No We Can't Talk About Race

Update:

A modified version of this post (edited for length) has been picked up and reprinted in the August 1st edition of the:

It used to be that there were only two subjects that you were told you shouldn't discuss in public, politics and religion.  And while these two may yet remain on the forbidden list in polite society, we can certainly add a third ... race.   Today it seems, some aren't allowed to talk about race anywhere, while others can talk about nothing else. It has probably always been so, but it seems that while over the years the situation between races improves, the potential to hold a rational conversation on the subject gets no closer than it has on the other two banned subjects.  As someone fascinated with words however, it's interesting to note how much these three in particular have in common:

• Such 'discussions' these days are not so much about achieving consensus (or even hoping to) as much as they are contentious debates in which competing sides attempt to win debating points.
• Those who speak the loudest or interrupt the most are often held to be the most persuasive in such discussions, regardless of the truthfulness or effectiveness of their arguments.
• There are 'trigger words' that dare not be spoken in all three, lest any rational discussion break down (far earlier than would otherwise happen).  
• There are a far too people who appear to make their living off of one subject or the other (and in some cases, more than one).
• Facts and statistics are not as important as feelings and emotions in such discussions; and as such, the former are often subject to multiple interpretation through the window of the latter.

Politicians can't talk about race, but that's because they can't seem to talk about anything these days.  There's something about turning a camera or a microphone on in front of a politician today that creates an electronically generated field that disrupts rationality and enhances party politics instead.  Race, as a consequence, becomes little more than another partisan issue in which the other party's policies (past or present) become not only the issue, but the overriding cause.  And since today's politicians are always fundraising and running for office, any subject worthy of a recorded sound-bite must be one met with carefully prepared rhetoric designed to enhance the officeholder and his or her party, denigrate opponents, and encourage contributions regardless of its relevance.  (In other words, it has to be full of double-speak and bullshit.)

The Media can't talk about race because it's not a subject that lends itself to the six or twenty minute segment (six on TV, twenty on radio).  The current mainstream media is after all a business enterprise built around the interruptions of its commercials.  Any subject being covered by the media must therefore be capable of being diced up into convenient segments in order to accommodate this monetary necessity.  While this might work for a birth in the British Royal Family, the opening of the State Fair, or the latest Lindsay Lohan arrest, it's not a format that lends itself to anything resembling weighty discussion on so serious a subject.  Besides, most of what passes for punditry in the mainstream media has already divided itself into ideological or political camps that must be zealously promoted and defended in order to serve the true purpose of the medium ... ratings.

Churches can't talk about race because they have their own axes to grind.  Religion has enough a problem getting past the normal dichotomy between enforcing top-down 'Official Religious Doctrine' and the dealing with the local policy interpretations of its various ministries on a multi-national basis.  Throw in the flaws of human nature and personal idiosyncrasies of those standing behind what passes for a pulpit and you end up with a confusing inconsistency that most true believers find easier to ignore.  Besides, Churches survive through the willing contributions of their congregations.  Even with the ability to offer veiled threats of eternal damnation, they must at least to some extent follow the same rules used by politicians and the media, lest they risk the anger of their audience / contributors. 

The general public can't talk about race because they're scared to death of it.  In today's Twitter connected, Facebook addicted, politically correct society, an incorrect public pronouncement on such a subject could well make one an unemployable social pariah, soon abandoned by even friends and family electronically and otherwise.  (Who knows, writing this may have cooked my own goose.)  Life moves damned fast these days and there's little time (and often less interest) in doing proper research on anything that doesn't help you pay the bills every month.  Accepting this as the world we live in, grown lazy from a lack of exercise in free will, and unable to easily discover source material not already tainted with the prejudices of politics, media, and organized religion; far too many happily accept the instant gratification of the pre-packaged answers supplied without question.  

Besides, discussions of race are generational; and such conversations, like the species, continue to evolve (well, in most cases anyway).  Those old enough to remember real historic discrimination are fewer every day.  For the rest of us, the differences which one generation cannot get beyond are far less apparent to their offspring, and all but invisible (if not inconsequential) to succeeding ones.  Any multi-generational discussion therefore becomes difficult (if not impossible), since there is no singular frame of reference for them to use.

Oh I know that we would like to talk about race, that we should talk about it, and that somehow we have to keep on trying to do so; but it's unlikely today that any conversation that we begin will end up the one that we started with, the one that we want, or the one we should have.

TFP Column: Phony Scandals

Having given up on even the vaguest attempt at governing, the President once again went back on the campaign trail.  Not only does he apparently need to be out there continuing to sell a law that was passed years ago (The Affordable Healthcare Act) that he's deciding to selectively implement and selectively delay others; but it also seems to be that time of year for him to once again 'pivot on jobs' in this country.  

Now the President has pivoted so many times in the last five years that someone should call a traveling foul, but I'm not sure the NBA even makes that call anymore.  What I would really like to know however, is why he and his press minion Jay Carney continue talking about some supposed distractions to real efforts that the President would like to make, which they're calling "Phony Scandals".  Now perhaps I've missed something in my take on these transgressions and Mr. Carney can enlighten all of us.  Better still, maybe he could just provide the answers to the burning questions attached to them and put them all to rest.  I however, have yet to find anything spurious about them.

Since I'm dealing with something that may in fact be dubious (little surprise there), you will be gratified to realize there will be much more to come as we reach the weekend publication of the largest Sunday circulation newspaper in Northwest Ohio, and Ohio's best weekly paper for the last four years.  Of course I'm talking about nothing less than "The Toledo Free Press".

  

Move Over Karl Rove

During the years of the George W Bush Administration and even in the years since his resignation in 2007, one of those considered to be a political mastermind in this country was Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.  Having gained the title courtesy of a 2004 Bush victory speech, Mr Rove still retains the nickname of "The Architect" for his work inside 'The Beltway', for his eight year protection of his boss, and in getting his candidate re-elected to a second term.  

Of course during those years, Rove's behind the scene machinations were well served by some rather able representatives to the press.  While Scott McClellan may not have been the best or most loyal of those press secretaries, he deserves at least a little credit for lasting as long as he did.  Ari Fleischer, Tony Snow, and Dana Perino however; served the Administration (and the Rove strategies) exceptionally well.  George Bush was, after all, far from the best of public speakers.  Though not limited by a teleprompter and normally very sincere, he often need help in carrying the water of his message to those in the pressroom (or at least someone who could explain it coherently).  With all due respect to Mr. Rove and those efforts of the past carried out by able representatives, there's someone far different behind the throne these days.

I'm speaking of course, of Valerie Jarrett, with her partner in crime David Axelrod.  Never have two senior advisers been so mis-served by those in the inner circle and still been so successful.  Oh I'm not talking about press secretaries Robert Gibbs and Jay Carney, who often seem to serve as little more than misplaced bobble head dolls too often used as punching bags by the press by comparison with their Republican predecessors.  I'm talking about what have become either by accident or intent (and I believe the latter) a behind-the-scenes brain trust that's come up with some of the greatest political strategy misdirections of the 21st Century.

The unemployment rate remains unacceptably high, for unacceptably long and few notice.  The pace of economic growth is being exceeded by that of stalactites in Mammoth Caverns and few seem to care.  The Administration's signature legislation has had the opposite effect intended on the price of health care insurance and it goes largely unreported.  The national debt reaches unprecedented heights and our foreign policy (and along with it, our national reputation) new depths, and both remain largely invisible to the electorate.  In a remarkable bit or strategic thinking however, instead of attempting to feed the public a string of small but meaningless gains as were done in the previous Administration; the current President's minions have not only survived, but thrived on behalf of their leader by feeding the public a diet of disasters, scandals, and misdirection.   

There's little doubt that the murder of the Libyan Ambassador and members of his staff are due to a serious failure in intelligence, a worse one in internal communication between the Defense and State Departments within the White House, and a pretty blatant attempt to sweep these egregious sins under the rug of a largely failing foreign policy.  Those behind the scenes however are able to take these flawed raw materials and manufacture an inept 'Keystone Kops' investigation out of it all that fails to talk to eyewitnesses, interminably drags out Congressional investigations, and fails to lead to a single arrest.  So successful are they in dragging the process of falsehood and failure that it moves from an attempted cover up to old news without ever being resolved.  Brilliantly done!

The IRS moves from tax collector to liberal political activism just in time for a mid-term and national election.  The powers that be deny the story until caught red-handed, then attempt to introduce it as a throw-away at an obscure press conference.  When finally (and many would say belatedly) called to task by Congress that seems more intent on posturing than investigating, they blame it on low level workers until supervisor intervention is discovered.  Ignoring this fact, their leader then calls it 'bad customer service' until this poor service begins to point to White House appointees in Washington.  Meanwhile in that same White House, no one seems to know anything about it; but still they're able to issue statements that it can't be serious.  In spite of apparently using the most powerful bureaucracy in the nation for political ends, they call for an end to the witch hunt unless or until the President's blood fingerprints can be found on a weapon.   Those supposed to be in charge demand that the IRS investigate (audit) itself, but apparently don't instruct them that they should actually talk to anyone in the office involved.  The Justice Department and FBI step in and repeats the process; but likewise seems to miss questioning anyone in the know.  After months of the worst bit of misdirection since Abbott and Costello did "Who's on first?" (and probably the most successful), this too largely becomes old news to the general public.   Oh well played!

Let's face it.  Karl Rove may have been "The Architect", but his once magnificent efforts have been outclassed.  Those in power behind the throne today are more like "The Demolitionist", and not only succeed in their tasks, but their scorched earth policies appear to leave little evidence in their wake.  They've proved far more successful and effective in their destruction than Karl ever was in building behind the scenes, tossing out scandals and disasters on an almost weekly basis to obliterate their bosses tracks. (Or should I say, missteps?)  And when they can't manufacture enough of either to maintain the proper level of diversion for the national attention, they successfully wade into existing ones having little to do with governance so as to make a bad situation worse for that purpose.  

No offense Karl, you were good enough in your day, but even you have to recognize that there's some new sheriffs in town, and they've done so much more with so much less that we've all but forgotten you while we watch them 'MacGyver' each setback that comes their way.  Make not mistake.  You were good Karl, but they're just better.  Sorry my friend, but it's time to move over, tip the cap,  and pass the mantle Karl, you've been out-played by the new guys ...

Talk Is Cheap

Congress is talking about reducing the funding to the budget of the Internal Revenue Service.  They're also talking about continuing the investigative hearings into their spending practices and their method of granting (or lack thereof) 501C3 tax exemptions on a fair and impartial basis.  As you would expect however, our weak-willed, self-absorbed elected representatives are actually doing little more than talking where the tax cops are concerned.

Now I don't suppose that you can blame them for attempting to get a good soundbite, the IRS is a rather easy target of opportunity under the best of circumstances and the 2014 mid-term election is already in full swing.  Besides, nobody like taxes, so why should anybody like the people who collect them.  Even if they did like the people who collected taxes (there's no accounting for taste after all, I hear there are some people who even like White Sox fans), they might have earned your ire through through their rather un-American procedural philosophy that taxpayers are guilty unless and until they can prove themselves innocent.  If you hadn't already experienced this particularly egregious perversion of American jurisprudence, you might them find them worse than the run-of-the-mill government weasels for recent revelations of their wasteful spending at internal 'training sessions'.  (After all, there's nothing like a government agency committing sins that it wouldn't let you get away with to infuriate you.)  If you could get past their waste and abuse, you might dislike them instead for attacking Conservative groups attempting to get tax-exempt status.  If you didn't care whether they attacked Conservative groups or not, you might still want to work up a little preemptive antagonism as this government agency gets a boost in size and authority in order to take on its new role in the increasingly onerous Affordable Health Care Act.  (Maybe we can all be considered dead until able to prove that we're worth keeping alive.)

Certainly if you are a member of the majority in a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, there are more than enough reasons in the above list for you to want to take a very public (and politically motivated) shot at this particular example of a bureaucratic nightmare when the other party controls the Senate and sits in the White House; especially at a time when it's particularly vulnerable (like when its popularity is one of the few things lower than your own).

Of course while your attacks are vitriolic, vocal and very public (a 'V is for Vendetta' moment), none of them are anything more than symbolic.  You say you want to very publicly cut this agency's budget, but not its power or  responsibilities; and for no better reason than recent revelations make you mad ... but you still have to find a way to collect taxes.  On the other hand, you refuse to punish yourself for creating the monstrosity of a tax code that requires this tainted bureaucracy of this scope and scale in the first place.  You refuse to admit that you've created a nightmare of a Biblical proportions that even the agency in charge of it doesn't understand, that you've spent decades filling it with special interest regulations that serve no one but the lobbyists that have cow-towed to you for decades, and that most much of it purposely (or out of plain dumb luck) a morass of self-contradictory bullshit that means whatever the government chooses it to mean.  You could certainly pull the teeth (and the budget) of the IRS all but entirely by going to a flat or fair tax, but of course that would mean admitting your previous errors of omission and commission; not to mention alienating constituency groups of Certified Public Accountants, software companies, tax preparers, and of course unionized federal employees at the IRS, all of whom contribute to political campaigns.

You're perfectly willing to stand on the floor in Congress with a microphone in your hand and call for punishment of IRS employees who are doing little more than emulating in their own bureaucratic abuses what they see in legislative branches that created them (at least, as long as the cameras are rolling).  In fact, in your ginned up indignation, you insist upon it.  If Legislators are upset with conference hotel rates however... where do they stand on those for members and their staffs while on Congressional junkets?  Are they unhappy with the travel budgets to get these bureaucratic drones to places where they can be educated in the latest special interest rule changes that Congress created ... perhaps we can deduct them from the the cost of flying members of Congress and their six-figure assistants on military aircraft to places around the world.  Are you one of those legislators now weary from standing on principle against the targeting of certain groups attempting to get 'tax-free status', ... perhaps it never occurred to you to solve the problem by doing away with the concept of tax-free politics in the first place.  Perhaps both parties should be reminded that its taxpayers pick up the tabs for primary elections used for no other purpose than as beauty contests for members of two rather exclusive political clubs in the first place.

Quite frankly, you in Congress can stick your phoney-baloney righteous indignation in the same dark hole where you've buried any attempts to make the tax code easy enough for anyone without a degree in economics to understand.  While you're at it, save your camera posing for the mug shots that deserve to be the only photo ops you deserve.  Why even when you've finally gained enough national animus to launch a truly bi-partisan effort to once and for all clean up the broken system that you created; you waste it by spending your time ignoring your own culpability and using the opportunity instead for the purposes of political grandstanding.  

Sorry people, but where this situation is concerned, the emperor has not a stitch of clothing on and it's about time somebody mentioned it.  The the sum total of current Congressional outrage amounts to little more than a stinking pile of natural fertilizer that doesn't even deserve a farm bill subsidy (and that's going some).  If you want to pull the teeth, reduce the budget, and fix the IRS once and for all, by all means go ahead; but do it by fixing the mess you made of the tax code in the first place.  Everything else is talk, and talk is cheap ....

TFP Column: Re-Defining Terms

My writing efforts were recently sidetracked for reasons beyond my control.  An unexpected medical condition put me in a position where I was unable to contribute.  Strangely enough, that same condition was the source of this week's return effort for the TFP.

"Re-Defining Terms" came about this weekend in my first return to writing, and talks about the shifting meaning that words can have based on our most recent experiences.  Since this effort will be going in early, that means that there will be plenty to follow, not only with the mid-week 'Star' Edition, but with the weekend edition coming.

Summer is fully upon us however, so anyone who wants to know what going on in Toledo and Northwest Ohio will be reading Toledo's largest circulation Sunday and Ohio's best weekly newspaper for the last four years, the Toledo Free Press.

     

Back At It Soon

For those of you concerned over the lack of production going currently at "Just Blowing Smoke", let me assure you that need not be concerned much longer.  Recent recuperative efforts after unexpected 'Tin Man Surgery' are well ahead of schedule.

Senior Editorial Staff likewise expects me to quit slacking, and to begin operating a keyboard without the use safety handrails.  There remains some concerns over future mental acuity, but I'm not sure that they're any greater than normal (such as that is).

I hope to be increasing output again beginning this weekend.  

 
Rest assured that we'll be back up to speed before you know it, meanwhile let me leave you with this ....... 

  

"The only power to which a man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself."

- Elie Wiesel

Father's Day 2013

Today's effort consists of some information that I've previously passed along, but on this of all day's I believe that they are worth sharing again ...

In remembering Father's Day, I must painfully recall that in 2007 my own father passed away. His health had been failing for some time; but in spite of the difficulty in attempting to doing so, one of the things he still liked to take part (or at least to feel that he was taking part) in the maintenance of his home and yard. Such care had always been a source of great joy and pride for him, and on which he simply refused give up the his interest in it.

When his medical condition had finally reached a point that he was tethered to an oxygen system full time, he was (however reluctantly) forced to surrender some level of control in this process. By then such care involved my mother trimming the edges of the yard with a self-driven push mower. My nephew Patrick had acquired the requisite skills for operation of the riding mower some time since, took on the responsibilities for the bulk of the yard. This system of lawn care had been going on for a couple of years and was by now a well established routine, with my father still participating in a limited supervisory and equipment maintenance role.

In the spring following his passing, the lawn, unaware and uncaring of the changes in the household, did what it was supposed to do and grew quickly. Before anyone had quite realized it, this grass was in terrible need of a trim. Taking the bull by the horns, my mother stepped forward to perform her part of the required labors by trimming around the edges of the yard. Patrick likewise soon appeared to take on his well-rehearsed role in lawn care. This is where the real story begins.

Now the riding mower had not been run since the leaf pick up of that previous fall, and Patrick was unsure of the proper procedures to get it started after its abbreviated winter slumber, as his grandfather had normally instructed him in such situations. Stymied, he questioned my mother for potential answers to his problem with a potentially stubborn piece of lawn care equipment. Now my mother is a talented women, but basic lawn mower mechanics has never been a part of them. The riding mower had in fact always intimidated her, and she had long ago made it quite clear that she wanted nothing to do with it (hence Patrick's responsibilities). It was therefore not surprising that she had no advice to offer him.

In an amazingly short period of time however, the full-throated roar of that mower was heard from the garage, and Patrick was soon after making his way around the yard. He completed his work on the yard that day with remarkable alacrity and departed immediately afterward, without a word to his grandmother before leaving. His hasty departure and lack of communication went without comment at the time. They were however, duly explained a couple of days later when my sister called to fill my mother in on the "rest of the story".

It seems that as Patrick stood in the garage, scratching his head over a solution to his dilemma and completely at a loss as to how to proceed, clearly heard the voice my father from right next to him say, "Pull the choke out and start the mower".

Never questioning it for a moment, he simply did as he was told, and the mower immediately caught. Though a suitable resolution to his problem had been achieved, Patrick was more than a little distressed over how he had reached it. Worried that he might be asked for an explanation and fearing my mother's sensitivity to the issue, he kept silent, working with dispatch and departing as quickly as he was able. It was only some time later in the comfort of home and parents, that he was finally able to relate what had occurred.

Now anyone who knew my father knew that he was never a terribly spiritual person publicly, and was normally unresponsive when questioned about his thoughts on such things. He was however a good husband, a loving parent and grandparent, and most importantly ... a well recognized master of all things technical. There were very few things that he set his mind to repairing or improving in which he was not capable of achieving success (as his many years and recognized expertise in the printing industry showed).

He was also someone who was never afraid to share that mastery of all things mechanical with his spouse and offspring of every generation at every available opportunity (many times without even being asked). It therefore seems only fitting (and hardly surprising), that he should find a way to make his presence felt in such a situation when the need arose.

As for my personal take on the story, knowing my nephew Patrick to be a young gentleman of quality and good character, I choose simply take him at his word. If he believes that it happened this way, then I believe it as well. I am also quite happy and relieved to believe that my father is out there somewhere keeping an eye on the family that he so loved (not that I ever really doubted it).

I for one, can use all of the help that I can get...

Speaking of which, while I've never been able to claim anything in the way of parental skills myself, I'd like to think that I've at least been able to pass on to the three I call my own children something of the wisdom that was given to me.  I've shared it here before, and my hope is that I will continue to pass it on where it can do the most good until the day I achieve room temperature: 

*  Honesty is the best policy, even if your only reward is that of self-respect.
*  Your word is your bond and everything else is just society's crap.
*  Your reputation is the only thing that you truly possess in life, so make sure you protect it fiercely and every time it's challenged. 
*  If you work hard it will be rewarded, even if that reward is nothing more that knowing that you did your best.
*  You will, if you're lucky, make mistakes in life that will provide important lessons.  They are rarely permanent however; and it's usually easier to fix them than to admit to them.

Happy Father's Day!

 

 

Happy 6th Anniversary - Just Blowing Smoke

It was on this date back in 2007 (the second date that will no doubt "live in infamy") that the first post appeared on this site from some writing efforts that I had been playing with in another venue.  I had been a long time away from writing anything more interesting than technical manuals and more meaningful than some brochure copy, so many of the early efforts were crude at best.  (Many say that my efforts often still resemble such pinnacles of literature.)

Six years later, it's certainly questionable whether the writing has improved in any way; but the nature of the blog has certainly ... evolved (I was going to say 'matured', but we all know that such a term seldom if ever applies to JBS, and never to me). Here we are however, after entering over 1000 posts (some of them links to efforts for the TFP) and quickly closing in on 60,000 pageviews; for some unaccountable reason "Just Blowing Smoke" remains.  

I'm proud to say in fact, that during the intervening years, not only has JBS continued to maintain an audience in the US, but has grown to include audiences in western Europe and Asia.  Assuming that my tracking software is not merely taking note of cyber attacks, it's gratifying to realize that my efforts might be able to contribute my own bit of contributory negligence to destroying the concept of multi-culturalism.  

In the burgeoning world of New Media however, such numbers are insignificant, and mean that "Just Blowing Smoke" doesn't rate enough attention to even be attacked by prominent blogging sites of opposing views.  JBS is seldom 'called out' by other outlets (though there was a TFP effort of mine was once read by Glenn Beck on his syndicated radio show a couple of years ago).  Nor have these efforts been recognized by the far larger blogging world that it's a part of.  (Some would say for obvious reasons.)  There is some safety however in laboring in relative obscurity and corresponding anonymity, since the occasional creative failures can escape mostly unnoticed and in six years I have only been recognized on the street once as 'that smoking guy'. 

This is not to say that as someone purporting to be a writer, I don't like to be read.  In such situations, more is always better.  I am content however (actually, I'm shocked) to discover that there are still people out there who feel these efforts are of value ... or capable of garnering an occasional laugh.  As for notoriety, the relatively few times in my life that I gained even a sliver of the spotlight have normally proved personally dangerous and were usually followed by massive bouts of unjustified egotism followed by unintentional and very public commissions of social suicide. 

Even the few of you have shown yourselves sadly in need of proper training in good internet manners, based on the comments that you've submitted (most of which have needed to be moderated out to preserve the last shred of good taste remaining here) have been amusing in a rather perverse way.  As for the isolated threats of bodily harm offered by those who I must assume are even more twisted than I am; while I make no claims to personal bravery, I am nevertheless prepared to meet you on the 'Internet Field of Honor' and suggest that you have your seconds get in touch with my seconds. (If my seconds aren't available, contact my thirds.  If my thirds can't be found, let's have our fourths do lunch.  If even that doesn't work, would you consider splitting a fifth?)    

So on behalf of the lazy lexicographers of the SOS Dictionary, the twisted surveillance exploits of the Department of Just Blowing Smoke Security, the inconsistent efforts of the Senior Editorial Staff, and myself (Who said that there's no advantage to multiple personality disorder?) I would like to thank each and every one of you who continues to find the twisted nonsense, malodorous tripe, and recklessly produced natural fertilizer on this site worth losing a bit of time in your lives that you'll never get back.  

But enough of such pointless verbosity (you get enough of that from a normal effort).  Until early onset senility takes over the mostly empty space between my ears, my intention is to continue attempting to crank out at least two mostly useless and probably tasteless efforts per week.  The hope is that while sifting through the dross may be a bit of work, somewhere between the 'Infinite Monkey Theorem' and the 'Blind Squirrel Theory' you will occasionally discover something worthy of your consideration.

Who knows, in a year from now we may all be able to look back on this and say (as I'm sure my ex-spouses did) ... "Man, it's only been seven years.  It seemed like a lot longer."

deatach dóibh má tá tú bhí orthu  

(smoke 'em if you've got 'em)

Silly Bits V

Since the Administration has had a couple of problems with spying on the US press (the Associated Press and Fox News to be specific).  It therefore seemed only fitting that the latest leak of information (ill-timed for the Administration) that the NSA is collecting data on many of the rest of us came from "The Guardian", an English paper.  Good show old boys and welcome to the party! Tea anyone?

Congratulations on not only scooping your American counterparts on yet another potential PR nightmare for the current Administration, but for creating a new level of national paranoia that we can only be hoped will be covered under the Affordable Care Act.  According to responses from the President and other Administration spokespeople, all of this has been done according to law and under the auspices of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court.  (Evidently FISA is like VISA, 'everywhere you want to be'.) 

*  According to information being touted on the Sunday talks shows, over 99.9% of FISA warrant requests have been approved by its judges.  Can you say 'rubber stamp'?

Now I'm a Verizon customer and a Google user, so I probably don't have anything left in the way of secrets where the government is concerned.  No wait, I forget that I was told that they weren't listening in on my calls or reading my emails by the same government who lied about a reporter being a 'co-conspirator' and went to three judges before they could get a warrant issued and also lied when they told me that they weren't having the IRS target conservative groups.  So naturally I believe them when they tell me that they aren't going to intrude on my privacy or keep any private data from my phone or Internet use at the same time that they're building a massive new data storage facility in Utah.

Jesse Jackson Jr may be getting four years in prison after pleading guilty to engaging in a scheme to misuse $750,000 of his campaign contributions on personal items.  Not only is the government looking for that same $750,000 in the way of restitution, but they're also looking for $168,000 in re-imbursement from his wife Sandra; who was receiving a $5,000 per month consulting fee on top of her six-figure salary as a Chicago alderman.  On the bright side, Jesse and his wife may not have to serve their prison sentences at the same time, which would keep their two children from being parent-less, even temporarily.  

With the example of 3 of the last 4 Illinois governors serving or having served time (including Rod Blagojevich,  in a case in which Rep Jackson was at least incidentally involved, though no charges were filed), Jesse Jr was apparently incapable of finding someone in this capital of malfeasance to create a workable paper trail to hide behind.  (What is Chicago coming to these  days?)  His dramatic attempt to drop off the radar and hint at a breakdown was a fair enough strategy, but it came far too late in the game and was poorly played.   

One can only imagine how disappointed that his father is.  After all, Jesse Jr was not only raised in one of the greatest schools of political corruption anywhere in the world ... Chicago, but apparently either didn't apply himself to his lessons or was simply incapable retaining successful strategies while being mentored by an expert on living with dubious expenses.  Jesse Sr has lived, after all, rather well for longer than Jr has been alive, in spite of a holding politically commendable, but financially questionable jobs which earned him a lavish lifestyle that would be the envy of many CEO's.  

Pakistan summoned US Ambassador Richard Hoagland to its Foreign Office today.  Evidently the new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wasn't happy over the fact that the US decided to pop off a couple of missiles launched off a drone into his country, killing seven people, without letting bothering to let his government know about it. But what the heck can concepts like national sovereignty mean when you're fighting a war on terror that actually hasn't existed for some time according the same Administration pulling the trigger? 

Now normally I would be concerned over the contradiction of terms involved with such an act and terrified over the long term implications of any government's use of such technology.  Fortunately, MY government has told me that while it's the same government which has come to heavily rely on the concept of remote control 'rub-outs'; it's now going to review the use of such technology.  (Though perhaps the review has more to do with a NBC story revealing that of a review of CIA records concludes that our government couldn't confirm the identity of 25% of the people they killed in drone strikes.)  I know that I, the 25% we can't identify, and the 'incidental casualties' will certainly be comforted by the idea that someone in our government is gong to get to the bottom of this.

Hey!  Maybe they could get the same people in the Administration who are going recommend legislation to Congress to protect the press from the DOJ that has recently targeted them from the DOJ itself to help on this other project before somebody escalates the war on AP and Fox News into drone attacks.

The "Stuck on Stupid" Dictionary #41

The warm weather here at the headquarters of Just Blowing Smoke is evidently working as a tonic for the normally lazy lexicographers of the SOS Dictionary.  (Either that, or they are concerned of being crowded out of their cubbyhole by plethora of suggestions for new entries being received.)   Quite frankly, those in Senior Staff don't really care what the reason is as long as they don't have to continue to make excuses for their lack of control over this normally rogue department.

In spite of this increased literary production however, it seem that there many of you reading this who have somehow managed to miss previous postings on this subject (shame on you, now go back and search all of the postings under the label of  'Dictionary').  For those of you thus unfamiliar, the SOS dictionary is a reference guide to terms which nominally mean something to the rest of the English speaking world, but appears to mean something entirely different when looked at through the jaded eyes and rose colored glasses of the SOS dictionary staff.

Budget:
 
1.  A form of bookkeeping in which estimates of expected income and expense for a given period in the future (usually a year) are entered for a given entity in the form of a fiscal ledger. 

2.  An esoteric form of mathematics more closely related to fiction than to fact (at least in the public sector), though these creative efforts are not eligible for literary award as such.

3.  An advanced form of thievery involving the robbing of Peter (like Capital Improvements) to pay Paul (like the General Fund) which can apparently occur without criminal charges after being approved through voter ignorance.  The ultimate goal of these efforts is to perform the deed in such way that Peter doesn't recognize (or at least complain) that his pocket's been picked and Paul doesn't realize he's been gifted.



Surplus:
 
1.  A term nominally used in bookkeeping to describe an excess of assets over liabilities in a given period.

2.  A term used in public sector bookkeeping more to create a positive political message (especially in election years) than to describe a condition of positive fiscal fact which actually doesn't exist.

3.  A term used in often confusing budgetary processes that inaccurately describes the result in the continuous Robbing of Peter to pay Paul so many times that it effectively renders anything purporting to be the truth as meaningless.

(see Budget)