Thursday, April 30, 2009

And Another One Bites the Dust.


Don’t you just hate it when this happens?

There was my day, all planned out as of very early this morning. I was going to do laundry and write a new post for this Blog. 90% of that was already in my head but I know the content would have really hacked off one of my non-contributing contributors. So be it!

But then, stuff happened and I went back to scurrying through my notes and clippings in order to present, in my small way, a scandal of gigantic proportions.

It seems only yesterday that Obama stood in front of his teleprompter and announced the bailout for the automobile industry. According to him, we could not let that industry fail. It was vital to the economy of the country. Bankruptcy was not an option. Never was. Isn’t now and …….. Never will be. For to do so, he announced, would destroy its commercial viability. After all, who wants to buy a car from a bankrupt company?

Instead he insisted that he proposed pumping billions of dollars into the Big 3. Well, it turned out to be the Big 2 because Ford told him to stick it. And, he added that it had to happen now as time was of the very essence. So between ‘em, GM and Chrysler got the best part of 100 billion dollars. Then came the carrot and the stick! The carrot was that there was more where that came from and the stick was, or else!

Today Obama announced that Chrysler was going into bankruptcy which, at once triggered a thought in my mind. If they went broke and they effectively owed me money via my tax dollars, do I have standing in a Bankruptcy Court? Fat chance.

This is a huge failure for Obama because, demonstrably, his strategy did not work. Remember he claimed less than 100 days ago that only the government could solve that crisis? Well, it failed, the unthinkable became the reality. But stay with me for a moment. Maybe Obama did get today what he’d wanted all along. He detests the private sector. Clearly he wants to crush it. So what better way than to gain a controlling interest in banks, reject any plans the auto makers could come up with and force bond holders into accepting cents on the dollar? As a result the UAW owns 55% of Chrysler and Obama has paid off many of the thugs who got him elected.

In the mind of most Americans the economy is at the top of their list. And yet, Obama held a press conference yesterday and, against my better judgment, I listened. He was asked 13 questions. Only one even held a hint of things economic and that was from a guy from BET who asked him to comment on the effect on Blacks in New York City. I guess, the message is if you’re White or Hispanic or Asian then screw you! The rest were on his 100 day honeymoon, torture and the latest G-d sent non-event, “Swine ‘Flu”. And this gets reported as breaking news by breathless reporters with tingly legs

All that probably goes to explain why MSNBC cannot pay the rent on its premises and why Keith Olbermann has a national audience of 70,000 viewers and why little KFYI here in Arizona draws more than 310,000 listeners.

No wonder they are whining for the “Fairness Doctrine”.

Oh, almost forgot. What bit the dust?

Actually two. A once proud American car company and one more promise of an already discredited president.






Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Not close to Halloween yet!

Now this is spooky stuff!

In the first half of 2008, most taxpayers got some of their own money back from the previous administration. I think I got $500 or so and I spent it on a new shower enclosure for the master bath. However, President Bush’s name was never mentioned.

Now, fast forward to today’s mail. In it was a letter from the Social Security Administration telling me that “President Obama” had signed Congresses’ bill and, as a recipient of Social Security, I have $250 coming sometime in May. I assume that’s the retiree equivalent of the $13 per week for wage-earning Americans under the much-vaunted tax cut.

Two things concern me and they should concern you.

For a start the action is an insult because I’m simply getting my own money back again. Yes, I know that as soon as I file my tax return its public record. You wanna go look at it, I’ll save you the stamp because I have it on line. But, I’ll also save you some more time; I paid way more than that last year so I know it’s my money. Trust me!

The Inuit call money “Paper with a face on it”. And, now Obama wants to personalize me getting my money. He, Lord Obama, the Most Merciful is going to give me $250. Thank you, O Lord!

The sad thing is that some people will see it that way.

This man is a joke and I suspect that some Americans are getting twinges. Now they may not admit it quite yet but think about this. You meet a really neat lady or man and you check into the Wynn in Las Vegas and you tie the knot. 2 or 3 months later, you wake up to go to work and, in those sweet moments between sleep and the real world, you know you’ve made a terrible mistake.

But, you do shower and go to work and you grab a coffee on your way in through the door and a colleague you haven’t seen in months asks you, “How’s marriage going?”

“It’s just great”, you respond automatically.

But you know it’s not and you hate yourself with all kinds of mixed emotions.

I suspect that is why, in today’s Rasmussen poll, the Republicans are favored 41 to 38 percent in the 2010 off-season elections.

A British friend mentioned yesterday that he was starting to hear questions raised there about Obama and what he’s actually done in these past 100 days.

I’ve been asking that question for years.

Then, later, by an unabashed Obama fanatic, I was wished, “Happy 100 Days!”

And this is isn’t a cult?



Monday, April 27, 2009

Fore!!

If I harp on it, it’s because it needs a damned good harping.

Now, I’ll glue on my Andy Rooney eyebrows and pose the following:-

“Imagine, if you will, that it’s a couple of years ago and imagine if you can a world where America is fighting a couple of wars in which real Americans are being killed, where North Korea and Iraq are about to become nuclear-weapon powered, where American hostages are being held in Iraq and where a Swine Flu’ pandemic is being threatened.”

Now, imagine also that President George W, spent 5 hours yesterday playing golf while all this was going on

Please ignore the fact that, to me, it’s a stupid game and ignore the fact that, of course, President Bush could have been summoned at any time to deal with a new twist. Ignore all that and then still imagine how he would have been skewered and roasted by the Left and their media lackeys?

The most restrained skewering would have described him as “Uncaring” or “Disconnected”. The more strident would have been screaming for impeachment.

Well, Obama did just that yesterday and the only comment from the drive-by sycophants was to describe his khaki shorts, his short-sleeved golf shirt and his light-beige baseball cap. Oh, and they did also mention his sunglasses and his cell phone.

Does anybody but me and 52 million other people who voted against this lazy man see a double standard here?

So, we approach 100 days. Tell me, what got better?

Well, he was going to fix Detroit. Against all kinds of advice he poured billions in there and now we learn that Washington is advising bankruptcy for Chrysler and GM cannot be far behind. In the meantime, GM is proposing to lay off another 21,000 workers and discontinue the Pontiac line. Then, this summer they propose a 9 week shutdown which wouldn’t be all bad except for the fact that the company is still under contractual obligation to pay their labor force.

So, Obama was going to save the auto industry and create or save 3 million jobs. Folks, what do you think so far?

With his track record in Chicago and then in the Illinois Senate, then the US Senate, his presidency is perfectly consistent.

Promise everything! Deliver nothing!

Par for the course I guess.

I don’t know who he was playing against yesterday and I don't know what he shot but I’ll bet his card says he won!

Because that is Obama. Perception, Perception, Perception!



Sunday, April 26, 2009

The AfPak Affair


100 days in and one thing is clear, or putting it another way, many things are not clear.

Obama is naïve. The man is stupid. The man is a liar. Or, all of the above or, maybe a combination of two or more including other possibilities I guess. I have my suspicions but let me present a case and you decide.

From the very first time it became clear that he was going to take a run for the Presidency, I remember two things. He promised “change” and he promised to end the deployment of American troops in Iraq.

Now, perhaps the “change” he promised was no more than a “change” from President Bush. Well, let’s be magnanimous, he did that. He detests this country and apologizes for it wherever he goes to anybody who will listen and sometimes to nobody in particular. He embraces our enemies and snubs our friends. He detests our Constitution and, as I noted in my last post he, and his lawyer friends feel constrained by it. Good! That was the idea from the get-go. But, about that, either he’s naïve or he’s stupid …………

The next recurring theme was that “we need a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq”. Well that doesn’t seem to be happening either as Hillary was in Baghdad yesterday proclaiming the opposite. So, about that, he was naïve or stupid or, to use a Winston Churchill expression, he was guilty of a terminological inexactitude. For any readers from Rio Linda, that translates into lying.

But, Obamaniacs, take heart. Now you could have your very own war. For a start the C-in-C has ordered more troops into Afghanistan and make no mistake, they’ll be our troops. The Europeans et al turned him down flat. And now add the surge by the Taliban to within 60 miles of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. And the Taliban has offered Osama bin-Laden safe haven in the area of Pakistan they control. So will Obama pursue him there? So now we’ll have an "AfPak War", Obama’s war? A war where no “collateral damage” occurs? A war where no innocent men, women and children die? No dismembered babies? Naturally, because this will be an Obama war.


Where is the outrage from the liberal media? Where are the marchers chanting, "One, Two, Three, Four. We don’t want your bloody war”. But this is Obama’s war and while he’s fighting it with troops he detests and while he’s cutting their funding as much as he can in order to fund his domestic plans. He also wants to talk to the “moderate” Taliban…….. Now that would be a great idea except for the unfortunate fact that there is no such critter according to the people in the region.

OK. I’ve convinced myself all over again.

Obama is all of the above …………



Friday, April 24, 2009

Let Freedom Ring!


Sometimes I sit at this keyboard and screen and I have two themes screaming for my attention. On happier days I can somehow ignore one and concentrate on the other. On ecstatic days I find a way to combine both but on bad days, I wind up forgetting both.

So let’s see what kind of a day it’s going to be?

As far as I know Magna Carta in 1215 CE was the first attempt to rein in the absolute powers of a monarchy and thereby grant to the “non-monarchs” some semblance of self-determination. It was a model with obvious merit. The monarch kept his or her head and the fortune that went along with it but gave up the power of life or death. Many countries followed the example, some sooner like the French in 1791, some much later like Spain and some never at all like Somalia.

Every one of these and the intervening attempts had a common and overriding premise. This was/is, “We the Government/ King/Queen/Junta grant you these rights ……. Or, words to that effect.

Yes, I know. I missed out 1776 and our precious and timeless document. What a jewel it is? And a unique jewel too because this one does not grant rights to anyone except to the people. Here, the Constitution pronounced, “You the Government is granted the right to do these things ……….. And no more! That is what is meant by “American Exceptionalism”.

Obama and his liberal lawyer friends see this splendid affirmation of human endeavor as a hindrance. It stops them doing what they want to do. They talk about “Negative Rights”. The Constitution to them is a constraint.

To me, and countless Americans before me, it is the very essence of liberty itself.

May Freedom forever ring!

Oops, today I didn't get to either issue but there's always tomorrow .......

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Last Refuge of the Scoundrel

I cheered when Obama nominated “Crappy Nappy” to head up the Department of Homeland Security and I did so for two reasons. Firstly, it meant she had to resign from her post as Governor of the State of Arizona and, because I knew she was incompetent, it was only a matter of time before she would embarrass herself and, therefore, her boss, the Lord Obama, the Most Merciful.


Well, the “matter of time” turned out to be a “matter of weeks”.

First there was the document sent to law-enforcement agencies across the country which this Blog discussed days and days ago and I will not bore return readers by gloating. Instead, I’ll simply insert some other opinions:-

Richard Thompson with the Thomas More Law Center called this DHS security assessment "a diatribe against those who oppose the policies of the Obama administration. It is a declaration of war against the American people and our constitution. It is a prelude to extreme gun control legislation and hate speech laws targeting Christian churches and others who oppose abortion and same sex marriage."

Michael Reagan asked: "Have we really come to this? Has Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels been reborn and recruited by the Obama administration to scare the heck out of the American people with absurdities such as this whacked-out document?"

And then Michelle Malkin summed it all up: "What and who exactly are President Obama's homeland security officials afraid of these days? If you are a member of an active conservative group that opposes abortion, favors strict immigration enforcement, lobbies to protect Second Amendment rights, protests big government, advocates federalism, or represents veterans who believe in any of the above, the answer is: You."

If this wasn’t enough for Nappy to be fired now we have the embarrassment of her interview with a guy from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In that interview she claimed that “entering the US as an illegal was not a ‘criminal’ act”. Then she went on to affirm that 911 happened because some of the perpertrators came via Canada.

Now the Secretary must have spent too much time in the sun of Arizona or too much time sampling the more exotic mushroom dishes of New Mexico tribes as she prepared her case on behalf of Anita Hill. The fact is, the 911 Commission dismissed that claim years ago. The Commission knew it, I know it and the interviewer knew it and so he probed some more.

Then, even the Secretary knew she’d screwed something up but she wasn’t quite sure what or where. But, ever the politician, she did what all politicians do, she carried on talking and hinted darkly that she couldn’t talk about it. Boswell once reported a quotation of Samuel Johnson where he announced that “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” or, in the Secretary’s case the “scoundreless”. Anyway, she resorted to the following blather, “But I can talk about the future and the future is we have borders”.

No wonder Anita Hill lost.

Nappy has to go!

And that’s all good news too because, at least, she can’t come back here to her post in Arizona.

Here’s a quiz for American readers. Do you know what a “nappy” is? After that it’s not too long a stretch to imagine what it’s often filled with.

The Commander-in-Cheat


Russian Proverb:-
“Words are like a sparrow. Once released, they cannot be recaptured.”

I first came across the following story several days ago. To me it was so controversial that I dare not post it until I had checked it out. Well, now I can tell you that four separate sources have confirmed the entire essence, if not every detail and acronym, it contains. I will not jeopardize those sources by naming them but you, of course, are welcome to do your own research.

Anyway here goes with the real story of Obama's 'Decision-Making' with respect to the pirates and their hostage.

According to some Navy SEALs from Virginia Beach this is why it dragged out for 4 days.

1. Barack Hussein Obama (BHO) wouldn't authorize the SEAL teams to go to the scene for 36 hours against the OSC (on scene commander) recommendation and request.

2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE (rules of engagement) that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger.

3. The first time the hostage jumped into the sea, the SEALS had the pirates all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction

4. When the navy RIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the pirates were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.

5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge-based authority and SEAL teams.

6. The Bainbridge’s Captain and the SEAL team CDR (commander) finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead pirates.

Those are the bare bones; now read a fleshed out account and in the interests of accuracy I have made no attempt to clean up the typos.


“Philips' first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn't worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country's Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors and none was taken.”

“The guidance from National Command Authority, the president of the United States, Barack Obama had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage's life was in clear, extreme danger.”

“The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel, thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief's staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a peaceful solution would be acceptable.”

“After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on-scene commander decided he'd had enough.”

“Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage's life, and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer, unnamed in all media reports to date, decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips' back was a threat to the hostage's life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.”

“Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.”

“There is upside, downside, and spin side to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterday's dramatic rescue of an American hostage.”

“Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put paid to questions of the inexperienced president's toughness and decisiveness.”

“Despite the Obama administration's (and its sycophants') attempt to spin yesterday's success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort. What should have been a standoff lasting only hours, as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location, became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.”

Further comment from me would be superfluous and unhelpful.



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Theory versus Practice!

I know a surgeon. She tells all kinds of stories about her internship. She, had of course, attended lectures and had presumably slept through only a few. Then she practiced the technique on cadavers but, all of a sudden, it’s the real world and, to quote her words, the learning curve was as follows, Watch one, Do one, Teach one.

The cold light of day can be very different from the euphoric promise of the night before.

So, as Obama approaches his 100 day milestone, I put together a few goodies to remember him by and, in no particular order, here they are:-

Obama has directed Government departments to come up with ways to trim their costs by $100 Million. The interest alone on his “stimulus” package is $95 Million. Per Day!!!!

He has promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first (read only) term. In the meantime he has increased that deficit four-fold. And, while all this is going on, he’s throwing parties for his friends and serving Kobe beef at $100 per pound or pizza flown in from Chicago. Rumor has it that Air Force One now has a Domino’s sticker in the baggage hold for just those missions.

He has nominated 5 tax cheats to his administration and one of ‘em now heads up the IRS.

He has insulted our oldest and most staunch ally by either sending back gifts or by giving those that are demonstrably inappropriate.

The ‘New York Times” today reported that the CIA methods outlawed by Obama this week had, in fact revealed vital intelligence. Even Panetta regretted this move by his boss. So Obama feels that measures he deemed “barbaric” could not be justified by the prevention of another 911. I venture to suggest that at least 3000 families would disagree.

Not satisfied by screwing it up at home, Obama is an international “screwerupperer”. So he loads up his 500 plus entourage onto Domino One and heads off to pastures new. There he sits with that fatuous and vacant grin on his face while Ortega delivers a 50 minute diatribe against the most generous nation in the world. Obama says nothing but he is the first to apologize for everything and anything and anywhere. With the exception of Antarctica, he’s apologized on every continent. Oops, forgot Australia.

And what do we have for this intercontinental groveling? The British government is none too happy. Sarkozy of France invited Obama to “walk on water. North Korea launches missiles despite Obama’s “grave concerns”. And, Fidel thinks the "boy wonder" is superficial. One thing is certain, Fidel isn't fooled easily unlike too many American voters.

Unfortunately Mr. Obama your teleprompter doesn’t have all the answers and, it seems you have even less. Is this what we were promised?

One more word if I may. Picture a life-time Pollyanna. Never been the victim of a crime. Yesterday, car broken into and real expense incurred and, more that, the feeling of violation was apparent. Ask her now and you could get a different response.

That’s the difference between belief and reality. The difference between theory and practice!

Monday, April 20, 2009

"Curiouser and Curiouser", said Alice ......


Blagh!!!!!

The most dreaded sight. A blank screen, a virgin piece of paper.

It’s not that I can’t find things to talk about; I just don’t know where to start. Now it's pretty obvious that there is no point in testing the water with a toe. Everybody knows it’s not going to get any warmer between now and the plunge ………

OK conscience, here goes.

I know of three famous tea parties. Chronologically, first there was the taxation protest in Boston Harbor in 1773. Next came Lewis Carroll’s version in “Alice in Wonderland”. Then last week, hundreds upon hundreds of parties across this great nation.

The Left and their paparazzi still don’t get it. These parties were not organized or even dreamed up by the Republican National Committee. If that were the case, they’d have screwed it up. Perhaps the spark was provided by Rick Santelli of CNBC about a month ago but after that it became a grass-roots campaign. I know because I was part of it here in Arizona. Hell, I was trying to scrounge up donated sound systems. And I did. But it wasn't enough because even I, the optimist, underestimated our massive turnout.

But, in a reaffirmation of Chicago thug politics or perhaps because Obama has learned from his Clinton-era dominated White House, critics or threats of criticism cannot be allowed to pass. The very idea must be mocked, scorned, belittled and/or marginalized. And if that doesn’t work, send out the attack dogs.

Which is why Janeane Garofalo dismissed all attendees as "racists". ( I don't care if he's a Jewish, Sheffield Wednesday supporter from Scottsdale, AZ; I don't trust him and I don't like his politics). The Huffington Post proclaimed that all the events were funded by “Corporate-backed Lobby groups.” Then, on one of the talking-head shows yesterday, Axelrod pronounced dissent to be “unhealthy”.

And this was from the same people who, until November 4 2008, proclaimed protest to be the essence of democracy. But after November 4, it’s unhealthy?

Have they forgotten or do they choose to forget that when President George W. was elected 51 to 48, it was a narrow victory but when Obama prevails with a margin of 52 to 47, it’s a landslide? And, while we’re on that subject, the popular vote cast against the eventual winner was the second largest in electoral history.

Now all this tells me that the Left is worried and so is Obama. If that were not so, why not ignore the flea bites? What could they possibly do to hurt? But what if the fleas turned out to be Tsetse flies?

And the Cheshire Cat’s grin just grew and grew!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Parallel lines Meet Eventually. I do Hope So!


Labels can be confusing especially labels over time.

I’m a history nut. I can’t get enough of it and especially, I cannot get enough of the early history of this Republic.

There have been classic battles of ideals and intellects and wills for thousands of years. Some like Socrates versus the city of Athens, some like Caesar versus Pompey, some like Paul versus the Jews, some like ………..

But you get the picture and I’m sure you can come up with your own list. Now some of your list and mine got resolved peacefully and some were resolved by force of arms and some never got resolved at all.

One of the latter is most interesting to me namely that of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Adams was the second President of these United States and Jefferson was his Vice-President. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson was a Republican. Adams, for most of his life, fought to empower the central government, first in Philadelphia and later in what became Washington DC. At one point, he even contemplated the establishment of a new monarchy. This latter point is key and we’ll come back to it. Promise!

Jefferson, on the other hand, was a gentleman farmer from Virginia. He owned slaves; one, Sally Hemmings bore him at least one child. And, years before the battles over slavery were fought vocally, ideologically and eventually militarily he wrestled with the concept. How else can you reconcile his influence expressed in the ideals of the Constitution with the pragmatism of his earthly existence?

It is impossible to ignore the parallels of those times with those of today.

Already, some delusional Congressman is seeking to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. His message seems to be, “All hail King Obama, the anointed one, scoop up the banks, and the insurance companies and any other business you deem worthy. Dictate to car companies, fire executives; ignore the tax cheats in your cabinet, and on and on. He is a Federalist in the extreme.

He seeks to make the States irrelevant. He is an Adams without a care for the Constitution that thousands of men and women died for.

We may have to do it again. We, the People for there is no Thomas Jefferson now as far as I can see. That’s why these Tea Parties came to be and if that’s what it takes ……

Parallel lines meet at infinity I was taught. Perhaps opposing political ideologies meet at eternity. Adams and Jefferson got an even start because they both died on the same day, July 4th 1826.

I’d like to think they’re both still arguing about it. Perhaps they’re betting who will win.

I hope it’s us!!


Friday, April 17, 2009

The Land of Lincoln?


Quite a while ago I decided that I really didn’t like traveling at all. I like my own house with my own stuff in it but there’s more to life than some kind of personal “feng shui”. So, I refined my beliefs and now I feel that travel is OK when I get there.

The problem is the “getting there”. And you all know the drill. First you have to get to the airport about 2 hours before the scheduled flight time. Then you wait in line and you check yourself in. If you’re lucky, a surly employee gives you a dirty look as they lurch over to drag your bag onto the conveyor. Before that though, you’ll be billed for all the bags and you’ll get a double whammy if one of ‘em is even a pound overweight.

Next comes the TSA and their ritualized indignities. But, assuming some overly chunky official doesn’t insist on patting you down as he/she/it confiscates a pack of moistened nasal wipes, you’re now on your way. Well, you will be when you’ve struggled recalcitrant feet back into your shoes!

Now, don’t forget to buy a bottle of water and an overpriced sandwich because whatever it is and no matter the price, it’ll still be better than anything offered on the airplane; assuming anything is!

OK, I’m now at the departure gate but a screen now tells me that the incoming flight is delayed and the scheduled departure is as yet undetermined. Never mind, I’ve got a new novel except that after the first page, I know I’ve read it before. So now, all that’s left is the TV screen in the departure lounge but there’s no remote and I’m stuck with CNN. According to the last Nielsen ratings, CNN is less watched than is CNBC. And I know why.

During the Tea Parties a couple of days ago, a CNN crew was dispatched to such an event in Chicago. Some clueless bimbo from that outlet approached an attendee and asked him why he was there. He said, “He was proud to live in the ‘Land of Lincoln’ and he, Lincoln, believed that one should keep as much as possible of the fruits of their labor”.

At which point, the “bimbo” came unglued. “Don’t you realize?” she screeched, “your state is going to get 50 Billion dollars from President Obama?” He stared long and hard at her and you knew what he was really thinking. But he satisfied himself with this, “It was my money to start with, I worked for it and I’ll wind up paying the interest on it. How many times do I have to earn it?”

She gasped like an asthmatic fish out of water and slunk off, perhaps to seek a more malleable interviewee. But, perhaps not. Maybe she should seek a new career.

Or, if she wanted to be really brave, she could investigate the “Government Domestic Spying” scandal. Remember that? During the Bush Administration, the drive-by media and the Left at large was all over the domestic surveillance program. It was an intolerable invasion of privacy, or should that be piracy, and unconstitutional. Obama and his party vowed to end it. Guess what, he hasn’t. In fact this crowd has extended it and has also endorsed measures to indemnify telecommunications carriers from any possible litigation.

Or, she could investigate the latest attempt by Obama to grant amnesty to illegal aliens by reclassifying them all as “political refugees”. Please note that the Left harps on the idea of “law-abiding illegal aliens".

Surely an oxymoron, because, by definition, they’ve already broken the law?


Or the "bimbo" could seek a new career with the TSA and ask fatuous questions?

That, we know she can do!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

George III didn't listen either!

Now I know why I write this Blog. I started because I detest with every fiber in my body the political beliefs and the aims that Obama holds so dear. When I began a few months ago, I would write stuff, perhaps in the middle of the night, and then in the morning I would review it and trash most. Left though were some crystallized truths which now form the essence of the Blog because they are the essence of me.

That’s how it started but yesterday at the Tea Party at the Arizona Capitol and seeing the more than 5000 people, according to the State Capitol Police, made me realize that individual people can make a difference.

For the non-American readers perhaps I should explain that April 15th is the date each year when the previous year’s tax obligation must be paid. But most will have heard of the “Boston Tea Party” hence the name of the event.

I am the first to admit that Obama wasn’t the first one to spend money like a drunken sailor. President George W. did it as well and I got on his case too. Of course, his tab was about 1 trillion whereas Obama’s will be ten times that. Not that he’ll pick it up, nor will I because I’ll be long gone. But, Oh, what a burden for generations to come. And, as President Reagan put it, “at least drunken sailors are spending their own money.”

I’d like to think it was coincidence but somehow I suspect that the timing of the issuance of the 9-page document from Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was deliberate. For those who are not aware of this abomination, let me give you the low-lights.

It was sent to law enforcement agencies across the country and directed them to be ready for action by “Right Wing Extremists”. So far so good for some perhaps but you should be aware of just how these extremists are defined. Here are a few:-

Returning military veterans.

People opposed to illegal immigration and amnesty.

People opposed to abortion.

People who believe in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution which defines that, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Or, putting it succinctly, if you are opposed to Obama, you are Right Wing.

If you want to read the document in full probably the best source would be last Tuesday’s issue of the “Washington Times”.

Now, while it ostensibly came from DHS and Janet Napolitano, make no mistake, this has Obama’s fingerprints all over it. He has already stated that he feels that the Founding Fathers got it wrong. He wants an omnipotent federal government and he will brook no interference with that goal. He was heavily influenced by the teachings of Saul Alinsky who was a critic of mainstream libealism which he considered passive and ineffective. In “Rules for Radicals”, he argued that “the most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired ends ……..”

So, these “right-wing extremists” are being branded as being more dangerous than terrorists and their dissent must be stamped out by the kind of Chicago-style thug politics which begat Obama.

Seemingly, it’s OK by the Left when MoveOn.org orchestrates rallies to promote their agenda and it’s just fine for George Soros to spend millions to finance them. But, grass-roots movements like the Tea Parties must be destroyed by whatever means available.

Real people frighten the Left it seems and they should!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A Great Business Model! According to Bernie Madoff and the Somali pirates!


I’m busy today recruiting people to attend tomorrow’s Tea Party at the Arizona Capital but I felt I had to take a little time out to write this short post.

Just about a month ago, a man in Oakland who just happened to be a wanted parole violator killed 4 policemen in one day. He was later shot to death by the Oakland Police Department. The very next day, there was a demonstration in Oakland protesting the brutality of the police.

Fast forward to now and we hear that 3 Black Muslim teenagers were shot to death a little while ago by the American military. So where is the outrage now? Where are the marches? Where are the marchers?

Some of my readers will have figured it out by now but, just in case; the 3 Black Muslim teenagers were Somali pirates. According to their spokesman, the Associated Press, the pirates don’t kill people but just take ships and people hostage until the ransom is paid. A great business model?

But just imagine the protest in Oakland if Bush had been the one who had given the order to shoot 3 Black Muslims dead?

Monday, April 13, 2009

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A pirates life for me ...


I know that my critics were expecting that I would be silent the day after the rescue.

Wrong!!

I just counted how many Presidents I’ve seen in my lifetime. Well Obama is number 13. Good job I’m not superstitious!

Probably all but one would have done what Obama did, which was to allow professionals to practice their profession. I applaud them!

Oh, the exception, Jimmy Carter!

Fortunately though, I can attack the other head, namely, the media.

Today, the Associated Press (AP) published an opinion that the rescue of Captain Phillips could well make the piracy problem in the Indian Ocean worse. According to them, we’ve made the pirates mad. Just like going after Muslim extremists simply creates more terrorists. So now, our action to protect American assets and American citizens will simply attract more recruits to the pirate cause.

Allied to that was an opinion in today’s Boston Globe that we killed 3 pirates/terrorists/Muslims in order to save 1 American life. They even went as far as to say that was disproportionate.

However, I can’t quit quite yet without pointing out another Obama “Bushism”. Today he said that “the world must resolve to halt privacy”.

That damned teleprompter …….. ?


Or a Freudian slip?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Bow - Wow!

I didn’t attend West Point or Sandhurst but I’ve read the books and I’ve watched the History Channel. Anyway, it seems that the conventional military wisdom is to avoid 2 wars on 2 fronts at the same time especially when you can’t sustain both or, sometimes either one.

Well, it seems I’ve found two enemies or perhaps they're two heads of the same beast. No prizes for guessing who one of ‘em is but the other is the media allied with the White House spin machine.

Earlier today I just could not sleep and so I started watching an HBO movie about John Adams. After Cornwallis had conceded defeat at Yorktown and after these small colonies were free, John Adams was dispatched to England as its first Ambassador at the “Court of St. James”. Now, don’t ask me why it’s called that because I don’t know. Anyway he was expected to present his credentials to the soon-to-be-insane monarch, George III but before he did so he was “schooled” in the proper etiquette which included a lot of bowing. Frankly, I have a hard time seeing any American doing that as I remember my Oath of Allegiance when I became a citizen. I swore that “I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince ……….” And so if “abjuring and renouncing” is good enough for a naturalized citizen, it ought to be good enough for one who is native-born

But there was Obama bowing and scraping to the Saudi king and then we had the futility of the White House response claiming that he was merely bending down because the king was so short. Well, the British queen is only 5 feet 4 inches herself and I don’t recall any “bending” when they met. Of course, she’s not Muslim and the Brits don’t have all that lovely oil.

But, let’s move on. Can you imagine what the various media outlets would have done to President George W., if he hadn’t known that the principal language spoken in Austria was German with a couple of minority tongues as well but no Austrian?

Then Obama moved on to Iraq and was seen being warmly welcomed by those adoring troops. Well, claimed the media that just shows how popular he is with the military. Not quite that simple though because what they don’t tell you is that 1500 were invited but only 600 showed up and they were asked if they had voted for Obama. If they said yes, they were placed up close and personal but if not, they were presumably consigned to the bleachers.

Finally on Iraq, after his “triumphant” return home, Obama visited Walter Reed Hospital and congratulated the veterans there for bringing “a gift to Iraq; a chance for democracy”. Contrast that with his statement before the election of “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time,” and who can forget John Murtha’s accusation that American marines were “murderers and rapists" who were kicking in doors in the middle of the night and abusing terrified women and children. Again the press conveniently forgot to mention that no such action has ever been proven true.

So now it’s the turn of the Somali pirates to grab the limelight and first there was Hillary’s assertion that these were criminal acts. Not exactly; these are terrorist acts! Even England, which has long eschewed capital punishment, still retains the death penalty for Treason and Piracy. Then "the mouth that roared" topped it off by cackling about it on her trip to Morocco. Yes, of course, I see it now. An American being threatened with murder is indeed “Hillarious”.

Obama meanwhile didn’t want to discuss the subject at all because housing was on his mind. Or maybe it’s because his security blanket, the teleprompter, wasn’t loaded with the appropriate text.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I need a Liberal! Sometimes ......


Strange words from me huh? And here’s why.

And we’re back to money.

Sometimes, just a few words can have an amazing effect and those same words can resonate for centuries. “Et tu Brute” springs to mind, just as does “We hold these truths to be self evident”, just as does “This was their finest hour,” just as does, ”A day which will live in infamy,” just as does, “Ich bin ein Berliner” just as does, “I have a dream today” just as does, “I am not a crook”, just as does, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” just as does, “I did not have sex with that woman”, ………….

But you get my point; some of those snippets can confirm a leader’s place in history but, the same sentiment using different words or with different emphases chosen wrongly or reported wrongly can condemn them to defeat and eventually to quasi-ridicule.

It’s probably not too different today. In the case of George Bush, (the Elder) , the 41st occupant of the Oval Office, he was denied four more years perhaps because of his own few words, “Read my lips; no new taxes”.

A few words also dominated the run-up to the last election and Obama and the liberals used them to maximum effect. For example, John McCain uttered the, now infamous words, “The US Economy is basically sound”.

Well, I’m not claiming for a moment that it cost McCain the election but Obama and the Dems pounded on it for months. And so did the drive-by media. Fast forward until two weeks ago and Obama said the same thing. Media reaction; nothing.

Liberals, I’m sure thought they were getting off easy. Wrong!!

One of the greatest canards of the last election cycle was this other little snippet,


“Tax breaks for the rich."

This is the big lie come alive.

Under the Bush tax cuts, 25 million Americans at the bottom half of the income scale have been wiped off the federal income tax rolls. And the “rich”? The federal tax burdens of the top 1% has gone from 19% under Jimmy Carter (in 1980) to 39.4% . Meanwhile, the bottom 50% paid 3.1% of taxes in 2005. In 1995, under Clinton, their share was 4.6%.

Where’s a liberal when you really need one?






Monday, April 6, 2009

..in order to form a more perfect Union .....

These words appear in the first sentence of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. Obama, just like all his predecessors, swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the said Constitution but it could well be that he has never even read it and, if he has, he does not seem inclined to make good on his solemn promise.

In the last seventy odd days we have seen ominous warning signs that this is indeed the case including specific decisions about confiscatory taxation of AIG bonuses and retroactive legislation to authorize it. Both are clearly prohibited by the Constitution he is committed to preserve. Now while these measures have no chance of passing the scrutiny of the judicial system, the very fact that Obama and his cronies on the Hill seriously contemplated them shows their contempt for the Constitution.


Now though, he has gone even further and it would have been bad enough if he’d done it here but instead he chose to go abroad in order to trash his country. On his recent trip to Europe he had the unmitigated gall to say that he wanted to see an America closer to the model of the European Union. This left me almost breathless with anger as well as disappointment.

Does this man not understand that we are a nation of united states already? And we have a common currency and we send representatives to Washington to govern those aspects of society that are not reserved to the states by Constitutional fiat. And there is free mobility of labor and interstate trade uncluttered by legislative barriers. And on and on ………..

Instead he wants to emulate a system that has never elected a black man to be prime minister in any of its member countries, has widespread and undisguised anti-Semitism and has seen race riots in the last couple of years that we here in the “primitive” United States have long put behind us. Then add the stagnation of their economies including staggering unemployment rates and you perhaps can begin to understand my outrage. I could go on and on as I know what I’m talking about as I used to live there but there is one other that I feel bound to mention especially now; just before Passover.

Do you remember the racial cleansings in the Balkans? This was an entirely European affair and yet this “compassionate” Union simply wrung its hands in impotent desperation and refused to do anything substantive without the lead of the United States. American aircraft and crews flew more than 80% of the missions in the entire conflict and there are still thousands of American boots on the ground in that theater. Without our intervention, the Europeans would have simply stood by and watched another potential Holocaust.

But Obama wants us to be more like them and goes abroad in order to announce it!

There was one patch of blue sky, though, about his trip abroad; the market went up. Now he’s coming home soon and, in anticipation, the market has tanked again as I write.

Draw from this whatever you will.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Harry the Communist!

I’m not that smart nor am I nearly that succinct and so I didn’t come up with this. But, boy, I wish I had.

The difference between a religion and a cult is that a religion is hard to join but easy to leave whereas a cult is easy to join and hard to leave.

I received an email from, by her own admission, a dyed-in-the wool Obama supporter. She asked me to remove her name from the mailing list I use to tell you when I’ve posted more on this Blog. Of course, I’d like to think that you’d check it anyway but my sense of reality is bigger than my ego. Really it is! Ex-wives need not comment

Anyway this is what she said, “I am an Obama supporter all the way. I think this country should get behind him and quit working so hard against him and all he's trying to repair.”

So now we can add a little more detail to the differentiation between religions and cults for it seems that the adherents don’t even want to contemplate a different point of view. Nobody forced her to open my email. Nobody forced her to browse to this Blog. But, seemingly, the simple fact that someone was challenging this man was too much, whatever I said ………. And, she was invited, as all readers were and still are, to disagree and post dissenting views. But, not good enough for the cult devotees.

Here was my reply;

“I have removed you from my mailing list.

Sorry though, I shall continue to do what I can to defeat this man's socialist plans for this country. In fact, as Hillary reminded us in her classic screech (No, I spelled it right) it's our duty to provide opposition. That's the way democracy is supposed to work.”


Then I sat back and thought for a while and it slowly dawned on me. As I said I’m not that bright sometimes but I get there in the end. Oliver Cromwell knew it. Napoleon Bonaparte knew it. Adolf Hitler knew it. Kim Jong Il knows it. And so does Barach Obama. Personality cults do have one thing in common. The leader is the center not just of the world but of the Universe. Copernicus must be spinning in his grave and so must my father, Harry the Communist.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Life according to Obama!

So, a couple of days ago it became official. A budget bill has been passed by both the House and Senate with great fanfare but there are implications that have generated little or no comment. And it’s about time somebody did. Just the kind of challenge I relish.

Never mind the fact that $3.6 trillion is a mind-boggling figure but this is only one small piece of the puzzle. Here are some highlights you may have missed.

Healthcare
According to the typically pro-Obama New York Times; “Mr. Obama asked Congress to set aside $634 billion in a ‘reserve fund for healthcare reform.’ He provided no new information about how to cover the uninsured, saying he would work out the details with Congress later this year.”

The Times also stated that Obama “would also increase premiums charged to Medicare beneficiaries …” No your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Obama is asking for a huge chunk of cash while offering no clue as to what he’ll do with it and at the same time he proposes to increase the costs to the most vulnerable.

Taxes
MoveOn.org financed by George Soros, while promoting the $3.6 trillion budget repeats the Obama mantra that it: “reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won’t go up one dime.”

Two truths need to be pointed out. First of all your “tax cut” amounts to $13 per week and it goes away completely after 1 year anyway. The other truth is even more insidious because the budget calls for a number of hidden taxes.

One of these is a cap-and-trade energy tax which according to the Wall Street Journal “would cost the average household in the bottom-income quintile about 3.3% of its after-tax income every year. That’s about $680, not including the costs of reduced employment and output. The three middle quintiles would se their paychecks cut between $880 and $1500, or some 2.8% of income.”

The Journal; also concludes: “Cap and trade, in other words is a scheme to redistribute income and wealth but in a very curious way. It takes from the working class and gives to the affluent; takes from Miami, Ohio and gives to Miami, Florida; and takes from an industrial America that is already struggling and gives to rich Silicon Valley and Wall Street ‘green tech’ investors who know how to leverage the political class.”

Jobs
MoveOn.org claims the budget “Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.”

However, the folks at FreedomWorks have this to say; “The numbers being used here, like the numbers used in the stimulus debate, are deceptive in that they hide the less rosy bigger picture. It is a classic case of ‘what is seen and what is not seen’ as described so clearly by economists Frederic Bastiat and Henry Hazlitt. What is seen are the jobs that will certainly result from the government spending $100 billion. What is not seen are all the jobs that are lost because the government has to take those $100 billion out of one part of the economy to spend it somewhere else.”

You’re starting to get the picture. This $3.6 trillion budget has nothing to do with stimulating the economy or making life better for the average Joe; unless, of course, you believe that the redistribution of YOUR income and government intrusion into YOUR life are good things.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The War Next Door. I Wish!

One thing we’ve learned so far is that Obama is calling the shots on just about everything even when he doesn’t know much if anything about the matter in hand.

Border security is one such topic and he ought to be able leave that to the current Secretary of Homeland Security, or should he? Maybe he daren’t. If anyone ought to know better it is that lady but a couple of days ago she issued a directive that one of the agencies under her control, namely Immigration, should cease its efforts to enter suspected businesses in an effort to apprehend and subsequently deport illegal aliens. Why should she know better? Because the said Secretary is Janet Napolitano, the ex-Governor of the Great State of Arizona. Instead, she has decreed that she’ll go after those employers who hire these people and that would be a laudable goal too except for one thing. When she was the Governor she did everything she could to avoid either measure.

Even Obama the Oblivious cannot ignore the obvious however much as he’d like to because there is a war going on south of the border and it isn’t just restricted to Nogales and Tijuana. It’s right here in the Valley of the Sun. The drug gangs are here, the people-smuggling is here, kidnapping for ransom is here and all of it is directly linked to the fact of illegal immigration.

Fortunately, we have Sheriff Joe Arpaio here in Maricopa County who is determined to enforce the law and always resisted Napolitano’s efforts to restrict his effort and has already said he will continue so to do.

For the first time ever my Glock 23 is loaded and it would be readily to hand if I needed it but for obvious reasons I’m not going to say where. I do hope that I’ll never need it but it does seem that I and this Blog are rocking some boats. No specific threats yet but that may only be a matter of time.

On the one hand, it’s preferable to Alzheimer’s but, on the other, blood is a bitch to get out of the carpet not that it would be my problem.

Of late, Obama has been forced to dispatch military reinforcements to our southern border but their orders are such that their actions will be constrained to the point that the drug cartels will simply laugh. And, as we said the problem is not just on the border or south of it. It’s here but the Obama administration seemingly refuses to address it. Oh, and by the way, it’s all our fault according to Hillary Clinton. Why am I not surprised?