It's What in Tar Nation is the Mission Thing

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It's Three AM in America, Ringy Dingy Thing

Dear America,

I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please..........

just a little thought to get the engines off and running today -- 

of course, all rights reserved to an outlet headquartered somewhere in China (Young, Inc.), an organization who has somehow figured out the typical American proclivity of buying things we don't need.  And -- after decades amassing such a wealth of knowledge on the subject -- begin tinkering and mass producing just about everything tchotchke under the sun before being sold for a profit at a local convenience store (say a CVS, Inc. for example). 

But besides all that, isn't it remarkable how a simple phrase can explain everything?

I love that.

After all, it's how commercials get it done.  You want to know what something is all about in a snippet?  In print or televised -- boom! An idea, product, service is broken down to to it's very core, providing all who passerby the essence of what makes it wonderful, solid, desired, and more than anything else, generating a certain feeling deep down inside to stir a reaction.

A commercial wants us to make a connection with something, so much so, that we, the consumer, buy into it (literally and figuratively).

Now, I happened to have been shopping for things I didn't know I wanted in order to send a care package to my girl --  who happens to be living far, far away from her mama, in college.

And to that end -- we had both had a rough week.  Matter of fact, it was so rough, I couldn't write.  I couldn't think straight,  I couldn't sleep a wink.  For last week began with the arrival of what we all refer to as the "3 am phone call."

So what, if it was more like a 6:30 am phone call, right?  

I was still awakened out of a deep sleep with a nurse calling from an ER that sits 3500 miles away from me and who happened to also be sitting at the right hand of my girl.

Needless to say, that little phrase prancing atop the page in a pink tutu, says it all.

And not just personally, either.

I mean, honestly,  What in hell's bells is going on in this world???? ... as I anxiously nibble at the fresh paint of "Shell We Dance" across my fingertips. [it's a really pretty color, btw...Check out Sally Hanson, Inc.]

I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please..........

If I may be so bold -- it just might say it all  for all of us.

The only thing I might request, is that it be  made "on the rocks."  As it's not only been hotter than Hades around here, but metaphorically speaking, we are there already.  We have run aground.   While every worthy vessel of everything Americana as been left adrift for as far and wide as the eye can see, totally abandoned and left to the mercy of the elements., an environment unkind. 

If  we were to go along the premise of nothing ever good happens after midnight -- what happens when it is 3am in America and the only people who answer the call are left winged radicals, hellbent on fundamentally transforming America?

Oh, am I being too dramatic?

Really?

There are not words to describe the sensation that comes over me when I hear of the president's plan to send 3,000 of our men and women in uniform directly into harm's way, assisting in the immediate control of the Ebola outbreak in Africa.   How did he come up with this number?     And considering the villagers do not trust outsiders -- read this  -- what are we doing?

And so -- when it comes to fighting ISIS -- we have to wait for an entourage before jumping into the fire...  Going back to the president's address to the nation September 10:

  "But this is not our fight alone.  American power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region.  And that’s why I’ve insisted that additional U.S. action depended upon Iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have now done in recent days..."

Here's the president on fighting the Ebola enemy:

"We can't dawdle on this one. We have to move with force and make sure that we are catching this as best we can, given that it has already broken out in ways that we have not seen before."

And still, what's with the 3,000?

It's like the nagging ringing in the ear that remains after being shell-shocked.  I am so disturbed by the number -- and I can't seem to shake it.  The last time America has been touched by a number like this it was 9/11.  Yes, the 9/11.  And from exposure to this presidency and specifically, this president, over the last six years, the conspiracy that rages inside my head tells me this number is intentionally driven by a deep seated hatred of some kind.

Either through contamination or by a stones throw, our soldiers are walking into hell on all fronts and our president just sends them in....with no dawdle.  "We have to move with force," he says.  

With Iraq, Syria...no,...let's wait it out shall we.....

[and what is this about????...there are not words or enough time in this day to go here]

Back to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone.  Ebola is spreading like a California wildfire in Santa Ana conditions, through sagebrush and canyon, over the ridge and through the woods, for hundreds of square miles, out of control.  Let's send in the troops on the ground; how about 3,000 of them.

Sure.  There may certainly be justification, right?  No doubt it is a security threat to the world.

But what's with all of a sudden acting like we are taking on the lead role in this case, as if, America, is in fact, in some small way, oh how do you say -- um -- exceptional?

Here's our prez:

"Faced with this outbreak, the world is looking to the United States and it is a responsibility we are prepared to embrace. We are prepared to take leadership on this."

By the way, I plucked that quote from the "World Socialist Web Site."  Yes, indeed.  For kicks, just go read a little of it.  The American Imperialists conspiracy  and it's army are alive and well.

So, let's run with another conspiracy real quick, shall we?

Wonder what happened to the visiting Afghan soldiers, who were in Cape Cod, as part of a military training exercise and then turned up missing.    I mean, it's like no big deal, right, as "the Massachusetts National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. James Sahady told the Cape Cod Times that the men 'had the freedom to come and go.' "

" 'If they were off-duty, they could go to McDonald's or the mall', he said."


Well, apparently, after the drive-thru for a couple of Big Mac's and fries, they took a shot at getting across the border.... to Canada.  It's not like they were armed or anything; surely, they meant to do no harm.

Of course, this goes hand in hand with a post from National Review,.   While it dates back a few days, it also looks to the other border.


Here's a snippet:

In a statement obtained by National Review Online, the U.S. National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, a union representing 12,000 federal immigration agents, sounded the alarm that not only could jihadists “slip across our porous southern border,” but that fighters could also “exploit our loose and lax visa policies to gain entry to the United States.”

USCIS cites two main issues: a dearth of resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for enforcement and tracking and the administration’s decision to increase the number of immigrants allowed in for asylum purposes.

I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please..........

Of course, only if you have the time.  Read this from Michelle Malkin.

Nothing like a little jihad hidden in our very own Rocky Mountains. [on the rocks, make mine a double]

I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please..........


Allow me to share something else.  It's something that has been saved -- even "pinned" to my start screen just waiting for just the right moment to drop into the mix.  Me thinks this is the time.

Again, as with all the stories this morning, it is enough to make the blood boil.  But be strong.  Take a big sip of your morning joe and carry on...

It comes out of the little Bible Baptist Church in Carthage, Missouri, no less.  Given their affinity to God and Country, faith and strength, the flag, patriotism, and community running deep -- their Vacation Bible School program set out to honor "God's Rescue Squad."

Sounds simple enough.

Well, not so fast...

“We were told it was against military policy for National Guard troops to participate in Vacation Bible School,” Pastor Hogan said. “They said if the National Guard had assets on church property it would look like the National Guard is sponsoring the Baptist religion..."

"We are right in the middle of the United States of America,” the pastor said. “We are part of the Bible Belt. You read about this stuff going on in big cities. But in Carthage?”

What else is new?

"We are seeing a shocking level of hostility towards religious faith but beyond that – we’ve also seen a militantly secular attitude of trying to sterilize the defense department of all references to faith and references."

This commentary was in response to outrageous policy changes within the U.S. Military.  After all hell broke loose to a specific policy change at Walter Reed Hospital, led in the House by Rep. Steven King (R-IA)....Todd Starnes of Fox News writes:

King spoke from the House floor Thursday blasting a policy memorandum from the commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center written by Chief of Staff C.W. Callahan. The September 14th memo covers guidelines for “wounded, ill, and injured partners in care.”

“No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit,” the policy states.

 “The President of the United States should address this and should excoriate the people who brought about this policy and the individual who brought it about should be dismissed from the United States Military,” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told Fox News & Commentary.

Are you kidding me?  No bibles allowed?  We have a son or daughter or husband or wife arrive home injured from war, and we can't bring a Bible in to read to them?

Hence, a day after hitting the House floor, the policy was rescinded.

King took up the good fight. And won.

But WTF?  What is happening to America?

I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please..........


Oh my.
What a mess.
I think I spilled my cafe mocha vodka valium latte all over myself today.

There was simply too much to say for one day.

Now, there is such a thing as a good silence -- the kind that finds us self-reflective, learning and growing and quiet in mind while contemplating meaningful and thoughtful things; and then there's the other.    

Now This -- this  is what happens when an evil silence chips away at our soul and steals the day(s) -- an entire week even!   And right out from under me!  So unexpected.  As if sitting paralyzed in fear, or worry is going to help matters.  It's not productive in any way.

When this silence happens, nothing gets said, nothing gets done, and nothing good ever comes of it.

It's 3 am in America. Ringy Dingy.   Let us not be silent in our response.

Make it a Good Day, G

It's a Day in the Life of America Losing Her Way Thing

Dear America,

so,

here we are.

It's a Day After and a Day Of intertwined.

What?

What the hell G?  What does that even mean?!

I used to mention the Day After often.   We've covered a Day After in full context, be it in the detailing of speeches, State of the Union's, elections, whatever... fitting the phrase in when the moment fits like the best cliche (and you know I like my cliche's).   

But of course, if you follow me at all,  I haven't gone down the Day After line of assault for a very long time it would seem.

While today -- this DAY OF --  is the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11  AND the second anniversary of the Benghazi attack  (strange how President Obama left that out).   Having said that, my girl was just beginning her third week of Kindergarten.

So,

here we are.

It's a Day After and a Day Of intertwined.

And now let me ask you  -- just how have we - America -  weathered the years?

You know, time is a funny thing.  

There's a part of me who believes I haven't changed one teeny tiny itty bitty bit  since the days of finger painting and paste...and there was lots and lots of paste.

And yet, it's been a long time!  Thirteen years! 

George Bush was only just beginning his first term!  Just NINE MONTHS IN.  [And to think -- this is what happens thirteen years thereafter...unbelievable.]

While from my personal perspective -- it's enough time for my girl to have started and finished her early education; and now, as you all know, with intellect and maturity and diploma in hand, she has fully prepared and readied herself for the next level -- the University.

How about we talk about what was really going on in Benghazi,  just days, maybe weeks, correction -- months --  before Ambassador Stevens and three Americans were killed...

oh it's not a question.

READ THIS in it's entirety, as featured on WND just three days ago.

How have we weathered?

How have we weathered?

We are adrift.

We are adrift and at the mercy of an administration who is not our friend.

We have an administration who clings to an ideology over the protection of the American people; we have an administration who hides the truth from the American people; we have an administration who twists the words and redefines our mission without a true strategy in place; we have an administration who plays with the truth -- the true reality on the ground and in power --- whether we're talking about Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, Libya...aw, and who are we kidding, even in America.

The tell?

The tell was in the opening moments of the president's fifteen minutes of modern day, "reluctant warrior*" fame when he had the audacity to say this (doubling down on HIS naturally born loyalties):

Now let's make two things clear: ISIL is not "Islamic." No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

(Plucked from NPR online)

* note: the commentators of last night kept referring to the president as the "reluctant warrior" of some sort -- as if that's something to be proud of.   Really?  Is that how we want our Commander-In-Chief to be described?

And the nerve -- the president saying they are not Islamic.  Once again -- way to sympathize with an enemy that has been nothing but clear in the matter.  They are fighting, and fighting hard, against the Western World, the INFIDELS in the name of their religion!  And yet you give this mighty sort of rebels who have no fear whatsoever of dying on behalf of Allah this explanation that continues to save Muslims from any responsibility and connection to this catastrophic implosion of ideals within the barriers of the Middle East and beyond.


For certain, after thirteen years of watching the wars, the region, the players, the rebels (altogether being -- the good, the bad, and the ugly) -- how does anyone really know for sure who we are really dealing with?

Remember it was not that long ago in the great scheme of things when THIS administration had said this:

The term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a congressional hearing today.

wow, right?

February 10, 2011.

And today?

Actions in Congress over the summer,  circa July 24th, designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, go here...

Perhaps prompted, in part, by Egypt's actions, dating back to last year, go here...

The thing is -- who can you trust anymore when you can't even trust our own?  How can we go from James Clapper, as the DIRECTOR of NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE no less, saying oh, the brotherhood, no big deal.  They're harmless, secular, no trouble at all....to a big time ooops, scratch that, take it back, they are vewy, vewy bad.

Fast forward to the latest polling question asking the American people, do you feel safe?

Here's the pulse on that, go.

So,

here we are.

It's the Day After and the Day Of intertwined.

Some say the president had to make a speech to correct the optics; that the American people have given up on this president and his ability to do the one thing he's supposed to be doing and doing it well, without a smidgen of doubt, at all times -- and that being in the job of protecting America, the American people, from our borders and extending out to our presence over the entire world.

Does he have our back?

Is there no American left behind -- accounting for all three hundred million of us?

This job is not for the faint of heart --  let alone a thin-skinned, narcissistic, unprepared, never vetted, Manchurian candidate, now president, who decides to play golf the DAY Of responding to the beheading of an American journalist.  

"ISIL is not 'Islamic', " the president says.

seriously, Mr. President?

This is what ISIL/ISIS is, whether we are talking yesterday, today or tomorrow:  

Under fire from Iraqi military forces seeking to win back territory, an Al Qaeda break-away organization fighting in Iraq and Syria declared Sunday the establishment of a new “caliphate” — an Islamic state led by a single supreme religious and political leader.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as ISIS, made the declaration in a statement released on the Internet, calling on Muslim factions worldwide to pledge allegiance.

The Sunni Muslim militant organization, which first made headlines fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, named its own headman, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph —or supreme leader — of the caliphate. 

“He is the imam and caliph for the Muslims everywhere,” ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in the statement, calling the caliphate “the dream in all the Muslims’ hearts” and “the hope of all jihadists.”

Sounds pretty religious to me.  And you?

And they seem to have  a pretty clear vision to boot.

so,

here we are.

Do you feel safer, smarter, ready to tackle the world?

ISIL does.

And as we speak,  they -- ISIL -- are fighting alongside the rebels against al-Assad, the Syrian president, too?  ?   And they have been there all along?    How do know we really know who is who?

No, seriously.

What a joke we are to the world.  Might as well extend the Nobel Peace Prize recipient the Class Clown while we're at it.

Did we arrange to give ISIL any weapons, by chance?

Did they commandeer any of our tanks in the process of being in the local area?  

Is there anyone -- in this so-called American administration -- on our freaking side and keeping their eye on the ammunition?  Really.  Is there?!?

What the hell is going on?

Oh my -- I may be living a nightmare, but I have a dream.

I have a dream we have a brand spanking new president.

Someone like, oh, maybe, a Ted Cruz...

Instead, we need a Commander in Chief who articulates a specific military objective tethered directly to defending U.S. national security. We did not see that tonight. "We should destroy ISIS altogether, using overwhelming airpower to ensure they cannot bring jihad to America.

Oh and there was plenty more; for more, go here.

Politics and Facts are sticky things.

Intertwined.......indeed  and always......it's in constant motion all the live long day.

It's how we come to a Day After and a Day Of  all on the same day.

How have we weathered?

How have we weathered?

America is showing her age -- minus the wisdom; the kind of wisdom that which should naturally build over time...experiences, investigation, deep background, homework; the kind of wisdom that organically, and yet intentionally, coalesces a vision that substantiates and supports a mission that exudes a certain strength, an enduring fortitude,  that supports and upholds the foundation set forth from our birth and GROWS UP.

How does the world see America now?  It isn't pretty.

Personally -- over the last thirteen years, I have witnessed my little girl come into her own.  She is happy, balanced, secure in herself, knowing exactly where she comes from and astoundingly, has come into an awareness of where she wants to go from here with the tools in place to get her there.

Make no mistake, right Mr. President?  Isn't that how you say it? ------

No, no, I got it.  Let me be clear --  the last thirteen years in America has not been kind.  And the last six years has been abysmal (O-bizmal), ISIS/ISIL....

It would seem we haven't learned a thing.

What a waste.

Or is it that as a nation, we have grown no different than the prevailing, debilitating, compromising attitudes of entitlement and self-serving social justice agendas that have infiltrated our very soul as a whole?  All of it is just distracting us from being all that we are truly meant to be; and none of it is making us appear any smarter for it.

But here we are anyway, in spite of ourselves -- 

endeavoring to be the world's beacon on a shoestring.  And with one foot in and one foot out, we shake it all about, do the hokey pokey and we turn ourselves about...that's what it's all about foreign policy...

...oh to be five.

But here we are -- tripping and falling all over ourselves and the playground we live; venturing forward without really being prepared and fully committed of doing all the work that will be required of us -- and without the coveted constitutional prerequisite no less --   the glorious congressional approval. [And surely that was a run-on sentence, some things never change on G thing...]

Here we are.

Thirteen years later.

So,

 in memory of 9/11/01 and  9/11/12  my heart aches in the Day After and in the Day Of.

I wonder what the president is doing today?

I bet he's thinking he has dodged the proverbial political bullet.

His schedule today doesn't include any meetings with a general, nor a Defense Secretary, or for that matter, a Director of National Intelligence.  It shows a meeting with the Director of Health and Human Services Burwell, in the Oval Office... and an unspecified service project later in the day. Oh and lunch with Joe.  

Interesting, isn't it? 

After last night's speech, I would imagine him locking himself and the powers that be into the situation room until we win, or something.  And even if it's for just one day.

For the optics, you know...

For the politics and talking points and photo-ops -- showing the president and Commander-In-Chief getting to brass tacks to "destroy"  ISIS.

It's ridiculous, really.

But here we are.

Don't be fooled.

It's just another day in the life of America losing her way.

Where will we be in another thirteen years?

Make it a Good Day, G

It's an Administration by Broken Window Thing

Dear America,

yeah, it's been a few days.  shoot me.

would you believe you haven't missed a thing all summer long?

right.  what am I trying to do, pull the wool over your own eyes?

Of Ferguson and Fallujah, Gaza, Martha's Vineyard --  along with anywhere along the U.S. and Mexico border -- stories of the unconscionable challenging order were everywhere...all summer long.

Of course, my heart and soul was busy tending to the unleashing of an era -- securing my girl in a place that requires a day's travel, over the purple mountains majesty and across the fruited plains, just to see her pretty face.   

But it's safe place, more or less.  It's a place that exudes a fundamental and exemplary direct opposition of a place in chaos...

the University.

Broken windows?  None.

So -- in other words -- this little mama can breathe, anyway.

But let's get on with the day, shall we?  

Now, starting with going backwards just a wee bit...

Beginning with responsive questions after the president's statement on August 28th, going something like this:

"Thank you, Mr. President.  Do you regret not moving on ISIS earlier?"...and ending with this one, "What makes you think that forming a new government will change the situation? "

...Keep in mind we had been in communications with the Iraqi government for more than a year indicating that we saw significant problems in the Sunni areas.  Prime Minister Maliki was not as responsive perhaps as we would have liked to some of the underlying political grievances that existed at the time...

The problem we have had consistently is a Sunni population that feels alienated from Baghdad and does not feel invested in what’s happening, and does not feel as if anybody is looking out for them...

As I’ve said before -- I think I said in the previous press conference -- our military is the best in the world.  We can route ISIS on the ground and keep a lid on things temporarily.  But then as soon as we leave...

And part of our message to the entire region is this should be a wake-up call to Sunni,to Shia -- to everybody -- that a group like ISIS is beyond the pale; that they have no vision or ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people.  And as a consequence, we’ve got to all join together -- even if we have differences on a range of political issues -- to make sure that they’re rooted out.

Being clear as a bell -- describing ISIS -- "-- that a group like ISIS is beyond the pale; that they have no vision or ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people."

I don't remember much between the headlines over the last couple of months, but I do remember this.

This made my skin crawl from my head to my toes.

If we really wanted to mince words, we could immediately accuse the president of using a phrase that dates back to 1791, and one that for some people, may find offensive.  At a place called phrases.org, "beyond the pale" is further scrutinized for the modern world, and gives us historic background:

"Catherine the Great created the Pale of Settlement in Russia in 1791. This was the name given to the western border region of the country, in which Jews were allowed to live. The motivation behind this was to restrict trade between Jews and native Russians. Some Jews were allowed to live, as a concession, 'beyond the pale'."

That is fascinating, huh?  I never knew that.

But let's not dwell.

Where I got stuck was the president's claim, "that they have no vision or ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people." 

And I thought to myself, with pins and needles ripping out my eyeballs.... wow, Mr.President, way to sympathize with the Islamic Extremists.  No vision?  No ideology?  Seriously?

Who's fooling who?

Ah but the differences in the "range of political issues" at home would not allow you to sit with that claim for long, could it Mr. President? 

But it must have hurt -- for you came out looking more worse for wear than when you started, didn't you?  [I know, who could have known?]

Just for you today,  my fellow American inquiring minds...There's more! as the plot and the stories and the politics thickens.  And if you will, allow me to make it as painless as possible; let me give you the crib notes first:

"From “degrade and destroy” to “a manageable problem.” In the same press conference. Has Obama’s mission truly changed – or was this yet another example of mixed messages from the President of the United States?"

[If you have the time to read more about the contradictions of a presidency, go here for the full  detail.]

The thing is, what I really set out for you to read today was printed in the Wall Street Journal (August 19th) -- coming midstream of my summer retreat.   

On the Opinion page, providing a Global View by Bret Stephens-- it's titled, Of Ferguson and Fallujah. 

It's really good.

READ IT NOW.

But if for some reason that asks of you too much -- let me cut to the chase and go to his conclusion:

This is a case study of allowing neighborhoods to decay and disorder to fester; of doing things reactively, not preventively. Where would we be in Iraq today if Mr. Obama hadn't simply walked and looked away for the past three years? 

The answer to disorder is to provide order. To engage community leaders. To enforce norms. To reassure good citizens that their security is being looked after and it's not every man for himself. To maintain a visible presence that deters would-be lawbreakers from committing criminal acts. To prevent bad people from acting badly, and to punish them swiftly when they do. 

This is how a successful police force like the NYPD works. And it's how a competent foreign policy should operate. Bill Bratton knows his job—which is more than can be said of the Keystone cops in Ferguson, or at the White House

It's the difference between a Ronald Reagan foreign policy and a Barack Obama's.

It's the difference between the direct and indirect, seen and unseen, contrasts of ideology and vision  (be it in policy, in reality, in strength -- be it at home or abroad)  -- going beyond the pale of an American president.

It's unforgivable, deplorable. And totally unacceptable.  And it just might all add up to an impeachable offence --  treason.

ISIS, ISIL, tomayto, tomahto.  They know something that the majority of American people fail to see and intend to use that to their every advantage.  

And about our border issues?   Again, our stance is not one that clings to order, but disorder.

The consequences -- whether intended or not -- will be telling.  

Damn the broken windows...  

[shaking your head?  then you need reread Of Ferguson and Fallujah if that seems totally disconnected].

And then someday,

out of the pages of history, ethics, politics, and providing for a common defense, our children's children will be reading all about it in school [probably in Spanglish].

Make it a Good Day, G

Turning over my last thought to Bret Stephens: 

 "Broken windows stresses

 that endemic criminality 

is not primarily a function 

of the usual 'root causes'

 -- poverty, 

racism, 

bad schools, 

broken families 

and so on. 

 The real problem is disorder itself."