I didn’t know much about Illinois Governor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, but I’m getting a crash course.
Suddenly, today, (December 09/2008) the Illinois lawmaker, whose second four-year term ends in January 2011, was arrested - on corruption charges.
And he’s splashed all over the news!
There is the governor, at a press event just yesterday. Reporters asked Blagojevich if he thought it was possible he was being wiretapped. He replies that he has nothing to hide...and anybody who wants to can go ahead and tape his conversations!
Apparently unknown to Blagojevich, (but maybe not so unknown to that reporter) the FBI had been taping his conversations for three years!
According to news reports, the FBI is accusing Blagojevich and his chief of staff, (others are involved)...of two counts each of conspiring to gain financial benefits in appointing President-elect Barack Obama's Senate replacement.
Officials allege “Blagojevich put a for sale sign on the naming of a United States Senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism."
A reference to The Tribune Company, which publishes the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Tribune filed for bankruptcy on Monday. Officials say Blagojevich threatened to withhold state assistance from the company...unless Tribune fired members of its editorial board, who had criticized the Illinois governor.
Blagojevich is allegedly on tape discussing:
GETTING a big salary for himself at either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions; SECURING a spot for his wife on paid corporate boards, with compensation of 150-thousand-DOLLARS a year; ELICITING promises of campaign funds, including cash up front and possibly WRANGLING a Cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.
In ordinary speak, they’re claiming that Blagojevich, who turns 52 on Wednesday, tried to sell or trade Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder...who would give him personal benefits for himself and his wife.
No comment, so far, from the Obama transition team. Blagojevich is quoted saying Mr. Obama can F-off because “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation".
Investigators say Blagojevich also talked about feeling frustrated that he was "stuck as governor." He even referred to a possible run for the White House in 20-16.
This underscores how some of us never seem to see the blessings or good things in our lives. Here is a governor, earning a decent salary, with perks, power, influence – a position that many would die for.
On top of this, he is the governor of Illinois, the next president’s home state, which already gives him entry to the White House. Yet instead of calling in groups, agencies and lawmakers to start brainstorming on how best to squeeze every ounce of influence out of Washington, he’s looking around, making comparisons and feeling he’s coming up short.
He sees Obama, his fellow colleague, now suddenly catapulted into the nation’s highest office. Blagojevich is serving his second four-year term. Obama made president during his first term!
The Illinois governor sees others like Jesse Jackson Jr. who could become the state’s next senator...
Yet there he is, feeling trapped in that local office.
He does not see the millions who have been laid off and the millions more poised to be laid off. All he sees is his lot...his misery, his disappointments, his financial strain, his career going nowhere. So he gets antsy, and shoots himself in the foot. Now where does he go from here?
It doesn’t look like Blagojevich will be heading to the White House in 20-16.
According to one news report, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Solicitation of bribery carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. Both carry a maximum quarter-million-dollar fine.
It’s hard to feel sorry for governor Blagojevich, when, according to officials, he allegedly wanted to pull back eight million dollars in funding from the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He allegedly was pissed because the hospital didn’t give him the 50-thousand-dollar personal contribution he wanted.
Children...? Come on, Mr. Blagojevich. Let’s leave sick kids out of it.
Still until Blagojevich is proven guilty, we will give him the benefit of that doubt. Same as we did for O.J. Simpson.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Bailouts and Inevitability
We’re now being told to invest in construction and telecom stocks…
Because the president elect has outlined a plan to pour billions into infrastructure to jumpstart the economy. And some of that will include broadband.
Mr. Obama was the guest on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sunday (December 07). He outlined his plans for a path for long-term, sustainable economic growth.
OBAMA: …and that's why I spoke in my radio address on Saturday about the importance of investing in the largest infrastructure program--in roads and bridges and, and other traditional infrastructure--since the building of the federal highway system in the 1950s; rebuilding our schools and making sure that they're energy efficient; making sure that we're investing in electronic medical records and other technologies that can drive down health care costs. All those things are not only immediate--part of an immediate stimulus package to the economy, but they're also down payments on the kind of long-term, sustainable growth that we need...
BROKAW: ...the real question in the stimulus program that you have just described and as you shared with, with the American audience in your radio address is how quickly will it mean jobs out there across America and how much is it going to cost and who's going to pay for it?
OBAMA: Well, I think we can get a lot of work done fast. When I met with the governors, all of them have projects that are shovel ready, that are going to require us to get the money out the door, but they've already lined up the projects and they can make them work.
So there we have it, from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
• On another talking point…the auto industry, I’m picking up hints that the auto bailout is just a stop-gap measure to keep the economy from sliding deeper into recession. Seems to me the U.S. auto industry, especially GM and Chrysler, are on their deathbed and will eventually go bankrupt. Giving them a loan will only keep factories and jobs from disappearing now, and NOW (in an already weakened economy) is NOT the best time for this to happen. Technically, they're going on life support...but there won't be any donors.
So, does the president elect think the Big Three deserve to survive? Brokaw asked:
OBAMA: Well, I think that the Big Three U.S. automakers have made repeated strategic mistakes. They have not managed that industry the way they should have, and I've been a strong critic of the auto industry's failure to adapt to changing times--building small cars and energy efficient cars that are going to adapt to a new market. But what I've also said is, is that the auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing. It is a huge employer across many states. Millions of people, directly or indirectly, are reliant on that industry, and so I don't think it's an option to simply allow it to collapse...
(Mr. Obama believes any government assistance should come with conditions. He also thinks it's NOT a good time for such a large industry to go belly-up.)
...some people have said let's just send them through a bankruptcy process. Well, even as large a company as GM, in ordinary times, might be able to go through a Chapter Eleven bankruptcy, restructure, and still keep their business operations going. When you are seeing this kind of collapse at the same time as you've got the financial system as shaky as, as it is, that means that we're going to have to figure out ways to put the pressure on the way a bankruptcy court would, demand accountability, demand serious changes. But do so in a way that it allows them to keep the factory doors open.
• Like agent Smith told Neo in the movie: The Matrix: (Pretend Neo/Mr. Anderson is the auto industry.)
“You hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson”.
Some would argue that Neo survived. Remains to be seen how much life imitates the movies!
Because the president elect has outlined a plan to pour billions into infrastructure to jumpstart the economy. And some of that will include broadband.
Mr. Obama was the guest on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sunday (December 07). He outlined his plans for a path for long-term, sustainable economic growth.
OBAMA: …and that's why I spoke in my radio address on Saturday about the importance of investing in the largest infrastructure program--in roads and bridges and, and other traditional infrastructure--since the building of the federal highway system in the 1950s; rebuilding our schools and making sure that they're energy efficient; making sure that we're investing in electronic medical records and other technologies that can drive down health care costs. All those things are not only immediate--part of an immediate stimulus package to the economy, but they're also down payments on the kind of long-term, sustainable growth that we need...
BROKAW: ...the real question in the stimulus program that you have just described and as you shared with, with the American audience in your radio address is how quickly will it mean jobs out there across America and how much is it going to cost and who's going to pay for it?
OBAMA: Well, I think we can get a lot of work done fast. When I met with the governors, all of them have projects that are shovel ready, that are going to require us to get the money out the door, but they've already lined up the projects and they can make them work.
So there we have it, from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
• On another talking point…the auto industry, I’m picking up hints that the auto bailout is just a stop-gap measure to keep the economy from sliding deeper into recession. Seems to me the U.S. auto industry, especially GM and Chrysler, are on their deathbed and will eventually go bankrupt. Giving them a loan will only keep factories and jobs from disappearing now, and NOW (in an already weakened economy) is NOT the best time for this to happen. Technically, they're going on life support...but there won't be any donors.
So, does the president elect think the Big Three deserve to survive? Brokaw asked:
OBAMA: Well, I think that the Big Three U.S. automakers have made repeated strategic mistakes. They have not managed that industry the way they should have, and I've been a strong critic of the auto industry's failure to adapt to changing times--building small cars and energy efficient cars that are going to adapt to a new market. But what I've also said is, is that the auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing. It is a huge employer across many states. Millions of people, directly or indirectly, are reliant on that industry, and so I don't think it's an option to simply allow it to collapse...
(Mr. Obama believes any government assistance should come with conditions. He also thinks it's NOT a good time for such a large industry to go belly-up.)
...some people have said let's just send them through a bankruptcy process. Well, even as large a company as GM, in ordinary times, might be able to go through a Chapter Eleven bankruptcy, restructure, and still keep their business operations going. When you are seeing this kind of collapse at the same time as you've got the financial system as shaky as, as it is, that means that we're going to have to figure out ways to put the pressure on the way a bankruptcy court would, demand accountability, demand serious changes. But do so in a way that it allows them to keep the factory doors open.
• Like agent Smith told Neo in the movie: The Matrix: (Pretend Neo/Mr. Anderson is the auto industry.)
“You hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson”.
Some would argue that Neo survived. Remains to be seen how much life imitates the movies!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Auto Bailouts and Ted Turner
2010…
U.S automakers Ford, Chrysler and GM would have us believe 2010 is their “Year of Magical Turnaround”.
But for NOW, the CEO’s from the big three U.S automakers are either at the mercy of Congress…or their own folly!
Today, (December 04/2008) they returned to Capitol Hill looking for a “rescue package/bailout/bridge loan”. And to underscore their good faith and show that they too can turnaround, the auto execs left the corporate jets at home. All three arrived in Washington in fancy, futuristic, green models.
But they still need to sell congress and the American people on their long-term viability. And so far, they don’t seem to be doing too well.
A majority of Americans (61-percent) do not support giving government/tax dollars to U.S auto companies.
That’s according to a new poll (CNN/Opinion Research Corporation) released Wednesday. (December 03/2008). About 11-hundred people were surveyed by phone December 1-2. The margin of error is plus or minus 3-percent.
Just before Thanksgiving, the Big Three was asking for 25-billion-dollars. Two weeks later, 25-billion is no longer enough. Ford, GM and Chrysler have added another 9-billion. They say they now need 34-billion in emergency loans from the government.
General Motors and Chrysler are much worse off than Ford. Both are burning through billions of dollars in cash. At privately held Chrysler (owned by New York based Cerberus Capital Management and Germany's Daimler AG), the company won't even disclose CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation package!
Here's what the automakers are asking for:
• GM says it needs 4 billion immediately to avoid complete collapse before year's end. It also wants 8-billion early next year and access to a 6-billion-dollar line of credit.
• CHRYSLER is asking for a 7-billion-dollar bridge loan to help it operate through 2009.
• FORD wants a 9-billion-dollar line of credit, but might not really need the money.
While lawmakers debate if they should use tax dollars to help “save” the automakers, Americans have apparently decided already. According to the CNN/Opinion Research poll:
• 70% of respondents think any auto bailout is unfair to taxpayers.
• Most also think a bailout would not help the economy.
• Only 15% of those polled think a bankruptcy in the auto industry would have an immediate impact on their families.
• 43% think a bankruptcy would eventually have an effect on them.
Among those who would rather NOT help the automakers, is media mogul, Ted Turner. The Cable News Network (CNN) founder appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sunday, with host Tom Brokaw. Here is an excerpt:
BROKAW: You're not very sympathetic to what's going on in Detroit.
TURNER: Well, I am. Really, I don't like to see anybody do--not doing well, but I'm afraid--I saw it coming years ago, Detroit was going--headed for a crash, and it's amazing to me that they didn't see it, either, you know, and start building smaller cars, more fuel efficient cars a long time ago. Because anybody, anybody with half a brain could see we're going to have, you know, big disruptions in the fossil fuel business.
BROKAW: Let me read you what you had to say about it recently. "If we give the Big Three automakers a $25 billion bailout, they're going to blow through it by the first of March. They won't know what to do with it. Let them go bankrupt and get Toyota to buy them out." A lot of jobs are connected to the American automobile industry. Do you think that the government ought not to have any role in trying to put them back together?
TURNER: I don't, I really don't know, but I feel like that it would be a lot better if we're going to put--if the United States government's going to put money in anything, why not put it into clean, renewable energy and create jobs for the future instead of trying to keep alive a smoke stack industry of the past whose days--the days of big automobiles are over. The days of fossil fuel are over”.
I see it this way. This may be the dawning of yet another age in the energy revolution.
In the 1800’s, whaling was very big business. And New England, NOT the Gulf Coast, was America’s energy hub.
Here in Massachusetts, New Bedford was the world’s whaling center. I read online that back in the 1840's, the now depressed city was home port for about 400 of the world’s 700 whaling ships.
When oil arrived, and lamps started using kerosene instead of whale oil, New Bedford, "The City that Lit the World," was out. Texas was in!
But New England survived…and so did America. The power was not lost. It just shifted to another region.
There’s a lesson there somewhere…!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Amid turmoil - Much to be Thankful:
Well hello…and how was your big weekend…?
I call Thanksgiving “Part One” of the holidays (Christmas is Part Two) and I’m rather glad that it’s over!
So what were you thankful for this year…?
It’s been a really tough year. More than a million jobs were lost in the first 10 months of this year: 82-thousand in May, 58-thousand in April. The Labor Department says the number of people who lost their jobs in October and did not expect to be recalled to work rose by 615-thousand, to just over 4 million people!
Millions of homes have been foreclosed; businesses are folding, wealth is evaporating and consumers are hurting. No mood to be thankful, you say. I’ve lost or may lose my job; I've lost or could lose my home…what’s there to be thankful for? It could be worse…and in many other countries - IT IS!
• Were you thankful that we had a peaceful election?
There are no republicans massacring democrats in contested states. Armed gangs of McCain supporters are not (I hope) roaming the back roads looking for unsuspecting Obama voters. Violence hasn’t broken out in Georgia, (our Georgia.) Government-backed bands of marauders won't be driving rural farmers out of their homes in so-called red-states, when Obama takes over, either. Yes, we have much to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that President Bush is actually looking forward to going back to Texas?
He’s not trying to find ways to hold on to power. He’s not plotting a coup or trying to arm-wrestle lawmakers into extending his term. Nope! Mr. Bush is quietly packing up and welcoming the new administration. That’s something to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that we’ve not had, so far, another terrorist attack?
Looking at the news coming in from India, I am especially grateful that we’ve not had another terror attack since September Eleven. The graphic images from Mumbai brought it home. We should be very thankful that it hasn’t happened again…yet!
• Are we thankful that America is making progress along racial and gender lines?
Just two years ago, who would have believed that Americans would choose a black man as president? Note how close we came to voting for a woman? See how far we’ve come to ensuring that homosexuals get the full rights and protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, whether we believe/agree with their lifestyles/policies…or not? It’s progress to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that although the economy has tanked, shelters and food pantries may be strained, but there are no soup/bread lines or refugee camps or uncontrollable outbreaks of disease?
• Are we thankful that nobody is throwing acid into the faces of young girls heading off to school here in America?
• Are we thankful that when we flip the light switch, the lights come on? When we turn on the tap, the water is there, clean and drinkable…at any time of the day or night? In some countries people walk miles to get water, and in many instances that water is dirty and unfit for human use.
• Are we thankful that even if health care is expensive, we at least have health care? How about Haiti, just next door, where people don’t see a doctor….unless a U.S team goes over there?
• Are we thankful that U.S kids can be kids…for the most part, instead of cracking open computer monitors with their bare hands? Our kids don’t have to handle dangerous chemicals so they can earn a few cents a day to support their families!
• Are we thankful that the Supreme Court ruled in June that detainees at The Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp have the right to seek release in civilian courts…and the President cannot fire the Justices? We are and should be thankful…that he can’t.
• Thankful that Palin is not the Vice President? Don’t know about you, but I am.
• Are we thankful that Ford, Chrysler and GM were sent packing and told to get their act together before they pass the hat up at the Capitol? Yes indeed!
• And finally, are we thankful that our government can print paper money with impunity? Yep! Indeed…
Especially now that "The Recession" is official -- The National Bureau of Economic Research admits today (December 01/2008): The U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007.
I call Thanksgiving “Part One” of the holidays (Christmas is Part Two) and I’m rather glad that it’s over!
So what were you thankful for this year…?
It’s been a really tough year. More than a million jobs were lost in the first 10 months of this year: 82-thousand in May, 58-thousand in April. The Labor Department says the number of people who lost their jobs in October and did not expect to be recalled to work rose by 615-thousand, to just over 4 million people!
Millions of homes have been foreclosed; businesses are folding, wealth is evaporating and consumers are hurting. No mood to be thankful, you say. I’ve lost or may lose my job; I've lost or could lose my home…what’s there to be thankful for? It could be worse…and in many other countries - IT IS!
• Were you thankful that we had a peaceful election?
There are no republicans massacring democrats in contested states. Armed gangs of McCain supporters are not (I hope) roaming the back roads looking for unsuspecting Obama voters. Violence hasn’t broken out in Georgia, (our Georgia.) Government-backed bands of marauders won't be driving rural farmers out of their homes in so-called red-states, when Obama takes over, either. Yes, we have much to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that President Bush is actually looking forward to going back to Texas?
He’s not trying to find ways to hold on to power. He’s not plotting a coup or trying to arm-wrestle lawmakers into extending his term. Nope! Mr. Bush is quietly packing up and welcoming the new administration. That’s something to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that we’ve not had, so far, another terrorist attack?
Looking at the news coming in from India, I am especially grateful that we’ve not had another terror attack since September Eleven. The graphic images from Mumbai brought it home. We should be very thankful that it hasn’t happened again…yet!
• Are we thankful that America is making progress along racial and gender lines?
Just two years ago, who would have believed that Americans would choose a black man as president? Note how close we came to voting for a woman? See how far we’ve come to ensuring that homosexuals get the full rights and protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, whether we believe/agree with their lifestyles/policies…or not? It’s progress to be thankful for.
• Are we thankful that although the economy has tanked, shelters and food pantries may be strained, but there are no soup/bread lines or refugee camps or uncontrollable outbreaks of disease?
• Are we thankful that nobody is throwing acid into the faces of young girls heading off to school here in America?
• Are we thankful that when we flip the light switch, the lights come on? When we turn on the tap, the water is there, clean and drinkable…at any time of the day or night? In some countries people walk miles to get water, and in many instances that water is dirty and unfit for human use.
• Are we thankful that even if health care is expensive, we at least have health care? How about Haiti, just next door, where people don’t see a doctor….unless a U.S team goes over there?
• Are we thankful that U.S kids can be kids…for the most part, instead of cracking open computer monitors with their bare hands? Our kids don’t have to handle dangerous chemicals so they can earn a few cents a day to support their families!
• Are we thankful that the Supreme Court ruled in June that detainees at The Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp have the right to seek release in civilian courts…and the President cannot fire the Justices? We are and should be thankful…that he can’t.
• Thankful that Palin is not the Vice President? Don’t know about you, but I am.
• Are we thankful that Ford, Chrysler and GM were sent packing and told to get their act together before they pass the hat up at the Capitol? Yes indeed!
• And finally, are we thankful that our government can print paper money with impunity? Yep! Indeed…
Especially now that "The Recession" is official -- The National Bureau of Economic Research admits today (December 01/2008): The U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Cheerleading…and Nuclear Waste.
I may have lulled you into thinking, falsely, that the only shows I listen to or watch on T.V. are educational programs.
I do like to watch those programs. (My pre-teen son thinks I’m boring!) And yes, I did make him watch a documentary about how the Earth was formed, from a scientific point of view.
(Doesn’t mean I don’t believe in a higher power.) I just also believe in science, otherwise I would not be using the internet right now…or popping that nice antibiotic that the doctors say will help get rid of my cough.
Having said this, I am going to tell you what I was watching over the weekend. I am giving you a few seconds to guess…and I bet you never will!
The tryouts for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders! Umm-hmm. Cheerleaders! From a putely scientific level, of course!
I didn’t only watch one episode. I watched back to back episodes.
I find it fascinating to watch those wide-eyed eager young women who set themselves up for body part critiques (and I’m being kind here. This is ego-crushing, id-deflating criticism with a capital C). First of all, they’re like size two. (O.K, I don’t know; to my untrained eye they all look fine to me.)
The “veterans”, those who made the squad last year also need to re-try for a spot. Rookies who are too heavy and (veterans who put on weight this time round) need to immediately get rid of the pound…or two! So they promise to do cardio and diet or run a marathon across the Sahara…whatever it takes to fit into the skimpy little short, short shorts…and barley there thong of a top.
Some girls apparently just don’t cut it in dancing. Some don’t make the grade because they lack the “wow” factor…they do not have “it”. I was wondering how to know what “it” is, then I remembered President Clinton. “It” IS what it is…as my New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick likes to say.
I mostly empathize with those girls, except the ones who come to the auditions/boot camp unprepared mentally, emotionally and physically. I do not want to be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, or any other kind of cheerleader. Yet I know that competitors have to do sit-ups, pushups and high kicks. So I'd start doing all three…way in advance, if I intended to try out for the squad. But that’s just me. And my stupid planning!
And finally, a lesson for all, young and old. I have heard many, many warnings, urging people to be careful about what they post on their My Space pages. One girl got kicked off the tryouts for some inappropriate photos on her site.
Dallas Cheerleaders thought she looked sort of stripper-ish, (their words) long fake nails and big hair, so they got suspicious and apparently goggled her. Up popped the photos, and before she could ask: My Space? She was history! Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders management say anything that remotely looks embarrassing for them is a big no-no.
On a more serious vein…(can't help it!)
CBS’s 60 Minutes (Sunday November 23/2008) had a rather interesting story about a break-in at a nuclear facility in South Africa…called Pelindaba. CBS says the heavily guarded nuclear plant holds enough weapons grade uranium to build a dozen atomic bombs!
Seems a year ago, some “intruders” broke into the facility, nestled in the African bush. That was the first time I was hearing about it…and it stirs many emotions.
Check it out for yourself.
First, there is the attitude of the South African government. They either know something they are not saying…or they’re just dumb. (It's O.K. to withhold your facts/suspicions, but don't feed us nonsense).
They want us to believe these “intruders” broke into a nuclear facility just to get maybe a laptop? The foolish, bungling “intruders” didn’t know the facility is a nuclear plant. Despite the two tall, hour-glass shaped concrete towers and heavy security!? I suppose they wouldn’t know the Empire State Building is a skyscraper, either?
CBS asked Ambassador Abdul Minty, one of South Africa's top officials on nuclear policy, what the “intruders” were after and Minty says he doesn’t know!?
I know. They were looking for Tootsie Bars!
CBS says The U.S. government is worried, and is: offering to help secure Pelindaba and convert its highly enriched uranium into a form that won't explode.
According to 60 Minutes, Ambassador Minty told them, this is how his government sees it: Why should they get rid of (their uranium) when others don’t? Why are they less secure than others?"
I wanted to hug Scott Pelley when he said:
"Because these men got so far into the plant. They got into the emergency control center. They shot a man. There was a second team waiting outside that got…into a gunfight with your security people."
DUUH!
I do like to watch those programs. (My pre-teen son thinks I’m boring!) And yes, I did make him watch a documentary about how the Earth was formed, from a scientific point of view.
(Doesn’t mean I don’t believe in a higher power.) I just also believe in science, otherwise I would not be using the internet right now…or popping that nice antibiotic that the doctors say will help get rid of my cough.
Having said this, I am going to tell you what I was watching over the weekend. I am giving you a few seconds to guess…and I bet you never will!
The tryouts for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders! Umm-hmm. Cheerleaders! From a putely scientific level, of course!
I didn’t only watch one episode. I watched back to back episodes.
I find it fascinating to watch those wide-eyed eager young women who set themselves up for body part critiques (and I’m being kind here. This is ego-crushing, id-deflating criticism with a capital C). First of all, they’re like size two. (O.K, I don’t know; to my untrained eye they all look fine to me.)
The “veterans”, those who made the squad last year also need to re-try for a spot. Rookies who are too heavy and (veterans who put on weight this time round) need to immediately get rid of the pound…or two! So they promise to do cardio and diet or run a marathon across the Sahara…whatever it takes to fit into the skimpy little short, short shorts…and barley there thong of a top.
Some girls apparently just don’t cut it in dancing. Some don’t make the grade because they lack the “wow” factor…they do not have “it”. I was wondering how to know what “it” is, then I remembered President Clinton. “It” IS what it is…as my New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick likes to say.
I mostly empathize with those girls, except the ones who come to the auditions/boot camp unprepared mentally, emotionally and physically. I do not want to be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, or any other kind of cheerleader. Yet I know that competitors have to do sit-ups, pushups and high kicks. So I'd start doing all three…way in advance, if I intended to try out for the squad. But that’s just me. And my stupid planning!
And finally, a lesson for all, young and old. I have heard many, many warnings, urging people to be careful about what they post on their My Space pages. One girl got kicked off the tryouts for some inappropriate photos on her site.
Dallas Cheerleaders thought she looked sort of stripper-ish, (their words) long fake nails and big hair, so they got suspicious and apparently goggled her. Up popped the photos, and before she could ask: My Space? She was history! Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders management say anything that remotely looks embarrassing for them is a big no-no.
On a more serious vein…(can't help it!)
CBS’s 60 Minutes (Sunday November 23/2008) had a rather interesting story about a break-in at a nuclear facility in South Africa…called Pelindaba. CBS says the heavily guarded nuclear plant holds enough weapons grade uranium to build a dozen atomic bombs!
Seems a year ago, some “intruders” broke into the facility, nestled in the African bush. That was the first time I was hearing about it…and it stirs many emotions.
Check it out for yourself.
First, there is the attitude of the South African government. They either know something they are not saying…or they’re just dumb. (It's O.K. to withhold your facts/suspicions, but don't feed us nonsense).
They want us to believe these “intruders” broke into a nuclear facility just to get maybe a laptop? The foolish, bungling “intruders” didn’t know the facility is a nuclear plant. Despite the two tall, hour-glass shaped concrete towers and heavy security!? I suppose they wouldn’t know the Empire State Building is a skyscraper, either?
CBS asked Ambassador Abdul Minty, one of South Africa's top officials on nuclear policy, what the “intruders” were after and Minty says he doesn’t know!?
I know. They were looking for Tootsie Bars!
CBS says The U.S. government is worried, and is: offering to help secure Pelindaba and convert its highly enriched uranium into a form that won't explode.
According to 60 Minutes, Ambassador Minty told them, this is how his government sees it: Why should they get rid of (their uranium) when others don’t? Why are they less secure than others?"
I wanted to hug Scott Pelley when he said:
"Because these men got so far into the plant. They got into the emergency control center. They shot a man. There was a second team waiting outside that got…into a gunfight with your security people."
DUUH!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Breaking News…and Bay State Politics!
The news is looking more and more like reality T-V.
Let’s bypass congress’s daily maddening slugfest over bailouts. Forget their sputtering outrage over the profligate ways of the same car companies they coddled for decades. Let’s head straight to the corruption charges.
As I write this, there is “Breaking News” about Boston City councilor Chuck Turner. He was just arrested at his City Hall office this morning (November 21/2008) for taking bribes. Turner has been on the City Council since 2000.
The FBI apparently videotaped Turner accepting a one-thousand-dollar cash bribe, allegedly to push for a liquor license for a local nightclub. Officials say Turner lied about taking the money. Investigators ordered Turner to keep his computers and telephones off. Turner says that deprives his constituents of "the leadership they want...and won't allow "this abuse of power" to continue.
Another, more shocking arrest was that of State Senator Dianne Wilkerson in October. She’s charged with accepting eight bribes totaling just under 25-thousand-dollars. Wilkerson was an influential Boston lawmaker who spent 16-years at the Massachusetts State House (Beacon Hill). She and Chuck Turner were allies.
The government seems to be implying that other Boston politicians may get sucked into the widening federal corruption inquiry.
Yet another Massachusetts lawmaker, already caught in a scandal, is State Senator Jim Marzilli. He was forced to resign November 14. Marzilli is awaiting trial on charges he sexually harassed four women earlier this year. Marzilli’s lawyer says the Senator has “a bi-polar condition.”
One commentator quipped Marzilli was well enough to fly to Germany, some weeks ago, where he represented the Massachusetts Senate at an environmental forum. Marzilli also attended a business and academic conference. Marzilli's little junket apparently didn't go down well with colleagues!
And last, but definitely not least, the uber-powerful Speaker of The Massachusetts House of Representatives, Sal DiMasi, is caught up in an ethics investigation involving his personal accountant. The accountant apparently helped DiMasi secure a discounted mortgage on The Speaker's home. DiMasi has reportedly refused to hand some of his records to the ethics commission.
That is just one state. If we go by alphabetical order, Alaska is waiting in the wings.
With those headlines, who needs gloomy economic news? Do we want to hear that Citi Group, which just announced 50-thousand job cuts, may have to cut even more, asssuming it survives...with government help? Or that World Markets are taking a beating? Do we want to decipher terms like "deflation" unless it has to do with politicians egos? Or hear that the "recession" is now official, after conveniently denying it for as long as we could? NO? O-K, here’s what we do:
First, we avoid serious news outlets like NPR or PBS.
Instead, we tune in to one of the many pop-starlet T-V stations that are continuously trying to outdo each other with “Breaking News”.
Do you like stories about pregnant moms who give birth by the highway, over the highway or under the highway? Don’t change that channel!
“Breaking News...” Someone found a suspicious looking bottle in an empty lot. News cameras are on the way. I’m waiting by my T.V biting my nails wondering if there’s a genie in the bottle that is just waiting to get out and annihilate Boston.
“Breaking News” in Oklahoma! (My second dose of Breaking News so far, this afternoon.) Some guy is leading police on a high-speed chase and the chopper can’t keep up. See him speed down the road! Anchors are speculating over why he’s running…the guy’s stopping…no he’s not.
Do you ever wonder what will happen when/if we do have some bona fide “Breaking News” like September Eleven? What are these stations going to call it?
“We’re just getting word of some seriously Breaking News. We mean, REAL breaking news, and this time it’s not any of the crap we’ve been calling breaking news. It’s actually news…and it’s breaking right now!”
I can do without this kind of shocking, numbing, economy devastating, fear-iinducing Breaking News. I will happily tolerate...
“Breaking News!” The guy in Oklahoma is on the ground! He’s being arrested. Do I hear Murrow Award?
For those of you who didn’t know that chase happened in Oklahoma today, just thought I should let you know.
I try to be helpful.
Let’s bypass congress’s daily maddening slugfest over bailouts. Forget their sputtering outrage over the profligate ways of the same car companies they coddled for decades. Let’s head straight to the corruption charges.
As I write this, there is “Breaking News” about Boston City councilor Chuck Turner. He was just arrested at his City Hall office this morning (November 21/2008) for taking bribes. Turner has been on the City Council since 2000.
The FBI apparently videotaped Turner accepting a one-thousand-dollar cash bribe, allegedly to push for a liquor license for a local nightclub. Officials say Turner lied about taking the money. Investigators ordered Turner to keep his computers and telephones off. Turner says that deprives his constituents of "the leadership they want...and won't allow "this abuse of power" to continue.
Another, more shocking arrest was that of State Senator Dianne Wilkerson in October. She’s charged with accepting eight bribes totaling just under 25-thousand-dollars. Wilkerson was an influential Boston lawmaker who spent 16-years at the Massachusetts State House (Beacon Hill). She and Chuck Turner were allies.
The government seems to be implying that other Boston politicians may get sucked into the widening federal corruption inquiry.
Yet another Massachusetts lawmaker, already caught in a scandal, is State Senator Jim Marzilli. He was forced to resign November 14. Marzilli is awaiting trial on charges he sexually harassed four women earlier this year. Marzilli’s lawyer says the Senator has “a bi-polar condition.”
One commentator quipped Marzilli was well enough to fly to Germany, some weeks ago, where he represented the Massachusetts Senate at an environmental forum. Marzilli also attended a business and academic conference. Marzilli's little junket apparently didn't go down well with colleagues!
And last, but definitely not least, the uber-powerful Speaker of The Massachusetts House of Representatives, Sal DiMasi, is caught up in an ethics investigation involving his personal accountant. The accountant apparently helped DiMasi secure a discounted mortgage on The Speaker's home. DiMasi has reportedly refused to hand some of his records to the ethics commission.
That is just one state. If we go by alphabetical order, Alaska is waiting in the wings.
With those headlines, who needs gloomy economic news? Do we want to hear that Citi Group, which just announced 50-thousand job cuts, may have to cut even more, asssuming it survives...with government help? Or that World Markets are taking a beating? Do we want to decipher terms like "deflation" unless it has to do with politicians egos? Or hear that the "recession" is now official, after conveniently denying it for as long as we could? NO? O-K, here’s what we do:
First, we avoid serious news outlets like NPR or PBS.
Instead, we tune in to one of the many pop-starlet T-V stations that are continuously trying to outdo each other with “Breaking News”.
Do you like stories about pregnant moms who give birth by the highway, over the highway or under the highway? Don’t change that channel!
“Breaking News...” Someone found a suspicious looking bottle in an empty lot. News cameras are on the way. I’m waiting by my T.V biting my nails wondering if there’s a genie in the bottle that is just waiting to get out and annihilate Boston.
“Breaking News” in Oklahoma! (My second dose of Breaking News so far, this afternoon.) Some guy is leading police on a high-speed chase and the chopper can’t keep up. See him speed down the road! Anchors are speculating over why he’s running…the guy’s stopping…no he’s not.
Do you ever wonder what will happen when/if we do have some bona fide “Breaking News” like September Eleven? What are these stations going to call it?
“We’re just getting word of some seriously Breaking News. We mean, REAL breaking news, and this time it’s not any of the crap we’ve been calling breaking news. It’s actually news…and it’s breaking right now!”
I can do without this kind of shocking, numbing, economy devastating, fear-iinducing Breaking News. I will happily tolerate...
“Breaking News!” The guy in Oklahoma is on the ground! He’s being arrested. Do I hear Murrow Award?
For those of you who didn’t know that chase happened in Oklahoma today, just thought I should let you know.
I try to be helpful.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
No Legislation…Without a Plan!
"No Taxation Without Representation" The early cry of those pesky Boston revolutionaries...
Today (November 20/2008) Congress is telling auto makers: No Legislation Without a Plan!
Congress has sent the auto executives back home empty-handed…with one directive: YOU HAVE TWELVE DAYS TO SHOW ME YOUR PLANS!
The CEO’s of these three companies, GM, Chrysler and Ford didn’t find much sympathy at the Capitol. And the story about their fancy, expensive private jets did not help, either! GM’s Rick Wagoner says, well, he’s been swamped lately, so he hasn’t done much flying on the company jet. At this point in time, Mr. Wagoner, you don’t need a jet. You need a bailout plan. Ditch the jet and come up with a plan. Quickly!
I saw on T.V an auto worker, who like many others, was shouting to save her job. She said she had worked in the auto industry for 26 years; she just needed another four to retire. I’m like: So what. Just because you want to retire in style, why should taxpayers foot that bill? Many can’t even afford to retire! I saw her as a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the auto industry.
It’s not that I don’t feel sorry for this woman. I would probably feel the same way in her shoes. But many of these auto workers retired at fifty! Which leads me to think that the whole retirement culture in the U-S needs to change. Workers need to start taking responsibility for their own retirement.
The age of cradle to grave employer largess is almost over. That was the Mesozoic age. T-Rex is gone. (If the Googles out there want to do it, no problem.) This is the age of the 401K.
When we don't plan wisely, we play the blame game. The United Auto Workers President says lawmakers need to take immediate action…because "inaction is simply not an option.” If you’re looking for dinosaurs…here’s another one.
Ron Gettelfiner says: “If one of the companies goes over the cliff, it could take one or more with it." Translate that to mean: it would also take the UAW with it. Are we to believe he's more concerned about "jobs" than the UAW's currently shaky future, without a bailout? Many people don’t seem to mind the auto companies going down at all! It would give the three companies a chance to tear up those constricting UAW contracts, for one!
The UAW boss is also blaming states like Alabama, and their lawmakers, for offering billions in juicy tax breaks to foreign auto companies, (to compete against us) while opposing help for Detroit.
Maybe telling Toyota to go set shop up in India would have made more Americans buy more hummers or Escalades? So now Ford, GM and Chrysler are facing bankruptcy because Honda is making cars here? If we’re going to be buying foreign cars, anyway, are we not better off making them here…and salvaging some auto jobs?
The auto companies say a 25-billion-dollar bridge loan will let them stay afloat through to the end of the year. Now that’s what I call a REAL Bridge to Nowhere. The Alaskans insist that their bridge was going somewhere, and it was. (Sorry Ketchikan!) Nobody can see where this rescue bridge across The Great Lakes is headed. Not even Congress. Hence the need for a plan…
Like how GM plans to stop bleeding 2-billion-dollars a month?
Like how Ford, GM and Chrysler plan to make better/cheaper cars?
How they plan to reign in suffocating health care costs?
How they plan to streamline their assembly lines?
Show me your new green/fuel efficient technologies!
Show me how you plan to restructure!
And finally, when do they plan to call Sarah Palin to help put their jets on e-bay?
All is not lost. Lawmakers (including a bipartisan group from key auto manufacturing states) are still trying to cobble together an agreement of some sort.
Hopefully we’ll have some blueprints, after Thanksgiving.
Today (November 20/2008) Congress is telling auto makers: No Legislation Without a Plan!
Congress has sent the auto executives back home empty-handed…with one directive: YOU HAVE TWELVE DAYS TO SHOW ME YOUR PLANS!
The CEO’s of these three companies, GM, Chrysler and Ford didn’t find much sympathy at the Capitol. And the story about their fancy, expensive private jets did not help, either! GM’s Rick Wagoner says, well, he’s been swamped lately, so he hasn’t done much flying on the company jet. At this point in time, Mr. Wagoner, you don’t need a jet. You need a bailout plan. Ditch the jet and come up with a plan. Quickly!
I saw on T.V an auto worker, who like many others, was shouting to save her job. She said she had worked in the auto industry for 26 years; she just needed another four to retire. I’m like: So what. Just because you want to retire in style, why should taxpayers foot that bill? Many can’t even afford to retire! I saw her as a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the auto industry.
It’s not that I don’t feel sorry for this woman. I would probably feel the same way in her shoes. But many of these auto workers retired at fifty! Which leads me to think that the whole retirement culture in the U-S needs to change. Workers need to start taking responsibility for their own retirement.
The age of cradle to grave employer largess is almost over. That was the Mesozoic age. T-Rex is gone. (If the Googles out there want to do it, no problem.) This is the age of the 401K.
When we don't plan wisely, we play the blame game. The United Auto Workers President says lawmakers need to take immediate action…because "inaction is simply not an option.” If you’re looking for dinosaurs…here’s another one.
Ron Gettelfiner says: “If one of the companies goes over the cliff, it could take one or more with it." Translate that to mean: it would also take the UAW with it. Are we to believe he's more concerned about "jobs" than the UAW's currently shaky future, without a bailout? Many people don’t seem to mind the auto companies going down at all! It would give the three companies a chance to tear up those constricting UAW contracts, for one!
The UAW boss is also blaming states like Alabama, and their lawmakers, for offering billions in juicy tax breaks to foreign auto companies, (to compete against us) while opposing help for Detroit.
Maybe telling Toyota to go set shop up in India would have made more Americans buy more hummers or Escalades? So now Ford, GM and Chrysler are facing bankruptcy because Honda is making cars here? If we’re going to be buying foreign cars, anyway, are we not better off making them here…and salvaging some auto jobs?
The auto companies say a 25-billion-dollar bridge loan will let them stay afloat through to the end of the year. Now that’s what I call a REAL Bridge to Nowhere. The Alaskans insist that their bridge was going somewhere, and it was. (Sorry Ketchikan!) Nobody can see where this rescue bridge across The Great Lakes is headed. Not even Congress. Hence the need for a plan…
Like how GM plans to stop bleeding 2-billion-dollars a month?
Like how Ford, GM and Chrysler plan to make better/cheaper cars?
How they plan to reign in suffocating health care costs?
How they plan to streamline their assembly lines?
Show me your new green/fuel efficient technologies!
Show me how you plan to restructure!
And finally, when do they plan to call Sarah Palin to help put their jets on e-bay?
All is not lost. Lawmakers (including a bipartisan group from key auto manufacturing states) are still trying to cobble together an agreement of some sort.
Hopefully we’ll have some blueprints, after Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Unhappy Birthday for Ted Stevens!
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has apparently lost his re-election bid! Thank You Santa!
Stevens was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He has been re-elected six times! Senator Stevens is the senior member of Alaska’s congressional delegation and the senior Republican in the U.S. Senate. He's also the longest-serving Senator in the history of the Republican Party. (His 40-year tenure dates back to Lyndon Johnson’s administration!)
But today, (November 19/2008) on his 85th birthday, after a long vote count, seems Anchorage Mayor, Democrat Mark Begich, has narrowly won that Alaska Senate race. There are still some 25-hundred overseas ballots left to count. And a recount is possible. But as of this moment, it’s looking like Stevens may NOT get the birthday present that he was hoping for!
Stevens was embroiled in a home renovation scandal that led to federal corruption charges (for violating provisions of the Ethics in Government Act). The government says Stevens did not report about a quarter-million-dollars in gifts and services, including home renovations. The funds in question came from an Alaskan oil-field service company (VECO Corporation), and it’s CEO.
Stevens pleaded not guilty. His trial began (in Washington, DC) in September, just weeks before the November general election. One week before the election, Stevens was found guilty on all seven counts, yet he insisted on running for re-election.
Alaska's republicans dutifully and hypocritically went ahead and voted for a convicted felon to represent them in Washington, and fight for change! These people beat their breast with their left hand and stridently claimed that Obama was not fit to be president. Yet they took their right hand and voted for a convicted felon...that they saw as fit to be their senator!
Which takes us to Sarah Palin…
Conventional wisdom said that if Stevens won, republicans would oust him. There would be a special election to fill the seat, Sarah Palin would run, possibly win and head to Washington, hockey puck in hand. In elitist DC, she’d immediately don some lipstick and designer duds and send aspiring 2012 republican presidential wannabes reaching for the Maalox!! Some of them must be secretly relieved that Begich won!
Remember how Palin attacked Obama for securing earmark dollars for his state. Well Ted Stevens was an Earmark King. He brought home cartons of bacon, plus some ribs and tenderloin, too!
Seems Stevens (lovingly referred to in Alaska as: "Uncle Ted") secured billions for Alaska over the years (more than 9-billion-dollars in 2006 alone!) And then there’s that famous bridge to nowhere. Stevens helped secure the 200 million for that project, too.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 25. Stevens faces a maximum penalty of five years per charge…unless President Bush steps in and either pardons him or commutes his sentence.
While we wait to see what the final count will be, The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that:
The Chairman of Alaska’s Republican Party is whining that Stevens lost his seat because of: the timing of the trial. He says Stevens had little time to campaign! Convicted on seven counts of corruption and their only concern: Stevens did not have time to campaign! Campaign for what? How about apologize to his constituents...? He has a lot of time for that!
The paper says Stevens claims he was railroaded. He’s alleging prosecutorial misconduct so gross that legal scholars would study the case for years to come. Stevens denies wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict. According to the Anchorage Daily News, after the jury's decision, Stevens asserted he had not been convicted, relying on a legal definition that defied common usage of the term.
No, Mr. Stevens you have NOT been convicted. And neither has former Ohio Governor Bob Taft. The republican pled no contest and was “convicted” on four misdemeanor ethics violations in 2005. Including failure to disclose 6-thousand-dollars in undisclosed gifts, plus golf outings paid for by lobbyists.
Pennsylvania democrat Frank LaGrotta was NOT convicted, either. He was just inexplicably sentenced to six months house arrest, probation and fines in 2007. The former State Representative pled guilty to two counts of corruption for giving away thousands of tax dollars to family members through ghost employment.
Two more politicians who were unfairly bamboozled by gross prosecutorial misconduct.
Stevens was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He has been re-elected six times! Senator Stevens is the senior member of Alaska’s congressional delegation and the senior Republican in the U.S. Senate. He's also the longest-serving Senator in the history of the Republican Party. (His 40-year tenure dates back to Lyndon Johnson’s administration!)
But today, (November 19/2008) on his 85th birthday, after a long vote count, seems Anchorage Mayor, Democrat Mark Begich, has narrowly won that Alaska Senate race. There are still some 25-hundred overseas ballots left to count. And a recount is possible. But as of this moment, it’s looking like Stevens may NOT get the birthday present that he was hoping for!
Stevens was embroiled in a home renovation scandal that led to federal corruption charges (for violating provisions of the Ethics in Government Act). The government says Stevens did not report about a quarter-million-dollars in gifts and services, including home renovations. The funds in question came from an Alaskan oil-field service company (VECO Corporation), and it’s CEO.
Stevens pleaded not guilty. His trial began (in Washington, DC) in September, just weeks before the November general election. One week before the election, Stevens was found guilty on all seven counts, yet he insisted on running for re-election.
Alaska's republicans dutifully and hypocritically went ahead and voted for a convicted felon to represent them in Washington, and fight for change! These people beat their breast with their left hand and stridently claimed that Obama was not fit to be president. Yet they took their right hand and voted for a convicted felon...that they saw as fit to be their senator!
Which takes us to Sarah Palin…
Conventional wisdom said that if Stevens won, republicans would oust him. There would be a special election to fill the seat, Sarah Palin would run, possibly win and head to Washington, hockey puck in hand. In elitist DC, she’d immediately don some lipstick and designer duds and send aspiring 2012 republican presidential wannabes reaching for the Maalox!! Some of them must be secretly relieved that Begich won!
Remember how Palin attacked Obama for securing earmark dollars for his state. Well Ted Stevens was an Earmark King. He brought home cartons of bacon, plus some ribs and tenderloin, too!
Seems Stevens (lovingly referred to in Alaska as: "Uncle Ted") secured billions for Alaska over the years (more than 9-billion-dollars in 2006 alone!) And then there’s that famous bridge to nowhere. Stevens helped secure the 200 million for that project, too.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 25. Stevens faces a maximum penalty of five years per charge…unless President Bush steps in and either pardons him or commutes his sentence.
While we wait to see what the final count will be, The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that:
The Chairman of Alaska’s Republican Party is whining that Stevens lost his seat because of: the timing of the trial. He says Stevens had little time to campaign! Convicted on seven counts of corruption and their only concern: Stevens did not have time to campaign! Campaign for what? How about apologize to his constituents...? He has a lot of time for that!
The paper says Stevens claims he was railroaded. He’s alleging prosecutorial misconduct so gross that legal scholars would study the case for years to come. Stevens denies wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict. According to the Anchorage Daily News, after the jury's decision, Stevens asserted he had not been convicted, relying on a legal definition that defied common usage of the term.
No, Mr. Stevens you have NOT been convicted. And neither has former Ohio Governor Bob Taft. The republican pled no contest and was “convicted” on four misdemeanor ethics violations in 2005. Including failure to disclose 6-thousand-dollars in undisclosed gifts, plus golf outings paid for by lobbyists.
Pennsylvania democrat Frank LaGrotta was NOT convicted, either. He was just inexplicably sentenced to six months house arrest, probation and fines in 2007. The former State Representative pled guilty to two counts of corruption for giving away thousands of tax dollars to family members through ghost employment.
Two more politicians who were unfairly bamboozled by gross prosecutorial misconduct.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
McCain’s "Palling Around" with…
Obama.
Did you expect me to say “terrorists?” Sorry. We are way too elitist for that!
The republican senator and his former democratic rival for president met Monday (November 17/2008) to discuss “bipartisanship” at Obama’s transition headquarters in Chicago.
Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff, Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel and South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close McCain friend, helped arrange the meeting.
Politics indeed makes for some strange bedfellows! I think I have all the makings of being a great politician. Except for one thing: The Love Your Enemies and forget their crap part!
Chris Wallace (Fox News) interviewed Lindsey Graham after the first presidential debate (held September 26) at The University of Mississippi.
During the debate, Obama challenged McCain's tax proposals, arguing that McCain would give a tax cut of 300-billion-dollars in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the U.S. and for the first time in history, would tax health benefits.
Graham said Obama was playing the "Class Warfare" game.
And when Obama called McCain by his first name during the debate? Graham said Obama was trying to suggest that he, Obama, was equal to McCain. Gasp!
A clip of the Graham interview (as seen in this YouTube video) appears below. In it Graham says McCain should have told Obama:
"Senator Obama, you don't understand, you're not just naive, my friend, you’re dangerous. Senator Obama, you're not ready to be President.
Check it out:
So here we have Obama, Emanuel, McCain and Graham sitting together and pledging to work together. Now how many antacids did Mr. Graham have to take before he could bring himself to cross to the naive side of town to sit with the new president-elect, who is/was? not his/their? equal…and also dangerous and unprepared?
Obama and McCain will hopefully be working together to address a number of issues that they held similar views on during the campaign: Guantanamo Bay, climate change, immigration, corporate welfare and energy independence.
Now to another politician, with a leading role in the "I was Blind, But now I See" makeover. Enter Joe Lieberman: Stage Left.
Democrats wanted his head, but his carotid artery remains firmly attached, for now. Lieberman apparently drove himself to the political guillotine and willing lay down, face up! Thanks to Obama, The Connecticut republican, I mean "Independent" gets to keep his powerful slot as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and lives to campaign for Sarah Palin in 2012!
Lieberman now says: “Some of the statements, some of the things that people have said I said about Senator Obama, are simply not true. There are other statements that I made that I wish I had made more clearly, and there are some that I made that I wish I had not made at all. And obviously in the heat of campaigns, that happens to all of us, but I regret that and now it’s time to move on.” O-K.
Hey, that’s politics! As usual…
I just find it ironic that during the campaign, Lieberman, during one of his many attacks on Obama, said:
I believe he’s naïve to think that people like Iran's president will somehow become America’s friends by talking to them — a warm embrace and a cup of tea. It’s not going to work that way.
As Palin would say: Well darn it, Senator Lieberman, Obama just used that same tactic on you.
CHECK and MATE!
Did you expect me to say “terrorists?” Sorry. We are way too elitist for that!
The republican senator and his former democratic rival for president met Monday (November 17/2008) to discuss “bipartisanship” at Obama’s transition headquarters in Chicago.
Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff, Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel and South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close McCain friend, helped arrange the meeting.
Politics indeed makes for some strange bedfellows! I think I have all the makings of being a great politician. Except for one thing: The Love Your Enemies and forget their crap part!
Chris Wallace (Fox News) interviewed Lindsey Graham after the first presidential debate (held September 26) at The University of Mississippi.
During the debate, Obama challenged McCain's tax proposals, arguing that McCain would give a tax cut of 300-billion-dollars in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the U.S. and for the first time in history, would tax health benefits.
Graham said Obama was playing the "Class Warfare" game.
And when Obama called McCain by his first name during the debate? Graham said Obama was trying to suggest that he, Obama, was equal to McCain. Gasp!
A clip of the Graham interview (as seen in this YouTube video) appears below. In it Graham says McCain should have told Obama:
"Senator Obama, you don't understand, you're not just naive, my friend, you’re dangerous. Senator Obama, you're not ready to be President.
Check it out:
So here we have Obama, Emanuel, McCain and Graham sitting together and pledging to work together. Now how many antacids did Mr. Graham have to take before he could bring himself to cross to the naive side of town to sit with the new president-elect, who is/was? not his/their? equal…and also dangerous and unprepared?
Obama and McCain will hopefully be working together to address a number of issues that they held similar views on during the campaign: Guantanamo Bay, climate change, immigration, corporate welfare and energy independence.
Now to another politician, with a leading role in the "I was Blind, But now I See" makeover. Enter Joe Lieberman: Stage Left.
Democrats wanted his head, but his carotid artery remains firmly attached, for now. Lieberman apparently drove himself to the political guillotine and willing lay down, face up! Thanks to Obama, The Connecticut republican, I mean "Independent" gets to keep his powerful slot as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and lives to campaign for Sarah Palin in 2012!
Lieberman now says: “Some of the statements, some of the things that people have said I said about Senator Obama, are simply not true. There are other statements that I made that I wish I had made more clearly, and there are some that I made that I wish I had not made at all. And obviously in the heat of campaigns, that happens to all of us, but I regret that and now it’s time to move on.” O-K.
Hey, that’s politics! As usual…
I just find it ironic that during the campaign, Lieberman, during one of his many attacks on Obama, said:
I believe he’s naïve to think that people like Iran's president will somehow become America’s friends by talking to them — a warm embrace and a cup of tea. It’s not going to work that way.
As Palin would say: Well darn it, Senator Lieberman, Obama just used that same tactic on you.
CHECK and MATE!
Monday, November 17, 2008
50 Thousand Jobs...Going, Gone!
I was at my local Bank of America branch Monday morning (November 17/2008) when a staffer told me the bad news. The markets are down again…City Bank is cutting FIFTY thousand jobs!
What? Did he say Citi is cutting 50 thousand jobs? 50 - as in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50? Not 500, not 5-thousand…50-thousand? (Well 52-thousand to be exact!) Citi Group is also selling off assets. The New York-based banking giant has been bleeding cash for the last year or so. Last quarter, it lost 3-billion-dollars!
Still, I was in shock. And for the first time since this “crisis” began, I was scared. I’m beginning to get a taste of what it felt like during the Great Depression and I don’t like it! When 50-thousand people clean out their desks and go home, there go 50-thousand people whose spending power just got cut to zero or near zero.
About half of these job cuts, some 26-thousand, will be here in the U.S. That means fewer people taking public transportation; fewer people ordering out or eating out; fewer people able to pay their mortgages, meaning more homes are likely to be foreclosed; fewer people going to the movies; fewer people buying big-ticket electronics; fewer people making charitable donations; fewer people buying gas or cars…or taking vacations. Toll revenues go down, tax revenues go down, and people's hopes and dreams go down.
Experts have been warning American consumers that they were over-exposed. Was no-one listening? There were voices urging both consumers and the government to cut down on debt. Too much borrowing. But who cared. The Bush administration's first response was to give people a 600-dollar "tax rebate" and send them out to stimulate the economy. Shop, Baby, Shop! Buy, Baby, Buy!
Now credit card companies are stealthily lowering consumers’ credit limits. If someone charged 5-thousand-dollars on a card with a 10-thousand-dollar limit and the credit card company lowers the credit limit to 6-thousand, or 5-thousand, that person’s FICO score is messed up! Just like that. And now that consumer runs into all kinds of credit issues, especially if the consumer is using several credit cards with high balances.
The Wall Street Journal says the mining industry is beginning to feel the pinch. Seems China’s building boom is contracting and demand for steel and metals worldwide is slowing. The Journal says America's largest steelmaker (by production), U.S. Steel, plans to lay off almost 700 unionized workers.
Cruise ships are feeling the pinch. Now is a mighty good time to go cruising, if you can afford it. Retailers are panicking about the holiday shopping season – they say it’s make or break. (Retailers always say that!) But this time they may just be right. Experts say there may be a rash of closings after the holidays, if sales tank!
Here in Massachusetts, tolls are being raised. Some as high as 7-dollars (for cars/cash. With transponders it's $6.00. Taxis pay $9.00 cash). People are taking creative ways to avoid the tolls, cutting through formerly quiet suburbs. Residents are beginning to gripe that they can no longer reverse out of their driveways!
Amid all this, I have an uneasy feeling over a statement from Citi Group. The bank says it has lower exposure to U.S. consumer mortgages than other banks, like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Sooo…if Citi has lower exposure than those other banks and it’s laying off 50-thousand people…what does that tell us about those other banks with higher exposure? Massive layoffs there too…? Not necessarily. But still, very, very scary!
On a more positive note:
While Ford, Chrysler and GM are in Washington begging for a bailout, Honda (Japan's number two carmaker) today dedicated its new plant in Indiana.
Nearly 900 people are making fuel efficient Honda Civics at its Greensburg plant. Did you hear that Detroit...you and your leading cheerleader, Senator Carl Levine (D-MI)? Honda plans to add a second shift next year. The plant is expected to produce 200-thousand cars annually, and employ 2-thousand workers at full capacity. (Honda says it got 30-thousand applications!)
The first cars rolled off the line October 09/2008. Honda apparently isn't looking for a bailout from Congress.
Why did Honda even bother building a new plant? It can as well just march up to Chrysler or GM and take over their building. They don't seem to know what to do with it, anyway.
What? Did he say Citi is cutting 50 thousand jobs? 50 - as in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50? Not 500, not 5-thousand…50-thousand? (Well 52-thousand to be exact!) Citi Group is also selling off assets. The New York-based banking giant has been bleeding cash for the last year or so. Last quarter, it lost 3-billion-dollars!
Still, I was in shock. And for the first time since this “crisis” began, I was scared. I’m beginning to get a taste of what it felt like during the Great Depression and I don’t like it! When 50-thousand people clean out their desks and go home, there go 50-thousand people whose spending power just got cut to zero or near zero.
About half of these job cuts, some 26-thousand, will be here in the U.S. That means fewer people taking public transportation; fewer people ordering out or eating out; fewer people able to pay their mortgages, meaning more homes are likely to be foreclosed; fewer people going to the movies; fewer people buying big-ticket electronics; fewer people making charitable donations; fewer people buying gas or cars…or taking vacations. Toll revenues go down, tax revenues go down, and people's hopes and dreams go down.
Experts have been warning American consumers that they were over-exposed. Was no-one listening? There were voices urging both consumers and the government to cut down on debt. Too much borrowing. But who cared. The Bush administration's first response was to give people a 600-dollar "tax rebate" and send them out to stimulate the economy. Shop, Baby, Shop! Buy, Baby, Buy!
Now credit card companies are stealthily lowering consumers’ credit limits. If someone charged 5-thousand-dollars on a card with a 10-thousand-dollar limit and the credit card company lowers the credit limit to 6-thousand, or 5-thousand, that person’s FICO score is messed up! Just like that. And now that consumer runs into all kinds of credit issues, especially if the consumer is using several credit cards with high balances.
The Wall Street Journal says the mining industry is beginning to feel the pinch. Seems China’s building boom is contracting and demand for steel and metals worldwide is slowing. The Journal says America's largest steelmaker (by production), U.S. Steel, plans to lay off almost 700 unionized workers.
Cruise ships are feeling the pinch. Now is a mighty good time to go cruising, if you can afford it. Retailers are panicking about the holiday shopping season – they say it’s make or break. (Retailers always say that!) But this time they may just be right. Experts say there may be a rash of closings after the holidays, if sales tank!
Here in Massachusetts, tolls are being raised. Some as high as 7-dollars (for cars/cash. With transponders it's $6.00. Taxis pay $9.00 cash). People are taking creative ways to avoid the tolls, cutting through formerly quiet suburbs. Residents are beginning to gripe that they can no longer reverse out of their driveways!
Amid all this, I have an uneasy feeling over a statement from Citi Group. The bank says it has lower exposure to U.S. consumer mortgages than other banks, like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Sooo…if Citi has lower exposure than those other banks and it’s laying off 50-thousand people…what does that tell us about those other banks with higher exposure? Massive layoffs there too…? Not necessarily. But still, very, very scary!
On a more positive note:
While Ford, Chrysler and GM are in Washington begging for a bailout, Honda (Japan's number two carmaker) today dedicated its new plant in Indiana.
Nearly 900 people are making fuel efficient Honda Civics at its Greensburg plant. Did you hear that Detroit...you and your leading cheerleader, Senator Carl Levine (D-MI)? Honda plans to add a second shift next year. The plant is expected to produce 200-thousand cars annually, and employ 2-thousand workers at full capacity. (Honda says it got 30-thousand applications!)
The first cars rolled off the line October 09/2008. Honda apparently isn't looking for a bailout from Congress.
Why did Honda even bother building a new plant? It can as well just march up to Chrysler or GM and take over their building. They don't seem to know what to do with it, anyway.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Me Sick, Detroit Sicker!
IS anybody out there feeling as lethargic and down-trodden as I do?
I’ve been to the doctor three times in 6 weeks! I picked up a bug and it seems to ahve moved in. Probably lost it's home in the mortgage meltdown!
However, being unable and/or unwilling to bustle around can be good. I let everything go. I watched T.V. all day, all night! Now that’s the life. Obama can try to fix Washington. Just give me James Bond! They were running a marathon because of the latest Bond film: “Quantum of Solace” (Whatever that means!) So I watched Mr. Bond save the world and I watched stupid shows I’d never watch normally: Like Real Housewives, the Atlanta ones.
So that was what I was doing while I was not blogging.
I did however hear about Detroit's automakers who want Washington to Bail them out. And I have some thougnts on that in Big "Reduced" Three Begging...
I’ve been to the doctor three times in 6 weeks! I picked up a bug and it seems to ahve moved in. Probably lost it's home in the mortgage meltdown!
However, being unable and/or unwilling to bustle around can be good. I let everything go. I watched T.V. all day, all night! Now that’s the life. Obama can try to fix Washington. Just give me James Bond! They were running a marathon because of the latest Bond film: “Quantum of Solace” (Whatever that means!) So I watched Mr. Bond save the world and I watched stupid shows I’d never watch normally: Like Real Housewives, the Atlanta ones.
So that was what I was doing while I was not blogging.
I did however hear about Detroit's automakers who want Washington to Bail them out. And I have some thougnts on that in Big "Reduced" Three Begging...
Big "Reduced" Three Begging
Why is there such a disconnect between democrats and republicans?
Democrats are gung ho on giving Detroit a slice of the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout/rescue while republicans say: “No way, Mulally.” (Ford CEO, Alan Mulally)
Chrysler (CEO Robert Nardelli) Ford and GM see congress dishing our gobs of free money and they want some too. So they’re asking for 25-billion (which won’t get them very far. GM is burning through 2-billion a month. 12 months and it’s all gone, anyway!)
Senate Democrats are all set to introduce legislation Monday, with a possible vote by Wednesday. Massachusetts Democrat, Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee) supports the Detroit Bailout and he's becoming stridently incoherent, while republicans are abandoning ship.
Meantime, The White House is proposing its own plan. It wants the 25-billion to be dished out in the form of loans (previously approved) that automakers would use to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and use the money for more immediate needs. Congressional Democrats say the White House plan is shortsighted.
Left to Senate republicans like Jon Kyl of Arizona, Detroit's Big Three, or more appropriately, The Big "Reduced" Three, can go to hell! The Democrats resident Santa Claus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA) would like to invite Detroit to the treasury for lunch.
Now, I understand the importance of the auto industry in and to America. It would be a shame and a disgrace to see it die. But by golly, GM CEO Rick Wagoner says: He won't offer to resign, because it’s not clear to him what purpose would be served. I say he needs some bi-focals. And possibly Lasik surgery.
Waggoner says “our job is to make sure we have the best management team to run GM". That apparently includes Mr. Waggoner who has run GM for the past eight years. Under his brilliant guidance, GM lost 39-billion-dollars in the third-quarter (2008), the second-worst quarterly net loss in U.S. corporate history! GM stock has also lost 95-percent of its value. Don’t resign until the stock reaches a penny. Mr. Waggoner. (It's now about $3.00!)
President elect Obama made a good point on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday night (November 16/2008). Obama said normally, he’d let GM go bankrupt and restructure, but these are not normal times, and given the credit freeze, even for profitable companies, turning our backs on GM now could kill that company. As usual, when Obama talks, he makes sense, and even if you don’t support that position, he sells you on it!
So by all means, go ahead and try to save GM, and Ford and Chrysler. But can we save them “as is”? I’m not sure. I have not delved into the economics of those three auto makers. Except for what I hear about high personnel costs, retirement benefit burdens, high operating costs...cars that are not up to par and way too expensive to produce…and apparently, an aversion to change.
Just last year, Detroit's automakers fought government efforts to improve fuel efficiency and threw their weight behind a weaker, watered down bill pushed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). The same Levin is now shouting the loudest about "rescuing" Detroit. He and these automakers remind me of a symbiotic relationship, even if I don't know why!
Detroit's car makers spent millions of dollars hiring lobbyists to safeguard their status quo. Fuel efficient cars? Hell no. Let’s build Hummers and bigger SUV’s. Green vehicles? Why not crush them! Today, they want a bail-out.
Still, I guess, if we can bail out those AIG executives who are still guzzling Dom Pérignon, then I guess we can also bail/rescue GM. Let’s just hope Toyota isn’t next. They do build some good cars here in the U.S.
Thanks, Toyota. Yes, you can!
By the way: Twenty years from now, oil companies will be going to government for a bail-out, because their industry will be going down the drain…unless they reinvest in new, green, clean technology. There is a lesson to be learned…if we care to learn it!
Democrats are gung ho on giving Detroit a slice of the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout/rescue while republicans say: “No way, Mulally.” (Ford CEO, Alan Mulally)
Chrysler (CEO Robert Nardelli) Ford and GM see congress dishing our gobs of free money and they want some too. So they’re asking for 25-billion (which won’t get them very far. GM is burning through 2-billion a month. 12 months and it’s all gone, anyway!)
Senate Democrats are all set to introduce legislation Monday, with a possible vote by Wednesday. Massachusetts Democrat, Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee) supports the Detroit Bailout and he's becoming stridently incoherent, while republicans are abandoning ship.
Meantime, The White House is proposing its own plan. It wants the 25-billion to be dished out in the form of loans (previously approved) that automakers would use to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and use the money for more immediate needs. Congressional Democrats say the White House plan is shortsighted.
Left to Senate republicans like Jon Kyl of Arizona, Detroit's Big Three, or more appropriately, The Big "Reduced" Three, can go to hell! The Democrats resident Santa Claus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA) would like to invite Detroit to the treasury for lunch.
Now, I understand the importance of the auto industry in and to America. It would be a shame and a disgrace to see it die. But by golly, GM CEO Rick Wagoner says: He won't offer to resign, because it’s not clear to him what purpose would be served. I say he needs some bi-focals. And possibly Lasik surgery.
Waggoner says “our job is to make sure we have the best management team to run GM". That apparently includes Mr. Waggoner who has run GM for the past eight years. Under his brilliant guidance, GM lost 39-billion-dollars in the third-quarter (2008), the second-worst quarterly net loss in U.S. corporate history! GM stock has also lost 95-percent of its value. Don’t resign until the stock reaches a penny. Mr. Waggoner. (It's now about $3.00!)
President elect Obama made a good point on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday night (November 16/2008). Obama said normally, he’d let GM go bankrupt and restructure, but these are not normal times, and given the credit freeze, even for profitable companies, turning our backs on GM now could kill that company. As usual, when Obama talks, he makes sense, and even if you don’t support that position, he sells you on it!
So by all means, go ahead and try to save GM, and Ford and Chrysler. But can we save them “as is”? I’m not sure. I have not delved into the economics of those three auto makers. Except for what I hear about high personnel costs, retirement benefit burdens, high operating costs...cars that are not up to par and way too expensive to produce…and apparently, an aversion to change.
Just last year, Detroit's automakers fought government efforts to improve fuel efficiency and threw their weight behind a weaker, watered down bill pushed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). The same Levin is now shouting the loudest about "rescuing" Detroit. He and these automakers remind me of a symbiotic relationship, even if I don't know why!
Detroit's car makers spent millions of dollars hiring lobbyists to safeguard their status quo. Fuel efficient cars? Hell no. Let’s build Hummers and bigger SUV’s. Green vehicles? Why not crush them! Today, they want a bail-out.
Still, I guess, if we can bail out those AIG executives who are still guzzling Dom Pérignon, then I guess we can also bail/rescue GM. Let’s just hope Toyota isn’t next. They do build some good cars here in the U.S.
Thanks, Toyota. Yes, you can!
By the way: Twenty years from now, oil companies will be going to government for a bail-out, because their industry will be going down the drain…unless they reinvest in new, green, clean technology. There is a lesson to be learned…if we care to learn it!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Paging the Clintons...and Racism Overseas.
Can anyone please let me know if the Clintons have been spotted anywhere outside the U.S…like Brazil, Botswana...Bangkok?
The world is rushing to congratulate Barack Obama on his victory. Even from republicans like Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice... (bet she voted secretly for Obama! She hates Cheney too, remember) to prominent democrats who do and don’t want jobs in an Obama Administration.
We’ve heard from Obama’s third cousin, on his grandfather’s side, fourteen times removed. We’ve heard from people in every depressed black area in America and overseas. Even Sarah Palin pledged co-operation. But I’m still waiting to hear from prominent power-couple: Hill and Bill!
The President and Mrs. Bush reached out. Iran is writing! Russia is calling! But so far, nothing publicly, from the Clintons. Maybe the Clintons have graciously decided to let Obama have his moment. They could also be having uncontrollable sobbing fits over Obama’s historic smashing of the ebony? ceiling.
Perhaps the Clintons see just one way to restore the family’s honor. Chelsea for President! They’ve probably taken her to a secret overseas location. Political ninja's will immediately start training Chelsea how to kick and punch her way through a grueling primary process, until she stages her own bid to return the presidency to Clinton hands!
And by the way, when that phone rings at 3:00 A.M, we’re not scared about who will be answering it. Because if aides come rushing in shouting: Mr. President, Mr. President, there are four ICBM’s heading to D.C. Obama would probably hand the aides some water, tell them to calm down, then ask someone to get him the Pentagon!
Our new president is a cobra. Coiled, cool, calm, deadly – just waiting for ya! Then whoop – you’re history. Don’t mess with Obama, and I reckon a lot of people at the Capitol will learn that, the hard way! People see him coming and they see the suit. DON’T LET THE SUIT FOOL YOU. That guy does not blink! No blink, blink!
I also want to say: I wonder if any of the other candidates on the democratic slate would have delivered the margin of victory that Obama delivered. Would Clinton have turned Pennsylvania and Ohio blue? New Hampshire and Florida, maybe. Too many people, republicans and democrats, absolutely hate the Clintons, and many detest Hillary even more!
I like the Clintons. Bill really upset me with those veiled racial underpinnings in his remarks during the primaries - but you know what, if you write the word Clinton on a piece of paper and hand it to a republican, the person will start foaming at the mouth. That's enough to make me love the Clintons, bless their hearts. Republicans call Hillary a bitch! I say "go girl!" One man's bitch is another man's barracuda! Whatever!
Now, president-elect Obama, just a little something for me. All the blogging I've been doing-- FOR YOU!!! Can I join the list of people from Massachusetts who want jobs in your administration? I would like White House copy writer. Can I get that, please? O-K, how about paper shredder? Read my blog. I’ve been good to you, ain’t I? Praised you…and kicked your opponents, er, shins? I deserve a place in your administration. I’m waiting by the phone. I’m sure you’ll call me.
AND BY THE WAY…
I’ve already warned the rest of the world about making America look like a racist freak nation. NO American leader wanted to create a master race of tall, blue-eyed blonds. Remember, Obama would NOT be here today! That Master Race would have wiped off ALL of Asia, Africa (including Obama’s grandparents) and the tropics…and culled a whole lot of other transplants! (They’d probably kill Obama’s mother too, for consorting with black men!)
The racism that came to America didn’t just fall from the sky!
It piggy backed on the Anglophiles. Their descendants in the Republican Party, today, remain latched onto white-only politics, refusing to let go...and still holding on for dear life. The same people who made Italians feel like dirt when they got here. The same ones who treated the Irish like dogs when they got here. The same ones saying today Hispanics bring diseases to the U.S. They conveniently forget the Measles, Chicken Pox, Small Pox and VENERAL DISEASES they brought to the "colonies" and emaciated native people, destroying entire populations!
Read the history of the Irish in Chicago, the Italians in New York. Talk about racism. I have always found it hard to grasp that Irish people who faced this abject, dismal, humiliating, enraging and degrading racism in Boston, then turned around, and inflicted the same kind of racism on blacks.
Heard about “Southie?” The last racial killing (of a black person) in South Boston occurred about 4 or so years ago! I have a cousin who, seven years ago, refused to drive in South Boston. South Boston has now changed so much, it is almost unrecognizable. Last St. Patrick's Day, my son and I went and shot a whole roll of film of the annual parade. We waved and they waved...there have been blacks in the parade and last year, a nice Asian contingent with a dragon.
So give me/us a break. America has just had a few hundred years to deal with its issues. Europe was around in the first century...parts under the thumb of Rome who thought Europeans were "uncivilized"...yet they still haven’t gotten it right! The Asians haven’t gotten it right, either. The Japanese still can’t even admit, unequivocally, to their war-time atrocities against Koreans and others! Today, they’re twittering about racial injustice in America. Shut up!
As for China, (5-thousand years of written history!) the ethnic Han consider themselves superior to everybody on this earth, including unwanted, troublesome “minorities” like the Tibetans. And the darker-skinned you are, the less welcome you are! (I’ve been to Taiwan. Some of them acted like they’d never seen a black person before, and probably never had! They want to touch you. Pull your hair. Can’t blame them. I read an article that says they do the same thing in Utah.)
So leave us alone, snotty Europeans. Now it’s time for France to elect some Algerians and/or Tunisians from its banlieus and send them to the Elysee Palace. Don’t be racist, now! Hey, Germany, your turn. How about some Turks in the Bundestag. Kalil for Chancellor?
We have the Moral High Ground on this one. Nana nana nana! We have Obama! Nana nana nana…
The world is rushing to congratulate Barack Obama on his victory. Even from republicans like Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice... (bet she voted secretly for Obama! She hates Cheney too, remember) to prominent democrats who do and don’t want jobs in an Obama Administration.
We’ve heard from Obama’s third cousin, on his grandfather’s side, fourteen times removed. We’ve heard from people in every depressed black area in America and overseas. Even Sarah Palin pledged co-operation. But I’m still waiting to hear from prominent power-couple: Hill and Bill!
The President and Mrs. Bush reached out. Iran is writing! Russia is calling! But so far, nothing publicly, from the Clintons. Maybe the Clintons have graciously decided to let Obama have his moment. They could also be having uncontrollable sobbing fits over Obama’s historic smashing of the ebony? ceiling.
Perhaps the Clintons see just one way to restore the family’s honor. Chelsea for President! They’ve probably taken her to a secret overseas location. Political ninja's will immediately start training Chelsea how to kick and punch her way through a grueling primary process, until she stages her own bid to return the presidency to Clinton hands!
And by the way, when that phone rings at 3:00 A.M, we’re not scared about who will be answering it. Because if aides come rushing in shouting: Mr. President, Mr. President, there are four ICBM’s heading to D.C. Obama would probably hand the aides some water, tell them to calm down, then ask someone to get him the Pentagon!
Our new president is a cobra. Coiled, cool, calm, deadly – just waiting for ya! Then whoop – you’re history. Don’t mess with Obama, and I reckon a lot of people at the Capitol will learn that, the hard way! People see him coming and they see the suit. DON’T LET THE SUIT FOOL YOU. That guy does not blink! No blink, blink!
I also want to say: I wonder if any of the other candidates on the democratic slate would have delivered the margin of victory that Obama delivered. Would Clinton have turned Pennsylvania and Ohio blue? New Hampshire and Florida, maybe. Too many people, republicans and democrats, absolutely hate the Clintons, and many detest Hillary even more!
I like the Clintons. Bill really upset me with those veiled racial underpinnings in his remarks during the primaries - but you know what, if you write the word Clinton on a piece of paper and hand it to a republican, the person will start foaming at the mouth. That's enough to make me love the Clintons, bless their hearts. Republicans call Hillary a bitch! I say "go girl!" One man's bitch is another man's barracuda! Whatever!
Now, president-elect Obama, just a little something for me. All the blogging I've been doing-- FOR YOU!!! Can I join the list of people from Massachusetts who want jobs in your administration? I would like White House copy writer. Can I get that, please? O-K, how about paper shredder? Read my blog. I’ve been good to you, ain’t I? Praised you…and kicked your opponents, er, shins? I deserve a place in your administration. I’m waiting by the phone. I’m sure you’ll call me.
AND BY THE WAY…
I’ve already warned the rest of the world about making America look like a racist freak nation. NO American leader wanted to create a master race of tall, blue-eyed blonds. Remember, Obama would NOT be here today! That Master Race would have wiped off ALL of Asia, Africa (including Obama’s grandparents) and the tropics…and culled a whole lot of other transplants! (They’d probably kill Obama’s mother too, for consorting with black men!)
The racism that came to America didn’t just fall from the sky!
It piggy backed on the Anglophiles. Their descendants in the Republican Party, today, remain latched onto white-only politics, refusing to let go...and still holding on for dear life. The same people who made Italians feel like dirt when they got here. The same ones who treated the Irish like dogs when they got here. The same ones saying today Hispanics bring diseases to the U.S. They conveniently forget the Measles, Chicken Pox, Small Pox and VENERAL DISEASES they brought to the "colonies" and emaciated native people, destroying entire populations!
Read the history of the Irish in Chicago, the Italians in New York. Talk about racism. I have always found it hard to grasp that Irish people who faced this abject, dismal, humiliating, enraging and degrading racism in Boston, then turned around, and inflicted the same kind of racism on blacks.
Heard about “Southie?” The last racial killing (of a black person) in South Boston occurred about 4 or so years ago! I have a cousin who, seven years ago, refused to drive in South Boston. South Boston has now changed so much, it is almost unrecognizable. Last St. Patrick's Day, my son and I went and shot a whole roll of film of the annual parade. We waved and they waved...there have been blacks in the parade and last year, a nice Asian contingent with a dragon.
So give me/us a break. America has just had a few hundred years to deal with its issues. Europe was around in the first century...parts under the thumb of Rome who thought Europeans were "uncivilized"...yet they still haven’t gotten it right! The Asians haven’t gotten it right, either. The Japanese still can’t even admit, unequivocally, to their war-time atrocities against Koreans and others! Today, they’re twittering about racial injustice in America. Shut up!
As for China, (5-thousand years of written history!) the ethnic Han consider themselves superior to everybody on this earth, including unwanted, troublesome “minorities” like the Tibetans. And the darker-skinned you are, the less welcome you are! (I’ve been to Taiwan. Some of them acted like they’d never seen a black person before, and probably never had! They want to touch you. Pull your hair. Can’t blame them. I read an article that says they do the same thing in Utah.)
So leave us alone, snotty Europeans. Now it’s time for France to elect some Algerians and/or Tunisians from its banlieus and send them to the Elysee Palace. Don’t be racist, now! Hey, Germany, your turn. How about some Turks in the Bundestag. Kalil for Chancellor?
We have the Moral High Ground on this one. Nana nana nana! We have Obama! Nana nana nana…
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Dirty, Rotten Republican Scoundrels
Sarah Palin’s divorce from running mate John McCain is getting messier!
The tacky McCain team is escalating its war of words with the colleague THEY CHOOSE as their running mate. They’re telling Newsweek, Plain’s pricey shopping sprees were 300-thousand-dollars higher than the 150-thousand-dollars they previously reported. They say Plain asked low-level staffers to put purchases on their credit cards! One aide told Newsweek it was like "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast.”
And the worst part: (to me, at least), two McCain staffers tell Newsweek; a towel-wearing Plain greeted them when they arrived at her hotel room for a briefing during the Republican National Convention. (I’m wondering: where’s this leading?) Plain apparently asked them to chat with her husband in the meantime. (I’m going phew!? Lucky husband was there…or they'd probably say she dropped the towel!)
Why even mention that particular incident? Petty. Unsporting. Ungentlemanly! I don't know Palin, but she doesn't seem to be too constrained by social niceties. She probably felt at home, among friends. Little did SHE know. Ain't no friends in this business, baby! Like your congressman, Ted Stevens, found out!
People who’ve followed my blog know that Palin is not my favorite person. But it just gets me so mad to see the McCain team treat Palin as though SHE’S the reason their candidate derailed. I would happily call Palin now, NOW, and tell her I’m sorry for the way those jerks are treating her. I’m not saying they’re lying, or not lying. I’m just saying, even if it IS true, this is not the way to do this. This woman could be back on a republican ticket. Where’s the part about: Country First?
And wasn’t McCain the one who, while all this was going on, appeared on T-V with Palin, smiling, being “mavericky”. McCain knew Palin didn't know what the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was, but he still insisted to America that she was a fellow “maverick” who could be president...and was doing a wonderful job? Seems to me whenever a republican tells you that you’re doing a wonderful job (as in President Bush's Brownie down in Louisiana, post Katrina) the person on the receiving end of that “compliment” should immediate run for cover!
So the Maverick from Alaska didn’t know that Africa was a continent, while you, John McCain, maverick from Arizona, were reassuring us she had more foreign policy experience than Obama whose father IS from Africa? At least he's been there! And as for NAFTA? Shucks, McCain's co-maverick didn’t need to know anything, 'cause she could see Russia from her house! Or maybe that was really The Yukon?
You know John McCain, YOU were lying and diabolically obfuscating. And I find that distasteful and extremely off-putting. Shame on you, John McCain. Shame on you for publicly belittling the woman you chose to be your running mate. As I understand it, you used to get five people at your rallies, before Sarah Palin turned up...and brought in thousands!
America got it right Election Day. You lost because of YOU! Bad decisions, foolish choices and poor judgment. Find the cure for poor judgment, and maybe you can give it another shot…running against Sarah Palin! Now there’s a match I’d like to see!
Maverick versus barracuda. As one conservative loud-mouth put it: "Babies, guns, Jesus. Hot damn!"
You, Senator McCain, won't have a chance in heaven...or in hell!
The tacky McCain team is escalating its war of words with the colleague THEY CHOOSE as their running mate. They’re telling Newsweek, Plain’s pricey shopping sprees were 300-thousand-dollars higher than the 150-thousand-dollars they previously reported. They say Plain asked low-level staffers to put purchases on their credit cards! One aide told Newsweek it was like "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast.”
And the worst part: (to me, at least), two McCain staffers tell Newsweek; a towel-wearing Plain greeted them when they arrived at her hotel room for a briefing during the Republican National Convention. (I’m wondering: where’s this leading?) Plain apparently asked them to chat with her husband in the meantime. (I’m going phew!? Lucky husband was there…or they'd probably say she dropped the towel!)
Why even mention that particular incident? Petty. Unsporting. Ungentlemanly! I don't know Palin, but she doesn't seem to be too constrained by social niceties. She probably felt at home, among friends. Little did SHE know. Ain't no friends in this business, baby! Like your congressman, Ted Stevens, found out!
People who’ve followed my blog know that Palin is not my favorite person. But it just gets me so mad to see the McCain team treat Palin as though SHE’S the reason their candidate derailed. I would happily call Palin now, NOW, and tell her I’m sorry for the way those jerks are treating her. I’m not saying they’re lying, or not lying. I’m just saying, even if it IS true, this is not the way to do this. This woman could be back on a republican ticket. Where’s the part about: Country First?
And wasn’t McCain the one who, while all this was going on, appeared on T-V with Palin, smiling, being “mavericky”. McCain knew Palin didn't know what the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was, but he still insisted to America that she was a fellow “maverick” who could be president...and was doing a wonderful job? Seems to me whenever a republican tells you that you’re doing a wonderful job (as in President Bush's Brownie down in Louisiana, post Katrina) the person on the receiving end of that “compliment” should immediate run for cover!
So the Maverick from Alaska didn’t know that Africa was a continent, while you, John McCain, maverick from Arizona, were reassuring us she had more foreign policy experience than Obama whose father IS from Africa? At least he's been there! And as for NAFTA? Shucks, McCain's co-maverick didn’t need to know anything, 'cause she could see Russia from her house! Or maybe that was really The Yukon?
You know John McCain, YOU were lying and diabolically obfuscating. And I find that distasteful and extremely off-putting. Shame on you, John McCain. Shame on you for publicly belittling the woman you chose to be your running mate. As I understand it, you used to get five people at your rallies, before Sarah Palin turned up...and brought in thousands!
America got it right Election Day. You lost because of YOU! Bad decisions, foolish choices and poor judgment. Find the cure for poor judgment, and maybe you can give it another shot…running against Sarah Palin! Now there’s a match I’d like to see!
Maverick versus barracuda. As one conservative loud-mouth put it: "Babies, guns, Jesus. Hot damn!"
You, Senator McCain, won't have a chance in heaven...or in hell!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Audacity of RED!
Oh My God it’s November 04! The Day After Election Day…and I’m wearing RED!
People who don’t know that I’m virulently anti-republican wonder if I’m making one last defiant, dying stand. Heck no! I’m just re-claiming the audacity to wear red! “Cause RED, apparently, just became the new blue!
I went and got snacks and settled in to watch the results. I thought it was going to be a long night with Obama and McCain battling it out state by defiant swing-state. You know - one of those baseball games where the bases are loaded, with two outs…and one run sends your team to the World Series. One more foul ball and you can’t look…!? I thought that’s what was going to happen.
But when Pennsylvania fell and Ohio? OHIO? I’m like what? What happened to that black republican Secretary of State or whomever Ohio had running the polls last time round? He ani’t there no more, or what? Before you know it, Obama has 107 Electoral Votes, then boom, just like that, the whole “elitist” west coast is in Obama’s very sexy pocket, CNN declares for Obama --- and I ALMOST MISSED IT. There was no drama. No chards? No shenanigans. Just long lines! Must even the election, too, have to be as even keeled as Obama?
I am proud of America and proud of democrats. When I looked at the republican crowd gathered in Arizona for McCain and even here in Massachusetts, I saw a roomful of similar people. I looked at the democrats gathered everywhere for Obama, and I saw black, white, Hispanic, young, old, Asian, in-betweens, rich Oprah, the well-dressed, the not so well dressed, poor students…all hugging each other! The faces of America! Celebrating America! Martin Luther King would be so proud of his country!
And immigrants: don’t despair. The same Africa that sent slaves to America also sent us a president! Who knew? Obama’s father came to the U.S. as an immigrant/student. Just one generation later, his son is president of the U.S. You are here as an immigrant, today. One day, your son or grand-daughter, too, can BE president. That’s the American Dream.
Some of you probably kept up with the results with the help of the caffeine in a box of Joe. However, there are a couple of JOES who have NOT been helpful. And both need to go away! Joe “the plumber” wurzel-weasel, or whatever his name is…and Connecticut Senator, independent Senator, Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman was on stage with McCain and the republicans. Now that is what I call independent!
However, his region, New England, has pretty much yanked the welcome mat from under it's republican lawmakers already in...or aspiring to get into...Washington. Yep, we pretty much told republicans to leave us to our elite-ness and go join the real America, like Utah! Lieberman's state, Connecticut, voted 60/39 for Obama. But he's campaigning with McCain! I guess 40-percent is still high...compared to Bush?
McCain was gracious in his concession. But did you see that body language between the Palins and the McCains after his concession speech on stage last night? Nope? Go back, take a look. Those two are beyond feuding. They’re likely calling divorce lawyers, by now. Somewhere, in that saga, there’s a whole big pile of “bad judgment” swilling around.
People who don’t know that I’m virulently anti-republican wonder if I’m making one last defiant, dying stand. Heck no! I’m just re-claiming the audacity to wear red! “Cause RED, apparently, just became the new blue!
I went and got snacks and settled in to watch the results. I thought it was going to be a long night with Obama and McCain battling it out state by defiant swing-state. You know - one of those baseball games where the bases are loaded, with two outs…and one run sends your team to the World Series. One more foul ball and you can’t look…!? I thought that’s what was going to happen.
But when Pennsylvania fell and Ohio? OHIO? I’m like what? What happened to that black republican Secretary of State or whomever Ohio had running the polls last time round? He ani’t there no more, or what? Before you know it, Obama has 107 Electoral Votes, then boom, just like that, the whole “elitist” west coast is in Obama’s very sexy pocket, CNN declares for Obama --- and I ALMOST MISSED IT. There was no drama. No chards? No shenanigans. Just long lines! Must even the election, too, have to be as even keeled as Obama?
I am proud of America and proud of democrats. When I looked at the republican crowd gathered in Arizona for McCain and even here in Massachusetts, I saw a roomful of similar people. I looked at the democrats gathered everywhere for Obama, and I saw black, white, Hispanic, young, old, Asian, in-betweens, rich Oprah, the well-dressed, the not so well dressed, poor students…all hugging each other! The faces of America! Celebrating America! Martin Luther King would be so proud of his country!
And immigrants: don’t despair. The same Africa that sent slaves to America also sent us a president! Who knew? Obama’s father came to the U.S. as an immigrant/student. Just one generation later, his son is president of the U.S. You are here as an immigrant, today. One day, your son or grand-daughter, too, can BE president. That’s the American Dream.
Some of you probably kept up with the results with the help of the caffeine in a box of Joe. However, there are a couple of JOES who have NOT been helpful. And both need to go away! Joe “the plumber” wurzel-weasel, or whatever his name is…and Connecticut Senator, independent Senator, Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman was on stage with McCain and the republicans. Now that is what I call independent!
However, his region, New England, has pretty much yanked the welcome mat from under it's republican lawmakers already in...or aspiring to get into...Washington. Yep, we pretty much told republicans to leave us to our elite-ness and go join the real America, like Utah! Lieberman's state, Connecticut, voted 60/39 for Obama. But he's campaigning with McCain! I guess 40-percent is still high...compared to Bush?
McCain was gracious in his concession. But did you see that body language between the Palins and the McCains after his concession speech on stage last night? Nope? Go back, take a look. Those two are beyond feuding. They’re likely calling divorce lawyers, by now. Somewhere, in that saga, there’s a whole big pile of “bad judgment” swilling around.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Back! Boeing and Sarkozy
I’m back – and apologize for the disconnect.
I picked up a bug, and was sidelined! It just saps one's energy. I went to get my flu shot as soon as I felt better.
However, I should not, WOULD not and could NOT let “The Big Day” roll around without posting. So even if I’m sitting here coughing, I just HAVE to type something.
Did you hear the latest with Palin? A Canadian comedian from Montreal called her, pretending to be the Prime Minister of France, Monsieur Sarkozy, and Sacre Bleu! Palin thought another maverick was calling! I guess if Sarkozy stands atop the Eiffel Tower, he could, conceivably, sort of...see the Kremlin’s turrets, I suppose!
• I'm a little worried about how blacks will react on Election Night, if Obama loses? Are you perhaps secretly thinking about it, but pushing it down because it is too scary to bring up? Much like blacks are too afraid to bring up the fact that someone COULD TRY TO KILL OBAMA?
• John McCain says Obama is already measuring the drapes for the Oval Office, meaning he’s already preparing to take over. But he, McCain, should also be doing that too. That’s part of McCain's problem. He does not do the calculated preparedness that he should engage in BEFORE he rushes to act!
That is what made him choose Sarah Palin as a running mate. The same Palin who’s now trying to push him straight under his Straight Talk bus so SHE can keep her own career rolling straight to 2012! Poor Judgment! On McCain's part! That Sarah - they don't call HER barracuda for nothing!
McCain should already have a team in mind that he should be sounding out by asking, IF I WIN, can you come join me? There’s nothing wrong with that! Long as he’s doing it discretely. Obama should be doing the same thing. All the Oscar nominees go to the show with a prepared speech, (except those who are confident/fluent enough to ad-lib). But only one person gets to use that speech. We don’t think they’re pushy, do we? No, we see them as prepared! Well, except for McCain. For him -- planning that far ahead is elitist!
• And finally…
Remember that Boeing contract that McCain likes to boast about! The one he says cut waste! Not so fassst!!
McCain claims he blocked a Pentagon contract with Boeing for a new fleet of mid-air refueling tankers. He called it a taxpayer rip-off, caused a stink; senate investigated and found the Air Force and some lawmakers were way too cozy. So a top Air Force officer and Boeing’s CFO ended up in prison. The Air Force cancelled the contract...and according to McCain, he saved taxpayers 6 billion-dollars.
Never mind that European companies were getting the contract. McCain knew Joe "The Plumber" would be their first hire! Way to go, Joe! EADS has a location in Cassablanca. They could even send you over there!
But a Newsweek article (June 30/2008 "McCain's Boeing Battle Boomerangs") says re-wind! Wheel and Come Again, John McCain!
According to Newsweek, government auditors find the army was wrong to put the contract up for re-bid. The 36-billion-dollar bid went to Boeing’s main rival – European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and Northrop Grumman. (Five of McCain’s top advisers and fund raisers were registered lobbyists for The European Space Company (EADS). To make a long story short, McCain wrote to the Pentagon, they say, to pressure (well, the word the pentagon guy used to Newsweek was “bully”) them into giving the Europeans a competitive edge. The Pentagon officials in the article seem to think that EADS lobbyists wrote those letters.
McCain’s campaign says the letters reflect McCain’s views and were not written by lobbyists!
The McCain campaign also refused to answer more questions about the role of lobbyists in the whole affair.
End result: The pentagon may have to rebid the contract: AGAIN! And the costs keep piling up!
As a member of The Lexington Institute, a defense Think Tank told Newsweek: “This shows how a sort of naïve crusade for good government can actually backfire.”
With McCain…I’m NOT surprised.
I picked up a bug, and was sidelined! It just saps one's energy. I went to get my flu shot as soon as I felt better.
However, I should not, WOULD not and could NOT let “The Big Day” roll around without posting. So even if I’m sitting here coughing, I just HAVE to type something.
Did you hear the latest with Palin? A Canadian comedian from Montreal called her, pretending to be the Prime Minister of France, Monsieur Sarkozy, and Sacre Bleu! Palin thought another maverick was calling! I guess if Sarkozy stands atop the Eiffel Tower, he could, conceivably, sort of...see the Kremlin’s turrets, I suppose!
• I'm a little worried about how blacks will react on Election Night, if Obama loses? Are you perhaps secretly thinking about it, but pushing it down because it is too scary to bring up? Much like blacks are too afraid to bring up the fact that someone COULD TRY TO KILL OBAMA?
• John McCain says Obama is already measuring the drapes for the Oval Office, meaning he’s already preparing to take over. But he, McCain, should also be doing that too. That’s part of McCain's problem. He does not do the calculated preparedness that he should engage in BEFORE he rushes to act!
That is what made him choose Sarah Palin as a running mate. The same Palin who’s now trying to push him straight under his Straight Talk bus so SHE can keep her own career rolling straight to 2012! Poor Judgment! On McCain's part! That Sarah - they don't call HER barracuda for nothing!
McCain should already have a team in mind that he should be sounding out by asking, IF I WIN, can you come join me? There’s nothing wrong with that! Long as he’s doing it discretely. Obama should be doing the same thing. All the Oscar nominees go to the show with a prepared speech, (except those who are confident/fluent enough to ad-lib). But only one person gets to use that speech. We don’t think they’re pushy, do we? No, we see them as prepared! Well, except for McCain. For him -- planning that far ahead is elitist!
• And finally…
Remember that Boeing contract that McCain likes to boast about! The one he says cut waste! Not so fassst!!
McCain claims he blocked a Pentagon contract with Boeing for a new fleet of mid-air refueling tankers. He called it a taxpayer rip-off, caused a stink; senate investigated and found the Air Force and some lawmakers were way too cozy. So a top Air Force officer and Boeing’s CFO ended up in prison. The Air Force cancelled the contract...and according to McCain, he saved taxpayers 6 billion-dollars.
Never mind that European companies were getting the contract. McCain knew Joe "The Plumber" would be their first hire! Way to go, Joe! EADS has a location in Cassablanca. They could even send you over there!
But a Newsweek article (June 30/2008 "McCain's Boeing Battle Boomerangs") says re-wind! Wheel and Come Again, John McCain!
According to Newsweek, government auditors find the army was wrong to put the contract up for re-bid. The 36-billion-dollar bid went to Boeing’s main rival – European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and Northrop Grumman. (Five of McCain’s top advisers and fund raisers were registered lobbyists for The European Space Company (EADS). To make a long story short, McCain wrote to the Pentagon, they say, to pressure (well, the word the pentagon guy used to Newsweek was “bully”) them into giving the Europeans a competitive edge. The Pentagon officials in the article seem to think that EADS lobbyists wrote those letters.
McCain’s campaign says the letters reflect McCain’s views and were not written by lobbyists!
The McCain campaign also refused to answer more questions about the role of lobbyists in the whole affair.
End result: The pentagon may have to rebid the contract: AGAIN! And the costs keep piling up!
As a member of The Lexington Institute, a defense Think Tank told Newsweek: “This shows how a sort of naïve crusade for good government can actually backfire.”
With McCain…I’m NOT surprised.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
When Mavericks Fight!
Judgment again!
John McCain and Sarah Palin are feuding over which one of them is causing the ticket to slump…the most!
Now he's blaming HER! John McCain is blaming Sarah Palin! For HIS poor judgment! Now THAT'S poor judgment!
Come on John McCain!
Sarah Plain is NOT my kind of gal. The one and only time I laced on ice skates, I was clinging as perilously to the side of the rink...as Palin is now clinging to her reputation! But still, DO NOT BLAME PALIN ENTIRELY for your campaign’s derailment, Senator McCain. You're implying that YOU did everything right, while SHE did everything wrong!
Now I’ve heard rumors about McCain’s misogyny; how he reportedly tore into his wife (with others present) and called her a c_ _ _! But I saw on T-V, during the Primaries, how McCain sneered, AND DID NOT REBUKE someone standing with him on the SAME stage who questioned, in reference to Hillary Clinton: how republicans plan to deal with the b _ _ _ _?
So now why am I NOT surprised that he’s blaming Plain…for his own camp’s disarray?
Here’s a man who, when faced with choosing a vice-presidential running mate, had all of America at his disposal! That’s 300 million people! After narrowing it down, he could have ended up with at least 5 thousand. (Say roughly about 100 prospective candidates per state! ) Whittle it down some more, and you get about two dozen good, solid candidates. Now, at that point, McCain has to seriously hunker down and really narrow it to a few top candidates.
He could have chosen: Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney;
Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty;
Former: Pennsylvania governor, member - U.S. House of Representatives and Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge;
Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindall;
Florida Governor, Charlie Crist;
Texas Senator (female) Kay Bailey Hutchinson;
U.S Secretary of State, (female) Condoleezza Rice;
Connecticut Democrat turned “independent” now looking verry republican; Senator Joseph Lieberman,
Former Hewlett-Packard ( HP) CEO, (female) Carly Fiorina
And Alaska Governor, (female) SARAH PALIN.
Here's how I think HE did it:
(MCCAIN SPEAKING/THINKING...)
Now let’s weed out the elitists…like:
• Romney. He went to Harvard. Ivy League
• Ridge…went to Harvard, also! Ivy league
• Jindall…went to Brown University. So Ivy League
(According to Wikipedia: The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern U.S... The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group. The term also has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and a reputation for social elitism.)
• Tim Pawlenty.
University of Minnesota. He's good! Studied law? Brains there...? We'll get back to him!
• Charlie Crist.
Florida State University. Florida, eh? Hey, wait a minute! He studied LAW, too!? One's enough! He’s out
• Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Texas, yes! LAW too? What’s with all these smart people? Too many opinions. She can actually TALK to the press, WITHOUT A PREPARED SCRIPT! She's out. OUT!
• Condoleezza Rice
(Flies into a rage) WHO PUT HER IN THERE? WAY TOO SMART. SHE TALKS TO MORE FOREIGN LEADERS IN ONE WEEK, THAN I DO IN A YEAR! CONDI IS ELITISTA! MUCH TOO CLOSE TO PRESIDENT BUSH! WHO'S MORE ELITIST THAT THE BUSHES...ANYWAY, (WHEN I'M NOT HUGGING THEM, THAT IS!)?
• Carly Farina
Ultra super elitist blabbermouth! Why didn’t she stay home and have babies, anyway? Next!
• Joe Lieberman
Boy, would I like to rub Joe (Another Joe!) and keep rubbing Joe into the faces of those damn conservative "elitists" who HATE me! Why do they hate me, anyway? Yes, I’m against pork. But so what? If my fellow republican lawmakers feel constrained in bringing home the bacon, it's not because of me!
Our (non-elitist) women know how to make do with nothing. Just ask my poor wife, Cindy! The other day we ran out of Champagne at one of my 7 houses, so she called France, and we actually HAD to use of our 13 vehicles to go and pick it at the airport! Yes, I love Joe Lieberman. I love him, I tell you, but he went to Yale! He's Elitist!!! He's my friend. But elitists can't hide. I know where elitists live!
Who’s left?
Sarah Palin.
Now here’s a pretty one. If she can perk up old geezers like me, imagine what SHE’ll do for the younger crowd! Did we find anyone who can pass as non-elitist among the batch? Pawlenty? Hey guys? We have Pawlenty (holds up a photo of the Minnesota governor. Gets little reaction) and Palin (he holds up her photo (from Miss Alaska/swimsuit! Place erupts). We’ve made a decision. It’s Sarah Palin!
Now he is blaming HER!
So even though I don’t like Sarah Palin, by Golly, McCain, I won’t let you blame it all on her! Yes, she’s a drag on the ticket, She wasn’t the best qualified. Whatever! But LEAVE PALIN ALONE.
To blame her – now, IN PUBLIC! His campaign is calling her a “diva who likes her own way.” (We already knew that? 150-thousand-dollars on clothes!) She immediately gave spouses, moms and others everywhere grave cause for concern, when they saw their loved ones, (who were contentedly watching T-V, when news of Palin's mega shopping spree broke) abruptly get up, take their credit card, and announce they're going shopping...also!!
Well, Ms. Palin...you now have someplace convenient? close to home? to plant your stilettos…don’t cha?
And doggone it, you should!
Demand a sticker campaign! (Just to prove that you really are a diva, who knows exactly what she's talking about!)
I bet she’d get more votes than YOU -- John McCain!
John McCain and Sarah Palin are feuding over which one of them is causing the ticket to slump…the most!
Now he's blaming HER! John McCain is blaming Sarah Palin! For HIS poor judgment! Now THAT'S poor judgment!
Come on John McCain!
Sarah Plain is NOT my kind of gal. The one and only time I laced on ice skates, I was clinging as perilously to the side of the rink...as Palin is now clinging to her reputation! But still, DO NOT BLAME PALIN ENTIRELY for your campaign’s derailment, Senator McCain. You're implying that YOU did everything right, while SHE did everything wrong!
Now I’ve heard rumors about McCain’s misogyny; how he reportedly tore into his wife (with others present) and called her a c_ _ _! But I saw on T-V, during the Primaries, how McCain sneered, AND DID NOT REBUKE someone standing with him on the SAME stage who questioned, in reference to Hillary Clinton: how republicans plan to deal with the b _ _ _ _?
So now why am I NOT surprised that he’s blaming Plain…for his own camp’s disarray?
Here’s a man who, when faced with choosing a vice-presidential running mate, had all of America at his disposal! That’s 300 million people! After narrowing it down, he could have ended up with at least 5 thousand. (Say roughly about 100 prospective candidates per state! ) Whittle it down some more, and you get about two dozen good, solid candidates. Now, at that point, McCain has to seriously hunker down and really narrow it to a few top candidates.
He could have chosen: Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney;
Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty;
Former: Pennsylvania governor, member - U.S. House of Representatives and Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge;
Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindall;
Florida Governor, Charlie Crist;
Texas Senator (female) Kay Bailey Hutchinson;
U.S Secretary of State, (female) Condoleezza Rice;
Connecticut Democrat turned “independent” now looking verry republican; Senator Joseph Lieberman,
Former Hewlett-Packard ( HP) CEO, (female) Carly Fiorina
And Alaska Governor, (female) SARAH PALIN.
Here's how I think HE did it:
(MCCAIN SPEAKING/THINKING...)
Now let’s weed out the elitists…like:
• Romney. He went to Harvard. Ivy League
• Ridge…went to Harvard, also! Ivy league
• Jindall…went to Brown University. So Ivy League
(According to Wikipedia: The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern U.S... The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group. The term also has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and a reputation for social elitism.)
• Tim Pawlenty.
University of Minnesota. He's good! Studied law? Brains there...? We'll get back to him!
• Charlie Crist.
Florida State University. Florida, eh? Hey, wait a minute! He studied LAW, too!? One's enough! He’s out
• Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Texas, yes! LAW too? What’s with all these smart people? Too many opinions. She can actually TALK to the press, WITHOUT A PREPARED SCRIPT! She's out. OUT!
• Condoleezza Rice
(Flies into a rage) WHO PUT HER IN THERE? WAY TOO SMART. SHE TALKS TO MORE FOREIGN LEADERS IN ONE WEEK, THAN I DO IN A YEAR! CONDI IS ELITISTA! MUCH TOO CLOSE TO PRESIDENT BUSH! WHO'S MORE ELITIST THAT THE BUSHES...ANYWAY, (WHEN I'M NOT HUGGING THEM, THAT IS!)?
• Carly Farina
Ultra super elitist blabbermouth! Why didn’t she stay home and have babies, anyway? Next!
• Joe Lieberman
Boy, would I like to rub Joe (Another Joe!) and keep rubbing Joe into the faces of those damn conservative "elitists" who HATE me! Why do they hate me, anyway? Yes, I’m against pork. But so what? If my fellow republican lawmakers feel constrained in bringing home the bacon, it's not because of me!
Our (non-elitist) women know how to make do with nothing. Just ask my poor wife, Cindy! The other day we ran out of Champagne at one of my 7 houses, so she called France, and we actually HAD to use of our 13 vehicles to go and pick it at the airport! Yes, I love Joe Lieberman. I love him, I tell you, but he went to Yale! He's Elitist!!! He's my friend. But elitists can't hide. I know where elitists live!
Who’s left?
Sarah Palin.
Now here’s a pretty one. If she can perk up old geezers like me, imagine what SHE’ll do for the younger crowd! Did we find anyone who can pass as non-elitist among the batch? Pawlenty? Hey guys? We have Pawlenty (holds up a photo of the Minnesota governor. Gets little reaction) and Palin (he holds up her photo (from Miss Alaska/swimsuit! Place erupts). We’ve made a decision. It’s Sarah Palin!
Now he is blaming HER!
So even though I don’t like Sarah Palin, by Golly, McCain, I won’t let you blame it all on her! Yes, she’s a drag on the ticket, She wasn’t the best qualified. Whatever! But LEAVE PALIN ALONE.
To blame her – now, IN PUBLIC! His campaign is calling her a “diva who likes her own way.” (We already knew that? 150-thousand-dollars on clothes!) She immediately gave spouses, moms and others everywhere grave cause for concern, when they saw their loved ones, (who were contentedly watching T-V, when news of Palin's mega shopping spree broke) abruptly get up, take their credit card, and announce they're going shopping...also!!
Well, Ms. Palin...you now have someplace convenient? close to home? to plant your stilettos…don’t cha?
And doggone it, you should!
Demand a sticker campaign! (Just to prove that you really are a diva, who knows exactly what she's talking about!)
I bet she’d get more votes than YOU -- John McCain!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Absolute Control: GOP Only? Absolutely!
I cannot be hearing republicans like Newt Gingrich clearly.
Are they/is he really saying that Americans would not, could not, SHOULD not...NOT...let Democrats control The House, Senate and White House? I’m sure that isn't what Newt is preaching. Because I checked some election results for the House and Senate:
1992
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 44; DEMOCRATS -- 56
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 176; DEMOCRATS -- 258
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN: GEORGE H. W. BUSH
• 1994
SENATE: REPUBLICANS – 52: Democrats -- 48
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 230 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH); Democrats -- 204
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
• 1996
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55, DEMOCRATS -- 45
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 228 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH); Democrats -- 206
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
• 1998
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55; DEMOCRATS -- 45 seats.
(Jeffords Independent New Hampshire, sides with Democrats).
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 223 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH), DEMOCRATS -- 211
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
2000
SENATE: TIE. REPUBLICANS/DEMOCRATS: 50/50. (In mid-2001, New Hampshire Senator Jim Jeffords chose to caucus with the Democrats as an independent.)
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 221, Democrats -- 212
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN – GEORGE H. W. BUSH.
2002
SENATE: REPUBLICANS-- 51, DEMOCRATS -- 48
HOUSE REPUBLICANS – 229, DEMOCRATS -- 204
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN – GEORGE W.BUSH
2004
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55; DEMOCRATS – 44
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS – 232; DEMOCRATS -- 202
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN; GEORGE W. BUSH
• 2006
SENATE: TIE: 49/49. (Two independents caucus with Democrats – (1) Bernie Sanders replaces Jeffords in New Hampshire and (2) Joe Lieberman in Connecticut.)
HOUSE: DEMOCRATS – 233; REPUBLICANS – 202
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN; GEORGE W. BUSH
Somebody needs to remind Newt Gingrich of his party's history...
When Newt comes up for air, please take him back in time, gently, and reassure him that we need NOT go back millions of years, to when giant lizards actually ruled the Earth...or the Ark, or whatever! 2002 will do!
Republicans controlled THE WHITE HOUSE, THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES not once, but twice IN A ROW! In 2002 and 2004, back when G.W. was brimming with Social Capital...and banks actually HAD capital!
Did you hear Newt decrying, back then, how lamentable that was? Not him! But today! Here he is bombarding us with "elitist" thinking. (By their own definition!) The thinking that HE/THEY/REPUBLICANS can; and you, them, DEMOCRATS...can’t? Thinking they’re better than us? Elitist to their very core!
So of course Newt has to go around moaning that it would really be just too, too unbearable a burden...unthinkable, preposterous even! that Democrats could end up controlling the White House and both houses of Congress!
Gingrich spent nearly 6-years as House Speaker. Republicans controlled BOTH houses of Congress, but a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, managed to get things done. Clinton left a surplus…NOT a financial meltdown!
However, today, Gingrich now wants us to believe that Americans, armed with nothing but ballot papers, are going to singlehandedly destroy the republic!
Back then, (2002) as The New York Times put it:
Republicans Regain the Senate and Increase House Majority…
The Republicans last night seized full control of Congress by retaking the Senate...the Republicans now have control of the White House, Senate and the House of Representatives.
The outcome is a break with historic patterns, in which the party that controls the White House almost invariably loses seats in midterm Congressional elections.
Bush mounted a very aggressive campaign in the final days, traveling to 15 states since Thursday, and raising by one count $142 million for his party since the campaign season began.
ANOTHER HEADLINE:
“Republicans swept to victory in the United States Senate last night, assuring Republican control of the White House and Congress for the next two years, and thrusting President Bush into a commanding position for his legislative agenda.
The Republican Party also maintained -- and possibly solidified -- its hold on the House, in an election that amounted to a major drubbing for the Democratic Party.
The results mean that a single party, the Republicans, will once again control both houses of Congress and the White House".
According to the N. Y. Times, Democrats: “held periodic news conferences…complaining about episodes of voting irregularities".
Are they/is he really saying that Americans would not, could not, SHOULD not...NOT...let Democrats control The House, Senate and White House? I’m sure that isn't what Newt is preaching. Because I checked some election results for the House and Senate:
1992
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 44; DEMOCRATS -- 56
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 176; DEMOCRATS -- 258
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN: GEORGE H. W. BUSH
• 1994
SENATE: REPUBLICANS – 52: Democrats -- 48
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 230 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH); Democrats -- 204
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
• 1996
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55, DEMOCRATS -- 45
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 228 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH); Democrats -- 206
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
• 1998
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55; DEMOCRATS -- 45 seats.
(Jeffords Independent New Hampshire, sides with Democrats).
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 223 (LED BY NEWT GINGRICH), DEMOCRATS -- 211
WHITE HOUSE: DEMOCRAT: BILL CLINTON
2000
SENATE: TIE. REPUBLICANS/DEMOCRATS: 50/50. (In mid-2001, New Hampshire Senator Jim Jeffords chose to caucus with the Democrats as an independent.)
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS -- 221, Democrats -- 212
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN – GEORGE H. W. BUSH.
2002
SENATE: REPUBLICANS-- 51, DEMOCRATS -- 48
HOUSE REPUBLICANS – 229, DEMOCRATS -- 204
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN – GEORGE W.BUSH
2004
SENATE: REPUBLICANS -- 55; DEMOCRATS – 44
HOUSE: REPUBLICANS – 232; DEMOCRATS -- 202
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN; GEORGE W. BUSH
• 2006
SENATE: TIE: 49/49. (Two independents caucus with Democrats – (1) Bernie Sanders replaces Jeffords in New Hampshire and (2) Joe Lieberman in Connecticut.)
HOUSE: DEMOCRATS – 233; REPUBLICANS – 202
WHITE HOUSE: REPUBLICAN; GEORGE W. BUSH
Somebody needs to remind Newt Gingrich of his party's history...
When Newt comes up for air, please take him back in time, gently, and reassure him that we need NOT go back millions of years, to when giant lizards actually ruled the Earth...or the Ark, or whatever! 2002 will do!
Republicans controlled THE WHITE HOUSE, THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES not once, but twice IN A ROW! In 2002 and 2004, back when G.W. was brimming with Social Capital...and banks actually HAD capital!
Did you hear Newt decrying, back then, how lamentable that was? Not him! But today! Here he is bombarding us with "elitist" thinking. (By their own definition!) The thinking that HE/THEY/REPUBLICANS can; and you, them, DEMOCRATS...can’t? Thinking they’re better than us? Elitist to their very core!
So of course Newt has to go around moaning that it would really be just too, too unbearable a burden...unthinkable, preposterous even! that Democrats could end up controlling the White House and both houses of Congress!
Gingrich spent nearly 6-years as House Speaker. Republicans controlled BOTH houses of Congress, but a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, managed to get things done. Clinton left a surplus…NOT a financial meltdown!
However, today, Gingrich now wants us to believe that Americans, armed with nothing but ballot papers, are going to singlehandedly destroy the republic!
Back then, (2002) as The New York Times put it:
Republicans Regain the Senate and Increase House Majority…
The Republicans last night seized full control of Congress by retaking the Senate...the Republicans now have control of the White House, Senate and the House of Representatives.
The outcome is a break with historic patterns, in which the party that controls the White House almost invariably loses seats in midterm Congressional elections.
Bush mounted a very aggressive campaign in the final days, traveling to 15 states since Thursday, and raising by one count $142 million for his party since the campaign season began.
ANOTHER HEADLINE:
“Republicans swept to victory in the United States Senate last night, assuring Republican control of the White House and Congress for the next two years, and thrusting President Bush into a commanding position for his legislative agenda.
The Republican Party also maintained -- and possibly solidified -- its hold on the House, in an election that amounted to a major drubbing for the Democratic Party.
The results mean that a single party, the Republicans, will once again control both houses of Congress and the White House".
According to the N. Y. Times, Democrats: “held periodic news conferences…complaining about episodes of voting irregularities".
Lies, Phone Calls...No Videotape!
John McCain was apparently born under a sign that says: “Trouble Shall Follow Me at Crucial Periods in My Life!”
It’s beginning to look like Sarah Palin is NOT the only person around McCain, who (for republican’s sake) apparently needs to zip it!
Joe McCain… (Yet another Joe!?) told the Boston Globe in September, he worries that he might say something that will cause his brother a problem, and he doesn't want to violate his mantra: "Do no harm." According to the paper, as voters seek to learn more about John McCain, 71, few people can provide a better perspective than his 65-year-old brother…Joe!
Let’s look at Joe. For some perspective!
Fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, it’s said. (In defense of Joe…he did tell The Globe that he watched a televised speech by Obama and couldn’t turn it off. "I was mesmerized by the guy's speech…”)
Anyway, Joe "The Brother McCain":
• ...fired off an angry e-mail to his brother’s campaign mid-October, blasting them for controlling his brother’s campaign too tightly…and denying media access. (Better judgment than your brother, Joe!)
• On Tuesday (October 21) Joe Plumber, sorry, I mean Joe McCain…was speaking at an event in support of his brother. He referred to Arlington and Alexandria...two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia "...as: Communist Country." He later apologized. A McCain campaign spokeswoman called potential presidential first brother Joe’s remark: "An unsuccessful attempt at humor." You betcha!
• Earlier this week, Joe McCain called 9-1-1…the police emergency line, because he was angry he was stuck in traffic! (Temper tantrums seem to run in the McCain family!)
The 9-1-1 call went to emergency operations in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, on October 21. (Was Joe McCain heading to/from the event where he called those two Virginia suburbs “Communists”? Think for a moment you are Joe McCain. You begin to feel that you are surrounded by communists…the area starts looking like China’s Tiananmen Square! Wouldn’t you want to get out of traffic, too?)
Operator : 9-1-1 -- state your emergency
Caller: It's not an emergency, but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes… emergency operations and yet traffic's coming the other way?
Operator : Sir, are you calling 9-1-1 to complain about traffic? (Pause)
Caller: "F_ _ _ you." (Caller hangs up)
The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge forced the 9-1-1 dispatcher to call back. The voice mail on the other end appears to belong to Joe McCain:
"Hi this is Joe McCain. I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project. I hope on November 4th we have elected John."
According to the news report…JOE MCCAIN CALLED 9-1-1 BACK, TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THEM NOT GETTING IT!
Caller : Somebody gave me this riot act about the violation of police.
Operator : Did you just call 9-1-1 in reference to this?
Caller : Yeah.
Operator : 9-1-1 is to be used for emergencies only, not just because you're sitting in traffic.
These police operators are so elitist! When Joe McCain and his big brother get into the White House, he can just tweak the report...make it say whatever suits HIM. Need help? Ask Palin how she re-did the expense report detailing her kids’ travel expenses!
Which takes us to a definitely…non-elitist sort! John McCain’s new Poster Girl! Ashley “The Campaign Worker” Todd, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She claimed SHE was mugged by a tall, black male (an “Obama supporter”) who used a knife to carve a “B” on her face. NOT TRUE.
And what does the "B" stand for? Beautiful? Blase? Brash? Bellicose? Belligerent? Bombastic? Need I go on?
McCain, of course, in the words of an old saying: rushed in “Where Angels Fear to Tred”. (I described him in an earlier article as: Shoot from the Hip McCain – Bombs First, Weapons of Mass Destruction, later!) So HE unleashes Palin, SHE sympathizes with “The Campaign Worker.” The love is flowing; I’m feeling bad for supporting a thug like Obama. Obama is feeling bad for being Obama! His decree: find that Rapper/Pimp/Hip-Hop/Gansta and bring him to me!
But voila, before the expected riot could materialize, Pittsburgh’s elitist police saved Obama’s hide! There was NO black guy – tall or short! No mutilation/carving on her face - not backward, perfectly…or forward, imperfectly! No McCain bumper sticker (which supposedly enraged the alleged attacker) on Ashley, “The Campaign Worker’s” car! No videotape of her even using that ATM…where the manufactured “assault” took place!
In short, NO CREDIBILITY – just more bad judgment...linked to Senator McCain.
The news made headlines nationwide, and worldwide. (Even China’s News Agency, Xinhua, picked it up!) Police seem to be suggesting that Ashley, “The Campaign Worker’s” tale could have fomented racial tension.
I'm rethinking what I said earlier that “Ashley, The Campaign Worker” is non-elitist? She IS from Texas, so she's definitely NOT from an elitist East Coast enclave. (Do you see those small houses they build in Texas?) But still, don’t you just get the feeling that she thought she was better than everybody else? She is so, so elitist. It’s just that detectives in Pittsburgh are, alas…more elitister…also!
By the way, Fox News’ executive vice president, John Moody, responding to the campaign worker's allegations, said:
"this incident could become a watershed event in the eleven days before the election. If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee. If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
Which one will Moody/Fox...um…run with? on Saturday? Racism…or Race-Baiting? Watershed or Tsunami?
• Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, who stomped for Mitt Romney, is endorsing Barack Obama! The sign next to him read: “Republicans for Obama". (Darn, you mean we were that close to seeing: “Republicans for Hillary"?)
I’m sure, somewhere…deep in the heart of Red Country, there’s a sign saying “Democrats for McCain".
It reads: Those Hoping against Hope McCain Wins So We Can Get a Job in His Administration, (‘cause Democrats can’t wait to Tell Us: “Good Riddance!?”) There was just one person – Connecticut “independent” Senator Joe Lieberman, holding the sign. So it was askew - sort of screw-wy.
Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Thats all folks!
It’s beginning to look like Sarah Palin is NOT the only person around McCain, who (for republican’s sake) apparently needs to zip it!
Joe McCain… (Yet another Joe!?) told the Boston Globe in September, he worries that he might say something that will cause his brother a problem, and he doesn't want to violate his mantra: "Do no harm." According to the paper, as voters seek to learn more about John McCain, 71, few people can provide a better perspective than his 65-year-old brother…Joe!
Let’s look at Joe. For some perspective!
Fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, it’s said. (In defense of Joe…he did tell The Globe that he watched a televised speech by Obama and couldn’t turn it off. "I was mesmerized by the guy's speech…”)
Anyway, Joe "The Brother McCain":
• ...fired off an angry e-mail to his brother’s campaign mid-October, blasting them for controlling his brother’s campaign too tightly…and denying media access. (Better judgment than your brother, Joe!)
• On Tuesday (October 21) Joe Plumber, sorry, I mean Joe McCain…was speaking at an event in support of his brother. He referred to Arlington and Alexandria...two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia "...as: Communist Country." He later apologized. A McCain campaign spokeswoman called potential presidential first brother Joe’s remark: "An unsuccessful attempt at humor." You betcha!
• Earlier this week, Joe McCain called 9-1-1…the police emergency line, because he was angry he was stuck in traffic! (Temper tantrums seem to run in the McCain family!)
The 9-1-1 call went to emergency operations in the city of Alexandria, Virginia, on October 21. (Was Joe McCain heading to/from the event where he called those two Virginia suburbs “Communists”? Think for a moment you are Joe McCain. You begin to feel that you are surrounded by communists…the area starts looking like China’s Tiananmen Square! Wouldn’t you want to get out of traffic, too?)
Operator : 9-1-1 -- state your emergency
Caller: It's not an emergency, but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes… emergency operations and yet traffic's coming the other way?
Operator : Sir, are you calling 9-1-1 to complain about traffic? (Pause)
Caller: "F_ _ _ you." (Caller hangs up)
The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge forced the 9-1-1 dispatcher to call back. The voice mail on the other end appears to belong to Joe McCain:
"Hi this is Joe McCain. I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project. I hope on November 4th we have elected John."
According to the news report…JOE MCCAIN CALLED 9-1-1 BACK, TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THEM NOT GETTING IT!
Caller : Somebody gave me this riot act about the violation of police.
Operator : Did you just call 9-1-1 in reference to this?
Caller : Yeah.
Operator : 9-1-1 is to be used for emergencies only, not just because you're sitting in traffic.
These police operators are so elitist! When Joe McCain and his big brother get into the White House, he can just tweak the report...make it say whatever suits HIM. Need help? Ask Palin how she re-did the expense report detailing her kids’ travel expenses!
Which takes us to a definitely…non-elitist sort! John McCain’s new Poster Girl! Ashley “The Campaign Worker” Todd, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She claimed SHE was mugged by a tall, black male (an “Obama supporter”) who used a knife to carve a “B” on her face. NOT TRUE.
And what does the "B" stand for? Beautiful? Blase? Brash? Bellicose? Belligerent? Bombastic? Need I go on?
McCain, of course, in the words of an old saying: rushed in “Where Angels Fear to Tred”. (I described him in an earlier article as: Shoot from the Hip McCain – Bombs First, Weapons of Mass Destruction, later!) So HE unleashes Palin, SHE sympathizes with “The Campaign Worker.” The love is flowing; I’m feeling bad for supporting a thug like Obama. Obama is feeling bad for being Obama! His decree: find that Rapper/Pimp/Hip-Hop/Gansta and bring him to me!
But voila, before the expected riot could materialize, Pittsburgh’s elitist police saved Obama’s hide! There was NO black guy – tall or short! No mutilation/carving on her face - not backward, perfectly…or forward, imperfectly! No McCain bumper sticker (which supposedly enraged the alleged attacker) on Ashley, “The Campaign Worker’s” car! No videotape of her even using that ATM…where the manufactured “assault” took place!
In short, NO CREDIBILITY – just more bad judgment...linked to Senator McCain.
The news made headlines nationwide, and worldwide. (Even China’s News Agency, Xinhua, picked it up!) Police seem to be suggesting that Ashley, “The Campaign Worker’s” tale could have fomented racial tension.
I'm rethinking what I said earlier that “Ashley, The Campaign Worker” is non-elitist? She IS from Texas, so she's definitely NOT from an elitist East Coast enclave. (Do you see those small houses they build in Texas?) But still, don’t you just get the feeling that she thought she was better than everybody else? She is so, so elitist. It’s just that detectives in Pittsburgh are, alas…more elitister…also!
By the way, Fox News’ executive vice president, John Moody, responding to the campaign worker's allegations, said:
"this incident could become a watershed event in the eleven days before the election. If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee. If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."
Which one will Moody/Fox...um…run with? on Saturday? Racism…or Race-Baiting? Watershed or Tsunami?
• Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, who stomped for Mitt Romney, is endorsing Barack Obama! The sign next to him read: “Republicans for Obama". (Darn, you mean we were that close to seeing: “Republicans for Hillary"?)
I’m sure, somewhere…deep in the heart of Red Country, there’s a sign saying “Democrats for McCain".
It reads: Those Hoping against Hope McCain Wins So We Can Get a Job in His Administration, (‘cause Democrats can’t wait to Tell Us: “Good Riddance!?”) There was just one person – Connecticut “independent” Senator Joe Lieberman, holding the sign. So it was askew - sort of screw-wy.
Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Thats all folks!
Elites, the Economy and Judgment
While writing this, Thursday, I watched the U-S Stock Market dance before my eyes!
Thursday's taglines: Wall Street Goes From Panic To Despair…Stocks Make Third Attempt At Rally…Another Day Of Wild Ups And Downs… Dow Rockets Nearly 200 In Late Surge While NASDAQ Finishes In The Red.
I’m checking it out, online! Wow! That is enough to make a person feel unsettled!
• Gold seems to be falling, too!
Gold futures fell Wednesday to its lowest point for the first time in more than a year. It sank below $710 an ounce. Isn’t Gold THE precious metal people typically see as a safe haven in rough economic times?
• More people filed jobless claims last week.
The Labor Department says new applications for state unemployment benefits rose by 15-thousand (more than expected) in the week ending October 18. Thousands more job cuts have been announced. Analysts lay most of the blame on the financial crisis: tighter credit, rising foreclosures... (also Hurricane Ike). They say the employment outlook for Americans will likely get worse!
• The Web site, which tracks foreclosed homes, has more bad economic data. It says 81-thousand homes were repossessed, last month! RealtyTrac compared foreclosure data (this quarter, with the same time last year), and found that: the number of homeowners facing foreclosure grew by more than 70-percent (July to September)...and nearly a million homes (766-thousand) got at least one foreclosure-related notice.
More than 250-thousand properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in the third quarter. RealtyTrac expects that more than a million bank-owned properties (about one in every three properties for sale in the U.S) will be repossessed properties! (Better news: Foreclosure filings slowed last month.)
• Even the White House is ‘fessing up! The guys who probably still believe that Iraq HAD (or has) Weapons of Mass Destruction, said Thursday the economy will remain gloomy through at least the end of the year!
• Alan Greenspan calls the current worsening economic crisis: “A once in a century Credit Tsunami.”
(Greenspan is the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve – the one some conservatives, and others? blast for contributing to today’s financial meltdown. They claim he kept interest rates too low, for too long...without regulatory oversight.)
Greenspan testified before congress today (October 23)…on the economic crisis. (Congress is asking past key financial players for their ideas on what caused the gravest financial crisis since the 1930’s…and how they think the government can fix it).
Greenspan says he expected lending institutions to do a good job protecting their shareholders. He’s also slamming “overeager” investors for making subprime mortgages, without worrying that what goes up, will likely come crashing down!
• Now to John McCain’s answers to what you’ve just read:
Q: Senator McCain, if you become president in January, what exactly do you plan to do about any or all of the above?
M: Well, I won’t raise your taxes, like Obama will!
Q: Taxes on what, Senator. It’s looking like I won’t even have a job?
M: Well, Senator Obama is promising to spread the wealth. I won’t! These elitists have enough...also!
Q: Senator, how do you define “elitist”?
M: Er…I defer to my capable running mate on this question…
PALIN: (That’s how SHE described “elite” to NBC’s Brian Williams: (Hasn’t she learned yet – Don’t GIVE any interviews. Nada!)
“Oh, I guess just people who think they’re better than anyone else…and, and, John McCain and I are so committed to serving every American, hard-working, middle class Americans who are so desiring of this economy getting…put back on the right track! And winning these wars and America is starting to reach her potential…and that is opportunity and hope provided everyone equally. So anyone who thinks, ah... I guess, that they are better than anyone else, that’s, that’s MY definition of elitism! (Webster: Take note.)
WILIAMS: So, so it’s not education…It's NOT income-based?
PALIN: Anyone…who thinks they’re better than anyone else!
WILLIAMS: A “State of Mind"? It’s not geography?
PALIN: Of course NOT!
WILLIAMS: (To McCain) Senator?
M: I know where some of them live?
W: Where’s that”?
M : Well, in our nation’s capital…in New York City. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived there...I know the town! I know. I know where a lot of these elitists are...the one’s who…”
For a moment I thought he was going to say: Spend thousands of dollars on clothes at upscale stores like Saks and Niemen Marcus? But he didn’t. Instead, he said:
“... (those) she never went to a cocktail party with in Georgetown. I’ve been very frank with you…those who think they can dictate what THEY believe to America, instead of letting Americans decide for themselves”.
That's making the Bush White House sound extraordinarily “elitist” to me…but what do I know?
No more questions for Senator McCain!
I'm satisfied that HE will NOT raise our taxes or spread the wealth around. He’ll also presumably banish all taxes, ‘cause that’s basically taking from Joe Plumber (when he does get around to actually paying taxes!) and giving it to people like Palin in Alaska.
(That is back when she embraced the "Bridge to Nowhere", before political expediency turned her against it!). It will be up to wealthy investors from the Middle East, China, Russia and other Sovereign Fund dollars, worldwide…to keep on supporting us. You betcha!
(P/S: The U.S dollar fell against every major currency, EXCEPT for THE SINGAPORE DOLLAR. Hear that Senator McCain? Singapore is preparing to test Senator Obama’s resolve, should HE be elected president. We’re glad you’re sounding that alarm!)
Thursday's taglines: Wall Street Goes From Panic To Despair…Stocks Make Third Attempt At Rally…Another Day Of Wild Ups And Downs… Dow Rockets Nearly 200 In Late Surge While NASDAQ Finishes In The Red.
I’m checking it out, online! Wow! That is enough to make a person feel unsettled!
• Gold seems to be falling, too!
Gold futures fell Wednesday to its lowest point for the first time in more than a year. It sank below $710 an ounce. Isn’t Gold THE precious metal people typically see as a safe haven in rough economic times?
• More people filed jobless claims last week.
The Labor Department says new applications for state unemployment benefits rose by 15-thousand (more than expected) in the week ending October 18. Thousands more job cuts have been announced. Analysts lay most of the blame on the financial crisis: tighter credit, rising foreclosures... (also Hurricane Ike). They say the employment outlook for Americans will likely get worse!
• The Web site, which tracks foreclosed homes, has more bad economic data. It says 81-thousand homes were repossessed, last month! RealtyTrac compared foreclosure data (this quarter, with the same time last year), and found that: the number of homeowners facing foreclosure grew by more than 70-percent (July to September)...and nearly a million homes (766-thousand) got at least one foreclosure-related notice.
More than 250-thousand properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in the third quarter. RealtyTrac expects that more than a million bank-owned properties (about one in every three properties for sale in the U.S) will be repossessed properties! (Better news: Foreclosure filings slowed last month.)
• Even the White House is ‘fessing up! The guys who probably still believe that Iraq HAD (or has) Weapons of Mass Destruction, said Thursday the economy will remain gloomy through at least the end of the year!
• Alan Greenspan calls the current worsening economic crisis: “A once in a century Credit Tsunami.”
(Greenspan is the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve – the one some conservatives, and others? blast for contributing to today’s financial meltdown. They claim he kept interest rates too low, for too long...without regulatory oversight.)
Greenspan testified before congress today (October 23)…on the economic crisis. (Congress is asking past key financial players for their ideas on what caused the gravest financial crisis since the 1930’s…and how they think the government can fix it).
Greenspan says he expected lending institutions to do a good job protecting their shareholders. He’s also slamming “overeager” investors for making subprime mortgages, without worrying that what goes up, will likely come crashing down!
• Now to John McCain’s answers to what you’ve just read:
Q: Senator McCain, if you become president in January, what exactly do you plan to do about any or all of the above?
M: Well, I won’t raise your taxes, like Obama will!
Q: Taxes on what, Senator. It’s looking like I won’t even have a job?
M: Well, Senator Obama is promising to spread the wealth. I won’t! These elitists have enough...also!
Q: Senator, how do you define “elitist”?
M: Er…I defer to my capable running mate on this question…
PALIN: (That’s how SHE described “elite” to NBC’s Brian Williams: (Hasn’t she learned yet – Don’t GIVE any interviews. Nada!)
“Oh, I guess just people who think they’re better than anyone else…and, and, John McCain and I are so committed to serving every American, hard-working, middle class Americans who are so desiring of this economy getting…put back on the right track! And winning these wars and America is starting to reach her potential…and that is opportunity and hope provided everyone equally. So anyone who thinks, ah... I guess, that they are better than anyone else, that’s, that’s MY definition of elitism! (Webster: Take note.)
WILIAMS: So, so it’s not education…It's NOT income-based?
PALIN: Anyone…who thinks they’re better than anyone else!
WILLIAMS: A “State of Mind"? It’s not geography?
PALIN: Of course NOT!
WILLIAMS: (To McCain) Senator?
M: I know where some of them live?
W: Where’s that”?
M : Well, in our nation’s capital…in New York City. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived there...I know the town! I know. I know where a lot of these elitists are...the one’s who…”
For a moment I thought he was going to say: Spend thousands of dollars on clothes at upscale stores like Saks and Niemen Marcus? But he didn’t. Instead, he said:
“... (those) she never went to a cocktail party with in Georgetown. I’ve been very frank with you…those who think they can dictate what THEY believe to America, instead of letting Americans decide for themselves”.
That's making the Bush White House sound extraordinarily “elitist” to me…but what do I know?
No more questions for Senator McCain!
I'm satisfied that HE will NOT raise our taxes or spread the wealth around. He’ll also presumably banish all taxes, ‘cause that’s basically taking from Joe Plumber (when he does get around to actually paying taxes!) and giving it to people like Palin in Alaska.
(That is back when she embraced the "Bridge to Nowhere", before political expediency turned her against it!). It will be up to wealthy investors from the Middle East, China, Russia and other Sovereign Fund dollars, worldwide…to keep on supporting us. You betcha!
(P/S: The U.S dollar fell against every major currency, EXCEPT for THE SINGAPORE DOLLAR. Hear that Senator McCain? Singapore is preparing to test Senator Obama’s resolve, should HE be elected president. We’re glad you’re sounding that alarm!)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Third Grader-1; Palin-0
Governor PALIN: The Vice President of the United States of America, (the job that you are auditioning for), is NOT “in charge of the United States Senate."
She told a third grader in Denver, Colorado, Monday (October 20), that the Vice President runs the Senate and makes policy changes. Now why does she keep saying that? It must be because the Veep’s job is so complicated: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. Palin may be wondering exactly what the last part..."unless they be equally divided..." means.
Were the framers of the Constitution actually referring to Red State versus Blue State? The small towns she calls the "Real America" vs. what? The large urban areas that make up "Fake America"?
What conclusions do you draw, to know that McCain's female choices for vice President included Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison! Can you see HER bungling the role of the Vice President? Oh John McCain, what were you thinking? Even ovaries need some substance, beyond lipstick...and a 150-thousand-dollar wardrobe makeover!
The third grader in question, 8-year-old Brandon Garcia, should be the democrats “Joe Plumber.” The student sent a question to Colorado NBC affiliate, KUSA, in Denver. Seems KUSA asks third graders from local schools to send in their questions for candidates and elected officials.
Brandon had a big foreign policy question for Palin: “What does the Vice President do?" (You're thinking that's not foreign policy? Remember, Putin is scoping out Palin's house from his dacha!)
Sarah Palin said:
“That's a great question, Brandon, and a Vice President has a really great job, because not only are they there to support the President’s agenda, they're like a team member, the teammate to that President. But also, they're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to, they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job".
Unfortunately for Palin, most Americans are NOT looking forward to having her in that job, especially since she doesn’t even know what it entails.
Imagine you, the reader, are a business owner. You are interviewing for the position of Cleaner or Human Resources Manager or Accountant. You ask the eager candidate sitting before you, what does the job entail? The person doesn’t know! Would you hire that person?
Well YOU, (Joe and Jane Six Pack) are interviewing two candidates for the job of Vice President. And if a candidate doesn’t even KNOW what the job entails…then why hire her?
• Still on Palin...
Apart from drawing the ire of prominent conservatives within her own party, the learned Alaska governor seems to be also turning off the majority of Americans. A new poll by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal finds 55-percent of respondents say Palin is NOT qualified to be president. 40-percent say she is.
Her negative rating is 47-percent. Her positives are 38-percent. 34-percent say Palin raises questions about McCain’s candidacy. But just 23-percent say McCain will continue President George Bush’s policies. McCain’s running mate seems to be a bigger hindrance than a polarizing and unpopular president!
• In terms of Race…
I am very gratified to see that, according to the poll, RACE IS NOT A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS ELECTION. Only 8-percent of respondents say race is a factor. Even fewer, 4-percent, say they are less likely to vote for Obama because of race. Just 2-percent say they’re more likely to vote for him because of race.
(Some people may say the poll respondents are being disingenuous. I want to believe most people really don't care). So I say: God Bless America. Red America and Blue America: White America…and Black America…and Brown America!
And as for Obama's endorsement from former Bush Secretary of State, republican Colin Powell, 77-percent say IT DID NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. 19-percent say it made them more inclined towards Obama; 4-percent say it made them less inclined towards Obama.
America fits into the argument I was making in my preceeding article. Issues appear to be trumping race! On Healthcare, Obama is up by 39 points; on the Economy – 21 points; on taxes – 14 points. McCain is up on Iraq, by 5 points.
However, if he lets Palin take any questions about Iraq, McCain could well see that Iraq lead down to minus five percent!
She told a third grader in Denver, Colorado, Monday (October 20), that the Vice President runs the Senate and makes policy changes. Now why does she keep saying that? It must be because the Veep’s job is so complicated: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. Palin may be wondering exactly what the last part..."unless they be equally divided..." means.
Were the framers of the Constitution actually referring to Red State versus Blue State? The small towns she calls the "Real America" vs. what? The large urban areas that make up "Fake America"?
What conclusions do you draw, to know that McCain's female choices for vice President included Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison! Can you see HER bungling the role of the Vice President? Oh John McCain, what were you thinking? Even ovaries need some substance, beyond lipstick...and a 150-thousand-dollar wardrobe makeover!
The third grader in question, 8-year-old Brandon Garcia, should be the democrats “Joe Plumber.” The student sent a question to Colorado NBC affiliate, KUSA, in Denver. Seems KUSA asks third graders from local schools to send in their questions for candidates and elected officials.
Brandon had a big foreign policy question for Palin: “What does the Vice President do?" (You're thinking that's not foreign policy? Remember, Putin is scoping out Palin's house from his dacha!)
Sarah Palin said:
“That's a great question, Brandon, and a Vice President has a really great job, because not only are they there to support the President’s agenda, they're like a team member, the teammate to that President. But also, they're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to, they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job".
Unfortunately for Palin, most Americans are NOT looking forward to having her in that job, especially since she doesn’t even know what it entails.
Imagine you, the reader, are a business owner. You are interviewing for the position of Cleaner or Human Resources Manager or Accountant. You ask the eager candidate sitting before you, what does the job entail? The person doesn’t know! Would you hire that person?
Well YOU, (Joe and Jane Six Pack) are interviewing two candidates for the job of Vice President. And if a candidate doesn’t even KNOW what the job entails…then why hire her?
• Still on Palin...
Apart from drawing the ire of prominent conservatives within her own party, the learned Alaska governor seems to be also turning off the majority of Americans. A new poll by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal finds 55-percent of respondents say Palin is NOT qualified to be president. 40-percent say she is.
Her negative rating is 47-percent. Her positives are 38-percent. 34-percent say Palin raises questions about McCain’s candidacy. But just 23-percent say McCain will continue President George Bush’s policies. McCain’s running mate seems to be a bigger hindrance than a polarizing and unpopular president!
• In terms of Race…
I am very gratified to see that, according to the poll, RACE IS NOT A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS ELECTION. Only 8-percent of respondents say race is a factor. Even fewer, 4-percent, say they are less likely to vote for Obama because of race. Just 2-percent say they’re more likely to vote for him because of race.
(Some people may say the poll respondents are being disingenuous. I want to believe most people really don't care). So I say: God Bless America. Red America and Blue America: White America…and Black America…and Brown America!
And as for Obama's endorsement from former Bush Secretary of State, republican Colin Powell, 77-percent say IT DID NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. 19-percent say it made them more inclined towards Obama; 4-percent say it made them less inclined towards Obama.
America fits into the argument I was making in my preceeding article. Issues appear to be trumping race! On Healthcare, Obama is up by 39 points; on the Economy – 21 points; on taxes – 14 points. McCain is up on Iraq, by 5 points.
However, if he lets Palin take any questions about Iraq, McCain could well see that Iraq lead down to minus five percent!
Powell, Race and Obama
Colin Powell endorsed Barak Obama because he (either/both) is/are black! That’s the argument some are using to rationalize, for themselves at least, why Powell, a republican, would endorse democrat, Barak Obama. One assumes they are using the same argument to explain why Joe Biden is backing John McCain. Because he (either/both) is/are white, I presume?
I am not inside Colin Powell’s head. He may have felt he needed to support a brother. That’s the “black” of it. He may also believe, as he said, that Obama is better able to lead the nation at this particular time, than John McCain. That is the “white” of it. Many millions of Americans believe that, too, and so does the rest of the world! It may be, even, that Powell feels a little of both. That is the “grey” of it.
I can't argue where Colin Powell is coming from. But there are some arguments that I can make, I hope.
Let us harken back to the days when most blacks lived in the South, and were largely prevented from voting at all. In 1936, Franklin Roosevelt got 71-percent of the black vote. Let me say that again. A white president, Roosevelt, got 71 percent of the black vote! Apparently blacks didn’t run away from him because HE WAS WHITE. No, they voted...and kept on voting for Roosevelt in the next two elections. That year, no whites voted for a black man. Is there somebody, historian or not, who is willing to suggest that if a black man had indeed run for president, whites would have voted for him?
Harry Truman got 77-percent of the black vote in 1948. Blacks voted for Truman. He issued an order desegregating the armed services and an executive order setting up regulations against racial bias in federal employment. Blacks didn’t say “well he did us good, but he’s white, so chile, we shouldn't vote for him, no way ”. Uh-uh. They voted for a white candidate. Again, that year, no whites voted for a black man. Nor did any blacks vote for a black man. And so it continued...
Dwight D. Eisenhower got 39 percent of the black vote in 1956. Richard Nixon lost narrowly to John F. Kennedy in 1960. But he got 32-percent of the black vote.
President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 (outlawing segregation in public places) and his eventual Republican opponent, Sen. Barry Goldwater, opposed it. Johnson, a white candidate, got 94-percent of the black vote that year. It’s still a record for any presidential election!
As far as I know JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes were/are all white. Yes? I never once heard pollsters report that blacks in Virginia or Kentucky or New York or Florida responded that they wouldn't vote for any of these presidents, because they were not black. I have however heard this being said concerning Obama, with reference being made to the “Bradley Factor.” I have never heard of any similar factor in play, when any of the above presidents were running for office.
I’ve come to the conclusion that blacks are very sophisticated, sane and savvy political beings who have historically voted, not based on skin color, since they voted for whites for more than a hundred years, (there was nothing preventing them from staying home and refusing to vote) but in self-interest. They vote for those who they see will advance their cause. Clinton. Johnson. Roosevelt.
Therefore, I think it is disingenuously audacious for some people to dump their baggage on blacks and imply that blacks are voting for Obama because he is black. Powell is supporting Obama because he’s black! Blacks would support a KKK candidate like David Duke, if he was black. Supposing Obama was running against Condoleezza Rice. Would blacks have to vote for Rice, because she’s blacker? (According to me!)
Have you heard black republicans say they won’t vote for McCain because he is white? Please let me know..? Or are they really secretly planning on voting for Obama anyway, “because he’s black?” Then let’s commend their brotherhoodness, and channel this synergy into new directions. Rich blacks, we need you in the ghettos helping poor blacks. This Brimming Brotherhood of Blackness (or African-Americanness) should be available year round!
Blacks have also consistently voted for white senators, representatives, mayors and governors. Not a one groused (at least, not to the press!) that the reason all these politicians consistently got so many white votes were simply because they/either/all were white.
Blacks are smart enough to realize that there have been instances where whites looked at both sides and decided that they preferred the black candidate to the white candidate. And if we are confident in the ability of whites to make that judgment, then so should we be in the ability of blacks to make a similar judgment. Otherwise, we are buying into the cynicism of John McCain.
Black voters can look at many candidates and say, “that Jesse Jackson…I don’t think so. I will go with the white guy” (Dukakis/Mondale). Blacks similarly think that whites can also say “that John McCain, I don’t think so, I prefer the other guy -- black, pink, green or yellow".
So enough of these racist arguments! Otherwise, the discourse begs more questions. Did the four past Secretaries of State (whom McCain says endorsed him) only do so because he/they/either/all…are white? Could it also be that they simply like McCain's message more than they like Obama’s? Or is it a little of both?
I am not inside Colin Powell’s head. He may have felt he needed to support a brother. That’s the “black” of it. He may also believe, as he said, that Obama is better able to lead the nation at this particular time, than John McCain. That is the “white” of it. Many millions of Americans believe that, too, and so does the rest of the world! It may be, even, that Powell feels a little of both. That is the “grey” of it.
I can't argue where Colin Powell is coming from. But there are some arguments that I can make, I hope.
Let us harken back to the days when most blacks lived in the South, and were largely prevented from voting at all. In 1936, Franklin Roosevelt got 71-percent of the black vote. Let me say that again. A white president, Roosevelt, got 71 percent of the black vote! Apparently blacks didn’t run away from him because HE WAS WHITE. No, they voted...and kept on voting for Roosevelt in the next two elections. That year, no whites voted for a black man. Is there somebody, historian or not, who is willing to suggest that if a black man had indeed run for president, whites would have voted for him?
Harry Truman got 77-percent of the black vote in 1948. Blacks voted for Truman. He issued an order desegregating the armed services and an executive order setting up regulations against racial bias in federal employment. Blacks didn’t say “well he did us good, but he’s white, so chile, we shouldn't vote for him, no way ”. Uh-uh. They voted for a white candidate. Again, that year, no whites voted for a black man. Nor did any blacks vote for a black man. And so it continued...
Dwight D. Eisenhower got 39 percent of the black vote in 1956. Richard Nixon lost narrowly to John F. Kennedy in 1960. But he got 32-percent of the black vote.
President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 (outlawing segregation in public places) and his eventual Republican opponent, Sen. Barry Goldwater, opposed it. Johnson, a white candidate, got 94-percent of the black vote that year. It’s still a record for any presidential election!
As far as I know JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bushes were/are all white. Yes? I never once heard pollsters report that blacks in Virginia or Kentucky or New York or Florida responded that they wouldn't vote for any of these presidents, because they were not black. I have however heard this being said concerning Obama, with reference being made to the “Bradley Factor.” I have never heard of any similar factor in play, when any of the above presidents were running for office.
I’ve come to the conclusion that blacks are very sophisticated, sane and savvy political beings who have historically voted, not based on skin color, since they voted for whites for more than a hundred years, (there was nothing preventing them from staying home and refusing to vote) but in self-interest. They vote for those who they see will advance their cause. Clinton. Johnson. Roosevelt.
Therefore, I think it is disingenuously audacious for some people to dump their baggage on blacks and imply that blacks are voting for Obama because he is black. Powell is supporting Obama because he’s black! Blacks would support a KKK candidate like David Duke, if he was black. Supposing Obama was running against Condoleezza Rice. Would blacks have to vote for Rice, because she’s blacker? (According to me!)
Have you heard black republicans say they won’t vote for McCain because he is white? Please let me know..? Or are they really secretly planning on voting for Obama anyway, “because he’s black?” Then let’s commend their brotherhoodness, and channel this synergy into new directions. Rich blacks, we need you in the ghettos helping poor blacks. This Brimming Brotherhood of Blackness (or African-Americanness) should be available year round!
Blacks have also consistently voted for white senators, representatives, mayors and governors. Not a one groused (at least, not to the press!) that the reason all these politicians consistently got so many white votes were simply because they/either/all were white.
Blacks are smart enough to realize that there have been instances where whites looked at both sides and decided that they preferred the black candidate to the white candidate. And if we are confident in the ability of whites to make that judgment, then so should we be in the ability of blacks to make a similar judgment. Otherwise, we are buying into the cynicism of John McCain.
Black voters can look at many candidates and say, “that Jesse Jackson…I don’t think so. I will go with the white guy” (Dukakis/Mondale). Blacks similarly think that whites can also say “that John McCain, I don’t think so, I prefer the other guy -- black, pink, green or yellow".
So enough of these racist arguments! Otherwise, the discourse begs more questions. Did the four past Secretaries of State (whom McCain says endorsed him) only do so because he/they/either/all…are white? Could it also be that they simply like McCain's message more than they like Obama’s? Or is it a little of both?
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