It's About the Best Way to Predict the Future...Thing

Dear America,

“They can’t beat us on the battlefield, 

so they try to terrorize us

 into being afraid,” 

Mr. Obama said. 

“As president, I will not let that happen.”

[from NY Times, 11/22/15]

Who even listens to this guy anymore?

My immediate question is wondering why, if "they can't beat us on the battlefield" [ISIS]  -- then why aren't we ON the battlefield, beating them into submission, if not totally extinguishing every single one of them muthafuckas?  [Excuse my french...but I do believe the French would agree with me totally on this one.]

So, while you attempted to sound like a commander in chief, and get all macho-man and all -- your point, I guess, was reminding all Americans that you are not going to let them scare us.  Yeah, like all, 'not on my watch' kinda way.

And yet --

just today, you have issued a TRAVEL WARNING to ALL AMERICANS ABROAD to be afraid:

"U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using transportation," the alert said. "Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid large crowds or crowded places. Exercise particular caution during the holiday season and at holiday festivals or events."

Hmmmmm but now that contradicts the message to all Americans here at home.  

At least according to Jeh Johnson, who counters the international warnings with this statement for the states:

"With this holiday season coming up we want the public to continue to go to public events, celebrate the holiday season, travel, be with their families and the like..."

Fly, be free...Love one another and be happy...

Hmmmmm wonder what the intelligence reports really say?

But let's go back to September -- at The Daily Beast --

Exclusive: 50 Spies Say ISIS Intelligence Was Cooked

or 

Exclusive: This Is the ISIS Intel the U.S. Military Dumbed Down

Let's bring the New York Times back in for another good quote from the president -- The Times being the proverbial shelter, providing political cover of a presidency that revels under the cover of darkness 24/7:

“One of the things I insisted on the day I walked into the Oval Office was that I don’t want intelligence shaded by politics. I don’t want it shaded by a desire to tell a feel-good story,”

Hilarious, isn't it. (no. not really.)

Obama went on to add, he wasn't aware of the "details" on this -- sounding eerily familiar to the way he says, "oh I learned about this the same time you did" or “I heard on the news about this story, that, uh, Fast and Furious.” or “I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked through the press.” or  [IRS Scandal] “from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday.” or  [wiretapping] “found out about the news reports, uh, yesterday on the road.”  For more on all of that, go HERE.

The thing is, he goes fast and furious, like gone in 60 seconds, from acting in the cover of darkness to acting like he is totally in the dark about all of it.    He IS an amazing piece of work at work.


Re: Dumbing Down of Intelligence --

 “The cancer was within 

the senior level 

of the intelligence command,” 

one defense official said. 

[The report comes complete 

with two senior analysts signing off, 

and "seconded" by an additional 50 other analysts.]

It's strange, really.

Centcom intelligence is being messed with to fit the narrative of this administration...and the president cries 'duh, I dunno"...actually, it went something more like this: “I don’t know what we’ll discover with respect to what was going on in Centcom,” Mr. Obama said. “What I do know is my expectation — which is the highest fidelity to facts, data, the truth.”

Right.   Like Benghazi, for example.

Well, perhaps, just maybe, go look for that letter documenting the written, formal, complaint -- and highlighted here on the old G Thing, above, provided courtesy of The Daily Beast. That would be a good start, considering you get your news like the rest of us.  

Then perhaps, look in the Oval Office; it should be sitting on your desk by now.   

But then again, speaking of smudging lines of truth and dares, just a few hours ago, you kinda sorta warned the media to censor their coverage of ISIS...so as to not inflame a violent response from a few [Islamic] bad seeds.  Let's see, what did you say:

The media needs to help in this, I just want to say. You know, during the course of this week — a very difficult week — it is understandable that this has been a primary focus. But one of the things that has to happen is how we report on this has to maintain perspective and not empower in any way these terrorist organizations or elevate them in ways that make it easier for them to recruit or make them stronger.

Oh okay.

And just who is "elevating" these actions?  Is it elevating simply by reporting on it somehow?

Really?  "The media needs to help in this..."    This propaganda tango is sounding more Venezuelan than American, just sayin.'   Just what perspective are you searching for, Mr. President; what narrative do you want the media to use?   

Seriously?  You have stooped to a new low.  For some erroneous reason as to refrain from feeding into the ISIS frenzy for recruitment purposes, you call on the media for an assist?   What, like, tone it down?  Ignore it?   It's all starting to sound vaguely familiar.  Where have I heard about the deliberate dumbing down of the truth (you know...besides Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS Scandal....and so on).....

So the truth is --  it wouldn't be a stretch to think that, as President, you may have mentioned to somebody, to talk to somebody, to dumb down the Centcom Intelligence to fit the narrative of your administration.  I mean, your legacy is at stake, right; your Nobel Peace Prize is staring at you in the face, and you've got to be somebody -- a president who wholeheartedly and genuinely deserves the prize, the legacy, a library in Indonesia, a round of golf everyday, and whatever else you want.

Rest assured -- the truth will come to the surface soon enough, as another post at The NY Times highlights a story about the Pentagon...expanding it's inquiry....here.   I feel good about that; you feel good about that?  Yeah, yeah, nothing and no one stands in the way of getting to the bottom of it, I'm totally confident in the process.

Oh my word -- all of a sudden I have a BMW commercial ringing in my ear.  Have you heard this line, blurted out somewhere in the middle of it?

"Best way to predict the future is to create it."

Just you wait.

Just you wait.

Once this president is out of office, everything KNOWN and UNKNOWN will come to light.  And in no uncertain terms, America will discover all the intelligence it needs to know, and, with great shock, realize that treason was committed on her friendly shores -- our shores -- over and over and over again.  

We've been attacked from within.  It's done.

The president's allegiance is not what it appears to be; it never was.  The dumbing down of the truth began some time during his first campaign -- with a fawning mainstream media already wide eyed and bushy-tailed to follow the charismatic leader of a whole new world with no (real) questions asked. 

what a long day it's been.

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 I Smell Desperation Thing

Dear America,

this is transparency people, can you see it? if the emperor were wearing any more clothes, he'd be naked.

yesterday, we were at 8.1% unemployment (supposedly);
today, we are at 7.8%!

And the White House chooses to come off as subdued?
If this news be true, they would all be jumping up and down.  Obama would be dancing at the podium and singing "I'm so in love with you..."  Champagne would be popping on the bus.  Not even the market is celebrating...

Instead, we get "we still got more work to do." um

"'While there is more work that remains to be done, today's employment report [from the Labor Department] provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression,' the chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, said in a White House blog post. His comments were the administration's first response to the jobs report."

Sure, I guess, more work does need to be done; especially that pesky FULL-TIME work.

Current numbers also tell us that part-time job finders who wanted full-time employment ROSE 7.5% to 8.6 million.

[with real numbers we would be at over 11% unemployment]

But let's run with the increase of 114,000 jobs in September [even though we all know we need like, 150k just to break even].  An increase in 114,000 jobs over thirty days, equals 3,800 jobs/day, divided by all 50 states, equals 76 new jobs per day...

How does that even keep up with college graduates, at about 1,750,000/year?  Perhaps it helps if we subtract the seasonally adjusted college rate to account for the occupiers not actually looking for work.

BUT  JUST HOW in the world does the rate drop this much all at once?

This was the picture in July, from Fox News --

"The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent in July, reflecting a stagnant economic picture as hiring improved but not by enough to make a dent in the sea of unemployed Americans.

The Labor Department report, in a glimmer of positive news after three straight months of dismal jobs numbers, showed that hiring reached its best level since February, with 163,000 jobs added.

But the number brings the economy back to treading-water status. The economy added an average of 151,000 jobs a month this year, roughly the same as last year's pace. That's not enough to satisfy the 12.8 million Americans who are unemployed. It would take 250,000 new jobs a month to rapidly bring the unemployment rate down."

In August, it ticked down to 8.1% --

"The private sector added 103,000 jobs despite a loss of 13,000 manufacturing jobs. Federal, state and local governments cut 7,000 jobs. Job gains were strongest in food services and bars, professional and technical services, and health care," having previously duly noted the size of the workforce "continues to drop."

We add 114,000 jobs in September,  make adjustments to the July and August numbers to the tune of adding 86,000 jobs -- and the unemployment plummets to 7.8%?

okay.

This is transparency during a re-election campaign... you know we, the people, can see you, right?

So let's pause for a moment to let you look at a graph, from Gallop, showing the rise and fall of the seasonally adjusted, along with unadjusted, through the years. GO HERE.

So in other words, we are back to where Obama came in.

 So at the risk of going in circles, from the NY Times:

"Adding to the positive news, job gains were revised upward by 40,000 for July (to 181,000) and by 46,000 for August (to 142,000), which had been considered a disappointing month, casting a slightly rosier hue on the summer slowdown."

and September adds only 114,000, and we drop from 8.1 to 7.8%?

How do they [the number nerds] get there?

What did this administration do to get such a drop?  And fascinating is, as fascinating does, you know, being so close to the election and all...

In real life, we freaked out when under the Bush administration, the price of a gallon of gas went up to 4.00/gallon; of course, it was adjusted back down to 1.78/gallon by the end of his term.

Yesterday, I noted in the fine print, that I paid $4.79/gallon, and at the time, only filled the tank to the half-way point.  Overnight, the price jumped another  20 cents. We are at $5.00 a gallon, folks [rumor has it, LA is at six...you have to be a star to afford that].

FACT:  More people are working part time, when they want full time -- or they have simply stopped looking for work.

FACT: A loaf of bread costs easily four bucks; a gallon of milk is just a lot.

Force feeding the numbers now, here's another graph from Gallop, taking a second look at the August numbers -- citing within the nitty gritty details, underemployment at 17 %.

And yet today, we wake up to seeing 7.8% unemployment?  As if that, in and of itself, is a really good thing? America usually operates somewhere between four and six percent unemployment...see here...yes, it's actually two charts in one place, so get over it, get over the laziness factor and buck up buttercup. Or not, no matter....

Here's Obama, just after he got elected in November of 2008:

"In a Chicago press conference Nov. 7, the same day the unemployment data were released, Obama acknowledged the job losses and their toll on the workforce, noting, "we're going to have to act swiftly to resolve it." He went on to say that until Jan. 20, the Bush administration is in charge, but, "Immediately after I become president, I'm going to confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity." Among some top priorities Obama mentioned:

• a rescue plan for the middle class "that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provide relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear." A fiscal-stimulus plan and another extension of unemployment benefits would be part of that plan;
• policies to help the automobile industry adjust amid the financial turmoil;
• longer-term policies to bolster the economy, such as clean energy, health care, education and tax-relief for middle-class families.

Obama underscored that fixing the situation won't come easily or quickly--but it can be accomplished through a concerted, non-partisan effort"

I love, love, love going back to first intentions.  And can't you just feel the spring in his step?

Here's the thing, people.  

This is it.

We have seen the best this president has to offer.

Let me be clear, we have seen the best this president has to offer:

1. fiscal-stimulus and extended unemployment benefits, check 
2. auto industry bail out, check, check 
3. long term policy, four years in, for "clean energy, health care, education, and tax relief for middle-class families," check, check, check, check.

Of course, the fiscal-stimulus was not so shovel ready; GM and Chrysler are still not out of the woods, being nick-named Government Motors and operating at a net-loss to taxpayers; the bolstering of clean energy had more losers than winners, the health care act is already increasing premiums by 20% and the tax mandate is now official -- after the Supreme Court decision -- increasing taxes on EVERY family, while education sees the largest municipal strike in years, with universal test scores showing widespread, prevalent delinquency lives everywhere, and about that tax-relief for the middle-class -- oh that's on borrowed time until the end of the year.

THIS IS IT.  Back in November of 2008, the president noted the highlights, his "top priorities".

THIS is what he had in mind way back when and THIS is where we are at four years later.

THIS is the president acting in a concerted, non-partisan effort. [okaaay...]

THIS is it, folks.

THIS is the president creating our reality of the last four years -- and well into ticking off his to-do list; he did it already...this guy's got nothin' on lazy, while unfortunately for him, no more new ideas.

He has accomplished EVERYTHING he set out to do -- even the gas prices haven't been left out...thank you, Chu.

 

The outcome of "TRICKLE DOWN GOVERNMENT" is upon us.   And we cannot expect anything different over the next four years...if you all give him that -- as we have already seen the best of his best.

"Immediately after I become president, I'm going to confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity."  

It's in Obama's words.  This is Obama after "confronting" the economic crisis head-on.

And according to me, G, it's a head-on collision; and like our "unemployment numbers" of this morning, there's nothing to see here, move along, unless you're really into road kill with a side of bull.

I smell desperation.

Make it a Good Day, G

Dear America,

so anyone watch the video coming out of Japan about the dog...the pooch who can't seem to leave the side of one of his own; the video is in Japanese, so hard to know anything more than what we see -- a dog, in great pain, aside another dog in even greater pain; hard to also know which pain is worse.  here is the link to see for yourself...unleashed and nowhere to go.

Now, in direct contrast to that, I believe it was Sunday edition, where the creative genius back behind the strip, Pardon My Planet, Vic Lee, showed a guru sitting atop a mountaintop with crisscrossed legs -- assuming him to be face to face with a devotee, when the guru says to the guy: "No matter how dark life may seem, my son -- I have learned that great joy comes not from within,  but by feeding peanut butter to the dog."

For myself, in the midst of feeling Japan's pain, it struck me -- I believe also sometime Sunday morning -- while gazing over at my Boo Boo -- and now taking the whole canine connection and entirely new direction -- that there he was, sitting in the sunshine, nestled in his favorite chair, totally oblivious to the world around him, let alone the destruction, the despair, the humanity (including the dog-a-rama world, and beyond) thoroughly shaken to the very core.

Nope.  He had his breakfast, he's in the midst of his mid-morning nap, not to be confused with his early afternoon siesta, and all is right with the world. Don't bother me, I'm sleeping...again.

All of a sudden, I remember what Oprah told a pack mule she once road (when camping in Yosemite not that long ago); poking a little fun at the mule -- the same mule she has planted her big, bad self high on top of -- something to the effect of, 'ya know what you need to do, is come back as one of my dogs...' hardy har har.

heck, who are we kidding, I would come back as one of her dogs.

And that's when my revelation hit me:  I am willing to die, risk life and limb, for an energy policy that creates a a little less conversation, and a little more self-sufficiency.  that's a spin on Elvis by the way...thank you, thank you very much...

But seriously, I live about 50 miles -- as the egret flies -- from the San Onofre Nuclear Facility, which sits just up the coast from Solana Beach...and in close proximity of one of the best surfing spots around, too.

I AM NOT AFRAID.

And I don't believe it is because my head is in the sand, or that I am just in between a morning nap and an afternoon siesta, I believe it is just a matter of understanding, in my heart, what will happen tomorrow may happen -- oh well.  Life goes on.  I have every faith that if I were to die, by catastrophe of this nature or of any kind, what is there to really be afraid of; I simply die; I am in heaven already, thanks be to God.

Does this mean we should stack up our liabilities and added precautions so high, with regulations and moratoriums,  and subsequently deconstruct the very foundation of energy self-sufficiency and efficiency already in motion, simply because we are afraid?

Does this mean there is no need to be vigilant, in order to prepare ourselves -- including taking the necessary precautions and making the appropriate engineering changes to the system already in place?  Of course not -- anyone watch GB yesterday?

Aside from the beginning of the show, when he bounced from being a wee bit punchy to all out unglued (funny stuff) -- he spoon fed us the real story back behind the Three Little Pigs -- and neither holding back on the grim, the grime or the sublime... bravo, GB, bravo (makes me wonder, again, how can people 'not get you' -- if not also find themselves at your feet from time to time with true affection, loyalty, and sense of calm); for anyone to be truly threatened by the ramblings of the great GB, one would have to question their motivations and intentions, if not also their education -- for hardly is it a crime in posing the what if's out loud, including the questioning of authority, and all that begs well for a looking after with a fine toothed comb. no?



which leads me to wonder, what is the NY TIMES really afraid of anyway?  that people might actually be drawn to the opinions not lock, stock and barrel connected to the hard core left and all of the insensibility that comes wagging along behind it?  Unbelievable -- changing the NYT Best Seller qualifications -- basically relegating the political pundits of the right brain to the back of the house, with the best of show now labeled under the 'How To' selections on the day; can you spell yellr'?  we can see right through you you know...

And along that subject -- and adding to the long list of being deemed worthy of something through nothing more than the miracle of smoke and mirrors -- the White House hesitated on taking a bow for "transparency" within -- having postponed the celebration until such time they felt more entitled to the hoopla and self-promotion.  and a big sigh of relief there...that was a close one...let us just go back to sleep.

Not to dismiss what is happening in Japan -- but a startling reminder of the devastation, very much still alive and well in Haiti, makes things hard to compare; 200,000 people have died there, in Haiti (that link leads you to further hindsight and forewarning from The Patriot Post).

Linked, in the chain of events around the world, is the macro-revelation of being held captive, as a citizen, under an administration clearly and totally unprepared for so much to happen at the same time. Or does all of this play exactly to their beckon call --  just another round of fetch under the great scheme for social justice and a new world order....  Read this from The Daily Bell: Ben and Barry... and read this too...it's not easy being green, but we'll get there, come hell or high water.

The thing is, today, I WISH I were my dog -- loved from head to toe with not a care in the world, with nothing more to do then melt the day away.

But as a girl-- sugar and spice and everything nice...made of the heavens... and chock full of human nature bursting at the seams -- my emotions are overflowing and then some; so much of our world is so far beyond complicated it's not even funny.

But the funny thing is, sometimes,  we make it so much more complicated than it ever has to be.

...just let us drill, let us explore, let us build, let us rebuild, let us create a world that does not rely on the kindnesses of strangers and frenemies -- is that asking too much? Let us take care of ourselves, and the ones we love, as if this were our last; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the cornerstone of our nation's fundamental principle for LIVING, not death; our lives should be expanding with possibilities instead of contracting in the doom and gloom of tomorrow, making our own restrictions rule the day.

come here my little boo, mama needs a kiss.

Make it a Good Day, G