Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Biter Bit


Not that I’m any kind of martial-arts expert but I seem to recall from the little judo I did learn that the “secret” is to use one’s opponent’s weight against himself. It was, therefore, with great glee that I read a report in the New York Times which describes precisely that, not in terms of a sweaty gymnasium or a seedy Hong Kong alley, but in the dog-eat-dog world of the political arena.

The thrust of the report was that influential Chicago activist Saul Alinsky wrote the book on community organizing for the Left.


Now it seems that, in an ironic twist of fate, opponents of President Barack Obama and the Democrats' healthcare reform plans are employing some of the very same tactics that Alinsky, who died in 1972, espoused in his work "Rules for Radicals."

As healthcare reform foes angrily confront lawmakers at town-hall meetings, The New York Times observed: "It is an irony of the current skirmishing about healthcare that those who could be considered Mr. Alinsky's sworn enemies — the groups, many industry sponsored, who are trying to shout down Congressional town hall meetings — have taken a page from his handbook on community organizing."

Among the Alinsky "trademarks" that the Times' Noam Cohen pointed to are "using spectacle to make up for lack of numbers," targeting an individual — in this case Obama — and "using ridicule to persuade the undecided."

As for complaints from Democrats about the reform opponents' sometimes belligerent tactics, Alinsky stated that "any effective means is automatically judged by the opposition as being unethical."

The Internet availability of many town-hall confrontations would have won approval from Alinsky, who urged activists to seek media attention — in particular by challenging public officials on camera.

The boisterous disruption of the meetings by reform foes also jibes with Alinsky's tactics. He advised organizers to "raise a din and clamor that will make the listener believe that your organization numbers many more than it does."

And the Democrats still haven’t figured it out. Of course, it doesn’t help their cause when the Representatives themselves haven’t read H.R.3200 and couldn’t explain it even if they had. Even Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Health Secretary doesn’t understand it and cannot provide articulate answers to citizens’ questions. In a, now infamous, Town Hall meeting in the company of Arlen Specter, she resorted to the immortal defense of “Don’t sweat the details”.

Now isn’t that special? Doesn’t that fill you with confidence?

And still the AARP doggedly continues to back this thing to the hilt. Is it any wonder that since H.R.3200 first saw light of day, more than 60,000 members have either cancelled or refused to renew their membership and I was one of them?

But back to our judo lesson …….

Among the many community organizers influenced by Alinsky, the most prominent today is — Barack Obama. He learned and taught Alinsky's methods for community organizing while working for the Developing Communities Project in Chicago.

Bitten by your own Pit Bull Obama?

Even Michael Vick managed to avoid that.

Just for the Record


Some of the readers of this Blog have heard most of this before but I know there are some new ones and I felt it necessary to say it again.

Again, some of this audience will already know that one reader disagreed vehemently with my point of view and asked to be removed from my Distribution List which I did and I confirmed the action. But, seemingly that was not enough and, instead of arranging to post his dissent in the Blog, he decided, to send an email to the addresses on my Distribution List. I do not know how many recipients read it and I don’t really care but I would like to establish some ground rules for the future.

As I’ve said before, when one writes a Blog it will generate disagreement if it’s any good and it’s only through diverse viewpoints that the truth can be better defined. But there must be a “code of behavior” to make the process work.

When I established the Blog at the start of this year I was required to adhere to certain conditions imposed by the hosting site. There must be neither obscene postings nor any libelous content and I, as the creator, am on the hook to see those standards are maintained. I am also held responsible for all the contributors and their postings.

This Blog is “Open” and in order to be a contributor all a person has to do is to drop me an email and that person will be added the next time I log on. For now at least, my email address is jack-morris@qwest.net although that will be changing in a few weeks as my ISP upgrades their fiber speeds. When it does I'll post the new one in this forum as well as sending an email to the contacts in my Address Book. I commit that I will not change or edit the content of anything that is written just as long as the prohibitions on obscenity and libel are honored. One other caveat, and this one is mine and not imposed by the hosting site, “ad hominem” attacks towards another contributor are out principally because they don’t get us anywhere.

Finally I regret any inconvenience to the readers whose inbox gained a little more unwanted clutter but I gather the attempt may have backfired as some recipients retaliated by forwarding even more electronic "ammo" to the original perpetrator.

Happy Blogging!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Hope and Change?

Just when you think that you’ve heard it all from liberals, you haven’t, as something always happens to dispel that illusion.

Not that I’m an avid follower of ancient Chinese military tactics but about 2500 years ago a general called Sun-Tzu did offer some good advice when he opined that, “You should keep your friends close and your enemies even closer”.

Well one of the enemies that I keep close is the Huffington Post and in yesterday’s edition some idiotic woman plumbed new depths even for the Left.

The thrust of her ill-thought message was to try to put a positive spin on Chappaquiddick. There is none of course but this clown tried anyway. The opening question was “How would Mary Joe regard Kennedy’s life, career and death”?

And, if that were not asinine enough, the last couple of lines said it all where she proposed that, upon reflection, Miss Kopechne may well have concluded it was worth it. What?

A young woman dies in a car and some drunken rich kid does not report it for 10 hours. So this demented woman at the “Huffington Post” really thinks that Mary Joe will be waiting at the gates to Heaven to welcome him home. For a start, I doubt that is his final destination but, just assuming it is, she won’t be waiting with a white robe and a set of wings. More likely, it’ll be a life vest with lead weights in the pockets.

For Obama, though, Kennedy’s demise could not have been more timely. Good old Teddy breathed his last and thus presented the drive-by media with something else to talk about for a week or two instead of the plummeting policies of and approval for this Administration. And they desperately wanted something as even the hurricanes are not cooperating by providing their long-anticipated mayhem.

“Obama Care” is in trouble as seen by the ongoing furors at Town Hall meetings across the country and that is surely not surprising when people hear pronouncements from Rahm Emanuel’s brother, Ezekiel, to the extent that doctors should not spend their time worrying about individual patients but think, instead, about Society as a whole. Is there no end to the callous shame of the liberal Left?

The rest of the promised miracle isn’t doing too well either. Months ago now, we were told that if Obama’s stimulus package were passed that unemployment would not rise above 8%. Well earlier this month it was at 9.4 and the projection from the Department of Labor is that a further 2.3 million people will lose their jobs next year.

For the vast majority of Americans that is bad news indeed but maybe not for Obama and his “fellow travelers” who seem Hell-bent on destroying Capitalism as we know it. Not only is the picture bleak on the job front but the economy declined by a further 1% in the previous quarter.

But, “Wait a minute”, I can hear the liberals now. “What about ‘Cash for Clunkers”? “Surely that was a success”? Not really.


For a start, it may put some new-car dealerships out of business altogether as they wait for the refunds from the Department of Transportation. It may be a revelation to politicians and bureaucrats but private enterprise relies on positive cash-flow in order to survive and, right now, all the flow has been out from the dealerships. Secondly, while the last month or so has seen a lot of inventory moved, what is going to happen in the months to come as far fewer people will be buying cars because they’ve just done so? Thirdly, the program has decimated the used-car business for obvious reasons.

And, Oh by the way, there’s going to be a lot of surprised taxpayers in April of next year when they learn that the $4500 is taxable.

For a brief moment earlier this week, there was a glimmer of hope to bash the Right when several windows were smashed at the Democratic headquarters in Denver, Colorado. But it turned out that, when apprehended, the perpetrator was from a Left-wing Activist organization. When the wheels start to come off, there’s no stopping!

How’s all that Hope and Change working for ya?

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Lions of Liberalism


There are some people you shouldn’t and can’t argue with and they fall into two broad categories. The easiest ones to avoid are those who are struggling with the complexities of walking erect. Much harder to identify though but just as frustrating are those who, on the surface, are very bright and have received a first-class education. But, perhaps, that’s where the problems started.

I freely admit that I’m what is commonly called these days, “left-brained”. I demand data, facts, something you can get your teeth into. I eschew “feelings” in lieu of data. It’s not that I don’t feel things. In fact I like to feel all kinds of things but I’m talking about emotion and you tackle singularly emotional people at your peril if you value your sanity.

A few days ago I drove a friend to the airport and my car radio was tuned to an unashamedly conservative station. I could sense the bristling because the listener is an Obama disciple and every word was rocking a long-held belief system. It started to come to a head when the Rasmussen poll numbers from last Sunday were aired and they revealed that only 27% of likely voters “strongly approved” of Obama. Now it doesn’t take a lot of effort to figure out that represents a huge drop in just 7 months.

The body language was fascinating. I know, I know that left-brained people aren’t supposed to be tuned into touchy-feely stuff like that but I’ve taken the psychology classes and some of it stuck. The arms were crossed and the lips were tight and the conversation didn’t exactly flow. Something had to be coming soon and so why not light the fuse and get it over with?

My intervention wasn’t necessarily intended to be confrontational but I’ve rarely shied away from and so it proved.

I’m retired and so is my passenger and a drop in received benefit, from whatever source, isn’t welcome. Unless you are an Obama disciple. And then maybe it’s OK.

It has been known for months that the gross benefit for Social Security recipients was not going to see a “CLI”, (Cost of Living Increase) mainly because, I think that gas prices came down. But the Medicare premium that is deducted before I see my check will go up. Hey, I’m a math wizard and I can subtract as well as anyone and the end result must surely be less for groceries. And that’s what I voiced.

I was told that I was wrong because the payment was going to stay the same and the fact that my check would be less was due to the fact that the CLI did not include medical expenses. At that point, I shut up and concentrated on getting to Sky Harbor in one piece.

We are 25 years past 1984 when Orwell wrote that “War is Peace and Peace is War”.

I was reminded of the spectacle of Linda Douglass and Robert Gibbs striding out to deny that Obama didn’t really say that which the he has said about the now notorious “Public Option”. It’s perhaps a pity that Goebbels is dead because he could lie more effectively.

I delayed my reaction to Kennedy’s death for a few days and for several reasons. One of those reasons was similar to the reaction to the death of my mother. Her funeral was the only one that I remember attending at which I didn’t weep for reasons that are private and which have no place in this discourse.

And, while I haven’t been invited to Kennedy’s last rites, I doubt that I would declare a sob there either. He spent his political life trying to take my money that I’d earned and give it to those that hadn’t. For him, it was easy because he’d always had it and that because of Daddy’s involvement in organized crime. I doubt that he’d ever checked a bag on an airline in his life.

And, for the first time in a long time, my passenger dare not check a bag for the trip because of the $15 fee.

Maybe Obama will promise to finance that one too.

But with whose money?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Religion of Peace and other Fairy Tales

It never ceases to amaze me how Europeans can pretend to be so smart and civilized and advanced. But then again, how can they be so crass and insensitive and, let’s face it, stupid?

I rarely fling my net outside these United States in search of stupidity perhaps because I don’t usually have to but, this week the shoal of was too monstrous to ignore.

One occasion was the release of Abdullah Al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison.

There is no doubt in my mind that Al-Megrahi didn’t perpetrate the Lockerbie outrage alone but just because he wasn’t the only one to pull a gun, aim it and pull the trigger doesn’t mean that he didn’t commit murder.

Now he sat in jail for 8 years I think but, before that, he was free for more than 10 years after the crime. He and his fellow conspirators killed 270 people. There were families with little kids. There were a whole bunch of young students from Syracuse University. What may they have achieved if their lives had been allowed to bloom? And let’s not exclude millions of unborn embryos that may have evolved to do all kinds of wonderful things.

But none of those will now happen will they?

One can only hope that the Scottish doctors were better at their jobs than the Scottish government and that their diagnosis was accurate. And, as an afterthought, one can only hope that the Libyan doctors do not prescribe adequate doses of pain-killers. A second afterthought is that a fitting end for this animal would have been to launch him aboard one of our drones and then explode it at about 6000 feet.

Clearly the anger triggered by the release was exacerbated by the hero’s welcome accorded to Al-Megrahi on his return to Libya. When I saw it I was reminded of the joy in the streets of Gaza after the events of September 11. How about you?

And there are practical aspects too. Let's assume that the man is, indeed, terminally ill although on video he appears able to walk and function without assistance. He has nothing to lose so what would deter him from committing a further act of terrorism while he still can?


For the last week or so, there have been rumors that the perfidy may have had commercial ramifications because of a trade deal of some kind between the UK and Libya and now the British press is reporting that there may have been US involvement as well.

An Obama disciple reminded me that I should mention that he is reputed to be “very angry” at the release. My first reaction was that even a stopped clock is right twice every day but then I thought a little longer and remembered his attempts to “apologize” to the Moslem world on every occasion especially his near-blasphemy of seeking equivalence between Israel’s determination to protect itself from Palestinian attempts at murder and the Holocaust.

Elsewhere in Islam, a Malaysian court has sentenced a young woman to be caned for the heinous crime of drinking a beer. But, because Allah is merciful and so are his mortal agents, the punishment will not be carried out until after the end of Ramadan.

Closer to home, a Florida court has ordered that a 16 year-old runaway girl from Ohio be returned to the bosom of her parents even though she protests that she fears being killed in accordance with the directives found in the Holy Koran. Her crime? She has converted to Christianity.

Allah Akhbar!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Eyes Wide Shut ..........


We don’t seem to have learned much in the last 2000 years do we? Back in the first century of the Common Era, Roman emperors like Caligula and Nero were elevated to the status of deity by themselves and by the adulation of the populace.

Now take a look at last Monday’s edition of the Arizona Republic which, for those from Lake Havasu, is the principal newspaper in this state. This bastion of liberal sycophancy decided to confer a similar status on Obama and his family on the occasion of their visit to the Grand Canyon and with this immortal prose.

“Natural Wonder cedes spotlight to the first family”. And then, if that were not enough, followed up with this near blasphemy. “For tourists at the Grand Canyon on Sunday, the political star power of President Barack Obama and the first family eclipsed the landmark’s majestic natural beauty”.


I’ll spare you any further excerpts but, I for one, almost gagged when I read that and it is bound to make one wonder where on earth does the Fourth Estate find the morons who can write this drivel and what lame-brained editor Okayed it go into print?

And while we’re on the subject of the press, I’m sure that many view the exit of President Bush from the political scene with mixed feelings. On the one hand, they now have to paper over the cracks in the rapidly disintegrating Obama presidency whereas before they could latch onto every mispronounced word and cite every grim statistic about the war casualties.


But, on the other hand, they don’t have to follow the previous president to Crawford, Texas every summer. I think it is more than possible that Cindy Sheehan got as much coverage as she did because “the bitch in the ditch” was effectively the only game in town.

How certain am I about this hypothesis? Well it has been little reported that Ms. Sheehan hasn’t given up her useless vigil but this year she gets to do it at Martha’s Vineyard and that’s much more to the taste of the press corps and their expense accounts. After all, who wouldn’t prefer lobsters to barbecued beef ribs and beans?

Or, could the lack of focus on Cindy’s efforts be because the death toll she now bemoans is on Obama’s watch. Now it’s his war and not just in Iraq which he swore we’d be out of more than three months ago but also the increased presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


Where is Katy Couric cataloging the success of the Grim Reaper every night on the news? Where are the strident demands to see the flag-draped caskets being unloaded at Andrews Air Force Base? Where is Code Pink? Where are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and why are they not denouncing this President at every turn?

Harry Reid, at least, has an excuse. It’s not an honest one because it’s self-serving but to a politician, I’m sure it makes all the sense in the world. You see Good Old Harry is up for election next year and the polls already show that he’s running 6 points behind his likely rival and so he dare not run to the left. Obama showed this during the last campaign when he tried to portray himself as a moderate.


Right?

Still believe that?

Now, it’s true that Pelosi has to face the electorate as well but all she has to worry about are the ultra-liberal fanatics in San Francisco. Not really tough when compared with the hard asses of Nevada which are not that dissimilar from the hard asses of Arizona.

So Ms. Pelosi can go into 2010 unafraid in a local sense but she’d better be ready for a fire storm nationally. It’s a good job she can’t close her eyes because, Nancy, they’re going to be coming from all sides. Thank G-d for Botox!

And now it’s time to go back to religion as ordained by Obama.

In a meeting yesterday, Obama, quoted words from scripture that are very precious to Jews and he quoted them to rabbis, Actually Obama misquote but to use his words, “


"We are G-d’s partners in life and death”.

What an appalling presumption for a Community Activist Lawyer from Thug Chicago Politics who embraces Abortion on Demand.

Elections do indeed have consequences.

And there are no Mulligans

Monday, August 17, 2009

And Another One Rides the Bus!


I was not aware that sunset last Friday marked the start of a Jewish period of silence. But it must have been for how else can we explain David Axelrod’s failure to shut up his boss.

There was Obama on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado still extolling the efficiency of FedEx and UPS while lampooning the United States Postal Service, the “Public Option”.

Later that day though, with Axelrod still in absentia one presumes, Obama saw some polling numbers and so by Saturday evening he was pulling that contentious option off the table.

Well, at that, the Left came unglued and you don’t have to take my word for it. Just go and take a look at “Democratic Underground” or “Daily Kos”. Ever keen to join the fray, Howard Dean chimed in saying that without the “Public Option” a change in this country’s health system was meaningless. I never thought this day would come but he’s right. Without that option there is no reform.

So now the battle lines are drawn. Will there be a public option or not? Obama certainly needs something. He needs to be able to stand there in the White House rose garden as he signs into law something, anything that has the words, “Healthcare Reform” somewhere in it.

He needs it for political reasons. He needs it for Obama reasons. He needs it for him! And we know by now, it’s all about him!

But, in the meantime, he’s stuck with a pissed off Left and a confused Right and they’re both in his own party. And for good reason which is why they want to have Republican support. They want someone else to blame.

Here’s another look at a similar problem and it involves the so-called “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Ostensibly it worked because all of a sudden car showrooms were stuffed with people. Well for a start it deserved to work because it was effectively a tax refund. A bad word for liberals because it smacks of Presidents Reagan and Bush and what is it about the Left that embraces feelings but abhors data and fact?

But again, there are a couple of lessons to be learned. For a start, “Cash for Clunkers” showed that this government, any government cannot run an efficient or profitable or cost-effective program. And let’s start with the one that heads up this paragraph where we quickly learn that for every $4500 promised to the buyer via the dealer, it really costs more than $6000 when we factor in the overhead in government administration,

Now, I understand overhead and so do most people but almost 50% is more than a little extreme.

As of today, Monday, August 17, 2009, less than 3% of the promised money has been paid to the dealerships who have handed over cars to their new owners. At least one major dealer in the Mid-West has already halted the program because he has not been reimbursed for the deals already done. And can you blame him or her?

This all started out as just a $1 Billion program; just $1 Billion. Then we find that it’s now 3 times that and a whole new bureaucracy has to be created to administer what was to be a temporary “green” effort and to provide a boost to Detroit.

Again, as of today, 54% of the vehicles sold will benefit the bottom line of Japan and South Korea and, just as a kicker; no model of General Motors appears in the top 10.

I’d like to present an honest question to Obama believers everywhere. If your leader and his employees cannot run an efficient organization to administer a $1 Billion program, what do you estimate the chances are for one that is at least 3 orders of magnitude greater, namely Healthcare?

If I were a betting man, which I'm not, I'd be very tempted to start a business to snatch cars from those in default on their loans. Let's face it, people were driving a "clunker" because that was all they could afford.

So give it a year or less ............

And the tow trucks will surely be rolling at dawn's early light.



Sunday, August 16, 2009

Welcome back dear Schadenfreude; I've missed you!

As I said before, last Sunday I attended an event called a “Freedom Concert” in Phoenix, well actually Glendale but I doubt anyone cares that much which.

One of the speakers employed mainly, I contend, to distract the audience between acts, as the roadies extracted one set of loud and discordant hardware and substituted another, was Jon Voight.

One of a rare breed indeed is Mr. Voight who unlike most of his ilk sees life as it really is. Most Hollywood liberals of the limousine variety are just that; shallow and unthinking whose only talent is to mouth the words that someone else wrote while assuring the gullible that it’s real.

You’re thinking Obama right? Perhaps that’s what will happen to him after 2012 but they’ll have to do something about the ears.

Jon Voight said it well. The vast majority of the American people do not want to see a Socialist system in this country. Too many of us either lived under a regime like that at one point in our lives or we have parents or grandparents who did. And none of those memories are happy ones.

So much for emotion and feeling; both beloved of liberals everywhere but facts are facts.

And here’s a few to be going on with:-

According to the New York Times last Sunday, 69% of the total adult population is becoming nervous about Obamacare. And that’s from the New York Times also known as the Obama News Agency.

Now I’m a math person but I know that an awful lot of people are not and so I’ll be gentle, trust me.

Elections are won and lost not by the extreme right or extreme left and not even by the mediocre right or left. Look at the national elections in this country going back to …… Pick your date.

They are won and lost according to the number of “independents” who swing one way or another. As an example, I was never going to vote for Obama and nor did I. Even in this conservative state of Arizona there are those who would never have voted for anyone else. Especially down in Tempe and other enclaves of youth-inspired and academia-centric liberalism.

I had an aunt and uncle way back in England and many years ago they braved a cold and very wet November evening in order to execute their franchise. When they closed their front door, shook off their umbrellas and hung their dripping mackintoshes up to dry, my uncle asked who she’d voted for. “Well”, she said, “It is supposed to be secret but I voted for ’X’.”

“Damn it”, he replied. “I voted for ‘Y’ so all we did was to waste our time and our vote”.

But is a vote ever wasted? In their case, perhaps. Just as every confirmed Republican vote is negated by every confirmed Democratic vote. But the middle ground always calls the shots. And here is the scary part for the Democrats but is a sign of hope for me; by a margin of 2 to 1 the Independents oppose Obamacare. That’s right; 65% of these vacillating folks disapprove and many of these are the ones who are showing up to the Town Hall Meetings.

The Democratic hierarchy is worried stiff and is resorting to tactics such as that employed at a session in Texas in the district of Sheila Jackson Lee. There, a woman who identified herself as a physician before she endorsed the healthcare proposal, wasn’t. In fact she was a full-time worker for Obama’s ongoing campaign and fund-raising efforts.

Add to the lack of support by Independents the fact that only 42% of Democrats approve of the House Bill and that Rasmussen reports that Obama’s general approval rating is down to 47% and, well, you get the picture.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that “Miss Botox” aka, Nancy Pelosi is viewed so negatively that she would probably kill to have an approval number as good as those of Bush and Cheney when they left office.

Oh, it feels good to be a conservative again!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Audacity of Hype"


As it stands today, only 42% of likely American voters favor healthcare reform as proposed by the House. 52% strongly disapprove.

So why is Obama destroying the ozone layer by jetting around the country aboard Air Force One trying to shove this monstrosity up ………. No, erase that thought, down our throat?

One thing is clear to me and a growing number of people like me is that this push has little to do with healthcare and is all about government control. And that is surely anathema to the very soul of this Republic.

As a result, this battle has turned into something that Obama cannot win. Of course he and Pelosi and Reid can stuff it through the legislative process but, if they do, they will lose the House next year and the White House in 2012. Let’s see if they think it’s worth it?

Today, Salon.com proposed that the only way to prevail on this issue was to get Obama off the campaign stump and to get rid of Pelosi altogether. As a conservative, that would be disastrous to my cause. Let’s hope that egos and stupidity win out and they both keep on doing what clearly is not working for them.

I know that Obama broke his last teleprompter and for his sake, if not for mine, I hope another one is about to graduate from teleprompter boot camp because without that aide-memoire he’s lost.

Yesterday Obama conducted a Town Hall Meeting in New Hampshire. He spoke in rambling disarray and when it came to answering questions, it just got worse. We now know, via Drudge and others, that the deck was stacked. I’m shocked, stunned and amazed. The young girl who asked the question about the signs she had seen is the daughter of an Obama worker and Drudge also reports that she admitted being prepped. And yet, even so, his response was long, rambling, pathetic and devoid of content.

Some of the other “highlights” included a gem when he tried to draw a comparison between Fedex and UPS on one side and the United States Postal Service on the other. “The former”, he declared, “are doing just fine”. “The Post Office seems to have a problem”.

In terms of moving stuff from hither to thither, the Post Office is the “Public Option”. The other two are not. They are the product of peasant-grinding capitalists. And yet Obama, Reid and Pelosi want to hand over my healthcare to a “Public Option”.

The other “Oops” that the new teleprompter would never have permitted was his reference to the support from the AARP. Wrong again, O Anointed One. From late yesterday and through to this morning, that organization is running away so fast, it’s unreal, because they’ve heard from their members. And they don't just vote for the directors of AARP. No, they vote in droves in the major leagues.


Before I sign off I must comment on the latest Town Hall Meeting in Michigan by John Dingell. He delighted in reporting today that there was a black guy with a poster outside the venue inciting the venom that ensued later. The poster had a picture of Obama, morphing into Adolph Hitler and replete with swastikas. The only gotcha was that after, the same man had been seen letting Union goons in via the side door and he was also spotted handing out pro Obama/Dingell flyers.

Why the title to this post? Those who did not vote for our current experience recall it well. Those who did are trying so hard to forget.

Tough!!

Monday, August 10, 2009

The largely forgotten separation of Church and Stage!


Excuse me if I’m not at my best today. Nothing contagious and nothing bad so those readers who would like the malaise to be non-trivial are going to be disappointed. No, the trouble is that I got to bed very late last night and that problem was compounded by my inability to stay in bed after 5 o’clock in the morning. More about this later and I would probably have begged off this post had it not been for an email I received this morning.

Now there was both good news and bad news implied in the email. The good news was that somebody had actually read my last post and the bad news was that the criticism was valid.

The thread of it was my look at the second 100 days of the Obama governance and the lack of progress therein and thereby. Well, the writer took me to task and bewailed the inarguable fact that I had omitted to be more specific about his shortcomings as I perceived them. I mean Obama’s shortcomings of course not those of the author of the email. Although I cannot imagine that the author's are more egregious. So, ever one eager to please but rarely succeeding, I undertook this post reluctantly from a physical perspective but mentally so willingly.

Clearly the wars in the Middle East have not ended. On the contrary, Obama has elected to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan and to put boots on the ground in Pakistan as well. All this had led to the greatest loss of life last month in those theaters since the initial invasion. This fact has gone largely unreported in this country but not so among our allies mainly the UK and Germany.

The Military Tribunals continue and Gitmo has not closed principally because the rest of the world wants nothing to do with the inmates which they know to be vicious killers although that fact seems to have eluded Obama’s razor-sharp intellect.

One of Obama’s key support groups during and after the election were the Gay activists but they haven’t got what they wanted either as Obama steadfastly continues to renege on his promise to support marriage of same-sex couples.

Remember when this was going to be the most “transparent” of regimes? Well, it’s turning out to be one of the most secretive as we see from the abandonment of the commitment to publish legislation via the Web. And, even more than that, Obama sends out people like Linda Douglas to propose tactics reminiscent of those beloved by Goebbels and Felix Dzerzhinsky who created Lenin’s Cheka.

Then there was mantra about “No New Taxes” unless a person earned more than $250,000 per year. Well that’s gone bye-byes as well and you only have to read the proposed government-run healthcare scheme to see that lie in black and white.

And, then I would be remiss were I to omit the issue of “earmarks” which were much castigated by Obama. Again, the evidence is clear. The “Stimulus Package” is stuffed with earmarks as is the “Cap and Trade” legislation.

So, dear and dissenting emailer is that enough to be going on with? No wonder a reader from the other side of the Atllantic told me of a headline which had appeared in the British press, “Has the Obama bubble burst?” You betcha!

I promised to tell you why my tail is dragging this morning. I spent last evening at an event called a “Freedom Concert” which was a charity event to raise funds for the education of boys and girls who had lost a parent in the line of duty.

Not surprisingly, it was an evening of unbridled patriotism, conservative beliefs and support for our brave men and women and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I was accompanied by an unabashed Obama booster. I was uncomfortable with the Christian-dominated bits for obvious reasons. She though, the confirmed agnostic, delighted in all that and sang along with gusto.


Her verdict, at the end of the evening was that it wasn’t very democratic or perhaps she meant Democratic. In either case, she was right but I didn’t know that a concert was supposed to be.

In a similar way, a church service isn’t supposed to be either and, if I’m wrong about that, then someone had better point it out to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and also to Obama who listened to his hate-filled maniacal ravings for 20 years without complaint.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

So, the word, "Is" means what?


So it seems that the legends were indeed correct and the Oriental sense of logic is very different from that of Occidentals.

Imagine two cute ladies of Korean extraction who decide for reasons not obvious to this Western mind to smuggle themselves into the north of that country. They risked and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in order to meet Bill Clinton on a private jet. Next time girls, get a boob job and get hired by Hooters. Much safer and I wouldn’t have to watch his dissipated face on TV.

Again, the reason I came up with that possible but, I admit, unlikely scenario is to illustrate another point about most of the media outlets in this country.

I’m willing to bet that newsrooms around the country were scouring Obama’s record in order to trumpet his second 100 days. Remember the hoopla around that first milestone? Little Chrissy Matthews was breathless in anticipation as he waited to help blow out the candles on the cake.

Try as they might though, they could not come up with any Herculean accomplishments this time around. Not one! And so they had no choice but to ignore it all which they did.


The Augean Stables of Washington DC are even more filled with ….. Well you know what stables are filled with and it’s just that there is more of it than existed 3 month’s ago. It's good for your rhubarb and not much else.

Obama and his teleprompter tried to wrest some measure of comfort by trumpeting that the unemployment rate was 9.4% as compared to 9.4% the month before.


And no, that’s not a typo!

Then contrast the adulation which that non-fact earned from the media with the same coverage accorded to that same statistic during George W’s administration.

In those days of media-threatened doom and gloom, the drive-bys insisted on adding to the official numbers those who were no longer counted. These included those who had given up looking for a job, those who were working part-time jobs and those who were starting their own business.

Even when the national rate was way below 5%, little Chrissy had to add his caveat. OK, little Chrissy, apply the same rules today and the real number is 16.3%. And, included in that number is another 30,000 positions lost at Caterpillar. Remember them? They were the company that was going to start rehiring when Obama’s stimulus package was enacted. It was all about “shovel-ready” jobs and I assume he meant to include the mechanical equivalents.

Ah well, another Obama promise tossed aside.

No poll is perfect especially as far as elections are concerned. More suspect than most are those who call up any a Bubba, anywhere, and then count his or her slurred pronouncements. To mean anything, it must surely recognize only likely voters and, as far as I know, only one outfit asks that question. Rasmussen does precisely that and found the GOP is now ahead by 6 points in the “Generic Congressional Poll”. In other words, forget personalities, whom do you trust?

CNN knows this and so does MSNBC. Little Chrissy doesn’t because he’s in his corner with his Obama blankie and his fingers in his ears.

But he did emerge long enough to point at a clause in his contract which empowers him to insist on some content. Devoid of other ideas, he grasped at the Clinton/Korean non-event.

Well done little Chrissy ………… And now, go back in your corner. With a little luck and if you’re a very good boy, your leg may tingle again real soon..





Thursday, August 6, 2009

Let's Get Married in Reno, have the honeymoon in Tahoe, drive back to Reno, get divorced and then fly home!



Only three good things ever happen in Reno, Nevada and they happen on a regular basis. For a start, every summer an event is held called the “Reno Air Races”. I won’t take up your blog reading time by describing it because there are lots of websites where you can watch it for yourself.

But, for those from Lake Havasu think the Indianapolis 500 with wings and at a much higher speed. The other is different and it’s called “Hot August Nights” and, trust me, you really don’t want to go there.

Speaking, though, of August nights, there’s a few coming up around the rest of the country as the Congress has adjourned for the summer recess and it used to be that they couldn’t wait to get out of the humidity of DC and wallow in the pool of their constituents. This year will be different though.

It all started about 10 days ago in Philadelphia when Arlen Specter a, now, Democratic senator and Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services held a “Town Hall Meeting”. With Sebelius in attendance it shouldn’t have been surprising that the subject of healthcare reform was raised. My readers in this country know what happened and my readers elsewhere probably don’t care.

But, again for the people of Lake Havasu, Specter and the Secretary were almost run out of town on a rail.

And this was Philadelphia, one of the most union dominated cities in the country.

Politicians, for the most part, are not too bright. They are lots of other things but smart is not one except when it comes down to survival and reelection. So many representatives returned to their local offices, cancelled any public sessions they had planned and hid under their desks. My own congressman, Harry Mitchell announced that for most of August he would be out of town.

But, just as in pre-Revolution days, what started in Philadelphia didn’t stay there. Maybe that’s where Las Vegas got the slogan? The point being that, you don’t stamp out dissent by ignoring it.

I cannot claim to be a political analyst with any knowledge of any inside track. But I do know that as soon as the other side starts to attack the messenger instead of the message they’re scared and the message is valid.

Some denounced these audiences as “Insurance Company plants”.

Barbara Boxer of California said that they couldn’t be real Americans because they were too well dressed.

Pelosi branded all opponents as a “Mob” and later added that many were wearing swastikas.

Doesn’t it strike even Obama disciples as just a little odd that a proud “Community Organizer” whines when an actual community actually organizes?

But Obama isn’t just whining. In true Chicago thug style, the White House has ordered Union goons to attend any and all future town meetings. Will they wear brown shirts or black shirts I wonder?

And, just in case some dissenter doesn’t show up in order to exercise their First Amendment rights while running the gauntlet of Rahm Emanuel’s ordered billy clubs, the White House has another strategy. As a Jew, he should be ashamed to recite the Shema.

In perfect synchronization with bullies everywhere, Obama is demanding that he be informed of any negative statements about the impending legislation and has even established a place where you can fink out your friends because, Yes, casual conversations are included.

Not first but notable for a similar tactic came the Gestapo, the KGB and Mao’s “Cultural Revolution”. So I guess we abort the First Amendment.

In order to save Obama and Emanuel and my liberal readers the trouble, I’ve already sent in my guilty plea and I included my name, telephone number and my home address. So come and get me. Bring help. And bring your mob!!

If you want to do the same, the email address is
flag@whitehouse.gov Maybe we can share a cell?

Oh, the other good thing about Reno. They have “quickie divorces”.

I’m ready to file!!!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Tastes Great ! --------------- Less Filling!


Before I retired from full-time work, I loved Fridays. Not because I had fears of the work week and was, therefore, glad to see the back of it but because I had a ritual.

The ritual went like this:-

Anybody in corporate life, especially here in these United States, is inundated with “stuff”. Some is hardcopy stuff but mostly, these days, it isn’t. The rest is electronic mail or voicemail and even though that medium weighs less, it can still clog up the inbox of your mind. I seem to remember from a psychology class I took once that the human brain can only do a maximum of 3 things at the same time. Thank heavens that the complexities of breathing and heartbeat are not my problem, well not at a conscious level anyway.

But I also seem to remember that, in certain circumstances, the male brain could only think of one thing. And if you happened to be also a teenager that subject consumed one for most of the time.

Anyway the Friday ritual was to throw away the bottom half of the 2 foot stack using the principle that, if I hadn’t needed it until now, I never would.

Today’s post was going to be a bit like that and I was going to use up lots of the otherwise unrelated snippets of Obama shortcomings. But, over the weekend that changed as I had the opportunity to do what John Conyers of Michigan should be doing which is to delve into the, now infamous, “House Resolution on Healthcare”.

We’ve previously looked at Section 1233 which calls for compulsory “end-of-life counseling” every 5 years for those on Medicare. Interestingly enough, Obama was asked about this provision at one of his never-ending town hall meetings and he categorically denied that it existed. So Obama supporters, you are left with the uncomfortable choice of deciding if he’s ignorant of his own policies or he’s a liar. I don’t have that dilemma because I think he’s both.

But now we can add to Section 1233, that Obama says isn’t there, a couple of other nuggets.

Let’s start with Section 163 on page 58 which gives the government full and absolute access to every one of the financial records of every person on “Obamacare”. Clearly today, if the IRS wants that kind of access they can get it but they need a court order to do it. But under this Bill, no such safeguard exists.

Then let’s also add Section 1308 which gives the government the ability to dictate “Marriage and Family Therapy” whenever and wherever they choose.

But what does the “Third Estate” of the press and broadcast media spend there time, money and resources on? Why the “Beer Summit” of course! Hours and hours discussing who drank what brand? Who ate peanuts and who chose pretzels? Were there apologies sought or proffered? And all about a subject that Obama should not have been in the middle of to start with.

The other half of the tag team was there as well namely Joe Biden. Now, in the past I’ve referred to Joe as the drunken uncle at the wedding who won’t shut up but actually Uncle Joe doesn’t drink. Perhaps he should take it up? Perhaps he’d make more sense? …………..

Nah!!!!