Congress to Investigate IRS Scandal Number 3

I posted on this case when the story first broke. The story involves a California health insurance company that was raided by the IRS and the health files of 10,000,000 Americans were unlawfully seized. This includes, according to the complaint which you may read here, "the medical records of every state
judge in California, every state court employee in California, leading and politically controversial members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild, and prominent citizens in the world of entertainment, business and government, from all walks of life."
This case has not drawn much national media attention but perhaps that is about to change. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service acting chief Daniel Werfel requesting information about the seizure. The committee leaders asked Werfel to respond to the letter by Tuesday, June 25. This will bring to 3 the number of House committees investigating the IRS in addition to the Senate Finance Committee.
Reading the details of the case in the complaint engenders, aside from outrage, real and genuine embarrassment that the government would hire individuals so overbearingly arrogant and incredibly stupid. Did anyone in the IRS think the company was just going to forget the 10 million personal medical records it needs to do business? Why were 15 armed agents sent? Why did the IRS take medical records which are protected from seizure by federal law? The IRS was investigating a former employee of the company and the medical records were not germane to the investigation. Quoting from the complaint;

No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the
seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known
criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS
search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of
the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these
privileged records. The IRS agents ignored and discarded each of these warnings, ignored their
own published and public-reliant rules and governing ethical requirements, and ignored the
limitations of the court’s search warrant authorization, seizing the records under threat of
destroying company property.

Regarding the honest, hard working, and dedicated public servants of the IRS we have heard so much about from Democratic Senators and Representatives but have yet to see for ourselves these sections of the complaint paint a different picture.

Adding insult to injury, after unlawfully seizing the records and searching their intimate
parts, Defendants decided to use John Doe Company’s media system to watch basketball, ordering pizza and Coca-Cola, to take in part of the NCAA tournament, illustrating their complete disregard of the court’s order and the Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights.

Then there is the employee of the month described here:

A special agent involved in the matter has a known and legally documented history of
misconduct, ethical breaches, and criminal activity, including, but not limited to, making
false statements to a grand jury, making false statements to prospective witnesses in his
investigations, misleading prospective witnesses about their rights in his investigations,
obstructing independent investigations into his conduct or the matter at hand, disclosing
  without authorization grand jury secret material in violation and contempt of federal court orders, invading and abusing search warrants and subpoenas for privileged information, including patient privileged information, attorney-client privileged records, and marital privileged information. 

The irony of this case is that under Obamacare the IRS will be responsible for maintaining confidential insurance medical records. What could possibly go wrong?

IRS Busted For Stealing 10,000,000 Medical Records

Maybe the IRS agent were just trying to get a jump on Obamacare when they seized the health records of 10,000,000 Californians including those of every state court judge. Worse yet they exhibited rude and arrogant behavior while carting off the confidential medical records without a warrant.

To top it off, the IRS agents were rude, childish and arrogant, the complaint states:
"Adding insult to injury, after unlawfully seizing the records and searching their intimate parts, defendants decided to use John Doe Company's media system to watch basketball, ordering pizza and Coca-Cola, to take in part of the NCAA tournament, illustrating their complete disregard of the court's order and the Plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment rights.

The agents were processing a seizure of documents of an employee of the unnamed plaintiff and had no authority to seize company property nor the personal records of the 10,000,000 third party victims.

"Despite knowing that these medical records were not within the scope of the warrant, defendants threatened to 'rip' the servers containing the medical data out of the building if IT personnel would not voluntarily hand them over. Moreover, even though defendants knew that the records they were seizing were not included within the scope of the search warrant, the defendants nonetheless searched and seized the records without making any attempt to segregate the files from those that could possibly be related to the search warrant. In fact, no effort was made at all to even try maintaining the illusion of legitimacy and legality.

And the records were very confidential.

"These medical records contained intimate and private information of more than 10,000,000 Americans, information that by its nature includes information about treatment for any kind of medical concern, including psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual or drug treatment, and a wide range of medical matters covering the most intimate and private of concerns," the complaint states.

The class action seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages "per violation per individual" and punitive damages for constitutional violations which if we do the math means the IRS could be on the hook for $250 billion. Try to get that from Congress.
More.

If You Voted For Obama In 2008, You Were A Dupe But if You Voted For Him In 2012...

Note: I composed the following on election day but left Facebook before posting it.

I never thought I would see this day. America has been ravaged from within. I am Charlton Heston screaming at the Statue of Liberty. It would not be a nuclear war that would destroy America. Rather, it would be an economic Armageddon that would spell our demise. It is suicide on the installment plan but it is suicide nonetheless.

Barack Obama might be the only president who hated America. And hate America he does. He hates American traditions and customs. He hates the US Constitution and he hates all Americans who cannot be used as political pawns.

I am not footnoting Obama's overt acts of hostility at this stage of the game. Yes, I advocate for rational discourse but this rant is directed to people indifferent or even hostile to the very premise of fact. If one practices deliberate, intentional, willful blindness as a preferred lifestyle then I can't be bothered to line up the ducks for you.

Oh, but Obama is hostile to America, make no doubt about it. Dinesh D'Souza wrote a book and filmed a documentary wherein he attributes Obama's overt malice for America to his embracing of anti-colonialism. I know. I know. I know. You are dismissive of D'Souza and can't be bothered with anything he might utter. Yours is the politically correct cannon and D'Souza has been indexed several times over.

But consider this. What other president could create an entire industry based on speculation as to the intellectual basis of his anti-Americanism? The what had long been established. The why has always been mystifying. Millions of us turned out at the theaters in a desperate attempt to answer the questions, who is this unvetted president and why does he hate us so?

I don't understand self-hating Americans but I recognize that they have always been with us. America was good to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. There was certainly less anti-Semitism here than in the Soviet Union.

America was good to Lee Harvey Oswald. America was good to Major Hasan. America was good to Anwar al-Awlaki. But why does a man who takes two jets on vacation at taxpayer expense still have a chip on his shoulder and invites his followers to vote out of revenge?

If you voted for Obama in 2008 you were a dupe. If you voted for Obama in 2012 you are a traitor. America is $16 trillion in debt and the meter is running. That is roughly $50,000 per person or $100,000 per taxpayer, not including off-budget expenses.

Romney was the vastly superior candidate if only because he acknowledged the existence of a problem. When Obama revealed to David Letterman that he didn't know how big the national debt happened to be, I don't know what was more depressing: The fact that the President of the United States displayed his abject ignorance of the country's fate or that he did so on "Late Night With David Letterman."

The Democrats seized control of both houses of Congress in 2006 and shortly thereafter our debt skyrocketed. If such things matter, the Republicans of that era can make the claim that they were the lesser of two evils. George Bush and Rick Santorum and Tom Delay had sent us putt-putting towards the fiscal cliff. The Democrats took control and threw a brick on the accelerator. What do we have to shown for this doubling of national debt? The world's best rail system? A doubling of med schools and hospitals? A revamped infrastructure? Colonies on the moon? No. We have nothing to show for our spending spree. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!

You have underestimated the catastrophic nature of fiscal collapse. You have ignored the social ramifications of an economic tsunami. The so-called meltdown of 2008 will be a night in a pub by comparison.

We should be hesitant to inject Hitler into any conversation but that demagogue would never have been able to hijack a great country had it not been for a preceding currency crisis. Swastikas now fly in Greece and it is estimated that 25 % of Greek citizens have allied themselves with the Neo-Nazis (And Greece was fortunate to be bailed out by France and Germany. If we go down, there is no one big enough to bail us out.)

The Neo-Nazis of Greece seem to be as woefully ignorant of economic principles as our own Occupy Wall Street crowd. But both groups understand finger-pointing and scapegoating and blame. "There is nothing so frightful as ignorance in action." You have witnessed the ignorance. Brace yourself for the action.

Obama possibly, nay probably, wants to oversee economic collapse. Tyrants have never known how to make countries rich but they certainly know how to make countries poor. The gulf between rich and poor will be bridged. Social justice achieved.

We will all look silly having spent our years arguing over budgets when there is nothing left to budget. Dollars to Medicaid or Medicare? Neither. Who should receive food stamps? Doesn't matter. Guns or butter? Neither. Social Security or sewers or VA hospitals? None of the above. All gone.

Will you remember how charming Obama was on "The View" when gas is five dollars a gallon? Will you remember how cutesie pie he happened to be on Jimmy Fallon when you stand in line for gas? Will you think of Oprah or Ashton or Demi when there is no heat for your home? Thank goodness we will have fond memories to get us through our troubled times.

There were plenty of reasons to reject Obama. To review a few of them:

1. Gross incompetence.

2. Obama's ongoing expressions of Anti-Americanism.

3. Obama's lust for power.

4. Obama's abuse of power.

5. Widespread corruption.

6. The constant promotion of hate and rancor especially the false charges of racism directed at anyone who dares to criticize the One.

7. Obama's unending arrogance.

8. Superficiality over substance.

9. The practice of chronic duplicity and dishonesty such as this country has never before witnessed.

10. A disturbed and disturbing personality.

Once more, I am not foot-noting my assertions for those of you who have taken a vow of willful blindness. Some of the most disturbing information about Barack Hussein Obama has been available since 2007, if not earlier. No need to interrupt your ignorant bliss at this juncture.

A few quick comments:

Gross incompetence! Do I have to elaborate? Unemployment. Gas prices. Weak dollar. Probable energy shortages. Benghazi. Fast and Furious. A significantly less stable Middle East. Oh, and of course, trillions of dollars in new debt and nothing to show for it. But other than that...

Obama's abuse of power: The IRS was used to harass nascent Tea Party groups. Ministers were threatened with loss of tax-exempt status. The Catholic Church was told they could not live their faith. Romney contributors were threatened by Department of Justice. An idiot filmmaker is detained and scapegoated for the Administration's dereliction of duty. Gallup Polling is attacked by the DOJ after publishing less than favorable results about the incumbent. The tip of the iceberg!

Widespread corruption: The word nixonian might come to mean virtuous by comparison. I will reduce this encyclopedia of material to one case. In return for lucrative government contracts and no corporate taxation, General Electric serves up NBC, MSNBC, Telemundo, The Weather Channel and much, much more to promote the Obama agenda. Whatever else one might say about Fox News or EIB Network, they are not dependent on graft for their survival. Somewhere, Spiro is smiling.

The constant promotion of hate and rancor: Let me address the members of the audience who do not hate anyone or anything. The self-righteous citizens who do not even hate hate. You, Mr. and Mrs. Sanctimonious, have placed your imprimatur on a quarter billion dollar hate campaign directed at an undeserving target. Mitt Romney is an incredibly decent man. The Obama Administration has labeled Romney a murderer, a felon, a tax cheat and a misogynist. He was never any of those things and you know it. But we live in a post-fact era. Truth and falsehood are outdated concepts. Social standing and celebrity friendships. Those are what matter. Oh and by the way, Mr. and Mrs. We Don't Even Know How To Hate, what is more hateful than the wrongful accusation of racism? This sleazy president has played the race card constantly on matters as unrelated to race as say, Cash for Clunkers. What does it say about the character of a man who plays the race card every time he is faced with legitimate criticism? What does it say that he uses his proxies to spew his hate speech? You tell me.

Chronic duplicity and dishonesty: It is the Obama Administration's strategy to carpet bomb us with falsehood. It takes longer to refute a falsehood than to advance a falsehood. And with the major news networks in a subservient role to the administration, most of the lies go unchecked.

So let us examine just one bold-faced lie that the major media refused to examine. Warren Buffet does not want to pay more taxes! If he wanted to pay more taxes, he would have done so. In fact, Berkshire Hathaway owes Uncle Sam a little over $1 billion. Buffet participated in Obama's puppet show in hopes of gaining a favorable settlement. Should this be filed in the corruption file or the chronic duplicity file?

The president has revealed himself to be a pathological liar. But let us look past the volume of lies and the constancy of lies and examine the audacity of just one lie. To advance his own political agenda, Barack Hussein Obama created a fairy tale of his mother dying of cancer at the hands of greedy insurance barons. Yes, I am a bit old-fashioned but I can remember when pimping one's own mother was frowned upon in some social circles. Times change, I guess.

Now, let me break some bad news to you. Your president has a few problems. In clinical terms, he isn't playing with a full deck of cards. He does not have all of his oars in the water. He is a few French Fries shy of a Happy Meal. You don't know what I am talking about? Do your own damn research. You refused to look at the man behind the curtain. Let your wizard offer you some consolation!

"Oh but I voted for Obama because I am a liberal." No. I am a liberal. You are a fascist. The LaRouchians got this one right. The president has never met an industry he does not want to control. There is no sector off-limits with this guy. He even wants your medical records. His gross preferential treatment for the politically-connected tips the sphere of influence in every aspect of American life. And the president has surrounded himself with control freaks and micro managers unified by a contempt for the average American. Liberalism is dead. Rest in peace.

"But we have always tolerated our political differences." Yes, but these are not mere political differences. We are on the cusp of totalitarianism. Economic collapse is the brightest object on the horizon. The resulting social upheaval will be dark by any standards. Bad things are ahead for America and consequently, for the whole world. I blame you.

You chose a course of conscious, intentional, willful blindness. It does not matter what evidence is presented if you refuse to examine the evidence. You were derelict of duty not just as a citizen, but as a human being as well.

You put your party before your country. Your mind is so twisted with hate for conservatives or Christians, or Republicans, or Tea Partiers or anyone who does not validate your prejudices, that you are willing to destroy your country to spite your enemies.

I think I might have lived too long. All over the world, America's enemies celebrate Obama's victory. Obama won. USA lost. I am leaving Facebook because I can't stand to see my own family cheer the demise of our country. I can't stand to see my own friends spike the football in America's end zone. I wish I had not seen this day.

Bye bye friends.

Let us hope for change.

Revisiting The Personality Of Barack Obama

The Personality Of Barack Hussein Obama

Grandeur:

Barack Hussein Obama is an exotic personality. We tend to think of successful people as having large scale personalities and that is often the case. That is, they are much like us but their drives are stronger, their endurance greater, their will power unwavering. In the words of Scrooge McDuck, they think a little faster and jump a little quicker.

Barack Obama's personality is a radical departure from that template. If there is but one word to define our forty fourth president, that word would be grandiose. A man who cultivates his own deification is a dangerous man.

Let us just skip the self-comparisons to Mandela and Gandhi and self-rating his administration no worse than fourth ('with the possible exception of Lincoln, FDR, LBJ) on foreign policy and legislative achievements. And let us just ignore the underachieving lawyer who held the lofty position of community organizer writing an autobiography (the material discrepancies are addressed elsewhere) and let us forget that Candidate Obama readily played the role of the embodiment of “Hope” and adopted the word as an uncopyrighted logo.

John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all liked to be the center of attention. They loved the spotlight but at no time did they promote worship of themselves. No halos or fainting damsels for these men. Had their handlers tried to elevate them to objects of worship, the aforementioned would have rejected it. Efforts to encourage religious devotion would probably embarrass them as it would most normal personalities, even personalities who seek attention.

The deliberate promotion of self-deification separates Barack Obama from every other president as well as most public figures. The president's personality is similar to that of a religious cult leader such as Jim Jones or David Koresh. If that assessment seems too harsh, ask yourself this: Dating back to the age of Constantine, what Western Civilization public figure would request that references to Christ be shrouded prior to his arrival? Can you name even one?

That is exactly what Barack Obama did in April 2009 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. “IHS” the ancient symbol for Jesus was covered, prior to the new president's arrival. Sadly, the faux Catholics at Georgetown complied with the White House's request.

At the time many of us saw this as the president's first gaffe. In retrospect, the obliteration was no blunder, it was much more sinister than that. It was part of Barack Obama's ongoing effort to cultivate his worship. There was only room for one deity on stage and we know who that happened to be. His followers shall have no gods before him.

Incidentally, the news media only reported this story after it was volleyed around the blogosphere and radio host Michael Savage reported on it. Reluctantly, a few members of the Fourth Estate stuck their toes in the water and offered some lame excuses for their preferred deity.

Barack Obama profoundly believes that his very essence is more significant than his actions. Sadly, he sold this belief to his followers. June 3, 2008 following an Obama victory in the Democratic primaries: “ this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” Barack said it. They believe it. That settles it.

Barack Obama, as well as his followers, believes that his presence in the White House will somehow improve America's standing in the world. Obama believes he projects irresistible charm and of course the Arabs, the Russians, the Iranians and the Chinese would all revel in his unending brilliance.

Barack Obama believes that actions similar to those taken by his predecessor might yield vastly different results. George W. Bush spent money recklessly. (“Two wars on a credit card” repeated ad nauseum). Obama sincerely believes that he is metaphysically different from Bush and other mortals as well. Obama's profligacy would--he believes-- yield prosperity and balance budgets. Most of America bought this perspective as well.

Clinically speaking, I don't think this guy has all of his oars in the water.

Malignant Narcissism

Let me state that I am reluctant to pin clinical diagnoses on other people. Having worked in the mental health field, I can tell you that clinical diagnoses can be judgmental, imprecise and at times downright fictitious. I have seen psychiatric evaluations performed on the same patient by different evaluators in a short time frame yield vastly different conclusions. I have seen clinicians who fixate on a single diagnosis and assign that diagnosis to just about everyone they meet (This is especially true of clinicians who have undergone drug or alcohol treatment and thereafter see most of humanity as addicts and alcoholics in various states of denial). I have seen patients rubber-stamped with anxiety or depression to expedite the process and allow the writer to sooner punch the clock.

Clinical terms are often trendy. OCD, ADD, or bipolar disorder is featured in the news and the ailment de jour arrives in clusters. For better or worse, the hottest, trendiest diagnosis is narcissism. It was featured on “Dr. Phil” and “Coast to Coast” radio, a show that usually deals with UFO's and Sasquatch sightings. I personally know a clinician who pins the “N” word on every patient who is anti-social. It's the fashion, man. Get with it.

So I am hesitant to apply clinical terms to others and I am especially hesitant to label anyone a narcissist. With those disclaimers out of the way, let me state unequivocally that Barack Hussein Obama is a textbook narcissist. This is not my diagnosis. I am citing Samuel Vaknin on this matter. 

Vaknin is not a mental health professional but he is a self-professed narcissist. He is one of the most prolific writers on the subject and he was way ahead of the curve in identifying this disorder. As one who spends forty hours a week with mental health professionals, I trust Vaknin's analysis more than I trust the opinions of degreed people.

Vaknin identifies seven characteristics of narcissists that can be found in Barack Obama:

1. Magical thinking. We have already touched on this. Barack Obama seems to believe that his presence determines outcomes more than his actions. Unfortunately, this delusion is reinforced by his ardent followers. Barack Obama's worldview is one of perceptions, not of substance. In his mind, the message is all. If the Affordable Care Act seems unworkable, get the right people—pop stars and athletes—to sell its merits. Bring a bunch of doctors to the Rose Garden and hand out lab coats. Problem solved.
2. Imperturbability. I part company with Vaknin on this one. Yes, the president is described as cool, aloof and detached but he is quick to show disgust. He might not pound the table but he did scratch his chin with his middle finger as Hillary Clinton talked. He quietly but visibly seethed when Paul Ryan challenged him on the premise of national health care and later when Benjamin Netanyahu told him that Israel had no intention of returning to their 1967 borders.
3. Pronoun density. According to Vaknin the average person uses I, me, myself 15-20% of the time. Barack Obama uses those pronouns 70% of the time. This might need some clarification but Vaknin is not alone in recognizing this habit. According to The National Journal December 22, 2012, “ President Barack Obama used the funeral for Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye to talk about himself. In the short 1,600 word speech, Obama used the word "my" 21 times, "me" 12 times, and "I" 30 times.”
4. Barack Obama sees people as unimportant props in his own movie. In Vaknin's words, the narcissist sees people as “cardboard cutouts” or “non-people.” Obama has no sense of empathy. This is ironic because when asked which politician cares more about people like them, would-be voters overwhelmingly chose Obama over his opponent.
5. Barack Obama displays a false modesty that masks haughtiness.
6. Barack Obama likes to play the eternal adolescent.

Additionally, narcissists believe they are omniscient and infallible. You are either one hundred per cent with them or you are against them. The slightest disagreement will result in conflict. Perhaps most importantly, when they go down, they take everyone with them.

Chronic Dishonesty.

Barack Hussein Obama is a tightly-woven gestalt. It is hard to say where one facet ends and another begins. He is a chronically dishonest human being. With that said, if one lies boldly and frequently, knowing that he will probably be called on it later, one has to wonder if that person can distinguish fact from fantasy.

When a political figure who seeks the White House writes an autobiography with at least thirty-seven “material discrepancies”, he has to expect to get caught. Nope. Getting caught never even slowed down Barack Obama. No embarrassment. No shame. Move on. Re-message.

Barack Obama repeatedly stated that people could keep their preferred doctor under the Affordable Care Act. How many times did he repeat this falsehood? That question was posed at various message boards including “Yahoo Answers.” There is no consensus but someone said “about twenty.” A YouTube montage has the president saying this seventeen times. "Tampa Bay Times" recently listed 37 retellings of this modern myth but they include White House web postings and statements by other White House administrators. The president also made false claims that ACA would result in lower premiums and lower overall costs.

It would be no exaggeration to say that it would take hundreds, if not thousands, of pages to chronicle Barack Obama's falsehoods. Factor in broken campaign promises or the sliding scale of honesty we allow politicians (“The failed policies of George Bush” Specifically which policies?) the misquoting or misstating of his rivals' positions, pulling numbers out of thin air and the accumulation of deceitful practices is overwhelming. With an obsequious press unwilling to call their beloved leader on his chronic deception, we have become a Land of Babble. Nothing is believable and everything is believable. It's all the same.

A few quick highlights of Obama's ongoing efforts to deceive.

1. Operation Fast and Furious. Complementing the president's positive falsehoods are his administrations efforts to obstruct, distract and impede. The Obama Department of Justice successfully stonewalled a Congressional investigation. Give an assist to the president for extending Executive Privilege to his Attorney General for matters that clearly did not involve Executive Privilege.
2. Benghazi. Falling back on the repeated success of a deliberate, outlandish lie, the entire administration advanced the idea that the attack on the Benghazi, Libya consulate on September 11, 2012 was the result of a demonstration against a not-much-viewed YouTube video that insulted Islam. A spontaneous protest that got out of hand is more politically palatable than an Al Qaeda terrorist attack.

3. The IRS Scandals. Lost and broken hard drives, private emails, foggy memories, the Fifth Amendment, a promised FBI probe that never got off the ground and a president who goes on television to announce “there is not a smidgen of corruption” at the IRS as his Justice Department conducts a non-investigation.

4. Voter ID. The Obama Administration fought states' effort to require a photo ID prior to voting. Every position is arguable except perhaps this one. There is but one reason to fight the integrity of the electoral system and that is to allow and institutionalize widespread cheating.

Yes, politicians and fishermen are notorious for their outrageous claims. Is Barack Obama less honest than other politicians? Yes, absolutely. What is different about Barack Obama is that the fawning press has downplayed, excused, covered and even facilitated their cult leader's falsehoods. It is all about the worship.

I could pile on but you get the point. A web search of “Obama's top lies” will get you hundreds of sites. No, they do not all repeat themselves. Obamalies.net provides a greatest hits, of sorts.

Three personal favorites. One, Obama stating that the new administration had no idea how bad the country's financial situation was until they took office. This was a fairy tale to appeal to idiots who believe that George Bush kept a set of secret books under his bed and a key to a giant vault. The country's finances are a matter of public record and a sitting Senator can get just about any financial information he wants with a wave of his hand.

Two, the false biography. I never put a lot of stock in that Kenya birth certificate thing (but the administration and the loyalists in the press actually kept the subject alive.) When a middle-aged man takes a much younger wife, he usually does not bring her home to meet his original family. Even if such practices were common, I doubt if most late stage pregnant women would want to fly to Kenya during the 1960's. I believe Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

It would be revealed that a young Barack Obama would solicit the services of the literary agency, Acton & Dystel in 1991. The agency would circulate brief biographies of their clientele, usually about four sentences long. “Barack Obama, the first African-American President of Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii...” Ooops!

Jay Acton and Jayne Dystel have refused to answer questions about Barack Obama, as has former staff biography editor, Miriam Goderich. Of course, the Cult of Obama members employed in the Fourth Estate did not try all that hard to unravel this mystery. Could it have been a simple miscommunication?

The United Kingdom's “Daily Mail” reports that Acton and Dystell maintained the “born in Kenya” assertion about the junior Senator from Illinois on their website as recently as 2007. If there was an original miscommunication, it would probably have been corrected over sixteen years of updates. As with the “material discrepancies” in “Dreams From My Father,” the Barack Obama persona was subject to revision to better suit audience preference.

The loyalists screamed “Foul!” at the slanderous Birthers. Obama sycophant David Gregory ambushed both Michele Bachmann and John Boehner with Birther questions, even though neither of them had ever broached the subject. Of course there would be allegations of racism leveled against anyone who questioned the official version of the nativity.

Yes, the born in Kenya rumor was one big lie. Ironically or not, the lie seems to have originated from the lips of Barack Obama. Barack Obama is the real father of the Birther Movement.

Perhaps there are more sensational lies but one oft-repeated Obama lie carries the day for its pure unadulterated sleaze. Drum roll, please. The number one lie spread by Barack Obama is the oft-repeated fable that his mother died at the hands of greedy insurance barons.

Barack Obama used that much-repeated falsehood to sell his Affordable Care Act. That mendacious testimony dragged all of us into the sewer. Stanley Dunham's life and death would be just one more occasion for political theater. Call me old fashioned but in my day a man did not pimp his mother's memory to promote his own career.

Constant Adulation.

This aspect might seem benign but it could also reveal something disturbing. Barack Obama has never performed the duties of a president as they were normally performed. He skips meetings and security briefings. He does not regularly meet with his Cabinet and he hates to meet with Congress for any reason. Such things involve confrontation, disagreement and work. Barack Obama hates all of those things.

Barack Obama loves to speak to adoring fans. He loves fundraisers and teleprompter speeches and the love of an idolizing crowd. It seemed odd to many observers that he kept on campaigning after getting re-elected in 2012. With each subsequent budget fight, Barack Obama left Washington to take his message to the faithful. There he would vilify the Republicans and generally misstate their objectives. The loyal press cheered him on with each prompt of the tele.

There is speculation that Barack Obama will not leave office in 2017 as he is required to do. Some people think he will create an emergency, perhaps a war or even a civil war to extend his term. That used to seem far fetched. Now, it is plausible. I am not sure he can give up his addiction to praise and celebration.

Petulance

We have already discussed abuses of power and we had to shorten the list for brevity's sake. There is a lot of suspicious activity that is just par for the course with these people.

Were Republicans targeted in Chrysler and General Motors dealership closures? Were non-union employees also targeted? Did FEMA deny disaster-area status to a wildfire-scorched Texas because they were under Republican leadership? Did the Obama Administration target Standard and Poor's for downgrading the US government's credit rating? Was Trump University targeted by a Democratic state government because of repeated criticisms of the White House leveled by Donald Trump? Was the government's response to Hurricane Sandy slower in Staten Island due to their citizenry having the audacity to elect a Republican to serve in Congress?

Dozens such questions have gone unanswered. What is certain is that the Obama Administration has done its utmost to intimidate all but staunch loyalists. We also know from the president's ongoing budget battles that he has no qualms about using innocent people as political pawns.

The spending conflicts of 2013 were ugly events with even uglier results. Obama would win the war decisively. He bypassed Congress altogether and took his message directly to his hand-licking media.

The puppies would deliver the day for their master. This would be no budget crisis or impasse or stalemate involving two sides who could not reach an agreement. Oh no. This would be presented as an irrational act by the anti-government bomb throwers and extremists in the Republican Party. Once more, the press coverage could not be more lopsided.

There was just one little obstacle. The sequester was not painful. It involved but a drop in a trough of red ink. No one seemed to notice. But the cult leader was not to be defied. Compromise is for mortals.

To win the challenge to his supremacy, Barack Obama deliberately inflicted hardship on innocent people. An embarrassing email to a low level USDA employee named Charles Brown advised Mr. Brown that he should, “make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.” In other words, if we say it's an earthquake, tremble till you drop.

Brown would not be the only government employee to receive such a directive. The administration warned of “maximum pain” and other departments fell into line. Florida congressman John Mica accused the administration of orchestrating airport delays across the entire country. More than 2,000 illegal immigrants, many with criminal records, were released to the street due to phony budget shortfalls. The administration even used kids with cancer as political pawns. When it was revealed that an NIH-funded program was being discontinued due to the sequester, the GOP offered to fund the experimental program. The president promised to veto any such measure. Let them eat chemo.

The Obamacist media remained faithful to their leader and he pushed onward. When it seemed there was not enough pain, President Obama pressed our park rangers into action. The National Park Service barricaded places that needed no service or immediate government funding to stay afloat. War memorials were closed to the public. The privately-funded World War II Memorial was blocked off and when veterans, some in wheelchairs, invaded the memorial, the president responded by placing armed guards around the perimeter. That's right, additional spending to make phantom spending cuts seem painful. The National Mall in Washington, DC would be shut down but briefly re-opened to host an immigration rally.

The National Park Service tried to prevent tourists from viewing Mount Rushmore from an access road. They used their muscle to close roughly one hundred privately-managed parks at a financial setback to their non-government employees, as well as depriving the federal government of revenue. American Forces Network suspended broadcasting, army chaplains were furloughed and warned not to perform services gratis and the USDA website went black.

To recap, the Diva-in-Chief won the day and our titanic National Debt grew even larger. Humanity has witnessed worse atrocities than sequester bullying but has humanity ever witnessed petty vindictiveness played out on such a broad stage? Not that I know of.

Control

Politics is largely about control but it is also about humility. The Obama Administration has never met an industry they did not want to dominate. Health care, health insurance, auto manufacturing, student loans, education, personal finance, banking, energy...you name it, they want to grab it, twist it and shape it to their liking.

The impulse to control is rooted in conceit. Anything you can do, I can do better. I am simply wiser than you in all respects, therefore I should be the captain of the ship. Every ship.

Managerially speaking, Barack Obama is a hands-off micro-manager. He wants absolute power but he does not want to be bothered by details. Micro-managers are not optimum performers but they have strengths. They are hands on, detail oriented control freaks. They can be difficult to work for and work with but they are familiar with the minutia of their domain.

The hands-off micro-manager craves power but he does not like minutia. His finger is never on the patient's pulse, he does not care to see the patient but he insists on supervising his treatment anyway. Outside the world of kings and clergy, the hands-off micro-manager is a rare bird. Their obvious flaws are recognized early on and their talents are diverted to a non-managerial track.

It is not coincidence that Barack Obama never had an executive position prior to his inauguration. He is ill-suited for leadership but he is blind to his deficiencies. So too, are his followers.

Greed

People who rail against greed are invariably greedy. Barack Obama is no exception. His late Aunt Zeituni Onyango lived in South Boston, Massachusetts despite being denied political asylum based on ethnic violence in her native Kenya. Barack Obama likes to brag about his wealth and his commercial success as a writer. There is no evidence that he helped his destitute aunt but the US taxpayer picked up the slack. Aunt Zeituni was placed in public housing where she would live out her years free from the burdens of employment.

Regardless of who picked up the tab, someone helped Zeituni Onyango. The same could not always be said about the president's half brother, George. George Obama lived in a hut in Kenya. By almost any definition he was poor. A hundred dollars a month would have gone a long way in Kenya and would have significantly elevated his living conditions. For whatever reason, Barack Obama refused to help out his less fortunate brother.

When George Obama's son needed medical attention he called filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza in New York to help him out. Barack Obama could not be bothered. Yes, the president is greedy but that is not his worst attribute. His is not a lust for wealth, it is the pursuit of superior wealth. He wants to rub his luxuries and extravagance in the face of the less fortunate.

Lavish vacations. Two-jet vacations. The family dog airlifted on Marine One. Hobnobbing with the beautiful people in mansions. Two hundred rounds of golf on exclusive courses. Living the good life for all to see and envy.

Despite his excessive “fair share” verbiage, Barack Obama took elaborate measures to assure that he only pays about a twenty per cent rate on his income taxes. Yes, the president's secretary pays taxes at a higher rate than the chief executive. Barack Hussein Obama is among other things, a miser.