It's Rooted in 5000 Years Thing

Dear America,

dear diary...obviously, we are experiencing some cultural schisms smacking America upside the face.  It's a form of schizophrenia- nationalia only seen once every couple a hundred years, or so.

We could self-medicate; we could lose ourselves into our jobs; we could run away to some deserted isle and wither our days in sun, caipirinhas, and sand (indeed.  plenty, plenty of sand). Or we could just pretend it doesn't mean a thing; that none of this matters in life and death.

I've been gone for nearly a week; beginning upon the eve of the summer solstice, my girl and I mentally, physically, emotionally checked-out of the daily grind; ironically, it was just in the nick of time, given how the week progressed.  And oh thank heaven for the rested mind and body is all I have to say (just kidding; we've only just begun).

By definition, schizophrenia is described as  "any of a group of psychotic reactions characterized by withdrawal from reality with highly variable accompanying affective, behavioral, and intellectual disturbances."  While lo and behold, what do my wandering eyes find just a hop skip and a jump above it? A new explanation for it all...

Schizogenesis.

Which is generally, and simply understood, as "Reproduction by fission."

exactly.

America is no longer the homogenized, assimilated, blending into one body, one nation under God.

Every faction must have it's peace; every splinter begins by protest and ends in a fiery blaze of mass destruction, cultural consumption, and fundamental transformation.  It seems to never end.

When I began this blog, back in 2009 -- we were "piddling" over the itty-bitty details with humongous ramifications of universal healthcare. 

Sure, they didn't come right out and say we want socialized medicine; they phrased the aims, the ideas, the lies, as a compassionate answer for the uninsured --- that nothing else would change, that if you like your doctor you could keep your doctor, that the costs would universally, and dramatically, come down as if they could re-engineer out of thin air the dynamics of a free market battling against the soft tyrannical processes of big government with absolutely no conscience.

Magnificent power plays of politics and culture and corruption ignited a total transformation of our healthcare system, which now, four years later, has amounted to a  monetary cost three times its original estimate, massive confusion 300 million fold, and an economic disaster toppling industry, business, healthcare usurping whatever universal confidence we had with unintended consequences up the wazoo.  Isn't it great!

When will we ever learn that there are just some areas government does not belong?

Health care is one of them; religion is another; and marriage, yet another.

Almost overnight it would seem -- through the development of fracture and fission, divide and conquer, tyranny has unapologetically, flamboyantly, come out of the closet.  All of a sudden, no matter what your religious background, beliefs, conscience -- you are no longer permitted to practice, exercise, stand by those tenets dating back 5000 years and if you insist, it's called bigotry.

It's a new season in America - the only place on earth where the sum of our parts makes mayhem, madness, and a universal, cultural marginalization masked as tolerance that evolves into total elimination of a religious freedom -- the very root of our country's genesis.

How schizo is that?

While, even though there are truly 300 million of us (not counting the 20 million illegals, I guess) -- we have nine ordinary people in black robes deciding which way the American culture goes.   We might as well think of it as the Artillery of Social Justice on parade.

The irony and timing is rich, isn't it?  President Obama in Africa, of all places, at a time like this.

Obama refers to the ruling as a "victory for American democracy."  Indeed, mob rule did win -- and handedly with the Supreme Court ruling.  However, the Republic, the Rule of Law, took a beating -- what with Prop 8 getting shot back down to the lower courts ruling, and totally extinguishing the outcome of how the people of California voted -- which came directly after being forced to make an absolute course correction once the legislature enacted a cultural reversal with prejudice.

Californian's said no; and no, means no.

Ah but not so fast...
not in this day, this court, this usurpation of the people's will.

When Clinton signed off on DOMA back in 1996, the year my baby girl was born, the intention was pure.  (yeah, right, he needed to get re-elected and was already using the military like a petri dish as the mad-scientist-in-chief having implemented the "don't ask, don't tell" policy...)

It was a nice touch to a presidency needing a little family values influx.  And who knew, right? Considering it came long before the stained blue dress, a cigar, and the declaration "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."   "That woman," he said.  Makes me cringe every time.

Just an object of sexual satisfaction, and yet women overwhelmingly still adore him to this day.  ew.  but I digress.

Back to this president, this day, this time around...He was in Senegal giving social indoctrination of another nation his best shot. 


Ah not so fast, Mr. President --

"We are still not ready

to decriminalize homosexuality,"

Sall said, while insisting

that the country is "very tolerant"

and needs more time

 to digest the issue without pressure.

"This does not mean we are homophobic."

Senegal President Macky Sall

classic, isn't it.
from one president to another...back off.
Ah but nobody from Salon.com is calling for a Macky attack, now are they?

Here's some perspective:

"A report released Monday by Amnesty International says 38 African countries criminalize homosexuality. In four of those - Mauritania, northern Nigeria, southern Somalia and Sudan - the punishment is death. These laws appear to have broad public support. A June 4 Pew Research Center survey found at least nine of 10 respondents in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria believe homosexuality should not be accepted by society."

And quoting the AP, quoting Papi Nbodj -- a nineteen year old student:

"We are in a Muslim country,

so we certainly cannot have it here,"

he said.

"And for me it's not OK

to have this anywhere in the world."

Is anyone listening to this?

Understand that a religion -- Muslim, Islam -- does not constitute homosexuality as being "OK" anywhere in the world. 

Not only can you NOT get married, you can't even do it.  It's a crime.   And it makes up about 25% of the world's population, and sits second only to Christianity.

I would say Christianity is pretty damn progressive in this light. 

But what did the UK do just today?  Ban a couple of bloggers that speak up against radicalized Islamic extremists in their every day?  Seriously?   Just whose side are you on, you naïve, pompous, schizo, freakazoids?

And don't I sound rested now.  wow, G.  Breathe, just breathe.

What DOMA did was serve as a lightening rod to the entire LGBT community as something to attack.  It was as if America said come and get it.   Yoo-Hoo, over here...Don't you wanna piece of this? Of course, in the best Nathan Lane we could muster. 

Oh for the love of Pete and Pete, we got boondoggled into the firestorm and fodder from the first flicker of DOMA light.

Every bit of DOMA was designed to make it attract dysfunction, fracture, fissure, and family arguments from its onset; schizophrenia-nationalia or bust, or both.

plop, plop - fizz, fizz.

The Left is so patient with us, aren't they?

You know what I want; I want what goes on behind closed doors to stay behind closed doors.  Hetero, Homo, monogamous, polygamous, you name it. 

Marriage is off limits.

Religion is off limits.

Everyone needs to go back into there walk-in and take a chill pill.

Of course, policy in America should reflect equal treatment, equal benefits, and equal rights under the law.  Of course!  Writing appropriate civic policy has nothing to do with marriage or religion.  [Still love the day I chimed in with the idea of Civil Unions for everybody...oh that was then, and this is now, and this is a place where now and then context is everything]

We are Marshall and we are America.  And it's complicated; and we are one dysfunctional family first.

All are welcome to the table;  all of us demand equal and mutual and commanding respect.  And more than that -- under the equal protection of life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- this includes the free exercise of our religion from sea to shining sea, whether the gay community wants to respect that or not. [Clearly, they have made their choice.]

In the end, it is the gay community acting with flaming intolerance.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

Everyone is simply pointing fingers across the table screaming over each other, I'm not crazy, you're crazy.

What we also have here is the dawn of an atrocity upon America that has no words to describe.

The Left has set the tone of a new bell, sounding more like an alarm.

They have only just begun.

Just you wait.

We are about to get a whole lot more of this:  "White House Announces Strong Opposition to Religious Freedom in the Military"

It's simply stunning censorship of the "free exercise thereof,"  no?

As we all know, this is how it starts -- or finishes -- depending upon which way the flag flies.  Gay rights trump religious rights; and "material used by the Army Reserve had identified Protestant Christians, Catholics, and Orthodox Jews as “religious extremists” similar to al-Qaeda and Hamas."

Oh really?

Don't ask.

Don't tell.

Don't pay any attention to any of it; dare you to put your head back into the sand.

It's just an era when the Defense of Marriage is really a lightning rod for fracture and dismissal of everything this nation finds precious, enduring the test of time, until now.  It didn't have to go down like this.  Things could have been said to prevent every ugly, noxious tantrum and protest -- be it from either side.

But let's be clear, shall we?

It's the Left  who abhors organized religion (unless it's Islam, because that's kinda cool) and they will paint anyone who clings to it -- even to this day -- as closed minded, ignorant, bigots.  And that is precisely what the developing stages of schizophrenia-nationalia is all about.  It's fundamental transformation from the roots, branching off into all kinds of strange and unforeseen ways, commencing with all aspects of religious life.   Let the schizogenesis begin, they say.

Just how old-world, flat-earthed, and intolerant is religious persecution anyway?

Which makes religious freedom the civil rights issue of the new millennium....again. Oh isn't it wonderful how history repeats itself?  What goes around, comes around.  Picking the side of Mother Mary, Mother Teresa, and mom -- the feminist that I am, I am --  I know who I am; my roots go back 5000 years.   I am not afraid.  Are you?

cool heads prevail.

in faith, let me be an instrument of thy peace.

Okay, this is good enough for one day.

We have more to say...but baby steps.  It's good to be back.

Make it a Good Day, G

 

It's When Intelligence Makes Us Stupid Thing

Dear America,

how bizarre.

sure, he wants to talk about The Situation Room now...'if you know, what I know, what I know, that you know' -- you would totally think I'm the greatest.  You just don't get it, Charlie...'

"What I’m saying is, that if you haven’t been in the Situation Room, poring through intelligence and meeting directly with our military folks and asking, what are all our options, and examining what are all the consequences, and understanding that for example, if you set up a no-fly zone, that you may not be actually solving the problem on the zone,"

"Or if you set up a humanitarian corridor, are you in fact committed not only to stopping aircraft from going that corridor, but also missiles? And if so, does that mean that you then have to take out the armaments in Damascus and are you prepared then to bomb Damascus? And what happens if there’s civilian casualties. And have we mapped all of the chemical weapons facilities inside of Syria to make sure that we don’t drop a bomb on a chemical weapons facility that ends up then dispersing chemical weapons and killing civilians, which is exactly what we’re trying to prevent. Unless you’ve been involved in those conversations, then it’s kind of hard for you to understand that the complexity of the situation and how we have to not rush into one more war in the Middle East. And we've got --"  so sez the prez...

indeed.   He's just bursting with intelligence briefing jargon, isn't he though?

Let's think back to a night he chose NOT to be in The Situation Room -- intentionally dropping his duties as Commander-in-Chief for a good night's sleep before hitting Vegas with everything he's got...  

Oh, right, he wouldn't know anything about that -- nothing about the stand down (something only a president can control); he wouldn't no anything about editing the talking points to commiserate with the level of incompetence and miscalculation and the blatant rip of the intelligence absolutely KNOWN on September 11, 2012.  No; he wouldn't know anything about that, because he consciously, recklessly, took a pass.

Chris Stirewalt of Fox News wrote a great piece, here: "Obama on Syria: Americans Just Don't Understand" -- and not so surprisingly, Chris doesn't sound a wee bit confused.

Oh, but go ahead -- enlighten us then, Mr. President...

AS if!

You are choosing to arm Rebels   -- people who have yet to be defined or confirmed as Islamic moderates of any kind. (As if Allah makes any of those.)  But think about it -- we're all calling them "rebels" right from the get go; what part of rogue, unorganized, rebellious, acts of incivility, all in the name of Islamic Extremism out of control, do you not understand, Mr. President?  Just how many rebel groups do we have vying for the top spot in Syria?

I'm just so hot and bothered by his elitist dribble, I can't stand it.

I'm also with Palin on this charge, let's "let Allah sort it out."  For full speech, go to Sarah Palin's world here.

But back to Stirewalt:

"The rebel crew in Syria seems to be the roughest lot of any to emerge in the Islamist awakening across the region. But Obama’s implicit promise is that we can help the ones who don’t eat the internal organs of their enemies or shoot children in the face for telling a joke about Mohammed.

In the interview, Obama also pooh-poohed the notion that acting more forcefully or swiftly might have prevented the massive genocide or prevented the really, really bad Islamists from gaining a foothold. It’s complicated, he said. And it requires all of the secret knowledge he has to understand...

That seems to be the new motif of this presidency, whether it’s domestic spying, taking it easy on the IRS and Department of Justice scandals or implementing his creaking and groaning health law. Americans can’t understand the details here, but Obama and his team of experts understand things in a way we can’t.

The thing is, America was designed to be in the explicit control of the people. 

Everyone within government works for us, as civil servants. 
Cool heads may very well prevail; but flourish when accompanied with excellence, integrity, honor, courage, truth, virtue, humility that place America's best interests first.

As Stirewalt handedly points out -- haven't we learned enough in Libya?  It's a rebel-lollapalooza, with the looza' winning.

And how about Egypt?  How's that working out for everybody? 

"Unless you’ve been

involved

 in those conversations,

then it’s kind of hard

 for you

to understand

that the complexity

of the situation..."

requires someone more like me

to tell you what's up

Oh, we're not worthy. (bow accordingly)

Our deepest apologies, sire; never to doubt you again.


You know, in light of the new era of spying, intelligence landing in the wrong hands, facebook friends and enemies, a twenty-four hour news cycle that magically appears at our fingertips at any given time of day -- it's a wonder our world has survived this long.

Oh the trade off between waiting days, weeks, months to receive word from 'the front' -- whether it's the  home front or the war-torn villages across the pond;  oh the old-fashioned modes we engaged -- from the  plotting of military strategies --  to the casting of correspondence to the wind and pony express, not knowing if it will ever be in the hands of it's rightful recipient; oh the time spent second guessing ourselves, the moves of an enemy, the thoughts of a lover from far, far away...

...oh the many splendid things we have in an instant these days, for better or worse.

Me thinks we almost know too much for our own good; time -- as in time well spent, time that heals all wounds, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven -- used to be one of our most precious of resources.  But I digress.

One thing that has not changed over time is human nature.

This is what gives the "Common Man" every sense and sensibility of any given situation before him.

We can detect the patronizing, the condescension, the separation and elevations of I'm here and you are way down there.  We see the politicking, the grandstanding, and even the marginalizing of an absurdity and think to ourselves, not; not in my lifetime, not on this day, not in my backyard.

Our heart and soul and mind is connected to Divine Intelligence that serves our higher good, our best interests, our ability to discern details known and unknown wholly, from every human angle to perceptions only mastered and revealed by association with the Absolute.

I do not, nor will I ever, worship the ground this president walks -- or any president, for that matter.

For I know things for myself;  I know his misguided, altruistic, idealistic, perceptions of who the rebels are is not the same as mine.

I don't need a "situation room" to know.

While this president belittles every American, let's remind ourselves that he ignored intelligence handed to him on a silver platter:  Benghazi needing more security in the months leading up to the attack; an army psychiatrist/Islamic extremist gone rogue, who killed 13 Americans; Russian intelligence questioning the Tsarnaev brothers motives, leading to the Boston Bombing; CIA talking points outlining security breeches and a planned extremist attack on Benghazi the night of 9/11; IRS being investigated for months after conservative targeting became a policy standard; a Department of Justice wrongfully spying on James Rosen and family, and calling him a co-conspirator of a crime; and all the while -- having direct access of more high tech surveillance capabilities than is humanly possible for the last five years!  

Who's intelligent now? 

Who knows all the better? 

Who understands the complexities of every living breathing thing known to man and still misses everything?

In this moment, let us question the majority of intelligences who put you in office.

Make it a Good Day, G
  

It's the Strateegury of the Anti-Wuss Thing

Dear America,

Two days ago, from Politico: 

Clinton continued, “But still they hire their president to look around the corner and down the street, and you just think - if you refuse to act and you cause a calamity, the one thing you cannot say when all the eggs have been broken, is that, ‘Oh my God, two years ago there was a poll that said 80 percent of you were against it.’ Right? You’d look like a total fool. So you really have to in the end trust the American people, tell them what you’re doing, and hope to God you can sell it” and that it turns out okay in the end.

in other words...or risk looking like a "total wuss" -- just dripping with presidential eloquence and excellence in communications.  [his exact words, not mine, see for yourself]

Oh, but my favorite part, is when "Clinton told McCain during an event for the McCain Institute for International Leadership in Manhattan Tuesday night. “Sometimes it’s just best to get caught trying, as long as you don’t overcommit — like, as long as you don’t make an improvident commitment.”


oooooh, like the time you were in the Oval Office with a cigar, a blue dress and too much privacy for your own good?  Sometimes it's just best to get caught trying, as long as you don't overcommit -- like, as long as you don't make an improvident commitment." [like, an improvident act has got nothing on an improvident commitment, right?  What is, is -- there is no there, there --  is worth every risk of getting "caught trying"]

So one day Clinton is proposing President Obama would look like a "total wuss" if he refuses to act and intervene in Syria and the very next day, go figure, BO sends in "direct military aid"  (and quickly noting Kinetic Military action is so 2011...).

Random, rash, or a Commander-in-Chief on the ropes -- you make the call.

Plucked from Yahoo! News and defining the situation with finesse, Ben Rhoades said,

"The President has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the SMC. That includes military support. I cannot detail for you all of the types of that support for a variety of reasons, but suffice it to say this is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing to the SMC than what we have provided before."

“This is more a situation where we're just not going to be able to lay out an inventory of what exactly falls under the scope of that assistance other than to communicate that we have made that decision."

SMC = Supreme Military Council to the rebels.

Rebels = God only knows...part al Queda, part disgruntled mob protesting a video what difference does it make... throw in a few Russians just for kicks and giggles, under a shroud for cover, of course... and we got ourselves another mess.

don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

Check this out from Fox News: Jihadist Robin Hood?...

don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

Keeping in mind, a rebel's perspective from a year ago -- according to bright spot above the tree line on The Hill, the Syrian rebels were totally open to getting  a little help from al Queda, whatever it takes [see for yourself, here].

don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

And honestly, what's the big deal right?  John McCain had already promised "the rebels" weapons over the Memorial Day weekend.  Have a yourself a little refresher read, here.

don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

Not to mention -- a Senate panel already began taking steps to provide weapons and military support back on May 21, 2013.

don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

OKAY, OKAY, LET'S DO THIS!

read all about it HERE.

Chemical Weapons = RED  line

and hey, in some camps, even Red Dye #40 is a chemical weapon, so really now, what difference does it make...yeah, I know, not all that funny.

All the while, Putin claims, nyet so fast...

Along with plenty more push back, here...

And yet the constant ringing in the ear chimes again, don't look like a "total wuss" buddy....

The thing is --

after great debate and contemplation and harmless teasing, we find Obama taking a side -- and it's in clear and desperate opposition, mind you, of looking like a total wuss. 

Otherwise known as operation LGCT: "let's get caught trying" (wink, wink)  "as long as you don't overcommit -- like, as long as you don't make an improvident commitment,"  everything should pretty much turn out okay in the end.  time will tell.

Ahhh  the strateegury of the anti-wuss, splendid; it's like leading from behind, but only better.
Does all this mean we are entering another era at war with Russia; have we justified the conditions on the ground -- the very landscape, complete with perfect storm -- for a second Afghanistan (or would it really be a third)?
 
Oh the smell of date palm in the morning under a scary, scary sky; just can't seem to shake this global war-ming feeling.

I'm not seeing the rainbow.

Make it a Good Day, G

Free, no commitment Add-on for the day --  go to Investor's Business Daily, describing to you how it is quite alright for the U.S. to snoop those innocent American emails and phone numbers -- and quite a no-no to do the same for "American" Islamic mosques: "Obama Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers"

"This is particularly disturbing

in light of recent independent surveys

of American mosques,

which reveal some 80% of them

preach violent jihad

or distribute violent literature

 to worshippers."

 

It's a Prelude to a Magnificent Mistake Thing

Dear America,

"unfettered access to our users' data are simply untrue"

and we can prove it, if this fine government of ours loosens the gag order on us.

...according to Google and facebook.

Quibbling over the definition of "direct access", the size and scope of the PRISM operation (of which we had no prior knowledge) --  in hopes of reconciling whatever trust remains in relationship with the public -- the companies are demanding from the Department of Justice an opportunity to explain.

Per Dominic Rushe, for The Guardian, just yesterday --

The letter and statement come days after Google and Facebook categorically denied knowingly participating in Prism. Internal NSA documents state that Prism involves "collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple".

In the wake of this breaking news, many have quickly rationalized the snooping and hoarding of all this data as just a new reality we have to live with in this new age of terrorism wreaking havoc around the planet.

It was yesterday -- when reviewing the current Pew Research available -- that the collection of information was amply supported by 2/3rds of the people sampled; but when it came to actually looking at our emails -- clear opposition rises to the majority position.

Something I heard this morning on one of San Diego's newest talk radio duo's -- Armstrong and Getty -- brought this comparison to the head of a pin, while making distinctions to the argument from Google and facebook at the same time.

As they put it -- in the irreverent fashion they are famous for -- what if, we had to document every phone call, every email, everywhere we went, who we talked to, what we purchased, every Skype, facebook post, blog post, text...every link, youtube video, search...in a generic log and were told to send it off to Washington every single waking day?

...Even if it were just for storage, for the record -- no content -- all for safe keeping...as nobody would really look at it;  it's just in case some time down the road we f&$^ up and become radicalized, acting out accordingly, as insurance -- just so that the records could be accessed under a "heightened standards" necessity should the time come.

Would you comply?  Would you be okay with this?

Perhaps we could save the billions of dollars that we really don't have just by turning over the records to whomever it concerns willingly, without going through all the FISA rigamarole.   Who needs a massive NSA data farm coming through our back door anyway, when we can simply walk out our front door and mail it the old-fashioned way to Pennsylvania Avenue?

John Stossel has a brilliant response to all of this, so let me take you there now -- Why worry about the NSA when Google already knows everything about me.


The truth is -- our privacy has been blown; in the real world, there is no balance between security and privacy, Mr. President.  It's non-existent.    How about telling it like it is -- by all appearances, we can take it.

Better yet -- where's the link to "unsubscribe?"  I know who I am; I am a Patriot, a Patriot with a capital P & G.  There is no need for alarm; where is my right to opt-out knowing full well where my loyalties lie as a proud, honorable, citizen of this great country?   My civil liberties are being directly violated; I should have every right to say, this isn't about me.

[now allow me call out Google and facebook in this very moment -- for you guys can't have it both ways; you can't claim you know nothing when you already know everything...while some of you guys (speaking of the Big Nine) even sell what you know; and about that "share everything" plan, you got that right, Verizon, but you may wanna think twice about advertising it...] 

In order for us to have that world back, we would have to forfeit the freedom and liberty of expression and incorporation and industry that is fully supported, augmented, enriched, and enlivened, by the tools of technology allowing us to have access to the whole entire world every single day.  Of course, it also opens us up to fraud, corruption, identity thieves, and the quick dissemination of sex, lies, and videotape, there is that.

If you really think about it -- what Snowden has actually given to us is a gift.

The opportunity is here and standing right in front of us to question everything, even if it's just for a moment, a nano-second given the full scope of time and place.

We have a chance to stop and question authority, the rule of law, who has authority, and who can use the rule of law to their benefit, not ours.

"But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of the people whose manners are universally corrupt.  He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."  Samuel Adams

We are losing control of our liberties, little by little.

Unexpectedly, and seemingly out of the blue -- thanks to Snowden -- we find ourselves in a heightened state of awareness to all the ways our liberty and freedom and responsible self-governing this nation has survived are being compromised -- individually, and collectively, violating our every move and virtue.  No longer in the dark of night, but in the light of day, the cornerstones of the greatest nation on earth are being usurped under the guise of accountable federal intervention, in keeping with a myriad of excuses and reasons to comply without question.   We are being invaded by the enemy, and it is within -- and what do we do, but turn the other cheek.

Whatever happens to America from this day forward, make no mistake -- it will be the people's fault.

Under the caption, "Prelude to Monarchy," from my favorite book, The 5000 Year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen -- we gain further incite of America's future (and I've used this before, so forgive me):

"There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh -- get first all the people's money, then their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever.  It will be said that we do not propose to establish kings.  I know it.  But there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government.   It sometimes relieves them from aristocratic domination.  They had rather have one tyrant than 500.   It gives more the appearance of equality among citizens; and that they like.  I am apprehensive, therefore -- perhaps too apprehensive -- that the government of these states may in future times end in a monarchy.  But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit.  If we do, I fear that, though we employ at first a number and not a single person, the number will in time be set aside; it will only nourish the fetus of a king (as the honorable gentleman from Virginia very aptly expressed it) and a king will the sooner be set over us."  Benjamin Franklin

It's like we have 500 kings and queens over us --  and we're okay with it.   The natural inclination to have someone watch over us is comfortable, secure, even if restraining and tempestuous -- even if in real life it looks an awful lot like one president, one Congress, and a band of judges in cahoots and taking full advantage of the kind of power it brings.

My flag is being whipped by the off-shore breeze; the skies are overcast with a little drizzle; but in this moment, me thinks it's a reflection of something deeper.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's This is Just Plain Wrong Thing

Dear America,

what is going on?

at almost two-to-one, the populace is siding with the intrusive, massive,  fishing expedition of the U.S. government surveillance program -- otherwise known as PRISM -- without cause?

[see PEW Research Center, here]

"Currently 62% say it is more important for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy. Just 34% say it is more important for the government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats."

That seems to be the answer that has the web getting all a-buzz, anyway.

Delving deeper into the nitty-gritty, the Pew tells us something different:


Question:  Should the government be able to monitor everyone's email to prevent possible terrorism?

Response:  45% say YES, 52% say NO, and 3% have no idea.

You know what I think?

I think that instead of making this grandiose announcement to the world declaring the U.S. government dirty rotten scoundrels when it comes to amassing deep background on every single one of us, Snowden should have just anonymously sent us all an email, boom. (You know, considering he said he had the full "authority" and ability to pull that off). 

yeah, yeah -- that might have got our attention right quick.  

pew ew....we would be like, who are you --  and what do mean all of my so-called secure information on the net is being currently, and severely, compromised?  What do mean every email, phone call, web link and troll, is being mined, collected, hoarded, by my own government, out in some remote, highly classified, secure location?  [yeah right...wanna see a picture of it?  Thank you, NPR.]

According to a post written by James Bamford @WIRED -- from over a year ago, by the way -- we get another view:

"Just off Beef Hollow Road, less than a mile from brethren headquarters, thousands of hard-hatted construction workers in sweat-soaked T-shirts are laying the groundwork for the newcomers’ own temple and archive, a massive complex so large that it necessitated expanding the town’s boundaries...

Rather than Bibles, prophets, and worshippers, this temple will be filled with servers, computer intelligence experts, and armed guards. And instead of listening for words flowing down from heaven, these newcomers will be secretly capturing, storing, and analyzing vast quantities of words and images hurtling through the world’s telecommunications networks. In the little town of Bluffdale, Big Love and Big Brother have become uneasy neighbors."

Indeed -  and five zettabytes and 1.5 million gallons of water needed a day, costing 20 million dollars a year just to maintain, costing taxpayers 1.2 BILLION dollars to build --  later...

I KNOW!   Has our head been in the sand, or what?
Snowden is really not giving us anything more than what all of us should have already figured out already! 

More from the WIRED post of March 2012:

But “this is more than just a data center,” says one senior intelligence official who until recently was involved with the program. The mammoth Bluffdale center will have another important and far more secret role that until now has gone unrevealed. It is also critical, he says, for breaking codes. And code-breaking is crucial, because much of the data that the center will handle—financial information, stock transactions, business deals, foreign military and diplomatic secrets, legal documents, confidential personal communications—will be heavily encrypted. According to another top official also involved with the program, the NSA made an enormous breakthrough several years ago in its ability to cryptanalyze, or break, unfathomably complex encryption systems employed by not only governments around the world but also many average computer users in the US. The upshot, according to this official: “Everybody’s a target; everybody with communication is a target.”

Oh, I get it --  it is more than just a data center. 

Everybody with communication is a target. 

While this so-called "senior intelligence official" continued to fort brag to enemies (foreign and domestic) "another important and far more secret role that UNTIL NOW has gone unrevealed...code-breaking...breakthrough...ability to break, unfathomably complex encryption systems employed by not only governments around the world but also many average computer users in the U.S" will be possible.

good to know.  can I get your name?


oh and  get this -- returning to the NPR article, it's still not enough!  The NSA headquarters at 9800 Savage Road, Fort George G. Meade, Md -- is expanding.  But not to worry, the upgrade will only amount to about two-thirds of the size of the facility in Utah.  well, that is a relief, isn't it.


What did Snowden actually do, but tell us something all of us -- including Congress -- including anyone who reads WIRED -- including anyone with their head up -- already knew?  What is making Snowden's circumstances of 'coming out'  any different? 

What is the problem with what he did?

If a majority of Americans -- as the Pew Research Center shows -- truly believes that government spying is no big deal, what is the issue?  IF upper level intelligence officers have already spilled the full capability and scope of this high-tech, super-duper, amassing of intelligence -- where anyone with communications is liable to be scooped up and stored, from within and abroad --  what's so secret?

Perhaps it was just the way he did it...Snowden...You know, embarrassing the President and all, carrying on so,  and making these stark, glaring contradictions of position from the President vs. Senator vs. campaigner-in-chief become so clear to all of us -- virtually overnight.   Nobody makes the president out to be a hypocrite, nobody.

I heard on the radio yesterday a great analogy:  Snowden is the modern day Paul Revere.  Is that just fabulous, or what?  Think about it.  What did Revere do, but warn the commonwealth that the British were comin', the British were comin'...And who were the British, but the current government!

But man, James Bamford -- you sir, deserve a Pulitzer or something.

What a magnificent piece detailing every living breathing detail of the NSA's prized golden calf, out there yonder, in the foothills of Bluffdale, just off Beef Hollow Road.  I am amazed, googly-eyed and awe struck of the amount of information, the way you presented it, the air of secrecy joined with nothing is sacred, let me tell you how it really is, intelligence briefing through and through...you covered it all...everything from the first kilowatt  to the last zettabyte.  Please people -- read it -- link into a second chance of life and limb before the government deems it too classified for your own good.  [warning: very detailed and very long and may take every ounce of human energy out of you]

Speaking of energy --  get this:

Electricity will come from the center’s own substation built by Rocky Mountain Power to satisfy the 65-megawatt power demand. Such a mammoth amount of energy comes with a mammoth price tag—about $40 million a year, according to one estimate.

And what about fueling the manpower? 
Oh that's been all figured out...even though something about the way it's being presented here gives me the creeps, but carry on:

"We were finding

that we had to make our own people

who understood data centers

from end to end

 that could manage it," 

according to Harvey Davis,

NSA director for installations and logistics.

 

He really said, "make our own people," Harvey did. yeah, I bet.  Does it have anything to do with cloning drones, or is that top secret, too?

 

More from the Salt Lake Tribune, May 30th:

 

"The NSA helped design the new program’s curriculum. Richard Brown, dean of the U. of U. College of Engineering, said undergraduate and master’s degree students studying computer science and electrical or mechanical engineering will take courses in the other two disciplines. That will ensure students know all facets of data-center management, from the computing to the importance of heating and cooling to the electrical requirements. The NSA needs "someone who is at least able to talk to people in all of these areas," Brown said.  [Just gushing with bureaucratic confidence, isn't he?    Can you hear me now -- Are you feeling more secure?  Are you feeling more secure?]

 

So, where are we now?

 

The NSA is creating behemoth Spy Centers, in  multiple NSA locations, indoctrinating our people to protect and to serve the NSA, costing the American taxpayers billions of dollars to build, maintain, and support the NSA, to keep us safe from terrorists -- foreign and domestic.

 

 

[I do believe China could see all of this from Google space without the help of Snowden; while WIRED efficiently, triumphantly,  highly accurately, seems to fill in any black holes remaining...just sayin']

 

Enter a new era following the enacting of The Patriot Act.

 

Wonder what will be their excuse when this doesn't change a thing?  Or worse, wonder what the response will be next?
 

Hard to fix "terrorism" when we can't even use the word, define it properly, call it what it really is.

 

Oh details, schmeetails -- right, Mr. President, who recently told a graduating class:

 

"Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted."

 

 

Enter the full floor speech by the senator, Barack Obama -- transcript 2005,  transcript 2006 -- along with a current update from Breitbart, here:

 

"If someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document - through library books they've read and phone calls they've made - this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law. No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case. This is just plain wrong."  Barack Obama, 2005

 

exactly.

but now let's build a mammoth spy center or two and make no apologies about it  --  let's go fishing everybody.

 

yeah, yeah, that sounds just peachy (for about half of us, anyway, according to Pew).

 

Make it a Good Day, G

 

It's a Turn Key Tyranny Thing

Dear America,

"As a precaution we have evacuated Toontown."

enter an excerpt from the Remarks by the President, May 23, 2013 @ the National Defense University:

The Justice Department’s investigation of national security leaks offers a recent example of the challenges involved in striking the right balance between our security and our open society.  As Commander-in-Chief, I believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field.  To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information.  But a free press is also essential for our democracy.  That’s who we are.  And I’m troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.

Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.  Our focus must be on those who break the law.  And that’s why I’ve called on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government overreach.  And I’ve raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concerns.  So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and he’ll convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review.  And I’ve directed the Attorney General to report back to me by July 12th.

good to know, right?  (somebody mark the calendar)

Flash forward two weeks, taking us to a June 7th mad, mad world update from Reuters:

"President Barack Obama's administration is likely to open a criminal investigation into the leaking of highly classified documents that revealed the secret surveillance of Americans' telephone and email traffic, U.S. officials said on Friday."

enter another view --  something featured on Mother Jones of all places [normally a place little old G never wanders... at least not without my concealed weapon, my sense of humor] -- but surprisingly, what I discovered not only put my senses on high alert, but at ease, too; quickly putting my own bias' in check, if not to rest, my first inclination wanted to keep reading, dig in for the long haul, a cosmic trip to the moon and back.  A piece alerting us to some kind of alternative universe, a secret sweet spot set aside to protect civil servants in high places who "break the law" caught my eye. [Virgin Galactic's got nothing on this, but you wouldn't know that, now would you, Beiber...]

Following up with some deep background after a couple of Democratic Senators met up with some kind of secret garden wall, clearly unable to get a jump over on their own, David Corn writes,

For those who follow the secret and often complex world of high-tech government spying, this was an aha moment. The FISA court Wyden referred to oversees the surveillance programs run by the government, authorizing requests for various surveillance activities related to national security, and it does this behind a thick cloak of secrecy. Wyden's statements led to an obvious conclusion: He had seen a secret FISA court opinion that ruled that one surveillance program was unconstitutional and violated the spirit of the law. But, yet again, Wyden could not publicly identify this program.

Enter the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest group focused on digital rights. It quickly filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department for any written opinion or order of the FISA court that held government surveillance was improper or unconstitutional. The Justice Department did not respond, and EFF was forced to file a lawsuit a month later...

On its website, EFF observes, "Granted, it's likely that some of the information contained within FISC opinions should be kept secret; but, when the government hides court opinions describing unconstitutional government action, America's national security is harmed: not by disclosure of our intelligence capabilities, but through the erosion of our commitment to the rule of law."

...There's no telling if the 86-page FISA court opinion EFF seeks is directly related to either of these two programs, but EFF's pursuit of this document shows just how difficult it is—perhaps impossible—for the public to pry from the government information about domestic surveillance gone wrong.

there's no telling...Corn duly notes.

and yet, so telling it is.

All of this just doesn't sit quite right with us, does it?

It's uncomfortable; it's like, what did they know, and when did they know it?  How much did they hear, what did they see, and at what point is domestic surveillance taking it a high speed link, a bridge, too far?

enter an excerpt from a recent hearing:

At a hearing of the Senate intelligence committee In March this year, Democratic senator Ron Wyden asked James Clapper, the director of national intelligence: "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?"

"No sir," replied Clapper

Liar, liar, pants on fire; how about you stand in front of your webcam so we all can see?

And again, from President  "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls" Obama:

But a free press is also essential for our democracy.  That’s who we are.  And I’m troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable. Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.  Our focus must be on those who break the law.

[journalists, no --  well, some journalists anyway -- but whistleblowers, yes]

Our focus must be on those who break the law, he says.

And about that "government accountability" --

• it was precisely this government that let America down when this administration ignored concerns from the Ambassador of Libya, questioning their own security, needing support, for months leading up to the attack (the attack planned by Islamic Extremists for the anniversary of September 11th).   OR, was it simply the fluid and fully reckless situation on the ground -- having masterminded a trade of prisoners, or a gun deal gone bad, that turned Benghazi into the magnificent melee of bureaucrats up against jihadists in it's final hours?   The secret's safe with Ambassador Christopher Stevens, now in his final resting place.
• it was precisely this government that let America down when this administration ignored concerns by everyday Americans, having been prejudicially targeted by the IRS, as well as the EPA,  because of their beliefs, religion, the content of the prayers, conservative ideals, dating back the last four years.  The secret's safe in some government cubicle, somewhere high up and in a place where breaking the law meets excuses meets promotion for someone like Sarah Hall Ingram
• it was precisely this government that let America down when this administration ignored concerns -- deep throated Russian warnings, actually -- of the brothers Tsarnaev that led to the Boston Bombing....hello?  Can you hear me now?  Could it have been any more clear?   Record of Verizon text messages, phone calls to Chechnya, have got nothing on this; we were told in no uncertain terms,  "Этот парень беда"  (this guy is trouble)... [Oh and you can sue Bing translator if that is entirely wrong.]   The secret's safe with the secret agency first notified; the same agency to be monitored more closely from here to eternity from here on out, and you can file a motion on that.
• it was precisely this government that let Americans down when this administration ignored concerns, warning signs from here to Yemen, on the Army infiltrated Radicalized, Islamic terrorist/psychiatrist --  "Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people, told a judge on Tuesday that he believed he was defending the lives of the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan from American military personnel when he went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood here in November 2009."    The same freak who gets to serve on behalf of his own sorry defense now.  The secret's safe to say, this will be a courtroom circus -- justice will never be served for the American lives lost on the day domestic terrorism, cultivated within our very own Army, was allowed to go unchecked, unbalanced under the fallacy of policy favoring tolerance over common sense,  Political Correctness gone wrong.

Holding this government accountable will never happen as long as this administration leads it's own Department of Justice; make no mistake, this is America's Department of Justice, not Obama's.

But let's get back to mixed messages, leading from behind, and talking out of both sides of the mouth:

Today, Osama bin Laden is dead, and so are most of his top lieutenants.  There have been no large-scale attacks on the United States, and our homeland is more secure.  Fewer of our troops are in harm’s way, and over the next 19 months they will continue to come home.  Our alliances are strong, and so is our standing in the world.  In sum, we are safer because of our efforts.

This is what the president wants us to hear; but this is what the president wants us to fear, so much so, that it fully warrants the government to continue doing what it is doing -- for our own good, you know:

Now, make no mistake, our nation is still threatened by terrorists.  From Benghazi to Boston, we have been tragically reminded of that truth.  But we have to recognize that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11.  With a decade of experience now to draw from, this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions -- about the nature of today’s threats and how we should confront them...Today, a person can consume hateful propaganda, commit themselves to a violent agenda, and learn how to kill without leaving their home.  To address this threat, two years ago my administration did a comprehensive review and engaged with law enforcement....Thwarting homegrown plots presents particular challenges in part because of our proud commitment to civil liberties for all who call America home.  That’s why, in the years to come, we will have to keep working hard to strike the appropriate balance between our need for security and preserving those freedoms that make us who we are.  That means reviewing the authorities of law enforcement, so we can intercept new types of communication, but also build in privacy protections to prevent abuse.

"...but also build in privacy protections to prevent abuse?"  really?

oh okay.

enter news from the other side -- the 29 year old guy described as a mediocre student/computer geek turned whistleblower -- Edward Snowden:

A: "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards.

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." 

enter another random excerpt from the president's remarks @ the National Defense University just for kicks:

....And finally, we face a real threat from radicalized individuals here in the United States.  Whether it’s a shooter at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, a plane flying into a building in Texas, or the extremists who killed 168 people at the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, America has confronted many forms of violent extremism in our history.  Deranged or alienated individuals -- often U.S. citizens or legal residents -- can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad.  And that pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.

So our president starts off citing:

1) An ex-Army, white supremacist  from 2012  
2) followed by the white, Bush-Hater, neo-communist flying into a government IRS office, 2010
3) followed by the white supremacists blowing up children in Oklahoma, dating back to 1983.

Of the "many forms" this president chooses to highlight, notice how the white, neo-Nazi linked crazy dudes come first. "Deranged or alienated individuals -- often U.S. citizens or legal residents -- can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad" and this is what it looks like.  Oh my -- might as well throw in your go-to derogatory mischaracterization of choice, "teabaggers," while you're at it....and maybe even Christian, too, right Mr. President?  

But there it is in black and white.  Fine examples laid out by the president.
Then, consciously choosing to soften his approach, the president is forced to include:

"And that pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood and the bombing of the Boston Marathon." 

The prelude of an horrific act becomes "that pull" (as if by some kind of natural progression).  While he claims it to be "towards extremism"  but doesn't actually say so; while it "appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood and the bombing of the Boston Marathon," but we can't really be for certain.  

The intelligence just hasn't given us enough information to say for a fact --  or maybe it's just "workplace violence" gone seriously awry, or maybe it's simply the fault of the American  way of life altogether.  Oh you know how it is, the challenges are just far too great for the poor immigrant, and family, to overcome sometimes.   Oh what difference does it make, anyway --  he's decidedly tying up the uncomfortably loose ends as if in a bow and sending the package FedEx, if not also in code, back to the Arab world, with apologies.

The Remarks by the President are worthy of every American having a go at reading every single word.  It's like this great maze, or labyrinth, taking us to parts known and unknown.   As the administration grapples at keeping a fine balance between keeping the peace with the Muslim world, he sends America, under the guise of diplomacy, six feet under already. 

The president makes a game of it, meandering  through age-old topics of policy and expectations, like hopscotch, skipping across the words he needs to put in place to sound authentic, intelligent, and trustworthy, on one foot, but then allowing the other foot drop and settle upon a notion so obtuse it makes sense to  us, the masses, and we follow along mindlessly.

In sweeping tones of tolerance and appeasement, the president takes us into a new era -- one that audaciously, tyrannically, allows for Americans to be questioned, watched, tracked, with high-tech surveillance and all, totally unafraid of how it looks, or how it feels, for the true blue American citizen -- while real terrorism goes on everyday within our borders, through cover organizations yet to be unveiled to the American people, and even within his administration.  Or see here.  Or read here.  Or become totally aghast here.

All the while saying, oh, you can't see that, that's classified; it's on a need to know basis, and well, for you all,  you all don't need to know that (flashing that million dollar smile of his).  Oh, and you, over there, you can't do that,  or we will call you a co-conspirator (putting the boot to the neck).  Oh and nobody is listening to your phone calls (rolling his eyes back).  And the rule of law is the rule of law -- we'll be coming to get you Snowden (extending that presidential thumb from the podium).

enter somebody new and totally out of the blue --

According to Rep. Maxine Waters (CA) who told Roland Martin, as told by Rush Limbaugh -- way back in February she said this: 

"Well, you know, I don't know.  And I think some people are missing something here.  The president has put in place an organization that contains the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life.  That's going to be very, very powerful.  That database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it's never been done before."  Rushbo carries the transcript with full EIB Network, Excellence in Broadcasting, commentary, here.

Highly classified?  my sweet tush.  
To the full extent of PRISM's operation -- some might question; but needless to say, lots of people knew about this; lots of people -- even Maxine Waters -- knew the president was community organizing a database supplying "everything on every individual in ways that it's never been done before."

So, from my perspective --  even Waters leaked the massive government overreach (badump ba); and it was months ago.  But since nobody takes her very seriously, we let it slide right on by as if it was silly database dribble.

My latest goal -- to give those covering surveillance a field day every waking day;  what with imagining them watching every key stroke, and link, and comment, and opinion all through the day...it makes me just giddy.   oh we are gonna have some fun now, eh kids?


Make it a Good Day, G


 

It's About a Loss of Credibility All the Way Around Thing

Dear America,

and wait, there's more!

PRISM:   It's like Google Glass, but even bigger, better, bad'r...so feast your eyes through the looking glass, here.

Invasion of privacy,

Government Body Snatchers,

welcome to the other side of midnight.

And just when we thought even the NY Times turned against the machine, we get edits sometime during zero dark thirty hour.

First, the editors bring us the piece du jour, boldly calling it, "President Obama's Dragnet."  Here it is, in it's original form, from Before It's News.

Now, let me take you to the new version...My guess it took a few edits back and forth, as the situation is still fluid awaiting for all the facts to come in, of course; but with what we know now, we believe this will be the final talking points...for the administration has us by the neck on this one, bear with us, if you will, for we are just groveling, begging for a second chance to prove our loyalty and unwavering admiration...so now without further adieu, here you go.

First version --  we get this:

"Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the 9/11 attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers."

In the what difference does it make second version, we get this:

"Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.

The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers."

Needless to say, somebody from the big White House got  to them.  They were asked to clean it up, or else...or else it may just be the last time THIS administration decides to use the NY Times as an extension of their administration, planting talking points and leaking information as it supports and elevates the brilliance of the Obama regime.    For nobody gets away with talking smack back, right Michelle?  

Simply love how they kept intact the comments made by the author of The Patriot Act --

"On Thursday, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, who introduced the Patriot Act in 2001, said that the National Security Agency overstepped its bounds by issuing a secret order to collect phone log records from millions of Americans. “As the author of the Patriot Act, I am extremely troubled by the F.B.I.’s interpretation of this legislation,” he said in a statement. “While I believe the Patriot Act appropriately balanced national security concerns and civil rights, I have always worried about potential abuses.” He added: “Seizing phone records of millions of innocent people is excessive and un-American.”

exactly.

Oh but rest assured -- per the president -- "nobody is listening on your phone calls..." this is simply "modest encroachments on privacy"..."they help us prevent terrorist attacks"...like, you know, "It’s important to recognize that you can’t have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience"...."we have to make choices as a society"... Comments plucked from a Washington Post update, just moments ago. 

But if you ask me, this is kind of sounding more like that commercial...you know the one ---  it's just better with "bed AND breakfast" (versus, bed OR breakfast)...it's just better with "sweet AND sour chicken" (instead of sweet OR sour)...Way to go, Ford....brilliant!

Since when did it become vogue --  IN AMERICA -- to force people to choose between a Police State OR our Freedom AND Liberty?  

And Karl Rove, entertaining Greta Van Susteren last night -- seriously?  Your elitism is showing, along with that pesky annoyance of making it sound like you speak for all of us (on the right).  Once again, the government (aka the establishment, both left and right, in equal portion it doth seem)  thinks it knows best  -- in a creepy, trust me, kind of way.  But more than that, something he said really raised my freshly waxed brow...

He said:

“Imagine what would happen if we were able to identify that he had called somebody in Chechnya,” Rove explained. “He was under review for a period of time. What if he had called somebody in Chechnya who was known to be a terrorist? That would have allowed us to then understand that he was a problem and to map his contacts back in the United States.”

“If we had a program like this in effect at the time that might have been helpful to us in stopping the 9.11 plot,” he said, adding that the program appears to be a “legitimate” tool for intelligence and law enforcement “in the environment and the world in which we live.”

First of all, KARL!

WE DID HAVE THIS PROGRAM IN PLACE -- according to just about who.... oh everybody.  This program and intelligence gathering doctrine has been in place for  SEVEN YEARS already; this is nothing new [although to the extent of The Patriot Act's usage and abuses IS a first, there is that].

But second of all -- what the hell are you talking about?  RUSSIA TOLD US TSARNAEV WAS TROUBLE with a capital T!    We didn't follow up, or we didn't believe them, or we didn't do a damn thing about it.  Notice the OR could be replaced with an AND indiscriminately. 

I'm sorry, Karl, but are you saying a Verizon phone call to Chechnya would have been the tipping point, and would have made all the difference?   Are you kidding me?    Oh my, you are either a pompous ass or a bonehead -- so hard to choose; oh, no bother, everything's better with AND.

Make it a Good Day, G

Oh wait!
There's more!

Falling into the same category as -- being against it (Patriot Act) before I was for it ( and President); we have yet another campaign promise -- the one that favored an energy policy embracing an "all of the above" framework -- broken:

Adversely affecting San Diego's local economy, it  has just been announced that the San Onofre Nuclear Plant will be shutdown permanently; Edison citing that the "lengthy regulatory review, rising costs, uncertainty" to be the root cause of such a dramatic close.  We lost 1100 jobs today.

The fastest way to true wealth is through our natural resources and energy production; as the dollar means jack these days, and on the verge of losing it's privileged designation as the world's reserve currency.  It's only a matter of time -- borrowed time --  before we permanently marginalize the dollars value and/or collapse --  and what do we do?  We choose to micromanage and stifle real economic growth by allowing the environmentalists and bureaucrats to control real gains from oil, natural gas, and gobs of nuclear power.

uncertainty.
otherwise known as a nudge...an itzy bitzy little nudge...can you feel me now?

It's Pure Wretchedness in the House Thing

Dear America,

"Whatever the form

or Constitution of Government

may be,

it ought to have no other object

 than the general happiness. 

When instead of this

it operates to create and increase

wretchedness,

in any of the parts of society,

it is on a wrong system

 and reformation is necessary." 

Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

oh my, it's like I feel so close to my government right now; whatever could it be?

Six degrees of separation...naught.

Try one.

Old Thomas must be muttering to himself -- if not screaming it across the heavens -- 'for the love of Pete, what the hell is going on down there?'

indeed.

And Verizon -- look at you -- what, pray tell, does this administration have on you, that you would just bend over and comply?    Like what's this about... "U.S. is secretly collecting records of Verizon calls?"   Guess not so much of a secret now? 

Just getting so creeped out by my own government...ew. ew. ew.

You know, my first intention this morning was to come in here all bright-eyed and shiny tail and talk about the cozy relationships within the administration; and I still might get to some of those.  But honestly --  with this news that fell upon us --  I feel like America has just been broadsided with a two by four by three hundred million,  horridly immobilizing, gut check.  WTF?  Why? Why would they be needing to do this?   And what ever happened to the very idea of having proper cause first?

Gosh:  DNA without probable cause, check.  IRS targeting the content of our prayers, check.   Justice Department secretly obtaining AP phone records, check.   Fox News Journalist, James Rosen -- extending out to his parents -- having his phone records secretly seized by DOJ, check.  IRS telling Pro-Life organization not to protest Planned Parenthood, check. 

And talk about degrees of separation, or shall we say, less separation:  how about that Stephanie Cutter being in meetings with the former IRS Chief, Douglas Shulman, during the time the IRS was specifically targeting conservative groups.  GO HERE...it's just one link, one degree, just one flash of light away from deep background on the subject.

While speaking of Shulman -- while bearing in mind my initial target of attack this morning -- did you know that his wife, Susan Anderson, actively engaged in the Occupy Wall Street movement?   Oh yes she did, yes she did; and she made no secret about it whatsoever, plastering pictures all over her facebook page, see.

[G note: Don't you just love how the Left seems to mess with our heads...More often than naught, leftist couples seem to gravitate to keeping their marriages a secret -- in  a manner of speaking, that is ---  clinging to the maiden name and such, keeping us guessing, wondering, having to sleuth it out on our own to see who's intimately connected to who, inside and out.  Fascinating stuff.  If you play with this frequently, it begins to get easier and quite addictive, kinda like Sudoku-socialist-who's-who for dummies.]  

Here's another one degree matrimonial combination to love and admire:  Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein.   Cass, former Information/Regulatory Czar, is responsible for every nudge and shove we feel these days, especially evident by the expensive, intrusive health care and energy related reforms. As co-author of an excellent explanation of how human behavior works, moves, reacts, and overreacts, from the first degree to the last, secretly sinister can't be understood any better.   Allow me to NUDGE you a wee bit in this direction for more on the book, care of Benjamin Friedman of the NY Times...just because, oh yes, "there is such a thing as common sense — and thank goodness for that."  ew.

Sunstein's dear wife, Samantha, is slated to take over the vacancy of Susan Rice, as the United Nations Ambassador -- that is, if she makes it through confirmation.  [Susan Rice is taking over for Tom Donilan, who is quitting his post as the National Security Director]  

So anywho, here's some shallow background just for starters; it's simply one degree of separation taking you to The Jewish Press. 

[And if you are smitten to go one degree in the same direction for more, Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, writes a splendid piece, here...I just love this part:  "[But] again, why nominate someone to be your closest intelligence adviser who is most famous for putting forward bad intelligence?" ]

Let's take a minute to duly note how the nuptials go round within the administration, courtesy of The Jewish Press:  "Both Donilon and Power are part of the “clubhouse” atmosphere in the Obama administration. Donilon’s wife Cathy Russell was a former chief of staff to Jill Biden and is the State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues." 

[again, note the one degree of separation, in name only, with the dynamic duo of Russell/Donilon...just sayin']

But back to Power, as in Samantha Power -- she was one of Obama's key foreign policy aides while on the campaign trail, fighting against the Hillary machine, when she failed to use common sense to address a few campaign challenges.  Marking Hillary as "a monster" -- her trusted position lived just long enough to regret that.   But in case you want more, head to the Scotsman, here.

So what else, what else has been sneaky, and closely held under the radar, if not, behind the curtain and sometimes even under the sheets? 

Well, there is the Lois Lerner (IRS "whistleblower") and her husband Michael R. Miles -- partner in law firm, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan -- one degree from The Daily Caller tells us, "[T]he 400-attorney firm hosted an organizing meeting at its Atlanta office for people interested in helping with voter registration for the Obama re-election campaign." 

And meandering through that maze, we also find --  "[L]ongtime Sutherland partner David Adelman, the former Democratic minority whip of the Georgia state senate, serves as ambassador to the Republic of Singapore in the Obama administration."   

It's just so cozy in that White House, isn't it?

Of course, corrupt connections like this don't just happen within the boundaries of the big White House; Congress gets into the fun, too.  As if you didn't already know that...

Let's go to one of California's very own, Dianne Feinstein.   She is married to Richard Blume.  [see, sneaky theory works in theory and in real life once again....]    Well, all kinds of crony capitalism deals are going on in this world and they don't even try to hide or deny it anymore...what between bridge contracts, high speed rail deals, special financing, postal office sell-off and leasing, there is not one public sector, between the two of them, that they don't have their slimy, sleazy, blissfully depraved hands.  And look at me -- not even going to waste my time to offer you up some proof.  Come and get me.

And just before I go -- let me throw out one more oldie, but goodie, starry-eyed love connection within:  Anita Dunn and Robert Bauer.   [what?.... doink, der it is, doink, der it is]   "Secret" sources are linking Robert Bauer to the broad brushstroke targeting conservatives, link to Investor's Business Daily for full scoop, here. 

But just in case you don't, some notes from the crib for you:

"But as the Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel reminds us, Obama's 2008 campaign was demanding the Justice Department criminally prosecute conservative groups with 501(c)4 tax-exempt status. Then, last year, President Obama's re-election campaign "targeted private citizens who had donated to Romney groups.

The chief operative? Longtime Democratic Party lawyer Robert Bauer, general counsel for Obama's presidential campaigns, White House general counsel during Obama's first term, Democratic National Committee general counsel, and the Democrats' counsel in President Bill Clinton's Senate impeachment trial. And, not least, husband of Democratic political strategist Anita Dunn, White House communications director in Obama's first term, and now an MSNBC contributor.

When you've got a legal Rottweiler like Bauer setting the cutthroat example to one and all within the Obama administration regarding the wishes of the president, does anyone really think he — or others in the administration — needed marching orders when it comes to the government's attitude toward opponents of Obama's ideology who were seeking tax-exempt status?

exactly.

Piggy-backing a wee bit upon yesterday, the foot soldiers are marching -- from down the altar, through the Rose Garden, and gallivanting on through the halls of the people's house  [some don't even bother to wear clothes anymore].

And suffice it to say, it's getting messy, ugly, and absolutely wretched.  [kiss kiss Tommy Paine]

Now look at me, one degree away from one-hell-of-a self-served headache.

 
Make it a Good Day, G

Foot Note:

Okay, so these guys aren't married, but they are family -- brothers to be exact:
Meet Ben and David Rhodes, joined together in an unholy alliance -- maybe, rumored to be anyway--  here.

Other foot dropping:

Lindsey, as in Graham, you need your head examined.   UGH.