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!
Monday, November 24, 2008
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.
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