Juxtaposition XLV

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Drain

Current New York Times reporting is that, before he flew to Moscow from Hong Kong, the Chinese government “drained” Edward Snowden’s four laptops of all their data (see: NY Times Article).  Four laptops!  That’s a very large parcel of National Security Agency (NSA) secrets that Snowden took with him while he was becoming a pop hero to America’s young’ins … by outing the NSA for their imagined or real misdeeds. 

Now Snowden is in Moscow and he has missed his first flight to Havana on his way to Ecuador (see: NY Times Article).  I can’t help but suppose that, during this delay,  the Ruskies are duplicating the Chi-Coms in their downloading of all the United States’s most secret data that Snowden could get his weaselly hands on.  And I also suspect that Cuba and Ecuador will be duplicating this tapping of our twitty traitor's cyber-tree.  United States’ intelligence operations have not been sabotaged … they have been devastated …  The worst part is that we probably don't know exactly what data has been compromised!

And where is President Obama on this intelligence catastrophe … hiding under his desk once again so as to not show his hand to the youth of America?  I don’t think he can blame this one on a YouTube video.

I have previously written a blog on this Snowden incident (see: Excluded Middle) in which I suggested that Eddy Baby should be tried for treason and, if found guilty, he be executed. 

I think I was too easy on him.

The Amoeba

Single-cell amoebas eat by enveloping their prey and then adsorbing them into their bodies (remember your high-school biology microscope lessons?)  Well, one can rightly compare the Obama administration to a giant amoeba … ingesting as much of our societal constructs and business community as it has the leverage and time to accomplish.  The insidious creeping governmental incursions into the auto industry, the student loan industry, eco-friendly energy companies, comprehensive el-hi nutrition, health-care insurance companies, the home mortgage industry, etc. … all exemplify Obama’s increasingly obvious “change” agenda.

But alongside such expansionism, the current administration also seems intent on destroying that which it cannot consume … witness the coal industry, off-shore oil drilling, pipelines, non-union-shop manufacturers … and now Catholic schools (see: Bizpac Review Article).  How can our President attack one of the few institutions, parochial schools, which has been incredibly effective in educating the less fortunate?  Perhaps he just misread his teleprompter?

Along these same lines, one can garner further insights into the Obama administration’s alimentary process by reading the following article: Hoover Institute Opinion.

Over-Heated

The Miami Heat have won the National Basketball Associations (NBA) title for the second straight year … see: AP Story.  I haven’t been interested nor watched the seven games that it took, but have been enjoying the over-heated sports theater surrounding this series.  Clearly, the public has been caught up in the drama of the tense back and forth between Miami and the San Antonio Spurs and the TV stations and team owners have hit the jackpot with advertising, attendance, and sports paraphernalia revenues.  It’s capitalism at its very best.

But is it legitimate?  Clearly LaBron James is the dominant and determinant player and, I believe, could have, if he really wanted, caused the Heat to sweep the series in four.  But why try too hard when there is so much lucre to be gained from a seven-game series?  I predicted that this series would take seven games just as I predicted that Miami would win game seven.  This is reminiscence of the baseball World Series sham that developed during the early part of the twentieth century.  Basically, the players then were colluding and purposely extending the World Series to fatten their paychecks.  The baseball leagues and fans eventually caught on and, to cure things, players were only paid for the first four games … see: Wiki Answers.

Perhaps the equivalent will now happen in the NBA?  But I kind of doubt it …

How Many Angels …

can dance on Ben Bernanke’s head?  I just finished watching the Bernanke news conference after the Federal Open-Market Committee (FOMC) meeting yesterday and today … and a vigorous round-robin discussion on CNBC with about eight monetary policy experts.  All the while the stock market sold off over 100 points (at closing, it is now down over 200 points) and the yield on the ten-year note bounced around and then climbed to as much as 2.4%.  This was because Fed Chairman, Bernanke said that, if economic conditions continue to improve in the direction of internal Federal Reserve Bank forecasts, its quantitative easing (QE, or $85 billion monthly purchases of U.S. securities and mortgages) would begin to be scaled back later this year … with the possibility that they would end entirely by mid-2014.

What does this all mean?  Only Big Ben really knows … markets move not just on the absolute direction of interest rates … but on the first, second, and even third derivatives of same.  This is reminiscent of the middle-ages theological discussions about how many dancing angels could fit on the head of a pin … or the Talmudic discussions among Hebrew scholars about the implications of a single scripture word.

One thing investors might be able discern from this calculus … and that is, if Bernanke’s sage words do come true, the Fed will soon be "removing the punch bowl" and our economy should slow down … even from current anemic levels.  This means that the Democrats might have a more difficult time recapturing the House of Representatives in 2014 and maybe even holding onto the Senate … but then, because of the resulting economic bounce, they possibly would have an easier time retaining the presidency in 2016. 

And they say that the Federal Reserve Bank is not political …

Obesity

The American Medical Association (AMA) has just decided that obesity is a disease (see: USA Today Story).  This is a profound declaration and is likely to cause not just a ripple though our society, but a tsunami … considering that it is estimated that 1/3rd of Americans are already obese.  (Full disclosure: yours truly shops in the “hefty” section of clothing stores.)

Now, I am old enough to remember that, in Germany, being overweight was once considered to be a recognition that you had “made it” … particularly for men.  This might be a hint as to why so many in this country are fatties – we are a land of good and plenty and this plutocracy is reflected in out waistlines. Not only are we overweight, but we are also obsessed with getting svelte.  I once was friendly with Dr. Robert Atkins who made his fortune with his weight-loss theories … and is still famous long after he has expired (probably partly due to his being overweight.)  Even after the billions of dollars Americans have spent on diet fads and weight-loss regimes, things do not seem to be getting better.

So how do we fix things?  I don’t think it will be by banning super-sized drinks or by declaring that there are “food desert” areas of our cities or by forcing restaurant to list caloric contents on their menus or by many of the other cockamamie ideas touted by the likes of Mika Brzezinski or Michelle Obama.  Perhaps I too can offer a few silly suggestions:

-         stop making tobacco smokers into piranhas (maybe why Barack has stayed so thin)

-         start making pot smokers into piranhas (the munchies don’t help things)

-         bring back physical education to our school curricula

-         eliminate food stamps (EBT cards) for anyone overweight

-         locate all parking spots at least 100 yards away from the nearest store (or restaurant)

Unfortunately, these are probably not effective solutions (the real ones are too buried in our society’s ethos.)  And if I did have them, I would then be listed in the “Forbes 100,” a compendium of the world's richest people.

But the most insidious result of this AMA decision is that now millions more Americans will now likely apply for Social Security disability benefits (SSI) … in that they have this “disease” … again, an example of unintended consequences.

And what will happen to these people who then go on the federal dole?  You guessed it.

reddit

consists of:

- cute pets doing cute things

- avid video gamers spewing gaming argot

- vindictive atheists

- quasi-famous people promoting themselves

- boyfriends wooing girlfriends

- an occasional bounce to an interesting science article

- lots of stupid YouTube videos

- clever construction projects

- proud parents showing off their kids

- lots of sophomoric sayings and doings

- left-wing political claptrap

- some captivating nature photos

- etc.

a good time waster and a window into mostly twenty-somethings' world ... see http://www.reddit.com/

Excluded Middle

There seems to be a crisp dichotomy between the opinions regarding Edward Snowden’s leaking of National Security Agency (NSA) secrets.  Many, like Daniel Ellsberg and the New York Times view him as a patriot and Dick Chaney (among many others) think him a callous traitor.  Snowden himself says, “I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American.”  The Diplomad blog, which I often read, views him as treasonous … but many of the comments therein disagree … see: The Diplomad Blog … and please read through the many thoughtful comments.

Now comes my opinion -- there is a law in logic that deals with such a situation, namely that most opiners are ignoring that both possibilities might be true … or the “excluded middle” (see: Princeton Comments ). And so, I believe that Snowden is both a patriot and a traitor.  He has opened up the debate about what exactly the intelligence operations in this country should be permitted to do without destroying our fundamental freedoms.  For this he is a hero.  But he has also a turncoat … and, through fuzzy thinking and media grandstanding, is revealing many national security secrets that are doing great damage to our counter-terrorism efforts and embarrassing us with our allies.  Unlike many Americans, I don’t think that one conclusion mitigates the other one.

For this latter gross malfeasance, I think he should be extradited and tried for treason.  If he is found guilty, I would have no problem with his being executed.  Such a punishment would clear the minds of other potential Benedict Arnold's before they are duped and try to grab international headlines with such dangerous revelations.

Common Sense

“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.”  This was Gilbert and Sullivan’s commentary on the English’s, particularly the English aristocracy’s lack of common sense. It seems that this British malady is permeating American’s society these days.  And this is not just a Liberal failing … there are plenty of Conservatives who come up with loony ideas.  It seems to this observer that there is a universal penchant in this country to accept any change as being “good” … and the status quo as “evil.”

There are numerous examples in the news ... too numerous … but one, to me, is a blatant case-in-point.  There is popular rage to permeate our armed forces at every level with females … even to the most demanding of combat roles (see: Fox News Story).  I won’t go into the detailed pros and cons of this transmogrification because most cons seem obvious and, excuse the expression, commonsensical.  But there has been one consequence of this trendy tropism that is also rearing its ugly head in our armed services … and that is the growth of sexual assaults there (see: CBS News Story).

Now people who can tie their shoes should realize that mixing the sexes in stressful and/or opportunistic and/or cramped situations will probably lead to unhappy results.  I know that this shouldn’t be the case and that there needs to be extraordinary efforts to eradicate such sexual harassment.  But these extraordinary efforts on the part of senior military officers do detract … and often, significantly … from what is their primary responsibility … to kill the enemy and break things.  Thus, this social experimentation clearly makes our military a less effective fighting force … a very dangerous situation.

To me, this is common sense.

Red Herring

A friend recently sent me an e-mail about immigration reform in which he said: "making the desirable [illegal immigrants] citizens after exacting a measure of penalties is the way to go".  This to me is unrealistic and a Democrat-inspired red herring … which now is unfortunately echoed by many naive Republicans … such as Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.  Let me expand on the points I have made in a previous blog post (see: Carrying Water in Sieve).

Imagine that you are an illegal immigrant ... you work under the table, you don't pay income taxes, you get many social services: Medicaid, EBT card, Section 8 housing, an Obamaphone, etc. ... maybe even SSI.  You have a driver’s license but don't have auto insurance.  You even can vote and sometimes do.  Now would you step forward and let the government know who and where you are, lose some or all of your social benefits, pay your back taxes and penalties, commit to paying income and Social Security taxes into the forever future, buy auto insurance, learn English, and stand in line for citizenship?

I don't think so.  One can be sure that most illegal immigrants understand economic self-interest and the sorry state of our immigration-law enforcement.

I predict that the only result of the currently-proposed immigration-reform legislation would be that less than 25% of those to whom this reform is directed will actually come forward under its terms.  And I also think that most of its more restrictive provisions will be ignored by the Obama administration (i.e., border security expansion will not be implemented) … and the number of illegal immigrants will dramatically increase from the admitted 11 million today.

A piece of advice … don’t try to feast on a red herring.

The Escalator

The United States, after an exhaustive study, has reluctantly concluded that Syria leaders have used chemical weapons against their own people … crossing Obama’s “red line.”  Thus the U.S. will now send small arms and ammunition to the rebels there … “satisfying” Presidents Obama’s pronouncement that such actions on Syria’s part would incur “enormous consequences.”  Not to be outdone in this pissing contest, Russia’s Premier Putin has warned Obama not to take such an action.  Meanwhile Saudi Arabia is also providing the Syrian rebels with MANPAD anti-aircraft missiles (however unfortunate the name) … see: France24 Story.

Again upping the ante, Iran is sending 4,000 Revolutionary Guard soldiers to aid Assad in his counter-revolutionary struggle … see: Daily Mail Story …  and Hezbollah has also entered the fray on the side of Assad … see: Huffington Post Story.

This Syrian struggle has clearly now become another proxy war between the East and the West … like so many of the other bloody conflicts over the last seventy years. And it is also another brutal cage match between the various Muslim sects. Moreover, it is rapidly escalating … to a point where things might easily get out of hand.  Clearly, the American public has not the stomach for more involvement in such mayhem and Israel is secretly relishing the possible neutralization of one of its primary enemies … at least for the nonce.

This weekend I drove past a group of about a dozen postered protesters against war … standing in a local church yard.  I somehow doubt that Assad or Putin or Senator John McCain were listening.  Maybe President Obama heard their visual whispers.  Then again, maybe not ... there is this thing called "saving face.".

Bleeding Heart

The Obama administration is considering resettling thousands of Syrians into the United States as political-asylum refugees ... see: Breitbart Story.  The vetting process of such political refugees has clearly been poor to almost non-existent in this country.  Can we say the Tsamaev brothers?  Enough of this bleeding-heart [bleep]!

Twits on Twitter

Senator, Barbara Mikuski, see: Breitbart Story

TBD, Hillary Clinton, see: CBS News Story

NYC Mayor Hopeful, Anthony Weiner, see: Wall Street Journal Story

President, Barack Obama, see: USA Today Story

Twitter has a 140 character texting limit.  Wouldn’t it be interesting if Twitter contributors were limited to 140 characters?

Creeping Corruption

The Obama administration and its legions of acolytes are causing me to experience creeping corruption fatigue.  Maybe it was that I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but I used to believe and trust that those in government had the best interests of the United States at heart.  But now I am not so sure … as I hear an insidious drumbeat of government scandals (any one of which might have brought down previous administrations) ... and instance after instance of those we elect or appoint to manage our affairs subverting the best interests of our country in order to advance their own agendas and rewards.  Here are three such instances (I could provide twenty more out of the current news cycle):

- Benghazi Musical Chairs

- Patriot Act Corruption

- Border Security Non-enforcement

And, unfortunately, at the top of the list of these subverters is our President.  Does he not care what kind of country he is creating for his daughters?  Does he not respect the legacy of achievement that the 43 Presidents who preceded him had constructed?  He can charm the world with his effacing smiles and his teleprompter eloquence, but behind the scenes he and his minions are subverting our Constitution and even destroying our way of life.  To get elected Barack Obama had promised "change" and, it seems, his regime is spending all their waking hours pursuing this agenda ... primarily through creeping corruption.

I am rapidly losing that thing called hope.

Afterward: Even Ralph Nader agrees with me (at least in concept, but not in detail) ... see: Newsbusters Story

Three-Quarter Back

Tim Tebow just signed with the New England Patriots football team ... see: ESPN Story.  I will make an off-the-wall prediction about this acquisition.  Tim Tebow will not be playing quarterback for the Patriots ... except, very rarely, as a third-string backup.  I predict that Bill Belichick will use Tebow as a new and innovative type of running back ... bigger than a half-back (but almost as agile), but not as up-the-middle as a full-back.  I don't expect he will be on the offensive team most of the time ... but in special situations (maybe on-side kick-off returns) and for trick plays (running-back passes) or third-down long yardage situations..

As such, he will be dubbed a "three-quarter back."

Science Puzzle

Well, well!  Now the New York Times is kind of admitting that there has been a 15-year long flattening of our world’s temperature increases … and it is also puzzled by many of the unanswered questions surrounding this climate plateau.  See: NY Times' Admission.  Gee, is climate science a little more complicated than a Powerpoint presentation by a money-grubbing charlatan?  Is there more than one variable in explaining how our world heats up and cools down?  It appears so.

Perhaps our simple-minded politicians will now step back and let real scientists rise above emotion and spend some time and honest effort discovering what is really controlling our planet’s climate?  Nah … won’t happen!

Jackboots

Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.

These were President Obama’s poorly-chosen words in his recent commencement address at Ohio State University (for more on this, see: American Thinker Comments) … during the time it was being revealed (and reviled) that his administration had an extensively wiretap dragnet out for the Associated Press and Fox News reporters, a clear violation of our Constitution’s First Amendment … and had also given, since 2010, extensive jackboot power to the IRS to suppress conservative activists … probably with the intent of affecting the outcome of the 2012 election (see: Bad Apple).  Frightenly, this actual tyranny may have succeeded.

And, in the last few days, we have also learned that our National Security Agency (NSA) has acquired years of phone and Internet “metadata” (phone numbers, URLs, times, and durations) of virtually every American (for an interview with the leaker of these revelations, Edward Snowden, see: Guardian Story).  I strongly suspect that we will someday discover that the extent of these government intrusions on Americans’ privacy actually went much further than has been reported.

Now, to use Obama’s own words, this “sinister entity,” our government, also does have the obligation  to protect its citizenry ... and so there is some rationale for them to monitor extremists on both sides of the political spectrum … those who might be trying to do us evil.  

But, it seems, to this commentator, that the Obama administration is seriously unbalanced in its approach to such threats.  When the Director of Homeland Security (and, possibly, our next Attorney General), Janet Napolitano, was a tyro in her current office, she specifically fretted that those on the right were the greatest threat to our national security … see: Washington Times Story.  Boy was she off the mark!  Despite all these NSA communication intrusions and Justice Department First Amendment tramplings, every actual or attempted serious assaults on Americans on our soil over the last 4 ½ years have come from Islamic extremists … see: Washington Times Story

I guess I now classify as one of those voices against whom Obama was railing to the Ohio State graduates?   Damn straight!

Afterthought: With all of NSA's uber-extensive monitoring of U.S. citizens' communications traffic, not only did it miss the Boston Marathon Bombers' intrigues ... but it also dropped the ball on Ed Snowden himself's mischief making.  Perhaps it only is interested in our e-mails that contain  phrases like "Don't tread on me"?

Michelle, Ma Belle

Michelle Obama

Is there trouble in Paradise?  Four recent developments seem to indicate that there may be problems abrewing for President Obama and the First Lady:

1)      Michelle Obama, it appears, will be spending considerable time away from the White House this summer … “vacationing” with her daughters at Martha’s Vineyard … see: White House Dossier.

2)      In his recent summit meeting in California with President Obama, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, was not accompanied by his wife.  The reason – Michelle Obama decided not to attend this tete-a-tete, a bit of a diplomatic insult since the Chinese leader’s wife is quite a celebrity in China and was preparing to make a splash at this meeting … see: Telegraph Story

3)      Michelle Obama has exhibited unusual testiness of late … witness her ungraceful handling of a heckler at a recent New York fundraising … see: Christian Science Monitor Story

4)      In America, hairstyles seem to take on unusual significance, so Michelle Obama’s recent buzz cut (see above photo) and her wearing of black “helmet” wings in public tells this commentator that she has decided to alter her former lifestyle … to what end, it is unclear.

What does this all indicate?  To most Americans, not a bagatelle.  But the confluence of these events tells me that there is a change … maybe a sea change in our First Lady … and that there might be more interesting revelations waiting in the (White House) wings.

GuM

I have written skeptically about the future of General Motors in the past … see: Government Motors.  Now we see that the U.S. taxpayers are about to take a $10 billion haircut on their General Motors bailout … whereas the United Auto Workers (UAW) will make out like the bandits that they truly are … see: Detroit News Story.

Actually, if it were not for the popularity of GM products in China (a baffling development, see: Bloomberg Story), there would be a considerably larger gum-up of taxpayer accounts.  To put things in perspective, the 1979 government bailout loan to Chrysler under Lee Iaccoca totaled $1.5 billion … which was repaid in full … see:  Washington Times Story.

I still strongly believe that, at some point, the fact that the UAW is part of the management structure at GM will eventually spell its downfall.  It was the short-sighted concessions that GM management gave to its unions in days past that spelled its previous financial collapse.  And, I predict, future labor contracts will be even more tainted by this current union self-dealing.  It’s inevitable.

Robin Hood Remake

Produced by George Soros
Directed by  David Axelrod

The Cast
Prince John -- Barack Obama
The Tax Collector -- Douglas Shulman
The Sheriff of Nottingham -- Eric Holder
Robin Hood -- Darrell Issa
Maid Marian -- Sarah Palin
Friar Tuck -- Chris Christie
Little John -- Lindsey Graham
Sir Guy of Gisbourne -- John Kerry

In a twist to this remake, Prince John is the one who robs from the rich and gives to the poor ... abetted by his Tax Collector and The Sheriff of Nottingham.  Robin Hood, on the other hand, tries to lead his Merry Men in a fight against Prince John's corruption and incompetence. Friar Tuck tucks it to the Merry Men by calling for a special election in Sherwood Forest.  Little John spends most of the movie vamping for the cameras.  Maid Marian gives her silk scarf to Robin Hood in hopes that he will win the archery contest on Capitol Hill.  Sir Guy of Gisbourne spends the entire movie trying to emulate Basil Rathbone.

Bad Apple

George W. Bush wasn’t often at his best when he judged the character of those surrounding him… witness Douglas Shulman whom, in late 2008, he appointed IRS Commissioner, a very sensitive and powerful job … see: Wikipedia Entry for Shulman's CV.  (I can count Bush's other bad apples on one hand.)  Moreover, this same Doug Shulman quickly found a soul-mate in the newly-elected President Obama and became a rabid attack dog in the administration’s efforts to neutralize right-wing 501(c)(3) organizations … probably a key strategy in Obama’s winning re-election.

During his five year tenure as the IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times (see: Daily Caller Story) … an extraordinary number, even considering the impending IRS involvement in Obamacare. And when asked in Congressional hearings why he visited the White House so many times, Schulman’s snarky reply was that it was “to attend the Easter-egg roll.”  This was a revealing look into the contempt that this smarmy man had for these Congressional oversight hearings.

Now we find that Shulman’s wife, Susan Anderson,  is also a radical left-wing activist … in that she is a senior adviser to Public Campaign, a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) funded (clearly) political organization that is behind much of the Occupy Wall Street movement … for her CV, see: Powerline Blog.  (Sidebar note: 501(c)(4) organizations are union-sponsored PACs which seemed to have escaped any IRS scrutiny.)  And, as I sometimes say, birds of a feather sleep together.

Justifying the IRS’s despicable behavior under Shulman in targeting conservative groups based upon his Bush 43's appointment is a little like excusing the Holocaust because Hitler’s had Jewish ancestors (see: Telegraph Story).

I sincerely hope that this jackanape, Shulman, eventually spends significant time behind bars … but I kinda doubt that this will happen under Eric Holder’s corrupt reign as our Attorney General.

Phony Boloney

Local TV and radio have been barraged of late with ads featuring Marco Rubio and other Republicans who, in selected sound bites, seem to be urging Americans to back the new immigration bill that is wending its way through Congress.  Somehow these ads and their voice-overs seemed suspiciously left-leaning to me … so I looked up the sponsor of these ads, “Americans for a Conservative Direction,” on Google.  Sure enough this group (whose tax-exempt status was probably approved by the IRS in a matter of weeks) was founded and funded by California liberals … multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame being in the forefront (see: Before It's News Story).  The misleading naming of this group strikes me about as slimy and underhanded as one can get.  It is clearly an attempt to deceive the uninformed conservative voters into supporting this new immigration bill.  This then must mean that the bill contains lots of liberal goodies ... of which I am suspicious, see: Carrying Water in a Sieve.

In a related matter, there is also an evangelical Christian group that is also backing this same immigration bill.  One small problem … this group does not legally exist … see: Breitbart Story.  I am now even more suspicious due to the full-court press (fraudulent as it appears to be) surrounding this legislation that the left is urging on the American public.  I have a hard-and-fast rule that I never buy anything that I see advertised on television.  Now I am even more averse to this new Gang of Eight immigration proposal.  Perhaps, in response, I now should form a PAC called “Progressives for Closed Borders and Against Amnesty?”

Anyone want to join?

The Chicago Way

Al Capone

Today on talk radio Mark Styne used the term “The Chicago Way” to describe the tactic that David Plouffe, a “political adviser” of President Obama, is using to smear the Republican head of the House Oversight Committee, Darrell Issa (see: Huffington Post Story).  Plouffe zinged Issa on Twitter as “Mr. Grand Theft” and “Insurance Swindler,” referring to 30 and 40 year old possible blots on Issa’s record.  No matter that these charges were not legally pursued in either case, clearly these libels are meant to blunt Issa’s attempt to get to the bottom of the numerous Obama scandals … shades of Bill Clinton’s response to his many dishonors (particularly his vicious and press-abetted smears on the Special Prosecutor, Ken Starr.)

We see the Windy City Way repeated over and over again in the career of the President … often spearheaded by his consigliore, David Axelrod.  First, when Obama ran for the Illinois Senate and then later for the U.S. Senate … for the sordid details in both cases see: US Politics Story.  Even, lily-pure Mitt Romney was besmirched last year as best as could be done … in that he “murdered” the wife of one of his employees … and he tortured his dog on the top of his car.  Now, under the aegis of our President, the Obama administration has been exposed for more Al Capone-type thuggery, but on a far far grander scale … in the IRS’s targeted suppression of conservative groups and the sordid and far-ranging Justice Department wire-tapping of AP and Fox News reporters.  Representative Issa now has the unenviable task of getting to the bottom of these political outrages.

How could anyone be surprised by these Chi-Town methods ... really?

Afterward: See also: Breitbart Story for a more complete explanation of the charges against Issa.