NYT David Brooks- The Stem and the Flower

    A good friend, JimmyC, suggested that I read David Brooks' column "The Stem and the Flower," so I did. I’m in general agreement with Brooks' narrative that government moves slowly and that we should not expect much in the way of results from the process, but I do not agree with his conclusion that we should take politics less seriously.
   What I think Brooks could have included in his column was that although government moves as slowly as the tectonic plates, our current day politicians can have a significant impact on the culture rather quickly. It’s the “fish stinks from the head” theory. Having worked in corporate culture during my career it was quite apparent that the attitude of the leaders filters through the culture very quickly, sometimes because their reputation preceded them and some because they were simply charismatic. When a miserable bastard was the boss the peeps sulked; when the boss was one who made it clear that he wanted his people to thrive, they did. I wanted Brooks to say that to the politicians who read him. He didn’t.
   With respect to my disdain for politicians, while I might disagree with their policy and their ability to get things done in my lifetime, their failures that are inexcusable are generally in the areas of improving the cultural mindset. Politicians should at the very least be transparent, be honest, be inclusive, and give the people hope that things will get better, that all politicians are not scum, that some are dedicated public servants. Obama’s “hope and change” has turned out to be a travesty if not an emotional fraud, which has most hurt those who truly needed to believe that with Obama’s election something better would happen for them, that they would thrive under his “leadership.” Almost six years later they are worse off financially, and even worse, emotionally. The culture is depressed. Brooks didn’t/wouldn’t go there.


Albiwan..

FIASCOBAMA

FIASCOBAMA:
How better to describe the current state of Obamacare.

And isn't it ironic that Obamacare, originally used by the GOP as a term of ridicule to describe what it accurately anticipated to be a failure and a detriment to affordable health care, was proudly adopted by the egomaniacal Obama. You see, Obama smirkingly thought that he would hang the GOP on its own petard because the name tag 'Obamacare' would insure that his indelible mark would forever be attached to his signature policy achievement. Well, in retrospect Obama probably wishes he'd have insisted on the original title 'Affordable Care Act'. 

One of the reasons for this blog is to express my interest and experiences in human behavior. Religion, history, and politics are always target rich environments. But Obama has taken conscious human behavior, completely lacking in empathy, "where no man has gone before".

FIASCOBAMA…

Albiwan..

WE HAVE TO LAUGH TO KEEP FROM CRYING

O is now a laughing stock to the late night funnymen and SNL who tell the truth with their humor, yet the libs deny the truth and continue to mindlessly follow O as if he were the pied piper.

The GOP’s idea to delay the personal mandate in the Affordable Care Act for a year is simple common sense because there are 1200 companies, organizations, and unions that have quietly, under the cover of the press, been granted waivers personally by Obama. So, why shouldn’t Obama give us, the people, a waiver as well?

The answer, Obama can’t give us a waiver from the mandate because it’s a tacit admission to the ignorant masses that swoon at the very sight of Obama that the ACA was poorly conceived, written, and forced into law prematurely by O and the Democrat Congress.

We can only imagine what the late night comics would do to him then. Sadly, their humor would fall under the category of "it would be really funny if it weren't so true."

Albiwan..

DID PUTIN REALLY SCHOOL OBAMA?

How ironic is it that finally, after 5 1/2 years of denying it, in his Tuesday night speech to the nation when President Obama actually said America is "exceptional" that Putin, Obama's new best buddy excoriated O for saying so? 

Putin, a trained KGB killer said...I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation... (spoken like a true socialist, but probably what Obama actually thinks)

...We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal... (this from Putin is unmitigated temerity, because if nothing else Putin is a godless politician...)

It appears as if Putin 'schooled' Obama, but in actuality that would  only be the case if you believe in socialism. 

Albiwan..

UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Unhappy one year Anniversary of the Administrations successful cover-up of Benghazi. 

Albiwan..

THE YOUTH OF AMERICA AT POLITICS

Last night (Sept 6th, 2013) Sean Hannity hosted a studio audience of twelve university students (six Democrats/six Republicans) to discuss the World's geopolitical affairs. The iconic NY Yankee manager Casey Stengel would refer to his team as "the youth of America at play." Well, last night Hannity introduced us to "the youth of America at politics", and it was a less than encouraging portent of things to come from their generation. 

The subjects covered ran the cable talk shows current gamut, US politics, immigration reform, federal taxation, Syria, US economy/national debt, Obama fiscal policy, Republican's anti-Obamacare stance, and more, surely a target rich enviornment for free thinkers. It just didn't happen, the thinking part. These twelve young people from top universities were obviously bright (although a few had difficulty expressing a thought) and had a pretty good understanding of the subject matter but the dissapointment for me was that there was nary an original thought from any of them. All of them spouted their respective party's talking points to a "T." Ignorance ran rampant with only one or two brief moments where common sense appeared but then quickly vanished. They were as if programmed robots. If this is the best we can extract from our finest universities expect the US to remain in its current rut of a slow growing economy, high unemployment, thirty year-olds living with their parents, struggling healthcare program, racial tension, immigration issues, deterioration of the country's moral, loss of World status, and continued political chaos. 

From what I watched, if these twelve are a true representation of our universities' product, shame on our universities for letting these young people down. Universities should not exist to program our youth, rather these young people should be taught/encouraged to think freely. I have written on many occasions that thinking is underrated. Those words so apply to Hannity's show last night. 

Hannity's twelve "youth of America at politics" did not deserve a passing grade.  

Albiwan.. 

"BALL OF CONFUSION"

"That's What The World Is Today"

It seems the burning question out there recently is 'does anyone know what Obama is attempting in his foreign policy?' I think the question should be 'Is it a foreign policy or a domestic political policy all about the appealing to the voters on the left?' Because by now it should be obvious to anyone with their eyes open that with all of Obama's actions he first asks himself the question "how will it affect the vote?" Regarding Syria he is now swinging from his own political petard. 

In his handling, actually, I should say mishandling of Syria the Prez has confused the Congress, our allies, you, me, and even the liberal media, which is finding it more and more difficult to cover for Obama's foreign policy blunders. You see, regarding Syria (and the Middle-East) all of the above are expecting a clearly defined foreign policy. But the only thing that is clear to me is that Obama's foreign policy has continually deteriorated since January 4th, 2009, the day of his Cairo speech entitled "New Beginnings", which was obviously politically bent to please the New York Times, the ABC, CBS and NBC TV networks news operations and their politically left leaning kumbaya readers/watchers. You remember the one, that much heralded by the media Cairo speech, Obama's coming out party, the eloquent but dumb speech that said the US was going to sit down and talk with terrorists nations who want to destroy us and our allies...the speech that apologized for Bush's mistakes and arrogance...the one in which Obama threw Israel under the bus. The liberals were cheering. But four years and eight months later the cheers are now silent, replaced by the quiet of faces masked with confused expressions.

At the time of Obama's post Bush era Cairo speech there was no doubt that America's popularity in the Muslim/Arab world was thought to be at a low point. But one should not confuse popularity with respect. You see, even though the US was unpopular it was still respected as the World leader because of our universally feared military power and our enemies believing President Bush, if provoked, would use it. 

Presently, as a result of Obama's "foreign policy" making it clear he will keep moving the "red line" backwards rather than defend it with military intervention, the US is no longer popular with our allies, which have come to expect strong leadership from the US, not Obama's "leading from behind." And in spite of the Cairo speech, the terrorist countries/Muslim extremists still hate us and want to kill us; and, because they no longer fear us militarily, they believe they can kill us or any others they choose, including their own people, with any methods they choose ( poison gas). Obama's "red line" has become a blurred line. Who'd have thought US standing in the World community could have come to this?

Thanks to Obama's feckless "lead from behind" foreign policy, which is no more than a domestic political ruse, the World is a leaderless Ball of Confusion. (Thank you Temptations.)

Albiwan..

"Out Front" of what?

1- Why did it take 24 hours from the start of the terrorist attack in 
    Benghazi to get US military on the ground and who was 
    responsible for the delay? A commercial airline could get there in
    nine hours.

2- Why did it take the FBI three weeks to get to the site of the
    terrorist attack, the US compound, when it took a CNN reporter
    only three days?

3- Why, after almost a year, were none of the 20 Benghazi
    compound personnel who were victims of the attack questioned? 

4- Why has the mainstream media avoided doing investigative
    reporting to tell the truth about Benghazi to the American people?

5- Why does the mainstream media refuse to call the 
    Administration's delaying tactics (two months prior to the 
    presidential election) related to Benghazi a cover-up?

6- Why hasn't the media focused on the Administration's 
    stonewalling the Congressional investigation?

7- Why does the mainstream media consistently provide cover for 
    Obama and his Administration? Does the media benefit by 
    keeping the public ignorant?


CNN promos led us to believe that, after a year of the mainstream media burying the lead, we were finally going to get the answers to our burning questions.

"Out Front's" Erin Burnett teased many of us into believing that she would do an honest expose of "Benghazi, What Really Happened?" and answer the unanswered (avoided?) questions. 

Unfortunately all Burnett did was continue to tease us and left us frustrated. She answered non of the questions and at the end of the broadcast we still do not know "...What Really Happened?" She concluded in one sentence, in the fifty-ninth minute of the hour long broadcast, that Politics trumped Patriotism. Big whoop. Zippy the Monkey knew that. When was the last time Patriotism came first in the narcissistic political mind?
Burnett's "report" first focussed on the time line of the attack, then the FBI and military non response, the "possibility" of the Administration covering up the truth of what happened prior to, during, and after the murders in the Benghazi compound, and then she drifted off onto the pursuit of those responsible for the attack and the investigation to get justice going nowhere after a year's time. She then did the obligatory brief "who were the four men killed" that night. 
Has it ever dawned on news reporters, certainly not Burnett, that we are upset that our federal government has failed us? That we might be most interested in who in the US Government were those responsible for this failure being allowed to occur? And why has nothing been concluded after almost one year's time? And to bring in Zippy again, even he knew it was a cover-up. Why in a year's time can't the Congress get this done and name names? Americans are suspicious of the 536 people who "run" the Federal Government; all Burnett's "Benghazi, What Really Happened?" accomplished was to raise CNN's paltry ratings. It did nothing to lower our suspicion of our politicians and very little to answer the unanswered questions about Benghazi that frustrate Americans. 

Albiwan..

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE...

A quick thought...

It is no coincidence that as Obama’s popularity wanes so do the ratings on MSNBC. (It’s particularly heartening to see Maddow fall; although remarkably bright, she is a conflicted, angry, and sometimes mean person.) I saw a clip yesterday of a Hollywood director who quit the Church of Scientology*. When asked why he quit the Church after so many years he answered, “...because I realized how stupid I had been accepting the teachings of the religion and I was embarrassed.” I think the same thing is happening to many Obama voters, albeit too little, too late to repair the damage caused by his radical, reckless policies and extremely poor, often times naïve, judgment. 

Albiwan..  

*footnote: I have no opinions about the Church of Scientology;
the reference above was simply an anecdotal tool.

IS IT EVER THE DEMOCRATS?

Here we go again...

I haven't written in months. Frankly, Obama's re-election slowed my motivation and, as usual, I have been bored and frustrated with the lack of journalistic integrity in the media that faithfully covers for the Administration's failures. Actually, that is understating how I really feel. The unabridged version is that I think the liberal media totally sucks for refusing to report the news, choosing instead to create the narrative, which is at the least, dishonest. The avoidance of the Benghazi attack on 9/11/12 was a new low from which I am still recovering emotionally.  

So, what was so irresistible to move me after seven months to sit down and write? Thank you New York Times. Today's Times led with Republicans In House Resist Overhaul for Immigration...those bad Republicans. The NYT could have led with 'Democrats in Senate Refuse to Enforce Existing Immigration Law' or ' Democrats in Senate Obstruct Immigration Reform by Passing a Bill WIth No Chance to Pass In the House,' but those headlines would have required objective reporting, which would cause the Times reporters (an oxymoron) and editorial staff to break out in hives...and we wouldn't want that, would we?

Previously (July 2, 2011) I wrote about Gray Lady Down, the book that chronicled the fall of the NYT, the once unquestioned standard for news journalism. It seems that with each passing day and with each new headline the Gray Lady's slip continues to fall yet embarrassingly lower.

Albiwan..