Obama’s 2012 Campaign, See 2008 Campaign

President Obama tells a gathering in Cartagena, Colombia what he knows his audience wants to hear . . .

In his most specific pledge yet to U.S. Hispanics, President Barack Obama said Saturday he would seek to tackle immigration policy in the first year of a second term. But he cautioned that he would need an amenable Congress to succeed.

“This is something I care deeply about,” he told Univision. “It’s personal to me.”

Could swear I’d heard this before. Four years ago. It serves as a measure of how Obama has delivered on his campaign promises. Especially since he is campaigning like he is running for the first time. Even though his party controlled the House, Senate, and White House for his first two years of this, his first term.

What’s sad is that we have a president of the United States who believes he can not win re-election unless he divides the country into as many segments as possible and directing them all against the other half of the country. Coming from the President of the United States, it’s disgraceful.

Maybe voting for the same guy again and expecting a different result is not a good strategy?

Link: Obama pledges immigration reform early in 2nd term

Carbonite Reverses Self, No Refunds For Political Reasons

Remember this from Carbonite Customer Service? About five weeks ago, when I cancelled my Carbonite subscription and asked for a refund, Carbonite Customer Service replied affirmatively . . .

Also because it has been less then 60 days since your renewal We will also process a refund request for you when the account verification as been received from you.

After having not received the refund they said I was entitled to, my follow-up inquiry produced this from Carbonite . . .

After reviewing your account information, it has been determined that you are outside of our return policy.

It seems there must have been a lot of people wanting a refund, because I submitted my request on the day the news broke about Carbonite bailing from Rush, and I never got the refund. Even though it was within their 60-day so-called trial period, my request along with who knows how many others, was held in a queue to ultimately go no where. In my phone conversation with them about their reneging on the refund, I was told that “they don’t give refunds for political reasons.” Funny, my reason for the refund was given in my first communication, the reply to which is quoted above.

So not only is Carbonite a bad corporate citizen. They don’t stand behind their word either.

Zimmerman Charged | Post-Racial Administration

Florida Prosecutor Angela Corey arrested George Zimmerman, described by the NY Times as a White-Hispanic, charging him with second degree murder.

This incident was over six weeks ago, February 26, 2012. It’s relevant to what prosecutor Angela Corey said today. The joke of the day . . .

“We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute based on the facts on any given case as well as the laws of the state of Florida.”

It is shameful how the media, known to create campaign themes for the President, started from day 30 (not day 1), with doctored reporting, fraudulent reporting, about the racial aspect of this case that did not exists until they introduced it.

Without knowing whether Trevon Martin’s death was murder or self-defense, like some published tapes, eyewitness accounts and the police reports suggest, President Obama’s entry in the case leaves no presumption of due process, innocent until proven guilty, or even to warn about stirring up tension, racial tension, because Trevon Martin is black. The absence of anything presidential in this matter, to urge calm and respect for the laws, was the go-ahead for the race industry and the rhyming reverends, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Controversy hit fever pitch after Barack Obama, when asked for comment on the case took the unprecedented step of commenting on the still ongoing investigation stating “If I had a son, he’d look like Trevon”.

Eric Holder’s “people,” the New Black Panthers,  issued a bounty for Zimmerman’s capture for them to administer justice. There are Wanted Dead or Alive posters out there. Not surprisingly, Attorney General Eric Holder doesn’t have a problem with private citizens soliciting kidnapping and who knows what else? Under Obama, it isn’t the D.O.J. It’s the D.O. Black J.

Where the New Black Panthers are concerned, Holder’s record is dropping charges on them for voter intimidation at a Philadelphia polling place during the 2008 election. This, after they were already found guilty by default. So there is no expectation that the Justice Department under Obama will do anything about their threats this time. Justice under Obama is not blind.

With the big racial controversy successfully up and running, other irresponsible Democrats pile on to the racial angle. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) plants her face in front of a camera and says the shooting was a hate crime.

After all this, if you are wondering why President Obama has not come out to call for calm, something to ease the racial tensions spawned by the false media accounts, it is because things are going just fine. For his re-election. He’ll kill it if he were to come out and act like a President should act. There’s nothing ‘post-racial’ about this guy.

Now that the trial process is underway, at least we will see who the legal victim is. Martin or Zimmerman?

Today’s Special, Undercover Video And Voter ID

The video, released yesterday, contrasts clips from the “sting” with quotes from Holder saying that voter fraud is generally “a problem that does not exist.” Holder’s Justice Department has blocked voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas on grounds that include the supposed superfluity of those laws.

I like O’Keefe’s sense of humor too. At the end, he tells the poll worker he prefers to go and get his ID. Says, “I’ll be back faster than you can say furious.”

More: VIDEO: Voter ID ‘Sting’ Targets Eric Holder

Obama’s Virtual Economy And Virtual Truth

Contrary to the administration’s storyline, the economy is not creating jobs. We’re still short millions of jobs from when he took over, and that’s after all the so-called stimulus spending. What little economic growth there is, is happening in spite of Obama’s stimulus spending, takeovers, and Czars. Not because of them. And is the reason the economy hasn’t already shown good signs of recovery. He is depressing what is a strong economy eager to be set free.

The administration, with a little help from the media, is attempting to redefine progress. Let’s look at where we are: 8.2% unemployment is the new 5.2%.  The new norm.  That 8.2% is nothing to be alarmed about.  No problem.  And $5/gallon gasoline, that’s the new $3.  Not $4.  Remember when $4 was hit, everybody went crazy?  No, now $5 gasoline, “Hey, it’s the new the norm! It’s not as much as they’re paying in Europe.  You should feel lucky.”

Then there’s the oil head-fake, lie. The oil ‘subsidies’ which are not really subsidies but current tax law, are the same production and manufacturing incentives that all companies enjoy, whether they make cars or gasoline.

Yet, the Divider-in-Cheif continues to demagogue the entire industry, urging Congress to “stand with the American people” by voting to end subsidies to oil companies. Funny thing happened last week. The Democrat-controlled Senate stood with Big Oil and voted 51-47 against the bill. And how does the media report it? CBS’s  Bill Plante frames it like this . . . “GOP blocks Obama’s bid to end oil subsidies.”

From The White House, on the same day the Senate killed his bullying initiative to raise taxes on the oil industry, President Obama said . . .

“Right now, the biggest oil companies are raking in record profits. On top of these record profits, oil companies are also getting billions a year in taxpayer subsidies.”

Here’s a fact. The biggest oil companies will likely always earn record profits in terms of dollars. Not in terms of profit margin. When what you produce runs the economies of the world, and there is an endless demand for it coming from China, India, and other developing countries, the dollar amounts will consistently hit ‘record highs’ on a monthly, if not annual basis. If they don’t, then it will be because of no economic growth. Sure makes it easy for a politician to demagogue, doesn’t it?

Acting as though he was leading the charge to end crony capitalism when he was candidate Obama, President Obama climbs in bed with George Soros and Brazil. It’s just a bit dishonest for Obama to fund oil drilling and exploration in Brazil, then pledging to be their major customer, for oil that he refuses to get here.

Links: Higher gas prices cause less public anger this time  |  Obama says US to be major purchaser of Brazilian oil  |  The New Normal: Trickle-Down Poverty

High Gas Prices, A Good Thing?

While everyone else is feeling the pain at the pump, President Obama is having trouble feeling your pain. In a most amazing turnaround from an economical and political standpoint, high gas prices are now a good thing.

Watch the transformation in this video.

Steven Chu is Energy Secretary because he and Obama are soul brothers in the concept of sacrificing the economy with high gas prices so as to (in their liberal minds) force development of alternative energy sources. Chu is the same Energy Secretary that wants you to paint the roof of your house a reflective white, ostensibly to change climate change. Not sure if there is any racial implication in that. Anything is possible with this administration.

Raising ‘taxes’ on the poor is part of the plan. See The Poor Tax, and how Obama screws the poor while saying he has their back. Backside is more accurate. Of course, the media doesn’t see it that way.

Labor Unions Over Half Of Government Employees

There is a certain synergy between labor unions and the government.

When you follow the money, that relationship is nearly incestuous. Some observers, like Rush, label it as a money laundering scheme. Your taxes go to Washington, to Big Labor, and back to Washington in the form of campaign contributions.

It’s a great system, for the public labor unions. Not so good for the taxpayers footing the bill.

It also explains why Big Labor is against voluntary membership and for mandatory dues payroll deductions. Both of which the Obama Administration support. Both of which, for example, is why Big Labor is spending millions of dollars trying to recall the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker.

News Print Industry Downsizing

More early retirements at our local newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal. What we are seeing at the PNJ is happening to the newspaper industry. It is an industry in a state of change.

What is happening at the News Journal is symptomatic of an aging industry. Whether that makes the PNJ more a victim of circumstance than of their own doing is arguable, but the fact is the print news industry is changing. The computer age that enabled the media to get and share info has become a not insignificant part of the industry’s woes because the same information, and more, is also available online to their customers.

There is plenty of evidence of how industries evolve as the need to meet customers’ demand changes. Some evolve and survive. Others die.

Look at the effect the internet has had on the movie industry. Retail stores sprung up all over the country to rent movies. Movie Gallery, Blockbuster, and small mom and pop stores renting movies. In the quest for a better mouse trap, companies like NetFlix and RedBox sprung up making movie distribution so much more convenient. The customers get their needs fulfilled in a way that no longer includes the brick and mortar stores. That industry is changing, never to be the same again. The brick and mortar stores are closing, giving way to movie vending machines or internet access from your home that need no employees to serve you when you want to be served. The recording industry faced the same metamorphosis. Record stores are more like antique shops. The trend now is online with shops like iTunes.

Remember the Sears Catalog Sales stores where you could buy your washing machine and pick up your catalog order from “The Book” in the same store? Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, has seen the end of the catalog segment of their business.

With its roots in the late 1950’s and 60’s, a ‘new’ industry arose in the 70’s and 80’s. The Catalog Showroom industry. The Sears ‘Big Book’ was, for all intents and purposes, replaced by a thinner book and monthly and seasonal flyers inserted into newspapers for stores that carried (on a good day) everything that was in the catalog. The giants in that industry were Service Merchandise (TN) and Best Products (VA). Smaller players in this industry were, H.J. Wilson (LA) and Present Company (NY). In fact, it was H.J. Wilson Co. that brought my family to Pensacola in the early 1980’s. I saw the industry grow for about 25 years, then die a slow death. They were replaced by stores that were even more convenient.

I don’t see the news industry dying. But it is in a state of change. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. What is certain though is that there will be something better, from a consumer standpoint, that will either augment or replace the newsprint industry. That is, as long as free-market forces are at work and Washington stays out of the bailout business.

Link: Richard A. Schneider: And so we say goodbye to 11 of our best