Llano Estacado

Accordion rock

2011-12-18T10:54:00.001-07:00

Obama; Job Killer

2011-12-14T16:00:00.001-07:00

I wish during the years I was in public office I had this firsthand experience about the difficulties businesspeople face. ... We are choking off business opportunity.

That quote came from Senator George McGovern who tried to start a business after leaving office and ran into a wall of regulations he helped create. I found the quote today in an article written by John Stossel explaining why job creators are fighting back against the demonizing of business by Obama, another policymaker who has zero business experience. Please read it but I’ll give you the money quote:

Tom Stemberg, founder of Staples, got involved with the Job Creators Alliance because he's annoyed that the government makes a tough job much tougher. He complains that government mostly creates jobs — that kill jobs. "They're creating $300 million worth of jobs in the new consumer financial protection bureau," Stemberg said, "which I don't think is going to do much for productivity in America. We're creating all kinds of jobs trying to live up to Dodd-Frank ... and those jobs don't create much productivity.

I have a school principle that can’t get a loan to buy my late mom’s house because of Dodd-Frank. He has excellent credit, a good job, but because the house is in a small town and there haven’t been enough home sales in the area to meet the appraiser’s mandated requirements for comps the banks can’t lend. Small businesses everywhere are running into the same problem, lending to small companies is at a five year low.

Dodd-Frank is preventing them from getting loans and thereby killing jobs. Think about that; Congress’ response to a crisis they created is creating another crisis. This should not be surprising; Dodd and Frank had a big hand in creating the first crises through irresponsible bank regulations. Ronald Reagan once remarked that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'.” Thomas Sowell recently wrote Gridlock to the Rescue? where he shows how history proves that government intervention into the economy has always resulted in a worse outcome than doing nothing.

Of course according to leftists if you are against government regulation then you want dirty air and dirty water. Problem with such simplistic thinking is that regulation has long ago cleaned up most pollution problems. Nevertheless leftist politicians continue to try and put more and more restrictions on business just to show that they are earning their salaries by eliminating imaginary threats. Witness how Obama is trying to regulate the newest pollutant, carbon dioxide (essential to all life and nontoxic at 100 times ambient levels), as a back door cap and trade move that is predicted to increase energy costs by $129 billion and according to a Commerce Department analysis would cause job losses of 40,000 to 60,000. Obama promised to bankrupt coal and openly admitted that “electricity prices would necessarily skyrocket”. Fewer dollars in everyone's pockets will cripple an already shaky economy causing even more job losses. Proposed EPA regulations on 200,000 boilers and process heaters will have companies trying to measure trace amounts that are so small it will be difficult if not impossible to achieve, yet Barbra Boxer says if we don't we "will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution".

Obama was saying pass my jobs bill when he hadn’t even submitted one while at the same time he delayed signing free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. He finally just signed them but since he was praising them in his 2010 State of the Union address no one can understand the year and a half delay. Obama’s own trade website reveals that the South Korea agreement alone would create more than 60,000 jobs. Obama has delayed the Keystone pipeline even though his own State Department has said there is no real issue about the environment that requires further investigation. He wants to wait till after the election so as to not anger his base at the expense of 20,000 jobs and five billion dollars in property taxes that TransCanada will pay over the lifetime of the project. He delayed a shale gas project in Ohio to study how hydraulic fracturing might contaminate groundwater despite the fact that there are no confirmed cases of groundwater contamination from fracking ever anywhere. Groundwater contamination has occurred but not as a direct result of the process, it is the result of waste water evaporation ponds and poorly constructed pipelines taking the waste water and chemicals to processing facilities. These are normal haz-mat concerns that every industry must monitor and control but is being used as a straw man to vilify a new energy boom that in the Marcellus Shale region alone could create 280,000 new American jobs and add $6 billion in new tax revenues. The left always bemoans the fact that we are loosing so many jobs to China but never say why. When a communist country has a lower corporate tax rate than the United States you know we are screwed. The left's answer, raise those taxes more even though the United States has the fourth highest corporate tax rate in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Cato Institute reports:

The combined U.S. federal and average state rate of 40 percent is almost 9 percentage points higher than the average OECD top corporate rate of 31.4 percent. Only Belgium, Italy, and Japan have higher rates than that of the United States.

As one disillusioned Obama donor recently noted:

"Businesses adding jobs" is a headline every elected official loves to read. Sadly, it's one that's getting harder and harder to find because of a policy and regulatory landscape that makes it increasingly difficult for businesses to see why and where creating new jobs makes sense.

Obamacare, the biggest job killer of all needs several posts all by itself. With all the delayed jobs, lost jobs, and killed jobs Obama and the left have caused one might wonder how unemployment could be dropping. Easy answer, they are cooking the books . 315,000 people who have given up looking for work and have no job are no longer counted as unemployed.

Obamacare Power Grab

2011-12-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

“For the power given to Congress by the Constitution does not extend to the internal regulation of the commerce of a State, (that is to say of the commerce between citizen and citizen,) which remain exclusively with its own legislature; but to its external commerce only, that is to say, its commerce with another State, or with foreign nations, or with the Indian tribes.”

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition."

Thomas Jefferson

The idea that the commerce clause can be used as a catch all that will allow Congress total control over our lives will be challenged next year in what is arguably the most important Supreme Court decision since the founding of the Republic. Is this hyperbole? I don’t think so and apparently at least one congressman doesn’t either.

Here you see Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-Calif.) at a now infamous town hall meeting being asked about slavery and constitutional limits to congress.

“I think that there are very few constitutional limits that would prevent the federal government from rules that could affect your private life.”

The questioner then outlined those very parts of the Constitution that were meant to place limits on the federal government. She then asks:

“So my question is, how can this law be constitutional? But more importantly than that, if they can do this, what can’t they?”

His answer to we the people?

“The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country.”

Hopefully everyone saw that clip but I replay it here because it is the foundation of Obama's and most leftists beliefs. The government is all powerful and the people need to just let our betters tell us how to live. For our own good, for the children. The idea that if the government can mandate we buy health care then they can tell us to buy anything, a Chevy Volt or broccoli or whatever, was recently admitted in court. In writing for the majority confirming the constitutionality of the Obamacare mandate Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals flatly stated that he can’t find any limit to congressional power: (emphasis mine)

“We acknowledge some discomfort with the government’s failure to advance any clear doctrinal principles limiting congressional mandates that any American purchase any product or service in interstate commerce. But to tell the truth, those limits are not apparent to us, either because the power to require the entry into commerce is symmetrical with the power to prohibit or condition commercial behavior, or because we have not yet perceived a qualitative limitation.”

This is no dumb congress critter saying this. Hope you all like broccoli.

Obama's Gift to Iran

2011-12-12T16:05:00.000-07:00

Iranian Military Examine Obama's Holiday Gift

I found it hard to believe that Obama chose not to destroy the drone that Iran has captured. Surely we couldn’t locate the drone or some other impediment to protecting a highly classified strategic asset was in play. However it seems that Obama made a deliberate decision not to target the drone for fear that Iran would consider this a hostile act.

Iran certainly has no such qualms; they have cost the lives of countless American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with support to the insurgents including providing the deadliest of Improvised Explosive Devises, IEDs, to the terrorists. Recently they themselves tried to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador by attempting to blow up a D.C. restaurant. But Obama doesn’t want to piss them off? The only reason I can think of, aside from conspiracy theories regarding Obama’s loyalties, is that he still holds out the hope that he can negotiate Iran into giving up its nuclear ambitions. The man is so assured of his silver tongued oratory that he even thinks that politely asking Iran to give us the drone back a day after they said they wouldn’t might actually work. “We’ll see how the Iranians respond,” Obama says.

Rick Santorum recently commented on Obama's appeasement in the Middle East to which Obama responded, “Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaeda leaders who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement,”. Of course we can’t ask Osama anything because he’s dead, but Obama’s newest dumb statement highlights another of Obama’s decisions that, aside from conspiracy theories regarding Obama’s loyalties, is hard to figure out. Osama had barely reached room temperature, or sea temperature, before the President started crowing about how he had killed him. No thought to how that compromised the tons of intelligence the mission had captured just as no thought to how releasing the fact that we had obtained tons of intelligence compromised that very intelligence.

The man is in over his head and apparently no one around him is willing to let him know how badly. By a vote of 100-0 the Senate passed its most stringent Iran sanctions bill to date. Obama opposed it. Why? Aside from conspiracy theories regarding Obama’s loyalties I just can't say.

Obama helping Al Qaeda?

2011-12-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

Al Qaeda flag flown above Benghazi courthouse

Gaddafi certainly was no friend of America, Ronald Reagan called him the “Mad Dog of the Middle East” before dropping a bomb on his tent, but recently he was behaving himself. Since he wasn’t an actual ally it wasn’t quite the betrayal that throwing Mubarak under the bus was when Obama decided to go to war with Libya. Still Gaddafi did call Obama a friend and said “He is a man whose policy should be supported, and he should be assisted in implementing it in any way possible, since he is now leaning towards peace.” Now that we have killed Gaddafi and replaced him with a Sharia government that embraces Al Qaeda what is Obama’s next move concerning Libya? Why help them build up their military of course.

Iran War

2011-10-14T21:21:00.000-06:00

Iran has again attacked American soil. Remember attacking our embassy in 1979 was by international law an attack on American soil . We did nothing. They are killing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and we do nothing. They are developing a nuclear capability to "wipe out" one of our best allies in the Middle East and we do nothing. Finally they have been caught planning a 911 type bombing right here in the U.S., as well as an assassination of an ally's ambassador, and because we foiled it we do....nothing. What is the difference between the Al Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001 and the attack on the Twin Towers in 2/26/1993? After the 93 attack we did nothing. We went at it like it was a law enforcement issue instead of an act of war. Like we are doing with Iran today. Well we know how that turned out then and we are doomed to repeat it now.

Fast and Furious in New Mexico

2011-10-07T19:24:00.000-06:00

The Mayor of Columbus New Mexico Eddie Espinosa, Police Chief Angelo Vega, Village Trustee Blas Gutierez, and seven other men were arrested March 10, 2011 for allegedly selling over 200 guns to a Mexican drug cartel. Now that's all well and good, I hope they get very long sentences for adding fuel to an already horrific drug war being waged on both sides of the border. If any of those guns were involved in murder those gunrunners should also face charges for those crimes.

Still I have to wonder at the hypocrisy of a Justice Department that indicts those smugglers while ignoring the fact that it's own boss, Eric Holder, is complicit in smuggling well over 1,500 guns to those same cartels. The ATF "Fast and Furious" guns actually were used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry as well as over 200 Mexicans.

Libyans Massacring Blacks

2011-09-01T20:08:00.001-06:00

Obama's intervention into Libya in order to prevent the massacre of civilians has resulted in a massacre of civilians. CBS reports, on its web page at least, that Libyan rebels are indescrimently killing Black immigrant "mercenaries".

Osama Sleeps with the Fishes

2011-05-05T05:03:00.002-06:00

He's dead Jim. Finally, Osama has passed on! This terrorist is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his virgins! This is a late Jihadi! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! If the Navy hadn't dumped him off the fantail he would be pushing up the daisies! His metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! He's hopped the twig! He's shuffled off this mortal coil! He's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-AL QUEDA!

Big debate now is should we release the photos? Obama says no because it would inflame the sensibilities of the Muslim world and endanger Americans. I agree but wonder where this concern was when it came to other photos and information that encompassed the same danger but also put America in a bad light? Obama was all for the release of that intel. Those for the release say that we need to prove to the extremists that he is not only merely dead, he's really most sincerely dead.

The above photo is from the web sight Bert is Evil. Photos that place Bert at some of the most infamous events and with some of history's most infamous people prove that Bert is evil. Given today's technology what will a photo of a dead Osama prove?

Michael Uliano

2010-09-11T08:36:00.002-06:00

Never forget.

Michael Uliano probably would have preferred to be somewhere other than at the 105th Floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. An options broker for Cantor Fitzgerald, Michael enjoyed his work but would rather have been an actor. Surpassing his love of the stage was his love for fishing. To his fishing lure customers on the net he was known as Artie Fishhills, a play on the word artificial because of his knack for tying fishing flies. So if he could have Mike might have been fishing and clamming off Cape Cod in his old ’73 Jeep with the Shark’s mouth grill instead of one of millions of New Yorkers reporting to duty at thousands of desks across the world’s financial nerve center.

Michael's quilt at the United in Memory Gallery.

Michael acted off Broadway and was working on a screenplay. He so loved acting that he endured the amusement of his fellow Ithaca College football players and took ballet lessons. Many of those expressing fond memories of Michael at Legacy.com remember him on the stage or the football field. As quarterback of Canton high school Mike’s Number 10 was retired. He is survived by his wife Linda Buffa, his mother Gail, and eight brothers and sisters.

Blogmocracy has a thread up today to post your experience during the attack.

Obama today agreed to commit an additional 40,000 troops

2009-10-23T21:31:00.004-06:00

...to help fight Fox News. Jay Leno

In an attack on the press that we haven’t seen since Nixon’s “enemies” list Obama continues his war with Fox News.

“This is an administration that's getting very arrogant and slippery in its dealings with people. And if you dare to oppose them, they're going to come hard at you and they're going to cut your legs off." Karl Rove

No kidding. It’s ominous but in keeping with the attacks on the health care and insurance industry when they oppose him. When managed care provider Humana published a letter to its members warning them of potential drastic cuts to the Medicare Advantage program Centers for Medicare and Medicaid sent this order:

“As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites”

When the insurance industry’s trade association released a report saying a measure in the Senate Finance Committee would produce sharp increases in premiums for millions of people who currently have insurance the Dems launched a drive in both Houses to strip the industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come under attack even though they began with a friendly attitude towards this administration. Disagreements with Obama over the “crap and tax” legislation and on socialized medicine have put the Chamber square in the sights for punishment. These attacks against the Second Amendment rights of citizens are part and parcel of the Chicago Way and should come as no surprise to anyone who was aware of the political climate Obama came out of. Still one could only wish they would fight the war in Afghanistan with the same zeal they attack domestic opponents of Obama’s policies.

“If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban – or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged – that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.” March 27, 2009 Barak Obama announcing a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.

“I will give you a clear mission, defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That’s my commitment to you.” August 17, 2009 Obama’s promise to America’s armed forces speaking at the VFW.

Granted this President hasn’t had a stellar performance in fulfilling his promises, Jim Geraghty’s quip that everything he says has an expiration date has really caught on, but that promise has life and death consequences, not just to our troops but to the security and reputation of our nation. It has now been seven weeks since General McChrystal requested 40,000 additional troops be sent to Afghanistan ASAP, and the President has yet to decide whether he will listen to his handpicked General on the ground or follow the advice of military genius “Oh that Joe!” Biden. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama had not even decided when a decision would be reached. Obama has only managed to squeak McChrystal into his busy schedule a couple times and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Tuesday that he is working to get face time with the commander in chief.

Having turned the tide in Iraq by routing the radical Islamists there, a front Al-Qaeda’s Ayman Zawahiri said was crucial to restoration of the Caliphate; the terrorist enemies of Democracy have stepped up their efforts in Afghanistan. This makes sense because there is nowhere else to go to fight for global jihad. None the less, having won the war on one front President Obama may have decided that we should abandon it on the other; this at a time when Pakistan has finally begun to recognize that the Taliban presents more danger to its fragile Democracy than its value as a thorn to India justifies. Reacting to a Taliban breakout from the Swat region that threatened Islamabad itself as well as stepped up terror attacks the Pakistani forces have launched a major offensive against Taliban sanctuaries in South Waziristan. While pressure is being applied in Pakistan the situation presents itself for a modified hammer and anvil tactic against the Taliban forces in both regions. While there are not enough forces on either side to be a classic hammer or anvil that could crush and destroy the Taliban the Pakistanis can drive significant forces out of the region. If we could gain sufficient control of the areas they would like to flee into we could then further stress those troops into giving up or retreating into Iran. However we need to be more than a collection of isolated firebases spread out over the countryside. General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy is designed to actually clear and hold territory and that would give us the presence and intelligence to be at least a modified anvil to deny them a safe haven.

Obama will wait till after the November elections before angering his base and probably sending some troops, a McChrystal light strategy that he will figure is the most politically expediant course. It may be too little too late. It's too bad that he will be a politicain first and Commander in Chief second but that's where we are. If he would commit to victory can anyone doubt that this military can win?

Weekend at Khamenei's

2009-10-17T20:28:00.011-06:00

The “free” Iranian press did its best to put fears to rest today that Supreme Leader and election fraud supporter Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei is in a coma or dead. He was shown meeting with President Ahmadinejad and the President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade. Unfortunately for those of us familiar with faux photography this is not enough and so conspiracies abound whether this is real or photoshop. First we have the photograph from the Supreme Leader’s official website.

President Wade is in the same garb that he is in when he met with Ahmadenijad in this set of pictures from the Fars News Agency.

So far so good. Enter the Fars News Agency’s story on the meeting and the picture they use.

Turns out someone screwed up because this is a picture from a meeting that occurred in 2006. So is this.

So the question for the experts out there, is the first picture legit?

In the new picture the color of the wall is lighter, Khamenei’s suit color is darker and Ahmadenijad’s is lighter. Same couch three years later and the thing on the table, a Koran?, is the same. Just to add one other point, The Islamic Republic News Agency’s story has a blank space where the photo should be. Tons of pictures from the 2006 meeting, one lousy picture for the 2009 meeting that proves he’s alive? We may be reading a lot more into this than is actually there, but there you are. They are really just going to have to trot this guy out for all to see to kill this rumor.

Hat tip to Michael Ledeen and Enduring America for the story and pics.

Update I:

A few other photos of the new meeting are up a SL's web site, I don't thing they are photoshopped. Too bad.

Chuck Johnson Race Detective vol I

2009-10-17T19:10:00.004-06:00

BITE ME has a comic that is going viral. Ex-Lizards, even current Lizards will love this.

Iranian War

2009-10-16T23:46:00.010-06:00

Victor David Hanson has a rather scary article on the demise of Israel should Iran get the bomb. In his scenario however Iran realizes its goal of wiping Israel off the map without ever using its nukes.

The net effect would be for half the world’s Jews to hear constantly two messages — there was no Holocaust, but there might well be one soon. It would be analogous to the American public reliving the threats of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 — every day.

A recent poll revealed that a quarter of Israel’s population quite understandably might emigrate if Iran gets the bomb. And it seems likely that within a decade or two, a nuclear Iran could so demoralize the Israelis by such psychological intimidation that it could unravel Israel demographically without dropping a bomb.

Aside from being at war with Iran since the takeover of our embassy, a war every administration since and most Americans are in denial about, when Iran gets the bomb things in the Middle East will go from bad to horribly worse. That Iran will get the bomb seems to be a safe bet. Obama’s shafting of East Europe by reneging on his campaign promise to keep the missile defense shield in Poland was supposed to yield Russian help on sanctions against Iran. (Ironically enough, scuttling a defensive missile shield designed to prevent attacks was one reason given by the Norwegians for giving Obama his Peace Prize.) When Russian President Medvedev signaled in September that Russia’s opposition to sanctions was being reconsidered it was hailed as a diplomatic victory for Obama, but that victory turned out to be only short lived rhetoric from the Russians. While Hillary was making her first public visit to Moscow on Monday the real power in Russia, Vladimir Putin, was in China reassuring Beijing that he had no intention of supporting tough sanctions. From China Putin told reporters the threat of sanctions is unneeded at this point because it could scare the Iranians, scuttling chances that talks with global powers could end Tehran's recalcitrance. Equally worthless diplomatically was Obama’s pandering to the Chinese. During Hillary’s trip to China human rights were taken off the table and Obama dissed the Dalai Lama. That didn’t gain much vis a vis Iran either, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that "China always believes that sanction and pressure should not be an option and will not be conducive to the current diplomatic efforts over the Iran nuclear issue”. Trade between China and Iran grew 35% last year, to $27 billion. China wants Iran’s oil and no amount of hope from Obama will change that, sanctions will only drive up the price of oil for China, the world's second-largest buyer of crude oil.

Obama himself isn’t ready to sanction Iran, still hoping that more talks will change Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but he would at least like the Iranians to think that maybe sanctions could be a possibility if the talks lead nowhere. Why these talks would lead to anything substantial when the previous nine years of talking didn’t is anyone’s guess. What Obama should be doing is unilaterally imposing sanctions and telling Tehran that we will lift them only when they drop their nuclear program and allow verification. Republican candidate for Senate, (Pennsylvania), Pat Toomey explains here that Congress is attempting to do just that:

Many in Congress understand the importance of using the diplomatic “stick.” The vast majority of members of Congress in both the House and the Senate are sponsoring legislation to do that.

The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is a bipartisan bill that would require President Obama to sanction foreign firms that sell, ship, or insure gasoline and diesel fuel to Iran, unless Iran agrees to drop its nuclear ambitions. To date, 75 senators and 321 representatives have co-sponsored the legislation.

The Iran Sanctions Enabling Act would authorize state and local government to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with large investments in Iran’s energy sector. To date, 34 senators and 247 representatives in both parties have co-sponsored this important legislation.

He also asks “Why aren’t Sen. Arlen Specter’s and Rep. Joe Sestak’s names on either of these bills?” My question is will Obama veto the bill?

The other option that everyone hopes for and yet justifiably fears is an Israeli attack. An attack by Israel will be really tough to pull off and only delay the bomb by about five years. Of course allot can happen in five years., but then all hell will break loose if Israel attacks, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, and along the Syrian border from Iranian orders alone. While Egypt and Saudi Arabia will privately applaud Israel for slowing down a Shiite bomb publicly they would come down hard on Jews and Americans worldwide. The rest of the Muslim world would do likewise.

Currently we are hearing rumors that Khamenei is either in a coma or dead. Should the current military takeover fail with the death of Khamenei and a more moderate reform minded theocracy take its place that would only be good for America. It may not mean an end to Iran’s nukes or support for terrorism. If however a new Democratic revolution comes out of the impending chaos then maybe we could see the end of the Iranian war on America, and maybe an end to support for Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Al Qaeda, and Hugo Chavez.

War on Iran

2009-10-13T19:49:00.007-06:00

Dr. Michael Ledeen has been the foremost advocate for the people of Iran. His posts are headlined by the plea “Faster Please!” in a cry for more support of those who would overthrow the tyrannical regime in Iran. That is a plea that was largely ignored by G.W. Bush and even more ignored, even apparently disdained, by B.H. Obama. In an effort to promote his extended hand of diplomacy towards Iran Obama mutely sat by while the Iranian people took to the streets to protect what little voice they have, had, in the governance of Iran. For that he got the peace prize?

Things may be coming to a boil however, Dr. Ledeen has reported that a source he respects has said Khamenei is in a coma. Commenter Uzi asks a brilliant question:

If the Supreme Leader ( if I’m not mistaken that translates into German as der uberfuhrer) is really in a coma, what will happen if his situation doesn’t change, if he doesn’t recover and doesn’t die? Arik Sharon has been in a state of low conciousness for nearly four years. A client of mine who was hit by a car has been in a coma since April, 2006.
But the Supreme Leader is supposed to be Allah’s representative on earth. How will they deal with an unconcious leader if the situation persists?

Dr. Ledeen is the first to express cation that this an unconfirmed report. We have seen the death of Castro, Bin Laden, and Khamenei before and have been bitterly disappointed. The death of Khamenei, or even his being immobilized politically as well as physically, will bring to a boil the simmering clash between the military and the clergy in Iran. Khamenei’s support for Ahmadinejad’s blatantly fraudulent election came as a surprise and did not sit well with many of Iran’s clerics. Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had set up a theocracy that had within it some form of checks and balances based on the elections of parliament and the presidency, (although candidates are chosen by the Guardian Council). Khamenei was always suspicious of elections and reform and pretty much destroyed the illusion of both in the last election. Standing against him and Ahmadinejad was the power broker Rafsanjani, top cleric Montazeri, Mousavi (second place in the election), Karroubi (third place), Khatami (the reformer), and the people of Iran. Fence sitters like speaker of parliament Larijani will most likely support whoever comes out on top.

Rafsanjani heads the Assembly of Experts, those clerics who will choose the next Supreme Leader; a position Ahmadinejad has no hope of filling. Supreme Leader is a position that can be held only by extremely respected Islamic clerics, Khamenei barely had the religious creds to hold the job. When the Assembly of Experts elects a new Supreme Leader, and that title is no joke, Ahmadinejad will find that his authority will be subjected to a veto by the new Supreme Leader. That will set up a power play between Ahmadinejad and the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, (who are supposed to take their orders from the Supreme Leader but are very supportive of Ahmadinejad), against the Mullahs. Rafsanjani will have support from most of the business community but the IRGC has taken bigger and bigger pieces of the economy into their hands. This could get really ugly and could present Obama with excellent opportunities to exploit the situation to America’s advantage but he won’t. To take a side in the interests of his country would be very abrasive against his sensibilities as a member of the post America world community organizer that Obama visions himself to be. Obama doesn’t believe in meddling with other countries, except of course Israel.

I got bounced at Little Green Footballs

2009-10-11T11:40:00.004-06:00

I got the bounce but at least I didn't flounce at LGF . This post got me banned:

My bad, his dual citizenship is as a Kenyan, so he is a Kenyan apostate. And socialist.

Charles hit the roof:

What the hell are you talking about?! Barack Obama does NOT have dual citizenship in Kenya!

Why are you spreading this hateful garbage at my website?

Then he lowered the boom:

I've thought about this a little bit, and that's the end of the line for you. If you want to promote your stupid "Obama's a sekrit Muslim" bullshit it will have to be somewhere else.

Charles doesn't put up with any talk of Obama being Muslim or not being born in the US. Of course I didn't call Obama a Muslim, I don't believe he is. Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam. This is not in dispute, his father was Muslim so he was born a Muslim. When he later became a Christian he became an apostate. Where I did screw up was in saying that Obama has dual citizenship. My source for this belief was a series of NRO articles, (like this one) on Obama's birth and status in regards to his eligibility to run for President. My mistake was in thinking that because he was also born with Kenyan citizenship he still had Kenyan citizenship. Had I gone to Obama's fact checking web site I would have seen the following:

He held both U.S. and Kenyan citizenship as a child, but lost his Kenyan citizenship automatically on his 23rd birthday.

So for saying such a hateful thing, that his dual citizenship is as a Kenyan, instead of was as a Kenyan, I got banned. What I don't understand is what is so hateful about saying someone is a dual citizen? Interestingly enough, this post wasn't considered hateful:

You know what pisses me off the most? The tea party turds are trying to tell us that more people showed up to hear loonies rant than to see President Reagan's inaugurations.

But at least I didn't flounce. Many Lizards have flounced lately, which is to say they had finally had enough of Charles ripping into tea parties, Glen Beck, Mike Huckabee, creationists, Sara Palin, birthers, etc. while hardly touching on the war with radical Islam. The latter of course has been the main reason most conservatives became Lizards in the first place. So when someone comments on the fact that LGF just isn't fun anymore and that they are no longer going to visit the site Charles bans them and they are said to have been "flounced". I never wanted to be banned, and certainly never for being "hateful", because I still liked LGF and could actually get into reasoned debate with those who supported some recent policies of Obama's such as the stimulus package. My take on those who flounce was "why burn your bridges"? John Hawkins at Right Wing News has more on what he calls "The Descent of Little Green Footballs". As for me if Charles was to let me back on I would stay away from such toxic subjects as creationism or Obama's birth and focus on issues that actually matter. Sadly, being banned means that I can't even apologize and beg forgiveness for being a bit of a bore, on a dead thread no less. So now I have come back to my blog to vent, but at least here I don't have to watch my mouth.

Finally I do have to laugh at the birther story because it just wont die.

Shocker! Judge orders trial on eligibility issue.

Feliz Navidad

2008-12-24T18:54:00.003-07:00

"THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS"
Jim and Nita Lee (Dec. 1972)
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring -- Caramba! Que pasa?
Los ninos were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a fightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.
I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!"
Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,
Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos --
For none of the ninos had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and Feliz Navidad!

The Chicago Way

2008-12-11T09:38:00.014-07:00

12/12/08 Developing: Scroll down for updates

...they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.
Sean Connery as Jim Malone in The Untouchables

Corruption in Chicago goes back to the days of Al Capone. Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson was on Capone's payroll in the late '20s. The late Mayor Richard J. Daley ran the infamous Chicago machine, as a Committeeman and Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee in the '50s and as Mayor of Chicago in the '60s. While never charged with a crime several of his high-ranking aides were sent to prison. His son and current Mayor Richard M. Daley is tied to contracting scandals involving 30 indictments and 23 convictions. In his book When Corruption Was King insider Robert Cooley has written about how the mob and it's Democrat allies ran Chicago in the '70s and '80s. Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, who served 30 years as a state legislator and never earned more than $30,000 a year left behind an estate worth more than $2 million, including $800,000 found in shoe boxes, briefcases and strong boxes in his hotel closet. The son of a ward boss, Illinois Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski, served from 1959 to 1995 and was the Democrat chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, plead guilty to mail fraud. He would later be pardoned Bill Clinton. Three Illinois governors: George Ryan,(the only Republican in all this), Dan Walker and Otto Kerner Jr., have done time. Which brings us to this guy...

the Senate seat “is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich

The FBI arrested Illinois Democrat Governor Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, Tuesday. They were named in a federal criminal complaint that charges a criminal conspiracy aimed at firing Chicago Tribune editorial members who were critical of the administration and an attempt to sell Senator Obama's vacant seat to the highest bidder. Some of the offers solicited included Obama getting Blagojevich's wife Patti, the daughter of a Chicago alderman and ward boss, on “paid corporate boards" or for Obama getting “his friend Warren Buffett or some of those guys to help us" fund a 501(c)(4) organization (a non-profit organization that may engage in political activity and lobbying) in return for appointing Senate Candidate 1, Valerie Jarrett, Obama's choice for the seat. Other offers floated by Blagojevich for appointing Jarrett included Obama naming Blagojevich secretary of health and human services, an ambassadorship, or a six-figure job with the union coalition Change to Win. Obama apparently wasn't willing to give Blagojevich anything other than "appreciation" so Blagojevich said "Fuck them". When approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5, Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, Blagojevich said “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

The affidavit claims Blagojevich stated he was “elevating” Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates for the open Senate seat and that he might be able to cut a deal with him if he provides Blagojevich something “tangible up front.” Blagojevich had a problem with Senate Candidate 5 just promising to help because Blagojevich had a prior bad experience with Senate Candidate 5 not keeping his word. Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that if Senate Candidate 5 is going to be chosen to fill the Senate seat “some of this stuffs gotta start happening now . . .right now. . . and we gotta see it. You understand?” Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D if there is “tangible political support (campaign contributions) like you’ve said, start showing us now.”

Fitzgerald stopped the investigation before Blagojevich actually got anything. If Jesse Jr. was supposed to put up something tangible real soon, before Blagojevich was going to appoint anyone, way before Obama was to be sworn in, why didn't he wait to see how this played out? He kept the Plame case open long after he knew who the leaker was. Was he afraid others close to Obama would also get sucked in to committing illegal acts? Key to this investigation is Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a prominent fundraiser for both Blagojevich and Obama and partner in a shady land deal he and Obama were involved in. Rezko was convicted on 16 corruption-related counts, including fraud and money laundering. He previously accused federal prosecutors of improperly pressuring him to turn on Obama and Blagojevich. “They are pressuring me to tell them the ‘wrong’ things that I supposedly know about Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Obama. I have never been party to any wrongdoing that involved the governor or the senator. I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take what comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people.” However it seems Rezko did do some singing. Aside from Rezko and Valerie Jarrett others involved in the Chicago Machine are David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel holds the Illinois seat that Blagojevich gave up to run for congress. Axelrod was an adviser to Governor Blagojevich and media strategist for Emanuel. David Axelrod is Obama's top strategist going to the White House. Emanuel is Obama's new chief of staff. Jarrett is an incoming senior advisor to Obama and good friend to Michelle Obama. She got Michelle her job in Mayor Daley's city hall. Both Jackson and Obama need to come forward as to who were the go betweens apparently speaking on their behalf to Blagojevich's people. They also need to address the fact that they seem not to have notified authorities that Blagojevich was selling this Senate seat.

Because this affidavit is submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation.

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald

12/12/08 Update:

It looks like Rahm Emanuel is being looked at as the Obama "advisor". He isn't talking. Rev. Jesse Jackson goes on record stating he was not "an emissary" in efforts to get Jackson Jr. the seat. However businessmen with ties to both the governor and Jackson Jr. as well as Jackson Jr.'s brother Jonathan have come under suspicion as active participants in a Chicago Tribune article.

I am Joe!

2008-10-18T17:20:00.011-06:00

Iowahawk gets serious about Joe the Plumber.

First, a pre-emptive apology for the intentional non-humor to follow. I promise that all future non-humor will be strictly unintentional.

We've all witnessed a lot of insanity in American politics over the last few years. Up until the last few days, none of it has seriously bothered me; hey, just more grist for the satire mill. But after witnessing the media's blitzkreig on Joe 'the Plumber' Wurzelbacher, I can only muster anger, and no small amount of fear.

Please read the whole thing, but this is especially important:

If it's meta-memes and meta-meta-narratives these media headlice want, so be it. I hope you will join me in expressing a simple bit of solidarity with this guy, Spartacus style. I AM JOE. I am a Wal Mart schlub in flyover country who changes my own oil and unclogs drains without a license. I smoke and drink beer and toss the football in the front yard with my kid, and I figure I can fend my way without handouts from some Magic Messiah's candy bags. Most everyone in my family and most everyone I grew up with is another Joe, and if you screw with them, you screw with me.

Are you a Joe? Say it proud. Leave it on every goddamn newspaper comment section and online forum. Let these pressroom and online thugs know you won't stay silent when they try to destroy the life of a private citizen for speaking his mind -- because for every one of them, there are a million Joe Wurzelbachers. And for that we should all be thankful.

I AM JOE! I work for $7 an hour as a front desk clerk/maintenance man. I have ~~$1600~~ $1300 (thanks Dems) in a mutual fund. That mutual fund's capital gains will be taxed under Obama before I even see the money. Even before capital gains are taxed Obama will tax any oil companies in the fund. Any companies in the fund that make over $250,000, which is every company in the fund, will now be required to provide health care for employees or get taxed on their payroll for a government plan. My employer, a family hotel business that currently offers no benefits, makes over $250,000. Will I be required to pay part of any plan Obama mandates? At $7 an hour I can't afford to have anything else deducted from my check. If I wanted health insurance I could quit drinking and buy it. It's my damn responsibility and choice. Now I have to worry that my boss may cut back on the number of employees he has and just give the rest more overtime. I was last hired so I will be first fired.

I also drive 70 miles a day to work and back. Tax the big bad oil companies? Hey stupid, the oil companies, or any company you tax, will eventually pass that cost on to the consumer or go out of business. I certainly make less than $250,000 and yet I can already see where Obama will stress my paycheck, my savings, my 401K and maybe my job. The fact that he has bought off millions of voters by saying he will share the wealth, i.e. cut them a check, doesn't work for me. I know that Marxism has never worked. My niece however, who will vote for the first time, if she votes, will vote for Obama. Why? She doesn't like rich people. The class envy the Democrats have been pushing for years has come home to roost.

Bail Out!

2008-10-16T05:13:00.002-06:00

You’ve got only a couple thousand bucks in the bank. Your job pays you dog-food wages. Your credit history has been bent, stapled, and mutilated. You declared bankruptcy in 1989. Don’t despair: You can still buy a house.

April 1995 Chicago Sun-Times

Obama is blaming the current financial crisis on "deregulation" and failed Bush economic policies when his and his party's fingerprints are all over this mess. In 1985 as a director at Chicago’s Woods Fund Obama was trying to get more tax dollars to support ACORN as well as sending money from his and Ayers' Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Community organizations like ACORN would picket banks that they felt were "redlining" minorities based solely on where they lived. Other intimidation by ACORN included breaking into private offices and protesting at banker’s homes. Rutgers University political scientist Heidi Swarts describes ACORN members in her book Organizing Urban America as “militants unafraid to confront the powers that be.” “This identity as a uniquely militant organization is reinforced by contentious action.” An ACORN supporter,Swarts says ACORN organizers “tend to see the organization as a solitary vanguard of principled leftists...the only truly radical community organization.” Obama may say "This is not the ACORN I knew!" but he did. As an ACORN lawyer and trainer how could he not? He also oversaw a Woods Fund report bragging that they managed to fund ACORN despite its tactics.

Obama was also among the legions of lawyers sueing banks for not making as many loans in poor minority neighborhoods as in rich white neighborhoods. In the lawsuit that Obama helped on they admitted that 58% of loans to minority neighborhoods were approved whereas 81% of loans in "white" neighborhoods were approved but that 23% differance was due to racism, not the fact that poor people tend to be riskier borrowers. Citibank settled with Obama's firm and agreed to ease restrictions on low income mortgages as did many other lending institutions that were similarily sued.

When banks began complaining that they couldn't make anymore risky loans because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refused to buy them up for sale on the "secondary market" Democrats in Congress forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the loans. During the '90s they required ever-increasing subprime-lending quotas on Fannie and Freddie.

When the Republicans took back Congress Rep. Marge Roukema,(R-NJ), who chaired the House Banking subcommittee, held hearings. She was afraid that the race card was being played forcing lower credit standards. She also felt that new CRA, (Community Reinvestment Act), regulations that the Democrats were pushing for could amount to an illegal quota system. The hearing was contentious to say the least. 50 to 100 ACORN members were present. Led by ACORN President Maud Hurd they stood up chanting, "CRA has got to stay!" and "Banks for greed, not for need!" The protesters then demanded the microphone. They were arrested but when Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) had a "sit-in" at the jail they were let go.

Needless to say all the Republican efforts to stop the insanity failed amongst stong opposition from Democrats, especially from Barney Franks.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.):

I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . .

I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . .

Let me ask Gould and Raines on behalf of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, do you feel that over the past years you have been substantially under-regulated?

Mr. Raines?

Mr. Raines: No, sir.

Mr. Frank: Mr. Gould?

Mr. Gould: No, sir. . . .

Mr. Frank: OK. Then I am not entirely sure why we are here. . . .

I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Franks didn't see any problems with Fannie. This is the man who didn't realise his boyfriend was running a prostitution ring out of Frank's apartment. He was also living with Fannie Mae executive Herb Moses for seven years while also serving on the House Banking Committee which had oversight of Fannie Mae. No conflict of interest there, right? Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs." Another affordable housing cheerleader and Banking Committee member was Senator Chris Dodd who, as a "Friend of Angelo", Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO, got preferential rates when he refinanced two properties with Countrywide in 2003.

Of course minority loans weren't the sole culprit in this mess, The Community Reinvestment Act applied to depository banks but many other institutions such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers weren't under the CRA. House flippers and other investors that assumed the bubble in real estate would never burst are also to blame. No doubt some banks used preditory lending tactics to meet quotas and then quickly bundled those loans for sale to Fannie and Freddie. Some other culprits that no one wants to talk about are illegal aliens and the banks that sought out their business. Remember when Bank of America started to issue credit cards to customers without social security numbers?

In recent years, banks across the country have begun offering checking accounts and, in some cases, mortgages to the nation's fast-growing ranks of undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic. But these immigrants generally haven't been able to get major credit cards, making it hard for them to develop a credit history and expand their purchasing power.

The La Raza Development Fund has been getting loans for illegals for decades.The Washington Post saw it coming.

Immigrants are emerging as among the first victims of a growing wave of home foreclosures in the Washington area as mortgage lending problems multiply locally and across the country.

Nationally, 375,000 high-interest-rate loans were made to Hispanics in 2005, and nearly 73,000 of them are likely to go into foreclosure, said Aracely Paname?o, director of Latino affairs for the Center for Responsible Lending. About 1.1 million homes in the United States are expected to go into foreclosure in the next six years, and many native-born Americans are likely to be stuck with burdensome loans. But immigrants are getting hit first in part because their incomes tend to be lower and many have lost construction jobs.

Aside from DC other illegal alien sanctuaries such as Loudon County, Virginia, California’s Inland Empire, Stockton, San Joaquin Valley, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, have also been hit hard by foreclosures. Former Clinton Secretary of Housing And Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros admits:

people came to homeownership who should not have been homeowners

He helped Clinton and the Dems water down mortgage restrictions then got in on the building binge by joining the boards of KB Home and Countrywide Financial as well as becoming a developer himself.

Joining with KB, he built 428 homes for low-income buyers in what was a neglected, industrial neighborhood. He often made the trip from downtown to ask residents if they were happy.

“People bought here because of Cisneros,” says Celia Morales, a Lago Vista resident. “There was a feeling of, ‘He’s got our back.’ ”

But Mr. Cisneros rarely comes around anymore. Lago Vista, like many communities born in the housing boom, is now under stress. Scores of homes have been foreclosed, including one in five over the last six years on the community’s longest street, Sunbend Falls, according to property records.

Way to help the jente wey!

As quasi-government intities Fannie and Freddie were always seen as being backed by the taxpayers. They are a natural catch basin for every bad loan that no one else will touch. Now those bad loans belong to us but please don't start counting the profits we will make on these loans. Neither candidate will foreclose on those who can't afford their houses, loans will be restructured or even flat out forgiven at our expense. Not one condition that brought us here has been changed with the bailout. In fact huge amounts of new capital have been given to the very banks that brought us this disaster. Franks and Dodd will not be put under oath. Illegals will continue to get credit. ACORN will continue to get taxpayer funding even with the current voter fraud investigations into the organization. I foresee no immediate relief from our slide into socialism, in fact the resulting mess has actually helped Obama in the polls. From a little ACORN he helped plant the seeds of destruction that may get him in the White House.

Note: Most of what we know about ACORN and Obama come from the great efforts of Stanley Kurtz at NRO.

Obama Tax Increases.

2008-09-20T13:29:00.010-06:00

A note from my nephew:

I'm curious what you've heard Obama say and when he's said it that makes you think taxes on the middle class or small businesses will increase...

From Obama's web page:

Employer Contribution: Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan

A mandatory increase in the labor costs for small businesses, one way or another. Obama doesn't say what the percentage is but why is my employer responsible for my health care? What else will employers have to pick up to cover for my lack of personal responsibility? My beer tab? Oh Rahh! I could give up beer and afford health insurance. Most "poor" I know could give up something, if they choose to, those that make too much to qualify for Medicaid anyway. I choose not to. Businesses that can will pass this cost on to consumers. Those that can't will cut employees. This study of California’s “pay or play” attempt shows it would have eliminated 71,000 jobs in that state alone. However many, jobs will be lost, probably mine which means back to prison for me at a time when it is now twice as dangerous as when I left. Hurray because the prison does have medical! I'll be insured! I'll need it.

Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families:Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on the Obama-Biden long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief.

Take from the evil rich obscene oil companies and give to the poor. I think this is called income redistribution. Or communism. Problem is mom was big oil. Pensions, 401Ks, and IRAs are big oil. Half the income tax returns showing capital gains in 2005 earned less than $50,000. Three thirds earned less than $100,000. In any case if I invest in a company, putting my hard earned cash at risk, why should the government, who risked nothing, come in and take it? Why when your business makes a profit should the government say, well that's too much. And what is too much profit? Notice how they always put it in terms of so many billions? Not an obscene percentage in return on the trillions invested but a figure where they can say billions. Oil companies are earning a comparable rate of return to most industrials. Who do we go after next? Big pharmaceuticals? Big liqueur? (Remember the Whiskey Rebellion!) When these companies loose money do they get the tax back? Also consider the extra tax income the government gets from increased oil and gas prices. Why not give that back to the people? Consider that this only makes our public oil companies less competitive in relation to nationalized giants like those in Russia. Venezuela, and Iran. Our oil companies are at least trying to find us more oil as well as spending billions in alternative research. Nationalized oil companies are a cash cow for the regimes that control them and except for Russia their infrastructures are crumbling because so little is put back into the companies that production is in a downward spiral. Finally, and this is a basic economic tenant: No tax is ever paid by a company. As with any other cost, like health care for employees, it is passed on to the customer or the investor. The investor will not continue to take a hit and will divest. Someone pays, not a nameless, faceless behemoth called big oil but living human beings. That's why this won't work. Jimmy Carter tried it. According to a 2006 study by the Congressional Research Service, it generated less than one-fourth of the revenues that were expected and reduced domestic oil production by at least 8 percent. Less production is not the answer. Should Obama win I will make all my economic decisions based on the Carter years.

That's two I found with a quick look at his web page. More will follow. I throw this next one in even though it only soaks the rich because a tax increase that hurts the economy hurts the economy regardless of whatever class envy feel good feelings such increases may bring you.

Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

Fairness being I pay nothing, you pay for all of us 'cause you make a good earning. Obama will give a tax break to a hell of allot of people, (95% of Americans!), many of whom don't pay any taxes. How? My guess is by giving them more money like the Earned Income Tax Credit. Most of the taxes paid are paid by the top ten percent of wage earners, that's why any tax break intended to increase revenue has to include those who pay most of the taxes. But under Obama tax breaks for the rich will disappear, which is a tax increase that will hurt the economy. America's most productive earners will be further punished, taking the money out of their apparently talented hands and giving it to the, in my opinion, far less capable hands of the government. The fact that I get a cut in this extortion doesn't make it right in my book. The fact that the rich are getting stuck brings me no joy, those are the folks paying me to blog all night.

What Bias?

2008-09-15T06:59:00.006-06:00

Some photos from an Atlantic Monthly shoot of John McCain by photographer Jill Greenberg.

Your daughters will die!

2008-09-11T10:25:00.006-06:00

Subtle as lipstick on a pig

I just got an e-mail.

I'm not undecided so I don't want this or anything else pertaining to the Republican ticket nor the repulsive jokes circulating around about Barack Obama. If you don't like him that is one thing but to circulate lies and disgusting offensive jokes is not acceptable. Not very Christian to be doing such things. All of you out there who are really undecided had better think about the fact that this Republican ticket will strongly be in favor of turning around Roe V Wade and what religious right wings they will try to appoint to the Supreme Court as justices. If any of our daughters or daughter in laws get pregnant and their lives are in danger they won't have a choice whether to choose to have the baby or not. The mother will have to die and the baby will be born without a mother and some of these babies will not even have fathers. I am not for abortion for myself but I do believe that it is a difficult choice for a woman to make if raped or other unforseen situations which are not black and white. I don't think that the federal government should be telling us what to do....and by the way, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain are also pro choice as was Barbara Bush. But believe me, the religious fanatic men who don't have to carry the babies after being raped or other unforseen situations that are not balck and white will have their way if you elect McCain and Palin. Oh, and by the way, the rich women and young ladies will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to afford to fly over to a country where it is allowed. It happened in the '60s and 70s and don't think that it won't happen again. It will just be a little dirty secret that they can keep to themselves as they criticize others. The poor women will just be expected to flounder on and on and take care of it in the back streets and then maybe we can throw them in jail for violating the law.

Also, our economy is in a shambles, middle class people are losing jobs, poor people are working two jobs and some people cannot find jobs so just maybe we need to try something different and that is not John McCain who just wants to give big tax cuts to those big oil companies and to the top 5% who don't need more money. Just maybe we who have a little more than others don't need more tax cuts and those who don't have much and are struggling can use a few more breaks. I don't know about any of you but my money isn't going as far as it use to, gas prices are up and I feel like we haver taken 3 steps back. Oh, and by the way again, John McCain has been in office for 23 years and is just now realizing we need to change the direction of this country. If you ask me he wants this presidency sooooo badly that he is willing to compromise some of the principles he has held strongly in the past.
This is how I feel and as you can see I feel very strongly about it so please don't send me anymore "stuff" about this.

Roe, Roe, Roe th' boat, sinking in the stream.
Panicky, panicky, panicky, panicky lying for the dream.

Now I saw this coming because of the blogs.

Roe vs Wade - Obama’s “ace in the hole”

The SCOTUS, Roe v. Wade and women’s issues was the BO campaigns “ace in the hole” according to Chuck Todd from MSNBO network. The BO spokesperson told Todd that they would use any means necessary to beat Hillary and if women were offended, they would come back to the party during the GE because their plan was to “play the Roe v. Wade card.” THAT is a direct quote from the BO campaign via Todd.

Let's dissect this puppy. (Well the first half, I'll talk about economics in another post, too much BS to shovel at one time.)

I'm not undecided so I don't want this or anything else pertaining to the Republican ticket nor the repulsive jokes circulating around about Barack Obama. If you don't like him that is one thing but to circulate lies and disgusting offensive jokes is not acceptable.

Then it goes on to spread offensive lies about Republicans.

If any of our daughters or daughter in laws get pregnant and their lives are in danger they won't have a choice whether to choose to have the baby or not. The mother will have to die and the baby will be born without a mother and some of these babies will not even have fathers.

Blatantly trying to scare the ignorant. First off nobody is going to deny abortions when the mother's health is at risk. Most conservatives even support partial birth abortions in such cases. I do. Also if Roe Wade was struck down, and just as a matter of it being bad Constitutional law it should be, each state would make its own laws, again, as the Constitution requires. What states will ban abortion, even the abortions of convenience liberals so love? Utah maybe. Most states are as down the middle on abortion as the country as a whole so I don't see it happening. A Constitutional Amendment banning abortions, and again that would exclude cases where the mother's life would be at risk, would require passage in 38 states. That's 75% of the states! We will never see it and neither will any Judges McCain appoints. And that's another thing, we are talking about McCain. Let's just see what kind of crap he'll pull once he doesn't need his base. He could appoint another Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I don't think that the federal government should be telling us what to do

A conservative! Actually we draw the line at murder.

and by the way, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain are also pro choice as was Barbara Bush.

And by the way Bush was in office with both houses of congress for six years and no Amendment attempt.

Oh, and by the way, the rich women and young ladies will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to afford to fly over to a country where it is allowed.

Oh, and by the way, any women and young ladies, (young ladies aren't women?), will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to hop aboard the many Planned Parenthood Abortion Tours that will be offered. Follow the money, there is a huge abortion industry that makes over a billion dollars annually, a third taxpayer money,so they want every woman who can to have an abortion. From the last link:

Yes, I’m talking about that gigantic growth corporation, Planned Parenthood. There has likely never been a more misleading name for any major business, of course, because this smooth-running industry does anything but “plan parenthood.” It quite openly and proudly makes sure, for a great majority of its pregnant clients, that they won’t birth their babies at all, and there will be no “parenthood” to plan.

According to Care Net, a leading pro-life counseling and nurturing provider across America, Planned Parenthood’s “services” result in abortions outnumbering adoption referrals and kept children by 180-to-1!!

Surprised? You shouldn’t be — this is a business, a money machine. There is no profit in convincing young girls to keep the children they’ve created or give them up for adoption by eager parents that will love and nurture them. Though occasionally that is the outcome, and the staff and administrators of the slaughterhouses love to publicize those few incidents, the recently revealed numbers tell the true story: Their annual income now exceeds a billion dollars, including $336 million in taxpayer funding!

Now I haven't even looked this up but:

The poor women will just be expected to flounder on and on and take care of it in the back streets and then maybe we can throw them in jail for violating the law.

Has that ever happened? Ever?

Update: Pen of Jen says:

Good to see you point out planned parenthood (planned notparenthood) as there
annual profits are 11% vs...the BIG EVIL OIL CO...whose profits float around 9%.

We need to hit them with a windfall profits tax. Palin might know how to do that, lol. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Never forget.

Michael Uliano probably would have preferred to be somewhere other than at the 105th Floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. An options broker for Cantor Fitzgerald, Michael enjoyed his work but would rather have been an actor. Surpassing his love of the stage was his love for fishing. To his fishing lure customers on the net he was known as Artie Fishhills, a play on the word artificial because of his knack for tying fishing flies. So if he could have Mike might have been fishing and clamming off Cape Cod in his old ’73 Jeep with the Shark’s mouth grill instead of one of millions of New Yorkers reporting to duty at thousands of desks across the world’s financial nerve center.

Michael's quilt at the United in Memory Gallery.

Michael acted off Broadway and was working on a screenplay. He so loved acting that he endured the amusement of his fellow Ithaca College football players and took ballet lessons. Many of those expressing fond memories of Michael at Legacy.com remember him on the stage or the football field. As quarterback of Canton high school Mike’s Number 10 was retired. He is survived by his wife Linda Buffa, his mother Gail, and eight brothers and sisters.

I Love this woman.

2008-09-01T11:35:00.007-06:00

McCain just announced Palin's daughter is pregnant. This violation of the family's privacy, something Obama professes to respect, is in response to vile left wing smears.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter’s pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called “mud-slinging and lies” circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin’s child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

A senior McCain campaign official said the McCain camp was appalled that these rumors had not only been spread around liberal blog sites and partisan Democrats, but also were the subject of heightened interest from mainstream news media.

MSM thinks this will hurt her. MSM is clueless, seeing the Christian right as some monolithic hate monster.

Update: 9/3/08

Fox is comparing the Obama Us magazine cover:

with Palins cover.

What media bias?

I was debating whether I could vote for McCain. I figured if NM was in play I'd bite the bullet, otherwise I would not cast a vote for POTUS. Now I'm jazzed. She was not selected because she could get women votes, she was selected to energize the base. Like me. Like Jungle Mom. Like Pam. The more the MSM attacks her the more I love her. Who has evoked such a Deranged Syndrome since Bush, to whom the Bush Deranged Syndrome was originally named? If she is such a bad choice why the panic? Just say'in.

Obama on the relative experience he and Palin have:

Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin’s town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years.

What happened to Alaska? As Byron York points out at NRO:

Just for the record, Alaska's FY2008 operating budget is $11.2 billion, and the state employs approximately 15,000 people.

So his Presidential experience is predicated on his Presidential campaign experience. Makes since because he has done a lot more campaigning than legislating.

Baby Killer

2008-05-15T05:22:00.007-06:00

Obama and infanticide.

8/13/08 Scroll down for Update

There are pro-choice (kill the baby before it's born) Americans, pro-partial birth (kill the baby as it’s being born) Americans, and pro-infanticide (kill the baby after it’s born) Americans. From The Catholic League:

To read more about how, while in the Illinois state senate, Obama led the fight to deny medical care to infants born alive as a result of botched abortions and let them die unaided in hospital rooms, check out the links below.

National Catholic Register, 5-18-08: "Obama vs. The Right to Life"

Nat Hentoff, The Sacramento Bee, 4/29/08: "Infanticide Candidate for President"

Rick Santorum, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/28/08: “The Elephant in the Room: Obama: A harsh ideologue hidden by a feel-good image”

Terence P. Jeffrey, Cybercast News Service, 1/9/08: "Obama Is the Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever"

Jill Stanek, American Conservative Daily, 4/14/08: “Obama Blocked Born Alive Infant Protection Act”

Update: Humble wife reminded me of a famous Obama quote that fits here.

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information

When I commented on this at LGF galloping granny had this to say.

re: #121 Rancher
It’s a big step for even the most pro-choice advocate to say it’s acceptable to leave a living baby to die on a table of neglect.

I cannot imagine ANY of the "pro choice" or even "pro abortion" people I know seeing that as acceptable. Nor can I see even one nurse or doctor I have ever known or worked with (at least in the last 30 years or so) seeing that as anything other than murder.

Most states do not require any such thing as a Born Alive Infant Protection Act. And in most states medical personnel that participated in such a thing would be prosecuted for murder. Not to mention, what do you do six months down the road when "mommy dearest" changes her mind and decides to sue you for malpractice? After all, you should have known she was out of her mind, etc.

Maybe Illinois is just weird.

It seems the need for a Born Alive Infant Protection Act was because of legal ambiguities that arose from allowing partial birth abortions. Illinois was trying to pass an act similar to the Federal Law H.R. 2175, I’ve no idea why. Nevertheless this bit of acrobatic disingenuousness by Obama is Clintonesque.

My friend stood in Obama’s path and said, “Senator, we are going to pass Born Alive here in Illinois this year.”
Obama smiled smoothly and agreed, “I think you will,” adding, “I would have voted for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in Illinois had it been worded the same as the federal bill. I think that’s the position the Democrats should take.”
There’s just one thing he forgot to mention: Obama had stopped his committee from adding the federal wording.

8/13/08 Update: Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com confirms this:

Obama has claimed again and again he would have supported his state’s version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act if it included language to protect abortion rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade and viciously attacked conservative opponents who suggested otherwise. Now there’s documentation showing Obama did vote against a version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act that contained language to protect abortion rights identical to the bill that passed 98-0 in the U.S. Senate.

“We have a smoking gun committee report,” the National Right to Life Committee’s Legislative Counsel Susan Muskett said. NRLC posted the unearthed documents from the Illinois senate archives Monday.

10/15/08 Update: Jill Stanek has Obama on tape arguing he had "confidence" that an abortionist attempting to kill a baby would save the baby if he botched the job.