There is only one organization nastier than Obama and his Chicago political machine and that is the media. Once they smell blood they will attack and eat anything that moves, even another shark. They have circled around Obama and protected him like a pilot fish. Pilot fish get immunity from sharks until they bleed, just as the Ibis that eats the bugs from the crocodile’s mouth gets a pass. Obama is bleeding now and the the sharks smell the blood. He has crossed the line with sharks by labeling them a criminal for doing their normal investigative business, then prying into their personal lives.

Obama brought us Socialism and now he brings us Communism. Where government must control the media. Where any enemy of the state will be dealt with by  the multitude of  means that government can use to punish enemies.

This act is the absolute beginning of Obama’s trip down Watergate Lane. Dirty tricks was the label put on the Nixon actions and his enemies list. What label will Obama get?

A complacent media that ignored so many things in the last four years is becoming active. Journalists are actually doing journalistic work. They are just scratching the surface. As they dig deeper we will find just how bad it really has become in the Obama administration. There is no damage control that will excuse the acts that have been committed in the name of reelection and retribution for those who disagree.

Democrats who next stand for reelection will jump not step away from Obama. The party itself will force the issue and there will be hearings and quite likely impeachment.

The truth will set us free to become America again.

Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod make all the key decisions. They cover up Benghazi or instruct others to do so. They tell the IRS to harass conservatives. They tell Eric Holder to wire tap the API. They tell Kathleen Sibelius to put the arm on insurance companies to donate to ObamaCare to fund that which Congress refuses to do. Just slightly illegal. When Val and Dave are done with the big stuff, they tell Barack what to do for the next week. They hand him a script for a speech. They coach him for a press conference. They arrange his Saturday golf game and find people willing to spend four hours with him.

So far this has worked very well. They got him elected twice. They created a squeaky clean image for the administration. They kept the press eating out of their hands. All the while they executed Chicago politics under the radar. All of a sudden the stealth stuff showed up. Just a blip at first. A few lies about a little anti-Muslim video that worked. Helped with that second election. So did punishing those who gave to the Romney campaign using the IRS as the instrument of torture. Getting a little inside information about what the API thought of the president with wire taps was a hell of a lot smarter than breaking into the Republican Headquarters. ObamaCare was going to be in trouble due to health care costs going up like a rocket. No problem, take a page from Mayor Daley’s book in Chicago, when the City was in budget crisis sell the parking meters to a third party  for a billion. When it gets too expensive to park in Chicago because the third party is gouging the parkers, you are gone and Rahm Emanuel is left to deal with the problem.

But, this blip, that little blip about that video keeps getting attention. Now President Obama, who never pays attention to anything, is getting upset about this problem. He keeps demanding them to make this go away. Then the IRS issue hits. Jay Carney is threatening to quit, complaining he has run out of lies to tell the press corps. When the API problem hits, it’s full-blown crisis time.

Obama is telling the media he learns about all of this on TV, which is true. That creates another problem. The media and the public are catching on the real role Obama plays in this little drama. He’s just an actor reading his lines. Much like Martin Sheen did in the West Wing. We’ve all experienced bosses like this. Teflon guys who never got anything on them because they never did anything.  But, a pile can’t slide off Teflon, it eventually covers it completely.

Which version of the mess do you believe? Is Obama up to his big ears in all of this and simply lying like a rug? Or, is he an actor who never does anything but read lines written for him by others and is totally clueless about everything? Remember, this is a man who no one remembers in undergraduate school. He’s capable of being invisible when he chooses. He seems capable of doing no work in any job and keeping that job. We’ve all seen mangers like this. They say they delegate, but we see them as disinterested in everything except keeping their noses clean and getting promoted. It’s a full-time job for them to suck up to those who control their destiny and watching for anything that might derail their careers.

It would be really scary to know that Obama may have told us no lies. That he simply doesn’t know what’s going on.

We learn that dozens, if not hundreds of IRS employees willfully conducted illegal activities harassing opponents of Obama.Not a single IRS employee saw fit to question those illegal activities. Now comes the criminal phase with potential 10 year prison terms. Watch as all those canaries who couldn’t sing find their voices.

Under ObamaCare this same IRS will have access to your medical records.

Obama was shocked to hear what the IRS was up to with this illegal and shocking behavior. So we are temporarily left to believe someone in the IRS woke up one day and said it’s time to put the screws to anti-Obama organizations so they can’t raise money for Romney. Then hundreds of fellow agents jumped on that notion and made it happen.

When the criminal investigation starts and the canaries begin singing, how high will it go? I’m guessing pretty high. Will the head of the IRS take the bullet? Or will 10 years in the slammer push it higher?

Am I living in the former Soviet Union, or am I on the set of a Stooges film? Is this a government ready to lie to the public about anything? Or, is this just incompetents in action. Either way, it makes one uncomfortable. Should I prepare for my IRS audit?

I submitted a permit request to replace a fence. This is the third replacement for this fence in the 34 years we have lived in this house. I took two copies of a property plot and the proposal from the fence company to city hall. The young man told me there were new rules for a six foot fence and he wasn’t sure it would be approved. But, he drew the lines on the plot plans and said they would get back to me that day. Three working days later I called. The lady who answered said the young man had drawn the lines on the plot plan in the wrong place. I would need to come down and redraw the one line. I went back and watched while she redrew the line. She gave me the permit with two pages of instructions and requirements. Contractor can work only between the hours of thus and so, materials can only be placed on thus and so, etc, etc.  This is for a fence replacement, mind you. I told my wife it’s no wonder most people just skip the permit crap and replace the fence. If they had denied me a permit for any reason, I would have just had the fence replaced section by section over the summer.

I  have a major renovation going on in Arizona. Well, trying to go on. The architect is in with the plans for the fourth interaction. Each time a new question arises and a new calculation is requested. Someone told him I may need to submit an updated title insurance policy. Eventually we will get the permit. But, in a staff in a building department that once handled twenty times the permits they now handle, they have a lot of time on their hands. You see, they never cut back when the work stopped.

It’s all about jobs. Jobs in building departments that should have gone away when the building stopped, but didn’t.

Who pays the price. The citizens who pay the freight for those who struggle to find busy work and choose to use that time to delay work that creates jobs in the private sector.

It’s no different on Main Street than it is in Washington. The more government jobs you have leads to less work getting done in the private sector, hence fewer jobs and a poorer economy. Want to see more jobs in the private sector, double down on the Sequestration and watch. Liberty and freedom are the greatest job creators.

When Obama and the Democrats see an opportunity to raise taxes they seem to develop amnesia about the aforementioned economic stimulation. They demonstrated that this week. The Senate passed a bill to put sales taxes on Internet sales. This will give states approximately $11 billion in new tax revenue from $200 billion in sales. Free money. A gift from above, so to speak. Washington gives to the lowly states to help fund the costs Washington has put on the lowly states, like ObamaCare. You know the old saw, one hand washes the other. Or, let them dip their beak.

Here’s where the logic of this defies me. Why is this different than the payroll tax reduction and why do Democrats like one and don’t like the other. Taxing Internet sales takes money out of the economy, less sales get made, and fewer jobs get created. The exact opposite of the payroll tax reduction. Certainly not everyone making purchases on the Internet is rich, so that’s not the reason. I’m just speculating here, but I think it could be the blessed ignorance of my fellow Americans. Sorry, but I will try to explain.

If you put money in a person’s paycheck, it’s noticed. If you add money to a person’s Internet purchase, it is not likely to be seen. If you accept this, then it might lead to this.

Democrats don’t care about the impact of any action to grow government at any level, they just want to hide any penalties and advertise any benefits.

Getting money to grow government is a skill. Spending that money requires no skill. It’s not like a business when options to spend money within a company compete based on strategy and payoff. In government spending money is based on the value of the votes it might garner regardless of the impact on economy.

So, government is better  than business when it comes to raising money. Business has to demonstrate success to get investment cash. Government has to hide the pain that more revenue will create. Business is better than government when it comes to investing money raised. Once again, they must invest where the greatest opportunity lies. Government invests where the most votes lie.

Business has kept this country great. Government is destroying this country. Can you see why?

Putting fingers in the dyke might work until you run out of fingers. Obama had enough fingers to keep the water back until the election was over. Now he’s out of fingers. Too many people know too much to keep the leaks plugged. And, some who know too much are pretty angry. They want to tell their story.

In his last press conference, the President said he didn’t know anything about the whistle blowers who were being denied the option of blowing the whistle. Another lie. Do you really believe the president wasn’t told the dyke is breaking?

Here’s what is going to come out when the whistles blow. Short and sweet. The White House knew from the get go that an American ambassador and three other Americans died in a terror attack. They got the facts immediately. Someone decided to stonewall the facts. They did it  for days.

Further, help was available to save those lives, but the Administration refused to act and let them die.

Now that will become public knowledge. The dyke is so full of leaks Obama can’t stop the flood. He can choose to deepen the cover up, like erasing the tape, vis a vis, Nixon, or he can come clean. Either way, it’s curtains for Hillary.

She’s done her version of “I never had sex with that woman” and will be branded a second family liar.

Stay tuned, this is going to get brutal.

The media is all up in arms because some funeral home in Boston agreed to bury the dead terrorist. What do they want to do with his body? Why is this an issue? Why does a small businessman in Boston have to be dragged through the mud because he agreed to do business? When has it ever been an issue who buries a killer? Who buried the shooter from Newtown?

I’m getting off the cynics train today and bringing you a nice story. My city in Illinois has enjoyed great success with their high school football teams. Winning several state championships in the past 10 years.

Last week I was in a local sub shop buying sandwiches to go. Four young men were in front of me in line. They  had their shirts and hats that identified them as high school football players. I recognized one as last year’s starting quarterback who will be back next year. Big young men who looked typical. One had a hat on backwards and another had a full beard.

As I waited for my to- go order the waitress brought their dine- in orders. They were at the table next to me. As I watched they joined hands and the quarterback led them in a prayer. I was stunned. I’ve seen families do this, I’ve seen couples do this. But, I’ve never seen four tough looking teens who will probably play college football do this. Sure, the teams do it on the sidelines before and after games. Mostly for the crowds. Here there were no crowds, no cameras, and only me and three employees who were too busy to watch.

There may be many things wrong with our country today, but there are any things right as well. I was truly moved by the four young men who chose to pray in public in a local sub shop. To me it ranks right up there with watching a half plane load of military men and women deplane at O’hare to a standing ovation by those of us waiting to board planes. You could tell those troops were truly moved by the spontaneous applause.

It’s a great country populated by great people. It’s good to remember that.

This country is tired of trying to fix the Middle East. This country can no longer afford to be the policeman for human rights violations. If Syria wants to have a civil war, it’s not our business. Sad, but true. We are broke and short on young people to fight anymore. Not our job. If they unleash chemical warfare on their people, take it to the UN. Let China stop it, they are the new world power. Mainly because they don’t fight wars in the Middle East. They use the money to upgrade their country instead.

Better yet, move the UN to China and then drop the Syrian problem on them. Stop supporting an organization that we fund and then watch as they kick sand in our face day in and day out.

Ron Paul had this one right. We did the right thing in WWII, but it was the last righteous war. Still that legacy exists in Washington. We must always be the one to fix problems all over the globe. It’s time to step back and stop drawing lines in the sand, like Obama did with Syria, then realizing we can’t stop what they are doing. With egg on his face and McCain pointing out the egg daily, Obama may be forced to do something stupid. Hopefully, he will  choose what he always chooses, to take another trip to Hollywood instead of sending bombs to Syria.

It’s time for the Republican Party to realize the will of the people, not a Republican charter that is outdated, like throwing Latinos out of the county and losing that growing vote. We may have all we can handle to protect ourselves from terrorism in this country down the road. Or, missiles coming in from North Korea.

Sadly, if the Syrians choose to kill each other, we can only criticize. We don’t know if the rebels would be worse than what they have now. How do you pick sides in this mess? If you aren’t John McCain and think rationally, you don’t.

Koch operated in the cracks of the majors. Asphalt, which majors largely ignored. Distillates–diesel fuel, jet fuel, kerosene, etc. And, the big one, a trading floor. Koch was Enron before Enron existed, with expertise in trading energy products. Petroleum coke, which majors considered a waste product, Koch bought, and made money selling.

Being smaller, they succeeded by being quicker and smarter.

Now, rumor has it, the brothers, David and William Koch are considering the purchase of the Tribune Co. The parent company of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, and the Baltimore Sun along with smaller newspapers.

Existing newspapers are nervous. Here’s what one, Michael Wolff, a reporter for USA Today wrote, “Curiously, most of the papers they are proposing to buy are in cities that voted overwhelmingly for the president-cities that have not had a reliably conservative base in a generation or two”

“Why you would go into a business trying to sell things that your customers don’t seem to want is hard to understand.”

Mr. Wolff, like most of the USA Today staff leans to the left.

Let me, a simple retired business executive, explain why, Mr. Wolff.  Newspapers and TV are run by managers who couldn’t work for the Koch brothers. Poor business people who came up from your job, Mr. Wolff, thinking just like you think.

Here’s the deal. While Obama won, he won by a narrow margin. Your paper, and most others, appeal to the 51% who support Obama and his views as well as yours and those of your bosses. The other 49% of the public has no newspaper, except for those run by Murdoch, like the Wall Street Journal.   The Koch brothers see this. The can appeal to almost 50% of the public in a market with zero competition. Not only will they retain most of the market the Tribune companies now have, they have a huge new market to take, those who refuse to read the crap the Tribune puts out along with that of your esteemed, MCPaper, Mr. Wolff.

You see, it’s a business that is poorly run. A business that doesn’t sell news, but sells a liberal philosophy. A business that is carrying a huge cost from  organized labor. Since the managers support organized labor, the readers are expected to pay for that cost. Good thing you don’t work for a Tribune Co. publication, Mr. Wolff, you would be out of work if this happens. Along with all of top management and most of your fellow journalists, if you can still be called journalists.

Koch brothers watch as Fox News destroys the competition for TV news. They know they can do the same with the print news business. Go back to journalism and stop the liberal propaganda. That’s it. Take on the unions and move the print business to Texas. Cut the costs. Improve distribution.

If I had to pick the two worst run businesses in this country it would be newspapers first and airlines second. Koch brothers know they can make money in the newspaper business. It’s not like they were competing against strong competitors. It’s like competing with the US Post Office or Amtrak.

I know why they are looking at the business. It’s not to be a bully platform for their political views, that’s what newspapers are now, it’s to make money. Something no one in your business understands, Mr. Wolff.

First, Speaker Boehner cut their budgets. No kidding. Someone really forced them to live like the rest of us with the economy they have created for us. Three years ago they had an average budget of $1.5 million which Boehner has now slashed to an average of $1.2 million.  The cuts by Boehner saved $58 million in fiscal year 2011, $143 million in 2012 and will save $205 million in this fiscal year.

Leading Democrats have chafed at the budget cuts. No surprise. Do you know a Democrat who doesn’t want to spend more?

Bigger yet, a clause was put in ObamaCare putting Congress on the program. This is from the Washington Post.

“Here’s how it happened: Back during the Affordable Care Act negotiations, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) proposed an amendment forcing all members of Congress and all of their staffs to enter the exchanges. The purpose of the amendment was to embarrass the Democrats. But in a bit of jujitsu of which they were inordinately proud, Democrats instead embraced the amendment and added it to the law. Here’s the relevant text:

The only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are — (I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

Let’s stop for a moment here and explain why this is unusual. Large employers — defined in the law as employers with more than 100 employees — aren’t allowed onto the insurance exchanges until 2017, and only then if a state makes an affirmative decision to let them in.

But the federal government is the largest employer in the country. So Grassley’s amendment means that the largest employer in the country is required to put some of its employees — the ones working for Congress — on the exchanges. But the exchanges don’t have any procedures for handling premium contributions for large employers.

That’s where the problem comes in. This was an offhand amendment that was supposed to be rejected. It’s not clear that the federal government has the authority to pay for congressional staffers on the exchanges, the way it pays for them now in the federal benefits program. That could lead to a lot of staffers quitting Congress because they can’t afford to shoulder 100 percent of their premiums. (There’s also a smaller issue related to how retiree benefits might be calculated. But I’m only willing to go so far into the weeds here.)

You’ll notice a lot of hedged language here: “Ifs” and “coulds”. The reason is that the Office of Personnel Management — which is the agency that actually manages the federal government’s benefits — hasn’t ruled on their interpretation of the law. So no one is even sure if this will be an issue. As the Politico article notes, some offices, like that of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), interpret the language of the law such that there’s no problem at all. Others are worried it could be an issue, and are trying to prepare ways around it. The staffs I talked to stressed this worrying was preliminary, and felt the Politico article was jumping the gun. “This whole Politico story is based on a ruling that hasn’t even come down yet,” one griped.

But no one is discussing “exempting” congressional staffers from Obamacare. They’re discussing creating some method through which the federal government can keep making its current contribution to the health insurance of congressional staffers.

“Even if OPM rules against us,” one staffer said, “it’s inaccurate to imply that any talks are aimed at exempting federal employees from routine mandates of ACA since any talks are about resolving the unique bind that the Grassley amendment puts federal employees in.”

This isn’t, in other words, an effort to flee Obamacare. It’s an effort to fix a drafting error that prevents the federal government from paying into insurance exchanges on behalf of congressional staffers who got caught up in a political controversy.”

Please note the weasel wording in the Washington Post article. No, of course they aren’t trying to get out of being on ObamaCare, just trying to fix a little glitch that allows them to pay for their ObamaCare isnsurance. If you believe this, then believe Boehner will raise the budgets because Democrats are whining.

Congress will find a way to fix what Grassley did to them, believe that. They want to stay on the top of the line health care insurance we pay for them for life. And, they will find a way.

But, for now, Boehner and Grassley are my heroes in that den of thieves.