Petering Out ............

Anyone who has worked in commerce or industry anywhere in the World knows all about the “Peter Principle” although readers outside these United States may know it by some other label. And so, in order that we all sing from the same song sheet, let me state my definition.

This is that when a competent person is promoted up through the ranks, he or she will eventually find themselves at a level where they are no longer competent. In truth, they become incompetent, sometimes to the point of being downright dangerous. A corollary of this theory is that being found to be incompetent does not necessarily rule out further promotion as it’s often easier to get rid of incompetence by promoting it out of the way which simply foists the problem off on someone else.

This latter strategy seems to be prevalent in the Military, Government or the Civil Service or when political correctness might prevail for legal reasons in cases of Affirmative Action.

For those from Lake Havasu and from across the Atlantic, this outrageous policy was established to give a helping hand to minorities who, it was argued, had been held back by discriminatory practices in terms of education and/or employment. In the beginning there was almost certainly some justification but I contend it has long since “passed its ‘Sell By’ date”.

Whether it has or whether it hasn’t isn’t really at issue here but the fact remains that the practice continues to this day either by statute or because of cowardice on the part of those who allow it.

We need look no further than Obama himself. He got his start in Education and then in Academia partly, at least, because of Affirmative Action. This was followed by a stint as a “Community Organizer” but, more accurately as a strident activist and rabble rouser. Even after that he never held a real job in his life but instead he wound up in the Illinois Senate where his major claim to fame was voting “Present” more than anyone before or since. See, that way, you don’t have to think, you don’t leave a clue behind of that which you do hold dear but, most importantly, you leave no “audit trail” that can be used against you on your next campaign.

And that next campaign led him to the United States Senate where he served about 150 days or less. Then, the Peter Principle kicked in again and he was elected to the Oval Office. H.L. Mencken put it best when he opined that “Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the stupidity of the American people” and add a lousy choice of candidate from the GOP side and the outcome was foregone. But the problem for Obama, as his popularity tanks, is that he can’t be promoted out of the firing line. Well not until the title of Supreme Inter-Galactic Commander comes into being.

So what to do instead is obvious. First blame someone else which he did again last Wednesday evening and the other tactic in the best traditions of the Chicago “Junk Yard Dog” is to attack.

As a jurist, he should never have launched on that scurrilous attack on the highest Court in this Land. The tradition is that the nine Supremes are present at every one of these speeches and the traditions are also that they don’t comment on the policies presented and, by the same token, the President does not take them out to the wood shed.

So, we are forced to the conclusion that Obama is not a sound jurist and neither is his Attorney General, Eric Holder. Consider this drive by the White House to move the trial of the 911 terrorists to New York City. Whether that will happen or whether it won’t remains to be seen but what is clear is that the grounds for mistrial or summary dismissal are so obvious and so blatant. When Obama and Holder, both jurists remember, guaranteed a fair trial and eventual conviction, appeal lawyers began beating their plowshares into swords.

Then today, Obama’s mouthpiece, Bobby Gibbs went even further on one of the Sunday shows by promising a death penalty verdict.

Remember Mr. Obama, the “Buck Stops with You” as you said but there’s one difference between President Truman and you.

He meant it.

Chris Matthews forgot Obama was Black last Night.

Obama still doesn’t get it.

And he should, because the one thing Obama spent some time doing was to study law. And American law has two foundations largely equal but separate. One is the English Common Law which harks back to Magna Carta and beyond.

But the other is the United States Constitution.

I don’t know when they teach this stuff in school anymore but I learned it when I was about 14 and I was at an English school. And that’s when I began to suspect that my destiny lay here. In fact, as some witnesses could attest, within 2 days of my arrival in this land, the greatest country on this planet, I knew I had been born in the wrong place.

The key that Obama does not, will not, recognize is that, when all else fails, the American Constitution prevails. To him, it’s not a document and an ethos to be revered. To him, it’s a series of constraints on his power and he’s right because that’s how it was designed. He and his cabinet and his czars and his liberals, both in and out of Congress, hate that.

Obama would love to scrap the entire fabric starting with the Supreme Court. And he tried to start it last night on Capitol Hill when he attacked that very body.

Does Obama not know that he is the head of just one of three branches of Government? Frankly, no he doesn’t. When he was accorded the title of “Commander in Chief”, he took it literally and assumed that he was now the “King” or the “Messiah”.

But, he’s not.

Greater than he, Greater than us all, is the might and the right of the Constitution and long may that continue.

So, when Obama started on his tirade last night against the Supreme Court’s ruling of last week I was appalled and so should anyone who believes in our system of Government.

Perhaps, the dirty little secret that Obama chooses to ignore is that Jefferson and Madison et al were not nearly as stupid as he seems to believe.

There is a mechanism to remove a Justice of the Supreme Court of these United States from their bench even though, typically, it’s a lifelong appointment. And for good reason, which is that they are seated in order to rule according to the Constitution and not according to the whim or prejudice of the head of another of the 3 branches. Just ask Samuel Chase. He was impeached.

There is a way to remove a member of the House and Senate and their constituents will take care of that.

It is most unseemly for a President to go into Chicago-style attack mode especially at a State of the Union message.

And while Obama may not have thought this through, the Court are unlikely to respond directly to his outrageous attack but they will remember the next time there is a matter before them that Obama holds dear. I suppose it’s called winning the battle and losing the war.

But, let’s face it that’s all Obama knows. He’s from Chicago which was home to Leroy Brown.

Meaner than a “Junk Yard Dog”.

And there’s a couple of ways to remove a president.

The State of Obama .......

On 9/11, President Bush was given the news about the attack while sitting in a grade school classroom and he was derided for the way he tried to protect the students from any anxiety. Consider how much more virulent would have been the derision if he’d been using a teleprompter. And imagine how loud the cries would have been from the media and liberals about his IQ or the lack of it.

So, where was this same outrage when Obama went to talk to a class of sixth graders last week? Because he did not go alone. Nope! He took along one large podium, complete with Presidential Seal, and two teleprompters. To talk to sixth graders?

One can only assume either that the teleprompter is like Linus’ blankie or he’s scared of sixth graders or he’s practicing for his first State of the Union appearance. If he needs 2 of ‘em for a classroom in Virginia, how many will he need for a joint session of Congress?

What device does he use to talk to his family?

But now we’re into tomorrow’s speech we know 3 things about the content.

One; Obama will blame Bush.
Two: Obama will pretend to have received the message.
Three: Obama will announce he’s going to freeze discretionary spending.

OK Obama, try the Copenhagen Climate Summit for a start. And much of that which follows stems from a CBS study, hardly a friend of the political Right in this country.

“Cameras spotted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the summit. She called the shots on who got to go. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and embattled Chairman of the Tax Committee Charles Rangel were also there. They were joined by 18 colleagues: Democrats: Waxman, Miller, Markey, Gordon, Levin, Blumenauer, DeGette, Inslee, Ryan, Butterfield, Cleaver, Giffords, and Republicans: Barton, Upton, Moore Capito, Sullivan, Blackburn and Sensenbrenner. That's not the half of it. But finding out more was a bit like trying to get the keys to Ft. Knox.

Many referred us to Speaker Pelosi who wouldn't agree to an interview. Her office said it "will comply with disclosure requirements" but wouldn't give us cost estimates or even tell us where they all stayed. Senator Inhofe (R-OK) is one of the few who provided us any detail. He attended the summit on his own for just a few hours, to give an "opposing view." "They're going because it's the biggest party of the year," Sen. Inhofe said. "The worst thing that happened there is they ran out of caviar.

Our investigation found that the congressional delegation was so large, it needed three military jets: two 737's and a Gulfstream Five -- up to 64 passengers -- traveling in luxurious comfort. Along with those who flew commercial, we counted at least 101 Congress-related attendees. And all for a summit that failed to deliver a global climate deal.

As a perk, some took spouses, since they could snag an open seat on a military jet or share a room at no extra cost to taxpayers. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was there with her husband. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) was also there with her husband. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) took his wife, as did Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Congressman Barton -- a climate change skeptic -- even brought along his daughter. Until required filings are made in the coming weeks, we can only figure bits and pieces of the cost to you.

· Three military jets at $9,900 per hour - $168,000 just in flight time.
· Dozens flew commercial at up to $5,000 each

Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, wasn't against a U.S. presence. But he said, "Every penny counts. Congress should be shaking the couch cushions looking for change, rather than spending cash for everybody to go to Copenhagen." Nobody we asked would defend the super-sized Congressional presence on camera. One Democrat said it showed the world that the U.S. is serious about climate change while others including Tim Ryan (D-OH) defended the expenditure in part by saying they hadn’t seen the tab.

Now let’s talk about lodging.

Apparently, the hotel of choice in Copenhagen was the 5-star Marriott and, because it’s not stupid, the hotel demanded a 6 night minimum. More than 95% of the American attendees only stayed for 2 but still you and I were stuck with the tab. And did I mention that a whole bunch of spouses went as well?

And did I mention that part of the American contingent included a “Protocol Consultant” whatever that is? And another bunch of official attendees were American medical doctors. Is not European Socialized healthcare good enough?

And the irony of it all was that the conference started within 2 weeks of the disclosure that the global warming premise is a hoax. Perhaps that’s why the attendees didn’t feel bad about producing enough climate-stunting carbon dioxide to fill 10,000 Olympic swimming pools.

And did I mention that this parade of waste was just the Congressional boondoggle? The cost of Obama's entourage is over and above all of this.

You might want to bear all this in mind when you file your taxes on April 15 or ask your resident Obama fan.

That'll make you feel better!

Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa ..........

I post this article without comment because none is necessary except to announce that the authoress is Jill Dorson and her medium is a site called “Real Clear Politics”.

I know it sounds a bit like the first step in a famous 12 step-program and perhaps it is.


"I am a registered Independent. I voted for Barack Obama. And for that, I am sorry.

I'm not sorry for you. I'm sorry for me. Because I voted for Obama for me, not for you. I voted for hope and change and all the intangibles that Obama was peddling in the wake of the financial crisis, Sarah Palin, Sept. 11 and all the other ills that shook our country in the last decade.

I wanted something new. Something different. What I got was, I suppose, exactly what I voted for - a spin doctor. And not a very good one at that.

Before John McCain unwittingly picked a tabloid-magazine cover girl for his running mate, I was leaning toward going Republican this time around. I did the second time Bush was on the ballot and I very nearly did the first time, too. But as soon as Palin climbed out of her igloo and onto the national scene, well, there was no turning back for me.

You see, I felt my choice was to risk McCain dropping dead and letting the world's most well-known hockey mom run this country, or to believe that Obama would surround himself with educated people and that he was smart enough to take their advice.

I was right. He is smart enough to seek counsel. I'm just outraged at the counsel he's seeking these days. Key financial leaders who are tax cheats come immediately to mind, but as the recent terror attack made clear to me, the idea that a president of the most powerful nation in the world could think it was OK to have a Homeland Security chief with such a loose grasp of what terrorism is and how it works is troubling.

I was right there laughing when George W. Bush struggled with the names of countries around the world early in his tenure. And while my knowledge of foreign policy is limited, I thought Bush's was lousy, too. But after Sept. 11, I saw a man with no charisma step up and fight for this country, its citizens and its freedom. Bush became a leader.

Seven years later, I am ashamed to say that I was blinded by charisma. Obama was so convincing that I stopped caring about what he knew and started getting caught up in the euphoria. Imagine having a president who came from a broken home, who had money troubles, who did grass-roots community service? A young father. The first black president. It pains me to admit I got caught up in the hoopla.

But McCain made it easy. He's a smart man, I don't doubt that. But between picking Palin, suggesting that the first debates be delayed and, well, picking Palin, he made it easy for Obama to win. As Election Day drew near, all Obama had to do was keep his mouth shut to win.

All that changed when the Obama campaign became the Obama administration. I was a small business owner during 2008 election and my business ultimately failed under the weight of a horrendous economy. I am not ashamed. I worked hard. But I believed that Obama would try to level the playing field between big business and small, between thieves and honest business people, between greed and moderation. Instead, he bailed out the most wicked and left the rest of us fail.

I watched with horror as Obama followed Bush's lead in bailing out banks, auto makers, insurance companies, all of those companies deemed "too big to fail." What does that mean? My small company got thrown under the bus and my savings were ravaged - perhaps Wall Street is using them for bonuses this year.
Not to mention President Obama is recklessly spending our country's future into oblivion.

It was clear after just 90 days what a mistake I'd made. My taxes have gone up and my quality of life has gone down. Hope has given way to disgust and I see now that change is simply a euphemism for "big government."

Like many others, my view is narrow. I vote for the candidate I think will be best for me. I often define myself as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. But above all, I want to feel safe and I don't want to feel that I am being ripped off.

I want a president who inspires me and cares about my contribution to the fabric of the country. I want a president with experience and savvy, a Commander in Chief who puts our country and its citizens first.

I only hope the Republicans can find him the next time around."


And so do I.

How about you?

The Karate Kid

It’s been a bad week for liberals and I suspect that the weeks and months ahead are unlikely to be little better.

When I spoke to an avid Obama supporter last Tuesday evening and it had become clear that the Democrat had lost the election in Massachusetts, the person was almost in tears. Not for the hapless Ms. Coakley nor for the loss of “Teddy’s seat” but for Obama who, it was claimed, had worked so hard on the healthcare issue and that it now may all come to naught.

The person seemed unaware that, in fact, Obama had done very little work on the issue and had left it to the legislators in the House and in the Senate. The fact remains that there is no “Obama Healthcare Bill” or if there is I’ve seen no mention of it and I challenge anyone to produce it. Obama just wants to sign something, anything that he can claim as his signature issue. Then maybe, we'll get a "State of the Union" appearance.

Furthermore, despite claims from the left that “so many people demand such a bill", the polls are clear. No more than 35% of the people in this country want anything to do with either monstrosity and the potential combination of the House and Senate measures augurs to be even worse. You know the old definition being that a camel is a “horse designed by a committee” and you get my drift.

It seems to me that Government Healthcare is not about Healthcare at all but is all about Government.

And the election of Scott Brown reminded a few incumbents of their own upcoming contests and, to paraphrase William Wordsworth, recalled for them certain “Intimations of Mortality”. So it was not surprising that within a day or two both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi conceded that for now, at least, the matter was, if not dead, decidedly moribund.

For me that was a mixed blessing because, while I wanted to see the abomination killed, I see it as an excellent weapon to use against the liberals in general and Obama in particular. It was for this reason that I silently applauded the demands of the Service Employees union who insisted that the effort go forward. Let’s face it, that group gave more than $60 million to the Obama campaign and they are the ones most likely to benefit by expanded governmental control over healthcare. And they’d already succeeded in getting their own “Cadillac benefit” exempted from the 40%tax due to be levied on such plans.

I’m no “Jackie Chan” but I do understand that a key component of some martial arts is the ability to use the opponent’s own weight against him and I was looking forward to the opportunity to do just that to Obama. Never mind, I have the feeling that if we just let Obama be Obama he’ll present us with more issues in the future because he just can’t help it.

So what else befell the liberals this week? Well Air America is finished and will file for Chapter 7 protection next week. And you can always rely on the loony left when all else fails.

For a start, that “brilliant” scientist, Danny Glover announced that the earthquake in Haiti was all President W’s fault because nothing had been done about “Global Warming”. And, not be outdone, Hugo Chavez contradicted this fatuous claim with his own that the disaster had been triggered by a secret American weapon as a rehearsal for an attack on Iran.

You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried even with the assistance of certain “recreational chemicals”.

As Mr. Rogers used to say, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood”.

The Storm Before the Calm!

I have been accused by liberals of making things up.

Moi?

So I thought today I’d start with some numbers you can check for yourself if you care to take the time to do the research and the very simple math. If, on the other hand, you don’t want to do either, well, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Obama “immaculation” and so I took a look at how the Great One stacks up against his recent peers. On average he has enjoyed a 57% job approval rating. Of course, it’s way lower than that today but at the start it was much higher and so that’s the average over the 12 month period.

Wanna’ take a guess how that compares with the last 10 presidents? Well, he places next to last and the one worse than he was not, as the liberals would expect, President George W. Bush. Nope, it was Bill Clinton at 49%.

In light of this It’s important that, before the outcome of the Coakley-Brown contest is known, we take stock of how things are going for the Democrats since they took control of the Federal Government. Regardless of the winner of Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, Americans are beginning to understand what they actually have to show for a year’s worth of life under a Government completely controlled by the Democrat party.

In short they’re not impressed.

Democrats have made a living out of vowing to hold everyone else accountable for our troubles; from Wall Street ‘fat cats’, to black-hearted and greedy insurance companies, to automakers in bed with money-grubbing big oil tycoons, to Wal Mart, to Al Qaeda… and even George Bush (who has been out of office for an entire year). Democrats have long-enjoyed that liberating feeling of pointing the finger at everyone around them for all that has gone wrong in this country…even since Barack Obama came to power.

In fact, the only folks you don’t hear the Democrats actually holding accountable for any of the evils in America are Democrats themselves. Apparently, the party that insisted they were the answer to our problem has, in point of fact, actually become the problem. That Kennedy’s seat is even in play in Massachusetts in the dawn of our Liberal enlightenment speaks volumes about the state the Democrats find themselves in.

Unemployment is up, troop deployments for two unpopular wars are up, the budget deficit is up, retail prices are up, fuel prices are up, the national debt is up, trade deficits are up, foreclosures are up…everything bad is up in America even while everything good continues to go down. Not what the Democrats had in mind, I’m sure, when they begged us to give them a majority in the hallowed halls of Congress so they could do the “People’s work”.

News that the bottom has fallen out of Coakley’s campaign in Massachusetts or that Brown might actually win this thing outright comes as the Democrats scramble to find a suitable explanation that they hope protects Obama from taking any of the blame for it. This suggests that the Democrats are, as is Obama himself, in a "damned if they do, damned if they don’t" situation one year shy of the midterm elections.

And, if you’re a Republican politician right now, the temptation to tie a Republican victory in Massachusetts to a larger referendum on Obama’s healthcare fiasco has become too great to resist. I suggest here, however, that McConnell (and all the others out there using Coakley as a one-issue whipping-post) couldn’t have it more wrong. A Coakley loss, heck, even a razor thin win, will be a referendum on the liberal agenda and its leadership by the Democrats themselves. Virginia and New Jersey should serve as two cases in point. In suggesting, recently, that “Democratic Policies Hinge on Massachusetts”, Obama has offered us a look into the future…one that ties his own fate to those same policies facing an ever-increasing rejection by a disgruntled and dissatisfied constituency.

The news coverage in Massachusetts is leaving out the laundry list of offenses committed by the Democrats to put themselves where they are today. However much Americans might like or dislike this bill or that bill, most of us (the reasonable among us at least) are turning against the way in which Democrats have chosen to govern. From 2,000 page monstrosities that no one is allowed to read, to invoking super-majority rules to create artificial victories, to parliamentary rules changes designed to block the minority from engaging in reasoned debate and amendment, to single-party closed-door reconciliation negotiations, to shifting bills to a different status, to lower the bar for gaining passage, to quitting while they’re ahead and abandoning any further action at all, choosing instead to go headlong right to the President’s desk for signature,

Democrats have shown they are sincere about winning without regard to the pain and suffering they might inflict on those of us who will be destroyed at the hands of their “governance by desperation” approach to running the country.

This disconnect between what we need and what Democrats and Obama want for themselves is fairly well described in a Noonan op-ed at the WSJ and worth highlighting here:

“You want a competent chief executive with a deep and shrewd sense of the people. Americans want him to be on the same page as they are. But he’s on a different page, and he may in fact be reading a different book.The real story is that his rhetorical and iconic detachment are harped on because they reflect a deeper disconnect, the truly problematic one, and that is over policy. It doesn’t really matter how he sounds. It matters, in a time of crisis, what he does. That’s where the lack of connection comes in.

The people are here, and he is there. The popularity of his health-care plan is very low, at 35% support. Someone on television the other day noted it is as low as George Bush’s popularity ratings in 2008.

Yet—and this is the key part—the president does not seem to see or hear. He does not respond. He is not supple, able to hear reservations and see opposition and change tack. He has a grim determination to bull this thing through. He negotiates each day with Congress, not with the people. But the people hate Congress! Has he not noticed?”

No Ms. Noonan, he has not. Nor have the Democrats on Capitol Hill. Interestingly, again looking to Coakley-Brown, Massachusetts voters have noticed and we’ll hear from them soon enough on how they wish to proceed.

Beyond that, 2010 mid-terms loom, and it’s safe to say American voters are going to hold their Legislators accountable in ever-increasing numbers for where they find themselves now.

And we're only 12 months in to the Hope and Change promised.

Heaven preserve us from another 36 months of the same?

Flu and Fubar

I cannot speak for Ilyushin or Tupolev but I do know a little bit about their Western counterparts; Boeing and Airbus.

The last two go to great lengths to build superb airplanes with redundant systems and with everything an operating airline could want; except for one thing. When an airplane is delivered to the airline that bought it, part of its standard equipment is an air-handling plant that can deliver air throughout the airplane equal to or better than that piped into an operating room at the Mayo Clinic.

Part of this system is a complex of tightly-meshed filters with a matrix so small that even the smallest particulate matter is removed. Did you ever try to blow through, say, the wool of a sweater? Pretty easy, huh? Now try to blow through something much finer like a chamois cloth that you use to dry your car. Both are porous and it can be done but it takes a lot more effort.

In order for the airlines to use the manufacturer’s filter equipment it takes a lot more power too which translates into more fuel and more fuel translates into more cost.

As a result most, if not all carriers, “tweak” the system. Some remove the filters altogether and others bypass them. The more “ethical” airlines replace the standard filters with other more porous ones. No wonder, therefore, that all one gets now is a recirculated broth of “cooties”. It may make some people feel good to know that, while they are not getting first-class service or seats they are, at least getting the same air.

And flight attendants live in that atmosphere every day of their working lives. They must have truly awesome palettes of immunities!

Anyway, having just flown back from Texas about 8 days ago after visiting friends, I was not surprised to come down with something. For a day or so, it was just a low-grade sore throat, them Whammo, it hit me. Full blown ‘flu and that’s why you haven’t heard from me in quite a while.

I hope you’ve missed me and I’ve certainly missed you.

When, I could drag my head of the pillow and croak out a request to my doctor’s office for an appointment later that day, I got one. Try doing that in the British National Health Service. And trying doing that when Obamacare is implemented.

It is incredible to me that this sorry saga still goes on and that the politicians still seem to think they can get away with it without lasting repercussions, Take yesterday, as an example.

The oil was burning late in the White House as Obama plotted with Democrat House and Senate members to reconcile their two bills. Politics has been explained as being the art of the possible but this latest expression of the “art” is nothing short of scandalous and is, I suspect, unconstitutional. It is no secret that Obamacare will cost a lot of money in extra taxes. One of those sources was going to be a tax on so-called “Cadillac” health plans. The problem for Obama is that most of these plans are enjoyed by large labor unions and they were mad.

As a result of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, “right to work” states were recognized. These states, mostly in the South and the West provided a work environment where, say a carpenter or a plumber did not have to join a union. However in the Mid-West and the Northeast they did. So, Obama’s contrived compromise with respect to taxation to fund healthcare is that the benefit package of union members will not be taxed but others will.

Surely, one of the tenets of democracy and liberalism is equality under the law? But now we see a situation where a non-union carpenter in Arizona will be taxed on his health benefit while his equivalent, but a union member will not be.

Actually this madness, which is worthy of Lewis Carroll, demonstrates some interesting things about Obama. For a start, it tells you who is friends are. They are in the Mid-West and the Northeast. They are in the unions. They are in the thug politics of Chicago and Illinois.

But, it also tells you something about the man. He salivates at the thought of standing at the White House signing something, anything about healthcare. Why do you think we don’t have a date yet for the State of the Union message? Because, without some legislation along those lines, he has nothing to talk about.

And it is all about him!


Now it’s time for another dose of TamiFlu!

Michelle, Ma Belle and My Money!!

During last year’s election campaign and even after, Obama promised transparency. Well we got it but not quite in the way the hoi-polloi expected. They thought, because Obama told them, that all pending legislation would be posted on the Internet for all to see for at least 72 hours before any votes were taken.

He also “promised” to have the Obamacare congressional negotiations live on CSPAN. And he didn’t just make that promise once but at least 8 times in 2008 alone. Does Obama think we have no memory or that we cannot search the Web?


Well, I guess he does, because Obama comes from Chicago “thug politics and that’s what he knows.

Brian Lamb, the CEO of CSPAN even wrote a, now well-publicized, letter to the White House but to no avail because the current occupant of that illustrious residence has no more conscience than he does scruples.

So, I thought I’d help out with a little “transparency’ all of my own but, somehow I doubt I’ll be asked to join the White House staff or its press corps.

The first “Lady” receives no official salary as far as I can determine.

In the first year of her husband’s “reign”, she has made a few trips around the World on Air Force One and has shopped in Paris, London and elsewhere. At home she made a brief appearance on the “Food Network” and an briefer one at a Washington DC food bank wearing $500 design sneakers. Well, perhaps that’s what you are supposed wear to go down to the “’hood”. You wear designer “bling” in order to show how far you’ve come,

One thing is for sure, none of the list that follows are doing a good job if their responsibilities include appropriate fashion guidance.

Remember the shorts on the steps of Air Force One?

However, Michelle does retain a personal staff of more than 20 people

The salaries for staffers in the Office of First Lady and the highest paid is Chief of Staff Susan Sher, who gets the top $172,200. Here are the rest::-

140,000
Frye, Jocelyn C.
(DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)


$113,000
Rogers, Desiree G.
(SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)


$102,000J
Johnston, Camille Y.
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Winter, Melissa E.
(SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)


$90,000
Medina David S.
(DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)


$84,000
Lelyveld, Catherine M.
(DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)


$75,000
Starkey, Frances M.
(DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)


$70,000
Sanders, Trooper
(DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)


$65,000
Burnough, Erinn J.
(DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

Reinstein, Joseph B.
(DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)


$62,000
Goodman, Jennifer R.
(DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)


$60,000
Fitts, Alan O.
(DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Lewis, Dana M.
(SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)


$52,500
Mustaphi, Semonti M.
(ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)


$50,000
Jarvis, Kristen E.
(SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)


$45,000
Lechtenberg, Tyler
(ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)


$40,000
Boswell, Joseph J.
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)


$36,000
Armbruster, Sally M.
(STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

Bookey, Natalie
(STAFF ASSISTANT)

Jackson, Deilia
DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)


Now do the math as I did and I came up with more than $1.5 million per year.

Is she getting her money’s worth?

Or, more importantly, are you? Because it’s your money..


Yer gotta love that “Hoax and Chains”

How’s it working for You?

Rule Britannia - The Rest of the Story

I really do try to make my posts as accurate as I can but sometimes I inadvertently get things wrong and such was the case with my submission dated January 6 2010 entitled, “Rule Britannia”.

And it was not only wrong it was also incomplete. As I said at the time I was indebted to a British reader for bringing the matter to my attention and I am indebted now to another Brit for telling the rest of the story.

The thrust of the original post was about a small community in England and their desire to pay respect and homage to the fallen military personnel as the caskets passed through on their journey from RAF Lyneham.

And here is that “rest of the story as told to me:-

“We went to Woodstock (nr. Oxford) for Christmas and visited Wootten Bassett. It wasn't a day when a funeral cortège was passing through and it was pouring down with rain (surprise, surprise) but I felt we should do it. It’s a pretty place and the cortèges are actually taking the bodies to the Oxford Coroner at John Radcliffe Hospital who is doing a wonderful job of kicking the Ministry of Defense in the pants. What started as just the local people closing their shops and lining the street as a mark of respect has gradually grown until there are now thousands from all over the country. And they have vowed to keep it up for as long as it takes.

Some Muslim nut-case has now decided to hold a protest march there to commemorate the Muslim dead in Iraq and Iran. Most people (actually everybody) think the Muslims have a perfect right to hold a march in London or anywhere else where there is a large Muslim population (one may not be sympathetic to the marchers but that's democratic freedom) but it is quite inappropriate and deliberately provocative to do so in Wootten Bassett where the vigil is silent and non-jingoistic and meant to give some comfort to the families of the bereaved.

The government has indicated it would ban the march but can only do so if the Oxfordshire Police ask them to and they (the Police) can only do that if they have reason to believe that public disorder would result. The townsfolk of Wootten Bassett feel that the only appropriate response to a Muslim march would be to close their shops, lock themselves indoors and draw their blinds. Violent protest on the street would be exactly what the organizers of the march would want and disrespectful to the dead. They are right and I hope if the march isn't banned, the world's TV follow the lead of the townsfolk and refuse to cover the event and so deny them the publicity they desire.”

As my contributor indicated, a march by a radical UK Islamist group called Islam4UK has been proposed. The said demonstration led by Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary has come under widespread condemnation from British citizens, including other Muslims, politicians, and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Some villagers in Wootton Bassett have stated that they are prepared to barricade the streets if necessary, while some right-wing citizens have said that they will "defend" the village if they feel they need to.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

It's Friday and Quiz Time!

Traditionally Friday is the day for quizzes in school in order that the teacher can go home for the weekend, secure in the knowledge that he or she has done something useful in the previous five days.

So try this link and take this test for yourself:-

http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php

I did ace It, and so I should as the owner of this Blog but I was shocked to learn that I was in the mere 2% that did.

For my overseas readers, you’re welcome to try it as well but be warned that the subject matter concentrates on American issues. If you do, I’d love to hear how you did.

My guess is that most of the overseas folks will do just as well or better than the majority of the American citizens who responded.

If you do try it out, you will be able to see how you fared and please take a look at the “Demographic Breakdown by Question”. But for those who would prefer the Clift Notes version ………..

24% got less than 5 questions right.
Another 30% got less than 8 right.

So 54%, of that which we may assume are potential American voters scored a C grade or lower.


Of course, that fact does start to explain how Obama got elected.

We the People ........

Today, I’m going to tackle two apparently disparate topics but they’re really not.

Let’s start with the Knicker Bomber. After the unsuccessful effort to bring down the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight, the Director of Counter Terrorism, Michael Leitner, was informed. He was skiing at the time and refused to return to his office at the CIA in Langley, Virginia.

Now, with that in mind, let’s look at some numbers because I love numbers and doing so annoys Obama supporters because they “feel” and they “want” and they are “entitled”. But they hate facts.

Since September 11, 2001 there have been 33 terrorist attacks on US soil. During the President George W. Bush years there was an average of 2.5 attacks per year. In the first year of Obama there have been 13. And don’t even bother to ask about the resultant deaths because the 13 at Fort Hood alone far outweigh all the rest.

Could the answer be that under the Bush “rules of engagement” the bad guys knew their chances of success were somewhere between slim and none? But, under Obama we know that those rules have been relaxed and Obama advertised that fact as he went on his world-wide apology tour.

In a "swift and bold" move, Obama decided that ex-inmates of Gitmo who hail from Yemen should not be repatriated to that benighted sand dune. Does Obama know that a dozen Arab nations are just a plane ride away from it? But like many Obama pronouncements, it sounds good superficially but actually achieves nothing.

And before we leave the subject of terrorism, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has demanded that the Federal Government pick up the $200 Million per year tab to hold this sham trial. Can you imagine what a feast a defending lawyer is going to make of Obama and Holder's promise that conviction is certain?

Okay, now let’s look at the other topic, namely Healthcare.

On at least 8 separate occasions, while on the campaign trail, Obama promised to show the Healthcare debate on CSPAN. Well now the White House has said a loud and definite “No”. I’m pretty certain that Obama will try to reconcile the disparity by claiming that he would like to see his promises come to pass but that the Speaker, Ms. Pelosi, would not play along. Don’t you love “weasel words”?

Now where’s the common thread?

The American people have shown overwhelmingly that they want nothing to do with Obamacare. The American people expect the president to keep them safe. President Bush did and Obama hasn’t..

So the common thread is the American people; but Obama and his people believe that they are smarter and, therefore, they know better.

Not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But they overlook one thing. When the global financial system threatened to go into "meltdown" last year, mobs around the world demanded that their governments do more and save them. In this country though, people demonstrated at the Tea Parties that they wanted their Government to do less.

Let Freedom Ring!

Rule Britannia!

I am a very lucky Blogger.

Because I get ideas from all over the world about subjects.

Try this one from the UK.

The caskets of slain British heroes coming home from the war in Afghanistan are flown into an Royal Air Force base called “Brize Norton”.

From there the caskets are driven to the nearest railroad station. On the way they go through a village called Wootten Bassett. It has become a tradition for the citizens of that community to salute their honorable war dead and so the whole village turns out to line the main street. They stand in silence and they have the Union Jack on prominent display.

So far so good, right?

These people are grieving on the one hand while at the same time they are so proud of their fallen heroes who willingly sacrificed all.

Muslims in Britain are protesting that the “demonstrations” are racist and are filing suit to stop them.

I don’t know if these Muslims would claim to be Radical or not.

But I do know, that there are only two sects of Islam.

They can choose to be Radical or they can choose to be Quiescent.

This must surely be the shortest post I’ve ever written, but I had to do it..

Dignity: Thy Name is not Obama!

I know I should have written this much closer to the New Year but I was away and so my look-back has to be done now. And I know it's long but so is his list of transgessions.

One would think that dignity is an easily understood concept, an equally easily understood word, and to retain one’s dignity an easy thing to do, as it is a self-determined activity.

Will someone please explain this to our fearless, Ivy League over-educated, leader?

Photo-ops at the Delaware Air Force base at the return home of an American warrior who did not survive his last battle.

Michelle in scruffy shorts descending the steps of Air Force One.

Brazen million dollar shopping trips by ‘the family’ in Paris and London.

Flying Chicago pizza chefs to Washington for the weekly gigs at the White House

Refusing to meet with your Afghanistan theater general until this refusal becomes public knowledge.

Taking a very public and humiliating trip to the Olympics meeting with your begging bowl to benefit your Chicago cronies.

Apologizing for America on every stage internationally upon which you land.

Constant vicious and untrue trashing of your predecessor.

Ridiculing Nancy Reagan.

Making fun of the Special Olympics.

Blowing off the international celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Giving the Queen of England (a former ally of the United States) a disrespectful pat on the back (no bowing to her).

Dissing the Cambridge police in favor of your arrogant black friend.

Appearing shirtless on magazine covers.

Observed carrying reading material for a flight which consisted solely of a magazine on which you were the cover story.

Vast overuse of the word ‘I’ in all public speaking.

Actually bowing, as President of the United States of America, to a Middle Eastern potentate, the Japanese Emperor and the Communist leader of China.

Speaking out on everything authoritatively with an astounding ignorance of history, especially this nation’s.

Insultingly ignoring a dinner invitation from the French President, (a former ally of the United States).

I could go on but you get my drift ...........

The man does not know what dignity is but he does understand arrogance and narcicism. Well, he may not understand them. Perhaps they are too close because they are the very essence of Obama.

It also demonstrates that this person has no clue what it means to be the President of the United States of America.

George Washington embodied dignity, not just on the part of the man, but also of the nation he represented. He was also responsible for establishing the precedent of the dignity of the office of President of the United States, to which every President since that greatest of men has attempted to adhere. That is, until this most recent character, who has neither respect for the office of President nor for the nation he was tragically elected to lead.

George Washington would find both of these aspects of our current President to be stunning and inexplicable developments, but what would make him most furious (and George Washington did have a temper, though he worked hard to control it), would be the utter disregard -- no, the actual contempt -- this 11-month holder of the office obviously feels and clearly demonstrates towards the American people.

The will of the people, sovereign in this republic, was almost sacred to George Washington and the other Founders -- it was the whole point of the exercise, one that had never before taken place in the annals of history. We actually weren’t supposed to end up in 2009 in an increasingly tyrannical rule run by socialists just over 220 years later.

The sacrosanct documents that the Founders risked their lives to create were meant to be the guarantee ensuring the perpetuity of the freedoms they fought so hard to achieve. This achievement was to have been made, for the first time in history, for the people of this republic.

Obama and his appointed under-the-radar-elite ruling group (the Czars) pay no attention to these documents, nor do they pay attention to the will of the people. This group consists, of: let’s see, we have the charming Chavez admiring FCC czar, Mark Lloyd; the lovely self-proclaimed activist pederast, Kevin Jennings, as our ‘safe schools’ czar; John Holdren, our brilliant science czar, who is an able advocate of forced abortions and sterilization of women (as the great Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up), and so many more of the like that it stuns the 21st Century mind, much less that of George Washington.

I doubt even Bill Clinton could envision this crowd in the White House, much less the 18th century visionary George Washington. Notwithstanding all the other decisions this President has made -- bankrupting our nation, perhaps forever; taking over our automobile industries; trying Islamic terrorists in a civilian court on our precious soil; attempting to destroy our national economy by signing on to completely bogus ‘climate change’ agreements and to annihilating our magnificent health care system in order to pay off his union and corporate supporters and to control every aspect of our lives -- these appointments alone, none of which had or has American popular support, nor Congressional approval, should provide adequate proof that Obama has nothing but contempt for the people of this nation.

Obama’s appointees are not in their positions to help the citizens of the United States of America; they are there to implement their agenda, to do it as brutally and as rapidly as possible while doing it as far under the radar of public attention as they can.

Since there are more of us than there are of them, every once in a while they have to pay lip service to the fact of America’s greatness. It is disturbing and humorous at the same time how excruciatingly uncomfortable this makes them and their leader; witness the most recent speech of our great orator-in-chief at West Point. It was positively painful for him to have to say good things about the country he is meant to be leading, but is, more accurately, destroying.

At this point in our national decline, it is largely thanks to the new media in this nation, who exemplify the modern equivalent of the courageous soldiers of the Revolutionary War in their refusal to go down without a fight, that these America haters and their activities have been and are continuing to be revealed.

The 18th century fighters for freedom, (as exemplified in their beloved general), put all personal concerns aside to fight for the possibility of living as free men.

They left behind their families, abandoned their farms, gave up their livelihoods, with no guarantees, all too often for no pay, not enough food, little ammunition, and all for the intangible hope of freedom.

To embark upon our current fight for freedom should be an easier task for us. Our 18th century predecessors did not know what it was like to be free men and wouldn’t until they had delivered themselves from the yoke of Imperial tyranny.

We, as Americans, have known what it is to be free for over 220 years, and we are, under this president, beginning to wake up to the nightmare of tyrannical statist control, which is succeeding in taking over increasingly numerous aspects of our lives.

This at first surreptitious and now brazen theft of our freedoms is unacceptable to the American spirit, and we know full well that the restoration of our freedoms is worth fighting for. I guess the radical left thinks that because of their mistaken and temporary ascendancy to governmental leadership in America, we are just going to hand over our nation and our freedom to them. “We won,” they keep telling us.

If they think that this easy relinquishing of our freedoms is going to happen, they haven’t studied the history of this nation and its people.

George Washington was an exacting commander in chief, as he was a president.

He would demand no less from us that we recapture our dignity as a nation, and as a people.

God Bless America and a Happy New Year!