Two, not-so-dissimilar stories.   To a semi-engaged electorate these might seem unrelated.   To a Lo-Fo  it’s “huh”?   But to others the visible “Big Picture” ideology is self-evident:  My way or DIE.
John Kerry, and White House Spokesperson Jay Carney, warns congress if they oppose a deal with Iran it will lead to WAR. 
Vis-a-vi if you don’t agree with our decision to allow Iran to engage in nuclear production, our only option is to ATTACK them to stop it:
WASHINGTON DC – The White House Tuesday warned lawmakers mulling tougher sanctions on Iran that thwarting US diplomacy could leave President Barack Obama little option but to use military force against Tehran’s nuclear program.
“The American people do not want a march to war,” spokesman Jay Carney said, in a significant stiffening of US rhetoric towards opponents of a proposed interim agreement with Tehran on Capitol Hill.  (read more)

Meanwhile – in Ohio, a 62-year-old Director of Animal Rights, Sandra Lertzman, decided to commit suicide.   It’s not what she did, but how she did it. (more…)

Back in August the New York Times reported a national energy “Grid Test” was scheduled for November called “Grid Ex II”.      The pdf outlining the test has been removed/disabled (?).   Can anyone confirm this is going to happen Wednesday the 13th?   The Day after tomorrow.
WASHINGTON — [August 16] The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry. If an adversary lands a knockout blow, they fear, it could black out vast areas of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water, gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept. 11.
This is why thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, F.B.I. antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies in the United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyber attacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. (more…)

It’s interesting to see how really smart people define the persona of President Obama.   Many psychological descriptives are generally discussed, assigned and presented for consideration by some insightful people.   All of whom are far, far smarter than I.
But, after watching Dear Leader in action for 5+ years, most of the presented descriptions just don’t fully reconcile for me personally.
I just don’t see him as that smart.
Nor do I think he’s cognitively pathological, emotionally narcissistic, or other various types of [ insert your favorite behavioral science aspect here].   I just don’t see it.
President Obama is a front-man, a dupe, a ruse or a puppet.   He just seems more Milli Vanilli than all of that traditional stuff which would put him as the coordinator, or even as an active participant.
Now, don’t get me wrong – the previous definitions would apply to his band; and I could rightly agree if his band was called the “Malignant Narcissists“.  Yes, that I could agree with. (more…)

(via NRO)  At a time when over 4 million people have had their health insurance canceled, it’s good to know that some Americans can still access prompt medical treatment, even if they don’t want it. David Eckert was pulled over by police in Deming, N.M., for failing to come to a complete halt at a stop sign in the Walmart parking lot.
He was asked to step out of the vehicle, and waited on the sidewalk. Officers decided that they didn’t like the tight clench of his buttocks, a subject on which New Mexico’s constabulary is apparently expert, and determined that it was because he had illegal drugs secreted therein.
So they arrested him, and took him to Gila Regional Medical Center in neighboring Hidalgo County, where Mr. Eckert was forced to undergo two abdominal X-rays, two rectal probes, three enemas, and defecate thrice in front of medical staff and representatives of two law-enforcement agencies, before being sedated and subjected to a colonoscopy — all procedures performed against his will and without a valid warrant. (more…)

The media and Republican goal now shifts to the historic national election of first female President Hillary Clinton.

With that in mind the media and the GOP “Decepticons” (the Old Guard) will proclaim New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, as the second coming of political Jesus.   The Republican establishment will swoon over Christie’s large victory and proclaim his resounding win as evidence he is the last and only great hope for 2016.
In complete, albeit temporary synergy, the progressive media will reinforce this GOP message (in the *DROOLING extreme) because they too have a vested interest in seeing Governor Chris Christie rise to be the chosen GOP candidate in the same vein as they selected Governor Mitt Romney.

[*if you want a funny exercise: record all of the dreamy, swoony and complimentary things the media will say about Chris Christie over the next 48 hours.  Save them, and then compare them to what happens mid-summer 2016 – from the exact same people]

The media do not want a bold contrast. Bold contrasts are dangerous to progressive advancement. Bold contrasts are scary.  Bold contrasts represent “risk”.   Remember who they called “maverick” in 2007.   No, the progressive media will position to have a candidate who is ideologically closer to oppose their chosen Hillary.
Chris Christie fits that billing perfectly.   White banker, pro-amnesty, pro-Islam, pro-big government, pro-big business, pro-bailouts, anti-state’s rights, Pro-FEMA, Pro-expanding Medicaid, Pro-Obamacare;… the perfectly squishy middle-man to replace perfectly squishy Mitt Romney, who replaced perfectly squishy John McCain, who replaced.. well, you get the picture.
The GOP even groomed him in the optic of his victory speech: (more…)

Good Grief.    This is just way over-the-top nuts.     The school principal bans a parent from daughter’s campus because the parent holds a concealed weapons permit.  The Principal found out through Facebook.   When the media asks the principal if that is the reason, she readily admits it.  And anti-gun nuts wonder why their views are so out of touch…..  
GEORGIA – An Army veteran living in Georgia says she wants an apology from her daughter’s former school after being banned from the building for posting a photo of her concealed weapons permit to her Facebook page, WRDW.com reports.
Tanya Mount says she was approached by a police officer from the Richmond County Board of Education at McBean Elementary School and was warned that she was about to get a criminal trespass warning.
The officer told her that the principal at the school was “scared” of her and did not want her on the school property, she told the station. (more…)

Axelrod-isms:

• People didn’t lose their health insurance – They’re “transitioning” to better coverage.

• The website is not broken – It’s encountering a “glitch”.

• They didn’t promise you could keep your healthcare plan TODAY –  They promised only the plans you liked which were being used before the law was signed were protected.   Not the ones issued over the past 3 years.

• The law was created to protect a breathtaking, and extraordinarily massive, number of people who were uninsured (30 million) – The number of people who have, or will, lose their coverage is a very, very small number, a “sliver” (15 million).

*Note:  I love how David Gregory is just filled with angst.   Why were we, your loyal supporters, defenders of ‘the one’,… why were we, set up for this pounding ?   You could have avoided it…. why…. oh why… didn’t you stop him ?   Whyyyyyyy?   

The best thing that can happen to turn public opinion solidly against Obamacare is to keep putting this guy, Ezekiel Emanuel, out there as the face of it.  He absolutely personifies all that is associated with the ‘we-know-better-than-you’ arrogance:

You can watch him in action HERE

He hides his construction of socialized death health panels by asserting he is against euthanasia.   However, this is belied by the fact, in his own admissions, he is a noted advocate for the withdrawal of medical treatment for the “elderly” or those “beyond help”.

Deception is an uncomfortable characteristic to witness.

(FOX NEWS) The architect of the Affordable Care Act insisted on “Fox News Sunday” that President Obama isn’t to blame for the rocky rollout of ObamaCare and deflected charges that the administration misled Americans about being able to keep their current health plans.
Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist, was part of the president’s health care reform team for two years and is the brother of former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“We grandfathered in plans,” Emanuel said.
Host Chris Wallace pressed Emanuel to defend the growing number of cancellation notices sent to people whose plans changed after the law was implemented, but Emanuel could not.
Instead, he blamed much of the problems on insurance companies and not the new law. (more…)

A billion is a thousand millions. A trillion is a thousand billions.

For the previous 11 months in fiscal year 2013 (October 2012 through August 2013) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spent $1.036 trillion dollars.

[A trillion is a thousand billions].

This is the third consecutive year where CMS spent over $1 trillion. 2010 2011 2012
That is more spent on one program (CMS), inside one agency (HHS), than the entire budget of the entire government when Medicare and Medicaid were enacted into law in 1965.

Major outlays by CMS in the first eleven months of fiscal 2013, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement for August, included $244.083 billion in grants to states for Medicaid, $251.265 billion in benefit payments out of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, $230.241 billion in benefit payments from the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, and $61.452 billion in benefits for the Medicare Prescription Drug program.

Other than the obvious non-sustainability – why does this matter?
Today the White House sends out the following “tweet” bragging about Oregon.   Oregon had around 600,000 people uninsured. (more…)