Do You Know Who Obama's Godfather Is?

Illinois State Senate President, Emil Jones, has been called Obama's "political Godfather". I think that "Fairy Godmother" would be more accurate. Obama was a brand spanking new state senator. Obama had managed to get elected but it would take years of hard work to build credibility. However, Obama had no intention of spending years building a record that might be an asset in the distant future but could just as easily be a detriment in a race for national office.

Emil Jones gave Obama high-profile legislation which had already cleared most hurdles and was near passage. Also, Jones placed Obama in the chairmanship of the senate's health committee. This allowed Obama to advance legislation that would make him the darling of the Service Employees International Union which has over 100,000 members in Illinois.

Normally, the state Senate President would be twisting arms to get the legislation he wants passed but Barack Obama had a special deal with Jones. If a piece of legislation was controversial and support for it could come back to haunt Obama he was allowed to vote "present". Obama voted that way approximately 130 times in the Illinois State Senate and if the legislation was really something that could come back and bite him he would just duck out until the votes had passed or failed.

Do You Know How Obama Got Elected in the First Place?

We all know that Barack Obama was a "community organizer" in Chicago before he was elected to the Illinois State legislature. How exactly did Obama manage to get elected to office in the first place. In his second book Obama credits the message he brought but how important is your message when you don't have an opponent?

In Illinois candidate collect voters signatures on petitions to qualify to appear on the ballot. Obama's main opponent in the 1996 election was Alice Palmer, the incumbent and a state senator since 1991. Ms Palmer had collected 1,580 signatures, more than twice the 757 needed to qualify to be on the ballot. However Ms Palmer in the end was not on the ballot. A paid consultant for Obama went over the list of signatures with a fine-tooth comb and managed to disqualify enough of those signatures to get Ms Palmer disqualified. Just a little bit of hard-ball politics Chicago style. Some of the signatures were truly not valid but many were eliminated on technicalities, some as small a thing as printing ones name instead of writing it.

Obama's consultant, Ronald Davis was so good at this that they went ahead and got the other three candidates disqualified as well. So, whatever Obama's message to the people of the 13th district was and however well he delivered that message or how well it was received there is something we will never know. When those voters entered the booths to cast their ballots would they have elected Barack Obama if they had had more than one candidate to choose from.

Obama was asked years later about the apparent unfairness of these tactics and this was his response. "If you can win you should win and get to work doing the people's business." By all means Senator, these are important decisions, why would you let the people whose business you plan to do have any say in the selection of their representative?

Do You Know Who the FOO's (Friends of Obama) Are?

During the Clinton Administration there was a group of folks referred to as FOB's or "Friends of Bill". I do believe that the people you choose to associate with is a good measure of the type of person you are. All politicians say "I'm this, I'm that I'm brand new". The only way we can effectively judge who they really are is by looking at what they have done and with whom they have surrounded themselves.

Here is a short list of the FOO's (Friends of Obama).

William Ayers - Obama began his political career in this man's living room. Ayers is a professor at the University of Chicago and a neighbor of Obama. They have worked together on the board of the Woods Foundation and on a school reform group called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Ayres is an unrepentant terrorist. He was a member of the left-wing group "the Wetherman". This group bombed police departments, the Capital and the Pentagon. Those acts were forty years ago but as recently as 2001 Ayere said he didn't regret setting bombs and felt that they hadn't done enough. Here is a quote from Ayers book Fugitive Days - "Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon. The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them."

David Axelrod - Chief Strategist and speech writer for the Obama campaign. Formerly the main mouthpiece and "spin-doctor" for Mayor Daley of Chicago. Axelrod has kept Daley from being indicted despite multiple investigations of corruption, bribery, and pay-to-play schemes which have resulted in the indictments and imprisonment of dozens of Daley staff members, contributors and supporters.

Saul Alinsky - The author of "Rules for Radicals" and a hero of Hillary Clinton. Obama studied and implemented Alinsky's "techniques" during his stint as a "community organizer" when he was working for and with some of Alinsky's disciples. Here is a quote from Saul Alinsky. "Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life." Note to Saul Alinsky, some of us outgrow this and develop character and integrity.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko - Tony Rezko is the most obviously guilty of a group of developers with ties to Obama, he is currently in prison. Obama wrote letters to state and city officials promoting Rezko's bid to get $14 million in tax dollars to build senior citizen housing. Obama supported and co-sponsored legislation that benefited developers of "low cost" housing projects. Remarkably most developers involved were FOO's and most of the projects turned out to be poorly built, ill maintained and are now vacant eyesores. Rezko raised and contributed a total of $250,000 to Obama throughout his political career.

Robert Blackwell Jr - Ping-pong patronage. Blackwell owned EKI a company that put Obama on an $8,000 a month retainer and paid him a total of $112,000 in 2001 and 2002. Obama wrote a request to Illinois state officials for a $50,000 tourism grant paid to a company called Killerspin, also owned by Blackwell. Killerspin organized ping pong tournaments and sold ping-pong gear. Killerspin received $20,000 in 2002, $200,000 in 2003 and $100,000 in 2004. Blackwell was a regular contributor to Obamas campaigns and has 'bundled" contributions from employees of his companies.

Rev Jeremiah Wright - Obama attended Rev. Wright's church for twenty years. Wright married the Obama's and baptized both their daughters. Obama had previously called Wright a "mentor" and claims it was Wright who "brought him to Christ". The Rev. Wright is a man who thinks it appropriate to say that God should "damn" America in his Sunday service. Wright told his congregation that their government invented A.I.D.S. to eradicate them and supplied their youths with drugs so that they would end up in jail. Here is a quote of Wright explaining the September 11 attacks. - "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and the black South Africans, and now we are indignant-because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards! America's chickens are coming home to roost." How many Sunday's would you sit with your elementary school age children listening to sermons like that?

Yet Another Wandering Husband Cheats Hillary

Alas, Poor Hillary. The humiliation Mrs Clinton suffered during her husband's presidency gained her national sympathy and helped her win a New York Senate seat. Unfortunately, another more recent extramarital affair may have cheated Senator Clinton out of her shot at the U.S. Presidency.

If John Edwards hadn't managed to hide his "bit of stuff on the side" long enough to cause Hillary to come in third in Iowa she might be making an acceptance speech tomorrow instead of the speech she made yesterday.

Oh, the irony!

Much Ado About Nada!

The Obama campaign tried to build all kinds of excitement over the selection of a Vice-Presidential candidate. And now we know why. They knew that the choice itself was anything but exciting so they focused endlessly on the process of announcing that choice.

First they came up with the gimmick of making the announcement via text messages. This served two purposes. It was "new" and cool and invited the comparison of John McCain as an old fuddy-duddy who has admitted he isn't computer savvy. Secondly, it gave the Obama campaign access to information on supporters who could possibly be converted to donors.

Then they delayed that announcement, and delayed it and delayed it. Obama announced that the choice had been made but played coy on telling us who it was. This might have been a successful tactic if they had managed to make the announcement before it leaked out. Instead of having wall-to-wall coverage and making the announcement with fanfare and a drum roll the Obama campaign was forced to send their "text messages" at 3am on a Saturday morning. It was as if they were ashamed of their choice and wanted to slide it by with a little notice as possible.

Considering who Barack Obama chose as his runningmate the 3am announcement kind of makes sense.

Save Our Seas - Drill Drill DRILL!

Every day, somewhere on planet earth oil is released into the pristine waters of our oceans and seas. Mother Earth deals with this and dissipates the sludge until is is completely eradicated but why should she have to do so? I am speaking of the oil that oozes from cracks and crevices in the ocean floor. This is the largest source of oil pollution of our waters and it can be stopped.

We must begin immediately to remove these oil deposits from beneath our beautiful seas. Oil derricks can be placed far enough from shore to be invisible to from ocean front homes and beaches. This despicable substance which is of no benefit to our oceans or their marine life must be brought ashore where it can be processed and safely destroyed. Although this oil can only hurt our seas, brought ashore it can warm our homes, fuel our cars and planes and be converted into useful products to enhance our lives.

There is not a moment to spare we must begin immediately to drill here and drill now!