Edwards epilogue: Does the press really vet presidential candidates?

That's the headline from a story on Politico.com...my answer is simply only if they're Republicans. Democratic candidates are given passes on pretty much everything. If they weren't neither Edwards nor Obama would have made it past the first couple of primaries. Mr. Edwards wouldn't have been able to conceal his extramarital affair without the intentional blindness of major media organizations.

Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, said that there isn’t a “simple yes or no” answer when looking at whether Edwards was fully vetted. What news organizations can cover, he said, comes down to a question of resources.

“News organizations just don’t have the horsepower to go out when there’s fields of eight people in each party to do the level of vetting it would take to uncover that,” Lemann said of the Edwards affair.

And with numerous candidates in both parties to cover, it’s not surprising that news organizations largely ignored the report of a “love child” between Edwards and Hunter just a few weeks before the Iowa vote.

Still, simply because the media missed the affair doesn’t mean Edwards wasn’t given scrutiny as a candidate. Throughout 2007, there was a series of reports that undermined the image that Edwards had sought to project by contrasting his populist rhetoric and focus on poverty with the reality of a candidate with hedge fund ties and $400 haircuts.

Mr. Obama's associations with extremists, such as the domestic terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, who were written off as "just some people who lived in the neighborhood". But in his formative years, Mr. Obama had a mentor/disciple relationship from 1971-1979, where he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Frank Marshall Davis, going so far as to get advice on his career path. Then of course there is Anita Dunn, who's heroes are Mao Tse Dung and Mother Theresa...and we can't forget Van Jones, a committed communist who was thrown under the bus when it became know he was a member of a 9/11 "truther" group. Last but not least...the Reverend Jeremiah Wright who's bombastic racist anti-American screeds from his pulpit was ignored until bloggers began reporting what he said.

All of these men and women have been known associates of Barrack Obama for years. None of their backgrounds came out during last presidential campaign, it was only AFTERWARD that their deeds and words came back to haunt them.

On the other hand, the Associated Press detailed 30 reporters to dig into Sarah Palin's past the day after John McCain's choice of a running mate was announced...so you tell me...who was vetted more thoroughly?

Weatherization Act A Failure

Like pretty much everything else the Obama Administration has attempted, the weatherization portion of the "Stimulus Package" has  failed to do what was promised last year when it was passed.

"In short," the report says, "the Nation has not, to date, realized the potential economic benefits of the $5 billion ... The job creation impact of what was considered to be one of the Department's most 'shovel ready' projects has not materialized. And, modest income home residents have not enjoyed the significant reductions in energy consumption and improved living conditions promised as part of the massive Recovery Act weatherization effort." This bureaucratic failure has churned up significant backlash to the administration's efforts. Some have called this program a stimulus waste; others are asking about the merit of weatherizing homes at all.

Just goes to show you that government can't solve most problems even when you throw billions of dollars at the problem.  Sometimes, it's easier just not to spend the money, especially when you're borrowing it in the first place.

Is Obama on the Way to Failing in His First Year?

I received this today, it's a mish mash of several different columns, the sources of which I've not been able to identify beyond the Daily Beast's column by Mr. Zuckerman.  So, I'm going to post this straight, if I step on someone's toes, please let me know and I will be happy to post the appropriate link to where ever that particular paragraph/sentence, etc, comes from. I have been informed that Paul R Hollrah wrote the majority of what follows:

A most interesting editorial, not from Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, but from Mortimer Zuckerman of U. S. News. The tide is turning.

Mortimer Zuckerman is the Editor in Chief of the U S News and World Report and was a supporter of Barack Obama during his run for the Presidency. This is a staggering appraisal of the President's first year in office- coming from someone who supported President Obama.

In a January 20, 2010 editorial, the Editor in Chief of U.S. News & World Report, Mortimer Zuckerman, had this to say:

“...Obama’s ability to connect with voters is what launched him. But what has surprised me is how he has failed to connect with the voters since he’s been in office. He’s had so much overexposure. You have to be selective. He was doing five Sunday shows. How many press conferences? And now people stop listening to him… He’s lost his audience. He has not rallied public opinion. He has plunged in the polls more than any other public figure since we’ve been using polls. He’s done everything wrong. Well, not everything, but the major things… I don’t consider it a triumph. I consider it a disaster.”

I have found out who has written the following, paragraphs.  I have been informed that they are actually the writings of one Paul R. Hollrah.  I have not yet found an online source that I can link to, but when I do,  I will[according to, Ashley Messenger, Editorial Counsel, U.S. News & World Report--see update below]

And that’s what his friends are saying about him.

As the boy president occupied the White House on January 20, 2009 it was predictable that his presidency would last a year, at most, because the things he promised and the things he stood for were so uniquely un-American. Looking back over his year in office, any reasonably precocious fourth grader could make a cogent argument in opposition to nearly everything he’s done. In fact, his policies have been so extreme and so far outside the mainstream that he was destined to achieve the most spectacular fall from grace of any American president in history. It was easy to see him serving out the final three years of his term as a virtual exile in the White House… afraid to venture out among any but the most rabid partisans.

Seeing his most ambitious initiative, healthcare reform, die in the flames of the Massachusetts Massacre, Obama made a hastily-planned “sortie” to Ohio for yet another Bush-bashing, self-aggrandizing stump speech on job creation. It was vintage Obama… full of left wing hyperbole and planted questions from the Kool- Ade drinkers in the hand-picked audience… but there were just two things wrong with it: 1) Almost everything he said was either wrong or an outright lie, and 2) He is so overexposed that no one in the television audience really wanted to see him.

Obama Kool-Ade drinkers in the media, and elsewhere, like to describe Obama as a “very bright man, a true intellectual (compared to George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, of course).” If that is the case, why has he demonstrated such a great inability to learn from his failures? The strident words and the in-your-face attitude of his Ohio speech were proof that he has totally misread the meaning of the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts .

Whatever hopes and dreams he had for his time in the White House, whatever grandiose plans he had for transforming the United States from a constitutional republic with a free market economy into a socialist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy, were all lost on Tuesday, January 19, 2010… one day short of a full year in office. Yet, he appears to have learned nothing from the experience.

Comedian George Gobel once asked, rhetorically, “Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?” In the context of 21st century American politics, and assuming that he has any capacity at all for honest self-examination, Obama must be feeling today very much like a pair of brown shoes at a black tie soiree.

When a politically naïve and totally inexperienced young black man, with a glib tongue and an exceptional ability to read words convincingly from a teleprompter, announced that he was ready to serve as President of the United States, liberals and Democrats saw it as a perfect opportunity to expiate whatever white guilt they may have felt… which was apparently considerable among those on the political left. It didn’t seem to bother them that, as one pundit has remarked, “every time he walks into a room he is the least experienced and the least qualified man in the room.” Nevertheless, his friends in the worldwide socialist movement and the international banking community figured out how to smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal campaign funds into the country, the black community rallied to his banner, and American liberals and the mainstream media jumped on board the bandwagon. Together, they made it happen for him. But now, just one year later, Obama appears destined to become the unhappiest man in American politics… unhappier than even former Senator John Edwards, who runs a close second, and former president Bill Clinton.

Clinton will be the third unhappiest man because, after capturing the big prize, he frittered away whatever chance he had of ever being compared favorably with Franklin D. Roosevelt as one of the 20th century’s greatest Democratic presidents. Not only was he a politician of unusual skill and insight, he was widely known as a policy “wonk” among policy wonks and he had the drive and the personal charm to be loved and respected around the world. Unfortunately, he was never able to put the public trust at the top of his priority list. Instead, he surrounded himself with a large cadre of trusted enablers who allowed him to conduct himself as if he were, not the President of the United States , but the class stud on an extended spring break in Acapulco .

Now that he’s been out of office for nearly a decade and he’s married to the current Secretary of State, he spends his days trying to find something useful to do without calling an undue amount of attention to himself. Having lied so shamelessly to the American people, having perjured himself in a court of law, having turned the Oval Office into a sexual playpen, and having suffered the humiliation of impeachment, he’s smart enough to know that he has little reputation left to protect. So in order to protect whatever legacy remains, he walks a tightrope every day… and he has many more years to walk it without falling off.

Former Senator John Edwards is destined to be the second unhappiest man in American politics because he will be known forever as the most thoroughly despised scumbag in the political arena. A trial lawyer, Edwards amassed a $60 million fortune by winning large jury awards against doctors, hospitals, and corporations. His specialty was cases in which children were born with cerebral palsy, which he blamed on doctors who had waited too long to perform C-sections, a claim that doctors and medical researchers have described as “junk science.” Then, like Obama, he decided that his experience in the courtroom, his glib tongue, and his one term in the U.S. Senate qualified him to be President of the United States . He entered the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, raising an incredible amount of money for a newcomer to elective office… most of it raised illegally by “bundlers” in plaintiffs’ law firms across the country. He was unsuccessful in his quest for the Democratic nomination but was selected by his Senate colleague, John Kerry, as his running mate.

Two years later, in 2006, Edwards met a young blonde film producer, Rielle Hunter, and embarked on a love affair with her. On February 27, 2008, Hunter gave birth to a daughter, for whom Edwards has consistently denied paternity… until now.

Taking into account that all of this was happening while his wife was waging a long battle with breast cancer, Edwards now has the well-deserved reputation of being the sleaziest of the sleazy. He is so universally despised that, if he is on the lookout for a friend, he might as well resign himself to getting a dog… or moving in with O.J.

Simpson. Terry Moran, host of ABC’s This Week, put it all in perspective. He said, “What’s interesting to note is that Edwards’ latest admission (that he is the father of Hunter’s child) came while he was in Haiti . As if the people of that sad place didn’t have enough problems.” Clearly, the one thing Clinton and Edwards share that places them near the top of our list is their sexual peccadilloes, a shortcoming that Obama does not appear to share with them… at least from what we know so far.

What we do know about Obama is that, since his teen years, he has been mentored by, gravitated toward, and surrounded by the most dangerous sort of America-hating socialists, communists, and Marxists… from Frank Marshall Davis and Saul Alinsky to Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, George Soros, and countless radical left college professors.

What destines Obama for the top spot on the list of unhappiest American politicians… aside from the failure of his economic recovery program, the failure of his radical cap-and-trade proposal, his failed attempt to give labor bosses unprecedented power to intimidate blue collar workers, and his ill-fated attempt at healthcare reform… is the fact that he carries on his shoulders the hopes and aspirations of every black child in America. It is unfortunate that, because he is so far outside the American mainstream, and because he carries so much hatred in his heart for the country he seeks to lead, his failures will be viewed by generations of black children, not as the failure of a black socialist attempting to bring down a constitutional republic, but simply as the failure of a black man.

A man can fail in the eyes of his countrymen and still be dearly loved by those closest to him. But in Obama’s case, his wife and his two daughters will be there to suffer every agonizing step of his fall along with him. And for the rest of his life, each time he looks into their eyes, and into the eyes of black people everywhere, he will see the crushing disappointment that his ill-fated attempt at national transformation has caused them.

He will be the country’s unhappiest man, living the rest of his life knowing that his daughters know that the whole world sees him as a failure. He is simply the wrong man, in the wrong job, in the wrong country, at the wrong time in history.

I strongly suspect that IF the bill authorizing the government to seize control of the health care industry is rammed through, the election this fall will damage the Democratic brand tremendously.  I think that the leadership of Democratic party both in Congress and in the White House have seriously under estimated the anger that is building across the country in opposition to the free spending ways of this Congress and this President.  But the one of the final things Mr. Obama said after Thurdays Blair House Kabuki theatre is telling.  Roughly he said that,  if the country is unhappy with this plan, that's what elections are for...

Let's just hope that Messers Obama, Reid and Mrs. Pelosi aren't successful either with this bill or with the Cap & Trade bill, Mr. Obama would like passed this spring.

UPDATE:  I received the following rather threatening email from US News & World Report:

To Whom It May Concern,

Your post (http://thevailspot.blogspot.com/2010/02/is-obama-on-way-to-failing-in-his-first.html) contains a copy of an article written by Paul R. Hollrah, however the article is not attributed to him. Mr. Hollrah's name was left off the post. The first sentence of the article, however, begins, "In a January 20, 2010 editorial, the Editor in Chief of U.S. News & World Report, Mortimer Zuckerman, had this to say:…." This sentence, in conjunction with the fact that the copy of the article is not properly attributed to Mr. Hollrah, leaves the reader with the false impression that Mr. Zuckerman wrote the entire post that follows. We demand that you correct this error, either by noting that the article copied onto your site was written by Mr. Hollrah, or by removing the post in its entirety.

U.S. News & World Report and Mr. Zuckerman do not by this letter waive any of their rights in connection with these matters and specifically reserves any and all rights it has against you.

Please notify me -- directly or through your attorney -- as soon as possible to confirm that the correction has been made.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Ashley Messenger
Editorial Counsel
U.S. News & World Report
contentmanagement@usnews.com

So, Miss Messenger, the appropriate changes have been made as I stated in the opening paragraphs.  Now, when I have a specific source for the above material attributed to Mr. Hollrah, I'll gladly link to it.

GOP candidates offered 'Statement of Unity' to defeat Mikulski

I recently received the following press release:

MARYLAND – The Republican Primary on September 14, 2010 has produced a spirited contest for the office of U.S. Senator, facing the probable Democratic primary winner, Barbara Mikulski. According to official reports and announcements, on the Republican ballot will be seven candidates, including: Carmen Amedori, John F. Curran, John B. Kimble, Daniel W. McAndrew, Jim Rutledge, Corrogan R. Vaughn, and Eric Wargotz.

....

Currently, three of the seven candidates have indicated they will sign the Statement. Because Vovak has not been able to speak directly with all of them, he said he will wait until all have been given ample time to respond before releasing their names, though those candidates can speak freely at any time with their supporters and the media, should they desire to do so.

Within the Maryland Republican Party Constitution, under Article 11, Section 2, d(2), Maryland's  Republican Chairman must show no "partiality or prejudice" towards any Republican candidate before a primary. Article 2, Section 2 states that the Party "works towards the election of Republican nominees."

Statement of Unity to Defeat Barbara Mikulski:

"I, ____________________________________________________, will support the winner of the Maryland Republican primary on September 14, 2010, so Maryland will have a Republican in the United States Senate. In addition, should I win the primary, I will reach out to the other Republican candidates for their support."

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the code phrase adopted by the Democratic Party to grant amnesty to all those people who have entered the country illegally and giving them fast-track toward citizenship. I believe this is wrong because it sets a horrible precedent to those who have taken the time and energy to enter the country legally. Why bother to follow the laws of the United States, obtain a visa, and enter the country legally when merely walking across the border and then just waiting until you're granted citizenship by Congress.

This is the what the Democratic Party has wrought. The pending legislation, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) has 92 cosponsors...all Democrats. This legislation wil:

Legalization: The bill creates a legalization program for qualified undocumented immigrants (and their spouses and children):

• Those who qualify would receive a conditional nonimmigrant visa which is valid for six years. This visa allows legalized immigrants with work and travel authorization and protection from removal.

• To qualify, an applicant must:

1. Establish they have been in the U.S. illegally before December 15, 2009. Attest to having made contributions to the U.S. through employment, education, military service, or other volunteer/community service (with exemptions for minors, persons with disabilities, the elderly, or other unusual circumstances).
2. Pay an application fee and a $500 fine.
3. Not have any convictions for a felony or for three or more misdemeanors.

 • Certain immigrants who are in removal proceedings, facing removal, or ordered to depart voluntarily would be able to apply for legalization.

  

• All bars related to undocumented status – such as using a false Social Security number -- will be waived (but security and criminal bars cannot be waived).

  

DREAM Act: Undocumented individuals who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16 will apply for legal status through the same program outlined above.

1. Eligible persons will not have to pay fines.
2. Such persons will be eligible for accelerated LPR status upon graduation from high school, and completion of two years of college, military service, or employment. Persons granted LPR status under this provision will be eligible for naturalization three years after the date LPR status is granted.
3. Individual states will be permitted to determine whether undocumented students can benefit from in-state tuition rates.

In other words it will grant not just amnesty, but will fast-track those who entered the country illegally and give them citizenship before all those who have followed the laws of this country. There is something fundamentally wrong with this entire concept.  The Democratic Party has the further hope that by creating roughly 30 million instant citizens that these people will then register to vote as Democrats and thus create a huge imbalance in the current near parity in party membership.

When you reward bad behavior, you merely encourage it. If this legislation is passed it will encourage ever more people to flout the immigration process that our government has enacted and will persuade many more people to illegally enter the country in the hope that in a few years they too will be given instant citizenship.

 Those are the fundamental flaws in this peice of legislation. In this time of deep recession, we need to ensure that those economic sectors that have been hit the hardest are given some relief. At the moment, the construction industry is at a near stand still. Those few companies that are still working, are often using illegal immigrants because they will work for much, much less than legal workers. Furthermore, these companies are not paying taxes on these workers further reducing the revenue the government needs to function, and thus contributes the deficit.

The best way to remove the incentive for illegal immigration is not to prosecute those individuals that come to America seeking work, but rather to actively prosecute those who hire them. This is a fundamental change in the way the government approaches illegal immigration. By removing the incentive to hire illegal workers, more Americans who are unemployed will be put back to work.

First of all, by changing the laws in such as way that an employer who is fined $10,000.00 per illegal worker he is employing for a first offense would, initially show that the government will no longer countenance the use of illegal workers. A second offense would incur the loss of business licenses as well as an increased fine of $20,000.00 per illegal worker. A third offense would be a $30,000.00 fine as well as a jail term of one year per illegal worker, those additional years would be served consecutively...in other words, if you're caught 3 times with 10 workers, you will be fined $300,000.00 and serve 10 years inn prison.  A system similar to this was instituted by the city of Knoxville, Tennessee a few years ago. In a very short time, the number of companies using illegal workers was reduced to a very small number. After all, who wants to risk their ability to have a business if they are caught using illegal workers?

This would in fact be a fundamental reform of our immigration system. It would rapidly remove any and all incentive for companies to hire people who are in this country illegally, and would immediately put unemployed Americans back to work. Of course since it is a relatively simple solution of complicated problem, there is very little chance that this country would implement such legislation.

Special Operations

One of your new secret operatives for the forest regions in Afghanistan...

Health Care Summit Highlight

HT:  Instapundit

Why Have a Huge Health Care Reform Bill?

Recently, I read about a novel idea. Instead of taking on health care in one huge bill which no one could possibly understand and runs to a couple of thousand pages...why not produce a se series of bills that take on one small part of the problem as once? This way incremental reforms could be implemented that don't screw up the system in ways that will not just be difficult to repair, but the results of each action could be far easier to measure.

The first bill could end the health insurance industry's anti-trust protection, as well as eliminating the barriers that keep the 1300+ health insurance companies from competing across state lines. For instance, the state of California only permits 6 companies to operate within the state. By eliminating the barriers that forbid that would bring down premiums naturally as the companies compete for customers.

The next bill could initiate Tort reform. Most of the tort lawyers are parasites, and oddly enough, like John Edwards many are Democrats and contribute heavily to the Democratic party. Limit damages to actual loss, and only with gross negligence. Loser pays the winner's legal bills. A large reason why health care costs so much is that doctors order unnecessary tests in order to "cover their asses" from law suits. While doctors do make mistakes, many are quite conscientious about their profession and don't desire to kill their patients...after all that's bad for business.

Another bill could sever the link that has developed since the labour shortages of World War 2, when factories who were short of workers, and weren't permitted to pay more due to wage freezes, began to offer "free health care" to their employees. In the same bill, reauthorize health care cooperatives (insurance exchanges). The moment you do this, people go out and join co-ops and get great rates.

Still another bill could mandate that pharmaceutical companies must sell their wares to other countries at the same rate as they charge here. This would end the American de facto subsidy of the rest of the world's pharmacies.

It would then be possible to actually take on some the problems with Medicare. The amount of fraud is stupendous. Today's Medicare costs run upwards of $400,000,000,000.00. Under the present system, it's estimated that somewhere between 10 and 20% is lost in waste and fraud. That's more than the GDP' s of a number of countries! Decree that those now under the age of 50 will no longer be eligible for benefits upon early retirement. Move the retirement age back a couple years, since people are living far longer (I would move the age to 70, unless health reasons interfere, as a minimum for eligibility for Medicare). Prosecute all the fraudulent disability claims vigorously.

63% of American Support Israel

Gallup has released their most recent poll of Americans on Israel and the prospect for peace in the Middle East.  The amount of support for the Israel is the highest it's been since 1991, or nearly 20 years.

Not surprisingly it's Republicans and Independents voters who have voiced the highest amount of support Israel.

As may be seen, a minority of Democrats voiced support of the longest lived functioning democracy in the Middle East.  The rise of anti-semitism on the left has seen sharp increases in violent physical attacks attacks on Jews in the United Kingdoms and across Europe.  In Malmo, Sweden, one of the first cities in Europe to give shelter to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution has seen large numbers of Jew leaving the city and Sweden for the US and Israel.

Unsurprisingly Republicans and Independents no longer believe that the Palestinian Authority should be the government of the Palestinian controlled areas.  Support for Israel is 67%  while only 20% view the Palestinian Authority favorably.

Bottom Line
In the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict, a striking 63% of Americans currently say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, the highest level in nearly 20 years. Support for the Palestinians, at 15%, is about average for the same period. At the same time, Gallup finds Americans' fundamental views of Israel no more favorable than they have been for the past several years. Israel does continue to enjoy a substantial advantage over the Palestinian Authority in its general image, a fact that clearly colors the ways Americans view the conflict.

Reconciliation: The Democrats View

From Naked Emporer News, a compilation of Democratic Senators denouncing the use of reconciliation to pass legislation.

Time to End Gerrymandering

I believe that the time has come to eliminate gerrymandering of political districts. It has caused a polarization of politics and "professionalization" that has enabled politicians to gain a sense of entitlement and arrogance that is unrivaled in our nationals history. I saw a comment on an article in the Hill.com article, "OPINION: How Dems can survive the flood" By Former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas) - 02/22/10 01:29 PM ET. What struck me was the outright arrogance that was contained within the article.


This article was written by a former Congressman from Texas (D-24th Dist) who was such a partisan, that when the Texas legislature redistricted the state, his district was formed in such a way that he couldn't win reelection. But the entire tenor of this piece caused this comment,

The first thing that caught my eye was the comment "my seat". Having just watched with fascination the election in Massachusetts I decided to begin the story again, only redefining each step in the story in layman's terms.Step 1) Entitlement and Arrogance with "My Seat"Step 2) Trash your opponent with no ideas of your ownStep 3) Work a base that always votes 90% one wayStep 4) Trash your oppent some more. This approach is used by both sides. The constant increases in taxes just to feed the beast is about to break the system.BY Same Old Story on 02/24/2010 at 08:34 [emphasis is the ed's]

At this point, I believe the only way to end the polarizations that has arisen in Mr. Obama's "post partisanship" presidency would be to do what California is in the process of doing. First of all, the citizens of the state in 2008, the people of California passed by referendum Proposition 11 that changes the method used to redraw state Assembly and Senate districts. This proposition calls for the Redistricting Commission to be made up of 14 Californians that will include Democrats, Republicans as well as independents to redraw those districts instead of the traditional corrupt methods of the State Legislature. This non-partisan commission would then redraw the districts, however, the Legislature would continue to draw Congressional districts.

This process is actively under attack in California as Nancy Pelosi and a dozen of her cohorts in the California Congressional Delegation are attempting to not just prevent the extension of this commission to Congressional districts, but to eliminate it all together. The Pelosi supported measure, which is called the Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act, or FAIR Act, would place the power for all of California's legislative districts - for Congress and the state Assembly and Senate - are drawn by the state Legislature, not by the citizens commission that was passed by a large majority of voters. However, she must gather nearly 700,000 signatures supporting the measure before it could appear on the November ballot.

The traditional process of redrawing legislative districts has over preceding decades led to the creation of "safe" districts for both Democrats and Republican. One of the less healthy aspect of this gerrymandering has been a serious polarization of the state house. When politicians use the census statistics, they draw districts in such a way as to give one party or the other a majority in each district. Often times those newly drawn districts ignore geography completely creating districts that wend and wind impossibly.

By gerrymandering representatives districts', has led to districts that have split up many communities and that favor politicians who are much more to the left or right than their constituents are. That means a legislature that contains very liberal Democrats as well as much more conservative Republicans and almost no moderates.

It's now time to extent to every other state in the Union a commission in each state that would contain member of both major parties and independents, drawn by lottery, and made up in proportion of party affiliation or non-affiliation, as it were, to redraw those state and federal district boundaries. This may be an idealistic dream, but it is one that is possible...just look to California, the voters there have passed the beginning of just such a commission.

The Promise of No!

I don't remember where I found this...probably a link from Instapundit.  I find a lot of stuff through him.  But here's an idea that I think the GOP really should include in their official philosophy:

"If elected I promise to vote "No" on any bill that proposes to expand government power for any purpose. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce government spending. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce federal taxes."

Unemployment To Jan 2010

This is what the last year's "stimulus package" was supposed to prevent...and now Mr. Obama wants more of the same...wrapped under the a new name "jobs bill".  All it will do is continue to bail out those states who have been spending more than they've taken in taxes...New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, California...irresponsible legislators who have bankrupted their states by mandating programs they couldn't afford to sustain, but now demand the rest of the country pay for.  Welcome to Obamanomics

Ultimate Snowed In Video

A very creative way to spend the night snowed in Pittsburg Airport...

HT BoingBoing via instapundit

Republicans’ Common-Sense Reforms

Here is the summary of the GOP proposals...this has been available online since last summer:

Republicans’ Common-Sense Reforms Will LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS


Americans want a step-by-step, common-sense approach to health care reform, not Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s costly, 1,990-page government takeover of our nation’s health care system. Republicans’ alternative solution focuses on lowering health care premiums for families and small businesses, increasing access to affordable, high-quality care, and promoting healthier lifestyles – without adding to the crushing debt Washington has placed on our children and grandchildren. Following are the key elements of Republicans’ alternative plan:

• Lowering health care premiums. The GOP plan will lower health care premiums for American families and small businesses, addressing Americans’ number-one priority for health care reform.

• Establishing Universal Access Programs to guarantee access to affordable health care for those with pre-existing conditions. The GOP plan creates Universal Access Programs that expand and reform high-risk pools and reinsurance programs to guarantee that all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses, have access to affordable care – while lowering costs for all Americans.

• Ending junk lawsuits. The GOP plan would help end costly junk lawsuits and curb defensive medicine by enacting medical liability reforms modeled after the successful state laws of California and Texas.

• Prevents insurers from unjustly cancelling a policy. The GOP plan prohibits an insurer from cancelling a policy unless a person commits fraud or conceals material facts about a health condition.

• Encouraging Small Business Health Plans. The GOP plan gives small businesses the power to pool together and offer health care at lower prices, just as corporations and labor unions do.

• Encouraging innovative state programs. The GOP plan rewards innovation by providing incentive payments to states that reduce premiums and the number of uninsured.

• Allowing Americans to buy insurance across state lines. The GOP plan allows Americans to shop for coverage from coast to coast by allowing Americans living in one state to purchase insurance in another.

• Promoting healthier lifestyles. The GOP plan promotes prevention & wellness by giving employers greater flexibility to financially reward employees who adopt healthier lifestyles.

• Enhancing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). The GOP plan creates new incentives to save for current and future health care needs by allowing qualified participants to use HSA funds to pay premiums for high deductible health insurance.

• Allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ policies. The GOP plan encourages coverage of young adults on their parents’ insurance through age 25.

Drink Buying Etiquette

Here's a link to a great story on what it's like to be a guy in a bar...while I'm a bit older than they guy who wrote the story, it's still apt to middle aged folk.  It used to annoy me in my younger days as a student (on the I pay my own way 15 year plan) trying to make enough money for tuition (no loans here), when I'd go to the bars near campus and girls would do much as in this story: demand you buy them a drink...then blow you off.  The guys answer and reasoning is impecable

H/T:  Tigerhawk

Transit Bus Fight

Here's the video of  Old Tom defending himself.  It looks as if it all stemmed from an utter misunderstanding...but sometimes...old guys are a lot tougher than they look.  Don't mess with Old Tom


Full video with annotations



Here's what Old Tom has to say.


H/T  Zombie of PJM

Obama Approval Continues To Erode

Mr. Obama's approval rating continues to erode.  Here are his numbers for Independent voters in black, and ALL voters in Iowa in red.  Iowa is important because it's the first state to hold a caucus in presidential election years.  What a difference a year makes.  It certainly appears that the hope and change Mr. Obama has forced on the nation isn't what voters in Iowa were looking for.

H/T SoItGoesInShreveport via Instapundit

George Washington's Response to Newport, RI Synagogue

This is why we have freedome of Religion in The United States Of America!

Letter Of The Hebrew Congregation Of Newport, RI

Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits ~~ and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to NewPort.


With pleasure we reflect on those days ~~ those days of difficulty, and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, ~~ shielded Your head in the day of battle: ~~ and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States.

Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People ~~ a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance ~~ but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: ~~

deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: ~~ This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good.

For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men ~~beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: ~~ And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality.

Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790.

Moses Seixas, Warden

Mr. Washington's Response To The Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI

To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island.


Gentlemen,

While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people.

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.

G. Washington

H/T To Powerline blog

The Russian Bar: Amazing Performance

Citigroup Not Permitting Withdrawals For 7 Days

It appears that CitiGroup is preparing for a run by its depositors.  If this is true, they will impose a "7 day" rule, wherein no withdrawals will be permitted for 7 calendar days.  This rule hasn't been imposed since FDR's "bank holiday" was imposed during the 1930's....and is VERY scary.

“Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change.”


An almost identical advisory to the one being sent out can be read on page 22 of Citbank’s Client Manual effective January 1, 2010, which can be read here from Citibank’s own website.

“We reserve the right to require seven (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking, savings and money market accounts. We currently do not exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past,” states the manual.

If this report is true, then the management of the 3rd largest bank in the country is very concerned about a run...

Barack Messiah

Dallas Tea Party Invites the White People of MSNBC

Is Congress to Nationalize Your 401k's?

Is Congress going to nationalize your 401k retirement fund? It sure looks that way if a report in Investor's Business Daily is correct. Democrats in Congress last fall held hearing on just that proposal . House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., of the Ways and Means Committee are the Congressional authors of a proposed bill that will do just that.


What they are proposing is to redirect IRA and 401k holdings into US Treasury bonds...since those bonds are no longer selling as rapidly as they once did on the international bond market. This new market will be a new system to which ALL workers will be obligated to contribute 5% of their earnings into accounts that will then purchase Treasury bonds...In other words, Congress will mandate that you buy bonds from the government to fund the present deficit.

In those hearings, that weren't publicized at the time, a proposal by Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of the New School for Social Research in New York would be to give all workers "a $600 annual inflation-adjusted subsidy from the U.S. government". Then, the benevolent government would in return for require those same workers "to invest 5% of their pay into a guaranteed retirement account administered by the Social Security Administration."

The model for this concept is taken from the economic power house, Argentina, who in 2008, nationalized all priviate retirement investment accounts. The socialist government did this after the country's bond rating had been reduced again, just as the US bond rating is now under review by the World Bank. That extra-governmental organization is proposing to reduce the US bond rating from AAA to AA, which would greatly increase the cost of floating bond issues for the United States.

This is yet another reason why the US Congress's popularity rating is so low...much of what is considered "business as usual" is conducted behind closed doors. That business as usual attitude will end up bankrupting this country

Rhetoric vs Results

Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, R-VA

H/T-Gatewaypundit

Unemployment

Last year...at the urging of Mr. Obama, Congress rushed through a huge, pork laden "stimulus package", claiming that in order to keep unemployment below 8%, this bill must be pushed through immediately.  Now, one year later, the official unemployment rate has risen far above the target Mr. Obama claimed wouldn't be passed if the "stimulus bill" was implemented.  As Democratic pollster, Charlie Cook said, "Democrats piled all this cotton candy and pork and junk and pet projects into it, so it discredited the stimulus package in the minds of a lot of voters..."  The "stimulus package" has failed.  Now the Obama Administration wants to pass "stimulus pt 2"...only this time they're going to call it a "jobs bill." 

The thing is, the "jobs bill" has little or nothing to do with jobs and is merely a much smaller repeat of last years monsterous bill.  Yet, this government is still wasting time trying to ram through a health care bill that a very large majority of voters just don't want.  In 1992, James Carville said, "It's the economy stupid."   This administration still hasn't learned.  From the NYTimes,

Labor experts say the economy needs 100,000 new jobs a month just to absorb entrants to the labor force. With more than 15 million people officially jobless, even a vigorous recovery is likely to leave an enormous number out of work for years.

If the Democratic Party continues along the path this administration has charted, then this November, the loss of 40 seats in the House will be a drop in the bucket.  Charlie Cook, of The Cook Report, a respected Democratic Pollser has this to say,

Well when a Democratic Senate candidates loses Barney Frank's district and loses Massachusetts, I think it raises a legitimate question of what is safe -- not what's in danger, but what is safe.

But if you were going to build a profile of where is it going to be absolutely the worst for Democrats, I would say the Deep South, Old South, the border south, states and districts with large small-town and rural populations, maybe lower percentages of college graduates -- in other words, sort of yuppie types. I would say fewer transplants from the north. Places where Obama did worse than John Kerry did in the general election.

And there's sort of like a Nike swoosh, eastern Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, down and across Tennessee, across the south and all the way to Oklahoma that Obama -- I mean, 70 percent of the counties in America, Barack Obama did much better than John Kerry, but there is a sort of a swoosh of counties where Obama underperformed John Kerry -- and let's face it, John Kerry wasn't exactly a son of the South -- so that was like particularly bad.

Or you could look at, where did Obama lose to Hillary Clinton. A lot of working class white areas, that sort of thing. I mean I think those are going to be sort of the ground zero states and districts where it's going to be bad. But I don't know that there are many places that aren't going to be bad, I mean, that are going to be good....

The thing that I think a lot of Democratic strategists are really concerned about is that some of these districts are going to be gone for a generation or more. I mean, they're not coming back. They're ones that had somehow managed to hang on in Democratic hands even after the Democratic Party fell out of favor in a lot of the South. But once they slip away, I'm not sure they're coming back.

But, still Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid and Mrs. Pelosi are plowing ahead...this November is going to be much, much worse than anyone is now predicting...especially if the government seizure of health care is rammed through the Senate via a budgetary reconcilliation bill.

Now, Mr. Obama is pulling back from his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class...that is the one campaign promise that he repeated at every single stop during the 2008 presidential campaign.  Voters aren't in the mood for the vastly higher spending this Congress and this president have initiated...just think how pissed they're going to be when Congress drasticly raises their taxes to pay for all the spending.

Obama Will Raise Taxes on the Middle Class

Barack Obama, who repeatedly stated during the 2008 presidential campaign that he wouldn't raise taxes on those who make less than $250,000.00 per year is setting the stage to do just that. After Congress turned down his request for a legislative panel for deficit reduction, he has appointed a number of former legislators to a "blue ribbon" panel. It's expected that this pane will recommend tax increases on the middle class.

the White House has already begun to lay the groundwork for their argument that such a recommendation by the panel should not be blamed on the president, who vowed during his campaign not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000.

“The president will not sit on the commission and the options they present will not necessarily reflect administration policy,” a White House official told The Daily Caller.

This sets a course for Mr. Obama to shed any responsibility for any recommendations that come out of this "commission".

Additionally, it allows the president to walk back his promise not to raise taxes on the middle class. I expect that the media will be in full support and to report that this "is best for the country." Of course, raising taxes in a severe recession will pretty much guarantee that these tax increases will cause a 'double dip' recession.

The real problem is that this administration has increased spending by 30% in the past two year...and refuses to curb these budgetary excesses by 1 red cent. Mr. Bush's worst budget deficit was $486 billion dollars...but that was by a Congress, both of whose houses were controlled by the legislature. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, went so far as to refuse to pass a 2009-10 budget until AFTER the 2008 election. That budget included a $1,400,000,000,000.00 deficit. It was signed by Mr. Obama in January of 2009 and included a 20% increase in spending.

Mr. Obama's 2011 increased spending a further 10%, and includes a $1,560,000,000,000.00 deficit...only now has Mr. Obama seen the light...and it's not from him. Only now does Mr. Obama give lip service to cutting the budget and reducing his deficit proposals, but not until next years budget. His proposed cuts amount to window dressing, and are not substantive in any manner.

Now, Mr. Obama is going to try and walk away from his campaign promise of not cutting taxes on the middle class. I don't think it will work...and if he forces the Democratic Party to push this through Congress prior to November, the Democrats will be LUCKY to lose only 100 seats in the House and 10 seats in the Senate.

Barack Hussein Obama: A Canadian Journalists View

Barack Hussein Obama:
I Told You So – Yes I Did
By Howard Galganov
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

When Obama won the Presidency with the help of the LEFTIST Media, Hollywood And Entertainment Liberals, Ethnic Socialists (ACORN), Stupid Non-Business Professionals and Bush Haters, I wrote: It won't take six months until the People figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they've made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great it will take a generation or more to repair - IF EVER.

The IDIOTS who not only voted for the Messiah, but also worked [hard] to promote his Lordship, are now left holding the bag.

Here are two things they will NEVER do: They will NEVER admit to making a Blunder out of all proportion by electing a snake-oil salesman with no Positive social history or management experience of any kind. They will NEVER take responsibility for the curse they've imposed upon the immediate and long-term future of their country.

In essence, the people responsible for putting this horror show in power are themselves responsible for every cataclysmic decision he makes and the Consequences thereof.

In just six months, the Messiah's polls are showing the following: On Healthcare Reform - He's going under for the third time with polling well Under 50 percent, even within his own Party. Even though he might be able to Muscle a Healthcare Reform Bill by using Chicago BULLY tactics against his Fellow Democrats, it will just make things worse. On Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax) - The Fat-Lady is already singing. On the Stimulus Package (Tax and Spend) - His popularity is in FREE-FALL. On the TARP package he took and ran With from President Bush - It's all but Good-Night Irene. On the closing of GITMO and "HIS" war on what he no longer wants called the War On Terrorism - He's standing in quicksand with his head just about to go under. On a Comparison between himself and George W Bush at the same six months into Their respective first term Presidencies - Bush is ahead of him in the Polls On a comparison between He Who Walks On Water and the 12 preceding Presidents between WW II and now - Obama ranks 10th. On a Poll just Conducted, that asks who would you vote for today between Obama and Mitt Romney - It's a dead heat. Between Obama and Palin - Obama's ONLY ahead by 8 Points and she hasn't even begun to campaign. It seems to me that Obama Wants to be everywhere where he shouldn't be.

He's personally invested in 'totally insulting' America 's ONLY REAL Middle Eastern ally ( Israel ) in favor of Palestinian Despots and Murderers. He's traveling the world apologizing for the USA while lecturing others on how to do it right, when in fact and truth he has no experience at doing anything other than getting elected.

He went to the Moslem world in Egypt to declare that America IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION while he heaped praises on Islam, where he compared the "plight" of the Palestinians to the Holocaust.

The Russians think he's a putz, The French think he's rude.
The Germans want him to stop spending.
The Indians want him to mix his nose out of their environmental business.
The North Koreans think he's a joke, The Iranians won't acknowledge his calls.
And the British can't even come up with a comprehensive opinion of him.
As for the Chinese, he's too frightened to even glance their way. [After All, China now owns a large portion of the United States .]

Maybe if America's first Emperor would stay home more, travel less, and work a little bit instead of being on television just about everyday or stop running to "papered" Town Hall Meetings, perhaps he would have a little bit of time to do the work of the nation.

In all fairness, it wasn't HARD to be RIGHT in my prediction concerning Obama's presidency, even in its first six months, so I'm going to make yet another prediction:

OBAMA WILL PROBABLY NOT FINISH HIS 4-YEAR TERM, at least not in a Conventional way.

He is such a political HORROR SHOW, and so detrimental to the USA and his Own Democratic Party, that the Democrats themselves will either FORCE him to Resign or figure out a way to have him thrown out.

Who knows, maybe he really isn't a BORN US Citizen and that's a way the Democrats will be able to get rid of him. [He is a citizen, but not a naturalized citizen with both mother and father being US citizens.]

Or - MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, the Democrats will make Obama THEIR OWN LAME DUCK PRESIDENT.

I don't believe the Democrats have nearly as much love for their country as they do for their own political fortunes. And with Obama, their fortunes are rapidly becoming toast.


H/T: JP

Obama & ACORN Video

Via Gatewaypundit



Here's a quote from the video:

“When I ran project vote, the voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it. Once I was elected there wasn’t a campaign that ACORN worked on down in Springfield that I wasn’t right there with you. Since I have been in the United States Senate I’ve been always a partner with ACORN as well. I’ve been fighting with ACORN, along side ACORN, on issues you care about my entire career.”  [emphasis is mine, RV]

So, all through the 2008 campaign as well as last year's ACORN Prositute Scandal, Mr. Obama stated that he was barely connected with this organization.

The Disease is the Cure?

I've been hearing over the past few months that Keynesian economic policies of massive public spending will get the country out of the recession that we're in, after all it worked for the Great Depression...NOT.  The advent of World War 2 is what solved the world wide depression.  While it included massive public spending plans that spending was on specific items, weapons etc, necessary to win the war.  The record breaking "stimulus" package that was passed one year ago was based on this theory...and has failed to what it was intended to do, stimulate the economy.  Passage of another smaller bill that does the same thing, yet titling it as a "jobs bill" will no more stimulate the economy than last years bill did.

Pelosi Leading Charge Against Citizen Commision Redistricting in California

In 2008, the people of California passed by referendum Proposition 11 that changes the method used to redraw state Assembly and Senate districts. This proposition calls for the Redistricting Commission to be made up of 14 Californians that will include Democrats, Republicans as well as independents to redraw those districts instead of the traditional methods of the State Legislature. This non-partisan commission would then redraw the districts instead, however, the Legislature would continue to draw Congressional districts.


The traditional process of redrawing legislative districts has over preceding decades led to the creation of "safe" districts for both Democrats and Republican. One of the less healthy aspect of this gerrymandering has been a serious polarization of the state house. When politicians use the census statistics, they draw districts in such a way as to give one party or the other a majority in each district. Often times those newly drawn districts ignore geography completely creating districts that wend and wind impossibly.

By gerrymandering representatives districts',.

... has led to oddly shaped districts that split up many communities and, analysts say, favor lawmakers who are further to the left or right than their constituents as a whole. That means a legislature filled with liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans and few if any moderates.

What has followed is gridlock. Neither party has any interest in compromise, or actually crafting legislation that is anything but extreme.

"It just seems to me like it puts the cats in charge of the hen house," said Rebecca Ashworth of Highland, a retired kindergarten teacher who applied to be a commissioner. "The way political boundaries were drawn, it just kind of makes safe districts for everybody. I think that's where a lot of our trouble is."

But fear not, Nancy Pelosi and a dozen other Democratic members of the California Congressional delegation have led the charge against this proposition that puts the people in charge, and have donated large sums to a campaign to cast aside the Citizens Redistricting Commission, that was created by the passage of Proposition 11 in 2008. However, their real target is a proposition that will be voted on this fall places Congressional districts within the purview of the Citizens Redistricting Commission as well as state districts. That has them VERY nervous.

The Pelosi-backed measure, called the Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act, or FAIR Act, would ensure all of California's legislative districts - for Congress and the state Assembly and Senate - are drawn next year by the state Legislature, not by the citizens commission. If backers can gather nearly 700,000 signatures supporting the measure, it would appear on the November ballot.

"Congressional Democrats are very concerned," said Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills. "They want control. But it's not their government; it's the people's government." State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, who represents parts of San Bernardino County's high desert, said the FAIR Act is "why people hate the Legislature and the Congress."

That's the problem...politicians don't want the people to decide districts because that would make things difficult for them. They would actually have to pay attention to the will of their constiuents rather than their own self interest which is exactly why gerrymandered districts must be eliminated in the first place.

Politicians, regardless of party affiliation, on both the state and federal level have worked very hard to lose the confidence of the people they are supposed to represent. One recent poll has found that a majority of people believe that randomly choosing Congressmen from the phone book would be more effective than what we have now...

Union Thugs March In Connecticut

Here is a quote from that narrative in the first video...

Carrying pitchforks and torches a group of labor unions and health care groups marched down Church Street in Hartford Tuesday night to let the state’s largest business lobby know that they want health care reform. [emph is min RV]

Just goes to show that the MSM narrative of the Tea Party being a bunch of violent racist rednecks isn't the reality.  The violent outbursts belong to the Union thugs...Kansas City, SoCal, Tampa were initiated by paid SEIU thugs.

Here on the other hand is a Tea Party rally:

Hamas and Interpol

Interpol  has placed upon it's most wanted list, 11 people suspected in murdering Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.   This leads me to believe that Interpol would rather prosecute those who murder a terrorist, than it would in prosecuting a terrorist.  Has Europe sunk so low that it supports terrorists...by not placing them upon it's most wanted lists?

Fort Jackson Poisonings

One thing to keep in mind as we review the events at Fort Jackson, South Carolina....is that Islam, and it's followers are lovers of peace and wouldn't ever hurt anyone on purpose...at least, that's what the MSM would have you believe.

None of the networks has yet, other than Fox, mentioned that the Arabic translators....are muslims.

Olberman vs Chipmunk

Who Wins?...we deliver, you decide...LOL

We Need A Rational Energy Policy

Some day here in America we're going to have get some semblance of sanity and develop and adopt a rational national energy policy. As a country, we can no longer afford to continue to fund OPEC countries to the extent we are today. Before we can begin to develop a "greener" infrastructure, as a nation we must take advantage of the natural resources that we have here.

Recently the Obama administration decided to invest $2 billion dollars in offshore drilling in Brazil. That would be good for America, but the entire production of the proposed drilling field has been dedicated by Petrobras to the Chinese. The only American to benefit from this will be George Soros, who is a large shareholder of the company.

The Obama administration is going to fund this huge project while forbidding the exploitation of the huge deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, off the eastern US coasts of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. This while we import more than 70% of our petroleum products from OPEC. That's a luxury we can no longer afford. The gradual rise in petroleum prices has forced this country to an untenable position. Especially when you consider the present sharp rise in the national debt.

Simply stating that we must have a "green" economy and implementing any sort of "Cap & Trade" scheme will destroy and already fragile economy. While I would love to see this country redevelop our industrial base but we have to face facts and realize that without a huge investment, "green jobs" will not come to America. A recently developed wind farm in Wyoming was built with Chinese wind turbines because the only othe source of turbine production, Germany, has a backlog of years for their production lines. This administration wants to develop green jobs here in America, at our present rate of industrial decline, there will be no "green jobs" here.

Because our economy has more than a century on the path of petroleum dependence, it will take decades to wean ourselves away from them. In the mean time, instead of sending hundreds of billions of dollars permanently out of our economy, we must begin developing domestic supplies of oil. Alaska, the continental shelves of both coasts as well as the shale oil deposits that stretch from Colorado to the Yukon. Thus, we reinvest much of those profits into alternative sources of energy.

Research must be intensified in making solar panels more efficient. At present the average efficiency of solar panels is about 5%...that's not nearly good enough to be genuinely cost effective. But it is unrealistic to believe that either wind generation or solar power will ever be sufficient to provide this country's electrical energy needs. At best these sources will only supplement our needs, not fulfill them.

While our country does this we can begin to build the network of nuclear power plants that the "green" movement has forbidden us from developing. After all, if France and Japan can get 75% or more of their electrical energy needs from nuclear power, why shouldn't we do so as well. While coal is relatively inexpensive, it is an inefficient source of electrical production. Nor do we have to build huge terawatt production facilities. There are two companies who have developed small 5 megawatt reactors that are very nearly maintenance free and can literally be buried underground until they need to be refueled.

These are just the sorts of solutions that this country needs, but unfortunately, our political masters are not intelligent enough to implement them. So we will continue to bleed our treasure off shore...eventually, it will stop, but by then, we'll be bankrupt.

Democratic Hypocrisy, Obama to Fund Offshore Drilling in Brazil

For more than forty years offshore drilling has been taboo off the coasts of the majority of the continental United States. This ban has been supported by the American liberals, now termed "progressives," and various environmental organizations since its inception. However, Barack Obama has introduced legislation to provide $2 billion dollars in financing for offshore drilling...unfortunately, that drilling won't benefit the United States in any way.

With gasoline and oil prices steadily rising, we won't be exploiting our vast offshore deposits, because that would be bad...but it's ok for other countries to do so on our dime.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that,

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

What I find most troubling is just who is going to benefit from this. A simple exploration of Petrobras investors will show one of their largest is American billionaire, George Soros, who also happens to be one of the largest contributors to Mr. Obama in the last presidential campaign. Unfortunately, this simple fact isn't being reported by major media. I suspect that Mr. Soros didn't get his payoff in the mass payoff of the "Stimulus Package" last February...and so, betting the US Government to underwrite this must be it.

Some Troubling Questions...

I'm not a birther...but the following raises some very troubling questions that have yet to be answered.



The following is a copy of his elementary school registration. 

I has been alleged  that he registered at Occidental College in California as a foreign exchange student...

I'm not a birther by any stretch of anyone's imagination, but I do have to admit that I'm a little troubled by the allegations in the video.  I do believe that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii.  On the other hand if he was adopted in Indonesia, and took an Indonesian passport, then later traveled to Pakistan on that passport...as has been alleged, as well as lying on his Illinois about not having used an alias...

As I said some very troubling questions.  I think that if the elite media had done their job of properly vetting Mr. Obama, rather than being dazzled by helping to elect the first black American as president...then he'd never have made it past the primaries...then again, neither would John Edwards!

Euthanasia Is Nearly A Reality in Quebec.

It would appear that in Quebec, euthanasia (no NOT youth in asia) has quietly become the norm.  A National Assembly panel will hear testimony and begin debating recommendations on a national policy.

Geoffrey Kelley, chairman of the committee, explained that MNAs will hear about 30 expert witnesses on "dying with dignity" to prepare a paper for a travelling public consultation this fall.
...


Doctors who are closest to patients often know when death is "imminent and inevitable," Gaétan Barrette explained.



"Doctors are ready to debate euthanasia," Barrette said. And like abortion, he said, limits must be established. Not every patient will want euthanasia and not all doctors will agree to perform the procedure.


Barrette explained that a patient who is lucid consults with a doctor, friends and family members before requesting euthanasia.

For patients who are not lucid, a biological will can guide relatives who must decide.

The patient could have a terminal disease, like cancer. And patients at the "end of life" could be babies born with serious medical difficulties or seniors whose bodies are shutting down, one system after another.

"It's a cascade," Barrette said. "We can't invent it. We see it. There are safeguards."

According to Yves Robert, secretary of the Quebec College of Physicians, stated that Quebec is the only province in Canada where people near death can refuse medical treatment.

CNN poll: 52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012

A poll by the deeply conservative polling/news organization CNN has found that a majority of Americans wouldn't vote to reelect Mr. Obama. 

44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority who said they would prefer to elect someone else.  Obama faces a 44-52 deficit among both all Americans and registered voters, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday. Four percent had no opinion.

Those numbers are just a little worse than those thee poll found on Mr. Obama's approval rating.  49 percent voiced approval of Mr. Obama's job performance, while 50% oppose him.  What must be admitted is that the 2012 election is mor than 32 months away, an aeon in politics, it doesn't bode well for this November.  Another factor that must be weighed is that it seems to be an anti-incumbent, or  perhaps an anti-fiscal irresponsibility wave rising with voters.  But,

at least one retiring lawmaker is confident Obama will sail to reelection, with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) predicting Monday the president would win "overwhelmingly" in 2012.

Now there's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.

Mikulski Wants To Delay Her Announcement To Raise More Funds

Journalists from AP are scrambling around attempting to find the leak of the Mikulski retirement story. The Maryland Sentor's office is putting pressure on reporters as she wanted to make the announcement of her retirement after gathering more campaign funds. Evan Bayh, the Sen from Indiana had a $13 million campaign chest on hand for his reelection, and Ms. Mikulski feels that she could raise an additional $3 - 4 million prior announcing her retirement.  Now with the story of her pending retirement now out in the light of day she feels that her funding sources will dry up and then head to other candidates.


Politics - what an honorable profession - just above a whore. Mikulski is no exception...

UPDATE:  While many are panning my two articles on Ms Mikulski...her office has yet to make an announcement of any type.  The only announcement has come from a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

NY Times Crowing About Taliban Military Chief's Capture

The NY Times crowing about the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is reputed to be the top military commander of the Taliban resitance forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  What I find difficult to swallow, though, is this self serving statement: 

The New York Times learned of the operation on Thursday, but delayed reporting it at the request of White House officials, who contended that making it public would end a hugely successful intelligence-gathering effort.

Since when did the NY Times withhold secret information at the bequest of the White House.  After all, didn't this newspaper leak several operations that hurt Al Qaeda? 

Oh my bad, that was Bushhilter, not America they were hurting...how stupid can I be?

Hat Tip:  Instapundit

2010 Congressional Retirements

Here is a list of those Congressmen and Senators who have decided not to seek reelection this November.   Why have they chosen to retire now...A couple of questions to ponder:

Is it because of President Obama's policies?
The high unemployment rate?  which ties into,
The poor economy?
Dissatisfaction of incumbents or the rise of the Tea Party?   (You know - the movement which held rallies, that was constantly downgraded, insutled and underestimated during August/September 2009, by the mainstream liberal media? Keith Oldberman and Rachel Maddow of MSNBC made the claim that they wouldbe forgotten by November 2009)

Why the flood?  I saw on Saturday, for the first time, a bumper sticker that said "Reelect No One".  I thought it was brilliant.


At this point in time, 32 U.S. Representatives are retiring.

Democratic incumbents (14 incumbents)

• Alabama's 7th congressional district: Artur Davis: To run for Governor of Alabama.
• Arkansas's 1st congressional district: Marion Berry: Retiring due to health concerns. 
• Arkansas's 2nd congressional district: Vic Snyder: Retiring to spend more time with family.
• California's 33rd congressional district: Diane Watson: Retiring
• Florida's 17th congressional district: Kendrick Meek: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Hawaii's 1st congressional district: Neil Abercrombie: To run for Governor of Hawaii.
• Kansas's 3rd congressional district: Dennis Moore: Retiring; "Time for a new generation of leadership."
• Louisiana's 3rd congressional district: Charlie Melancon: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district: Paul Hodes: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district: Joe Sestak: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Rhode Island's 1st congressional district: Patrick J. Kennedy
• Tennessee's 6th congressional district: Bart Gordon: Retiring; "...it's time for a new chapter"
• Tennessee's 8th congressional district: John S. Tanner: Retiring, reasons not known.
• Washington's 3rd congressional district: Brian Baird: Retiring, to pursue other options.

Republican incumbents (18 incumbents)

• Arkansas's 3rd congressional district: John Boozman: To run for U.S. Senate.
• Arizona's 3rd congressional district: John Shadegg: Retiring to pursue other interests.
• California's 19th congressional district: George Radanovich: Retiring to put family obligations first.
• Delaware's At-large congressional district: Michael Castle: To run for U.S. Senate.
• Florida's 12th congressional district: Adam Putnam: To run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture.
• Florida's 21st congressional district: Lincoln Diaz-Balart: Retiring to do law practice.
• Georgia's 9th congressional district: Nathan Deal: To run for Governor of Georgia.
• Indiana's 4th congressional district: Steve Buyer: Retiring due to wife's illness
• Illinois's 10th congressional district: Mark Kirk: To run for U.S. Senate.
• Kansas's 1st congressional district: Jerry Moran: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Kansas's 4th congressional district: Todd Tiahrt: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Michigan's 2nd congressional district: Peter Hoekstra: To run for Governor of Michigan.
• Michigan's 3rd congressional district: Vern Ehlers: Retiring
• Missouri's 7th congressional district: Roy Blunt: To run for the U.S. Senate.
• Oklahoma's 5th congressional district: Mary Fallin: To run for Governor of Oklahoma.
• South Carolina's 1st congressional district: Henry E. Brown, Jr.: Retiring to spend more time with his family.
• South Carolina's 3rd congressional district: J. Gresham Barrett: To run for Governor of South Carolina.
• Tennessee's 3rd congressional district: Zach Wamp: To run for Governor of Tennessee.

These are the 12 Senators who have either retiring or plan to make an announcement soon.

Democrats
• Chris Dodd, Connecticut
• Byron Dorgan, North Dakota
• Evan Bayh, Indianna
• Barbara Mikulski, Maryland
• Ted Kaufman, Delaware
• Roland Burris, Illinois

Republicans
• Mel Martinez/George LeMieux, Florida
• Jim Bunning, Kentucky
• Sam Brownback, Kansas
• Kit Bond, Missouri
• Judd Gregg, New Hampshire
• George Voinovich, Ohio