Will the real Slim Shady please stand up.

What happened between May 13th and July 24th that changed the presidents mind about the validity of the scandals surrounding his administration?

President Obama has decided to continue to malign the country economically and racially rather than encourage us to think and work collectively as a society in order to tackle the challenges we face. Make no mistake about it, America remains the greatest country in history even in the midst of Barack's (or Saul's) attempts to institute his brand of fairness.

So which parts of these scandals does the president consider phony?

Benghazi:
Four dead Americans?
The president campaigning in Colorado immediately following the attack?

IRS:
Profiling of citizens based on their political affiliations?
The release of personal taxpayer information to the public?

Fast and Furious:
The death of Brian Terry?
Thousands of unregistered guns provided to criminals?

DOJ:
Violating the First Amendment by illegally spying on reporters?
The Attorney General denying to Congress that he is doing so?

NSA:
Collecting data on hundreds of millions of Americans?

By my observation there is nothing phony in these scandals. Only a scandalous phony trying to distract voters and turn them on his political enemies.

“The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”
– Saul Alinsky

The answer to my first question is obvious if not simple. Obama's polls dropped and the Clinton's, as evidenced by NBC's pending miniseries, are preparing for their next move - back into the house where Hillary 'stood by her man' but that's another story - and need to clear the air before the big date. Politics as usual. And sadly their are too many low information Roman, uh, er, American voters out there who will fall right in line for the handouts.

Maybe the correct question should be Why do we tolerate the abuse and yet come back for more? Is there such a thing as battered voter syndrome?

The Obama Administration continues to bank on Saul's rules:

* RULE 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

* RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

We wised up to the snake oil salesmen from antiquity. Now wise up to the political sales people of present. You know who the real Slim Shady is - it's time to tell him no more snake oil; enough is enough. We are Americans first. Not black, white, red, brown, yellow, LGBTQA, rich or poor. Americans. And we will always stand united.

We must demand honesty and the effort to unite us from our leaders. Nothing less can move us forward.

Is Detroit really leading the way for America?

American cities facing bankruptcy are now lined up like jets at O'Hare International Airport. Unknown to much of their population, these cities are not far behind Detroit: Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Portland, OR., and Santa Fe, N.M. Many of them are failing for the very same reasons. They have driven away almost all of their core businesses because of inflation in labor costs brought by labor unions. When the revenue stream from successful businesses move elsewhere the city is unable meet its municipal obligations for essential services, not to mention the pensions guaranteed to government workers no longer needed as the population declines. In other words the makers left and the takers stayed. Whether you call it utopian Socialism, a welfare state or pick a different term, the liberal dream has died.

I'm not sure what more I can add to this video. But I will share some thoughts from a few individuals much wiser than me...

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  
Mahatma Gandhi


"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."
Bill Gates


“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
Confucius


"We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience."
George Washington


"Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones."
Stephen King


“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
Isaac Asimov


“Study the past if you would define the future.”
Confucius


“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens”  
Jimi Hendrix


“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students."
[Letter, November 1856]
Hector Berlioz


In 1965 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the United States. So what happened? How did a city largely responsible for innovations in transportation, manufacturing and defense, which would change the world, fall so far so fast? In 1961 Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh started expanding the role of government to unprecedented levels under the 'Model Cities Program' created by Lyndon Johnson. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Until we acknowledge the true driving forces behind the failure of our cities, we will continue to bark up the wrong tree of solutions and Detroit will in fact have been just the first large American city to file for bankruptcy. Leading the way for other 'Model Cities".

One final quote from someone less wise and lesser know than the preceding authors:

"Pay attention!"
Dad

Perhaps the ultimate in government mission creep

The arts of dezinformatsiya (disinformation) and создание (framing) were developed and refined in the former Soviet Union with devastatingly effective results. Despite the country's collapse and greatly diminished global influence, Russia's dictators continue this practice today with surprisingly similar results. It appears that the information age has given way to the disinformation age. And American politicians are paying attention.

On June 28th the NRC call for a sustainability revolution in government was published, just three days after President Barack Obama announced his latest intentions to combat climate change, including deep cuts in carbon emissions from coal-fired energy plants, even more emphasis on renewable energy, and a leading U.S. role in international efforts at “climate cooperation.”

Any attempt to adopt these recommendations would create a privacy intrusion far beyond what we already suspect of PRISM and other NSA programs. And we won't even go into the potential for economic disaster. The sustainability directives are written in a vague and broad language so as to allow for future interpretation. Changes in other words which are not currently being touted and certainly would not be accepted as selling points. Thus allowing our political leaders a highly discretionary enforcement of the law. For comparison consider these four selling points of the Affordable Health Care Act; how they were sold and how they are now understood. My, how they have changed!

People trust their eyes above all else - but most people see what they wish to see, or what they believe they should see; not what is really there”
Zoë Marriott, Shadows on the Moon

So let us look at this latest attempt in government creep. The United Nations controversial Agenda 21.

The objective:
The aim of the proposed radical overhaul:  to overcome “impediments or barriers” that “frustrate federal government efforts to create linkages” between agencies and other non-federal partners to address important “sustainability issues” that affect  the country and the planet.

Sounds reasonable. I know the creation of Homeland Security and sharing information between our various security agencies missed the Boston Bombers but it is the right idea.

Their problem:
One of the major impediments is created by America’s “basic framework of government, established by law,” which is “one of separated and dispersed authority,” in which “government agencies at all levels - federal, state, local, tribal and even international - can only do what they have been authorized to do by their governing authorities - namely, Congress, state legislatures, etc.”

Not to mention the U.S. Constitution.

Their solution:
The main instrument for accomplishing that change would be a new National Sustainability Policy that could be created by presidential executive order, similar to a National Ocean Policy created by the Obama administration two years ago.

Which was nothing less than overreach by the Obama Administration; we've had enough of that.

Stop the politicians from talking about what they want us to hear and Start asking questions about what we need to know. Before this group slides another fast one by us we will be better served through understanding the benefits, not by listening to the selling points. Our politicians are using dezinformatsiya like never before.

Israel getting mixed signals from Obama amid Middle East chaos

They're not the only ones. Americans have been manipulated with mixed signals, half truths and lies for over 5 years. However this blog will not focus on the Middle East but a different area of deception.

Minimum rates for student loans doubled today from 3.4% to 6.8% despite Obama's campaign promise just 11 months ago to not allow it to happen. This is not the first campaign promise he used to secure votes from a particular demographic knowing it would never be fulfilled. At least not in the way that we expected.

Consider the background on the student loan issue. In 2007 then House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote the bill which was passed into law, remember the democrats held the majority in both the senate and the house. The language of the law directed the 2007 interest rate to immediately be cut in half and then reinstated to the original rate in 2013. So all along democrats knew the rate was going to increase again and it was timed to occur during an election cycle in order to provide a campaign issue for the young adult voters. The republicans fell right into the trap. They suggested the government has no business in the 'loan industry' and that the process should be privatized. "The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans; however, it should serve as an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they offer loans to students," according to the 2012 platform. "Private sector participation in student financing should be welcomed." The Dem's claimed that if the republican plan was approved it would benefit the rich on the backs of the poor students because the greedy banks would of course raise the rates. By the way, the government is forecasting a record $51 billion profit from the student loan program this fiscal year.

So one side wrote and passed the bill knowing the rates would go up again during an election cycle when the bill expired and even so claimed (in blaming the second party) that if rates were allowed to go up it would be the rich taking advantage of the poor. Never mind that it was the government earning a $51,000,000,000 profit, not the rich, taking advantage of the poor.

For their part, the other side claimed (in blaming the first party) that the government was already too big, mismanaging enough capital and that by holding down the rates and making loans more readily accessible the colleges were artificially increasing tuition to keep up with the demand. Despite just over 54% of students completing a degree in 6 years, yes six, and almost 30% never completing the coursework for a degree.

Are you still with me?

Well rates went up but not due to the GOP, they went up because the democrats blocked a bi-partisan agreement to tie the rates to the US Governments cost of borrowing, just like federally backed mortgage rates.

Why did this happen? With some in congress already calling for the future legislation to make rates retroactive, it would appear there is some other underlying purpose for allowing the bill to expire without passing a new one. But what? Is it possible that funding the Affordable Health Care Act (becoming more unaffordable every day) has something to do with it? Stay tuned for that one!

 “Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”   Criss Jami

Suffice it to say BOTH sides are playing the issue to their advantage. The problem with this fact is that voters on one side do not believe their party would lie while voters on the other side seem willing to tolerate their party's deception if the objective is met.

You, dear reader, get to decide on which party the shoes fit.

In the meantime, take off the party affiliation blinders and pay attention to the evidence, not just the statements being made but the clues all around us. In the face of constant mixed signals we have to work diligently to determine the truth. We are not so different from a computer, when good information goes in good decisions will come out.