Friday, June 19, 2009

Silent Scandals

Read Canada Free Press for a rundown of recent scandals in the American political scene that the media has chosen to ignore. All of them involve Democrats, strangely enough. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the media silence. Ahem!

Even this article fails the mention the biggest story of all -- the attempt to ruin our economy (even more) with $134,500,000,000 in (hopefully) counterfeit Treasury Bonds. Two Japanese men were discovered with the bonds by Italian border patrols, but Japanese, Italian, and U.S. officials have refused to give out any information. However, it has been rumored that the nameless men have been set free.

Twitter for Freedom

ACORN has filed suit against Anita Moncrief who has been spilling the beans about the organization on Fox News. Specifically she has accused them of:
1. ACORN has received funds directly and indirectly that were designated for Project Vote. Thus Project Vote has violated its 501(c)(3) status.
2. ACORN, Project Vote and Citizens Services Inc. (CSI) in reality are the same organization using different names with different tax designations.
3. ACORN has promoted a culture of dishonesty, particularly in regard to voter registration.
4. Obama is and has been much more involved with ACORN than he has admitted.

Ms. Moncrief has her own website, at least for now, where she details some of the insider moves. Sweetness and Lightt also has a story on ACORN and Ms. Moncrief. She has used Twitter lately to inform followers because of the restrictions forced on her by the lawsuit.

Until June 30 . . .

This will be my last day to blog until after my daughter's wedding (and after the last guest leaves). In the intervening 10 days, please check out Sigmund, Carl, and Alfred every day for the great cartoons.

I also highly recommend Lucianne.com because of the number and variety of news items posted there every day.

Until we meet online again, keep on the lookout for information on health care "reform." If any of the Democratic versions pass, our country will be unalterably changed for the worse both in regard to quality of medical care and to a dramatic loss of personal freedoms.

The other big problem to keep in the forefront is ACORN. If that organization is not stopped before November 2010, we will lose the possibility of honest elections with all the fraudulent registration forms, illegal votes, and voter intimidation that have been associated with them.

When I return on June 30, blog entries will not be posted until late afternoon. During the hot weather, I really need the cool morning hours to work in the yard and walk my big dog, Wrinkles. (Brutus, the Chihuahua, thinks having to go for a walk is cruel and unusual punishment.)

In the mean time, God bless you, and God bless the USA.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Obama Speeches

While the media continue to swoon over Obama's speeches and press conferences, I find them rather dull. His speech pattern is totally predictable with the inevitable pause as he turns his head from one teleprompter to the other. The timbre of his voice seems condescending, as if he were trying to explain physics to unruly six year olds. And the practiced professorial tone grates on my ears.

But the content is even more predictable:
1. He faces a problem through no fault of his own. The implication is either that Bush did it or it's been happening for decades.
2. He alone has the answer to the problem and somehow his answer always involves giving more power to the federal government and spending more money that we don't have.
3. The problem is so devastating that it must be handled IMMEDIATELY by forcing a new bill through Congress so he can sign it tomorrow, if possible.

His refusal to allow time for honest debate about important issues merely indicates the extreme poverty of his ideas and plans. Good ideas are worth discussion and only increase in value through honest debate. In fact, if his main goal were to destroy our once great country, I hardly know of anything he could do differently than he's already done in the first 150 days of his presidency.

Read American's for Tax Reform for a thorough recounting of his tenure in Taxpayer Timeline of Obama's First 150 Days.

A New Glimmer of Hope

In today's Commentary Magazine, Jennifer Rubin highlights the beginning of an investigation into the controversial dismissal of the case against two Black Panthers accused of voter intimidation last November. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has begun action by sending a letter to the Department of Justice demanding more information. Congressman Lamar Smith (R TX) had previously sent a letter requesting an explanation in light of the profuse amount of evidence against the two men. So, perhaps, something will be done to correct this unAmerican activity.

FairKaye first covered the story in Voter Intimidation Will Continue and mentioned it again in Notice A Pattern Here? a story detailing threats to honest elections.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Is Barack Obama the New Hugo Chavez?

People familiar with my expertise about Venezuelan authoritarian president Hugo Chavez often ask me some form of, “Is Obama like Chavez?” I get this from Venezuelans and Americans.

The answer is both “yes” and “no.” To put it in the most concise format possible, what follows is a brief comparison, or you could say, my 255-page dissertation in a paragraph.

Obama and Chavez are alike in that they...

− Both ran successful bids for election on a “change” platform.
− Both appeal to people who believe the government should have a wide and deep scope of power.
− They were about the same age when winning the presidential election for the first time.
− As candidates they ran as relative political outsiders, but not are not as outside the system as they like people to believe.
− Both are, or already have, installed new bureaucracies on top of old ones.

Obama and Chavez are different from each other in that....

− Chavez has overtly advocated socialism as the preferred economic policy option.
− Any media support for Chavez is the result of either coercion (shutting down inconvenient outlets) or taking ownership of the media.
− The U.S. electorate includes a much stronger entrepreneurial streak.
− Obama is more intellectual while Chavez is the macho military man.
− Obama does not support the narcotics trade in Latin America.
− Obama does not appear to support eradicating our two-party political system.

To summarize, the United States has a stronger tradition of democracy and boot-strapping “I can do it” mindset. Part of the difference goes back to our country being settled by Pilgrims seeking to establish a themselves in a new, self-sustaining community while Venezuela was initially “conquered” by Spaniards seeking loot to bring back to the Old World. The Venezuelan people are inculcated through the educational system that their country's oil wealth is sufficient to provide for the whole population.

What these two presidents really have in common is that they appeal to electorates who are convinced that a government really is capable of guaranteeing them jobs, “fair” prices, free health care, quality education for everyone, a “decent' retirement, good roads and utilities, and of course, freedom from invasion and from anarchy.

It will be interesting to see how each country adapts to the eventual reality check on the limits of any government to solve society's problems.

This is a guest post by Dr. Laura Mixon of Mixonian, a blog dedicated to improving communication and presentation skills. She specialized in Hugo Chavez' communication techniques in her dissertation.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Newest Newsbuster Comedy

This one showed up between 2 am and 8 am this morning.

It's Just One of Those Days

No blogging today; I'm overwhelmed with things to do for my daughter's upcoming wedding. Enjoy the funny video from Newsbusters below.

More Fun from Newsbusters

Monday, June 15, 2009

And They Complained about Bush Spending

According to the Wall Street Journal, federal spending in 2009 will account for 28% of the economy while deficits mount. (No one dares to predict how high the percentage will be after more Obama changes take effect.) WSJ claims that fact is behind the highly unpopular edict that employees pay taxes on 25% of their business phones because of personal use. What’s next? Taxes on personal time in the wash room?

The bright spot, according to the editorial, is the possibility that this will incite rebellion against all the hope and change they’re giving Americans.

Plan on A Hefty Tax Increase; It's Coming

Front Page Mag has an article today about the inevitable and massive tax increase if Obama gets his *socialized medicine plans voted in. Even if none of his plan becomes law, within three years one out of every three taxpayer dollars will go to fund Medicare and Social Security. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, the current unfunded liability for the two programs is $101,700,000,000,000 or more than seven times the GDP.

*The administration spokesmen keep changing terms in their Orwellian plans to dupe the public, but socialized medicine is the end result, no matter what they call it.

Michelle Leaves Hillary in The Dust

Hillary Clinton is a slacker compared to Michelle Obama. Read this Washington Examiner article to get a closer look at Michelle's plans to remake the American scene, especially AmeriCorps. Remember the often repeated statements during the campaign about “universal voluntary public service?" (Some of us question how it could be both universal and voluntary; it sounds more like involuntary servitude.)

The article also mentions her possible involvement in firing Gerald Walpin, the federal investigator who uncovered too many improprieties by Obama contributors.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Transparency (Obama Style)

During the endless campaign of 2008, numerous people raised questions about Obama’s birth certificate and his eligibility to become president of the US. Many others took note, but presumed that there was nothing to the concern.

With time, his refusal to present a valid, long form birth certificate has grown more problematic. The version made public would not be sufficient proof of American citizenship in Hawaii, the state that provided it. If everything is all right, then why the continued secrecy? Ordinarily a birth certificate has to be one of the most innocuous documents possible. The cover-up itself provides fuel to keep the lawsuits going and the innuendos growing in intensity.

But, that’s just part of the story. He hasn’t even allowed his kindergarten documents to be made public. The school he said he attended released a photo of two teachers and five students and a statement that he had attended in 1966-67, but no official records. Ordinarily a copy of the birth certificate is required to register at the school.

His high school records from Punahou in Honolulu have been declared off limits. Even though he attended the exclusive school for eight years on scholarship, no records of what type of scholarship he won have been released. The concern is that his scholarship was one granted to foreign students.

Nor has he allowed Occidental College in Los Angeles to provide information about his scholarship for the first two years of college there. The school has hidden behind the FERPA Act to keep from replying to a lawsuit demanding information about the scholarship, his grades, and classes taken.

True to his established pattern, little is known about his last two years of college at Columbia. He refused to publish his transcript and cannot remember the names of any friends or classmates there. Fox News could not find one classmate out of the 400 they contacted who remembered him. He supposedly wrote a major thesis on Soviet disarmament his senior year, but no copy has been made available either by Obama or the school. A 1983 program lists him as a graduate, but not one with any honors.

That makes one wonder how he got into Harvard Law School without someone, somewhere pulling some strings. He and his staff have carefully guarded his SAT and LSAT scores. They’re remained mum about his grades although he buckled down enough to graduate magna cum laude. He did become the first black to serve as president of Harvard Law Review, but during the entire year, he published no articles.

While modern presidential candidates have made full disclosures of their complete medical records, Obama merely released six paragraphs from his physician, with no supporting documentation, that covered 21 years of treatment. McCain, on the other hand, released 1200 pages of medical records.

His passport is something else that remains off limits to the public. Three times during the campaign, someone in the State department made unauthorized searches of his file, but no one has revealed what they discovered. These files could have contained citizenship information and basic biographical information. However, the one person who was cooperating with the authorities in the investigation was found shot to death in his car in Washington, DC.

Other non controversial records that have been requested, but denied are:
• Baptismal certificate
• Complete files and schedules of his years as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004
• Obama's client list from during his time in private practice with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard
• Illinois State Bar Association records
• Obama/Dunham marriage license
• Obama/Dunham divorce documents
• Soetoro/Dunham marriage license
• Adoption records

Friday, June 12, 2009

But Watch What He Does

Yesterday, President Obama loudly proclaimed that he was NOT trying to take over the American health care system and he had no intention of instituting socialized medicine here. It's just this tiny matter of increasing competition by forcing private insurance companies to compete with the federal government. His statements make Orwell's Newspeak in the novel, 1984, look completely straightforward.

He was almost as emphatic as when he said he did not want to run the automobile industry just hours before he fired one CEO and hired another at GM before the government bought them out. He told Chrysler they had to merge with Fiat. He arranged for his union friends to get preferred treatment in both bankruptcy proceedings ahead of the legal creditors. He promised that running GM would be "temporary," but gave no exit strategy. (Amtrack was supposed to be temporary too.) And although he arranged for union leaders and government bureaucrats to sit on the board, he swore that the government would not get involved with decisions about minutiae -- just the important decisions.

If I remember correctly, he didn't want to take over the banks either, then tried to keep them from backing out and returning the money when they found how many strings were attached. This week, he "allowed" them to pay the money back to the government, not to reduce the deficit or repay the taxpayers, but to allow the government to "give away" more money.

Finally, Someone Else Said It!

After spending months wondering if all Republicans had laryngitis or amnesia, Eric Cantor found his voice. Only a few journalists noticed, but his press conference did get reported. Here's the key quote from his interview with AP:
"They said, 'Set aside the rule of law, let's strip secured creditors, bondholders, of their rights. Take them away outside of the bankruptcy process and give them to the political cronies and the auto workers' unions. . .It's almost like looking at Putin's Russia. You want to reward your political friends at the expense of the certainty of law?"

Too bad the Supreme Court is still asleep at the wheel over trashing our Rule of Law in favor of cronyism by The Won.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Stop Government Health Care!

In the last few months, Americans have stood by helplessly as the federal government has taken over the financial industry, the insurance industry, and the automobile industry while spending money so fast that one would think they wanted to destroy our economy. Despite pleas, emails, phone calls, and Tea Party protests to the contrary, the juggernaut has continued to roll on.

The current craze by the Clowns in Washington is "health care for all" which, no matter how it's structured, always ends up being Rationed Health Care. There is ample, recent, empirical evidence of this in other countries that now regret their decisions.

Karl Rove, in today's Wall Street Journal, gives five ways to stop *socialized medicine. Once it is written into law, even as "only" government insurance, it will become almost impossible to change and we will ruin the best (although flawed) health care system in the world.
1. Government insurance for health care is unneccessary. The 1300 insurance companies that now provide health coverage can take care of the needs.
2. Government insurance will only enlarge the subsidies that taxpayers are forced to pay to hospitals. Right now, insured families pay about $1,800 per year to subsidize the legitimate costs that Medicare and Medicaid refuse to cover.
3. Government insurance will force private insurance companies out of business and thus create a single health care system.
4. Government insurance will prove to be far more expensive than the most generous estimates today. We're already hopelessly in debt for at least three generations. We absolutely cannot afford to add to it.
5. It puts government bureaucrats between patients and their physicians. Anyone who's had to fight with their insurance company for coverage, can just multiply that fight by about 100 to get an idea of what patients will be up against. We will have life threatening rationing just like Canada and England experience now.

*Once again, the politicians hide their actions by their choice of words. In this case, "socialized medicine" is never mentioned. It's always government insurance or some other sleight of hand term.

Palin Responds to Letterman

David Letterman in a lame attempt at a late night joke mentioned that Sarah Palin and her daughter, Willow, had attended a baseball game in New York. His supposedly funny punch line was that the game had to be temporarily stopped while A Rod knocked up her daughter.
Concerning Letterman's comments about my young daughter (and I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter): 'Laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/NY entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands -- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.'"

I can remember when politican's children, even those young adults over 18, were protected by the press and by commentators. But, for some reason, the media loves to hate Sarah Palin, even when she's not running for office.

Unthinkable, But True

Eric Holder, Attorney General, has quietly (and without notifying any Congressional oversight committee) sent out the directive that FBI agents must inform all detainees of their Miranda Rights when captured in AFGANISTAN.

Of course it was only February when Obama solemnly intoned: “Now, do [enemy combatants and terrorists] deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter down the block? Of course not.”

Maybe that’s why he’s doing it on the sly now.

It doesn’t take an attorney nor a general to understand that treating enemies in war just like criminals is a recipe for disaster. And how many of our brave soldiers died in order to confer the rights of US citizens on people who are NOT citizens and who have repeatedly sworn to kill us all?

According the Andrew McCarthy, when he finally fesses up, Obama will merely explain that he’s following the rules of the McCain Amendment (enacted as part of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act) signed by then President Bush. We have been betrayed by the very people who promised to defend us.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Stimulus" Prediction VS "Stimulus" Reality

Have you succumbed to a mind numbed from constantly hearing big numbers? Watch this new penny visualization from YouTube about the jobs lost WITH the "Stimulus" bill. After a short minute and a half, you'll have a much better understanding of the problems of unemployment.

8 Months = $1,00,000,000,000 Debt

We have faced $1,000,000,000,000 in debt before, since 1981 in fact. At that time the trillion referred to total or cumulative debt acquired over years of deficits. At the end of May the US ran up a trillion dollars in debt in less than a year. Investor's Business Daily has an excellent editorial today about some of the implications. Read it and weep.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

While Obama remains unapologetic about serving $100 per pound steak at weekly White House parties, sending Air Force One to buzz the Statue of Liberty in order to create publicity photos, and flying to New York City for a date night, he believes that business executives should restrict their use of private jets, fore go refurbishing their offices, and quit sponsoring corporate functions to woo clients.

And after running up the debt to frightening heights in his first four months of office, he had decided to come out in favor of “pay as you go” in relation to future spending bills. By publicly adopting a “conservative” stance, he hopes to defuse the rising fears about his spending policies.

“Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for. They are not free. . . . The reckless fiscal policies of the past* have left us in a very deep hole. Digging our way out will take time and patience and tough choices."

The easy translation of his new mantra is that taxes will definitely increase despite his oft repeated campaign promise that 95% of Americans would pay no new taxes. Front Page Magazine has an article about his new found penury as does Reuters.

*Almost certainly a reference to his favorite whipping boy, George Bush, not to his own decisions.

That Didn’t Last Long

The Supreme Court quickly stomped out that glimmer of hope that they would stop the government takeover, forced bankruptcy, and sale of Chrysler. So much for years of contract law and the orderly distribution of assets.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Glimmers of Hope

Finally the Supreme Court might consider the constitutionality of Obama's edicts regarding Chrysler. Conservatives can thank Ruth Bader Ginsberg for the order to at least temporarily stay the bankruptcy and merger with Fiat. There is hope that all nine justices will study the case. Probably the decision will be made by the end of June when the Court recesses. Read more about it in American Thinker.

Secondly, on the international front, apparently many have rejected continuing the imposition of the state into personal affairs. The people chose conservative candidates and conservative financial policies over more radical ones in most situations. It was a vote of no confidence by people who are living in social welfare state similar to where the US is currently headed. Will Washington learn from this and slow down their unworkable utopian plans?

Monday, June 8, 2009

Obama's Enemies List

Read Obama's Enemies List Grows in the American Spectator. It offers a succinct summary of troubling, "Chicago style" moves by the new administration. Most, if not all have been covered previously in FairKaye, but this puts them all together in one place.

Everyone Understands Except The Politicians

It’s just common sense to understand the danger of continuing unbridled spending by Washington. Last week Ben Bernanke testified to the House about the grave hazard of our burgeoning debt.

His bottom line was our level of borrowing and spending cannot continue at the current rate. When asked about the possibility of the United States losing its AAA credit rating just as England did recently, Bernanke could offer no desirable outcome.
“At -- at some point, you have to have a path of spending and taxes that will give you a stabilization of the debt-to- GDP ratio. If you don't, then fear that the debt will continue to rise will make it very difficult to finance it.

And at some point, you'll hit a point where you'll have to have both very draconian cuts and very large tax increases, which is not something we want. So in order to avoid that outcome down the road, we need to begin now to plan how we're going to get the fiscal situation into a better balance in the medium term. ...”

And he refused to comment on the possibility of rampant inflation, although his questioner brought it up. Read more at Powerline.

Have you told your Congressional Clowns to STOP THE SPENDING? If so, remind them again.

Yet Another Wrong Move

US corporations, with a 35% tax rate, are already more heavily taxed than companies in most other countries. Yet Obama believes that repealing the IRS rules, which he calls "loopholes," which allow them to defer taxes on foreign earnings will bring even more money into the federal coffers.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation begs to differ: "When taxes were reformed in 1986, the United States eliminated deferral for the shipping industry, and in short order, all of the shipping industry fled this country and established headquarters abroad. The same thing will happen across the board if we repeal deferral."

The Washington Times reports that a study released today and authored in part by a Clinton appointee, Robert Shapiro, supports Hatch’s claim. According to the study, Obama's proposed tax law change will actually put American jobs at risk and lower tax revenues.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Don't Read The Headlines!

Journalists discovered ages ago that most people only read the headlines in a newspaper before heading to the comics, lifestyle, or sports section. The next most frequently read portions are photo captions and opening paragraphs. Some will read the final paragraph, but few will read the entire article no matter how important the story is. Radio and television news, because of time contraints, usually consist of mere headlines and leads (opening paragraphs).

Today's journalists carefully craft their headlines, captions, and leads to promote the message they want the public to remember. The Media Rule (I think we're up to four now) for today is: Always be suspicious of headlines and leads in this era of unbridled bias in major media outlets.

For example, throughout the Bush administration, most economic reports were couched in negative terms. Even a tiny rise in unemployment was often accompanied by a story about a newly homeless person or a family facing foreclosure because of job loss. Little attention was paid to the times when unemployment rates were well below what had been considered normal (6%). The R word for recession was bandied about until most people thought we were in the middle of one two years before it actually began.

Now that Obama is in office, the unemployment stories feature people who gladly use the opportunity to vacation, do volunteer work, or garden instead of those in dire financial straits. They even coined a new word, "funemployment" instead of unemployment, to describe the situation.

Friday's unemployment news stories were classic examples of "lying though headlines." By today practically everyone knows that the rate of new applications for unemployment slowed for the first time since September. Most quickly concluded that the recession will soon be over.

Hardly anyone knows that although the rate slowed, the percentage (9.4%) is now the highest in 27 years. Buried in the middle of an AP story is this sentence:
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent in May, the highest on records dating to 1994.*

*Although the sentence above is technically correct, it hardly gives an accurate portrayal of the facts. The highest recorded unemployment rate since 1948 is 10.8% in November and December of 1982. The unemployment rate in 1994 ranged between 5.5% and 6.6%. Go to this Department of Labor statistics page to see the official tabulations. And don't forget that 16.4% is higher than any year listed in the table.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Just for Fun

Watch Newsbuster's latest comedy video. You will enjoy 2.36 minutes of cleverness.

Dealership Closing - Please Explain

I cannot understand the excuses being given to justify the closing of automobile dealerships and I am especially concerned with the rumors that the ones chosen for extinction donated to the Republicans not the Democrats.

Dealerships are profit centers for the auto manufacturers, not cost centers. Detroit gets paid immediately when cars to Joe Blow’s dealership are shipped. So why should Detroit care about competition between Joe Blow’s and Sam Sixpack’s dealerships?

That concern rightly belongs to the local banks who lend money to Joe and Sam to cover their costs until the cars are sold. Since the banks also need plenty of business right now, those loans make money for them too. If either Joe or Sam go out of business, it remains a local concern, not one belonging to the Oval Office.

When local banks lose business and local dealerships are shut down by imperial decree, employees in two firms lose their jobs. That adds demand for government assistance through food stamps and unemployment income while reducing tax money sent to D.C. USA Today says that $1 out of every $6 spent now comes from government largesse. How long can this continue before collapse?

So who’s benefiting from this?

Our First Female President

Today American Thinker postulates that Obama is, in reality, our first female president, just as Clinton was the first black president. His need to talk all the time, his fighting like a girl, and his well developed empathy provide some of the reasons for the characterization.

Hmmmm. Maybe they’re right, especially when you compare his extreme need to control others to the worst mother-in-law ever imagined.

As a mother-in-law of three and soon to be four, of course I exempt myself and most other MIL’s from this hackneyed slur.

Another Week, Another Czar

The administration is ready to appoint its twentieth Czar; this one will be in charge of compensation in private businesses. The public relations spin is that this person is needed only to protect taxpayers who have bailed out banks, insurance, and automobile manufacturers from evil executives there who might over pay themselves. It’s just to protect the little people.

But already hints are emerging that the Pay Czar will also issue “guidelines” to “assist” other companies in designing their compensation packages. The Federal Reserve is openly mentioning the perceived need for bank rules, even for banks not involved in TARP, to restrict pay for executives to avoid bank failure. The policy creep for areas of bureaucratic control will slowly, continually enlarge until it’s forcibly stopped by legislation. As you know, that seldom occurs.

Of course, free market capitalism does all of this without government interference or expenditure of taxpayer money. But now that the government is in charge of major US industries and reaching for control of others, the need for a czar apparently has emerged.

So we get to pay for yet another well-heeled, powerful executive and his staff who are accountable to no one except President Obama. Don’t you just love government of the people, by the people, and for the people?

Thursday, June 4, 2009

More on Long-Tiller Murders

Two days after the fact, Obama finally issued a statement about Pvt. Long's death at the hands of a Muslim extremist. The contrast in timing and tone is dramatic.

For Pvt. Long:
“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.”

For Dr. Tiller:
"I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

He was shocked and outraged just hours after Dr. Tiller's death, but it took him two days to admit he was deeply saddened by Pvt. Long's. One act of violence was heinous while the other merely senseless.

The silence of the cartoonists, editorial writers, and journalists about the religious persuasion and motives of Mr. Muhammed continues unabated. Also unabated is the implication of Mr. Roeder's pro-life activities, although his major association appears to be with a militia group. Pundits have placed blame on Bill O'Reilly and outspoken Pro-life leaders for Tiller's death, but blame for Long's death does NOT extend to militant Muslims, Muslim terrorists, or any outspoken opponents of the military.

Michelle Malkin
has posted an article thoroughly fisking the difference in the media treatment of the two murders, just one day apart. Read it to find more details about the disproportionate responses.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Deadly Zero Sum Game

Sweetness and Light has posted an editorial from the 1945 Communist New International praising the United Auto Workers’ 113 day strike against General Mothers demanding a 30% raise in wages without promising a 30% increase in production or arguing that the cost of living had increased 30%, the traditional bargaining points.

Here is an excerpt with my emphasis:

. . . This capitalist theory is based upon the concept that the interests of capital and labor are complementary, that the welfare (i.e., profits) of industry meant the welfare (i.e., higher wages) of labor. The UAW proceeded from a position which had implicit within it the concept that the interests of capital and labor were antagonistic, i.e., the concept which Karl Marx established a hundred years ago and which the leaders of American labor have until now sought to deny. The UAW stated that it was the aim of labor to increase wages at the expense of profits. It took the position that if the workers continued to work at present wage rates it would only lead to super-profits for GM. The 30 per cent increase, therefore, was to be paid at the expense of GM profits.

It is too bad that the Communists and the UAW only saw the situation in a win/lose paradigm while capitalism offers profits for all who contribute, i.e. “the interests of capital and labor are complementary.” The workers could have bought stock in the company, maybe a little bit at a time, and shared the profits that way. Then they would have received the justice of honest wages for their part in production, and the “icing on the cake” of sharing the profits just like the “evil” stockholders. Instead they chose immediate gratification for themselves, but a dying company adversely affecting the lives of all their grandchildren.

Sweetness and Light believes that this was the beginning of the end for General Motors. All I can add is that throughout my grade school and high school years, there was one strike after another by the UAW, the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO, and the Longshoremen. The end result was that usually the union won the battle, or most of it, but lost the war in steadily losing membership and influence.

Obama wants to single-handily reverse union fortunes during his term of office. The only problem is that his policies thus far have narrowly pitted union wins at the expense of the rest of his country.

Some Crimes Are More Equal Than Others

If you read blogs or listen to talk radio, you’re probably quite aware of the growing outrage over the treatment of Tiller’s murder on Sunday and Pvt. Long’s murder on Monday. Or, if you depend on the main stream media, you may not even be aware of Pvt. Long’s death or who pulled the trigger.

The president and "his" media went into over drive condemning the killing of an abortion doctor, tying the perpetrator (before anyone knew who it was) to the entire pro-life movement. Little attention was paid to the pro-life leaders who also condemned the murder.

The very next day, a Muslim extremist fired shots near an Army Recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas killing Pvt. William Long, 23, and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18. When taken into custody, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, admitted shooting the two men "because of what they had done to Muslims in the past" although he later pleaded “not guilty” to capital murder. He is a young black, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe, who converted to Islam while in prison. After his release, he traveled to Yemen to study jihad. An anonymous source revealed that information on his computer raised the possibility that he did not act alone, but the incident could possibly be part of a larger operation.

The mainstream media has almost buried the story. Only Fox News has given all of the details. President Obama left the country without issuing any statement about it or supporting the work of recruiting personnel despite the fact he is their Commander-in-Chief.

The government offered the use of Federal agents to protect abortion providers after the Sunday incident, but I’ve heard nothing about Federal agents protecting recruiting offices or even allowing the people inside to protect themselves with side arms.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Sacrifice for Thee, But Not for Me – Again

Yesterday, Obama solemnly told the people involved in the GM bankruptcy that they would have to sacrifice the good life for the sake of their children and grandchildren, even though it was not a sacrifice of their choosing. He compassionately sounded all the right notes while he basically admitted that things would not get better in their lifetimes.

It provided a big contrast to his Saturday night date in NYC. No one in Washington is willing to admit to the costs of the jets, helicopters, limousine transportation, etc., but a British paper estimated that over $1,000,000,000 was spent so he and Michelle could have dinner, take in a Broadway play, and go to a club afterward.

That’s a fairly expensive date for someone whose annual salary is $400,000 with a $50,000 expense account, $19,000 entertainment account, and a $100,000 travel allowance.

I have never minded anyone else’s extravagance or lifestyle, no matter how much better it is than mine. That should merely serve as inspiration, if any notice is given at all. But I do have trouble when a leader repeatedly tells the people that they must sacrifice, while he lives in extravagance that would make Nero envious. And when he takes money out of my pocket to support his whims, I get really upset.

Notice A Pattern Here?

• 2008 – Numerous challenges and lawsuits arose involving ACORN’s fraudulent registration of voters. Undeterred, ACORN personnel continued working even after the discovery they had registered the same person 75 times, a fast food restaurant, the entire Dallas Cowboy football team, and numerous dead people, among other blatant examples. Check out old ACORN posts if you want to refresh your memory about the group.

• 2009 – Obama moves control/supervision of the 2010 census to the White House and hires ACORN to take care of personnel needed to perform the task of tabulating results in spite of indictments against them in at least 12 states. He also gives the group billions of dollars in the “Stimulus” and Omnibus bills.

• May 2009 – US Attorney General Eric Holder drops a voter intimidation lawsuit against the New Black Panthers that the US had already won by default, thus encouraging voter intimidation in future elections, as I reported here.

• June 2009 – The US Department of Justice ignored the Tenth Amendment and rejected a program designed by the Georgia Secretary of State to comb through state databases to detect ineligible voters who may not be U.S. citizens, calling it both inaccurate and discriminatory. Karen Handel, who designed the program, intended to verify social security numbers of registrants through the social security department.

The enormity of possible voter fraud in future elections makes the old Chicago Rule of “Vote early and vote often” seem like mere child’s play.

Last Friday’s Hidden News Item

Last Friday few noticed, including me, that the administration issued a statement lifting their previous ban on hiring lobbyists. At least it’s out in the open now, because he’s been hiring lobbyists right and left since winning office. Somehow we all knew that was a promise he wouldn’t keep.

Get Your Dialing Finger Ready

Congress is back in session and up to no good. Please contact by phone and/or email your own Congressional Clowns to insist they STOP THE SPENDING!

Last week Chinese students laughed out loud at both Congressman Nancy Pelosi and Secretary Timothy Geithner when they started explaining the administration’s “responsible” spending policies while visiting China. Why do 18-year-olds catch on immediately while more experienced American journalists are still fooled by Obama’s sophistry?

Monday, June 1, 2009

Obama's Favorite Terrorists

The Dawn Patrol has an interesting article about President Obama's reaction to the Tiller murder. First, she takes the president to task for admonishing pro-lifers to refrain from violence when they disagree with pro-abortionists, as if they engaged in violence every other day. (The accused man is not part of the pro-life movement; he is connected to the Montana Freemen, a militia group.) Then she brings up Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, who not only protested the war, they bombed numerous places and has not yet even apologized for their actions. Yet Obama remains friends with them, while labeling pro-lifers as terrorists.

Obama's statement appears to be hypocritical at best.

Without Congressional Or Legislative Authority

Cybercast News Service begins its General (or rather Government) Motors bankruptcy story by asserting that it's being done outside legal authority. The US government now owns 60% of the company after $67,400,000,000 of government bailouts since last fall. I.e. we taxpayers owe that money with interest while our political elite will make all of the decisions about management, car production, and dealerships and the previous managers will obediently do as they are instructed.

The money flow started when Bush diverted $17,400,000 in TARP funds (supposedly only to assist the mortgage industry with bad loans) from the banks to GM. Later Obama added $20,000,000,000 to the pot and has just promised an additional $30,000,000,000 of our money to the company.

All along, taxpayers have insisted that going through bankruptcy and a legal restructuring would be the better course for both the company and the country. However, the legal bankruptcy procedure would leave government out of the management of a private company, which is fascism, according to Dr. Thomas Sowell. And apparently the new administration really wants to be in management. The same media that has stalked and hounded Sarah Palin since September seems to be remarkably silent about a total redirection of the country into uncharted territory without legal authority.

How's that Obama vote workin' out for ya?

Check out Zazzle if you're interested in making your complaints known. The title above is on the front of the tee shirt, while the back includes Taxes, Deficit, and Tax Cheat in Chief, among other examples. The site also has buttons and bumper stickers.

To Be Pro Life (Updated)

To be pro-life is to be pro-life and against murder whatever the age of the victim. To be pro-life is to deeply regret and to sorrow for the murder of Dr. Tiller. Many pro-life people spontaneously began praying for Tiller and for his family the moment they heard the news. Within hours every major pro-life organization spoke out vehemently against the murder, no matter who did it or why the man was murdered.

Even as they crafted their messages of concern and outrage at the crime, the media began assuming that it was done by a right wing pro-life terrorist. Comments on Internet sites immediately began appearing about the hypocrisy of people in the pro-life movement and the timeliness of the recent DHS report. This despite the fact that he is more an anti-government than anti-abortion extremist.

To be pro-life is to believe in prayer. This is the time for all Christians to earnestly pray and fast for our country. Pray for Truth to be revealed to the public about the murder, about abortion, and about the real pro-life message: "The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." John 10:10