Monthly Archives: January 2010

Economy, Politics

Open And Honest? Who Knew?

Watch out America. In the name of openness and honesty, Democrats in Washington are poised to show how much smarter they are than you, and the founding fathers.

It never was about stimulating the economy. If it was, they never would have done what the did. That’s why it didn’t take but about 3 months for the Obama administration to tie economic recovery to government-controlled health care-turned-health-insurance ‘reform.’ And the dumb masses bought it.

That was then. Now a majority of Americans are rejecting not only that premise but also are rejecting the extent that government will be controlling our lives  under Obamacare. Those that believe that the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights still mean something would call it restricting personal liberty and freedom through an ever-growing and more powerful central government.

Centralized power is all important. So much so that what you want no longer matters. They are representing The One instead of The People and are prepared to do anything to get there. And if they’re willing to deceive you to get there, then you have to think they’ll do anything to stay there, keeping their majority status for generations and turning America into just another second class European socialistic regime.

There could not be a better example of how, on this issue, Democrats are putting their political agenda ahead of the will of the American people, who they are supposed to be working for.

How could they do that, you ask? What they could do would be to go to reconciliation where only 51 votes are needed instead of 60. And what could they do if Brown (R) should win the senate seat over Coakley (D)?

Massachusetts’s top election official says it could take weeks to certify the results of the upcoming U.S. Senate special election. That delay could let President Barack Obama preserve a key 60th vote for his health care overhaul even if the Republican who has vowed to kill it wins Democrat Edward M. Kennedy’s former seat.

According to Coakley, currently Mass. Atty. General, ‘Until a new senator is sworn in, Sen. Kirk is the senator.’

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) sort of gets it. He said ‘If Scott Brown wins, it’ll kill the health bill.’

I’ve got news for you Barney. If this bill makes it to the President’s desk, it’ll kill America.

Related links:

2010 Election, Economy, Media, Organized Labor, Politics

As Not Seen On CSPAN

Labor union leaders from the SEIU, AFL-CIO, and the UAW met in Washington yesterday to (one could only guess) threaten to withhold support for Democrats in the 2010 election if the President went through with his wanting to levy a tax on people who have a good health insurance policy.

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats stand within days if not hours of striking final deals on historic health care legislation after key labor unions won concessions and pledged their support.

What we could not see is the smoke and mirrors accounting they are applying to mask the cost to appease big labor. Taxing those policies was supposed to be part of paying for this plan. Absent that, there’s  more snake-oil on the health insurance menu.

Unfortunately, we could not see this ‘negotiation’ in action like the President said when he was a candidate. We couldn’t see who was representing who, like the President promised he would do, and on this very subject. The negotiations weren’t on either of the two CSPAN channels I get. Did you see it?

link: Health talks in overdrive with Obama pushing

Media, Politics

A Mind-numb Robot And CNN

After the Brown-Coakley debate last week, Martha Coakley went to Washington to attend fundraisers by fat cat lobbyists from the health care industry.  While republican challenger Scott Brown’s campaign received over a million dollars from Americans giving under $80 each.

Forget what that picture looks like, because CNN didn’t bother to mention that Brown seems to have real grassroots support. But lets recall that it was a large number of small contributors that financed the Obama campaign, in addition to big contributions from big labor, big law, and Wall St..

No, the story here is  CNN carrying the water for Coakley, Democrats, and Obamacare in the way they present this story.

Massachusetts Republicans wasted little time Wednesday criticizing Democrat Martha Coakley for attending a fundraiser one week before Bay State voters elect a successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

CNN is incapable of reporting what Coakley is doing. Instead, they report it as something Republicans are accusing her of doing.  Somehow, they can’t find a way to criticize her on their own. Something they would have no hesitation or reservation in doing if she were an R instead of a D.

When the media watchdog becomes a mind-numb robot by circling the wagons around hypocrisy, to help a political candidate, it’s safe to say that the media watchdog has died.

Link: CNN:Republicans criticize Coakley for attending DC fundraiser

Uncategorized

R.I.P. Teddy Pendergrass

After a long illness, Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59.

Pendergrass, known for smash love ballads such as “Turn Off the Lights” and “Love TKO,” died after a long illness, according to Lisa Barbaris, who described herself as a close friend and his last publicist. He died at a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was born.

In 1972, Pendergrass’s baritone could be heard on the classic Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.”

“Many of you young people are around today because of Teddy.”

h/t Bob Parks @ Black & Right

Media, Politics

It's The People's Seat

Putting arrogance in its rightful place, Scott Brown republican state senator in Massachusetts and republican candidate for the senate seat vacated by the late Sen. Kennedy, answered the loaded question from moderator and CNN political analyst David Gergen about Obamacare. Quite effectively.

Here’s the question from David Gergen, that CNN did not put in the article.

We know from the Clinton experience that if this bill fails, it could well be another fifteen years before we see health care reform efforts in Washington. Are you willing under those circumstances say I’m going to be the person, I’m going to sit in Teddy Kennedy’s seat, and I’m going to be the person that’s going to block it for another fifteen years?

And here’s Brown’s response, which they did, almost. They omitted the last sentence.

Well with all due respect, it’s not the Kennedy’s seat, it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat. They have a chance to send somebody down there who’s going to be an independent voter and independent thinker — and going to look out for the best interests of the people of Massachusetts. And the way that this bill is configured, I’d like to send it back to the drawing board.

Gergen raising the possibility that if the bill doesn’t pass now, that it may be another 15 years before health care reform comes up again,  painting the republican candidate as some kind of Grinch, while at the same time presuming that health care reform won’t happen unless Democrats do it.

Yeah, I think Brown knocked it and Gergen out of the park.

link: Race for Kennedy’s seat may affect health care reform

Uncategorized

Medical Marijuana In New Jersey

New Jersey is poised to approve the use of medical marijuana, making it the 14th State in the nation to approve marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Having grown up in New Jersey, I have to say I’m surprised that it happened there.  But they are taking steps, at least for now, to see that it doesn’t get ‘out-of-control’ like it has in California, where a doctor will write you a prescription if you have a headache or have trouble sleeping and, you’ll then be allowed to grow your own. For personal use only of course.

link: New Jersey Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana |  Medical Marijuana States and Guidelines

Media, War On Terror

Churches Under Attack In Malaysia

What is God to some is Allah to others. That is unless you live in a country like Malaysia, a country that is 60% Muslim. There is a problem with reconciling the religion of peace with firebombing churches.

There was a court case over the use of the word Allah, and in printing bibles in the local language where the word God was replaced with the word Allah. Both were banned in Malaysia. Although the court came down on the side of the Christians, lifting the ban on using the name Allah and using it in their bibles, ‘many Muslims’ are fanatically intolerant of it. Nine churches have been attacked since Friday, seven of those by firebomb.

The church caters mostly to Christians from eastern Sabah and Sarawak states, who worship in the Malay language and use the word “Allah” to describe God.

Many Muslims are angry about a Dec. 31 High Court decision overturning a government ban on Roman Catholics’ using “Allah” to refer to their God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.

The ruling also applies to the ban’s broader applications such as Malay-language Bibles, 10,000 copies of which were recently seized by authorities because they translated God as Allah. The government has appealed the verdict.

That the government is appealing the verdict is way more than ‘many Muslims.’ Seems to me that religious intolerance is institutional and built-in in Malaysia.

Makes one wonder where else such radicals exist. Maybe not our Secretary of Homeland Security, but normal-thinking people might. People not infected with Political Correctness like Janet Napolitano and the Associated Press.

For the AP to characterize this as racial tensions would be like saying that Muslims are like the Klu Klux Klan. As if that is better than calling it what it really is, religious-based terrorism.

link: Church attacks in Malaysia deepen racial tension

Florida, Politics

Alex Sink Needs Help, So Here It Is

Khavari to Alex Sink: Here’s All the Help You Need to Oversee the State Board of Administration

Miami, FL Jan. 11 — Noted economist Farid Khavari, a Democratic candidate for Florida governor, has gained national attention for his plan to create a state-owned bank in Florida.

Today he responded to Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink’s recent call for additional oversight of the State Board of Administration (SBA). Sink is also a Democratic candidate for governor.

“The simplest way to eliminate dubious investing by the State Board of Administration is to shine light on every deal. Simply post all documents relating to every transaction on a website. For each deal, show who is selling it, how many other deals they have sold the SBA, what fees the seller is earning, who is buying, who approves it, how many other deals they have done with this seller, and so on, together with a summary of the amount invested and the terms.

“Now who would buy a bunch of derivatives from a company in the Cayman Islands for $650 million, where over half of the money was lost? Who would ignore pages and pages of warnings and buy junk ever again, when people could see what is going on? Thousands of ordinary people with common sense would keep an eye on the SBA for you, all for free,” Khavari said.

“I agree that Alex Sink, Bill McCollum and Charlie Crist, as the three trustees of the SBA, do need plenty of help. On their watch tens of billions of dollars were lost. The people of Florida will have to pay thousands of dollars per person in higher taxes if we can’t get the SBA back on track.” McCollum is Attorney General and a Republican candidate for governor. Crist is governor and a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.

“In a good year, the SBA’s goal was to earn about 7.5%. Last year their goal was to lose less than 50%. Creating the Bank of the State of Florida could provide the SBA with a guaranteed 10% per year yield,” Khavari said. “This would save hundreds of millions in investment bankers’ fees alone.”

Khavari’s campaign is based on his economic plan involving the creation of one million new private sector jobs in Florida – without subsidies, reducing insurance costs by 30%, and the creation of the Bank of the State of Florida. Using ordinary fractional reserve rules, the bank would pay 6% for savings and provide 2% mortgages as well as low cost financing for state and local governments and Florida businesses, while earning billions per year for the state treasury.

Farid A. Khavari, Ph.D. is an economist and author of nine books, including Environomics. His latest book, Toward a Zero-Cost Economy, is available in stores or for free download at his website, www.khavariforgovernor.com.

Judiciary, Politics, War On Terror

Obama All Around The Edges Of The War On Terror

The President made some progress in verbalizing the war that we’re in against Islamic extremism. In his stunning (not really) speech about the panty-bomber, he had to finally admit that we are at war outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

But, despite using the war term, he is still content on handling it as a law enforcement instead of a military issue.

He fell short by naming al-Qaeda as our enemy. In reality, the enemy is much wider than al-Qaeda. It consists 100% of Islamic extremists who bastardize the religion of Islam as an excuse to rule the world by killing non-believers. al-Qaeda is merely the tip of the spear.

If he were to get serious, he would use the M word, as in Muslim extremists, to correctly characterize our enemy. And they are not only our enemy. They are the enemy of the rest of the civilized world. We all know that not all Muslims are the enemy. But we also know that Muslim extremists are the enemy. Period.

His  Political Correctness infection projects his weakness and vulnerability in effectively prosecuting this war. The enemy is laughing at him in their caves and safe houses all over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris, Indonesia, and Dearbornistan.

To get serious, he needs to call a spade a spade. He needs to change his tactic of using the Justice Department and the civilian criminal justice system to deal with captured terrorists.

Using his Justice Department to prosecute our CIA for doing their best has, no doubt, played a part in what Obama calls the ‘systemic failure’ that led to the  attack on flight 253.  CNN described it as a ‘failed attack.’ Take off the blinders.  In fact, it was a successful attack. By the grace of God and passengers on board, what failed was the detonation of the bomb.

He was right to say that the buck stops with him. But labeling it as a systemic failure is what he must do to avoid holding anyone accountable with their job.

He could start by removing the current head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano,  who said that the system worked perfectly. (a Brownie/Bush flashback from Katrina) Her credentials for the Cabinet position of Director of Homeland Security include representing Anita Hill in the harassment case to prevent Clarance Thomas from ascending to the Supreme Court. And becoming Arizona Attorney General in 1998, she focused on consumer protection issues and improving general law enforcement. Are we beginning to see why she was Obama’s pick for the position now? I don’t know about you, but I look at consumer protection and homeland security differently.

Obama needs to maintain Club Gitmo as the repository for the captured terrorists, under military control and within the military tribunal justice system. Those on the Left, including Obama, say that Gitmo has to be closed because it serves as a recruiting tool for the enemy. So what. Our being alive serves as a recruiting tool for the enemy, so they need to get over it. Here’s a clue, Obama ran on the platform of closing Gitmo and giving that dog squeeze the protection of our Constitution.  Two weeks ago, Northwest Airlines flight 253 was nearly incinerated. Maybe al-Qaeda didn’t get the memo? News flash: Club Gitmo wasn’t open when al-Qaeda bombed the USS Cole, or the World Trade Center (both times), or the Kobar Towers in the eighties and nineties.

Obama now admits we are at war. As our Commander In Chief, it’s  about time he grows a spine and acts like it.

Politics, Uncategorized

aSide Order

Parody: KSM sings “New York, New York”

audio LINK

Big H/T to Rush Limbaugh for making this one available on his website.

Loan Modification Program isn’t working as intended.

NYT 1/1/2010: The Obama administration’s $75 billion program has done more harm than good.

The Market Ticker 11/29/2009: Not only that, but it’s a scam.

Another potion from the carnival barker.

Wait until they get their hands on your health care.

A comet gets eaten by the sun.