Is there another rock band whose glory days have been packaged, re-packaged, recycled, reissed, and remixed more than The Beach Boys? Consider there were already three – count ’em, three “Best Of” releases by 1969, and that was before Capitol Records really hit the paydirt with the wildly-successful Endless Summer (1974) and Spirit of America (1975). Since that time Beach Boys fans have been the subject of a seemingly-endless stream of CD releases and various compilations (I count no less than 32 from The Beach Boys Complete Guide website), most highlighting the surf/car years from 1962-66, all featuring songs previously released in one form or another, precious few containing music not previously released or alternate-mixed in an interesting way.

What’s frustrating to a fan and collector as myself and many others is that there are few groups who have been bootlegged as much as The Beach Boys, and even with their most recent and “final” career-spanning box, Made In California, there still remains a huge amount of unreleased music in the Beach Boys catalog, primarily the result of albums planned but never released – the “Landlocked” period beween 1969’s 20/20 and 1971’s Surf’s Up, the “Brian is Back” period between 1976’s 15 Big Ones and 1979’s LA (Light Album), and the late ’80s to mid ’90s where the group’s official output was limited by contractual issues and, ultimately, Carl Wilson’s failing health.

This latest attempt by Capitol Records to cash in on the group’s 50th anniversary is a big and expensive 6-CD compilation of group’s career with just enough previously unreleased material to make it worth the avid collector’s time and money to purchase, but, upon listen, just barely. The quality of the recordings are, given the digital technology available to engineers and producers today, impeccable, but would it be noticeable to the casual fan’s ear? I doubt it. They can get the hits on plenty of other earlier releases. The coffee table book that comes with the set is interesting enough, but there’s an awful lot of empty space in those pages.

In the end, I guess it all comes down to this: would you pay north of $150 to hear the following songs never before “officially” released:

* Dennis Wilson’s “Wouldn’t It Be Nice To Live Again” (originally planned for 1971’s Surf’s Up)
* California Feelin’ (a legendary Brian composition recorded between 1974-77)
* “Soul Searchin'” and “She’s A Mystery” (two unreleased tracks from the abandoned Don Was-produced sessions of 1993)
* “Goin’ To The Beach” (an outtake from 1980’s Keepin The Summer Alive)
* “It’s A Beautiful Day” (from 1979, previously available only on the Americathon movie soundtrack)
* “Sail Plane Song” (a psychedelic pre-rendering of the still-unreleased Alan Jardine classic “Loop De Loop” from 1970)
* “Why Don’t They Let Us Fall In Love” (Brian’s rendering of a Phil Spector classic from 1980)
* “Back Home” (an outtake from the original Sunflower sessions of 1970)
* “Mona Kana” (a Dennis Wilson orchstral track from 1968)
* “My Love Lives On” (a sparse Dennis Wilson piano piece circa 1977’s Pacific Ocean Blue)
* “Barnyard Blues” (a rough Dennis Wilson throwaway track from the mid-70s)

…because that’s really all that is worthy of note on Made In California. Oh, there are some interesting live recordings from over the years (Dennis leading a rousing “Help Me, Rhonda” in 1972 is pretty cool to hear), but there are too many previously-released tracks heard too many times before, curiosities and oddities that have already been released in better formats (i.e., the SMiLE-era tracks, which all seem out of place here), and familiar tunes in alternate or remixed forms (for example, the original backing track for “Had To Phone Ya” and a busy remix of “Rock And Roll Music”, both from 15 Big Ones) that just aren’t interesting enough. With so much other unreleased material out there there just seems to be a lot of filler.

Following on the heels of the band’s wildly-successful 2012 this seems like a great opportunity missed. Beach Boys afficianados know, for example, that there’s at least 2-3 albums worth of live material from the ’70s when the Beach Boys were the hottest act out there, including recordings made during the historic “Beachago” tour with Chicago in 1975. Why couldn’t they have made a CD of hard-to-find songs only available on movie soundtracks or previous compilations now out of print? Or a couple of truly new songs from the “That’s Why God Made The Radio” sessions? It seems to me this would have made for a helluva lot more interesting – not to mention cost-effective release. It would have been nice, for example, to see the following tracks included – I know they’re out there because I have the bootlegs to prove it:

* Michael, Row The Boat Ashore – an interesting Brian track left off 15 Big Ones
* Big Sur – an early, alternate version of the 1973 Holland album track
* We Got Love – the studio version of the live Beach Boys In Concert track dropped from Holland to make way for “Sail On, Sailor”
* Carry Me Home – a haunting Dennis Wilson track recorded during the Holland sessions
* Barbara – a Dennis Wilson classic only available on the Endless Harmony soundtrack
* Rock And Roll To The Rescue – a rousing 1987 track from the now-unavailable Made In USA compilation
* Chasin’ The Sky – a Carl Wilson-sung track from the mid-80s “Up The Creek” movie soundtrack
* (On My Way To Sunny) Californ-I-A) – the single version of the Holland LP track

The one thing that stands out on Made in California is just how hot Brian Wilson was as a composer in the years 1964 through the SMiLE meltdown of 1967. In those three years – a period most see as arguably the greatest in rock history featuring the best the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Motown, etc. had to offer, the Beach Boys work shimmers with a brilliant creativity and sound that no one else had. What this compilation also shows is that, while Brian gradually disappeared from the scene starting in 1968, the band was able to regroup and produce a truly different, yet unique sound all the way up to 1976 when it was swallowed up in the wake of Endless Summer. This period, from Wild Honey through 15 Big Ones may not be the most accessible or even finest work the band ever produced, but as the period when my brother Mark and I were first introduced to their music, to me it’s the most enjoyable to listen to and the most endearing.

Finally, what Made in California demonstrates is just how much a monster talent Dennis Wilson became in the band. If the Beach Boys’ 1960s sound belonged to Brian and his creative muse, their 1970s sound relied on Dennis for its earthiness, raw passion, and uniqueness. It’s a shame the band’s internal politics and Dennis’ own unreliability and excesses prevented him from taking a more prominent role as the band developed its post-Brian sound. Nevertheless you can’t listen to the post-1967 tracks and not find your ears perked up when a Dennis Wilson composition plays.

I’ll grudgingly give this set a B grade, but only as a companion piece to 1993’s Good Vibrations – Best of The Beach Boys box set, which remains a must-hve for any serious collector and the rest of my collection (legitimate and otherwise). There’s simply too much music left in the Beach Boys vaults for future releases not to be planned. But one can only hope that if/when it happens, they truly do one for the collector fan and give the hits a well-deserved rest.

—-

Note to frequent commentor Jana: don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on this. Wait till you see the “Made In California” set I have planned for you! It’s a fall task on my to-do list.

What can I say? I’m tired, my elbow aches from my exam the other day (the quack says the inflammation is running its course), and it’s not just miserably hot outside but humid as well. Just a few items to end this busy and hectic week before I spend the weekend digging up my watering system to find the source of yet another leak. Lemme tell you, being a homeowner is not all it’s cracked up to be.

If you read one column today you have to read it is this one by Victor David Hanson. He’s a great writer, and the similarities he finds with our present culture and the Roman work The Satyricon are spot on. All I can say is, I’m glad I’m the age I am – the young people of today haven’t a clue as to what’s in store for them. Anyone who thinks we’re not just another Rome is fooling themselves. I just hope I’m dead by the time the barbarians crash the gate.

This story tells you just how clueless and misguided the young people of today are. Not happy with the wage you’re getting at McDonalds or Burger King? Hit the bricks and find another, better paying job, for God’s sake. This idea that minimum wage ought to support families and stuff is sheer madness. Don’t these clowns understand that their jobs require no special skills, that if the minimum wage were to go to $15 half the people in fast food restaurants would find themselves unemployed, and that there are plenty of other workers (not white or African-American) who would gladly take their jobs at the wage presently offered. But this is Barack Obama’s America for you – everyone thinks their oh-so-special and worth a government handout.

Wonder how many of my fellow Goodboys are heading to this weekend’s Deutsche Bank Classic. I’d certainly pay to watch the threesome of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott play together. It ought to make for great theater.

You can see more pictures of the dust storm we got the other night here. We’re supposed to be getting rain on Friday and Saturday, but here in the East Valley I’m guessing it’s gonna be another disappointment.

Ever want to hear what Help Me, Rhonda sounded in the early ’70s when The Beach Boys knew how to rock hard? Here you go, it’s from their Made In California compilation, and this version features Dennis Wilson, not Alan Jardine handling the lead vocals. I think it sounds awesome. Dennis was such a special talent.

Aside to Jana: don’t buy this, I’ll take care of you with some stuff no one has. Trust me. 🙂

A few thoughts on an incredibly hot and steamy summer day. It gets to this time of year and everyone around here is just sick of the heat. Arizona winter can’t come soon enough.

Mel Brooks was once quoted as saying, “It’s good to be King”. And Arnold Palmer is The King.

Calling Captain Obvious. And in other news, tonight will be dark with increasing light by morning.

Well the remains of Ivo were much ado about nothing, wonder if we’ll get anything from Juliette?

Want to see what our dust storm this past Monday looked like from the air? Very cool.

I guarantee Rob still remembers Katrina. His blog during that time was pretty riveting to read. And I think he’s got those posts in a chronicle somewhere.

And speaking of Rob, I agree with his assessment that when it comes to Syria perhaps we ought to sit back and let someone else do the heavy lifting for once. One of the AM talk show guys this morning was saying that because chemical weapons were used it’s our responsibility as leader of the free world to do something about it. I completely disagree. Death is death whether it is hundreds by chemicals, thousands by terror, or tens of thousands by civil war and strife. Nothing magical about that. All you can do is when (because it’s when, not if) they come after you, you strike back in a way that will make them regret deeply they ever tried messing with you in the first place. Perhaps that time will come, but it ain’t here yet.

I know Bill Clinton isn’t this stupid, but these days intelligent thought and liberal mind-speak are complete strangers. Dude, if voting was the same as buying an assault weapon you’d have to have a picture ID and wait at least five days for a background check – I know, I’ve checked into it right down at Town of Gilbert PD. Look, I like Bill as much as any conservative possibly could – I really do – but that doesn’t mean I let him off the hook when he says something completely ignorant.

Happy 90th birthday, Mom! Who woulda thunk it? You’re the best. Good luck with them scratchies!

Looks like today we’re going to get yet another Obama lecture on race – this from the most racially-divisive President we’ve ever had. This from a President who, as an African-American, is as far removed from your average black person as I am. He can talk all he wants about racial division and politics, but both he and his wife have been spoon-fed privileged and coddled from the very get-go. Neither Barack or Michelle Obama know anything about getting up before light to fight traffic or grab a bus to a job. Neither of them know what it’s like to live on a budget, to make ends meet, or to fear losing their job or their health insurance.

The one thing they both know how to do is to milk the system for everything they can get, then live as king and queen playing golf, surrounding themselves with celebrities, and jetting around the world to posh places on the taxpayer’s dime.

And I don’t want to hear anything about me not understanding African-Americans or racial politics because I’m not black. Let me tell you something – were Martin Luther King, Jr. alive today he’d be shocked at the disintegration of the African-American community in the last fifty years at the hands of not-so-well-meaning Democrats and liberals whose entitlement programs, support for abortion on demand, antipathy towards Christianity, and blind support of public education and the teachers unions have decimated the African-American family unit and left it to rot and die in inner-city ghettos with little hope or incentive of escape in attaining any kind of a better life.

Why Republicans and conservatives don’t splash this kind of message everywhere is beyond me, because Bob Woodson is truly speaking “truth to power”:

“Blacks today, we’re talking about the dream, for many the dream, for poor people, is a nightmare,” he said. “Everybody has come in front of them on the bus. Gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists. We never hear any talk about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general.”

Damned spanky. The truth is, Democrats only care about African-Americans when it comes time to round up the votes. You want to know who liberals truly care about? Just check out your daily Yahoo! home page – try and find a day without some sob story about illegal immigrants, gays, transgenders, atheists, or Hollywood celebrities behaving badly. And you know why? Because these are the folks political action committees pay attention to; these are the folks who have the money to support the most au courant Democratic and liberal causes. African-Americans? They’re yesterday’s news, symbols of a golden era of liberalism you can pull out of your political wallet whenever the race card needs to be played.

Let’s face it: in liberal and Democratic political circles African-Americans only matter when election cycles come around and there’s something like Trayvon Martin’s death to make political hay of. I don’t know anything about Martin or his life, but the idea of folks making Martin out to be some kind of saint is beyond pathetic. Because he wasn’t, and both you, and me, and his attention-craving parents know it. But that’s all race-mongers and race-hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and, yes, Barack Obama have left in their playbook. They want people to believe it’s still 1965 and mean Republicans and conservatives are trying to roll back whatever progress has been made since then.

Just one example: voter ID laws. Democrats hate voter ID laws. They say it disenfranchises African-Americans but even they know that’s a crock of sh*t – they hate them because they make it harder to cheat in elections, something Democrats specialize in. Think about it: you can’t get on a plane, apply for a credit card, get a driver’s license, or even order a beer at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport without an ID, but by golly, requiring someone to show an ID at a voting station is disenfranchisement. Oh, did we say it’s racist as well? What a bunch of stooges.

You want a discussion on race, President Obama? Let’s talk about the inner cities where African-American kids are forced into failing public schools because your Justice Department won’t support school choice. Let’s talk about how Democrats keep pushing for higher minimum wages, knowing all too well that it will result in less jobs and make it harder for African-American teenagers to get that first valuable job. Or how Democrats are pushing amnesty for illegals, knowing full well what the influx of larger numbers of less-educated and cheap labor will mean for the African-American community at large.

You want to talk about the lack of progress in race relations, President Obama? Talk about race-baiting stooges and shake-down artists like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the NAACP who use the cause of so-called “civil rights” to feather their own pockets while happily playing the role of contented slaves to their masters, the liberal Democratic plantation owners who’ve moved far beyond Selma and Montgomery, knowing there are more important – and politically attractive – disenfranchised fringe groups needing their attention and protection in return for just a few dollars more. Because, in the end, that’s what it’s all about.

It’s truly tragic and pathetic, but don’t expect our race-baiting, politically-divisive President to usher a word of any of this.

Tropical Storm Ivo was a bust here in the Valley of the Sun. We got a total of about ten minutes of rain over two days. We did a get an unrelated dust storm on Monday night that passed just to our south and west that ended up turning severe and bringing some trees down in Tempe. I’m kinda glad we didn’t get much because my two remaining queen palms have new sprouts at their tops and I can’t afford to have them break.

All of a sudden the Red Sox are looking mighty fine in their chances to play some post-season baseball. And if they get Clay Buchholz back in the next couple of weeks I don’t think too many teams would want to face a rotation of Lester, Lackey, Doubront, Peavy, and Buchholz in any kind of series.

I’m nervous about Syria and think the Obama administration is playing with fire by even contemplating getting involved in that mess there.

Mark my words: the Hillary Clinton / Benghazi fiasco of last year is about to blow open in the next couple of weeks. And whatever political aspirations she has are going to be toast.

I don’t get all the hubbub over Miley Cyrus’s performance at the VMA awards show the other night. Seen a movie on Showtime or HBO lately?

Modern-day liberalism in action:

A former Billings Senior High School teacher who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old student who later killed herself has been sentenced to 30 days in jail by a judge who said the victim was “older than her chronological age” and “as much in control of the situation” as the teacher.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Don’t want you to think liberals have the corner on stupidity and incompetence. We have a couple right here in Arizona that need replacing ASAP. I’m ashamed to admit I voted for both. What a stupid I am.

This, I think, is very cool. Watch, some idiot will now cut it down.

You won’t hear anything of this in the mainstream Obama lap-dog media, but the topic of impeachment and President Barack Obama broke into the headlines this week after Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn, a self-described “friend” of the President made comments about his actions and lawless governance sliding “perilously close” to impeachable offense. This follows on the heels of what many of Coburn’s fellow Republicans in the House and Senate have been hearing at various town halls across the nation while they are on their August recess. Away from the coasts, out in the heartland, Republicans are being pressed by constituents who legitimately wonder why Congress is allowing the President and his administration to run rough-shod over the Constitution and not be held accountable for their brazenly lawless and reckless actions.

Kevin McCarthy of National Review Online has a column designed to bring this discussion out of the shadows and into the open. In part, he writes:

President Obama, of course, has sworn to uphold the Constitution and is bound to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Art. II, Sec. 3). In stark contrast, he has usurped the lawmaking power of Congress by unilaterally amending some statutes and expressly refusing to enforce others — not because they are arguably unconstitutional but because he disagrees with them on policy grounds. For years, he has ignored the law requiring the executive branch to propose Medicare reforms when the program’s trustees issue a warning about inadequate funding. He has made recess appointments when Congress was not in recess. He has flouted judicial rulings, including those invalidating the work of illegally appointed officials. His Justice Department openly and notoriously flouts the Constitution by enforcing the civil-rights laws in a racially discriminatory manner. His administration has knowingly transferred firearms to murderous Mexican criminal enterprises, predictably resulting in the killing of at least one federal Border Patrol officer. He has sued sovereign states in order to extort them into acceptance of his gutting of immigration and voter-identification laws.

After willfully empowering jihadists in Libya by instigating an unprovoked, unauthorized war against a regime the United States regarded as an ally and was funding, the president and his State Department were shockingly derelict in failing to protect American personnel they recklessly kept stationed in Benghazi despite repeated attacks. When American installations there were predictably besieged yet again by jihadists on the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the commander-in-chief compounded his default by abandoning Americans who were under lethal attack, failing to take action to attempt to save them. As a result of this serial malfeasance, four American officials, including the United States ambassador to Libya, were killed — a scandal the administration has exacerbated by stonewalling congressional investigations; attempting to defraud the public into believing an obscure anti-Muslim video provoked the siege; and shamefully jailing the video producer in a transparent effort to prop up the fraud and in violation of the producer’s constitutional rights.

The president, moreover, oversees an administration that has turned the IRS loose to harass his political opponents, frustrating their capacity to organize prior to the 2012 election. And Obama has stood behind his attorney general despite the latter’s citation for contempt of Congress and multiple episodes of false congressional testimony — most recently in connection with the investigation of journalists covering the administration.

With a record like this, George W. Bush would long ago have been impeached and removed.

No one is saying that impeachment hearings are imminent or even the subject of debate or conversation in the back halls of Congress. And one might argue that the President’s popularity amongst his lapdog media and a low-information (i.e. ignorant) populace would result in howls and cries of racism if Republicans attempted to bring impeachment hearings forward, but the fact is that the Framers of the Constitution put impeachment into the framework for a reason: to police the way the Executive Branch operates and provide the country with a political solution to prevent similar actions and excesses by future administrations.

That the I-word is emerging from the shadows and at least being raised in polite company ought to be a warning sign to the Obama administration. It won’t, of course – Eric Holder, Kathleen Sebelius, and the President’s other uber-political appointees doing the administration’s bidding while he plays golf and endlessly campaigns are all just left-wing zealots attempting to overhaul the country’s socio-economic and political framework as quickly as possible before they’re exposed for what they truly are and voted out of power. But that doesn’t mean the word or topic should be shunned or disregarded simply because it may not be the most politically expedient thing to do. There is a time for political courage, and the excesses and outright lawlessness of the Obama administration ought to be debated, discussed, and challenged wherever and however possible as the Framers designed.

A few ramblings while waiting to see if Tropical Storm Ivo lives up to all the advance billing and brings us some meaningful rain over the next couple of days:

Count me as concerned about the Red Sox, who seem to be struggling mightily to score runs as the season enters the final five weeks plus. Last night John Lackey pitched another gem, only to see it wasted. I think if you asked most people at the start of the year if they thought the Sox would be sitting atop the A.L. East on August 24 they would have been thrilled, but that’s where they are and the season would be a big disappointment if the Sox can’t make the post-season.

Count me as not yet concerned about the Patriots, who got slaughtered and looked sloppy against the Lions the other night. There’s still much work to be done on both sides of the ball, for sure, but Tom Brady looks great and the defensive pass rush shows promise. The #1 thing Bill Belichick hates is not protecting the ball, and all those turnovers will be the topic of much-needed improvement needed in the last couple of pre-season games. And their secondary needs to play a whole lot better.

It’s nearly fall, so the music I’m listening to is veering away from surf and tropical to classical and tropical, with a good measure of Pink Floyd and Gordon Lightfoot thrown in for good measure. It’s not one of the band favorite pieces of work, but Atom Heart Mother and Obscurred by Clouds have always been amongst my favorites, while Lightfoot’s The Circle Is Small and Daylight Katy from his “Endless Wire” album are moody reminders of the best that Gord has ever done. And how good a backing band he had (an still does!).

While I understand and respect the Weekly Standard’s Yuval Levin’s piece on the state of Obamacare as we’re just weeks away from the first health exchange rollouts, the problem is your dealing with the Obama administration and a HHS led by the ghoulish Kathleen Sebelius – left-wing zealots who have no interest whatsoever in compromising any aspect of the law. As Harry Reid has already said, Obamacare is merely the first step towards a government-based single-payor system, and Democrats are banking that once Obamacare gets rolling and Hillary Clinton gets the White House in 2016 and the Dems win back the House (hey they can dream, can’t they?) that’s exactly what they’ll do.

Courtesy of Goodboy “Vegas” Clark, here are some memorable quotes from CBS golf commentator David Feherty, who also (at least in my view) has the best interview show on all TV on Golf Channel. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

“Fortunately, Rory [McIlroy] is 22 years old so his right wrist should be the strongest muscle in his body.”

“That ball is so far left, Lassie couldn’t find it if it was wrapped in bacon.”

“I am sorry Nick Faldo couldn’t be here this week. He is attending the birth of his next wife.”

“Jim Furyk’s swing “looks like an octopus falling out of a tree.”

(Describing VJ Singh’s prodigious practice regime) “VJ hits more balls than Elton John’s chin.”

“That’s a great shot with that swing.”

“It’s OK – the bunker stopped it.”

(At Augusta, 2011) “It’s just a glorious day. The only way to ruin a day like this would be to play golf on it.”

“That was a great shot – if they’d have put the pin there today.”

“Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff.”

“That green appears smaller than a pygmie’s nipple”.

Thanks, Vegas – and David – for the laughs. That Elton John quote almost made me spit out my morning coffee.

The first sign around here that fall is not far behind is when my 7 AM meetings with the India team take place before the sun comes over the neighbor’s house next door. Bad enough to be doing calls at 7 AM, even worse when you’re doing them and have to turn a light on.

Visited the quack yesterday about my elbow, she told me (as I gathered) it was tennis elbow and that I was the third person she’s seen that day with the same diagnosis. She gave me these powerful anti-inflammatories that seemed to work really well at first, but then I had the worst day in three months – I’m practically a one-armed cripple. Try blogging with only one hand! I’m glad the golf clubs are still in Georgia, and they better be getting the royal treatment from my brother!

If you want a fun read worthy of old dime-store crime fiction in a modern setting, read Howie Carr’s Hard Knocks. It was hoot from start to finish, although you do need to know a little bit about Boston and Mssachusetts politics to get the drift of some of Carr’s humor. But I enjoyed it greatly. Thanks, bro.

Equally good is Gerry Lopez’s Surf Is Where You Find It, where Lopez weavs his lifetime of surf adventures with a Zen-like philosophy for the sport and its interaction with nature.

The pool hit 94 degrees (I think) for the final time yesterday. With no sun today and a little bit of rain it dropped four degrees. It’s not that we won’t still have hot days for another month – we will – but the nights are bound to start “cooling”own into the 80s, and that’s death for keeping a pool over 90. And if we get the rain that is hopefully forecast for the end of this week that’s a good 3-4 degree loss right then and there. The days of luxuriously-warm swims is rapidly coming to a close.

Two churches across the road from each other have a theological battle running. Count me in among the Catholics. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ)

It’s been nearly a year since the Benghazi terror attacks killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have blood on their hands – American blood – and Secretary of State John “Did you know I served in the Vietnam War?” Kerry has just ordered the four who were placed on administrative leave for the past eight months with pay reinstated to their former jobs. No one has been punished, no one lost their jobs, and no one is talking about what truly happened because people have been threatened with their livelihoods if they did so. A big story for the mainstream media, right?

Nothing to see here, folks. The Obamas have a new dog.

The NSA admits it has been conducting surveillance on American citizens and foreigners without a search warrant, even after President Obama lied through his teeth on nation TV by assuring everyone the federal government was doing everything perfectly legal and just trying to keep Americans safe. A big story for the mainstream media, right?

Nothing to see here, folks. The Obamas have a new dog.

The Obamacare exchanges are just weeks away from going live and the complete overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system is in the hands of bureaucrats who have missed countless deadlines, delayed action on the employee mandate as a result of sheer incompetence, directed healthcare exchange dollars to Planned Parenthood to kill as many babies as possible, and are training people without any security checks to be “navigators” with access to everyone’s health information. All the while, employers are reducing full-time jobs to avoid paying penalties, insurers and employers are dropping coverage, and people’s insurance costs are going through the roof.

Nothing to see here, folks. The Obamas have a new dog.

The nation’s economic recovery from the 2008 recession continues at a languid pace, and the lackluster jobs data can’t hide the fact that most of the jobs being created are part-time, thanks to the looming Obamacare shadow. The nation has settled into a deep malaise as people are grateful for whatever work they can get while millenials are moving back into their parents homes in droves because they can’t find sufficient work and the tens of thousands of student loan dollars they’ve accrued for a sh*t four-year degree doesn’t come close to meeting their full-time employment desires or needs.

Nothing to see here, folks. The Obamas have a new dog.

As PJMedia’s J. Christian Adams so succinctly puts it: Christians murdered all over Egypt, new puppy at the White House:

It’s Sunny at the White House! But not in Egypt, if you are a Christian or a Franciscan nun. All over the country, Christian churches are being burned, Christians murdered, and nuns paraded in the streets as “prisoners of war.”

The “war”: this can only mean a war of Islam vs. Christianity, right? What other “war” could they be prisoners of? (Their words, not mine.) The Muslim Brotherhood and their thug adherents are conducting a war of genocide against Christians, trying to erase the Copts – one of the oldest Christian groups in the world – from the land.

Once upon a time in America, the American president would have stood before the world, over and over again, and provided a moral counterweight to this evil. The great figures of the 20th century became great by denouncing evil and condemning genocidal and religious persecution: Reagan, Churchill, Wojtyla.

But Obama is no Wojtyla. He has remained nearly silent on the Muslim Brotherhood’s bloody war on Egypt’s Christians. The martyrs pile up; he plays golf.

You know, if the mainstream media ever woke out of its dope-induced Obama-mania stupor it might find out this country is teetering on the brink of fiscal and social collapse in the hands of an empty-suited, race-baiting stooge whose only interests are bashing Republicans, hob-nobbing with celebrities, listening to himself read a TelePrompTer, and playing golf as regularly as possible while his jet-setting First Lady, daughters, and dogs pile up the sky miles traveling to swanky vacation hideaways around the world, all on the taxpayer’s dime. But that’s OK, you see, because they’ve put the country in the safest hands possible by surrounding themselves with liberal ideologues hell-bent on eliminating the free market and regulating everyone and everything into dependency on the federal government for anything and everything.

These pathetic, despicable liberal elitists who once dreamed of one day being the next-generation’s Woodward and Bernstein ought to realize that while this all sounds well and good, at the core of this problem is what government provides, it can take or fritter away any time it wants to once it has the power and lack of accountability to do so. What happens when the day comes when there aren’t enough taxpayers to finance everyone’s negotiated union pensions, healthcare, Obamaphones, welfare, disability, food stamps, education, and God-knows-what-else people are expecting Mommy Fed or Daddy State to give them and the government can’t borrow, print, or lend any more money because Chinese investors no longer fear what will happen when the U.S. collapses into fiscal and social ruin?

Who cares? The Obamas will just get another friggin’ dog. God help us all.