BloggeRhythms 2/8/2013

A few days ago, around Hillary’s last day as Secretary of State, I wrote up my perception that other than incessant travel, she actually did zip, nada, zero for the past four years, which is pretty much consistent with the rest of her life up to now. Because other than marrying Bill, I’m unaware of any other accomplishments.

 

And then today I came across the following item from the Weekly Standard via Drudge:  “Neither the secretary of defense nor the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to the secretary of state during the 8-hour attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. At a Thursday hearing in the Senate, Republican Ted Cruz asked both Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey, "In between 9:42 p.m., Benghazi time, when the first attacks started, and 5:15 am, when Mr. Doherty and Mr. Woods lost their lives, what conversations did either of you have with Secretary Clinton?"

 

"We did not have any conversations with Secretary Clinton," Panetta responded.

 

"And General Dempsey, the same is true for you?" Cruz asked. Dempsey confirmed this. 

 

So, if nothing else, at least Hillary’s consistent, because right up to the very end she wasn’t around to participate in anything important. But at least that proves my point from last week which was, in her particular case it really doesn’t matter much if she shows up or not, because nobody misses her, cares, or needs her at all.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/7/2013

Not much going on in the news, except for the same old, same old, boring confirmation hearings for cabinet and administration posts. So, I decided to revisit yesterdays' subject, using bomb-equipped drones in warfare.

 

My reason for continuing on the topic, stems from the fact that in almost all cases where technological changes are employed for whatever reason, some advocate, group, or individual seems to come out of the woodwork to object, with or without good reason. And, I suspect in a nation of over 300 million people that’s really not too odd at all.  

 

But in this particular case, whereas I think robotic bombing is a very good idea, especially since our military’s being withdrawn from some very sensitive hotbeds of potentially dangerous threats to our nation, I did some research to see who’s doing the objecting.

 

Thanks to Stuart Glascock of YES! on-line, I found that a woman named Medea Benjamin, is a peace activist and co-founder of something called Code Pink. And since one of her major concerns is that innocent civilians might be harmed due to a bomb drop, she’s leading a cause to stop the practice.

 

Now, according to Mr. Glascock, “drones have delivered bombs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen—often killing civilians and inflaming hatred against the United States.” However, to my knowledge all of these nations aren’t particularly fond of us and have done plenty of harm themselves, which is what wars area all about.

 

And along those same lines, what about the two attacks on the World Trade Center, or the suicide attack against the USS Cole? In fact, there are many more so I included a link that you can look up yourself. Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. or Against Americans — Infoplease.com

 

But after all’s said and done, I think that there’s a much better way to view Ms. Benjamin’s anti-advanced-technology premise that goes all the way back to the Coliseum in ancient Rome.

 

At that time a renegade slave was brought in as an example of what happens to those who try to escape. He was buried up to his neck in the middle of the huge arena, only his head above ground. A huge unfed, angry lion was released and began to circle his quarry. As the beast passed over the slave, before turning back to begin his attack, the slave bit him on his manly appendage causing the lion to squeal and run off in pain and fear, never to come back. And that’s when the crowd began screaming at the slave to “fight fair.”

 

So, I guess when it comes to folks who believe they’re above the threats and dangers in others lives, but are safe themselves, they can afford to be quite cavalier. But I wonder exactly how strongly anti-drone Ms. Benjamin would be if she'd worked in the WTC on September 11th, 2001.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/6/2013

Today’s thoughts are not about specifics but concepts regarding the administration's use of drones as weapons in the war on terrorism. The subject itself, though relatively new, is now getting serious attention from those both favorable of or firmly against the idea.

 

I’m writing it up because there’s practically nothing I’ve agreed with that the current administration has done, suggested, or plans for the future across the board . However, for several reasons, I’ve got to concur with this one.

 

In doing so, I fully realize that the typical approach of the incumbent has been to demonize, rail against, and belittle any and all aspects of his political opposition. Including instances when utilizing and adopting their ideas where feasible, he covers his acquiescence with lies and distortions. However, in this case I don’t think his usage of technological advances should be rejected purely due to party affiliation.

 

In that regard, political lines have clearly been drawn regarding troop withdrawals and reductions in the Middle-East causing many Republicans to object. I myself think it’s a significant mistake to walk away from the strategical advantages gained by our presence in the region. And our planned military departure, I suspect, are somewhat to blame for uprisings there in several places such as Libya and Egypt.

 

Nonetheless,  if employing technological advances can help maintain our image as a threat, that’s far better than complete abandonment. What’s more, as our skills advance in that aspect of warfare, we might very well accomplish some significant gains.

 

So, as I wrote at the start, this perhaps is one case where regardless of the constant politicizing seen by the incumbent as the overriding goal no matter, this might be one case where he’s actually correct for once. And as much as I’m surprised by my agreement with him here, I think it’s only right to give credit where its due. 

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/5/2013

Today’s  another instance of what seems like further political incredibility to me. The  supporting data's from a combination of several sources, so I’m listing them all at the start. The Associated Press via Fox News.com, Reuters and CNBC on-line via Drudge and Kevin A. Lehmann on the in Politics website. 

To begin “The US government is (now) blaming the financial crisis that catapulted the US into recession in 2007 on debt raters Standard & Poor’s. But by singling out S&P, the DoJ raises suspicions that it might be retaliating for a downgraded US credit rating.”

On Monday, S&P was accused of inflating ratings on mortgage investments to boost its bottom line. The Justice Department said S&P gave high marks to mortgage-backed securities that later went sour, even though it knew they were risky, and also misrepresented the risks because it wanted more business from the banks.

Attorney General, Eric Holder, told a news conference Tuesday that "Put simply, this alleged conduct is egregious -- and it goes to the very heart of the recent financial crisis." He then called the case "An important step forward in our ongoing efforts to investigate and punish the conduct that is believed to have contributed to the worst economic crisis in recent history."

 

However, although it’s still unclear as to why regulators are now focusing on S&P rather than Moody's or Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings who did the same thing, by blaming the financial crisis on S&P only, the DoJ raises suspicions that it might be retaliating for a downgraded US credit rating.

 

S&P’s response was: “It would disregard the central facts that S&P reviewed the same subprime mortgage data as the rest of the market – including U.S. government officials who in 2007 publicly stated that problems in the subprime market appeared to be contained – and that every CDO that DOJ has cited to us also independently received the same rating from another rating agency.”

 

So, it seems to me that faced with an economy they’ve ruined by themselves, and perhaps feeling the strings run out on blaming “W” Bush, another scapegoat’s needed instead.  But what’s really interesting to me is that after four years of looking for something to blame for their own ineptitude, the best excuse they can come up with dates all the way back to 2007.

 

In the meantime though, I found a list of items that the aforementioned  Kevin A. Lehmann put together that perhaps should be added to S&P’s conduct as having contributed to the worst economic crisis in recent history, according to Eric Holder.

 

#1 Today there are 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

 

#2 When Barack Obama was elected, the percentage of unemployed Americans that had been out of work for more than 52 weeks was less than 15%. Today, it is above 30%.

#3 There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in America today than there were when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

#4 When Barack Obama first took office, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

#5 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is hovering close to an all-time record high.

#6 During the Obama administration, worker health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent.

#7 Since Barack Obama has been president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by 90 percent.

#8 Since Barack Obama has been president, home values in the United States have declined by another 13 percent.

#9 Under Barack Obama, new home sales in the U.S. set a brand new all-time record low in 2009, they set a brand new all-time record low again in 2010, and they set a brand new all-time record low once again during 2011.

#10 Since Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by more than 6 million.

#11 Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased from 32 million to 46 million.

#12 The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.

#13 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans living in “extreme poverty” is now sitting at an all-time high.

#14 When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1600 an ounce.

#15 Since Barack Obama became president, the size of the U.S. national debt has increased by 44 percent.

#16 During Barack Obama’s first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#17 During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

#18 The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

Therefore, it seems to me that an awful lot of damaging things have happened over the past four years, and I don’t believe the preceding list’s totally complete. But, I guess it’s a good thing that now we know the incumbent didn’t do any of it him himself at all, because the real culprit’s been Standard and Poor's all along.

That’s it for today folks.

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/4/2013

Among other things I write fiction books, creating a wide range of stories and scenes totally from imagination. However, as I’ve mentioned before, if I tried for a thousand years I couldn’t come up with much of the stuff I read in the news every day because it’s so ridiculous I can’t conceive that anyone could concoct anything so inane. And today’s a perfect example.

 

As all those watching yesterday’s Super Bowl know, a blackout occurred 90 seconds into the second half, lasting nearly 34 minutes. Authority’s said it was caused by power coming into the Superdome and no other areas were affected. 

 

Now, here’s the thing that intrigued me. While scanning Drudge just now I came across a link to a website: energy.gov.  And there I found an article by John Horst, Public Affairs Specialist with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

I’ve inserted a couple of paragraphs below to give you the gist of the story.

 

“To make this the greenest Super Bowl, the New Orleans Host Committee has partnered with fans and the community to offset energy use across the major Super Bowl venues.

 

The system draws only 10 kilowatts of electricity -- equivalent to the amount of energy used by a small home -- and the lights are expected to last for many years before needing replacement.”

 

So, here we have proponents of “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” boasting before the game about how they’ve been able to reduce energy consumption and maximize utilization. And then both teams along with worldwide football fans had to sit on their their hands for half an hour because the Super Bowl was stopped due to electrical problems.

 

To me this ranks right up there with the incumbent’s energy efficient cars that don’t work, nobody buys which amounts to a total waste of time, tax-payers funds and greenhouse speechmaker's breaths. The lunacy just doesn’t get more vivid than this.

 

To give you the facts, I’ve included a link to energy.gov’s item: Energy Dept- 'City Leads on Energy Efficient Forefront'

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/3/2013

Found an item on Drudge this morning from a site called the Gateway Pundit.  Posted by Jim Hofts it says that “Today on Meet the Press Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admitted that information gleaned from water-boarded detainees was used to track down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and kill him.”

 

Panetta’s words were, “The real story was that in order to put the puzzle of intelligence together that led us to Bin Laden, there were a lot of pieces out there that were a part of that puzzle. Yes, some of it came from some of the tactics that were used at that time, interrogation tactics that were used. But the fact is we put together most of that intelligence without having to resort to that.”

 

So, similar to deciding to keep war prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, here’s another case where the administration ultimately accepted by their actions and admissions that the Bush Administration made correct and effective decisions. 

 

Unfortunately for most of the population, regardless of political affinity or affiliation, the massive wrongheadedness of the current administration in general has been incredibly costly. Consequently, even though states across the nation are individually undoing as much of the damage as they can in areas such as reducing union participation, lowering or eliminating taxation, promoting charter schools and minimizing rules and legislation, there’s much more to be done.

 

However, perhaps if we keep our fingers crossed and the economy keeps moving in the wrong direction as the results of the last quarter indicate, other folks will wake up, as did Mr. Panetta, and finally admit that that to get things working right, perhaps a lot more of Mr. Bush’s policies and ideas ought to be brought back and enacted.

 

That’s it for today’s folks.  

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms 2/2/2013

Myra P. Saefong and Michael Kitchen reported in The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch column yesterday that “Oil futures ended with a weekly gain of 2%, modestly higher for Friday’s session, as traders assessed the latest data on U.S. jobs, manufacturing and consumer sentiment for clues on demand prospects.”

They added that “London-traded Brent crude futures rallied as unrest in the Middle East region intensified with the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Turkey.”

At the same time, Timothy Gardner of Reuters via Drudge, wrote an article on Jan 31 headed “Keystone pipeline decision to languish until mid-June”

Mr. Gardner went on that “A series of steps still have to be taken by the State Department, where the decision will be made because the 830,000 barrels per day crude oil pipeline crosses the national border. The pipeline will link Alberta's oil sands and North Dakota's Bakken shale fields to refineries and ports in Texas.

The State Department did not comment for this story, but last week a spokeswoman said it did not anticipate making the decision before the end of March. Previously, the department had hinted the decision could come in the middle of the first quarter.”

I’ve included a link to the the story whereas I find the whole situation to be incredible. Obama Admin Delays Keystone Pipeline Decision Another 6 Months…

What I simply can’t understand is how it can be that a bunch of bureaucrats who have practically nothing to do whatsoever, sit back and diddle themselves while billions of U.S. citizens hard-earned dollars get banked by sheiks and camel-jockeys in the Middle-East.

Why doesn’t anyone in Congress speak up and demand that the pipeline be opened immediately? Why isn’t it a priority of the highest order? And worst of all, why doesn’t anyone really push back against these phony delays while all the rest of us continue to get fleeced due to nothing more than environmental lobbyist’s pressure?

In summing it up then, we just had the situation in Benghazi where the State Department didn’t get involved or provide needed protection for our four diplomats. Then they didn’t stop the leftist militant group in Turkey responsible for the suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara last Friday. There have also been eight other attacks on U.S. embassies since Mrs. Clinton took office.

So, my question for today is: Exactly what does the State department do? And where and when do they do it? Because since they apparently do nothing here or overseas it looks to me like they don’t even exist at all.

That's it for today folks.

Adios