

This is clearly the president’s crisis. He was the one who recommended and campaigned for sequestration in the first place and now he is reaping what he has sown. And in his vindictiveness he is giving the finger to all of us.

 

One sentence that captures the Left’s position on Abortion

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In an article in this morning’s Washington Post entitled

“Will Kermit Gosnell change the abortion debate?”

, author Juliet Eilperin captures the Left’s position with pellucid clarity. She writes:

“Can the allegedly egregious acts of one provider shift the broader abortion debate?”

That Dr. Gosnell is an abortionist has been established by his license from the State of Pennsylvania. That he performed late-term abortions was advertised by the doctor. The results of those abortions have been entered into evidence and are unquestionable.

That Ms. Eilperin uses the terms “alleged” and “egregious” is clearly indicative of her perspective regardless of the Post’s style manual. They are a semantic smoking gun.

This is the position of the Left and of this Administration specifically. Late term abortion is perfectly legal to this faction. 10 days ago in Florida, a representative of Planned Parenthood endorsed post delivery abortion or as most of us call it, murder.

This is the logical extension of the eugenics policies advocated by Margaret Sanger when she founded Planned Parenthood in 1916. Eugenics, the policy of selective breeding and culling of human beings to establish a superior genetic stock was the policy of Adolph Hitler as well, if you recall.

Sanger and her allies, who included Theodore Roosevelt, wanted to eliminate defective traits and populations and specially targeted African-Americans. Abortion rights are part and parcel of the Progressive agenda, and that includes Ms. Eilperin, the President of the United States, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services.

You see, the President’s has been very clear on his support for late-term abortion. He was interviewed in 2003. And in 2007

“Obama sharply criticized the Supreme Court for its 2007 Gonzales v. Carhart decision upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. He said, “I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court ruling…I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women.”

Kathleen Sebelius, a nominal Catholic, invested her tenure as the Governor of Kansas into the support of late-term abortion. Jack Cashill in The American Thinker connects the dots in the web of corruption and Leftist maneuvering in Kansas in the abortion debate centered around Dr. George Tiller, another late-term abortionist. The story was never reported in the national media. Sebelius led a coordinated campaign for six years to fight for Tiller’s right to abort late term fetuses.

In November of 2012 Human Events magazine reported that the wife of Attorney General Eric Holder, OB/GYN Dr. Sharon Malone Holder and her sister own, through a family trust the building in Georgia housing the offices of controversial abortionist Dr. Tyrone Cecil Malloy. AG Holder’s Department of Justice has been aggressive in targeting anti-abortion groups, not so much the potential violations of abortion laws on the books. There is a clear conflict of interest.

So we have the President, his HHS Secretary, and the Attorney General all far to the left of the American People on reproductive rights. We have spokespeople for Planned Parenthood acknowledging their support for post natal abortion.

And then we have Ms. Eilperin concerned that the abortion debate is turning against late-term abortion definitively, arguing that abortion clinics are overburdened with rules and regulations as it stands. She points out that the National Abortion Rights League (NARAL) has given an “F” to Pennsylvania for the states restrictive abortion policies. She argues that emotion is overcoming reason. But is it?

Is it reasonable to take the life of a viable human being simply for the fact of its existence? Go down to any hospital with a maternity ward and look at the section for premature infants. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent per case to keep these infants alive. How does this dichotomy reconcile itself in any humane society? When does a fetus or in the case of late-term or post delivery cases have its own human rights? Our policies are schizophrenic.

And the Strangelovian rhetoric of the Left must be recognized for what it is. In the newspeak of the Left calls it reproductive rights. Except the product has no rights. Even until the final stages of pregnancy and beyond, if they had their way.

I cannot and would not post the photographs of the souls lost to Dr. Gosnell’s snips, but they are little different from those of healthy, living infants.

Scientifically, life begins at conception. Our society has decided that a life may be terminated prior to birth. Those limits have been legally established and yet the abortion rights movement wants no restrictions whatsoever. How is this just? And how do we reconcile having some of the strongest advocates for those extreme positions writing the rules and regulations and then enforcing, or not enforcing them?

Dear Mr. President, please stop BS’ing us on AGW

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Yahoo today ran photos from across Europe this morning of the effects of early Spring snow. Britain, France, Germany and much of the rest of Europe have been faced with some of the most snow and cold since the 1960′s. I was a miserable winter and at Easter, still a miserable early Spring.

Today’s Telegraph estimates that 30,000 people will have died this winter season from weather related conditions. Earlier this year, a group of Norwegian students made a video mocking both the celebrity driven cause industry and global warming. Radi – Aid, sending radiators to Norway, can be seen here.

This week’s Economist gives another data point. Apparently, the models predicted by AGW advocates such as James Hanson, the NASA propagandist, for global warming are not working out the way they thought they would. Surface temperatures across the planet are at the low-end of the predictions and there hasn’t been any actual, you know, global warming in 10 years according to the numbers. What is emerging is that the climate change advocates really don’t know. Climatology is hard, you see. The weather in most places changes every day.

And those anthropomorphic polar bears the AGW crowd are using as poster bears for climate change? Well, there are a hell of a lot more of them on the planet than there were 25 years ago according to every single study written. It seems that our government has been trying to cover this up as well. ‘When the facts don’t fit the narrative change the facts” is government policy.

We have gone from Global Warming to Climate Change to WTF.

Yes, climates on the planet are changing. Why and how? We do not know. Climatology is a new science. It used to be called meteorology and we didn’t have a lot of faith in the TV weathermen in predicting tomorrow’s weather back in the ancient times oh 20 years ago or so.

Now we have experts with a kernel of data extrapolating some amazing consequences 50 or 100 years down the line. The data does not meet the bullshit test.

But this is what Al Gore and our President believe as gospel, and therein lies the rub. The president has authorized hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars in green energy projects that have failed or for which there is no real financial expectation of a reasonable return on investment, either ecologically or financially.

At the same time, the Administration has done its best to exterminate the coal industry, interfere with oil and gasoline prices, stymie nuclear power, and oppose natural gas. This is all part of their strategy. It is no accident. It is the stated goal of the green energy industry to work with government to raise the price of conventional energy to a point where green energy is competitive. Cheap energy is the enemy.

Bjorn Lomborg, the original skeptical environmentalist, wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently that the actual cost of green energy is much higher. The models used by corporations and government do not accurately reflect the energy, materials, and labor input in manufacturing green energy technology, which already relies far too much on government subsidies. I keep on thinking of all of those poor Germans in their worst winter in ages and their commitment to solar power. I wonder what the output of a solar array is in a snowstorm or the fog?

Solar power survives on voodoo economics. They don’t discuss the failure rates of modules or inverters or other components or the fact that dirt will drop the efficiency of a module array by 30-50%. All of the models reflect and unicorn and rainbow logic.

Just this morning, the EPA announced a new set of rules reducing sulphur and its emissions that would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline by a minimum of $0.09/gallon at a time of already record energy prices.The United States consumes 368 million gallons of gasoline per day, so this new tax will cost us $33 Million/day or $12 Billion/year. And who pays? Everybody. Who does it hurt the most? The middle class and poor.

The heavy thumb of government is already being felt in CAFE standards driving the standards for MPG up to a level that will kill the current automobile industry. And by the way, you and I have no voice in the discussion. It is a diktat by bureaucratic fiat. Stroke of the pen, law of the land government.

And the guy at the top of the pyramid is driving this bus. It is one of his core beliefs. The President is willing to use all of these tools because he feels that the United States uses too many of the world’s resources. How he came to that conclusion I am not sure, but it probably has to do with his elitist leftist education and the echo chamber he lives in. Facts, to them, are an inconvenient truth. It is about control.

So as the central tenets of anthropogenic global warming become shakier and the economics of green energy are seen to be a lie what happens? The record of this president indicates that he will double down. It is crucial to his political agenda to be right in all things.He is still in campaign mode. And if one of his core beliefs is challenged he is inflexible. This much we do know after four years.

But facts are pernicious. He has created an edifice based upon inaccurate information, and his policies must be challenged. BS should not be government policy.

The President’s New Policy – A Fable of the Modern Age

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Gather round, children, and I will tell you the story of the President’s New Policy.

Once upon a time, there was a vain president in far off Washington whose only worry in life was to make grand pronouncements and dress in elegant clothes and have parties. He began by making grab bag policy speeches and then holding weekly soiree’s, and then twice per week, and then three times per week. And at each event he loved to show off his new clothes and played with the presidential Teleprompter telling ever more outrageous stories.

His consort, Princess Shopping Cart, would also dress up in the most expensive and outrageous outfits, which disturbed the common folk to no end while the sycophants and hangers-on all cried with joy at her inventiveness. The plebes, however, began to call her Princess Gaga.

The President and his Princess had the most wonderful times eating cake and spending the plebe’s money with their rich liberal friends, who all professed their solidarity with the plebes as they ate cake.

One day, two clever economists from far off Italy named Dolci and Gabbano heard of the vain president and decided to take advantage of him.

They went to the President’s gate dressed in the finest clothes and said to the guards “We are two very fine economists who also happen to moonlight as tailors, and can not only fix your economy, but also weave a policy of whole cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. We’ll even throw in an extra pair of pants for free.”

The head guard heard the strange story, but did not know what to make of the two outrageously dressed strangers. He summoned the Chamberlain of the Economic Policy Council. The Chamberlain notified the Chief of Staff, who ran to the President and disclosed the incredible news.

The President’s curiosity got the better of him, and he immediately summoned the two economists to his throne room.

“We have done many years of research, and can not only fix your economy, but we have also invented an extraordinary method to weave a policy so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter of fact, the policy is so fine and incredible that it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent to appreciate its quality.” And we will throw in the pants for free.”

The President gave the two scoundrels a large sack of TARP funds, and said “Just tell me what you need and I shall give it to you”.

They asked for a loom, silk, an Apple MacBook Pro and 100 kilograms of the finest gold thread, and began to pretend to work. They promptly converted the TARP funds into RMB Yuan and transferred them to an untraceable bank account in Austria, which everyone knows is much more secure than Switzerland these days. The gold thread was melted down into bar and hidden in a safe place in case of hyperinflation.

The President thought he had spent his money quite well. He would fix his economy, get a new policy, and find out which of his plebes were ignorant and incompetent, along with an extra pair of pants.

He promptly held another soirée, where the clothing was the most outrageous yet and the cake was made of the finest ingredients. He invited Princess Oprah and Lord Harry and Nancy of Marin and Princess Shopping Cart outdid herself in a dress made of environmentally sustainable materials including dixie cups and duct tape and lawn clippings and tinfoil.

Once the door closed behind them, the two economists chortled with glee. “Whadda Maroon” said Dolci. “whattan embezzle!” said Gabanno. For days they pretended to work deep into the night at the loom, but in fact were listening to iTunes on their Bluetooth headsets.

Several days later when he had heard nothing from the economists, the President said “I would really like to know how they are coming along with my policy and my extra pair of pants.” But he was a bit uneasy when he recalled that anyone who was unfit for his position would not be able to see the policy or the material. Of course he himself had nothing to fear, but still he decided to send someone else in order to follow White House protocol.

“I’ll send my honest old Treasury Secretary to the economists” thought the President. He’s the best one to see how the policy is coming along and knows good clothing. He is very sensible and no one is more worthy of his position than he. So the honest old Treasury Secretary went into the hall where the two economists sat busily working their empty looms and typing on the computer. They had printed out 1,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledegook, but the loom seemed empty.

“Goodness, thought the Treasury Secretary, I cannot understand a single phase of this policy and I cannot see a thing.” But he did not say so.

The two swindlers invited him to step closer, asking him if wasn’t the most beautifully elegant policy and if the colors of the pants were not the most magnificent he had seen. They pointed to the empty loom and the thousand pages of gobbledygook and the poor old Treasury Secretary opened his eyes wider and wider. He still could see nothing for nothing was tthere. “Gracious, he thought. Is it possible that I am stupid? I have never thought so. Am I unfit for my position? No one must know this.  No, it would never do for me to say that I am unable to understand the policy or see the extra pair of pants. “

“You aren’t saying anything!” said one of the economists.

“Oh! The policy is magnificent! It will solve all of our problems and will only penalize those with incomes over $250,000 dollars, depending upon how we define it. Peering through his glasses, the Treasury Secretary said ” The patterns and colors of the extra pair of pants are magnificent! Yes, I will tell the president that it is beyond our greatest expectations!”

“That makes us very happy!” said the two economists, and they called the policy and the colors and the pattern by name. The old Treasury Secretary listened very closely so that he would know exactly which words to say when he reported back to the President, and that is exactly what he did.

The swindlers now asked for more money and silk and gold and shares in Exchange Traded Funds, all of which were immediately granted and all of which were immediately laundered. They then continued to weave on empty looms as before and download Latvian folk poetry translated through babelfish and parsed through Lexis/Nexis.

The President then sent other officials as well to observe the economists progress. They too were startled when they saw nothing and they too reported back to the president how wonderful the policy was and how beautiful the extra pair of pants were, advising him to carry the policy and wear the pants in a grand procession. The entire city was alive with praise of the policy and of the pants. “Magnifique!!,  Prima!!!,  Nysseligt!!, Incredible!!” they said in all languages. The President awarded the economists with medals of Nobel, bestowing on each of them the title of Senior Policy Advisor and Master Weaver.

The swindlers stayed up the entire night before the procession was to take place, burning more than 16 compact fluorescent lamps. Everyone could see they were in a great rush to finish the policy and the extra pair of pants. They pretended to take the material from the looms and ordered 3 extra printers and a collating machine in order to print the new policy. They cut the air with large scissors, and bound the policy with the most exquisite bindings of fine Corinthian leather. They sewed the air with needles without any thread. Finally, they said “Behold!

The President’s policy is completed! And while we ran 3,000% over budget, behold the extra pair of pants, along with a frock coat and vest, are finished!”

The President came to them with his most trusted advisors, Congressmen, Senators, and Princess Shopping Cart. The two economists handed the President the exquisitely bound new policy, which he promptly passed to a page as he strode forward to see the new clothes. The two swindlers raised their arms as if they were holding something and said ” Just look at this extra set of pants! Here is the jacket! This is the vest!!” and so forth. “They are light as spider webs! You might think you didn’t have a thing on, but that is the good thing about them!”

“Yes!” said the advisers and Congressmen and Senators and Princess Shopping Cart, but they couldn’t see a thing because nothing was there.

“Would your Presidentness, if it pleases, kindly remove your clothes so that we may dress you?” asked the swindlers. “We will then fit you perfectly with the new ones, in front of this mirror.”

The president took off all of his clothes, and the economists pretended to dress him, piece by piece with the new ones that were to be fitted. They took hold of his waist and pretended to tie something around it. They pretended to tie his tie in an exquisitely formed knot just so. Then the president turned and faced the mirror.

“Goodness! Don’t the clothes fit you well! What a wonderful fit!” everyone said. “What a pattern! What colors! Such luxurious clothes!”

“The canopy to be carried above Your Presidentness awaits outside” said the Director of Protocol.

“Yes! I am ready!” said the President. “Don’t they fit well?” Princess Shopping Cart could only smoulder at all of the attention he was getting.

The chamberlains who were to carry the train held their hands just above the floor as if they were picking up the train. As they walked, they pretended to carry the train high. For they could not let anyone notice they could see nothing.

The President walked beneath the beautiful canopy in the procession, the new policy symbolically carried by two carefully chosen members of special interest groups, and all of the people on the street and in their windows said ” Goodness!! The new policy will save us all (except those with incomes over $250,000), and the President’s new clothes are incomparable. What a beautiful jacket! What an exquisite pair of spare pants!” Scribes Krugman and Sullivan and Friedman and Robinson all praised the policy as they were told to do by Journo List. No one wanted to admit that they had not read the policy nor that they could see the President’s new clothes, for then it would be said they were unfit for their position or that they were stupid. None of the President’s clothes or policies had ever received such praise.

“But he doesn’t have anything on,” said a small child in a wondering voice.

“Good Lord! Let us hear the voice of an innocent child!” said the father, and whispered to a reporter what the child had said.

” A small child has said the President doesn’t have anything on!” said the reporter. “And having seen a copy of the policy it seems to be nothing but Latvian folk poetry!” he continued.

Finally, everyone was saying “He doesn’t have anything on! The policy is gobbledygook!”

The President shuddered, for he knew that they were right, but he thought “The procession must go on!” He carried himself even more proudly as the pages of the policy began to come loose from their bindings and dance in the breeze, and the chamberlains carried the train that wasn’t there.

The two Italian economists, Dolci and Gabbano, crept softly into the night onto a G5 bound for the Cayman Islands, where they could not be extradited, and were warmly greeted by Angelo Mozillo, Lloyd Blankfein, Jack Lew, Jon Corzine and George Soros.

The End

All due respect to Hans Christian Andersen.

Stephen King does comedy

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We were blessed by a by a new novel from Stephen King this week; one you can purchase for only $0.99 on Amazon.

He calls semi automatic firearms “weapons of mass destruction” echoing the language of the Left during the Iraq War. For man who has plumbed the depths of the human soul for profit on the scale of Croesus, this is pretty friggin’ funny.

He has animated automobiles, anthropomorphized wolves, and turned hotels into malevolent protagonists, herding his characters wholesale into madness and mayhem.

He has led his readers through the labyrinth of madness like no other modern writer and yet he gets it all wrong on the issue of gun control. Guns are inanimate except in King’s novels and novellas. They just sit there in a closet or a drawer or in a safe.

His book “Rage” spoke of the alienation of young men and was a template for at least three murderous assaults. He is unapologetic.

He does nothing to address the real issue; mental health. Many murders are extemporaneous. Some are premeditated. But those such as Columbine, Aurora, and Newtown were the product of the darkness of the human soul, which Mr. King knows better than anyone.

He mocks the fears of the citizens who buy “assault” rifles characterizing them as “self-serving lies promulgated by fundamentalist religious types and America’s propaganda-savvy gun-pimps”. He sort of epitomizes the Blue State ethos where everyone is crammed together into dense communities. Communities with fears he has in many cases created.

Going back to the math; John M. Browning had some interesting concepts. During the Moro Insurgency in the Philippines, he designed a “knock down” pistol in the M 1911 .45 caliber. A target hit with a .45 stays down. However, just a few years later he designed the Browning Hi Power, a 9mm (.354 caliber) with a 14 round magazine, which also became a global standard. Why? In one word, marksmanship. Many militaries, police agencies and other users around the world felt the .45 caliber was too inaccurate in the hands of non-experts. Mr. King didn’t come across that gem in his research, I guess.

He mocked semi-automatic pistols as only good for killing. I guess he forgot revolvers do the same thing.

I appreciate Mr. King’s concern but bans are not the answer. It is the individual we must examine. State of mind, motive, and then means. If we do not address issues such as mental health we will never be rid of the curse. In England, China, Germany, and elsewhere, a knife has been proven just as efficient, and no one should know this better than Mr. King.

It’s funny in a very dark way when someone as talented as Mr. King misapplies logic and the facts. It’s black comedy, almost. But then again, it really isn’t.

 

 

 

Obama’s Way versus the American Way

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On the way home this afternoon from running errands, my wife told me about a friend of hers who attended a benefit last night. A local 16 year old has a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy which is almost always fatal. The benefit was for that kid.

A bunch of people got together; they freely associated as we Americans do; and put together a fund-raiser to help pay for an extremely expensive experimental therapy. The amount of money raised is not the issue nor is the cause, necessarily.

What is at issue is the ability of Americans to band together to make things happen and how the state is superseding this ability at every chance. Whether it is a corporation to make money; or to build a hospital or raise money for good causes, which is one of our great virtues, Americans come together like nowhere else in the world to make things happen. This is one of the reasons we are called the Land of Opportunity.

Alexis de Toqueville wrote in 1835:

“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fêtes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.”

It was one of the fundamental differences between the statist monarchies of France and England and the new republic all the back to our Revolution. And Barack Obama and his allies are doing their best to subvert one of our most glorious achievements.

In his Inaugural Address last week, the President, emphasized time and again not the role of the individual, but that of the state in dictating public life. This idea is foreign to our very nature. The freedoms and responsibilities delegated to government, the people, and its secular institutions in the Constitution are being redefined by the Administration and its supporters.

And that is the tragedy of the young person my wife spoke of. The American Way is to band together as individuals and do things. The Obama Way is for the state to dictate the outcome and the means to that outcome. In the past this was the way of monarchs, sultans, dictators, and communists. Statism is an outcome concentrating power in the hands of the few.

Under the American Way, this kid may have a chance to get the treatment he or she needs. People will work hard and long hours for nothing except the knowledge they did the right thing.

Under an Obama, statist system, the bureaucracy will decide who gets treatment and how it is administered. The shocks of Obamacare are already being felt as insurance rates rise and treatment options are circumscribed. Ask anyone in the military covered under Tricare. He’s already tried to sell them out.

The voices of the Left are ready to abandon the obese, the smokers, and other “fringe”" dwellers who do not conduct themselves in the politically correct manner. Do you really think that government would authorize millions of dollars in care per patient for a miniscule minority?

Under an Obama, statist system bureaucrats decide how big your soft drink is and which cooking oil you use and the school lunches your kids eat. Under an Obama, statist, system, bureaucrats decide how you use your land, how much money you can make, and on a myriad of other vanishing freedoms.

Under and Obama, statist system, government reverts to the failed models of the past. The romance with socialism and Marxism or simply enhanced state involvement has been proven wrong in virtually every case in which it has been tried. Western Europe is under crushing debt while the East has only recently seen an economic renaissance after the failure of the Marxist socialist experiment. Russia itself is a mess of a dictatorship. China is authoritarian and still cannot provide for most of its population. And these are the models that Obama’s teachers and advisers ascribe to. Government knows best.

The president was absolutely clear in his speech. He outlined his vision of our future. he has a sycophantic media establishment and an intellectually lazy and corrupt political class. He has an agenda. An agenda that is at odds with the American Way.

Hillary dances around Benghazi

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Hillary dancing - BenghaziToday we have the spectacle of the Secretary of State emoting on cue while saying nothing of substance regarding the murder of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya on September 11 of last by Islamic terrorists. She is waltzing effortlessly around the greatest deliberative body in the world and making them look like fools.

In addition to the usual fawning by Democrats, she has largely been tossed softballs by the Republicans. Consider these potential questions:

1 – Where was Ms. Clinton during the attack? Was she a part of the decision making team? Who participated in the decision making team during and after the attack?

2 – Why was this declared as a mob attack when State and the government knew in  real-time that it was a terrorist attack? Why did the government continue to propagate this trope for months afterwards?

3 – Why was no effort made to intervene during the 5 hours the attack took place?

4 – Why was every warning regarding the dangers waiting in Benghazi, including pleas by Ambassador Stevens on the very day of the attack, ignored?

5 – Who was responsible for the White House and Department of State descriptions of the attack, and for coordinating the misleading response of the UN Ambassador, the Secretary of State, and the President?

6 – Who was responsible for the decision to tape an apology for the video that purportedly caused the attack that was recorded by Ms. Clinton and broadcast on Pakistani television? who participated in this process? Was this discussed with the President? What was the thought process behind this?  Why was the decision made? Why was the decision made when the facts were known to be otherwise?

7 – Why was the Department of State caught completely off guard not only in Benghazi, but in Cairo as well?

8 – Why did the Secretary of State continue to insist weeks and even months later that the attack was caused by a protest when she had the facts at hand that stated otherwise?

9 – Why have senior officials of the State Department repeatedly contradicted each other regarding the responsibilities and cost of improving security at State Department run facilities around the world?

After four months, there are no answers. The White House, the Intelligence establishment, and the State Department have been playing a game of keepaway with witnesses; have stalled and prevaricated, and danced with their enablers in the media to quash the investigation and its mention in the news.

I am sure Ms. Clinton will have thought this is the last chapter, but it is incumbent upon those responsible to provide a full accounting. Ms. Clinton is far too well known for dancing instead of doing the hard work of representing the American people’s interests.hillary - dancing - south africaHillary in South Africa

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