Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, You Are Being Slow Rolled.

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Was that stated strongly enough? Let me rephrase it: Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Jay Carney, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Joe Biden, and all of the other lying twits that have perpetrated this fraud on the American people deserve to be run out of office. Each and every one of them needs to be turned out of office (better yet if they’re already gone) and prosecuted as appropriate to the job they hold. Some need to be criminally charged.

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Some people thought I was a little harsh on the White House on Monday when I accused them of being lying weasels that thought you were too stupid to understand how email worked. Today, Tuesday, they’re slow rolling you on Benghazi and trying to take the heat off by arresting one of the people involved in the attack. One. A single person. Two years later. But hey, it was all about a video and what does it really matter, right?

I used to throw my hands up and turn off the channel when commentators did what I’m doing today. But the simple fact is that the people in the administration of Barrack Hussein Obama are treating us all like idiotic children. Mind you, they have lots of help in the media. Nothing is news until it’s queued up by the White House and set for release. Nothing wrong with what happened in Benghazi, but now that we have a perp in hand, by God we’ll mete out some justice. Harrumph, Harrumph, Harrumph.

I pointed out Monday that the White House has a standard procedure for dealing with their criminal activity, and I left out the final (they hope) step: “Oh, we did punish someone for that and you must be evil/racist/stupid for missing the significance of it when it happened.”

It’s not right for the White House to abandon American diplomats on the ground and let them die without trying to save them. It was an open-ended battle in progress when the powers-that-be shut off any rescue forces. The Commander in Chief wasn’t even in the discussions- he was packing for a campaign trip to Las Vegas.

It’s criminally irresponsible behavior. People were left to be savagely murdered by Islamic lunatics. (I do realize that I may lose some of the politically correct with that statement, but the truth is painful.) Our leadership did not lead. They backed away from the fire in the kitchen and let the house burn down.

It was, is, and will continue to be a disgrace. Benghazi deserves to be investigated. Ambassadors do not get killed like that without a full accounting. Secretaries of State don’t get off the hook like Hillary did by raising their voices and acting like a petulant teenager. Susan Rice doesn’t get to knowingly tell a lie to the public on 5 different Sunday talk shows and get away with it.

Most of all, the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State do not get to stand at the arrival ceremony for the remains of those men and tell lies to the public and their families after leaving them to be slaughtered. We don’t do that in my country.

It’s time for Benghazi to be fully investigated, and the rotten smell of corruption purged from the atmosphere. This is not a partisan situation, it’s a matter of life-and-death credibility for our diplomatic corps and military stationed overseas.

Once Upon A Time, There Was A Group Of Lying Weasels In Washington – No, Wait, That’s Right Now!

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Contrary to the belief of the White House and it’s criminal minions in the IRS, some of us are well educated enough to call shennagins on the alleged loss of Lois Lerner’s emails. I know that my silly degrees don’t qualify me to comment… well, actually they do. I have degrees from three different universities/community colleges, two of them in the top 200 in the nation. Strangely, one of the degrees is in computer science. Guess what I do for a living: I work with computer networks. And, most odd of all, I’ve been dabbling in computers since the days when you used a dial-up-modem that required that you call a number and put the handset of the phone into a pair of suction fittings on the computer so that it could lurk along at the pace of a very slow teleprinter. So, yeah, I am qualified to comment on the statement that her emails were lost – it’s a lie. And the rats in Washington think that you’re so stupid that you’ll believe this fabrication and look away while the Obama administration persecutes conservative groups by denying them their lawful tax status.

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That would be bad enough, but what Lerner was doing, and these are the suddenly lost emails, was trying to coordinate outside groups in the prosecution/persecution of said conservatives. She wasn’t content with denying them an equal voice in the electoral process, she wanted to illegally impede them with prosecutions that were not based in fact. She had help from her friends in Congress and outside agencies. You see, it wasn’t a vast right wing conspiracy, it was a very real conspiracy from the progressive leftist movement that is know as the Democrat party.

I think it’s safe to say that 99% of you have email if you’re reading this blog. Either at work or at home, you are known as joesreader@something.com. When you set up an email account, what you are doing is registering your email address with a computer service that takes the messages you hand them, records them, passes them on to the recipient, and does the same in reverse when someone contacts you. Big outfits handle millions of these emails a day.

People get really cranky when their email vanishes. So what real I.T. departments do is something called RAID. Without going into all the gory details, RAID is essentially carbon paper for network activity. Your stuff isn’t just on your hard drive, or a single server. Nope, it’s likely contained on your hard drive, the main email server, a secondary email server, the recipient’s email server, and the backup for that one, as well as the recipient’s hard drive. (Not always on the hard drive, but often enough to be mentioned.)

Really big outfits have a third backup, and sometimes they simply archive all of the above on a couple of storage devices after a fixed period. So it’s likely that your email will be held in no fewer than three places after a few days. Initially it’s probably on two. That’s why the big lie coming from the administration doesn’t hold up. It’s not how real email works. It’s not like a letter you lost when you accidentally shredded the contents of the file. Nope, it’s stored in several places. Ironically, there’s a legal requirement for government emails to be archived for historical and legal purposes.

This stuff doesn’t vanish. Not even total electronic incompetents lose two years of emails due to a server crash. Not even the government is that badly run (but I’ll give them the edge in other areas of stupid – they’re gangbusters!) This is like a crooked business hiding it’s records so that the IRS can’t find malfeasance. Ironic, huh?

If you weren’t mad before you started reading this, I’d like to amp it up a bit: The administration thinks that you’re too stupid to see through this lie. That you will say, “Gee, I’ve lost emails before… I guess it could happen.” Two years worth? Heck, Nixon only lost 18 minutes and he got impeached. If that provoked a visceral response from you that “President Obama wouldn’t have known about that, what a wing-nut.” I’d like you to throw away the blinders for a minute and think about the response of this administration every time something bad happens that they should have known about, did know about, and did nothing to prevent. The pattern is clear:

1. Initial stonewalling.
2. Outrage! We’ll get the facts and punish the evildoers!
3. Slow-rolling the investigation until the next crisis comes along.
4. That’s so old, why are you right-wing-fanatics persecuting him? Are you racists?
5. We aren’t talking about that anymore, the science is settled.

If I’m wrong, please advise which scandal has had some other outcome. I’m going to be sending an email to Edward Snowden asking if he’s got copies of Lois Lerner’s emails. Seems he has all the rest of it on his laptop.

Interesting Times, Indeed.

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There’s a rant building in my bones over the Middle East, Bowe Berghdahl, and the nonsense in Washington in general. But that will have to wait, for today we have a variety of stellar videos to present. You, dear reader, must figure out the pattern here and submit it via the comments section. If you figure it out there’s a prize waiting for you. A nice prize. Not the usual used sheets kind of prize this blog is famous for, but something you’d actually like. With that in mind, observe and reply in the comments. I’ll pick one at random. (Random being defined as strictly by my whim. If only one of you responds, you’re the automatic winner. If more than one responds, it will go to a reader who hasn’t won anything yet. If none of you have won a prize before, I will let Stormy pick. She’s truly random.)

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ABBA: Dancing Queen

Barry Gibb: Carried Away

The Cranberries: Dreams

Destiny’s Child: Say My Name

Got it? Now, off to the comments.

Dancing With Jesus.

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For several years my local Christian radio station, KTIS, has held an outdoor concert in June. It’s called Joyful Noise Family Fest, and it’s name says it all. In full disclosure, I’m friends with several of the people at the station, and have traveled on mission trips with them in the past. I hold them all in high esteem. That also allows me some backstage access on occasion. I like that – not because I need my picture taken with the acts, but it is nice to chat a bit with them and find out who they are off stage. Which leads me to this picture, and what it means.

Love, and a little bit of rain, is in the air at Joyful Noise Family Fest.

Love, and a little bit of rain, is in the air at Joyful Noise Family Fest.

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I’ve met a few famous people over the years. Some were cool, some were drooling idiots. But all of the Christian artists I’ve had the pleasure to talk to have been sincere and kind. We had the chance to talk with a few of the acts this last weekend, and the topic wasn’t the latest album, the stage they were about to hit, or the clothes and jewelry they were wearing. Nope. Instead we had a really deep talk (within time limits) about the orphanage the band has in Haiti and how much that mission means to them. Kind of surprising, eh?

That level of love, and dedication to Christ, comes across in the music modern Christian acts bring to the radio and the stage.

Mandisa and my wife (I'm the doofus on the left.)

Mandisa and my wife (I’m the doofus on the left.)

Whether it’s Mandisa singing about overcoming obstacles, or Steven Curtis Chapman preaching a bit between songs, the event revolves around our shared values and love of God. The music, if you listen carefully, is often a passage of scripture set to music. It’s sometimes a thought provoking item that makes you dig a little deeper in your faith. Most likely it’s a bit of joy and reflection about what our lives mean in the great scheme of things.

Most of all, modern Christian music, and events like Joyful Noise Family Fest, are opportunities for people of faith to enjoy each other’s company and worship. I can honestly say that I spent 4 hours at church on Friday and 6 hours on Saturday. It just happened to be outdoors with music. And a tamale wagon. Lots of tamales. The couple in the photo at the top of the blog didn’t know that I was taking the picture. I asked them for permission to use it when they finished dancing. They weren’t alone in dancing to the music. It does something to your soul to be with 10,000 of your fellow Christians and surrounded by voices lifted in praise. I sat in my chair and loved every minute of it – even the rain. (Yes, that is a trash bag covering my torso – tactical field expedient rain gear.)

Field Expedient Rain Gear

Field Expedient Rain Gear

I would like to thank the staff of KTIS, especially my friends Rich, Julene, and Jason for their kindness over the years.Finest kinds of folks.

I look forward to the next concert/event. It fills my soul with joy and love of Jesus each time. Good stuff. Needed in this world.

Now, where did I put my dancing shoes?

There’s A Little Spot On My Heart That Glows Red And Green.

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Some of you know that I’m actually a super hero for a few weeks each year. For those that weren’t aware of it, I’m actually Santa Claus. Before you call the wagon and the guys with the nets, I’d like to explain what that means to me on this June morning just before 0100. I’ve been thinking about it for hours and want to share some of that Christmas spirit on this night so far removed from the day itself.

Super Heroes Come In Red

Super Heroes Come In Red

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Today, at work, I had my picture frame running next to my computer screens. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the images I’d selected years ago parade in front of me. One image caught my eye, just as it had a few weeks back when I was working on a project. It’s an out-of-character photograph of me in the Red Suit (always capitalized in my universe.) In this picture I’m out of uniform. Children, and adults, expect Santa to be presented in a certain way in public. One item is that Santa must have on gloves. Color doesn’t matter, but white is preferred. Another thing is that Santa is generally expected to wear something red, but that is flexible if he’s visiting hospitals, or there as Father Christmas. But the thing most often asked about is where are Santa’s glasses. Nobody wants to hear that Santa had Lasik and doesn’t need the glasses anymore. Trust me, it’s not acceptable.

In the picture I’m thinking about I don’t have my glasses on my face. It shocked me when I glimpsed the photo, but I didn’t get a good look. A few hours later I saw it again, and then I realized what was taking place in the photo and it pulled me up short. My busy day, busy life, important things, and general air of competence came crashing down when I looked closely at the two people in the photograph. All of my priorities shifted and I stopped to pray for a little girl who had burnished a spot on my heart several years ago. I haven’t seen her in a few years, and I don’t know her fate. But what she did for me that day needs to be remembered, and held close to my heart. It is why I am Santa – super hero to the children of the Christian world.

The little girl in the picture was attending a special event I help sponsor every year called “Cookies with Santa.” It’s for my friends at Hope Kids, a wonderful group of people who provide social outings for my little friends who are very ill. I had my glasses off so that she could touch my face. She needed to touch my face, because she is blind – cancer in her eyes. Most of the children who visit can see me to some extent, but she had lost her vision and lived in a world I can’t even fathom.

In the picture I’m leaning forward so that she can get a glimpse of me. I will always remember her touch: gentle, probing, kind, and concerned. She wanted to know me but not hurt me. Didn’t want to pull the beard, but needed to know where the contours of my face were, and what they brought to her senses. It was a loving touch. And probably the nicest moment of that entire year of being with my smaller friends.

I stopped to pray when I looked at that picture for I’m not certain that she’s numbered among us anymore. She didn’t attend the event last year, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t there the year before that, either. But in my heart, and in my soul, she has a place that glows red and green with the love of the season. If a guy’s got to be caught out of uniform, I can’t think of a better reason than to give a child the glimpse of joy that she had in that moment. She gave me a gift that I will carry with me the rest of my days.

Tonight she’s on my mind. As are the other children who have come and gone in my career with the elves and reindeer. All of them special. All of them worthy of mention to God tonight as I say my prayers. I hope that you’ll take a moment to pray for those children as well.

Be blessed. And keep Christmas in your heart throughout the year.