Jeff Skilling, Ken Lay, and Enron Re-visited

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling received a sentence of 24 years four months due to his conviction in a stock fraud scandal. Mr. Skilling has his case in the fifth circuit court of appeals where there is some chance that his sentence may be reversed on technicalities. One of the ironies, and a possible source of great joy to Skilling, is the free-fall trajectory of Government Elliot Spitzer who zealously prosecuted the case while NY attorney general. Skilling's case rests on new documents and notes of one Andrew Fastow, who testified against Skilling and his boss Ken Lay. Ken Lay already had his conviction vacated; he died from a heart attack as the result of what some say was a vindictive prosecution. I wrote something about that for another website. It might be interesting reading. A little click on the title of this piece will take you there.

Poisonous Talk of "Democratic Party Unity" Resembles Communist Purge

The last time I heard such poisonous talk of “party unity” was in the mention of Communist Party politics. Party officials routinely scrutinized the “masses” for signs of disloyalty or “free thinking” and any signs of individualism were quickly purged. Individuals who put their own agendas over the “good of the party” were at risk of ostracism, sent to re-education camps, or subject to far worse punishments.

Until recently, and upon hearing from such Democrats as Patrick Leahy and Bill Richardson, I thought that Americans could see through the groupthink Marxist style mentality that characterized the failed system. Americans could organize themselves, but the values and rights of the individual were upheld and celebrated. Any system that sacrificed the individual for any sort of abstract collective mentality was rejected. Party, gang, mob, clan, herd, collective, team, and other such concepts were not supposed to triumph over the individual’s pursuit of life, liberty, and personal happiness in an individualistic American system which promoted ingenuity, individualism, and striving for excellence.

Apparently, this is not so with the cadres who call for Hillary Clinton’s supplication to the collective will of Party Democrats. According to this view, Hillary must repress her personal ambitions and belief that she is the better leader for America. She must do this for the good of “The Democratic Party.”

But what exactly is “The Democratic Party” which demands such blind obeisance from its subjects? In grade school, we learn that the “government” is the people, and that, in a democracy, nothing is more important that the individual rights of the people. We learn that the abstractions of “government” would not exist except for the authority granted to it by the free-ranging, free-thinking and wildly individualistic people who make up the foundations of a free society.

Messrs. Kennedy, Kerry, Richardson, Leahy, Obama, Dean, and the legion of other “Party” mandarins and sycophants should look again to the U.S. Constitution before manipulating the political airwaves to pressure Hillary Clinton into submission. The idea that the abstraction known as the “Democratic Party” could be “destroyed” or be “permanent damaged” is absurd. If voters prefer Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama, are they to be accused of sabotaging the collective will of Democratic Party apparatchiks and Commissars? Is the Democratic Party in which I am registered the same one that Patrick Leahy subscribes to? Surely not, because that one embarrasses me by its departure from the ideals of individual freedom for which many have fought and died for.

Obama Should Bow Out, Reconsider VP Job Under Hillary

It was really magnanimous of Senator Obama to come out and say that Hillary Clinton should “stay in the race as long as she wants.” It was rather like a boxer who realizes that his opponent is still standing as the fight gets into the late rounds and realizes he hasn't got enough firepower to put the guy away.

This sort of ex post facto magnaminity must be applauded lightly however, because Obama is signaling to his despotic supporters that they ought to shut up and let the process take its course. Some of his campaign staffers and super-delegate supporters have begun to look like tenement reprobates wearing wife-beater tee-shirts.

Super-delegates Kerry and Kennedy have crossed up the voters in their states, and were then followed by Dodd and Leahy. The roly-poly super-delegate Iscariot Richardson appeared to be groveling at Obama’s feet in exchange for political dog treats. That’s not to offend dogs, mind you, for dogs are noble beasts who are incapable of insincerity and phoniness. Very much the opposite of “super-delegates.” One would have thought they might, at least, have come up with a better name than “super-delegates.” It reeks of high-handedness and low-mindedness.

Perhaps it is time for Obama to bow out of the race or perhaps to reconsider Hillary Clinton’s offer of a vice-presidency, at least. There, he could get OJT and would certainly dispel all accusations of self-aggrandizement and hubris. How does that saying go? Pride goeth before the fall? Pennsylvania is next to fall into Hillary’s vote tally and Obama has yet to prove he can be a winner in the big states with large electoral vote counts.

Obama’s only real chance is to stand up for the voters of Florida and Michigan. What’s he worried about? James Carville has already said he could team up with guys like Corzine and possibly billionaire Bloomberg to easily raise money enough to bankroll a re-vote. Why would Obama want to risk everything by accepting a nomination without a mandate from the voters of two large American states? The legal ramifications of doing so could spill over into other areas and drag on through at least a decade. Even weak-kneed Howard Dean knows this and has his fingers wrapped around the worry beads.

PA Senator Bob Casey: Obama's Newest Infatuee

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey toughing it out with an inner city youngster....


That was a pretty slick move by Senator Barack Obama to come out and say that Hillary Clinton should “stay in the race as long as she wants.” The remarks came as Obama stood beside Pennsylvania’s newest elected Senator Bob Casey. Casey was said to be miffed at the Clintons for not allowing his bigwig politico father to dance at one of the successful Clinton conventions and so threw his support to Obama. More likely, Casey was lured by an opportunity of some sort, feeling perhaps his political star would rise more by toadying to the NELLEEs (NorthEast Liberal Latte Elite Establishment) represented by Leahy, Kennedy, Kerry, and others than by sticking with the Clintons. Casey’s endorsement would not even be worthy of note except for repeated assertions that he’d remain neutral in Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary.

Senator Casey sounded a little demented in saying he was lured into the Obama camp by Obama’s charting “a course on a big issue like race that I don’t think anyone has done in a generation.”

Huh? Race is now one of the most significant issues of the campaign, according to Casey. Double huh! Next thing he’ll be telling us is that he’s been a community organizer in the “inner city”. It’s true that Casey spent the obligatory political moment in the “inner city” of Philadelphia, long enough to figure he didn’t want to be there and couldn’t hack it if he did. Casey was a volunteer with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and coached 8th grade basketball before beating feet to law school and safely rejoining the ranks of the barrister gentry. I'd like to see Casey walking by himself even two blocks off of Broad Street in the Olney section of North Philly before I’d believe he was interested in anything but his own political opportunities.

Hillary Clinton: Why Does Obama fear Michigan - Florida Vote?

John McCain: A Realpolitik World View

Reverse Extortion: Pay Renters Not to Trash Your Real Estate

Obama's Econony Speech: Soporific and Sloppy

Obama made an extraordinarily long and boring speech about “the economy” without mentioning a single thing that couldn’t been heard every single morning on Fox Financial News Network, Bloomberg Financial News (the NY Mayor’s broadcast network), or CNBC Financial.

Like Obama, many ordinary people don’t try to understand the economy so Obama read and recited from the teleprompter. People seemed to enjoy Obama's fine reading skills so there was polite applause. News reporters had to “paraphrase” the dull, prosaic program (by using written program notes) and eventually cut the speech off to go on to more interesting news. Ratings began to roll downhill as Obama droned on so MSNBC quickly shifting back to the more interesting Reverend Wright problem.

If Obama wants to demonstrate he knows anything about the economy, he should appear with Kudlow or Quintanilla, Becky Quick or Erin Burnett,. Mark Haynes, or any of the rather brilliant analysts who deal, speak and analyze the economy. But that will never happen. His handlers couldn't allow it.

Obama Slips Away In Pennsylvania

Obama's slipping away as people begin to realize how thin his candidacy is. (Hint: it's about as thin as his resume) Don't believe the media wave he's riding. There's a crack in the porcelain and it will enlarge in Pennsylvania.

Personally, I'm sure I'd get along okay with the guy (although he seems too noble and aloof to talk to anyone who won't advance his career). However, it angers me that Obama and his slime squad are trying to put one over on the voters. This is America. Why is Obama trying to get Hillary to quit? If Hillary believes she's truly the best, she's got to stay in the center of the ring and fight. This argument of "party unity" is weak. You can be the down dog in any fight and come back to win.

Obama's connection to political religionist Jeremiah Wright is dragging him down, even while the media pollster cite statistics to the contrary. Obama spends a lot of time scolding Wright for his "unfortunate remarks" but, in clinging to Wright, he has shown the weakness of character which would be disastrous in a president of the United States. Wright is a bigot, pure and simple. Is he wearing some invisible Teflon shield which prevents Obama from identifying him as such?

Breaking news is that Wright has inflamed anti-Israel sentiment in his "Pastor Pages" newsletter. Wright supports the destruction of the state of Israel. Obama needs to clarify his views on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Wright apparently doesn't like Italians either. He called the crucifixion of Jesus an "Italian style lynching" and made other remarks of a similar kind in a magazine run by his daughter.

Yeah, I know, he didn't really mean it. Deep down, he's a good man. Obama hears no evil, sees no evil, speaks no evil.

Corzine Stops Short of Endorsing Hillary

NJ Governor John Corzine appeared with the Morning Joe this morning and stopped just short of endorsing Hillary. He might as well have. In spite of making the obligatory nod to Obama (a "nice guy"), Corzine said that "Senator Clinton is far more qualified to be president. Corzine said it was a huge mistake to be sticking a finger in the eye of voters of Florida (by not permitting a vote.)”

Corzine said the race should be focused on "pluralities." That means voters shouldn't be focused on the game of three-card monte being played by Obama's supporters who use every kind of mathematical computation known to mankind to get Hillary Clinton to kneel and surrender. Obama doesn’t have enough delegates, that's a fact.

Corzine appropriately used the handy football metaphor of the local New York Giants win over the Kennedy-Kerry New England Patriots to underscore the strength of a Hillary Clinton who would "score on the final drive." Translation: Hillary has widespread and growing popular support as her knowledge of issues shows through. Corzine points to Hillary's sucess in the big states, so vital to winning against a Republican with growing popularity among centrist and conservative Democrats.

3 U.S Congressmen Bought & Paid For by Saddam Hussein

Wolf Blitzer and CNN are today reporting on a Saddam Hussein financed trip for three anti-Iraq war congressmen who took issue with the United Nations sanctions imposed on Saddam under pressure from the U.S. and other countries. This news was revealed in an indictment of an Iraqi-American, Muthanna Al-Hanooti, who received 200 million barrels of oil from Saddam in payment for his services.

Even worse, the indictment shows the ultimate naivete and gullibility of some Democratics when it comes to foreign policy. Though the lawmakers are not named in the criminal indictment, the congressmen are believed to be Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan, and Mike Thompson of California, all Democrats.

The congressmen say that they were unaware their travel was financed by Saddam Hussein but apparently the sponsorship of the trip was something that never crossed their minds. In their eagerness to upstage foreign policy and promote themselves as saviors of mankind, the congressmen embarked on a fine junket as pro-Saddam ambassadors.

Where have we seen similar gullibility in the current primary race? Certainly not in the Obama campaign—Air Force General McPeak vouches for Obama’s patriotism , though Obama’s promised to extend open arms to all of America’s enemies. It must be disgusting for the people who have made the ultimate sacrifices for America to include such spineless amoeba as these among the Americans they have sacrificed so much to protect.

No Super Delegates in Next Campaign Cycle

If the superdelegate strategy fails to destroy the Democratic Party, perhaps the “secret weapon" will. Afoot in the back alleys of the Byzantine labyrinth known as Democratic Party electoral politics is a move to draft Al Gore for president. Will Democrats seized by the Obama “rapture” be able to resist a guy who invented the internet, grabbed a Nobel, and single handedly killed global warming? After all, he is the right and legitimate heir to a Democratic presidency. Isn’t that how the reasoning goes? If you need to know why Al Gore would outstrip Barack and Hillary, go to the Rolling Stones story. Aren’t you inspired?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13248532/why_gore_should_run__and_how_he_can_win

Anyway, the super delegate cabal won’t be in existence for the next big campaign. A top government official (my brain) told me that Democrats have finally recognized the "super-delegate" debacle as a fatal error. The framers of the constitution of the U.S. clearly stated they didn’t want congress to elect the presidential nominee. It took Democrats this many years to find out why. They should have asked an eighth grader. At the same time, the 8th grader might tell them why Michigan and Florida need to vote.

Bill "Iscariot" Richardson

No amount of sanitization can account for the lame and repugnant remark made by Barack Obama’s advisor about the “stain on the blue dress.” New politics? Are we there yet? Shall we now, in response, lay bare all the pathetic minutiae of that advisor’s sexual contacts and encounters in political life?

As to "Iscariot" Richardson, Carville is not shedding false tears and phony apologies about his own comments and Carville deserves credit for that. How is Richardson not a “traitor” to the Clintons? What post is he angling for? What would be strong enough motivation to reject the popular vote in his state? What lumbering spirit goes slouching toward Chicago politics?

It's all very weird, almost like a cult following, and it seems to be contagious. Half the Democratic party seems to be experiencing "The Rapture" with Obama and rejecting a person who knows a whole lot more and expresses it a whole lot better, although not in a sonorous, sing-song male baritone.

George McGovern is probably right in saying yesterday that it “is harder to elect a woman president than an African-American.” Certainly, the representatives of Time, Newsweek, and other print media are trying to outdo themselves in kicking a woman when she’s down. Joe Klein took issue with Lannie Davis for telling the same truth that James Carville did, except in more mannered terms. Lannie Davis is one of my favorite Democrats, one of the most decent men in the public arena (which perhaps is not so much of an accomplishment in considering Kilpatrick, Spitzer, and Larry Craig).

Joe Klein’s argument was patently stupid in saying that Obama’s problem with Reverend Wright was last week’s business. Hillary Clinton mentioned, in response to a direct question, that she would have got up and left any church where the pastor said, in effect, that America deserved the 9-11 attacks. What leaden inertia made Obama’s butt stick to the seat of the Chicago church where a pastor tells his flock that the United States introduced the aids virus into Africa to destroy the people of that continent?

Chelsea Clinton: Woman of the Day

First there was MSNBC gossip columnist David Shuster accusing the Clinton’s of “pimping” their daughter for political purposes, a notion that is insulting even if it were sanitized. Shuster is a slimy dolt who imagines he is reporting the news while he advances his anti-Hillary personal agenda. And next, there is a question put to Chelsea Clinton from an audience member about the Monica Lewinsky "scandal". Talk about venom and petite bourgeois resentment! But that’s why Chelsea is my Woman of the Day. She put all the jacks back in their boxes with her measured, simple, and intelligent response:

“I’ve been to 70 of these campaign events and no one’s asked me that question before. Know what I think? I think it’s none of your business.”

Yeah, not only that, but it’s scurrilous and low to smear the child of a candidate with slimy taunts designed to make oneself popular on YouTube for about 2 seconds. Get a life ____hole!

Pentagon Harmony Documents Describes Saddam Terror Plans

The Pentagon Harmony documents, now declassified, put the spotlight on Saddam Hussein’s link to world-wide terror. Those people who are caught up in the “no-weapons-of-mass-destruction” chant ought to read it. Perhaps presidential candidates Obama and Clinton might want to express some views, too.

The Harmony Documents is a trove of paper, audio, video, and computer files collected by our troops in Iraq. It’s extensive, consisting of over 600,000 items, and shows Saddam’s deep commitment to a reign of terror against the U.S. and its allies. Among the conclusions drawn by Pentagon analysts:

Throughout the 1990s, the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) cooperated with Hamas; the Palestine Liberation Front, which maintained a Baghdad office; Force 17, Yasser Arafat's private army; and others.

The IIS gave commando training for members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the organization that assassinated Anwar Sadat and whose "emir" was Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became Osama bin Laden's second-in-command when the group merged with al Qaeda in 1998.

According to a 1993 memo, Saddam decided to "form a group to start hunting Americans present on Arab soil; especially Somalia." Somalia is where Al Qaeda conducted attacks against U.S. troops sent to Somali in a humanitarian mission. Read the book: “Black Hawk Down.”

According to the report, Saddam took an interest in "far-flung terrorist groups” … as long as that organization's near-term goals supported Saddam's long-term version."
For 20 years, such "support" included using Fedayeen Saddam training camps to school terrorists, especially Palestinians but also non-Iraqis "directly associated" with al Qaeda, continuing up to the fall of Baghdad.

Saddam also provided financial support and weapons, amounting to "a state-directed program of significant scale." In July 2001, the regime began patronizing a terror cartel in Bahrain calling itself the Army of Muhammad, which, according to an Iraqi memo, "is under the wings of bin Laden."

In 2002, an IIS memo explained to Saddam that Iraqi embassies were stockpiling weapons, while many of the terrorists trained in Fedayeen camps were dispatched to London with counterfeit documents, where they circulated throughout Europe.

Also in 2002, the IIS began to manufacture better improvised explosive devices "designed to be used in civilian areas," and the regime bureaucratized suicide operations, with local Baath Party leaders competing to provide recruits for Saddam as part of a "Martyrdom Project."

February Spike in Existing Home Sales

It's too early to say whether it's a “blip” or a trend, but sales of existing homes were up in February as lower home prices piqued buyer interest. Financial newspapers like the Wall Street Journal are reporting a 2.9 percent jump in February sales.

Across the country, though, foreclosures are continuing at a fast pace with foreclosed housing stock piling up faster than it can be sold.
The states having the highest number of home foreclosures are Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. California and Arizona and Georgia are also experiencing higher rates of foreclosure but those states more frequently have new money coming in to replace the old tapped-out money.


Homeowners at risk of foreclosure should be on the lookout for scammers who use the downturn as a way to acquire real estate at bargain basement prices. Be wary of mortgage “rescue” infiltrators who exploit confused and anxious homeowners by offering to serve as “co-investors” in your mortgage. The last thing the sub-prime borrower at risk of losing the home needs is a greedy Glengarry-Glenross style bloodsucker attached to the mortgage.

Think I'm gonna' Holler-Throw Up On My Hands

I can't tell you how many times I've heard MSNBC pundits praising Obama's speech in defense of Rev. Wright. To call that a great speech indicates to me that Americans know nothing of oratory. Churchill was an orator. MLK was an orator. Obama is a mere reciter. If it takes so little....

Of course, our press is in the tank for Obama, too. What we have here, in the Democratic process, is a case of the legislature (not the voters) and political bosses choosing the candidate. Massachusetts went for Hillary but "super-delegates" of Mass. shift for Obama. New Mexico goes for Hillary and Iscariot Richardson goes for Obama. Disenfranchise the voters from Michigan and Florida, too. And so on. To Pennsylvania where Hillary has a 17 point lead and a pending victory which must be downplayed by the dark cabalists who try to wrest control of the election process from the hands of the electorate.

Republican Mischief Vote Favors Hillary?

Methinks thou dost protest too much. Such was one of Shakespeare’s best-known lines. The line seems to apply very well to the latest primary election myth, namely, that Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” is responsible for a spate of Republicans registering as Democrats in both open and closed primaries. While many people (including Rush Limbaugh) would like to believe it is so, the thinking is flawed and greatly exaggerates the influence of zealot pundits over the mass of Republicans.

There is another reason, a more important one, whether one likes to hear it or not. Many centrist Republicans, who are Republicans by a mix of ideology and pragmatism, are deathly afraid of an Obama presidency. I am of that ilk, and I am “guilty” of switching my registration to “D” precisely because of that fear.

It would be well if my own could be characterized as an anti-Obama “racist” vote but I voted for African-American candidates like Lynn Swann for governor of Pennsylvania and others, too. I will vote for African-American candidates again, as well. (I’m a big fan of Democrat Stephanie Jones-Tubbs, for example) But I won’t vote for Obama, no way in hell, not if I were waterboarded.

Not only is Obama inexperienced, he is also vague and has no choice but to accept the program foisted upon him by the Latte Elite Northeastern Liberal Establishment. Obama would be a great president for predominantly white liberal New England Yuppies and Buppies in Birkenstocks--driving Volvos and Saabs--or for the Middle East where he is much admired

An Obama foreign policy is either complete surrender in Iraq or a complete canard, hopefully the latter. Obama would forfeit Israel bit by bit for a litany of empty promises.

An Obama economic policy is merely a dressed up and sudden tax increase which will throttle a bounce-back cycle. Tax increases will hit the blue-collar factory workers with $15.00 per hour jobs, tech workers, and the middle-middle-class.

I would even be encouraged if an Obama domestic program could truly help the struggling white, Hispanic, and African-American youth of the inner-city and the blue-collar suburbs. But I don’t think it would. Obama will raise expectations, fan ethnic resentments, and dust off old slogans.

I could go on, but I won’t. You get my point. I’m afraid of an Obama presidency. I decided to change my registration long before Rush Limbaugh suggested it. In any case, Rush Limbaugh supported Obama when Hillary was the front-runner, as many Republicans know. My own reasons for supporting Hillary Clinton are that I believe she will be a reasonable liberal who will move to the center on foreign policy. If I were Hillary, I would do so now that everyone has figured out that Obama will also take the advice of his retired Air Force General McPeek and take a good long time before retreating from Iraq.

I am so afraid of an Obama presidency, in fact, that I would gladly embrace a more liberal but well-thought out domestic agenda to prevent it. But that’s only if I can’t have McCain and my much-desired “Hundred Year War.”

Florigan Secession: Florida & Michigan Threaten War

Voters of Florida and Michigan, angry at the disenfranchisement of the democratic process in the former states, have formed a 2-state confederation outside of the boundaries of the United States. State Democrats, with the consent of Republicans, engaged in a heated debate this week in deciding on the name of the new country. The name “Michida” was at first entertained and then rejected in favor of “Florigan.”

Rebel Florigans have taken up arms against the Democratic Party and Party Leader Howard Dean.

“Dean stripped us of our rights by force. If our votes do not count in the United States, then let them count in the Republic of Florigan,” said rebel Florigan chief Duna Cheatus.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama has huddled with United States officials to issue a quiet ban on recognition of the New Country’s independence. Mr. Obama claims he can draw Florigan loyalists back into line without violence, but there are many skeptics.

“Unless Obama demands an immediate revote, we will march against Obama’s headquarters in Chicago. Florigan chooses liberty and the right to vote and will shed blood, if necessary, in that just cause,” said Willna Yield, the female rebel firebrand.

Hillary's 700,000 Popular Vote Deficit Erased In PA

The headline might be wishful but it's likely that Obama's popular vote totals will take a big hit in the Pennyslvania contest. The Clinton magic is strong in Pennsylvania. In a visit yesterday to Stroudsburg, PA, giant crowds stood waiting for Bill Clinton's appearance in a drenching rainstorm. Many were turned away to a school auditorium where they had to watch the Clinton talk on closed circuit television. Others simply left and went home to dry off, disappointed looks on their faces.

Pennsylvania's not the only thing the Obama campaign is worried about. Clearly, the Obama campaign is afraid of re-votes in Michigan and Florida. Obama's urgency to get rid of Clinton led to the suggestion that Party politics was taking precedence over an electoral democracy. Hilllary's wins in Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island has the Obama campaign running scared to Indiana, snubbing Pennsylvania, where a big win for Hillary is assured.

Another certainty is that the Obama camp has no longer been able to disguise the low road it has taken in slamming Hillary Clinton as the "Democrat from Punjab." The Reverend Wright and Rezko late eruptions forced Obama to address these issues. When he must think on his feet, the man who is often acclaimed by the MSM for "oratory" seems increasingly at a loss for words.

Obama's Generation Gap Excuses

The photo on the right is a picture of an 1800s Yemeni slave market. The one on the left is also of an Islamic slave market. Women were more often captured into slavery than men in the Islamic world.



So now the Democratic primary race would seem to be about race. Pardon me if I’m not sufficiently thrilled. Senator Obama’s recent pretty speech held to the middle school textbook declension of civil rights. Ninth and tenth grade, too. And eleventh. And grade twelve.

I remember about five years back when I was teaching high school classes at an alternative school where just about every single one of my students had been in trouble with the law. Some of them had come from jail to the alternative school. Others had been offered the chance to attend an alternative school instead of going to jail. The entire school lived on the edge and fights were any every day occurrence.

Ironically, the only area in which there was any kind of harmony was in the area of racial harmony. That is not to say that I never heard the “N” word because one heard that word quite often when my students were engaged in private conversation, usually in the following construct:

“My *iggaz did this”…. Or ……”My *iggaz did that…”

The unifying theme in my school was “gangsta’” so it really didn’t matter what shade of skin pigmentation seemed most prominent in one’s persona. But every year, we inevitably came to the part of our social studies textbook where I’d have to teach about Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, MLK, and the marches in Selma and Birmingham, and I’d take it very seriously, wading through groans, sneering resistance, and claims of absolute and nearly hostile boredom to deliver the message of economic equality, civil rights, and the evils of racism.

“We learned that stuff since first grade. What does that have to do with us? That shit’s boring.”

One might say the boredom befits my skills as a teacher but the fact is that I was much respected at that school if not always admired. I had gone down under piles of fighting, struggling bodies, I’d had my shirts ruined by spilled blood, and I’d taken weapons and illegal drugs from my students. I survived in that school because I conquered my fears, worked out a lot, and treated everyone with respect.

I can only remember a single time when race became an issue and that was when a Neo-Nazi skin-head was admitted to the school one day and threatened he’d “stab” one of the students. Whereupon a certain white student, when he heard that his African-American friend had been threatened and disrespected, skipped the security and ran down two floors to violently attack the skinhead. Friendship, it seemed, was a stronger force than skin color. While one may cheer the moral high ground, the outcome was not good for any of the parties.

I’m willing to entertain and discuss the notion that I may be a cultural racist but not to the degree suggested by Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I’m offended by the exhortations that I may be part of an alleged American government plot to inject the AIDS virus into the African population. It offends me that Reverend Wright could show such condescension and disrespect of an accomplished African American woman by referring to the U.S. Secretary of State as “Conda Schiza Rice.” Was that “schiza” word derived from the 60s civil rights struggle? It offends me also that Barack Obama tries to excuse the hatemongering fulminations of Reverend Wright by attributing it to a ‘generation gap.’ Obama’s desultory speech referred to “the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African Americans of his generation grew up.” Didn’t MLK grow up in the same generation and endure even greater hardships?

It seems also to strike a false note to make excuses for those who would inflame resentments against a particular group. The ancestors of many people who live in the United States were living in other countries during the days of slavery. Of those who were living in the United States, many were vocal in the fight against slavery.

Nor was slavery historically confined to the United States. The religion of Islam found the institution of slavery acceptable, too. In the scholarly works of Bernard Lewis, the Prophet Mohammad and his companions are described as having captured, bought, and sold slaves. While most interpretations of Islam disavowed slavery in the 1800s, it still survives in the African republics of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Sudan. The scholar, Bernard Lewis, describes the condition of slaves held under Sharia law as easier than that of American plantation slaves.

The reason for that may be because the Islamic world did not depend on a plantation system such as the one that existed in the American south. Islamic slaves were captured and typically put to other uses: cooks, porters, concubines, soldiers.

Women were more often captured into slavery than men in the Islamic world. Concubinage was a lawful motive for the enslavement of captured females and the historical ratio of female to male slaves was two to one.

Perhaps, Hillary Clinton should now follow Barack Obama’s example and make a speech about the historical enslavement of women. No, wait, wait! The media wouldn’t be nearly as infatuated with that prospect.

Wall Street Executives Read the Tea Leaves On CNBC

Obama Translations: Witticisms, Aphorisms, and Bon Mots

Being aware of how difficult it is to know the real Obama, I’ve volunteered to translate some of the candidate’s witty aphorisms and bon mots.

Here are some translations of statements made during the candidates visit yesterday to Scranton, Pa. Speaking before a small contingent of the Society of Irish American Women, Obama said:

"When I am president Ireland will truly have a friend in the White House."

Translation: Obama launch a bold foreign policy initiative by making frequent trips to Ireland to visit with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. In so doing, Obama expects be awarded a Nobel for averting war with the island nation.

During the same visit to Scranton, Obama told the Irish-American Society Women:

“It is the story of believing in things unseen and making that belief a reality."

Obama’s middle school English teacher has frequently admonished Obama for hyperbole and verbosity. Consulted by telephone from Peoria, the English teacher pointed out that Obama’s statement was a non-sequitur and that there was a problem with syntactical relationship. The second phrase must agree with the first, in other words. The second phrase “making that belief a reality” should be in syntactical agreement with the word “story” in the first phrase. Therefore, the sentence should have been delivered as follows:

“It is the story of believing in things unseen and making that ‘story’ a reality.”

Aside from the failures of Obama’s syntax, the feisty middle school English teacher advises Obama to use the simpler sentences:

“I use my imagination. I make things up.”

Obama Sets Record In Pennsylvania

Photo by David Kidwell of the Pocono Record (poconorecord.com)of Stroudsburg, PA.

Obama's Pennsylvania talk with the Scranton Society of Irish Women was one for the record books! A local television station, WNEP-TV recorded Obama's "speech" as the shortest ever made. Don't drink Guiness, call Guiness! Obama's speech in Pennylvania lasted a total of 8 minutes and 4 seconds.


Aside from his “hello-goodbye” nano-speech to Pennsylvania, Obama made time for a prolonged MTV television taping which was closed to the public. Such is the "new" politics. As Obama’s problems mount in Chicago with the Rezko trial and the incendiary racial and anti-American statements of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the Obama campaign more and more retreats to a bunker mentality which discourages close scrutiny.

The MSM is partly to blame for enabling “Fortress Obama.” Reverend Wright’s rhetorical bombastics were noted in Chicago newspapers but ignored by a fatuous national press. Wright delivered similar racial pyrotechnics during the past Christmas season but these, too, were ignored. How did it take a year or more for this to come out in the MSM?

I doubt we will find out much today when Obama addresses the issue on television. Candidate Obama has shown he has great talent and experience in at least one important area of governance. Obama is an excellent filibusterer. Peripatetic and quick to grasp the inanition of circular reasoning, Obama is likely to rely on the vocal tonalities and repetitive cadences which characterize the exhortations of the political pulpit.

Think of Obama as a pale shadow or weak imitation of the great Martin Luther King who, upon hearing the damnations of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, turns in his grave. As the Reverend Martin Luther King, hero to all Americans, advanced the cause of freedom and equality, so might the Reverend Wrights of the world turn back the clock on enlightenment and respect for every man.

Obama Shape-Shifting: Blame the Nearest Suspects

The Obama campaign will launch a full frontal assault on Hillary Clinton in a not-so-subtle attempt to shift public attention from Obama’s Chicago political quagmire. The twin press billing of Obama’s associations with controversial figures like Rezko and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has made many people realize that the Illinois Senator is walking deep in mud rather than walking on water.

I don’t know why this is a new approach, unless Obama takes on the tasks himself that he normally relegated to staff members like Samantha Power who called Clinton a “monster.” It looks like Obama will go after the Clinton financial earnings and investments since it would look pretty stupid to rehash the well-covered Whitewater affairs of many years ago.

The MSM so far seems unsatisfied with the answers it has received from the Obama camp, though Obama’s sit-down filibuster with reporters about Rezko was an strong attempt to stanch the bleeding. Would Obama’s answers be any different if he were under oath? Probably not very much, since lawyers are familiar with the perjurious limitations of speech allowed by the courts.

Obama certainly needs to do something to distract the press from a looming defeat in the Pennsylvania primaries. When in doubt, bang the table. That seems to be the tactic the Obama camp is using as he seeks to distance himself from “Uncle” Jeremiah Wright and Antoin Rezko.

Economy Tanked: Bring on Tax Increases and Protectionist Trade Barriers

“It’s the economy, stupid!” said Bill Clinton during one of his campaigns. Since that revelation, the economy has been in a buoyant cycle of boom broken up by intermittent and relatively benign busts.

The economy right now is more than a bump in the road, and even a non-genius like me knows that the biggest problem lies in the banking sector. Investment bank Bear – Stearns is being grabbed up by J.P Morgan at fire sale prices of $2.00 per share. That’s a big drop for a stock that was traded well over a hundred bucks per share. I mention it only because it’s symptomatic of the soft underbelly of the banking industry.

Financial firms will sag all across the world as international investment communities try to figure out how deeply their feet are sunk into debt instruments.

I think the bottoming out is here or coming soon, however. Unless there are other shocks on the way. What other shocks could be on the way in the U.S.?

A combination of tax increases and the erection of protectionist barriers to trade (a la Barack Obama) could complete the economy tragedy.

The Audacity of Hype: Barack Obama

How can it be that Senator Obama, who sat in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years, did not hear the inflammatory racial and anti-semitic statements made by Wright? It's preposterous that Obama's ears were attuned to the divine while Wright raved that "Bill Clinton did to us what he did to a young female congressional aide." It's very heady spiritual stuff. It's no wonder that Obama praises the Reverend as the inspiration of his book: The Audacity of Hope. How can one fail to be inspired by the "KKK U.S. of A" and "not God Bless America but God- DAMN America!"

The MSM is still entranced by the glowing oratory, the pathological smile, and "shivers running down their legs." Massive media cognitive dissonance extends also to the Rezko affair where financial favors were bestowed on Obama in the purchase of real estate. Not to mention that the Obama campaign has an arithmetic problem, revising their statesments of how much Rezko contributed to Obama campaigns by $90,000 bringing the total to $250,000.

Lynn Samuels of Sirius Left Radio had a good point also in mentioning that Obama essentially had no real opponent in his one national senate race. Obama won his Senate post against Alan Keyes who was hastily rushed in on short notice after the original Republican candidate was disgraced by association with a wife-sex-swapping ring. Looks like the Kennedys, Kerrys and Dodds got themselves a sure-fire candidate. Sure fire if you're aiming at your feet, that is.

Progressives Won't Defend Obama: Open Left

Obama’s on thin ice with “Progressive” Democrats and Independents who find it hard to defend a candidate who “is not part of any progressive fights…” Self-described “left” blogger Matt Stoller feels that Obama should have been at least mentioning liberal pet issues like the telecoms and their case against being sued for helping the government root out terrorist communications.

Stoller says that Obama advertises himself as “non-partisan” (actually he uses the word “post-partisan”—isn’t that cute?) and so progressive-left partisans cannot defend Obama’s associations with Reverend Wright, Obama’s spiritual advisor.

Specious reasoning, and I’m being generous in saying so. Did it ever occur to Stoller that people may not want to defend Obama because they find Wright’s diatribes against “white” culture repugnant?

Nonetheless, I am very much bucked up to find that, even on a blog called “Open Left”, there are people concerned for the well-being of the United States. Here’s just one of the many striking anti-Obama comments from Open Left:

“All along, I have not bought into Obama's campaign because his talk of post-partisanship is disingenuous at best and dangerously naive at worst, not to mention insulting to anyone who was paying attention to the RW shitstorm unleashed on the Clintons in the 90s. Eventually, either in the GE or as President, Obama would run into the real world of American politics, and I do not believe he can handle it. And the country is in too disastrous a shape to have 4 years of paralyzed government. “

Rasmussen Tracking Polls Shows Hillary & Obama Even

What is this thing about Obama being photographed standing up in the aisles of airplanes? Weren't there enough seats? I suppose it does look presidential so long as you turn down the sound on what he says, which more than ever, sounds confused.

The latest national Rasmussen tracking poll indicates Hillary picked up seven percentage points against Barack Obama. No doubt, this is due to the cognitive-dissonance of the Obama campaign. Obama's statement denying that he had ever heard a negative word from Wright in the 20 years he'd been a member of his church is preposterous and he knows it. Obama damage control units must have been desperate to put him on the dreaded Fox News to drum the message that he is the "candidate of unity."

Can't blame Obama for trying the political equivalent of Three-Card Monte in hitting three networks to trumpet his weak assertions. The most alarming thing about Obama is that he is a candidate who values expediency over character, as evidenced by his eagerness to take support from any and all quarters of society.

Return to Freedom: March 15, 1973

Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard was on C-Span to field questions, some of them having to do with the John McCain campaign. Of course, not all the callers were friendly to the war hero’s candidacy and those callers were the most interesting, if not the most uninformed.

Politics can be viewed as an activity apart from character unfortunately, and too often it is, but it occurs to me that there are entire generations brought up in the soft life of our era and do not know that heroism can be a real thing, quite different from the hero packaging seen in the movies. Real heroism is a long, torturous, and unpleasant slog through unfamiliar and unchartered territory of the type one finds in North Vietnamese prison camps. Real heroism might be something as simple-seeming as a slog through a rice paddy or a quiet patrol along an Iraqi street, accompanied by the conflicting thoughts of a discontented irritability and an anxiety regarding events which may or may not be a few seconds into the future.

Whether the political criticism is leveled against any heroic volunteer soldier or against John McCain, the impulse to diminish the importance of true grit by some Obama supporters is laughable when it is not entirely pathetic. Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard seemed surprised and taken back that callers knew so little about McCain and tended to regard him as a made-up figure out of an action movie.

No, John McCain is real, and the time of his going down in flames over North Vietnam wasn’t the first example of his heroism. Prior to being shot down and imprisoned, McCain was aboard an aircraft carrier and about to take off in his plane when a rocket was accidentally fired which struck the fuel tank of a nearby aircraft. Rolling away from the conflagration was Senator McCain. Once clear of the flames, McCain ran toward the aircraft to rescue another pilot covered in fire. At that moment, a massive explosion occurred which killed several people and severely damaged the ship.

McCain’s ship was ordered back to port in the aftermath. Had McCain gone back to port with his ship, he would not have been shot down over North Vietnam. Instead, he arranged to be transferred to another carrier and another squadron which, within a short period of time, was flying missions over North Vietnam.

People may continue to discount character as a criterion for the presidency, but they do so for cheap and base reasons. Our better selves may disagree with McCain on policy issues, but criticism of McCain’s very real and heroic character can only demean the critic.

John McCain and his fellow POWs returned to freedom on March 15th, 1973,

Obama Dissin' Pennsylvania Heartland? Hillary Lovefest Rages

The Barack Obama campaign has once again reversed itself and no longer makes the claim that it can win anywhere if only it had enough time. The campaign has enough time in Pennsylvania, about six weeks, and yet the once hot candidate has virtually by passed the state. Obama continues with his policy of pressing a small-state strategy, but his support is showing signs of stress on radio talk show programs, even among African-Americans who see some difference between a glib, smooth-talking Harvard lawyer and a woman who actually seems to like Pennsylvania.

So the Hillary Clinton Love fest continues in Pennsylvania, with an appearance today at the annual Scranton Saint Patrick’s day parade. Hillary’s popular in the state of Pennsylvania and has the deep kind of support that can’t be knocked loose with slogans.

From the scarcity of ads, it looks like the Illinois senator is hanging onto his money. Among the few Obama “ads” to appear in Pennsylvania are video clips of the Reverend Wright excoriating and flogging “White America” and presidential candidates who don’t know what it is to be called the N-word. A particularly hateful Wright diatribe is the one where he tells his 8,000 member congregation that Bill Clinton was doing to “us” the same thing he did to a young female congressional aide.

Barack Obama didn’t hear any of that kind of riff in twenty years, of course. That’s what he says anyway, with his usual cheerful smile and sonorous voice.

Barack Obama Blasts Rush Limbaugh Vote

Rush Limbaugh gets his props from Barack's campaign staff who, in trying to stem Hillary Clinton rise, blamed Hillary's successes on "Rush Limbaugh's full-throated endorsement..."

Now this alarms me in several ways.

1) The Obama and David Axelrod have been listening to Rush Limbaugh.

2) The Obama/Axelrod campaign doesn't listen well and doesn't understand that Rush Limbaugh has far more often supported Obama because it regards Hillary Clinton as the real threat to a Democratic victory in November.

3) The Obama campaign feels that a Limbaugh endorsement is the political equivalent of a Louis Farrakhan endorsement.

This was in reaction to Clinton campaigners pointing out the following facts which are indisputable: "In Mississippi, he won only 25% of Republicans and barely half of independents. In Ohio, he won only 48% of men, 41% of women and 42% of Democrats. In Texas, he won only 49% of independents and 46% of Democrats. And in Rhode Island, Obama won just 33% of women and 37% of Democrats."

The fact is that Obama is incapable of winning the big states. Moreover, Obama's platform continues to fall apart on the foreign policy level. His much vaunted opposition to Iraq war was contradicted by Samantha Power, his Harvard educated foreign policy advisor, who said it would be 16 months before Obama could begin to withdraw troops.

For more on big state victories, soon to be followed by a popular victory in Pennyslvania, check out http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/640147/hillary_clinton_kos_obama_in_texas.html

Barack and Hillary Save The World

Hulu Dot Com Comes Online

There's a new online video service and it's free. It's called Hulu.com and it provides episodes and clips from popular television shows. Now you can download video clips without worrying about piracy laws. Here's a review of the site by technology chief at the Wall Street Journal: Walt Mossberg

Pennsylvania Is Hillary Country

Geraldine Ferraro Was Partly Right...

Geraldine's choice of remarks was deprecating and offensive since Obama is not without talent were he issued in any shade. But the part about the country being "caught up in the concept" is partly true. How much obsequious media fawning will we have to endure? And how much should we beat our breasts in guilt as Reverend Wright derides Hillary Clinton because she's Caucasian? (See Comments in Wall Street Journal 03/10 or 03/09 front page). And did anyone catch Obama's "okey-doakey" remarks to his African American audience in Miss.? His was a racially tinged remark recalling the cruelties of the plantation system but did that have anything to do with Hillary? Just because Hillary asked him to consider VP? Oh, sure.... Obama sneered at the VP position and felt the "wronged" victim because he can win small states with 90 percent of the African American vote.

Obama's Wind Energy Program

When Hillary Rodham Clinton attacked Barak Obama for voting for “Dick Cheney’s energy policy, a bill she had voted against, Mr. O. responded with the same familiar phrase which we are accustomed to hearing from any generic candidate. Obama led the cheer for “renewable energy” and defended Cheney’s bill on the grounds it contained provisions for “wind energy.”

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has listened to Obama’s speeches that the Illinois Senator is a big fan of wind energy. Apparently, the infatuated MSM was too flat-footed to ask Obama why his most important aging millionaire supporters Ted Kennedy and John Kerry have long opposed a proposed wind energy project off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Though it would scarcely be visible from shore, the blue bloods who support Obama are worried they might have to tack around the proposed wind farm as they sail along on their yachts on a balmy Hyannis Port weekend.

Obama Supporters Paying for Praise of Their Candidate?

Since I've been blogging , my cyber travels take me everywhere as they do with everyone else. I get emails from the three remaining campaigns and I check out candidate web sites as much a time permits. I'm a little puzzled by an email I recently received but I've received several from the same source. I have no indication that the email comes from the Obama campaign. It purports to come from a "grass roots" organization but doesn't name itself. I thought it's odd that a "grass roots" organization would be soliciting people write nice things in praise of Barak Obama. The email comes through another portal so I can't respond directly back to the source. Here's the email in its entirety:

You have a new public request:
Title: Barack Obama
Description: Grassroot Organizations in CT and PA Women for Obama People of Faith for Obama Seniors for Obama
Price: $20-30
Article amount: 3
Content length: 200
Subjects: Barack Obama
Notes:

Ethnic Has Many Meanings In Pennsylvania

The “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC is today awash with Class-B pundits. Howard Wolfson showed up on behalf of Hillary Clinton and David Axelrod appeared for Obama. A plethora of lesser pundits appeared in the spaces between. Axelrod says he’s counting on the African-Americans in Philadelphia to vote as a bloc for Barak Obama. Wolfson doesn’t think the inner city necessarily belongs to anyone and, in Philadelphia, has an independent streak which will be loyal to Hillary Clinton.

Another voting consideration is that Pennsylvania cities have a lot of blue-collar voters of mixed ethnicity, and a Hispanic vote that ranges between four and five percent. Ethnicity in Pennsylvania may mean Hungarian, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, or Lebanese, as much as it refers to Spanish or African-American origin. Many pundits predict that African-American voters in Pennsylvania will step outside of predictable bloc voting patterns as did the voters of Iowa and Vermont.

Help Wanted: Pennsylvania Pundits

Hillary Clinton's Childhood Vacation Spot in Pennsylvania


Another reason not to watch television during presidential campaigns is that what was once perceived as “real” has become increasingly “unreal” as the punditry game has gone professional. There are major league pundits, minor league pundits, little league pundits, and even pee-wee pundits. Pundit means “learned ones.” One may question that notion as the television stations featuring pundits seem incapable of expressing the middle ground of any issue.

Punditry is extreme by modern definition, representing views that are to the left of Che Guevara or to the right of Rush Limbaugh. Labeling every critical governmental policy statement as “support for terrorism” keeps people glued to their tv sets. So does the laundry list of alleged U.S. government conspiracies beginning with the purported Roswell, New Mexico flying saucer crash and continuing to the alleged conspiratorial attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Few pundits are paid in dollars. Most get paid with pats on the back from their relatives and friends and a mug with a network logo on the side. Still, punditry can have other benefits like book contracts or small market media jobs. If you’re a bottom tier pundit, you can go to pundit school or buy ads to promote yourself. It’s not unheard of for fledgling pundits to spend thousands in advertising promoting their own punditry. Some pundit trainers and advisors recommend that you send donuts and good will cards to television producers who may eat the donuts and remember your name.

A Wall Street Journal article from 2006 tells of a New York City school with a course in amateur punditry giving advice in “how to build up your profile.” The article tells of a popular CD title for would-be pundits called “How To Get Booked on ‘The View.’”

According to the same Wall Street Journal story, Newt Gingrich gets paid when he comments on the Fox News network, and Jonathan Alter gets paid, too. I don’t know if Michael Smerconish will be paid for his appearance this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe with Mika Brezinski. I would guess he is, considering Pennsylvania’s sudden prominence in the upcoming April 22 primaries.

Most political pundits know that Mika Brezinski’s father and former Carter advisor, Zbigniew Brezinski, is working for Barak Obama, and those who don’t will soon hear it because MSNBC host Joe Scarborough mentions it often. Mika responds guardedly that she has a brother who works for the McCain campaign, too, so there! Fair and balanced, like Fox News, she implies. It must be no fun to have a loose cannon like Scarborough rolling around on your deck.

The “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC is today awash with Class B pundits: Howard Wolfson, on behalf of Hillary Clinton and David Axelrod for Obama. A plethora of lesser pundits appeared in the spaces between. Michael Smerconish is an upcoming Class B pundit who is sure to make it one day to the A-list.

Smerconish’s appearance on MSNBC was a graceful gesture by the producers—the Philadelphia lawyer, professional pundit, and radio talk show host pitched really hard over a year ago to get the job currently occupied by the bombastic Joe Scarborough.

Compared to Scarborough, Smerconish is studied and intent. Smerconish’s appearance on MSNBC is expected to be regular as he tries to interpret Pennsylvania voting patterns for the national media.

Smerconish didn’t say much that hasn’t already patterned. Pundit commandments dictate that Obama rules the big cities, something that is not entirely true. Hillary Clinton was helped considerably in Ohio cities by African-American congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones who appeared beside Clinton during her Ohio victory speech.

I partially agree with the Michael Smerconish “prediction” that Obama will win big in cities like Philly and Pittsburgh whereas Hillary will win the Pennsylvania heartland. The rural hamlet of Lake Winola, Pa was the summer vacation spot for Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family, a connection still fondly remembered by many Pennsylvanians.

Another consideration is that Pennsylvania cities have a lot of blue-collar support of mixed ethnicity, and a Hispanic vote that ranges between four and five percent. Ethnicity in Pennsylvania may mean Hungarian, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Lebanese, as much as it refers to Spanish or African-American origin.

Lots of pundits are merely re-stating the pattern of 90% African American voters going for Obama in some states. I like to think that the African American voters of Pennsylvania will vote outside the predictable pattern as did the voters of Iowa and Vermont. There’s something very ill about voting along strictly ethnic lines—even the sport of boxing has long ago progressed beyond that.

Hillary Rejects Support From Anti-Semitic Film Producer

Hillary Clinton took the high road in declining campaign contributions from an American of Turkish descent who financed an anti-American and Anti-Jewish Rambo-style propaganda film called Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.

Clinton senior adviser Ann Lewis said the campaign recently learned that Mehmet Celebi, a political fundraiser, had co-produced the movie.

The plot line of the film could have been taken from Zarqawi’s daily diary. American soldiers in Iraq have no greater objective than to humiliate eleven Turkish troops who entered Northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurds. The Americans suspect them of being Al Qaeda since it is common for terrorists to obtain the uniforms of friendly forces. The “humiliation” consists of blindfolding the prisoners while they are moved, standard security practice in prisoner transit.

While the blindfolding incident stems from a real event, for which Donald Rumsfeld apologized to the Turkish government, the rest of the movie vilifies Americans, Israelis, and American Jews to a hyperbolic and phantasmagorical degree.

Americans are depicted spitefully shooting into innocent civilian populations, attacking wedding parties and children alike. If shooting children in the head with malice aforethought is not enough to make you hate yourself for being American, you can hate yourself more thoroughly for being Jewish. Actor Gary Busey plays a maniacal Jewish doctor who removes the vital organs from Abu Gharaib prisoners to be sold at high prices to rich Jews around the world. Ah, bloodsucking Jews!...the primary reason for the war in Iraq. I knew it!

Lest you think that the Islamo-fascists have no mercy for the infidel, there is a cut-and-paste scene in which an anti-American Arab sheikh saves a foreign journalist from having his head cut off. Allah be praised! Is it only journalists who don’t deserve to have their heads cut off?

It’s not a big secret that Muslim extremists in the Middle East would have everyone believe that the problems in the Middle East stem from a postage-stamp sized country of about six million people. Congratulations to the Clinton campaign for reacting quickly when they learned of Celebi’s support for an anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda film. Now if only the Obama camp would reject its own support from anti-Semitic Farrakhan followers and make clear its support for Israel, the first democracy of the Middle East…

Obama Leads In Wyoming Primary Caucuses

I’m trying find something interesting to say about the Wyoming Caucuses which Barak Obama is expected to win because of a better ground organization and 8 paid staff members assigned to get him the 12 delegate votes there. Some people are too shy to shout their opinions at caucuses, others too old to stand for long periods of time. Obama’s supporters are young people brought in by the efficient Obama-get-out-the-vote organizations.

Wyoming is a largely Republican state and liberal Democrats typically don’t spend much time there but now it is crucial for both candidates. It won’t be until April 22 until Hillary wins a large share of the big PA primary with its 158 delegates. Yes, that’s right, a prediction.
Obama’s camp is distracted by the firing/resignation of Samantha Power, a foreign policy advisor who called Hillary Clinton a “monster.” Off the record. That’s going to be a problem for Obama, the gap between public statements and private agenda.

The backfired Canada back-door NAFTA activities still rankle and Samantha Power said yesterday that Obama wouldn’t be able to pull troops out of Iraq in 2009 as he claims. Samantha Power said in a BBC interview that, Obama could not possibly withdraw from Iraq sooner than 16 months and hinted that it would probably be far longer. It seems that reality is beginning to set in.
Moreover, the beguiled and fawning press has learned that it can indeed write stories about Rezko or Farrakhan or whatever it pleases without its fingers melting and dripping down the page.

It’s the credibility problem still developing in the Obama camp which is beginning to work in favor of Hillary Clinton. Obama and his people are sounding very much like Republicans in pressuring Clinton for an early release of her tax records. The deal there is that Bill Clinton works for a sovereign fund managing company called Yucaipa and has a client in the Middle East. The lofty Obama camp doesn’t mind trips to Libya with Louis Farrakhan but it becomes very jingoistic and peculiarly sensitive when it comes to the spouses of presidential candidates.

Obama Leads In Wyoming Primary Caucuses

I’m trying find something interesting to say about the Wyoming Caucuses which Barak Obama is expected to win because of a better ground organization and 8 paid staff members assigned to get him the 12 delegate votes there. Some people are too shy to shout their opinions at caucuses, others too old to stand for long periods of time. Obama’s supporters are young people brought in by the efficient Obama-get-out-the-vote organizations.

Wyoming is a largely Republican state and liberal Democrats typically don’t spend much time there but now it is crucial for both candidates. It won’t be until April 22 until Hillary wins a large share of the big PA primary with its 158 delegates. Yes, that’s right, a prediction.
Obama’s camp is distracted by the firing/resignation of Samantha Power, a foreign policy advisor who called Hillary Clinton a “monster.” Off the record. That’s going to be a problem for Obama, the gap between public statements and private agenda.

The backfired Canada back-door NAFTA activities still rankle and Samantha Power said yesterday that Obama wouldn’t be able to pull troops out of Iraq in 2009 as he claims. Samantha Power said in a BBC interview that, Obama could not possibly withdraw from Iraq sooner than 16 months and hinted that it would probably be far longer. It seems that reality is beginning to set in.
Moreover, the beguiled and fawning press has learned that it can indeed write stories about Rezko or Farrakhan or whatever it pleases without its fingers melting and dripping down the page.

It’s the credibility problem still developing in the Obama camp which is beginning to work in favor of Hillary Clinton. Obama and his people are sounding very much like Republicans in pressuring Clinton for an early release of her tax records. The deal there is that Bill Clinton works for a sovereign fund managing company called Yucaipa and has a client in the Middle East. The lofty Obama camp doesn’t mind trips to Libya with Louis Farrakhan but it becomes very jingoistic and peculiarly sensitive when it comes to the spouses of presidential candidates.

Samantha Powers "Monster" Remarks Cause for Firing?

Samantha Powers told a reporter "off the record" that Hillary Clinton was a "monster."

Hillary Clinton's supporters are calling for Powers' resignation from the Obama campaign. Meanwhile, Harvard Univerisity has provided an email address for the distinguished law school graduate: Samantha_Power@ksg.harvard.edu

Interested parties may express any concerns they may have about academic issues. Profanity and hate mail are not helpful and are vehemently discouraged.

Monster Hillary: Obama Advisor Samantha Powers Uses Latte Powers

Obama foreign policy advisor Symantha Powers probably thought she was doing her candidate a favor in calling Hillary Clinton a "monster" in a year when far left and far right proselytes seem capable of hitting nothing but their own feet. Anne Coulter led the way by vowing to vote for Hillary if John McCain became the GOP candidate, and then Rush Limbaugh, Shaun Hannity, and Glenn Beck charged into the chasm.

Now Obama's Harvard buddy, Samantha Powers, has jumped forward into the spotlight. That's what happens when the latte professoriate begins to aggrandize themselves in the utter belief that America's thought processes would be frozen without their effete commentaries and campus-style petite-drama shenanigans.

Samantha is convinced that Obama is being elected President of the World, instead of president of the U.S. . Powers no doubt thinks of herself as one of the World's Essential Ambassadors and Courtiers (I almost said "courtesans"...wash my mouth out with soap!). Here's a little curriculum vitae (abbreviated) and an video depicting what an Obama presidency of the world would be like as Obama follows her advice:

Powers is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. She moved to the United States from Ireland at the age of nine. She spent 2005 to 2006 working in the office of Senator Barack Obama and has now returned to haunt the spotlight, creating more distractions for Obama as her remarks complete their trajectory in a three-day news cycle. Check Out the video with blazing Charlie Rose.

Gaza Cheers Child Murders in Jerusalem: Presidential Candidates Take Note

Celebrations continue in Gaza as cheery Palestinian fascists applaud the multiple child murders of eight Israeli students in Jerusalem. This is not what advocates of an independent state existing side by side with Israel need right now. America’s presidential candidates should all seize the opportunity of condemning this act of mass murder. But such a condemnation from Senator Barak Obama would do much to reassure people of the Jewish faith and others who are worried that an Obama presidency would follow the disastrous Middle East policies of former President Carter. Carter has often been criticized for being hostile to the Jewish state and of making remarks that some describe as “anti-semitic.”

Senator McCain has made clear his long-standing support of the Jewish state; Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama have asserted the same viewpoint in speeches. A potential problem for Obama is that the pastor of Obama’s church is criticized for traveling to Libya with Reverend Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader, to meet with Libyan president Quaddafi.

Obama is certainly responsible neither for Farrakhan’s anti-semitic remarks, nor for the travels of the minister of his Chicago church, but should not miss the opportunity to demonstrate he would not, as president, withdraw traditional U.S. support for the state of Israel. Condemning homicidal attacks against innocent Jewish children is just one way Obama could demonstrate an independent foreign policy toughness. Such a move would also distance his campaign from the perception of a Farrakhan influence.

Certainly we all mourn the deaths of these Israeli children at the hands of terrorist homicidal maniacs. Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians…people of all religions…should join us in offering a prayer for the victims of this vicious attack:

Yohai Lifshitz, 18; Yehonatan Yitzhak Alder, 16; Yonadav Haim Hirshfeld, 19, Neria Cohen, 15; Roy Rot, 18; Segev Peniel Avihail, 15; Avraham David Mozes, 16; and Doron Mahareta, 16.

A United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the murders as an act of terrorism was blocked by a group of members led by Quaddafi’s Libya.

New York Times: Get In Touch With Your Inner Chicago Pol

The Democratic Party latte elite seems confused after abandoning Hillary Clinton and jumping on the Obama Express to Nowhere. Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s temperature was taken in a New York Times comment:

“Everybody is sort of taking a deep breath right now,” said Kennedy.
I’ll bet. A better translation is that they’re getting a whiff of Chicago Politics Revisited in the realization that the Rezko-Auchi-Obama circle of friendship could be trouble for their guy.

Also in the air is the malodorous wind of the Byzantine superdelegate process which could only have been dreamed up by a Machiavelli. As if the process wasn’t dinged up enough without that. I’m taking about judges who kept Ohio voting open in dry counties and closed them down in flooded Hillary country.

The process, for Democrats, is already besmirched so there’s no need to get exercised in favor of either candidate. What’s needed is a solution. I have a solution: the popular vote. Including Michigan and Florida. And get rid of caucuses entirely—they’re an atavism from the days when voting was more civilized. Nancy Pelosi seems to have taken my advice to heart:

“There are still many voters unheard from,” she commented in the NYT.

It’s kind of sad that Mr. Obama is counting on all the African-American voters in Mississippi to make up for recent delegate losses. Suppose they, like the courageous and articulate Ohio Senator Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, wish to vote for the candidate they most believe in, as did the voters in Iowa?

Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat majority leader uttered the unforgettable words: “The sooner obviously this is resolved, it may be the better.” Is that enough make shivers run down Chris Matthews leg?

Pennsylvania’s happening, baby, and they’ve got real people who live there although latte and Starbucks are making inroads along the edges. Hillary’s much loved in the valley around Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Governor Rendell will help a lot in Philly, the “main line” and the Northeast, some of Pennsylvania’s more affluent enclaves. Pittsburgh should be Teresa Heinz-Kerry country but that didn’t work so hot the last time around. Pittsburgh has ethnic Slavs, Italian, Poles, and places where whole neighborhoods realize that garlic is a “good thing”, as Martha Stewart says. Pennsylvania has a large African-American population, too, but Barak shouldn't assume that Kensington and North Philly will be impressed enough to roll with a guy who lives as far from their neighborhoods as Obama and the rest of the cafe-au-lait crowd does.

Obama’s painted himself into a corner with his holier-than-thou image and attitude which he now intends to shed. The New York Times reports that Obama might indulge “his inner Chicago pol.” Maybe the NYT should actually start reporting on Obama’s “inner Chicago pol.” I wonder if that will soon occur to them soon.
The thing that kills me the most about the Hillary-Obama “dialogue” is the fatuous public which gushes at the prospect of a “dream ticket.” Obama seems not to understand the Kelly Pavlik effect upon the Hillary camp.

“It’s very premature to start talking about a joint ticket,” said Obama, in a New York Times quote.

I’m reading that to mean that, should his back be against the ropes, Obama would accept second place on the ticket. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton isn’t the kind of fighter who’s going to negotiate her way out of the ring. She might be pressured by circumstances to accept a draw, so long as she’s on the top of the ticket, and it’s not a majority draw.

Hillary Clinton KOs Obama: The Pavlik Effect

I call it the Kelly Pavlik effect. A few days ago, when all was lost and the wide sweep of the press had Hillary KO’d in the early rounds, I turned to my wife and fellow boxing fan.

“Who’s that guy beside Hillary on stage? Doesn’t it look like Kelly Pavlik?”

The 25 year old middleweight from Youngstown Ohio knows what it is to be down on the canvas staring up bewildered into the ring lights. In the third round of this first match up with the great middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, Pavlik must have wished his head were shot up with Novocain as he wobbled to his unsteady feet. Pavlik had made the decision that others so often fail to make, the decision that John McCain had to make as he lay for five years with broken arms in a North Vietnamese prison camp. You have your choice in going down. You can go down on your knees or you can go down fighting. That’s the moment when you hear the horrifying echoes of all your opponent’s taunts, and the announcements of all your past failures, and the sick sound of the thudding body blows crashing against your ribs.

You’re going down, son, you’re going down.

It’s not exactly the same in politics as it is in boxing, yet there was a bit of that heart in Hillary Clinton as she rocked the nation with upset victories in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island. The press had buried her completely, and while they may now wriggle and sort through their past utterances in search of any phrase which would buttress their failed prognostications, the weakness of the media coverage is self-evident. The mainstream press is today eager to find a way to tell viewers they didn’t count Hillary out, but they all did.

However, everyone forgot to tell Hillary Clinton who knew in her heart she was a better candidate than fledgling Senator Barak Obama. A day after the Hillary rout, it is clear that the campaign was aided in good measure by the Ohio governorm Ted Strickland, and an eloquent and loyal Congresswoman Stephanie Jones-Tubbs. Jones-Tubbs’ short speech a week before the Ohio primaries was level and pointedly loyal, a punch landed straight to the chops of those many disloyal Democrats who abandoned Hillary Clinton in favor of smoke, lofty oratory, and easy promises.

Here’s a round by round description of Hillary Clinton’s gritty fight.

The pressure that the press, establishment Democrats, and party wonks applied to get Clinton to quit the race began to anger men and women alike. Typical of that kind of pressure was exemplified by Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter who made the rounds of popular morning television shows on MSNBC and FOX and major networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC to explain why Hillary couldn’t possible stage a comeback after “eleven straight losses.” Such blatant cheerleading for Obama went beyond journalism.

• Television ads helped, but what helped more was that Hillary put aside the homogenized fanfare of her campaign people and began to set down on her punches. That is a matter of heart, ladies and gentlemen, and it comes at the moment when all is lost and the only thing you can do is believe in yourself and make the decision to go down fighting.

• The truth is that Hillary’s verbal jabs were much sharper than the round-shaped Cumbaya vagaries of “change you can Xerox.”

• The truth is that Obama’s judgment, in his business dealings with Antoin Rezko, was clouded and raised ethical if not legal issues.

• The truth is that Obama’s deception about his chief economic advisor’s tete-a-tete with Canadian embassy officials hurt him immensely, even to the point of attracting the brain-dead free-pass Obama press to the story.

• The truth is that Democratic Party shills in the press should stop trying to bait Hillary into answering questions about Obama’s religion. It’s slimy, it doesn’t work, and it only highlights the shadow world of Chicago backroom politics. Did it ever occur to them to ask Obama about his religion?

• The truth is that Barak Obama’s nervous nellie duck-and-cover anti-war stance is widely viewed as opportunistic and cynical and, if implemented, would be a disastrous plan. Another Hillary line that worked: “John McCain has experience. I have experience. Barak Obama has a speech he made in 2002.”

• The truth is that the Obama “movement” in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island was countermanded by another “movement” more in tune with 2008 reality. The Obama camp objection to Hillary’s 3:00 a.m. ad was whining of the least thrilling sort. You’ve got to take them check hooks if you want to be the champ.

• The truth is that Obama’s northeast latte elite strategists like John Kerry decided they would make themselves “cool” by putting their support behind any African-American candidate who shared their values of limousines, latte, and large mansions. (Vermont has two or three African-Americans but plenty of latte, Volvos, and a professorial class)

• The truth is that there was a strain of latent press misogyny which was encouraged to develop and permitted to expand so long as it served the purposes of getting Hillary off the stage. It took the real deal of a man like boxer Kelly Pavlik to make those men in doubt of their own gender to realize they could strongly support a woman without becoming one.

John Kerry appeared on Fox News this morning to disparage the Clinton victory and he will be followed by others who have already invested themselves too far in a candidate teetering already from the first punches landed. Another of Obama’s media mouthpieces, David Axelrod is making the television rounds to disparage the popular vote. Whether from Axelrod or Kerry or whomever, it’s still a “Twinkie defense,” destined to lose.

Unwilling to face the facts, the latte limousine liberals can only pound on the table. But as they go through the predictable song and dance, they’re hearing another faraway sound welling through the packed house. That’s the beginning of the ten count, Barak, so you’d better get on up off the floor and fight.

Obama: Canada NAFTA Ploy Might Be Language Problem

Should U.S. English be declared the National Language of Canada? Perhaps.

More NAFTA hypocrisy from the Obama camp as an Obama chief Mr. Obama's chief economic adviser, University of Chicago professor Austan Goolsbee approached Canadian officials for a little back-door diplomacy. Mr. Goolsbee seems to have given Canadian officials an ambiguous and reassuring message about Barak’s “real opinion” about NAFTA. Ambiguity is now commonplace in the Obama camp, but this is embarrassing to our Canadian allies in Afghanistan.

Tragically, the early response from Obama was to say that there was no contact with the Canadian embassy. Later on, Obama was forced to admit that his chief economic advisor did indeed have contact with Canadian politicians about Obama’s anti-NAFTA speeches.

Oh, well…I guess I should be gracious and chalk it up to the language barriers which exist between the two countries. The Canadian version of English is far different than the English used in Obama speeches, and even more different from the English used among regular Americans.

Hillary Clinton: I voted. You Talked.

Quote of the Day comes from Hillary Clinton in a speech yesterday when she referred to her experience:

“John McCain has many years of experience, I have many years of experience, and Barak Obama has a speech he made in 2002.”

Nice jab, Hillary! Did you get that from Kelly Pavlik? The reason I thought it was important is that it was informational, at least for me. Obama tries desperately to portray himself as “above the fray” and different from “politicians and lobbyists” although he is one and uses the other.

Call me stupid, or at least a rank amateur (stupid will do), because I was one of those people who actually believed that Barak Obama voted in Congress against the Iraq war. I didn’t know that his much vaunted anti-Iraq speech was made at the first big anti-war rally in Chicago! Within that context, Obama didn’t miss the opportunity to appeal to a wide audience in the interest of political advance. Surely, I don’t question the fact that Obama opposes the war but I very much object to the deception in perpetuating a now entrenched political myth.

Talk is cheap, Barak…. Votes are different, and most of your colleagues voted for the war along with Hillary. Where you might put your money where your mouth is would be if you convened your Foreign Relations Europe subcommittee which never called a meeting in the year you were appointed to it.

Gloria Steinem: Ready, Aim, Kill Yourself….

Alzheimer’s disease is treacherous. It seems to have set in early in the case of Gloria Steinem considering her clueless and unhelpful (to Hillary) remarks aimed at John McCain. Steinem was trying to help Hillary who has certainly experienced a groundswell of anti-Hillary media misogyny typified by such pundits as Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. Steinem may have been holding the gun but she couldn’t seem to find the target and pointed it in the wrong direction. This was clearly not helpful to Hillary and neutralized an issue where Hillary was gaining purchase. I understand that there are other reason for opposing Hillary apart from sexism, but there’s no doubt that some part of her opposition comes from people who won’t accept a woman in high office no matter how qualified. That would leave out Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton, and Joan of Arc, among others. The presidency is not a test tube experiment for gender or race, but so many Democrats seem bewildered by such issues that something ought to be said about it. Even if I WILL vote for John McCaiin.

http://moeursalen.blogspot.com/2008/02/can-msnbcs-keith-olbermann-chris.html