Obama Remains a Triple Threat!

I get kidded for always writing 'a dear friend' but this is from one of my dearest - also a very bright attorney. He was responding to my last memo and Obama's comments which sent the market swooning even further: "The guy is incredibly and unbelievably arrogant, naive and a total neophyte of the first order. Why in the hell would you say anything that contained nothing, absolutely nothing, that the market could interpret as positive before the close unless you just wanted to hear yourself talk."
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Obama says America still remains a triple A nation. Obama does not understand what is going on in the markets because he remains a triple threat to America. The market's action is a clear reflection of his incompetence and lack of leadership skills.

I have lived through "loose lips sink ships" all the way to "whip inflation now" buttons,' I was told to turn down my thermometer and put on a sweater but Obama takes the cake for a total lack of uninspiring presence. What a wimp!

Though I am not a rating service I would downgrade Obama's brief comments yesterday to triple C. The market accelerated its decline after his pathetic performance.

Meanwhile last night Obama was engaged in two fund raisers. More money down his drain. (See 1 below.)

Only a matter of time before Moody's follows S&P and then Obama and his boys will have another 'pinata' to blame and attack?
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You have probably already heard the re-broadcast of this interview that took place several months ago. It is worth replaying because it reveals why we place too much faith in the words of so called experts when most ordinary people actually know more because they rely on their common sense. Let's revisit an April 2011 interview Geithner did with Peter Barnes from that evil Fox News:

Peter Barnes: "Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?"

Tim Geithner: "No risk of that."

Barnes: "No risk?"

Geithner: "No risk."

How could our Sec. of The Treasury know this when he did not even know enough to pay his taxes. Remember?
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Warren Buffet, whose conglomerate has a big stake in Moodys, said S&P goofed. Jim Rogers takes issue with the sage of Omaha: "Jim Rogers: 'Bankrupt' U.S. Will Never Pay Its Bills

The U.S. government deserves the downgrade Standard and Poor's slapped on its ratings, because the country has run up so many debts it will never get out of the hole, say famed commodities investor Jim Rogers. In fact, the S&P is being too nice, as Washington probably doesn't even deserve the AA+ rating, Rogers tells CNBC."

You decide.
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Assad continues to thumb his nose at Obama, Turkey and NATO. (See 2 below.)
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The 'red tide' oozes its way into our political streams. Obama has brought about change - government by unelected fiat.

Even after Obama is gone, whether in 2012 or 2016, his impact will linger because his people will still be buried in the catacombs of government. They will maintain a low profile waiting their next opportunity to destroy from within all the while gumming up the works.

That's how our campuses have been take over by those who have their own agenda and that is how our government will become infested by those whose ultimate goal is to bring us down to our knees. 5th Columns are not a new phenomena.(See 3 below.)
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The Economist derides 'the egoist!' (See 4 below.)
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Dick
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1)Obama main attraction at fundraisers Monday night
By: CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser


President Barack Obama turns his attention to campaign politics Monday night, as he headlines two events for the Democratic National Committee and his re-election campaign.

According to the White House schedule, the president first attends a gathering of approximately 140 guests at a private residence in the nation's capital. A DNC official says proceeds from the $15,000 per family gathering will go to the Obama Victory Fund, with the money raised shared by the president's re-election campaign and DNC.

A source with knowledge of the event says it's being held at the home of Don and Katrina Peebles. Don Peebles is a real estate entrepreneur and sits on the Obama campaign's national finance committee.

The president then heads to the St. Regis Hotel to meet with approximately 60 guests. While not a fundraiser, a source says the gathering is a donor outreach event.

Last week Obama was the main attraction at two birthday-themed fundraisers in Chicago. The events were held on the eve of the president's 50th birthday. The fundraisers were Obama's first since the start of the third quarter of fundraising on July 1. His last event prior to the Chicago fundraisers on June 30th was in Philadelphia.

Obama's reelection campaign and the DNC raised a combined $86 million between April and June, blowing past the combined $60 million goal set by both groups at the start of the second quarter. Of the $86 million raised, the campaign said over $47 million went into the coffers of Obama for America and more than $38 million went to the DNC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2)Assad toughs it out against US-Turkish ultimatum to halt military crackdown

Behind the demand was an ultimatum that if Assad continued on his present bloody path, NATO member Turkey would intervene militarily in the crisis.

However, the Syrian ruler with backing from Tehran spurned the ultimatum even before the Turkish minister reached Damascus. "He will be given an even tougher message to take home," said one of Assad's top advisers.

Iranian sources report that in the last few days, Tehran has repeatedly warned Ankara that Iran will not stand aside for a military operation against Syria and would come to the aid of the Assad regime. It was indicated that Turkish attacks on Syrian military targets would bring forth Iranian attacks on the Turkish army and American bases in Turkey.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah recalled his ambassador to Damascus Monday, demanding an end to the bloodshed. "What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," he said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television.
Military sources report Assad was not deterred from pushing on Monday with his assault on the oil town of Deir al-Zour for the second day. For the first time in the five-month crackdown on protesters, the Syrian military are using self-propelled heavy artillery against rebel targets in a wide radius around the town to prevent the approach of rebel reinforcements.

Although he knew the US-Turkish ultimatum was coming, he embarked on his Deir el-Zour operation Sunday in order to present Washington and Ankara with a fait accompli.

After capturing the northern town of Hama in a bloody military assault, Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, Aug. 7, sent a whole division of 200 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles to blast their way into another rebellious city, Syria's oil center of Deir el-Zour in the Euphrates Valley, a town of half a million inhabitants. At least 70 people were reported dead in one day.

Military sources report that while Hama is a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, Deir el-Zour is the urban center of some 2.1 million members of assorted nomadic Bedouin tribes. They too are Sunni Muslims though of different sects. The Baqqara tribal federation is the largest, numbering 1.2 million, followed by the Fadan Walad and the Fadan Kharsa of the Euphrates Valley and the al Shammar Karsah of Deir al Zour and its environs.

Unlike the protesters of Hama, these tribesmen lack anti-tank weapons for battling Syrian armor and so their town may not hold out against the Syrian onslaught beyond two or three days. The tribesmen have meanwhile run for cover to the dense papyrus groves of the river bank and the narrow wadis of the Iraqi al Anbar province just across the border. From these hiding places, our military sources expect them refugees to organize protracted guerrilla warfare against the Assad regime and Syrian army.

These are the very tribes which from 2003 to 2006 joined al Qaeda in bloody warfare on US forces in central Iraq, preventing Anbar and the central Iraqi towns of Falujja and Ramadi ever being completely subdued and constantly convulsed by suicide attacks.

It was only when President George W. Bush agreed to implement the Awakening Councils plan put forward by Gen. David Petraeus, the current CIA Director, which involved substantial monthly payments to the tribal chiefs for warfare against al Qaeda that, Al Anbar was pacified.

Aware of the menace posed by these tribes, Syrian security services last week – ahead of the Deir el-Zour offensive – captured the Baqqara tribal chief Sheikh Nawaf al-Bashir as hostage against the tribes joining the uprising against the regime. Syrian military intelligence will find him a tough nut to crack – even for a heavy bribe.

The upshot may well be that although the Syrian army finally subjugates Deir al-Zour and Abu Kemal on the Iraqi border its forces will be cornered by Sunni tribes which control the road networks around the two eastern towns and prey to their raids.
Assad's offensive against the two towns also places at risk Syria's small oil fields and pipeline system. Their daily product of $8-10 million is his primary source of revenue for sustaining his war on the uprising and they will certainly become a prime strategic target for the resistance.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decided to send his foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu to Damascus Tuesday, Aug. 9, after declaring Saturday that Turkey's patience with its neighbor "was running thin and his country could not remain a bystander to the violence… but must do what is necessary."

Davutoglu will "deliver our message in a more determined way," said Erdogan. "…a new process will take shape according to their response and actions."

"We do not see Syria as a foreign problem, Syria is our domestic problem because we have a 850-kilometer border with this country, we have historical and cultural ties, we have kinship," Erdogan said.

This was the last warning from Ankara – and therefore NATO – that Turkey was about to intervene militarily in Syria, after maintain army units on the Syrian border for weeks.

Friday, Aug. 5, Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin accused NATO, of which Turkey is a member, of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime "with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3)An American Politburo
By Howard Houchen

An American Politburo has materialized before our eyes. Yes, our Congress is the result of a two-party system (those Rs and Ds) and, on the surface, doesn't fit very well with the one-party USSR system, but, let's look at those little pesky things called facts.

Administrative actions are already replacing legislative acts as the primary governance mechanism. Just examine the number of regulations emanating from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, etc, etc. Unelected officials (unaccountable to the citizenry) all around this land are producing laws we must abide by, or face some form of punishment, without ever coming under scrutiny by those we elect to represent our interests (and to protect and defend the constitution of these United States of America). By the way, governance is not government (as Americans know government). Governance is, very simply, rule.

Many large- and medium-sized cities in America have formed Councils on Sustainability, Councils on Urban Development, Councils on Transportation, Councils on Economic Development, and Council, after Council, after Council. Hmmm...most of these councils are appointed, not elected, here in America.

Just exactly what is a council? The Russian term for council is soviet. In the Council Union (the Soviet Union), rules were laid down by local soviets, regional soviets, and the national soviet. Notice there is no mention of a state council. Councils (Soviets) were responsible for regions. Regions did not have political boundaries so, for all intents and purposes, you had regional governance, outside the political structure, unelected and unaccountable.

Today we see many acts, via legislation and administrative rule, pushing for regionalism in America (for a more in-depth discussion of Regional Governance see: https://axiomamuse.wordpress.com/tag/regionalism). Soviets in America are real -- unelected councils -- and they are coming to a region near you.

The executive branch of our government has taken to surrounding itself with "czar" policy advisors (unelected, unaccountable appointees) and lobby interests who represent notions and desires other than those of the general citizenry. We are being held hostage to the "revolving door" Washington power-brokers. These folks conjure up memories of another piece of Cold-War-era vernacular: Nomenklatura. In good ole Council Russia the nomenklatura were the perk-getters of the Communist Party. American nomenklatura come from the vast apparatus that feeds off gaining influence over the decisions made by the unelected. Lobbyists, academic experts, and the bureaucrats who never have to worry about health insurance, retirement, or unemployment. Not to neglect the courtier corporations. They know the system and thus are able to negotiate government contracts for more of our tax dollars (that are worth less with each revolution of the earth around the sun). "Louis Freeh (former Director of the FBI), Admiral Loy (former head of the Transportation Security Agency), George Tenet (former Director of the CIA), Frank Moss (former program manager for the State Department's E-Passport program), and many others who previously held key positions in the federal government all joined Viisage/L-1 as members of the Board of Directors or as paid employees of Viisage/L-1" (see constitutionalalliance.org). Viisage/L1 is a Biometrics Industry giant.

On 01 August 2011, our federal legislators created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Congress (central-committee -- for those still following the analogy) created what has been dubbed the "Super-Congress" because, by its rationale, the urgency of America's deficit problem cannot await action by it as a whole body. Ladies and gentlemen, American government has created a Politburo!

The 8th Party Congress in March 1919 instructed the Central Committee to elect a new Politburo of five from its ranks; its formal role would be to decide on questions too urgent to await Central Committee deliberation. The Politburo soon assumed a major position in party and state administration, and it eventually came to overshadow the role of the Central Committee. Until mid-1990 it consisted of about 12-15 members. -Britannica

The intent and purpose of our founding principles have been overruled. Yes, each House of Congress can develop its own operating rules...but...these rules do not end with this Congress and they limit input from most of the elected representatives of the citizenry. Our politburo has virtually the same limits as the much-used commerce clause...none. Anything and everything can conceivably be construed as being conducive to deficit reduction policy and the sure to follow legislation to pursue that policy.

William Z. Foster, National Chairman of the Communist Party USA, published Toward Soviet America in 1932 to provide his thoughts on a blueprint for transforming these United States of America into a Socialist system. In 1958 W. Cleon Skousen published The Naked Communist to outline 45 goals for Communists in order to transform America. Michael J. Petro Jr., U.S. Navy veteran and writer, published Welcome to Soviet America, in 2010, to examine to what extent the outline and goals of Foster, Karl Marx, and W. Cleon Skousen have been implemented.

Do cvidaniya, Comrades
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4)An underperforming president
How Barack Obama allowed the Republicans to rout him over the debt ceiling

AT THE very last moment, and just before his 50th birthday this week, Barack Obama got the deal that raised the debt ceiling by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion and so prevented the United States from going into default on his watch. But this does not mean that the roof is not still in danger of falling in on his presidency. The superstar of 2008, who once looked like a shoo-in for re-election, now appears extremely vulnerable. Despite talk that he will raise a record $1 billion war chest, Democrats in Congress have begun to whisper that Mr Obama’s fading chances of winning a second term are coming to depend on the absence—so far—of an exciting Republican challenger.

Single events seldom determine the fate of a presidency. Those who said just over a year ago that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would doom Mr Obama were as wrong as those who thought May’s killing of Osama bin Laden would make him unbeatable. The debt fight is in similar danger of being over-interpreted. Mr Obama’s fate depends more on two big bets he placed well before the Republican capture of the House in November’s mid-terms. The health-care reform that chewed up political capital in his first two years tanked with voters, and more than $800 billion of stimulus spending has so far failed to deliver the hoped-for growth in jobs. The outcome of the next election will depend more on unemployment than on Mr Obama’s handling of the past month’s comic opera on the debt ceiling.

Mr Obama says that with the debt fight behind him he can now pivot back to jobs. But the comic opera has meanwhile crystallised doubts about the quality of his leadership. After all, the Republicans won this round, even if they did not win everything they wanted. For example, the debt ceiling has been raised by enough to see the country through the far side of the coming election, without another nail-biting stand-off in between. But on the core principle that Mr Obama chose to put at the centre of the fight—the need, for fairness’s sake, to tackle the deficit with tax rises on the rich as well as spending cuts—it was he who gave way.

The president, it is true, did not lose the fight because he lost the argument. He lost because he was not willing to be as reckless as the Republicans. Increasing the debt ceiling is a routine operation that allows the government to pay the bills Congress has already run up. By refusing to raise it unless they got their spending cuts, the Republicans in effect pointed a pistol at the economy and threatened to pull the trigger if they were denied. An alarming number of them sounded crazy enough to carry out this threat. Faced with the danger of a default, Mr Obama and his party had little choice but to surrender. And at least the terms of surrender include the creation of a new joint congressional committee that might, in theory, include tax increases as well as spending cuts when it produces the next slice of deficit reduction.

The troubling question is why Mr Obama fell into this trap in the first place. Could he not have made raising the debt ceiling a condition of extending the Bush-era tax cuts last December? And why did he take so long to show that he cared about putting America’s finances in order? He went to the trouble of creating a bipartisan deficit commission, which at the end of last year produced just the sort of “balanced” approach he says he favours. But he then declined either to endorse its findings or present a serious plan of his own. This gave the initiative to the Republicans, who now say, plausibly, that without their brinkmanship there would still have been no start on bringing the debt under control.

Critics in his own party say that the president then added a sin of commission to his sin of omission. When the Republicans pointed that metaphorical pistol at the economy, Mr Obama could have made a bigger ruckus about this use of extortion. But he chose instead to plunge in, seduced by the chimera of a “grand bargain” with John Boehner, the Republican speaker. In the end, Mr Boehner left the president waiting at the altar—but not before Mr Obama’s eagerness for the bargain had endowed the idea of haggling over the debt ceiling with a legitimacy it did not deserve.

A generous review of the story is that Mr Obama staved off default while positioning himself in the coveted centre of politics from where elections are won. He did not get his way this time, but his calls for the rich to share more of the burden by paying higher taxes will resonate with voters when he seeks re-election.

Maybe. But the public in America, and the wider watching world, saw only a mess. Meanwhile plenty of Democrats on the left grumble privately that the president’s handling of the crisis has been inept, spineless—and all too typical. Having failed to take evasive action, he showed no bottom line once lured into negotiation. In the health-care negotiation, likewise, he had wasted precious time hoping for Republican support that never came. It all fits into a pattern, they say, of a leader who shies away from necessary conflict, refuses to understand the intransigence of his enemies, would rather split differences than make a firm stand and lacks the courage of his own convictions. Foreigners—from Vladimir Putin (who this week called America a “parasite”) to the Taliban—are in danger of drawing the same conclusion.

Any assessment of Mr Obama needs to acknowledge that when he was elected he inherited the in-box from hell: a financial collapse, a prostrated economy, two wars. Now he faces the opposition from hell: a reckless, populist Republican Party whose moderate voices have been silenced by ideologues and which has made throwing him out of office its foremost priority. For these tribulations he deserves a degree of sympathy. But Americans want their presidents to be winners, not victims. If he expects another term, Mr Obama is going to have to raise his game—especially if the Republicans find that candidate.
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