The VA & West Point

President Obama is between a rock and a hard place vis-a-vis the current VA scandal, another in a long list of scandals to which his Teflon, provided in large part by the mainstream media, has made him immune—far above the fray of lesser lights. In firing VA Secretary Shinseki, he takes ownership of that fiasco, proving again that Obama conducts no oversight of his own Cabinet.

The VA problem has existed throughout Obama's tenure but he has not been aware of it or has chosen to ignore it. Either way, he's a loser, disconnected from reality. His speech at West Point on 28 May gives further proof of this disconnect, especially globally.

Obama said, “Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead on the world stage. If we don’t, no one else will.” He was 180-degrees wrong. If the U.S. doesn't lead, any number of other powers would step in as fast as possible to “lead on the world stage,” with both Russia and China just waiting for that chance. Even tiny North Korea has a troop-strength of nearly 1.2 million and China's active military is 53% greater than that of the U.S., numbering 2,285,000 troops.

Obama said, “First, let me repeat a principle I put forward at the outset of my presidency: The United States will use military force, unilaterally if necessary, when our core interests demand it: when our people are threatened; when our livelihoods are at stake; when the security of our allies is in danger.” One of the weakest nations in the world militarily in 2011 (76,000 troops) was Libya, which posed a threat to no other nation, especially the mighty U.S., whose military establishment was 1,874% greater than Libya's in troop-strength.

Yet, Obama chose to attack Libya, the reason given that its Muslim President Qaddafi was mistreating Muslim Libyan rebels, just like Muslim strongmen Mubarak, Selah and Assad were mistreating Muslim rebels in Egypt, Yemen and Syria, respectively, countries Obama has not attacked. The duplicity is obvious but the ruling fact is that Libya was thought by Obama to be an easy target (days, not weeks), only to spend seven months killing innocent Libyans until Qaddafi was assassinated. This put him in a class with Serbian killer Milosevic, indicted and tried in the Hague for war crimes.

Obama said, “International opinion matters, but America should never ask permission to protect our people, our homeland or our way of life.” The disingenuousness of this statement was apparent in the Libyan fiasco. Obama completely bypassed Congress, violating both the Constitution and the War Powers Act, and sent three apparatchiks (Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Samantha Power) to the Security Council to ASK PERMISSION to attack Libya and drag NATO into the debacle.

Obama told the cadets, “On the other hand, when issues of global concern do not pose a direct threat to the United States, when such issues are at stake, when crises arise that stir our conscience or push the world in a more dangerous direction but do not directly threaten us, then the threshold for military action must be higher.” The speechwriter must have remembered Libya and thrown in this gem, a way of saying Qaddafi crossed a red line, a term he has surely regretted ever since he used it in the Syria matter, when red-lines meant nothing when they were crossed.

So...should one assume that Obama is even now determining which nations to attack account their citizens being mistreated? Starvation is a problem in North Korea (one of every 20 citizens in the military, the ones who eat), for instance. South Sudan, a new nation, is a killing field. And what about Syria after three years of killing? Bashir Assad's father, Hafez, is said to have dispatched 10- to 40-thousand Syrians in about five years. Bashir is said to have dispatched up to 160,000 in three years, though that seems an unrealistic figure. Pick out most any African nation for consideration, as the warring tribes make a national profession of killing each other.

Obama slipped up on a truth, however, in his speech when he said, “Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” In view of the other statements, this truth indicates that Obama actually has no position on most things globally, but the cadets could hope that he doesn't go witch-hunting throughout the world with a view toward throwing American GIs into conflicts—civil wars—in which they have no business.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

A Parody, Anyone?

A parody is defined as “a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule.” The following is one such tongue-in-cheek piece that might appear in most any east- or west-coast newspaper or on any news program of the mainstream media. The Associated Press is reporting that President Obama may soon decide to train and equip “moderate Syrian rebels” for their fight against Assad, who has refused Obama's order of 2011 to get outta Dodge and turn the country over to whoever is left standing after the Sunnis, Alewites (Assad's gang), and Shiites have had it out, so a bit of parody is in order, especially since no one has defined a “moderate Syrian rebel,” though Senator McCain has claimed to have already done that and has a photo-op (probably snapped in Lebanon) to prove it.

New York Times: Extending his global foreign policy philosophy regarding the downtrodden in countries whose rulers are despots, President Obama announced today that he has issued a mandate to Ukrainian President Poroshenko that he step down account the popular uprising in eastern Ukraine. This reflects his similar orders to Qaddafi, Mubarak, Saleh and Assad in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria, respectively, to name a few.

It has been apparent for some time that the Ukrainian government under its former president and now under Poroshenko, a billionaire with no connection to the people, that Ukrainian citizens in the eastern and southern portions of the country have suffered discrimination at the hands of the government, which has not recognized the importance of ethnicity. Most of the breakaway insurgents are tribally Russian while those in the East, including the government, are European or at least European-leaning.

Poroshenko's troops have been battling the insurgents, who are justifiably fighting and dying for their rights to fairness. The rebels in Crimea, the South, have already won their independence from Ukraine and even joined Russia, the better to keep themselves safe from Ukrainian injustice.

Senators McCain, Graham and Lieberman have called for Poroshenko to step down, as they did with reference to the other despots. McCain has visited rebel forces in Donetsk and already pointed out the tribal leader to whom he demands that President Obama send planes, tanks, troop-carriers, drones and ammo. He did the same in Benghazi in 2011 and later in Lebanon with regard to the Syrian uprising. His Benghazi efforts were successful, culminating in the assassination of Qaddafi after only seven months of fighting to quell the huge Libyan forces of 76,000 boots, although no accounting of Libyan deaths at the hands of Obama and NATO has ever been given. The leftover weapons from that bloodbath were then transported to Syria, where as yet they have not been successfully used.

Poroshenko has so far refused to step down and has even stepped up his assault on his own people, who also have indicated that they prefer Russian oppression to Ukrainian oppression and are willing to fight for the appropriate oppression if help comes from the United States, as demanded by McCain.

A high government source indicated to this reporter that President Obama may send NSA head Susan Rice and former state secretary Clinton to the UN, where they will join UN Ambassador Power (referred to irreverently as the Amazons) to apply to the Security Council, as they did regarding Libya in 2011, for permission to create a no-fly zone over eastern Ukraine and ultimately join forces with the rebels to take out Poroshenko or his government or both. His explanation for bypassing Congress in this executive order is simply that Congress acts too slowly all the time but especially in cases of emergency. Obama expects NATO will go along with his plan since oil from Russia is piped through Ukraine to Germany, France and other countries.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has stated that oppression must be stopped everywhere and that when all parties are oppressors, the UN will support the oppressor nation that oppresses most fairly and with the least amount of bloodshed. The UN stopped counting deaths in Syria earlier this year since the reports could not be verified, reason to wonder if there has ever been a verifiable record.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Presidential Makeover

Dear President Obama:

I have lately admired your ineffable ability to become publicly angry—even furious at times—upon discovering governmental snafus committed by the bureaucrats who run your operation. Just the fact alone that you're forced to learn of their malfeasance through the media instead of your own officials—like any Joe Blow watching Fox News—must be depressing. You have my sympathy. There are bunglers in the operation I head, the Institute for Modifying All Governmental Entities, known familiarly as IMAGE.

The mainstream media has been very good to you, even supportive, especially in your campaigns, but lately—though not nearly as vitriolically as Fox—has begun to show displeasure. It's rumored, for instance, that MSNBC's Chris Matthews has stated that his leg no longer tingles when you orate, a sure indication that even the most avid sycophants are capable of disloyalty. Former CBS super-sleuth Dan Rather has stated openly that he would not investigate Texas Air National Guard typewriters in your behalf.

IMAGE can help in effecting some modification—if needed, of course—regarding your public persona, thus recapturing media support and off-putting evil republicans. The IMAGE-agency designed for handling this issue is referenced Political Hegemony Obviating Nasty Yammering, known by its acronym, PHONY, coincidentally reflecting your astute description of the scandals remarked by evil republicans.

The arm of IMAGE for handling this matter is the Institute for Rationalizing Subterfuge, or IRS, for short. You made it clear in that famous interview with that Fox smart-alec anchor that no tea party outfit had ever been targeted for the ash-heap but you smirked when you said that. An IRS operative would have taught you never to smirk when lying but to keep a straight face at all times, even when you nudge the ball with your toe on the golf course. IRS will also teach you how and when to smile, show impatience, even throw a temper tantrum when necessary, such as when Jay Carney bungles a lie...or even the occasional, accidental truth.

The republicans have been on your case lately to an amazing extent, especially with the propaganda about scandals. The IMAGE-agency that will help you neutralize them is the Bureau for Enervating Noisy GOP Honchos and Zealous Ideologues, known, of course, as BENGHAZI. BENGHAZI would have warned you against ever attacking Libya and killing all those women and children over seven months. Now, some tribal chief has just shot up the Libyan Parliament and taken over what's left of the country. Point: You would have never been viciously attacked by the weak, evil republicans if you hadn't made that mistake. BENGHAZI will keep you out of further trouble inviting criticism, such as those silly red lines in Syria and Ukraine that made you look foolish.

Constantly showing your angst in public has made you seem like a spoiled child always on the verge of banging his fists and feet on the floor and blaming somebody else (usually George Bush—little joke there, nothing personal) for goofing up. The IMAGE arm that will help with this problem is the Agency for Reducing Gnashing of Teeth, known familiarly as ARGOT. You already have a sort of self-calming use of terms used constantly while you cool down and think such as “Let's be clear,” and “Commander-in-Chief.”

ARGOT will help you devise other such terms and also offers anger-management training. The use of the above mentioned terms has become trite and with respect to the latter a bit arrogant, especially since your military experience is zilch. Gnash will help you guard against racist innuendo and discrimination, such as you applied to claiming that a son, if you had one, would be like Trayvon, while not claiming the same regarding Michael Sam, whom you warmly congratulated not for sacking quarterbacks but for being a self-outed homosexual (that boyfriend KISS—oo-la-la).

Finally, you've appeared lately to non-humorously claim the pen-and-phone approach, which makes folks think you would be king. Even though you intend to govern by grim fiat, you need to chill a bit. The IMAGE-agency that will help with this is the Bureau for Laughs and Hugs, known as BLAH, for short. BLAH will help you appear more democratic, even learn how to be friendly with folks like John McCain and Rush Limbaugh. In any case, please consider PHONY and its adjuncts, IRS, BENGHAZI, ARGOT, and BLAH.

Best wishes and hope to hear from you soon.

I.M. Reverself, CEO
IMAGE

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Diversity Stupidity

If the century continues as it has started, it will go down—way down—as the century of perversion. By 2100, the homosexuals, pedophiles, pederasts, transgenders lesbians and whatever other flavor is found (anyone for bestiality as a sign of sophistication?) will be protected by laws that challenge the imagination.

Case in point: Recently, a male student at Atherton High School in Louisville, Ky., announced to the principal that thenceforth he demanded to use the girls' restroom and their locker-room. His reason: He considered himself a girl, notwithstanding his physical makeup, which was quite obvious. According to the newspaper, he presented no psychiatric or medical proof of his nomenclature...only his own determination that the stork had made a mistake.

Being “with it” in this day of diversity, the principal gave the guy permission to use the girls facilities, since not to do so would have discriminated against him, never mind how either the girls or the other hundreds of students felt. However, the matter made it to the site-based council for consideration. This council is made up of the principal, three teachers and two parents, and has the authority to hire its own principal, determine the school's curriculum and decide just about everything else. The elected school-board would have no say.

This setup is part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, much if not most of which has been rescinded one way or another as the state has suffered educationally for nearly two generations. The site-based council mandate has been the worst facet of the act, so naturally it's still in effect in Kentucky. The council allowed the public to speak at one of its meetings—both for and against. Predictably, the council supported the principal and the boy, recognizing him as actually a girl because he said so.

Also predictably, the students at the council meeting (must have been alerted to the circus) thought the decision just great, probably the boys, in particular, seeing how easy voyeurism can be...no more eye-holes in the wall or hidden cameras. It will be interesting to see how soon a girl declares herself a boy, and then how soon the council opts for unisex restrooms so the kids won't have to depend on Facebook any longer for voyeurism and may even have a little sex-education in the locker-room.

Perversion is still a problem in some areas. The co-defensive player of the year in the mighty NCAA Southeastern Conference was Michael Sam, an outed homosexual. He should have gone early in the NFL draft and drawn the millions awarded top draftees before they even play a game, not to mention the further millions thereafter. He was picked by St. Louis as number 249 out of a total of 256. His case overshadowed the entire meat-market and the president sent his congratulations not accruing to his ability but to his perversion, though the prez did not say that if he had a son he would be just like Michael.

Even—if not especially—the church is affected. Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson (New Hampshire) is now getting a divorce from his “husband” of 11 years, his second, the first one being from his wife with whom he sired two daughters. This is the stuff of antiquity—old Greece and Rome—in which perversion was virtually holy. Plato was a homosexual, pedophile and pederast all wrapped up in one entity. This country is headed the way of those rotting-from-the-inside empires.

A few verses:

Diversity Stupidity

He said that female was his ilk –
This sophomore who dressed in silk,
Requested girls' facilities
Be used for his utilities,
That girls' restroom be his new john,
Their locker-room where he could don
His gear for football and baseball,
Then take his showers in perfumed stall.

The school-based council heard his plea,
The principal, attentively,
His parents said he was so brave,
His chums as something of a knave;
The girls were so in-sensitized
To sex as so post-modernized
They did not lift a single nay...
Looked forward to a shower a day.

Some parents took a view quite dim
Of voyeurism done by him
And so a ballot then was posed,
With ninety-nine point nine opposed;
The council said, “not quite enough,”
And told the parents they could stuff
Their antiquated views just where
The sun's rays never enter there.

The council was unanimous,
Said parents just showed animus...
Diversity was all the rage,
Minorities were far more sage;
And so they voted yes-he-could
And he told them he-surely-would,
His chums said he owned super-think,
And he said...yeah—with nudge and wink.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

SPORTS Musings

***The sports-world is always fascinating, not just by the athletic prowess of the athletes but even more so by the shenanigans behind the scenes. The latest sports-news that has everyone gasping is the INCLUSION of homosexual players in the locker-rooms of both the NBA and the NFL – almost as titillating as the news a while back that female reporters just had to be allowed to gather in the land of the liniments and four-letter words and hobnob with the players, no matter the circumstances – in fact, the more nudity, vulgarity and obscenity the better. The crude male athlete who dares to offend one of the ladies in word or deed is subject to a virtual sports-hanging, maybe by an extra-strong jock-strap attached to a goalpost. To my knowledge, male reporters are not welcome in women's locker rooms but perhaps the president will take on this problem.

Obama was quick to send Michael Sam, homosexual drafted by St. Louis, his personal congratulations, not because of his great play but because he is the FIRST outed homosexual to join in the concussion conference called the NFL. As a defensive-end, his primary assignment will be to disable the opposing quarterback in any way possible, with concussion or broken bone the preferable modus operandi. Sam was the SEC co-defensive player of the year – supposedly among the best in the nation – but was number 249 in the draft, so reluctance to have a team competing with a circus might have been the reason for Sam being hugely passed over by the owners.

His being picked might have been leaked since his supposed reaction was well-choreographed and recorded, with Sam and his boyfriend reduced to gallons of tears and then a passionate smooch and wild embrace such as seen only in x-rated movies...looked for a while there that Sam might break the poor guy's back. It was such a “diversity-highlight” that Oprah made a quick move to do Sam's documentary (gobs of greenbacks in view) and had the game on the road but pulled back since the word was out that Sam needed no distractions while trying to actually make the St. Louis roster, not guaranteed by a long shot unless perhaps the prez shows a pout and blames the “typical white person” (his term) for discriminating. If Sam & friend are so inclined, maybe Obama will treat them to a D.C. wedding and clear the way for an adoption or two. I don't know if lesbians are welcome in the WNBA or not, but maybe the prez will order the attorney general to look into the matter.

***President Obama's brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, has just been fired as Oregon State's basketball coach and awarded a severance boondoggle of $4 million, ten times the prexy's meager salary. Robinson's teams had a record in six years of 94 wins and 105 losses (but hadn't made the NCAA or even the NIT tournaments), so OSU figured it was worth multi-millions to fix it so Robinson won't have to work again, and take a chance on someone else to either win or be paid handsomely to “retire.”

***In Kentucky, things are strange as well. The University of Kentucky football team won only two games (17%) in 2013, but its football coach, Mark Stoops, gained a 1.5-year extension of his contract and raises worth $250,000 over the new term extending through the 2018 season. The reason for such a great reward for so little is that Stoops has increased recruiting results based on the info disseminated by agencies judging high school players. If the athletic director changes his mind before 2018 (quite possible), Stoops probably has a huge payout clause in the contract. Just a few years ago, the UK athletic director, Mitch Barnhart, paid the UK basketball coach, Billie Gillispie, $3 million to go away, even though he and Gillispie had actually never signed a contract.

Of course, Stoops got the UK job when Barnhart fired his predecessor, Joker Phillips (13-24 in three years), and awarded him $2,550,000 for the privilege. This stuff can't be made up. How many CEOs would keep their jobs if they managed to throw more than $5 million down the drain in just five years? UK is also doing a $110 million redo of its stadium, including tearing out over 7,000 seats and installing plush “skyboxes” where the fat-cats can legally get drunk like everyone could in the old days. The UK recruiting guru (Stoops main guy as a reason for his good fortune) makes $275,000 a year and the offensive and defensive coordinators (assistant coaches) make $550,000 and $500,000, respectively. Stoops comes in at well over $2 million...in one of the poorest states.

***And then there's NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's absolutely inexcusable, outrageous, racist, discriminatory use of free speech, as if anyone outside LA ever heard of him in the first place or gives a rip in the second place, not to mention that President Obama, using his grandmother (who raised him) as an example, referred to the “typical white person” in Philadelphia in 2008 as being uncomfortable in the presence of another person unlike him or her. He referred to Pennsylvanians as Bible-toting gunslingers out to ferret out illegals and do something with them. He didn't say what.

Sterling has the longest tenure of NBA team-ownership and pays his players millions upon millions. The NBA head honcho told Sterling to get rid of his team and get outta Dodge (like the prexy told Qaddafi, Mubarak, Saleh and Assad) and even had poor Qaddafi assassinated but so far has not been able to waste Assad. All the places those beauties ruled are now in total chaos and so will the NBA be if the high-handed thuggery being exercised by the NBA commissioner is allowed to be successful. Sterling has a right to speak his mind as long as nobody's hurt (with words?), just as does every citizen. Those who scream “being offended” need their heads examined since no one can be offended by words unless he chooses to be, i.e., smaller than the alleged offender – just plain common sense. Victim-hood is popular now but the millionaire ball-bouncing Clippers players probably don't mind Sterling signing their checks for suffering through 82 games a season. They don't have to like Sterling, nor does he have to like them. They probably call him every bad thing imaginable in the locker-room. Who cares?

Ah...SPORTS...thy name is CORRUPTION!

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Professor & Plato

In an op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Leader of 13 May, Silas House, NEH chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea College, was in high dudgeon account Governor Beshear using taxpayer money to answer a same-sex-marriage lawsuit(s) naming him (as well as the state) as a defendant. Attorney General Conway (constitutional officer) was also named but refused to honor his sworn oath and represent the state, so the governor had to employ an outside firm. The Kentucky Constitution is plain about the matter and attorneys general in other states have already done what Beshear is doing. Conway, now running for governor, has already decided the matter and washed his hands of it.

NEH stands for the federally-funded National Endowment for the Humanities, so House's income is also furnished by taxpayers' dollars. The definition for humanities: “the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics): the human race.”

So...House connects all this stuff with eastern Kentucky. Other professors do the same regarding other “studies” such as African-American studies and any other studies—except men's studies, of course— that somebody dreams up for wasting education funds in academia. A student can matriculate with a B.A. at Berea College in something called “Women's and Gender Studies.” Maybe there are more than two genders, after all, requiring four years of study for examination.

House said the governor “used taxpayer money to file an appeal arguing against marriage equality.” House didn't say what “marriage equality” is. Marriage equality with what? Marriage equals what? Does this fall into the same category as income inequality? Inequality with what?

This is “intelligentsia-talk” designed to sound highfaluting for the great unwashed, who don't understand why two guys should get-it-on making whoopee while legally enjoying the old outdated marriage thing...like the old song, “Molly (a She) and me (a He) and the baby makes three.” House pooh-poohs that angle, notwithstanding that two guys have never done their thing – anal or oral or whatever – and produced anything but herpes-cultivation-dissemination.

The main objective for House and his ilk is the securing of all the benefits and perks legally mandated for marriage of a man and woman and their children, a colossal ripoff, in other words. If one old guy dies of whatever, his husband (or wife, who knows?) could get his Social Security and other pension checks—and that ain't to be sneezed at, not to mention Obamacare survivor-ship or whatever it may be called, though it might change by next week with an exec order from the White House.

Predictably with regard to the far-left fringe, House gets to the crux of the matter for many, namely (gasp) religion, the Judeo-Christian aspect of which profoundly condemns homosexual behavior and unmistakably mandates marriage as only between a man and woman. House wrote, “They’ve [young people] started to have a more complex view of the Bible and to understand that we cannot just choose to focus on some Scriptures (the ones about being gay, for example) while ignoring others (the ones about divorce or stoning adulterers to death, for example).”

This is the old worn-out red herring used by the atheists and ultra-liberals, who have no understanding of the Bible, especially the differentiation regarding the Old and New Testaments. One can hardly imagine the word “gay” in the Bible anyway. Homosexuals are referenced as unnatural and their practices as unnatural and unseemly. Their lifestyle is thoroughly condemned throughout scripture. Complex is defined as “hard to separate, analyze, or solve.” House actually describes himself.

House wrote, “Beshear is on the wrong side of history. And history is going forward.” History has no sides, of course. It just is. It is not going forward because it is not going anywhere. It just is. This is more “intelligentsia-talk” for the great unwashed, who may not understand that House is on the other side from Beshear, which, one presumes, is the right side.

Noted author Scott Samuelson teaches philosophy (humanities) at Kirkwood Junior College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and recently wrote in the Atlantic that he teaches Plato (humanities) to the plumber, nurse, soldier...everyone. Plato is the darling of the humanities folks. He was also ancient Greece's highest-profile homosexual/pedophile/pederast, along with Socrates. The U.S. is copying Plato.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Obama Legacy—DECEIT

The consensus seems to be that Obamacare will be Obama's legacy, never mind that he's distorted this law by executive order to the point that no one can claim to know what it will be next week. His actual legacy, however, may be that his administrations were marked by deceptions of magnitudes that defy imagination. His legacy will be DECEIT.

His LIE that no person would lose health insurance already in force is a good example, but it was politically necessary for election and reelection purposes. His LIE that the enrollment process was ready in October 2013 was matched for deceit by his LIE that businesses were not ready, after four years, to implement Obamacare in 2014, therefore explaining his postponement of their responsibility to 2015 and beyond, again hopefully affecting elections in 2014 and 2016.

Obama's LIES concerning the Benghazi Massacre in September 2011 were so humongous as to be both laughable and tragic. Just mentioning Benghazi in his UN speech embarrassed the U.S. since world leaders and their constituencies knew better. His absence from the Situation Room during that attack was a LIE in itself, but necessary since his presence would have connoted a national emergency, that is., a terrorist attack in progress instead of a non-existent “protest” that he and State Secretary Clinton solemnly remarked in the Rose Garden and to the victimsʼ survivors.

Obama and Clinton's State Department were so woefully negligent concerning Benghazi, both before and after the murders, that a LIE was needed for coverup. The “protest story” was apparently cooked-up by Obama and Clinton even while the emergency was in progress, notwithstanding people on the ground in Benghazi describing the attack. Obama has never indicated his whereabouts and activities that night, and pity the poor soul who might let it slip.

Contrast Obama's absence from the Situation Room in September 2011 with his presence in May 2011 during the successful assassination of Osama bin Laden, a photo-op used often as showing the commander-in-chief in complete control, when that whole matter also constituted a huge LIE, namely, that people have been led to believe that the affair was brazenly undertaken despite the fact that it took place within a short walk of Pakistan's West Point, filled with soldiers and officers, as well as in other military establishments in Abbottabad (a city of 500,000).

The only danger was faced by the Navy SEALS when they were within Osama's compound, comprising 40 minutes of ear-splitting gunfire eventuating in a number of deaths, a crashing helicopter, the removal of Osama's body, and the departure – enough noise to wake the dead and instigate an overwhelming attack upon the SEALS. This didn't happen in Pakistan's prime military installation. Conclusion: The whole affair constituted a conspiracy (untold truth=LIE?) of the U.S. with Pakistani officials. Otherwise, only an idiot would have subjected a handful of GIs to certain death.

Indeed, Obama's entire Libya disaster involved LIES. Bypassing Congress, Obama sent Clinton, Rice (UN ambassador) and Power (White House apparatchik) to the Security Council for “permission” to attack Libya, supposedly because strongman Qadaffi was mistreating insurgents, same as Muslim dictators throughout the Middle East had for centuries. Actually, Qaddafi had refused Obama's demand that he give up his presidency, and since Libya posed no threat to any nation with its mere 76,000 troops, the only credible reason for action was non-existent, thus Obama LIED—he just wanted to run Qaddafi off. Notably, he didn't do the same to Syria's Assad (178,000 troops), with the circumstances and time-frame being identical.

What started out as establishing a no-fly zone in Libya, with NATO in on the mess and Obama LYING would be over in “days, not weeks,” lasted more than seven months during which principally Obama wasted Libya and Libyans, with no body-count ever provided. The air mission was over in four days but Qaddafi wasn't even fazed by it, thus the extended 7-8 bloody months of shooting fish in a barrel.

Then, there were the “red lines” set by Obama for Syria's Assad to give up his presidency or stop hurting people or stop using gas or whatever. Or else! Each “red line” represented a LIE, and Assad is still fighting a civil war, just as Qaddafi was. Obama looked an interviewer squarely in the eye and LIED that the IRS was as white as the driven snow and that well-documented “scandals” were phony. He even claimed he knew nothing about “Fast and Furious” (unaccounted for guns to Mexican gangs) until apprised of it by the media. If that wasn't a LIE, he admitted to an unmitigated ignorance, even worse. The LIES about man-made global-warming keep piling up.

Obama's legacy—DECEIT—and he has plenty of time to predictably add to it. If I am wrong in any of this, apologies all around.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Media Self-righteousness

With the initial shock-and-awe of the “Sterling Affair” diminishing, folks are seeing how they've been played by both the miscreant-leaders such as Al Sharpton of the black community and the entire media, not just the liberal “mainstream.” Fox News, known for its conservatism, has also participated, furnishing fiery castigation of Clippers owner Donald Sterling on the basis of racism – his, not Fox's, though it's hard to tell the difference.

The most puzzling Fox operative is Mike Huckabee, who needed for his castigation of Sterling to bring in Kareem Abdul Jabbar, former NBA star for the Lakers, on his Saturday evening show and practically genuflected before him. To guarantee his political correctness, Huckabee not only brought in a black man (supposedly insulted by Sterling) but a black-man-Muslim, who states that he's a Sunni – like Saddam and the Arab princes.

This same exercise with this same black-man-Muslim was duplicated by ABC's George Stephanopoulos the next morning, indicating that bedfellows can be strange when diversity is on the line and self-righteousness is at issue. Both Huckabee and Stephanopoulos would rail against private conversations being aired for all the world to enjoy, especially as related to subjects such as race, but such is the ambiguity connected to the big-time talk shows.

Jabbar (given name – Lew Alcindor) was born into a Catholic home but decided against Christianity in favor of Islam. The latest escapade of Muslims, the Boko Haram branch in Nigeria, involved kidnapping 300 girls to be sold into slavery or wifery (no difference between them) for the hefty sum of $12 apiece. Earlier this year, more than 50 teenage boys were slaughtered by these beauties, with some of them burned alive. Both atrocities took place in schools.

Jabbar is a beauty, too. In 1973 in a house in D.C. Jabbar bought for his mentor, Abdul Khaalis, seven people were murdered, some shot, others drowned. Five were children. They were apparent victims of the Philadelphia-based Black Mafia, aka the Muslim Mafia. Unbelievably, the house was tax-exempt as a place of worship.

Khaalis and his Hanafi gang stormed three buildings in Washington in 1977 and took 149 hostages. Khaalis was sentenced to 41-123 years. This was Jabbar's branch of Islam, but Huckabee considered Jabbar, who has done the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) like any good Muslim, just the right person to do a hatchet job on Sterling, who (gasp) dishonored the NBA, already so corrupt it couldn't be disgraced.

Magic Johnson is/was a main player in the Sterling affair and had this to say in Saginaw, Michigan, "It was a great day for the United States, a great day for the NBA, a great day for all people of all races, but especially African-Americans and Latinos who he [Sterling] was speaking out against." Johnson's “great day” was when he introduced the NBA to HIV-AIDS some 20 or so years ago, when he took it home to his family, though he didn't say how he got infected.

There was much news connected to the matter that had to do with the “groupies” who followed the players, perhaps as “comfort women,” like the 200,000 Korean women the Japanese furnished its soldiers during World War II. The NBA players wanted no part of Johnson since blood is often shed in games, and he was out. He disgraced the NBA and his race far more than Sterling, who didn't speak against blacks but only indicated that he was uncomfortable with them. This is how Obama described his grandmother during a Philadelphia event in 2008 – the “typical white person” [Obama's term].

Sharpton, who reportedly had planned a protest, is a tax-cheat of immense proportions, owing federal taxes of $2.6 million and state taxes of $900,000 in 2011, and whose National Action Network owed $883,503 in federal income taxes apparently collected from employees but not remitted. His NAN was in the red by $1,164,928, but his NAN salary was $241,402. His tax problems most likely haven't changed in 3 years but he has a friend in the White House. And then there was the Tawana Brawley affair!

Huckabee & Stephanopoulos—sounds like a PR firm. If they believe an owner should be forced to sell a $600 million property because he made statements some folks didn't like, they're in liberal Hades. They should listen to Senator Harry Reid and make a judgment – or even themselves on other occasions, especially Huckabee talking about Obama, and I agree with virtually everything he says.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

The Economy, Stupid!

In a speech at a community college in April, President Obama stated that nearly nine million jobs had been created during his stewardship. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 138,365,000 non-agricultural jobs in 2008 and 137,499,000 jobs in January 2014. This represents a total decrease (net loss) in actual jobs of 866,000.

In 2008, there were 8,924,000 counted as unemployed. In January 2014, that figure was 10,236,000, or an increase in unemployed folks of 15%. In 2008, the labor force (age 16 & older) amounted to 66% of eligible workers. In January 2014, that figure was 63% and represented almost 12 million people apparently dropping out of the work force in just five years. Yet, the big news from the administration is that the unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3%.

This is the kind of smoke-and-mirrors stuff that marks the Obama administration – sorta like the humongous LIE about the Benghazi Massacre being a simple protest. The big news about Obamacare is that 8 million have enrolled, but as discovered by a House committee in canvassing participating insurance companies, only 67%, or 5.4 million have paid premiums, thus are actually covered. Except for Medicaid, no further enrollment will occur until November.

There were 138,252,000 jobs in the U.S. in April 2014 according to the CES survey of employers. The CPS survey of households showed 145,669,000 employed persons for the month. The US added 288,000 jobs in April 2014 according to the CES survey while the broader CPS employment measure fell by 73,000.

The administration claims 806,000 people stopped looking for work in April, ergo, the unemployment rate went down. One wonders just who decided on that exact number. That's called “cooking the books” to lower the unemployment rate in the hope that the citizens are ignorant enough to be bamboozled by election time in November. By then, as more people “stop looking,” the unemployment rate might be down to 0%. Perhaps there will then be an employment rate of -5%...just not enough people to do all the jobs—Egad!

The employer-mandate connected to Obamacare was – by his illegal stroke of the pen – delayed from January 2014 to January 2015, BUT as the truth regarding its effects has been becoming clearer, Obama – by the stroke of the pen – has delayed it to January 2016...or thereabouts...who knows? In the meantime, employers are figuring ways to avoid providing healthcare as a perk to get good people on the job.

Since the cutoff workday limit for Obamacare is prescribed as 30 hours in order to force compliance, employers are opting for the 30-hour workweek (or 29 hours + 59 minutes), making under-employment the wave of the future. Folks can work two 30-hour jobs and buy their own healthcare insurance, the premiums and deductibles for which are shooting higher. This plays havoc with the job situation, of course, but who's counting anyway?

And so it goes.
Jim Clark

Under God?

There's never a dull moment in the filing of lawsuits concerned with getting the phrase “under God” removed from the pledge of allegiance. All kinds of reasons are advanced such as traumatizing atheists or otherwise upsetting especially schoolchildren vis-a-vis their beliefs, if any. There's a better reason, to wit, that the phrase constitutes blasphemy against God, and this should be especially important to people of Christian faith.

This nation is under a lot of influences and pressures, but it is NOT a nation under God, as is proven 24/7 by accounts in the media alone, especially as they reference the many ways that the tenets of the faith, as expressed scripturally, are violated. God is insulted by the insinuation that the U.S. is somehow a feature of his kingdom...or...heaven...or whatever anyone calls his location/headquarters.

Most of the rank-and-file citizenry is comprised of law-abiding folks who don't lie, cheat, steal, etc. (at least on a regular basis), but the high-profile centers of government and institutions such as universities and churches operate on diametrically opposed bases regarding biblical injunctions and exhortations as do most people some of the time. In the political arena, for instance, corruption and licentiousness, damned by scripture, are simply taken for granted and documented on a daily basis.

For instance, in a Baltimore Sun article quoting an LGBT outfit called Campus Pride, nearly 150 universities offer the option of “gender-neutral housing,” a euphemism for “shack-up” dormitory arrangements. Whereas, dorms were made coed in the 1970s, now dorm-rooms are coed, and since newer dorm arrangements feature clusters of rooms using the same facilities instead of “walking down the hall,” there are mini-whorehouses within the larger whorehouses.

This arrangement emphasizes the university imprimatur on fornication, which is condemned in both the Old and New Testament. In this regard, the big news lately is that 20% of college women claim to have been sexually assaulted but apparently not by perverts jumping from behind the bushes and grabbing them but most likely by guys they know and for reasons too obvious to need mentioning. Academia trivializes scripture, ergo, it is not “under God.”

Not to make too fine a point of the sexual angle, but some churches and whole denominations have placed their imprimatur on filthy homosexual behavior and even the marriage of men with men, two things thoroughly condemned in scripture and therefore not “under God.” On the governmental level, the president is a leader in this area of perversion, having placed tremendous pressure even in the face of state constitutions to the contrary to mandate that these marriages be accepted as normal. This places the nation – under his leadership – anywhere but “under God.” Even Russian communist/atheist President Putin has not sunk that low.

Since the president insists that he's a Christian he profanes God in this matter, since the only means of God's design for reproduction is impossible as per same-sex activity. This is a sacred matter—if life is to have any sanctity at all—but the president prefers a secular view. Perhaps the president would rather have the phrase “under diversity” in the pledge...or “under Satan.”

Since the pledge deals with the nation it necessarily deals with the government. A lying government, no matter the party in power, is generally accepted as an evil to be tolerated. The current government, however, is particularly susceptible to lying, condemned by the Ten Commandments, especially as concerning life and death situations such as the “Benghazi Massacre,” the proof now being revealed that the BIG LIE originated with the White House.

Or...the lies told about Obamacare and the illegal change of the law (30 times by now) not by Congress but by the president's pen. Or...the lies told to attack unutterably weak Libya and destroy it, killing women and children for seven months, thus violating God's sixth commandment against murder.

Would a nation “under God” make it legal to murder children in the womb – some 56.5 MILLION since 1973? Would a nation “under God” make it legal and heavily tax by far the worst mind-altering drug to touch all of society—alcohol? Would a nation “under God” allow its schools to teach as normal that the human body can be desecrated through homosexual perversion?

Suffice it to say that “under God” in the pledge desecrates and profanes God. It should be removed from the pledge, and every person of faith should demand it. Not to do so invites God's wrath.

And so it goes.
Jim Clark