Thursday, September 25, 2008

Charlie Rangel, A Man of Means AND Ways!

Well, our tax laws must be too complex if even the Congressmen who write them can't abide by them. Charlie Rangle, congressman and chair of the powerful Ways & Means committee didn't know he had to claim the rental income he received from his condominium in the islands.

Gee Charlie, most of us know that we have to claim all of our income.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Obama's Early October Suprise

The term "October Surprise" refers to a bogus claim that then Vice President candidate George H W Bush went to Iran to request that they hold our hostages until after the election. There was no evidence that Bush had ever left the country much less visited Iran but Democrats still pushed this conspiracy theory.

We now have evidence that Barack Obama has attempted to undermine our efforts to negotiate a withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. We know that Obama met with Iraqi leaders in July. One of the men he met with, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari disclosed some details of that meeting in an interview with Amir Taheri of the New York Post. According to Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July. Zebari said "He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington." Obama's advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate. While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

At present we are on track to remove all American combat troops by 2011 or 2012. There is no way to responsibly accelerate that date. Delaying an agreement for political reasons like allowing President Obama to claim the credit is toying with our troops and is certainly not putting the country first.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

IS OBAMA STUMPED ON THE STUMP.

According to recent reports Obama is taking his teleprompter on the road. Obama addressed supporters at a rodeo of all places with his trusty teleprompter front and center. Apparently all that soaring oratory goes out the window when the Senator is off script. Obama came to national prominence by giving a speech at the Democratic convention in 2003. The highly praised speech was presented using a teleprompter. Nothing wrong with that, most candidates and elected leaders all use teleprompters for major speeches.

There may be something wrong with a candidate for President who can barely string two sentences together without a teleprompter. Obama has consistently refused to join John McCain in a series of "townhall meetings" which would allow the American people to get to know the candidates. When Obama was finally shamed into visiting Iraq he gave a forty minute press conference. During which he hemmed and hawed so many times that Rush Limbaugh had all the stops and stutters strung together to make a seven and a half minute "Obama Uh Montage". Now before you do the math and say, "well seven minutes out of 40 isn't so bad" remember to allow time for the questions from the press which had to take up 1/3 of the 40 minutes.

Obama has been hailed as a brilliant speaker, but take away the teleprompter, which holds a speech written by David Axelrod, and he is more tongue tied than George W Bush.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Did Trial Lawyers Bring Down the World Trade Center Towers?

Mesothelioma, a dreadful disease brought on by exposure to asbestos. That is what the ads say and there is even a new ad featuring Erin Brokivich, yammering on about greedy corporations who value profits above human lives. Trial lawyers have made untold millions suing corporations that had some connection, however tenous to some human exposure to asbestos.

It didn't matter that those corporations may have had no idea that asbestos was dangerous to humans. It didn't matter is the company being sued had purchased a now defunct company that had some asbestos in their history. The only thing that mattered was could a "victim" be found and did the corporation have sufficiently deep pockets to make the suit worth the while of an attorney.

This litigious feeding frenzy made any type of asbestos radioactive. Once the health problems associated with asbestos were fully identified safe formulas were created but treated with suspicion. Builders were so concerned of some future harm being caused by the new asbestos they avoided using it whenever possible.

Consequently, the steel girders holding up the World Trade Center were not coated with this flame retardant product above, well, I forget above exactly which floor but clearly not high up enough. Now, Rosie and other assorted nut cases may choose to believe that fire cannot melt steel and indulge in the conspiracy du jour. They must have missed the explanation of the process detailed in Popular Mechanics.

The Twin Towers fell because the fire weakened the steel girders enough that they could no longer support the floors above the fire. When the weight of those floors struck they took the rest of the towers down and vaporized most of the people and things inside. Perhaps, if those girders had been coated in asbestos as had been the policy of the past they may have survived.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Obama Campaign Takes Yet Another Phrase Off the Table

Throughout this campaign and during the primary campaign Barack Obama has issued edicts regarding what can and cannot be said. He has chided opponents for saying that he is a liberal or for daring to use his middle name. I don't know where Obama ever got the idea that he is the boss of what anyone is allowed to say.

In his time as a candidate Obama has instructed the media that he should not be called "liberal" There should be no mention of his middle name, Hussain. No one should comment on his ears. It is unacceptable fir anyone to criticize his wife. He should not be held responsible for the statements of his former pastor, Reverend Wright.

Now the term "community organizer" has been added to the list of things that must not be said. Former Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown recently introduced the idea that when Republicans say "community organizer" it is a code word for "black man".

Well, Obama's biggest liability isn't the color of his skin. In my opinion it is the thinness of that skin that is his weakness. That and the arrogance that he should be able to set the rules for everyone else to follow.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Was Obama a Teenage Muslim?

No, Barack Obama is not a Muslim nor was he one during his teenage years. The Obama campaign is claiming that Republicans are using Obama's ties to Islam as a smear. Here are the facts.

Barack Obama was born a Muslim because his father was a Muslim. His mother was an anthropologist and although his grandparents were Christians his mother was more of a secular humanists. Barack's father took off pretty quick and since he had never divorced his first wife in Kenya it is hard to say if their marriage was valid anyway.

Obama's mother then married an Indonesian man who was also a Muslim. When Barack was six years-old he moved to Indonesia and lived there for four years. In Indonesia Barack attended a Catholic school but was enrolled by his mother as a a Muslim. Consequently he did pray with the other Muslim children and received weekly instruction on the Koran. In the third grade Obama was enrolled in a public school again identified as a Muslim, but he never attended a "madrassa" or any radical Muslim school as some have claimed.

Still, the Obama campaign is being untruthful when they claim that he was "never" a Muslim or that he has never prayed in a mosque. He was the son of one Muslim man and the stepson of another. As a child he occasionally attended a mosque and had some training in Islam. When the Obama campaign wants to be scrupulously accurate they say he has never been "a practicing Muslim". They know that admitting to having any Muslim background could cost the Senator votes.

It is true that some Americans would not vote for a Muslim just as some might have not voted for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon. It is also true that Barack Obama became a practicing Christian in the 1990's when he joined the Trinity United Church in Chicago.

Considering the type of sermons delivered by the Reverend Wright in that church I think the country might be better off with a Muslim.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

More Man Than You'll Ever Be, More Woman Than You'll Ever Get

I have always liked that silly saying despite having first heard it in a movie, spoken by a man in drag. I've long forgotten what movie it was.

Wow! Governor Sarah Palin is really something. You can judge her greatness by the degree of hysteria occurring on the left. Here are some of the outrageous statements that have been made so far regarding Mrs. Palin


"The only qualification vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has is that she didn't have an abortion". - Carol Fowler, Chairwoman of the South Carolina Democrat Party. WOW! Don't that just put the "rat" in Democrat! Oh, this is the wife of the guy who was chuckling about hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans during the GOP Convention. Just a couple of liberals who "care".


"Jesus Christ was a communnity organizer Pontius Pilate was a governor" - Donna Brazil - Democrat operative and former advisor to AlGore and then this statement was repeated on the floor of the House of Representatives by Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen Tennessee. WOW, usually only the Jewish Republicans are called "Christ Killers".

Monday, September 01, 2008

Do You Know How Obama Won his Seate Seat?

The political corruption of the city of Chicago in a time honored tradition that has been well documented through the years. As the state of Illinois turned "blue" through and through in the late 90's and early 2000's the corruption spread statewide creating something called the "Illinois Combine". The "Illinois Combine" is described by author David Freddoso as "a bipartisan group of public officials who ran a statewide operation resembling Chicago in it's disregard for good government.

Illinois Democrats and Republicans who wanted to stay in office knew they had to "go along to get along". Exceptions to this rule were generally rare and dealt with promptly. One exception was Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was elected in 1998 by narrowly defeating Carol Mosley Braun after using over 13 million of his own money to fund his campaign.

Senator Fitzgerald had no intention of "going along to get along". Senator Fitzgerald requested the appointment of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the "Illinois Combine". Thanks to the efforts of these two Fitzgerald's some "bad actors" were prosecuted and several, from both parties, were sent to jail. Sadly Senator Fitzgerald efforts were not appreciated and without the support of his own party he chose not to run for reelection.

This provided an opportunity for the Democrats and specifically for Barack Obama. However he had to win the primary first. There were several candidates and the early favorite was state comptroller Dan Hynes. Hynes would probably have won except for another candidate, Blair Hull. Hull, an eccentric multi-millionaire spent nearly 29 million dollars attacking Hynes. Hynes lead was beaten down and with a 10 point lead over Hynes and Obama Hull was poised to win the Senate seat.

Thirty days prior to the primary election sordid details of Hulls divorce appeared in the Chicago Tribune and Senator Barack Obama was born. Obama, of course, had nothing to do with the release of this information, or did he. One of Obama's advisors had known about this skeleton in Hulls closet for over two years. That advisor, David Axelrod is still working with and for Barack Obama as his chief strategist and speech writer. This could all be coincidence but Axelrod had known for two years about Hulls marital disgrace. Information which didn't become public knowledge until after Hull had destroyed Obama's other competition, Dan Hynes. Oh, and the story was run by Axelrod's former employer, the Chicago Tribune.

Obama had won the Democrat primary and now faced Republican, Jack Ryan. Ryan was an attractive candidate who had a chance of beating Obama. Unfortunately he also was divorced. The Chicago Tribune sued to have Jack Ryan's divorce documents released and the details of the couples sex life completely derailed his campaign. Ryan withdrew from the campaign and Republicans tried to replace him with a good candidate in the short time they had left but could not do so. So, if Obama becomes President and destroys this country you can blame Mike Ditka. Ditka was approached but chose not to run and he was the only Illinois Republican who had a chance at that time.