Monthly Archives: November 2008

Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Employee Free Choice Act Is Democrats' Quid Pro Quo

Among the first items on President-elect Obama’s agenda will be to pay back labor unions for their generous campaign contributions in the name of the Employee Free Choice Act. As if government is not already involved in all kinds of things of a socialist nature that it should not be involved in, but is, Democrats in Washington, if not by executive order itself by our new President, will resume the effort to boost labor union membership by enacting new legislation. Since when does boosting labor unions membership become a responsibility of the government? The easy answer to that is to follow the money. If you do that then you’ll know why the bill was sponsored solely by Democrats including Barack Obama.

The bill was mis-named on purpose. Had it been named correctly, it would have been named the Employee Forced Choice Act. The meat of the bill will remove the private ballot in union organizing and replace it with a public one. It is more than a little ironic that Democrats would have such contempt for a private ballot when every other kind of vote Americans participate in is a private one.

And be prepared also for the Left to attach this bill to their favorite political tact, class warfare. Last year, Sen. Hillary Clinton was speaking for this bill and said that it is for ‘the middle class’ because, she asserts, labor union members are middle class. Although Democrats purport to support ‘the working people,’ what they really support are labor unions.

Didn’t we just learn that small businesses create something like 80 percent of jobs in this country, and that most of these small business owners and their employees are ‘middle class?’ And that’s why Obama wants a ‘middle class’ tax cut while raising taxes on ‘the rich.’

Let’s examine Barack Obama’s economic theory. He wants to increase minimum wage to over $9/hr. He wants to increase taxes on small businesses with incomes higher than $120,000. He wants to enable labor unions to unionize small businesses. Does this sound like a pro-growth economic policy to you? It sounds like disaster that will only worsen our economic woes.

In 1983, 20 percent of workers in the U.S. were union workers. In 2007 that percentage was 12.1 percent, up .1 percent from 2006.

Much of last year’s growth came in the West. California’s rate of union membership rose one percentage point, to 16.7 percent, an increase of more than 200,000 members. Nevada showed an increase of 15,000 union members, reflecting the organization of casino and construction workers.

As you might expect, union membership in the Midwest decreased.

In the Midwest, manufacturing job losses reduced union membership. Michigan lost 23,000 union members. The largest decrease came in Illinois, where union rolls dropped 89,000. Ben Zipperer, research associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research, said the manufacturing sector — long the stronghold of U.S. unions — is being supplanted by the construction and private health-care fields, where union membership is growing.

The reason union membership has declined over the years is that employers have negated the need for them by paying more and offering benefits that employees want, without them having to pay dues to a union. This so-called Card Check legislation is a mistake for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that it is not the government’s job to increase labor union membership. The other reason is the negative impact on business that come with unions in vastly increased overhead and payroll expense.

Look what labor unions do the the auto industry. Did you know that . . .

At a time when the average American company requires workers to pay more than $2,000 a year toward family health insurance premiums, the auto industry is among the 4% of employers that offer free family health coverage.

And these figures are from 2005, it is only worse now . . .

The cost of providing health care adds from $1,100 to $1,500 to the cost of each of the 4.65 million vehicles GM sold last year, according to various calculations. GM expects to spend at least $5.6 billion on health care this year, more than it spent on advertising last year.

Granted that it was the management of these automakers that agreed to such extravagant benefits, at the threat of a strike, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how labor unions can put not only the auto industry, but any industry at a competitive disadvantage, including small businesses that need all the help they can get. If unions go away, no one suffers. If small businesses go away, everyone suffers.

related links: Union Membership Up Slightly in 2007 | Obama renews promise on NAFTA, ‘card check’ | Employee Free Choice Act, Part Two

2008 Election, Media, Politics

More Analysis Of Barack Obama On Charlie Rose Show

Below is a video of the Charlie Rose show the night after the election. Rose’s guests are Newsweek’s Editor Jon Meacham and Editor-newsweek-obama-cover-131x150at-Large Evan Thomas. The video is further evidence, or justification if you will, that what got this man elected as our next President and Commander in Chief was more a charade or illusion than what we know. And where the media is concerned, Rush Limbaugh characterizes it this way . . .

[t]his is just indication all they knew that they didn’t report about Obama and his associations and his alliances and how Obama was playing the game.

At 2:30 (two minutes, 30 seconds) into the video, Evan Thomas honestly puts the whole Obama campaign into its proper perspective, one day after the election, by going to the roots of community organizing and its founder, Saul Alinsky. From the transcript, Thomas says . . .

Saul Alinsky is, uh, really was a model from this, er, famous community organizer in Chicago, and this whole idea that Alinsky had that it’s not gonna work if you offend large groups of people. You know, we think of community organizers as having their fist out and, you know? Ah, no, no, no, no, no. You have to win over the majority by being peaceful and nonthreatening. Saul Alinsky used the word “nonthreatening.” This is key to Obama. There’s no militancy involved. This is very important and — and his chief strategist, Axelrod, really understood this. Especially if you’re running a black guy for president, you cannot threaten the whites.

At 6:15 into the video, the discussion goes into the ‘creepiness’ of Obama’s performance . . .

  • MEACHAM: He’s very elusive, Obama, which is fascinating for a man who’s written two memoirs. At Grant Park he walks out with the family, and then they go away.
  • ROSE: Mmm. Mmm-hmm.
  • MEACHAM: Biden’s back, you know, locked in the bar or something.
  • ROSE: (haughty chuckle)
  • MEACHAM: You know, they don’t let him out. And have you ever seen a victory speech where there was no one else on stage?
  • ROSE: Mmm.
  • MEACHAM: No adoring wife, no cute kid. He is the messenger.
  • THOMAS: There is a slightly creepy cult of personality about all this. I mean, he’s such an admirable —
  • ROSE: Slightly. Creepy. Cult of personality.
  • THOMAS: Yes.
  • ROSE: What’s slightly creepy about it?
  • THOMAS: It — it — it just makes me a little uneasy that he’s so singular. He’s clearly managing his own spectacle. He’s a deeply manipulative guy.

At 8:30 into the video, Meacham recounts Obama’s writing in the Audacity of Hope, where he begins to set the stage. At around 9:30 into the video, Rose and his guests begin to get that tingly feeling in their legs in describing Obama’s ascension to greatness, ‘watching us watch him.’

In their continued adoration of Barack, Evan Thomas says, around 10:30 into the video, that Obama says in his book, ‘I’m not sure I am Barack Obama.’ Meaning, according to Rose, that Obama knows that he has created a persona that he thinks the American people want, then questions whether he fits the image he has created on the ‘projection screen’ of American opinion. From the transcript . . .

  • ROSE: Watching him last night in that speech, he finishes —
  • MEACHAM: Yeah.
  • ROSE: — and he sort of — it’s almost like he then ascends to look at the circumstance.
  • MEACHAM: He watches us watching him.
  • THOMAS: Watching him!
  • ROSE: Exactly!
  • THOMAS: He does —
  • MEACHAM: It’s amazing.
  • ROSE: It is amazing.
  • THOMAS: He writes about this metaphor being a screen upon which Americans will project. He said they want of Barack Obama; I’m not sure I am Barack Obama.
  • ROSE: Mmm.
  • THOMAS: He has the self-awareness to know that this creature he’s designed isn’t necessarily a real person, and he’s self-aware enough —
  • ROSE: Ahhhhhh.

Listen as Jon Meacham explains that Barack’s ‘whole life is a narrative’ at 15:10 into the video.

The video then turns to a discussion as to whether the United States is still a ‘center-right’ country. What is illustrative here is that Europe is used as the measure of whether or not it is. Whether he will be able to ‘expand the power of the state.’ We know how popular Obama was, and is, to Europeans. They are, in a political sense, soul brothers.

Evan Thomas says that after the economy tanked in mid September, Obama was ‘risk averse, he was laying back in the weeds.’ But that’s alright because as Rose then proclaims, ‘we’re in an age of Obama right now.’ Where were these geniuses a few months ago? Oh right, they were carrying the water for him. They were ‘in an age of Obama.’

Rose ends the segment with this question, ‘Who will be the principle opposition? Where will the voice of the opposition come from?’ Jon Meacham suggests that it will be Gov. Sarah Palin. He and Thomas then proceed to trash Gov. Palin with their anonymous sources from within the McCain campaign over the clothing issue. Real presidential stuff you know. And befitting of Newsweek.

Update 1/23/2013: For reasons known only to the Charlie Rose Show, this video from Nov. 5, 2008, “A conversation with Jon Meacham & Evan Thomas” is no longer playable. Here is the link to it, http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9341 Is it now a media cover-up?

Watch twenty minute video segment here.

In discussing Obama’s victory at 11:30 in the video, Meacham makes an incorrect statement that shall be corrected here. He says that Obama got the majority vote which had not been done since George H.W. Bush twenty years ago. In 1988 Bush 41 got 53.4% of the vote. Actually, George W. Bush got 50.7% in 2004. Obama ended up with 52.6%.

related links: Charlie Rose – Jon Meacham, Evan Thomas | Newsweek Liberals Call Our First Black President a Creepy Creature | Tom Brokaw, There’s A Lot About Obama We Don’t Know | The Real Barack Obama

Politics

Why Do Democrats Benefit From Our Pain?

Have you ever heard the statement, ‘what’s bad for America is good for Democrats?’ It is a statement that Katrina at Katrina Limited, Resources for All Women, posed as a question. ‘Why do the Democrats benefit from our pain?’ I emailed my answer to Katrina at DemsBenefit@katrinalimited.com and you can too. I answered it this way.

In calling attention to problems, whatever they may be, the assumption was always that they could do better. It is an assumption that gets perpetrated by Democrats and perpetuated by their willing accomplices in the media. And like anything else, if the unsuspecting masses keep hearing it and hearing it, they will begin to believe it. And it will believed even faster when there is no one on the Republican side to set the record straight. It was Bush’s ‘compassionate’ side of his compassionate conservatism that led to him being such an easy target to demagogue. Admittedly, Bush didn’t help the cause by doubling the size of government and entitlement programs that we can’t afford, and refusing to use his veto pen. The crazy thing about this is that Democrats want to do more of both while running a campaign against Bush instead of McCain.

Pick any relevant example of this.

The war on terror. With the exception of the first 90 days after Sept. 11, 2001, this has been ‘Bush’s war.’ An unnecessary one. That and, ‘Bush lied.’ The ‘surge’ was condemned as a failure even before it started. That is all we heard from the media. Never any good news. All the bad news suggested that Democrats had ‘good news’ ideas. (retreat and surrender) When in fact, the surge was not a failure and things began improving in Iraq so much so that Democrats and the media have stopped talking about it, with one exception. Barack Obama would rather spend the cost of the war, $10 billion/month, on entitlement programs. Remember a few years ago, Dems were saying this $10 billion/month would bankrupt our country? It has perhaps saved our country but they can’t take their eyes off of the price of freedom to use as vote-buying insurance.

On the economy. Sure, the party in charge always takes the hit for the condition of it. That has more sway with voters than the fact that the solution Dems propose will worsen the economy. Democrats and the media benefit by demagoguing ‘tax cuts for the rich.’ It doesn’t matter to them that it was the Bush tax cuts that reversed the recession that Clinton gave Bush, and reversed the hit that was caused by the 9/11 attacks, and reversed the hit that natural disaster after natural disaster like Katrina gave us, and created over 8 million new jobs. But because the economy tanked near the election, largely caused by the Democrat sponsored sub-prime mortgage debacle, they were successful in hanging that on Bush and Republicans, including ‘McSame’ (McCain), as well.

The sad thing about this phenomenon is that Democrats are not ashamed of themselves for doing everything they can to hurt the country for the sole purpose of regaining power. How so? By fighting Bush every step of the way in prosecuting the war. And by resisting all attempts to reel in Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae a few years ago when the problem we face today was actually trying to be prevented (by Republicans) from happening. They are not ashamed at their use of class envy, class warfare, and playing the race card whenever they see an opening to peel off a few more seats in Congress.

Unfortunately, it is easier for them to be the naysayers than to share the credit for doing the right thing. Obama got elected by running on ‘no more of the last eight years’ and ‘hope’ and ‘change.’ He wanted what everyone wanted and had. We all hope things will be better, and we would need to see things change to make it so. He just happened to be successful in convincing a majority of Americans that they would have only hope and change to hang their vote on, because he offered nothing concrete to be responsible for. His campaign was the grandest of illusions of all time.

H/T Katrina’s Resources for All Women

2008 Election, Politics

This Campaign Is Over, But It Ain't Over

There is plenty to blame John McCain for, for his loss in the race to be President. No question the Obama campaign and his organization won, but there is something to be said about not that Obama won it, but McCain lost it. He lost it by handicapping his own campaign when he decided from the start that he wasn’t going to bring up all of Obama’s nefarious alliances involved with his political career. No surprise that the media wasn’t going to either.

Another of his shortcomings was his attacks on his own supporters who did bring them up, and also to those who dared to use Obama’s own middle name. He was quick to defend Obama at every occasion. That chivalrous action was not appreciated, except by his opponent.

Now that the campaign is over, his own campaign staff is trashing Gov. Palin. We are still being told about anonymous sources from within his campaign that are showing their respect, or lack thereof, for Gov. Palin. And also showing their lack of respect for the one who hired them, McCain himself. Loyalty? Forget it. Some weasels are still talking about her wardrobe, now questioning her intelligence, to the willing ears of the media. The Left should be grateful that the McCain campaign is taking the first shot at handicapping Palin for any future political endeavor. The question here is, why isn’t John McCain out there coming to her defense? Why isn’t he out there telling his own people to stop?

If there is anything to be learned from this whole episode, it is that John McCain is just as much a chameleon as Barack Obama. And the next time the good senator reaches across the aisle, he should just stay there.

Uncategorized

NewsBustedTV

Topics in today’s post-election show: –Barack Obama wins it all –New president to face tough economy –Obama a Reaganesque figure? –Joe the Plumber, disappointed in Obama victory –Obama admits his aunt living in U.S. illegally

Starring: Jodi Miller
Director: Bruce Roundtower
Executive Producer: Matthew Sheffield

NewsBusted is a comedy webcast about the news of the day. If you like the show, be sure to tell your friends and family! Feel free to post your comments on this video, we love them. We also love seeing how many people won’t read this disclaimer and realize the laughtrack is a joke itself.

Uncategorized

Introducing Darryl D. White

Had one of those chance encounters with greatness last week that I want to share with you. This has absolutely nothing to do with politics, but has to do with one of my other, more relaxing interests. I’m a big fan of R&B music, slow jams, and the like. People like the late Barry White and the late Luther Vandross is the kind of talent that I thoroughly enjoy listening to.

Last week, this tall good looking black man came into my shop for the first time. He looked familiar to me, and when I heard his voice, it was like I was hearing and seeing Barry White. In fact, it was his son Darryl D. White that I was talking to.

I’m so pleased to share this video with y’all, or yooz guys.

Dedicated to his father, Barry White.

2008 Election, Politics, Race Relations

We Got What We Asked For

Now that Sen. Barack Obama has become President-elect Barack Obama, and Congress has beefed up its Democrat majority, what can we expect?

We have elected the most liberal senator in Congress. Do we expect that he will govern that way too? He talks eloquently about uniting this country. It makes everyone feel good when he talks that way. Who could argue with rhetoric like that? Yet, I haven’t heard him elucidate exactly what it is about the American people that need uniting.

Now, as Obama moves through his transition to the White House, this effort to square the political circle becomes the defining challenge in the months ahead. Which Barack Obama will dominate as he begins to govern?

Too much of the ambitious liberal, and he rekindles partisan squabbles he was supposed to transcend.

Too much the cautious mediator who reaches across the aisle to compromise with Republicans, and he risks losing the energy and idealism that attracted millions to his candidacy.

The historical significance of America’s choice is inescapable. Has Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream been realized? And what impact will this have on the race industry for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? An industry that ought to go bankrupt, with no federal bailout.

For a legislator that has no record of reaching across the aisle, President-elect Obama certainly has his work cut out for him.

related links: Which Barack Obama will govern? |  Wizard of ID

2008 Election, Pensacola, Politics

Escambia County & 2008 Election

The results are in. Although Escambia County remained red, the state went blue this time. City Council got some fresh faces to work with the new mayor-elect Mike Wiggins. The sheriff’s department got a new face as well in David Morgan. So the team is set. Let’s support them. Now let’s move forward.

On the national side, looking at the percentage of popular vote over the last twenty years, Barack Obama didn’t do too bad. At least he got over the 50% mark. As in the mid-term elections in 2006, any talk of a ‘mandate’ is wishful thinking. And by mandate, I mean that in a political sense, not a night out in San Francisco. We shall see how good a job he can do, among other things, as a uniter. He wasn’t my choice. But he will be our President. Now let’s move forward.

All the results are not yet in, but this is how it stands right now.

  • Obama is at 51%.
  • George H.W. Bush, 53.4% in 1988
  • Ronald Reagan, 50.7% in 1980, and 58.8% in 1984.
  • Bill Clinton, 43% in 1992
  • Bill Clinton, 49.2 % in 1996
  • George W. Bush, 47.9% in 2000
  • George W. Bush, 50.7% in 2004

The only scary thing I noticed in the presidential rundown is that there are 58 people living here that voted for Cynthia McKinney.

Continue reading Escambia County & 2008 Election →

Uncategorized

Schumer Prefers The 'Fairness Doctrine'

In an astounding example of liberal logic, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) figures that since pornography is not permitted on public airways, political speech should also be subject to the approval of Washington. Remember when the First Amendment meant something? Schumer thinks we have to be consistent. What?

Asked if he is a supporter of telling radio stations what content they should have, Schumer used the fair and balanced line, claiming that critics of the Fairness Doctrine are being inconsistent.

“The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that… But you can’t say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That’s not consistent.”

As the liberals prefer, when you can’t compete in a free market, just change the market so it is no longer free. It is the market-based version of shooting the messenger when you don’t like the message.

link: The Hill

2008 Election, Economy, Energy, Politics

Obama Campaign’s Illusion On Coal Power Plants

The Obama campaign is responding to posts like this ‘How Obama Supports The Coal Industry‘ by dismissing it as ‘“right wing blogs” that “wildly edited to take it out of context.”’ They go further to say that Barack actually said the opposite of what he actually said. ?? OK, so they are lying and the dumb masses will accept it rather than check it out for themselves. Consider this, have you ever known anyone, let alone a presidential candidate, that needed so many people to explain what he says? Or rather, to explain away what he says? Their problem is simple. When he actually says what he means, his surrogates come out to say that no, that’s not what he means. The whole Obama campaign has been an illusion in so many ways. But I digress.

To this subject, the Obama campaign added ‘“In the full interview Obama actually praises coal and says that the idea of eliminating coal is ‘an illusion,’” the campaign explained.’ They are word wizards for sure. In fact, Obama did praise coal (as a fossil fuel) as being responsible for about half of the electricity production in the country. He did not praise coal power plants that use it, and certainly not the building of more coal power generating plants. In fact, as far as coal power plants go, he wants to ‘take it off the table.’

Here are his words, not taken out of context.

What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as an ideological matter, as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it.

That is a statement, ‘for us to take coal off the table.’ His position is to take coal power plants off the table. That was not a conditional statement to use coal power plants in a cleaner way. He intends to NOT use it. He intends for the ‘caps and trade system’ to penalize any company that wants to build a coal-fired power plant, and if they are stupid enough to try it and risk bankruptcy, through fines that he defines as a ‘huge sum’ that he says ‘will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel, and other alternative energy approaches.’

Where am I missing the part that says, like his campaign claims, that the idea of eliminating coal is an illusion?

But don’t take my word for it. Here is the entire transcript from the above video. Then have the courage to call a spade a spade and recognize that the only illusion here is the Obama campaign’s spin on Obama’s own words.

Barack Obama: I voted against the Clear Skies Bill. In fact, I was the deciding vote. Despite the fact that I’m a coal state. And that half my state thought that I had thoroughly betrayed them. Because I think clean air is critical and global warming is critical. But this notion of no coal, I think, is an illusion. Because the fact of the matter is is that right now we are getting a lot of our energy from coal. And China is building a coal-powered plant once a week. So what we have to do then is figure out how can we use coal without emitting greenhouse gases and carbon. And how can we sequester that carbon and capture it. If we can’t, then we’re gonna still be working on alternatives. But…let me sort of describe my overall policy. What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade policy in place that is as aggressive if not more aggressive than anyone out there. I was the first call for 100% auction on the cap and trade system. Which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases that was emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants are being built, they would have to meet the rigors of that market. And the ratcheted down caps that are imposed every year. So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel, and other alternative energy approaches. The only thing that I’ve said with respect to coal–I haven’t been some coal booster. What I have said is that for us to take coal off the table as a ideological matter, as opposed to saying if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it. That I think is the right approach. The same with respect to nuclear. Right now, we don’t know how to store nuclear waste wisely and we don’t know how to deal with some of the safety issues that remain. And so it’s wildly expensive to pursue nuclear energy. But I tell you what, if we could figure out how to store it safely, then I think most of us would say that might be a pretty good deal. The point is, if we set rigorous standards for the allowable emissions, then we can allow the market to determine and technology and entrepreneurs to pursue, what the best approach is to take, as opposed to us saying at the outset, here are the winners that we’re picking and maybe we pick wrong and maybe we pick right.

related link:A ‘Dirty’ Fight