BloggeRhythms

A White House meeting’s scheduled for this afternoon, where congressional leaders will learn the incumbent’s plan for dealing with ISIS, and likely will include the probability of increased U.S. involvement. Perhaps even deployment of ground troops. If the event is televised, an appropriate title would be “Sergeant Schultz meets F Troop.”  

 

An excellent summation of the incumbent’s upcoming speech, regarding the current status of the situation, appeared in today’s New York Times, by Peter Baker, titled: “A President Whose Assurances Have Come Back to Haunt Him”

 

Mr. Baker writes that, “In making his speech, Mr. Obama faces the challenge of reconciling those views with the new mission he is presenting to the American public to recommit the armed forces of the United States to the region he tried to leave. Rather than a junior varsity nuisance, he will try to convince Americans that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria represents a clear threat to national security in a state that is hardly stable. And he will seek to win patience for more war from a public that wishes it really was receding.”

 

The article goes on, “To Mr. Obama’s critics, the disparity between the president’s previous statements and today’s reality reflects not simply poorly chosen words but a fundamentally misguided view of the world. Rather than clearly see the persistent dangers as the United States approaches the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, they said, Mr. Obama perpetually imagines a world as he wishes it were.”

 

And in the last sentences of both preceding paragraphs, Mr. Baker describes the cause of the current problems perfectly. Because, in every critical case, far leftist hopes, wishes and political theory’s overrode facts and actual circumstances, regardless of the significant risks incurred by those actions that are now being manifested.    

 

Further along in the article, “White House officials said the president’s opponents distorted what he said to score political points or hold him responsible for evolving events that were not foreseen. They also say Mr. Obama’s past statements are hardly on a scale of Mr. Bush’s unfounded assertions about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, not to mention Mr. Bush’s May 2003 speech in front of a banner that said “Mission Accomplished,” meant to signal an end to the major combat in Iraq.”

 

The fact of the matter, however, is that Mr. Bush wished to leave a residual force behind in Iraq large enough to protect the gains that had been made and as a deterrent against the very incursions occurring at present, although significant numbers of U.S. troops would head back home. It was the incumbent who failed to negotiate a satisfactory and safe withdrawal, ultimately abandoning the Iraqi nation entirely by establishing an all-to-soon deadline, paving the way for ISIS at present. 

 

But, even worse, is the continual denial by White House “officials” that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction didn’t exist, when proofs confirm that they certainly did. As written about by Tom Wilson in Commentary on June 20, 2014, as follows:

 

“The latest bad news from Iraq now includes the reports that ISIS has captured one of Saddam Hussein’s chemical-weapons facilities at Al Muthanna 45 miles north of Baghdad. Naturally this has caused a certain degree of disquiet, but U.S. officials have reassured that they don’t believe the weapons there are usable and have stressed that it is unlikely that the rebels would be able to use the facilities to produce chemical weaponry. Indeed, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki attempted to calm concerns that the Islamists could use the weapons by insisting that “it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials.” But who ever said jihadis are concerned with safety? If anything the volatility of this material—most of which is currently sealed away in bunkers—surely should only add to our concerns.”

 

So, in conclusion, it’s probably highly unlikely that when John Banner appeared in Hogan’s Heroes from 1965–1971, as the bungling guard in a stalag during Word War ll, he’d ever imagine that his words would be used by a future POTUS in 2014 as a mantra and catchphrase: "I know nothing! I see nothing! I hear nothing!" Yet, that’s exactly what happened.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Although the following Einstein quote’s been used here before, it seems appropriate now to repeat it again: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Because that’s precisely what the incumbent’s done for most of his term in office, and is now doing again.

 

What the POTUS has proven consistently is that, regardless of the situation, what facts indicate, or even the least bit of common sense foretells, politics is always the first consideration, no matter.

 

A prime example occurred over the weekend, where during an interview on “Meet the Press,” while describing planned military action in Iraq against ISIS, and perhaps in Syria later on, the incumbent never mentioned the word “war.”

 

Wars are things that Republicans do, especially the truly evil one's like “W” Bush. Democrats on the other hand are peace-loving individuals, avoiding hostility at all costs. Which is why most U.S. troops were withdrawn from the region far too early, permitting ISIS to grow and prevail in the first place. But that doesn't matter because, a campaign promise was made to POTUS’ constituency regardless that by his own estimate the mistake will now take at least three years to fix.   

 

On another matter, this one here at home, Josh Boak reports in an AP article from DC that, “U.S. workers face a dim future, with stagnant or falling pay and fewer openings for full-time jobs. That's the picture that emerges from a survey of Harvard Business School alumni.”

 

The details indicate that, “More than 40 percent of the respondents foresee lower pay and benefits for workers. Roughly half favor outsourcing work over hiring staffers. A growing share prefer part-time employees. Nearly half would rather invest in new technology than hire or retain workers. At the same time, it's becoming harder for the executives to find skilled workers, according to the survey results being released Monday.”

 

Additionally, “The survey reflects the unevenness of the recovery from the Great Recession. Since the recession officially ended more than five years ago, many of the gains in employment, income and wealth have failed to circulate through the entire economy.

 

Few workers have received meaningful pay raises. Median household incomes, adjusted for inflation, are below their pre-recession levels, according to estimates by Sentier Research. The median income was $54,045 in July, about 4.6 percent lower than when the recession began in late 2007. 

 

The survey also suggests that incomes aren't likely to increase much anytime soon. Forty-one percent of respondents see lower wages and benefits ahead; just 27 percent expect pay raises.”

 

Furthermore, “The survey found that many companies are reluctant to add jobs if other alternatives exist. Only 25 percent said they preferred investing in employees, compared with 46 percent who would rather spend on technology. Forty-nine percent favored outsourcing work over hiring.”

 

And then, toward the end of the article can be found the probable cause of the dismal condition of employment in the nation, as follows: “[C]hanging the way unemployment is calculated doesn't fix unemployment, and that adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations along with drastically increasing health care costs makes it more and more expensive to hire people... Ask any business owner, instead of some Harvard Egg head.

 

The elephant in the corner of the room that keeps getting ignored is how ObamaCare has suppressed full-time hiring. That is a huge factor in employers opting for part time help and outsourcing.”

 

So, here, once again can be seen the affects of applying promises made while campaigning, instead of attempting to identify and remedy the causes of economic decline.

 

And the saddest part of the entire situation is that the numbers of voters with their hands out keeps growing. Which means that the shrinking returns to those gainfully employed penalizes them for attempting to be productive. Ultimately leading to a smaller total work force and less income for the whole population. All because politics once again trumped practical reality.   

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Yesterday, the incumbent tried to mislead the public again, regarding his change of mind about taking executive action on behalf of illegal immigrants flooding across the wide-open southern border.

 

While his explanation on NBC's Meet the Press isn’t truthful, and rejecting the charge that the delay was meant to protect Democratic candidates worried that his actions would hurt their prospects in tough Senate races, it’s truly amazing how far his statement is from the facts of the matter. Here’s what he said:

 

"The truth of the matter is -- is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem," he said. "I want to spend some time, even as we're getting all our ducks in a row for the executive action, I also want to make sure that the public understands why we're doing this, why it's the right thing for the American people, why it's the right thing for the American economy."

 

However, as far as the “economy’s” concerned, a new report posted by Fox News, “puts the price of educating the thousands of illegal immigrant children who recently crossed into the U.S. at a whopping $761 million this school year -- as some school systems push for the feds to pick up the tab.”

 

Then there’s this from FAIR (Federation For Immigration Reform): “Wondering how illegal immigration is affecting your pocket book? [T]he fiscal burden of illegal immigration on the United States taxpayers was estimated at $113 billion in 2010.

 

Therefore, it should be an interesting explanation. Because it seems like it might be difficult to show how taking more than $113 billion out of taxpayer’s pockets and spending it on illegal entrants to the nation is “the right thing for the American people, [and] the right thing for the American economy." And after that, perhaps promoting the benefits of job-killing excessive legislation while half the nation’s on welfare might be helpful as well. 

 

On another matter that won’t go away any time soon, “A U.S. security team in Benghazi was held back from immediately responding to the attack on the American diplomatic mission on orders of the top CIA officer there, three of those involved told Fox News’ Bret Baier.”

 

What’s most interesting, and upsetting, in this case is the reaction of Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, one of the victims of the 2012  Benghazi terrorist attack. 

 

Reacting to the reports from the officers Ms Smith said that “Hillary Clinton and President Obama killed my kid.”

 

When she was asked “how do you feel about America and the government, and what would you say to President Obama and Hillary Clinton now?” She responded “oh, don't ask me that. I don't like them very much. I love my country. I love my country desperately, but we've got some rotten people in there running it, rotten people making decisions, and I don't like that! I love my country. I do not like the politicians and I want them out! They killed my kid and they killed the other three guys and they're going to keep on doing it as long they as they keep them in there! They make rotten decisions.”

 

She also declared “I want Hillary to come up [say] it was me, I made a mistake. I blew it. I'll never do it again.”

 

So, putting today’s items together adds up to another bad one for the administration, and particularly two of its top representatives. One of which is watching his presidential legacy falling apart while the other probably won’t even get the chance to build one.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Much of the news today is quite repetitive and available from many other sources. The biggest item by far, is the incumbent’s deciding for the moment that ISIS might actually be a threat, and therefore worth some thinking about when away from the golf course. But, naturally, since his greatest proclivity is a frequent changing of mind, if he’ll actually follow-up and do anything remains to be seen. 

 

As far as ISIS itself is concerned, I did some research this morning, to learn more about their aims and goals, which they claim is based on instilling Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Middle-East, and then the rest of the world.

 

Islam stems from Muhammad, born in Mecca about 570 CE, regarded by Muslims as its founder. He’s almost universally considered by Muslims as the last prophet sent by God to mankind.

 

ISIS itself claims that their primary goal is instilling the rigid tenets of Islam without deviation. Aiming to forcibly impose in particular a literalist interpretation of the Koran and Sharia law on society as its governing law and ideology by creating a theocracy and obliterating any separation of church and state.

 

The governing law then, would include imposing and violently enforcing patriarchal, separate and unequal laws for women, including forced veiling, forced control by male family members, and denial of equal legal rights. There would also be, society-wide indoctrination in religious discrimination and often attacks on other religions or non-believers, defending feudal and capitalist private property and exploitation. And the methods employed often reflect their reactionary ideology and program, including targeting and murdering non-combatants, terrorizing whole populations, and sanctioning severe corporal punishment or death for infractions of Islamic law.

 

The homework was done this morning to gain better grasp of ISIS’ intentions, whereas I was fairly certain that their objective was to revert ideology back to its beginning as defined by Muhammad hundreds of years ago without deviation whatsoever, but wanted to be sure. 

 

And what caused my curiosity was an article by Chris Cassidy in Boston Herald.com this morning, as follows:

 

“The Herald reported yesterday that 32-year-old computer expert Ahmad Abousamra is suspected of using the tech skills he honed at Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts at Boston to spread the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s anti-American message of hate on social media.

 

Abousamra, who graduated from Stoughton High School in 1999 and has dual U.S. and Syrian citizenship, was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list last year.”

 

Having never read the Koran, nor possessing any real knowledge of its contents, I must say I was truly impressed today. Because if ISIS follows its words and laws without deviation whatsoever, obviously Muhammad was aware hundreds of years ago that Ahmad Abousamra would be needed to spread his word on the worldwide web in 2014. And that foresight and wisdom is truly incredible.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Several individual items today indicate serious problems for Democrats who seem to be plagued with the results of mistakes they committed themselves and are going to keep haunting them right up until the general election in 2016. 

 

To begin, Fox News reports that: “A U.S. security team in Benghazi was held back from immediately responding to the attack on the American diplomatic mission on orders of the top CIA officer there, three of those involved told Fox News’ Bret Baier.

 

According to the security operators, they were delayed from responding to the attack by the top CIA officer in Benghazi, whom they refer to only as ‘Bob’… Now, looking back, the security team said they believed that if they had not been delayed for nearly half an hour, or if the air support had come, things might have turned out differently.”

 

In this case, while the details offered by the operators involved will surely be analyzed further to determine their validity, what’s most important is that regardless of how hard Democrats try to put the Benghazi attack behind them, they cannot. And therefore, the issue will keep festering and ultimately, be a huge hurdle for Bill Clinton's wife in her run for the presidency.

 

At the same time, the Associated Press reports that “U.S. employers added just 142,000 jobs in August, snapping a six-month streak of hiring above 200,000 and posting the smallest gain in eight months.

 

The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. But the rate dropped because more people without jobs stopped looking for one and were no longer counted as unemployed.”

 

Furthermore, employers added 28,000 fewer jobs in June and July than the government had previously estimated, while wage gains have been sluggish since the Great Recession ended in 2009. As consumers remain cautious, consumer spending dipped in July, the first decline since January.

 

Therefore, this is another case where the incumbent can spew all he wants to about how well he claims the economy’s doing, but that can’t over come the fact that, according to CNSNews.com, “A record 92,269,000 Americans 16 and older did not participate in the labor force in August, as the labor force participation rate matched a 36-year low of 62.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

 

Not surprisingly, 36 years ago, 1978, Jimmy Carter was president. Another ideologue who never let facts or statistics deter from pursuing his theory about socializing the nation. And in his particular case, he also strangled the nation’s economy bringing the USA to almost a complete financial standstill.  

 

However, when it comes to ignoring reality for political purposes, there are other Democrats performing quite similarly.

 

I’ve mentioned Debbie Wasserman Schultz -chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee- before although not too often. Because while she talks a lot, not very much of what she says is worth typing about. However, she made some comments during a discussion on women’s issues in Milwaukee on Wednesday, about Wisconsin’s Republican Governor, Scott Walker, as follows:

 

"Scott Walker has given women the back of his hand. I know that is stark. I know that is direct. I know that is reality,” she said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

 

She didn’t stop there. According to the Journal Sentinel, she added: “What Republican Tea Party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back. It is not going to happen on our watch."

 

Reading her words is interesting because, as happens quite frequently in her case, the invective was there but the truth wasn’t present. Because, while condemning the Tea Party as extremist and obstructionist toward women, she seems to have overlooked or forgotten, Tea Party leaders Sarah Palin Michele Bachmann, among many others. 

 

Back in March 2010, Kenneth P. Vogel wrote in Politico, that “Many of the tea party’s most influential grass-roots and national leaders are women, and a new poll released this week by Quinnipiac University suggests that women might make up a majority of the movement as well.” 

 

Which means that once again, if you want the truth about almost anything, the last person to ask is Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as usual.  

 

And that brings us to today’s item about Bill Clinton’s wife who seems to be running out of real issues to talk about. Probably because she’s on the wrong side of most of them and has now been reduced to promoting global-warming which less than 1% of the nation cares about at all.

 

National Journal quotes Bill’s wife as saying, “The U.S. can become the ‘clean energy superpower of the 21st Century,’ Hillary Clinton said Thursday, urging businesses and the government to build up the renewable sector. ‘Climate change is the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face,’ the former secretary of state and likely 2016 Democratic frontrunner said Thursday at Harry Reid's annual energy conference in Las Vegas. ‘The threat is real and so is the opportunity … if we make the hard choices.’

 

Reading her words, ”Cllimate change is the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face,” made me feel much better. Because, apparently, I’ve been under a delusion. I’ve felt for quite some time that things like terrorism, the national debt, health care taxation, illegal immigration, exorbitant fuel costs, a shrinking military, the nation’s loss of worldwide stature, half the country on welfare and 92,269,000 Americans 16 and older not participating in the labor force were serious problems to be considered significantly. 

 

But now, thanks to Bill’s wife, all I really have to be concerned about is whether I need to take a sweater with me or not, which really takes a huge load off my chest.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

While most of the major news stories concern the incumbent's scrambling to find a way to stem the tide of reversals in the Middle-East, caused by his politically-motivated hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops, several other major mistakes are taking place here at home. Although they aren’t getting much attention in the heavily biased major media.

 

To begin, Charles Fleming writes in the Los Angeles Times that, “Electric car sales are not charging the marketplace. A new study by online automotive research company Edmunds.com suggests the segment may have run out of gas.”

 

Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell said sales of electric drive vehicles are stuck at about 3.6% of all new car sales for 2014, below the 3.7% market share for 2013, and not likely to grow any before the end of the year.

On the other hand, "The whole automobile market has grown. We’re not seeing electric vehicles as part of that growth."

Five years ago, analysts thought that electric vehicle sales would continue to expand as more manufacturers put more electric vehicles on the road and as the vehicles' cost came down. But, that hasn't happened. Electric vehicle sales have slowed while prices have come down and dealers have been offering increasingly better deals on financing and incentives.

"It isn't growing," Caldwell said. "It's stagnant and even slightly down."

The next wrong guess concerns the ongoing eruption of problems in the incumbent’s health care tax. A report was published in the journal of Health Affairs by actuaries from the federal Obamacare administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, saying that “the health-care law is contributing to a renewed boost in health care spending. 

 

CMS actuaries expect health spending to climb even higher, projecting 5.6 percent growth in 2014, 4.9 percent growth in 2015 and 6.1 percent every year afterward through 2023. One primary drivers of the skyrocketing health care spending: Obamacare.”

And then, Anthony Watts in WUWT on-line reports that although, “NOAA/NCDC doesn’t make it easy to track such things, I have spent a considerable amount of time manually downloading and saving the high/low records from each month of 2014 and compiling the data in a  spreadsheet.

The results so far through August of 2014 indicate that on balance, 2014 has been a cool year for the USA.

Summer of 2014 has also been cool, with record lows outpacing record highs at nearly 2-1.”

Now, over the course of history, many U.S. presidents have made mistakes in judgment, they’re only human after all. In fact, some of them, such as Jimmy Carter erred quite a lot. But, not one of them to my knowledge, has been continually wrong across the board to the extent of the one holding office now. Which is truly an incredible achievement, considering the masses of information and statistics available to a POTUS now.

That's it for today folks.

Adios     

BloggeRhythms

As horrendous problems fester here at home and around the globe, it’s truly amazing that regardless of the situations themselves, the incumbent’s first, and sometimes only, consideration is pandering to his political base.

 

Speaking in Estonia today while visiting Europe, he took a hard line at first, condemning the execution of a U.S. reporter as "horrific" and "barbaric," vowing "justice will be served." Stating that his ultimate goal in the fight against ISIS is to "degrade and destroy" the terror group. Then, moments later, he claimed that he wants to make it a "manageable problem."

 

The conflicting goals caused Republican Representative, Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois to ask: “Are we going to contain ISIS or are we going to crush ISIS? And the president has not answered that," according to Fox News.com.

 

And that’s the nub of the problem in every area of government under this administration. Because, had real thought been given to what would happen after U.S. troops were pulled out of Iraq in the first place, chances are ISIS would not have become the significant entity it is is today. Yet, political pandering nonetheless overrode sound foreign policy for which the U.S. and its allies are now paying the price.

 

Then, in the meantime, under the radar, Fox News also reports that, “President Obama announced Tuesday he is sending approximately 350 additional military personnel to Iraq to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities and workers in Baghdad. Defense officials told Fox News that once the latest forces arrive, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq will be 1,213.” Therefore, the troop buildup is quietly starting again.

 

On another matter regarding governmental incompetence of the highest magnitude, in this case the grossly mismanaged health care tax, it seems the incumbent inadvertently took the blame for the technology failures.

 

Speaking in Estonia yesterday he made a joke about the failed launch of his health insurance program saying that the residents of his host country were so good with technology that he “should have called the Estonians when I was setting up our health care website.”

 

Unfortunately for Republicans, however, it’s too late to use the admission that should have been made in 2012, before the last presidential election.

 

And then there’s another item, this one from The Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens, who reports that President Obama is “enraged” at the Israeli government, “both for its actions and for its treatment of his chief diplomat, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. ”

 

The Jerusalem Post says that, based on the testimony of Martin Indyk, until recently a special Middle East envoy for the president, that the war in Gaza has had “a very negative impact” on Jerusalem’s relations with Washington.

 

Mr. Stephens believes that “enraged” is a significant definition and suggests one should, “Think about this. Enraged. Not “alarmed” or “concerned” or “irritated” or even “angered.” Anger is a feeling. Rage is a frenzy. Anger passes. Rage feeds on itself. Anger is specific. Rage is obsessional, neurotic.” 

 

Especially so whereas, “Mr. Obama—No Drama Obama, the president who prides himself on his cool, a man whose emotional detachment is said to explain his intellectual strength—is enraged.”

 

Then, Mr. Stephens lays out the background, questioning being "enraged" with Israel. "Which has just been hit by several thousand unguided rockets and 30-odd terror tunnels, a 50-day war, the forced closure of its one major airport, accusations of “genocide” by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, anti-Semitic protests throughout Europe, general condemnation across the world. This is the country that is the object of the president’s rage.”

 

Leading to Mr. Stephens following conclusion: “I’m wondering if, given that Hamas was dropping bombs on his peoples’ heads, whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had much time for golf and lobster this August. Our president did, even though the same types of people will soon be dropping bombs on our heads too.”

 

And that brings us right back to today’s opening premise. That the individual situations here and abroad consistently take second place, or perhaps lower. Because politics, theory, ideology and personal goals always trump reality whenever and wherever this incumbent and his administration are involved.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios