DHS Newspeak and National Security--Help Big Sis' Out

Mini-home malquoted doubleplusungood. Dayorder rectify goodthink for prolefeed bellyfull before Two Minute Hate.

There are times that it just seems apropos to use Newspeak from George Orwell’s seminal novel 1984 to cover the security issues in America, particularly regarding the Department of Homeland Security (Mini-home).

In the early days of the Obama Administration, Pentagon officials were warned not to refer to the Long War or the Global War on Terror but instead to bluster bureacratese “Overseas Contingency Operations”. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tried to avoid refering to 9/11 or terrorism but preferred such euphemisms as “Man made disasters.” The Obama Administration considered what Major Nidal Hasan in the 2009 Fort Hood shootings, where 13 people were killed and 29 injured was not homegrown terrorism or domestic jihad (despite the shooter screaming “Allahu Akbar”) but was a workplace violence incident.

 Alas, this “nuanced” approach is not limited to Newspeak...

  READ MORE at the DCBarroco website.

Discerning Civic Values--Chicago Style

 

After Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy dared to publically express support for the traditional definition of marriage of being one man and one woman, there has been a cacophonic chorus of progressive politicians condemning the chicken restaurant chain. ...

In fact, Chicago Mayor (and former Obama Administration Chief-of-Staff) Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) went so far as to say: "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”...

 

 

Francis Cardinal George, a native Chicagoan who just happens to be Archbishop of Chicago had some thoughts on this Chicago values test purported by Mr. Emanuel. READ MORE at the DCBarroco website

Richard Nixon on the Olympics

"Wimpy" Political Journalism

 The latest meme from the Obama Re-Election Campaign Lamestream Media stenographers is that presumptive Republican Presidential nominee former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) is a wimp.

Curious that such hard hitting "journalism" would not dare to ask Romney's eventual opponent if he is "thin skinned".

Wonder if the Jurassic Journalists do much more than dust off old Democrat playbooks at their partisan partner's bidding.

Antonin Scalia on Communications

Jesse Owens on Adversity

Reflections on the Restoring Love Rally

 

Tonight at a sold out Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Restoring Love Rally will take place. In the service component, 35,000 volunteers blanketed the Metroplex happily doing community service. Now they will celebrate freedom, personal responsibility and offering a helping hand to their neighbors.

Yet progressives who trumpet tolerance and diversity will dismiss the gathering sight unseen and denigrate it as an ego trip of a rodeo clown, a.k.a. Glenn Beck.

READ MORE at the DCBarroco website.

G.K. Chesterton on Love

Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Munich Olympics Massacre

Masked Black September terrorist holding hostages during 1972 Munich Summer Olympics

Forty years ago, the International Olympics movement was stained in blood by terrorism by by one day in September during the second week of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.  In the second week of the XX Summer Olympiad, a group of Palestinian terrorists known as Black September killed two Israeli athletes and took nine Olympians hostage.  None of the Israeli hostages returned home alive.

The terrorists demanded that the Israeli government release 234 prisoners. The Palestianian gunmen also demanded that the Federal Republic of Germany release two inmates from their prisons.  To prove their resolve, the Black September terrorists tossed the body of wrestling coach Weinberg out the door (although the coach had been killed during the Palestinian terrorists raid).  

Initially, the games continued during this terrorist hostage situation. Twelve hours after the hostages were taken, Munich Olympic officials suspended the games. Negotiators offered an unlimited amount of money or substituting high ranking Germans but the Palestinian terrorists reply reportedly was "money means nothing to us; our lives mean nothing to us."  

A small squad of German Police tried to slink into the Olympic Village dressed in Olympic sweatsuits and carrying sub-machine guns.  As the redeployed border guards took up positions, the media broadcast the scene, giving the terrorists real time tactical information.  In response, the terrorists threatened to kill two hostages and the police presence disappeared. 

[L] Kehart Schorr [R] Andre Spitzer held hostage

 During the two days of being held hostage, negotiators wanted to have direct contact with the hostages to prove that they were still alive.  Fencing coach Andre Spitzer and shooting coach Kehat Schorr briefly had a dialogue with German officials from the second floor balcony as the Palestinian abductors held guns on them. Spitzer was fluent in German so as he attempted to answer a question, he was clubbed with a butt of an AK-47 machine gun and was pulled away from the window. Shortly afterwards, the German Interior Minister and the Mayor of the Olympic Village briefly spoke with the abducted Olympic athletes.

German officials feigned agreement to demands and convinced the Palestinian terrorists to be evacuated at Fürstenfeldbruck NATO airbase. The German military had planned an ambush on the airplane but decided to abort without informing the whole team. The Black September terrorists broke their word as they took the German helicopter pilot hostage as the shuttled their Israeli hostages in staggered groups. When the two lead terrorists realized that it was a trap, they headed back towards the helicopter.  The snipers failed to fell the Black September leader and just grazed the other terrorist. In the ensuing chaos, five of the eight terrorists were killed, a West German policeman died in the firefight but the terrorists tossed a grenade in the helicopter killing the remaining bound Israelis.

During the five hour Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, they could not find one minute to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Munich Massacre.   Officially, International Olympic Committee Chief Jaques Rogge stated that a moment of silence  for the Munich Massacre: "[W]as not appropriate".  During the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the script was rewritten to commemorate the death of a luger the day of the Opening Ceremonies. What was more likely is that the IOC feared a boycott or withdrawal from the games by Arab countries.  The head of the Palestinian IOC team labeled the Munich Massacre minute of silence campaign as "racism".  


So many of those interested in the Olympics will enthuse about the Olympic ideals and international brotherhood.  The silence of the Olympic movement for not remembering the barbarism which stained the Olympic ideal speaks volumes.

Despite the fecklessness of the IOC and the London Olympics, the dignity of the murdered Israeli Olympians has not been forgotten, nor the barbarism of the terrorists. The silence of the international community shows the true character of the idealism of the Olympics. Moreover, the intolerance displayed by the Palestinian IOC is quite revealing to those who are willing to take off their rose colored glasses.

h/t: One Day In September

John Williams on the Olympics

John Williams conducting the Olympic orchestra for the 1996 Summer Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia USA.

 
 Although the quality of the video from John Williams conducting the Olympic Orchestra in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California USA is shaky, the composition and the choreography is magnificent.

Veep-stakes Zinger

[L] NBC anchor Brian Williams, [R] GOP nominee Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

When conducting an interview with presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) in London, NBC anchor asked a snarky question. Williams cited a Politico report of an anonymous Republican who opined that Romney was looking for “[A]n incredibly boring white guy.”



Romney responded in kind and noted that his Lamestream Media invigilator was unlikely to give up his anchor chair for the Vice-Presidency.  Zing.

That seemed to be an apropos answer for the silly season in the campaign coming from two sources of stenography for the Obama Administration.  Look for real details after the Olympics in the run up to the GOP convention in Tampa August 27̀-30th.

Glenn Beck on Virtue

Scoping Out the Holder Hypocrisy

This reductio ad absurdum seems right on target.

Sam Adams on Liberty

Gov. Control?

Holder on--we need some Fast and Furious government control.

h/t: Glenn McCoy

Showing Respect for America's Geopolitical Friends

Presumptive GOP Presidential nominee former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) gave a significant new foreign policy speech before the VFW national convention in Reno, Nevada.  Before flying overseas on a high profile trip as a Presidential candidate, Romney made some clear distinctions between incumbent President Barack Obama's tenure in foreign affairs and Romney's druthers. This was particularly evident in how America's friends in Poland and Israel have gotten the short shrift in the Obama administration. 

Vice President Joe Biden, a Natural Treasure, released a lengthy critique of the remarks which complained that Romney was stuck in a Cold War mentality.  Like stenographers for the White House, the Lamestream Media that chose to cover Romney's VFW speech dismissed the Republican candidate's foreign policy speech as being vacuous and short on details. 

Watch for yourself Mitt Romney's speech before the VFW and discern if it was all sizzle and no steak.

Voters will decide if a new Commander-in-Chief will respect America's allies or bow to pushing the reset button four years ago.

Obama 2012 Deficit Campaign Spending

Conventional wisdom is that a politician must govern different than he campaigns.  Despite his record number of fundraisers, the Obama 2012 campaign managed to spend more than they took in during June. Much to their chagrin,the alluvia of early ads in battleground states did not stimulate support for the incumbent.   This Obama re-election campaign might change the paradigm.

Unfortunately for Obama 2012 campaign contractors, the Federal government can print money (or engage in another round of  quantitative easing) to cover their spending indulgences but political campaigns do not have that magic ability.   They had better believe in Obama's new slogan "We are all in this together", because in the end that may be all the payoff that they get.

h/t: Bob Gorrell

Close the Forward Hatch POTUS!

Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) rushed out a response ad to the successful entrepreneur ad from the Romney campaign. But was the West Wing setting a violation of the law?

READ MORE  at the DCBarroco website

Homeless Vets?

For those suffering from PTSD, a little help is on the way. The Brothers of Charity, a Catholic Religious Order originating in Belgium but serving worldwide, is opening Redeemer House, a facility which will take a dozen homeless vets off the streets and give them a structured environment to revive and thrive.

 Alas for the millions of other veterans returning to America, tough times are ahead, with Obamanomic's Taxmaggedon and Sequestration threatening to take the US economy into a serious recession. The looming economic chasm makes the trench tactics of class warfare seem like folly while it endangers deployed servicemen and returning veterans.

 In just over 100 days, Americans have the opportunity to change the Commander-in-Chief. May we choose wisely.

 h/t: Gary Varvel

Iwo Jima Zelig

Well, maybe not as there were not roads and teachers to credit like in the Roanoke Obama campaign barnstorm speech.

Maybe the problem is not crediting the right hero.

Unboxing Popular Culture

Nerds can be willing to spend enormous amounts on kitschy tchotchke which seems to relive their fantasy obsessions from childhood. Think of the gaggle of geeks from the television sit-com “Big Bang Theory” where Shelton wanted to get his vintage Apple II signed by the great Woz. Or the prized mint-in-box Wesley Crusher Star Trek action figure from Will Wheaton. Or Shelton being tempted to play with the mint-in-box Star Trek Transformer Device by a hallucinated voice of Leonard Nimoy.  The value to collectors revolves around signatures and being pristine. Ironically, the obsession to be mint-in-box usually negates the pleasure of enjoying the item.

This phenomenon is not just a Hollywood exaggeration. Fan boys are fulminating over the auction of a rare Star Wars promotional poster.  The 1978 poster seems kind of silly, with the ‘Droids bedecked with philharmonic instruments to promote the Star Wars Symphonic Suite.  Even though the item is considered somewhat uncool because of the symphonic campiness, it is a rare piece of memorabilia AND it is signed by Star Wars creator George Lucas.  Therefore this geek grotesquerie will probably sell at auction for between $5,000 and $8,000.

Rather than ridicule the Star Wars Symphonic Suite as an unopened package for being cute yet conventional marketing, I suggest enjoying the symphonic suite composed by John Williams.  It is a contemporary classical piece that resonates in the popular culture.







It is certainly has more class than "Nick Winters, the Lounge Lizard" (a.k.a. Billy Murray) and his Lounge Medley from Saturday Night Live.

Leonard Nimoy on Virtue

Got Jobs Council?

Recently, Etan Patz, the first missing child whose portrait was put on a milk carton, was found after 33 years. Alas, Patz had been quickly murdered and buried under concrete by Pedro Hernandez shortly after the then six year old went missing in 1979.

Hope that it doesn't take that long for Obama's Job Council to be found.  It might be prudent to check the area where the Obama Administration buried their Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Report.

Maybe we can submit a tip that the remains are buried near a golf course.



 Same as it ever was from this crew of the Talking Feds (sic).

 h/t: GOP.com
       Right Change

Entrepreneurial Campaign Pivot Points

After Democrat Presidential nominee President Barack Obama (R-IL) making his infamous remarks in Roanoke about successful American businessmen requiring the collective help to succeed, entrepreneurship suddenly became a campaign pivot point.

Prospective GOP Presidential Nominee Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) crafted a campaign ad which contrasted the words from Mr. Obama with a couple of real world examples of small businessmen. 

The Obama 2012 Re-Election campaign has dumped nearly $100 million in early television advertising to blanket battleground states with Obama friendly campaign themes.  Yet despite these expenditures, Obama's lead has not moved Forward (sic), in fact the gap has narrowed in swing states. 

To shake things up, the Obama for America campaign launched the "Firms" ad which marries candidate Romney's enthusiastic but off key rendition of "America the Beautiful" with a litany of scurrilous implication about Romney's firm shipping jobs overseas (but after he left to save the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics) as well as foreign investments (in his blind trust).

Some may find it funny when a politico gets caught in off mike moments. It can happen even to storied politicians like 2008 Democrat Presidential candidate (now Obama's Secretary of State) former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was caught tunelessly singing the National Anthem. Sometimes, like during Obama's hot mike comments to Russian Federation Vice President Dmitri Medvedev, it can be quite telling, especially during a campaign season.  I have heard the "Firms" ad more than I have seen it, but the sound calls to mind what some would call a hokey patriotism of candidate Romney.  This is in stark contrast to Mr. Obama, who  does not reliably honor the flag.  But that an opinion of a voter whose mind was made up long ago.

All in all, which candidate is giving voters the business?  

Bob Marley on Adversity

Shackled Capitalism

Someone had no business for sharing such intellectual capital on the campaign trail.

These comments from the campaign trail in Roanoke, Virginia might explain why his opponent, Mitt Romney, is using this apparel as a marketing and fundraising promotion.

h/t: A.F. Branco

Atheists Take Umbrage at Obama's Movie Massacre Prayer

Just hours after to the Midnight Movie Massacre in Aurora, Colorado, President Barack Obama recast his re-election campaign rally into a more somber public appearance. Mr. Obama encourage Americans to put aside politics as he called for a day of prayer and reflection.

President Obama concluded his remarks in Fort Myers Florida with a brief prayer: “May the Lord bring them comfort and healing in hard days to come.” These temperate remarks to the grieving American public trying to process the 12 people murdered along with 71 others shot seemed quite Presidential.

Unfortunately, atheists expressed at Mr. Obama’s attempts to offer spiritual succor to the nation.

READ MORE at the DCBarroco website

Campaign Show and Tell

Or would it be preferable to play "Truth or Dare"?

h/t: Bob Gorell

Ralph Waldo Emerson on Virtue

Electoral American Graffiti?

Where were you in 2012?

h/t: Steven Breen

Antonio Machado on Raison d'etre

Henry Ford on Success

Contrary to Mr. Obama's observation on the campaign trail, credit is NOT given to government.

Attitude and Orthography Matter in Elections

When President Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, had a record that included recovering from a stagflation recession of the Carter era and the shock to implementing Reaganomics, as well as a nation which was chary about leadership in international affairs.

In response, the Reagan re-election campaign released the classic political ad “Morning in America”.  This optimistic ad celebrates the joys of ordinary individuals living the American Dream.




Twenty six years later, President Barack Obama had put his footprint on the American government by wildly spending through an $837 Porkulus that did not stimulate any discernable Keynesian economic growth and an administration which groveled before the international community for perceived wrongs and leveling the playing field.

Citizens for the Republic, the conservative Political Action Group founded by Ronald Reagan in 1977, released “Mourning in America”, a mid-term election spot which reframed the national plight during the age of Obama. The “Mourning in America” ad illustrates how the heavy hand of government can transform the  American Dream of into the American Nightmare for the average American.



Orthography and attitude do matter.  I prefer the sunny optomism espoused in Reagan’s City on a Hill speech compared to the envious class warfare rhetoric which candidate Obama released in Roanoke, Virginia.



Clearly, Mr. Obama buys into Massachusetts Democrat Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's  native wisdom on how the collective contribution of society allows some individuals to excel. This tempestuous take on the American Dream seems like a petulant American Day Dream of have nots enviously eyeing the achievements of the successful.

Should we choose “Morning in America” or ought we elect to continue “Mourning in America”?

h/t: Mark Levin
      Republican-Elephant

Is Obamanomics More Like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Evel Knievel?

More spectacular than jumping the Snake River Canyon, there are the Fiscal Cliffs. Next stop, the Cliffs of Insanity!

READ MORE at the DCBarroco website

Dale Carnegie on Character

Thomas Paine on Reason

Regrets, BHO Has a Few

Dean Martin on Life

Outsourcerer in Chief

To conjure a reference from the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter: "Protego Horribilis".

Mark Twain on Truth

Biden's Bluster at the NAACP

Vice President Joe Biden addressed the NAACP at their annual convention in Houston on behalf of his boss, President Barack Obama. Mr. Obama excused his absence at the NAACP convention due to a scheduling conflict, but CNN reports that aside from his normal closed door meetings and an interview with Charlie Rose, there is nothing else on the President’s schedule. But the Democrat Presidential candidate tried to redeem himself by a video greeting where Obama announced that “I stand on your shoulders.”...
Amazingly enough there was plenty of empty seats for our National Treasure's NAACP stand up routine. Organizers excused the sea of empty seats due to a torrential rain storm in Houston. As for excuse, it calls to mind the bromide “Any port in a storm.”
Pity, as they missed a speech with political pandering, playing the race card, some interesting shout outs and of course some Biden's blunders.
READ MORE at the DCBarroco website

Admiring the Exposed Super-Egos in the Texas Voter ID Case

 

Victoria Rose Rodriguez is an 18 year old from San Antonio who is worried that the Texas Voter ID law would disenfranchise her.  So the Eric Holder led Department of Justice used the Texas teen to testify in Washington DC courtroom as a poster child to nullify Texas’s efforts to prevent voter fraud by demanding state issued identification before going to the ballot box.

In March, the Department of Justice blocked implementation of this Texas Voter ID Law as a violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act.  A three judge panel in Washington, DC is adjudicating the case.  Ms. Rodriguez’s testimony came at the end of the second day of testimony and clearly was an attempt by the Department of Justice to put a sympathetic human face to their case.  Attorney General Holder notes that only 8% of whites lack ID cards but that the statistic skyrockets to 25% for minorities.

READ MORE at the DCBarroco website

Albert Einstein on Life

Jay Z Inspired Faux Obama Rap

Jay Z with Obama in the background

During the dog days of summer, it is a good time to enjoy some non-polemic political parody before the full throes of the Presidential campaign.

This video by Iman Crosson (a.k.a. Alphacat) filks Jay Z's rap 99 Problems.

Methinks the protagonist protests too much. And it clearly is not authentic as the first person singular is not used enough during the rap.

Apologies to Jay Z.  For that matter, apologies for Jay Z.

Does Hope Have You Covered?

Sir Francis Bacon famously wrote that "Hope is a good breakfast but it is a bad supper."

 Since we have seen that Hope is not bringing home the bacon for America, it might be time for a positive Change in the White House.

h/t: Glenn McCoy

Dreams from Mitt Romney's Father

[2nd from L.] Gov. George Romney (R-MI) walking in MLK inspired Freedom March in Grosse Pointe, MI June 29, 1963

On the campaign stump, presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) will echo this pearl of wisdom from his father.

The photo shows newly elected Governor George Romney (R-MI) risking his political capital to participate in a Martin Luther King inspired Freedom March in his tony home town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the summer of 1963. This was not a one off photo op. Romney's father did not support 1964 GOP nominee Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) because of his civil rights position and earned the Michigan Governor vituperative hate mail.

This axiom paired with George Romney's example supporting civil rights is particularly poignant considering the early 2012 campaign meme smearing the Latter Day Saints' faith for not permitting blacks to be ordained as priests until 1978 to give the impression that Mormonism was tarred by racism.

Mitt, George & Lenore Romney, 1962
photo: AP

People should not choose Presidents for their pedigrees but for their proven accomplishments along with their policy aspirations. But much of President Obama's appeal has been on his biography while surrogates in the campaign and the media trash Mitt Romney's C.V. This notable quotable should shed light on the dreams of Mitt Romney's father which informs his son.