Blagojevich Appoints Burris to Obama Senate Seat

Are We Happy Yet? It appears that Governor Blagojevich's supporters are all smiles at the appointment of Roland Burris, former AG, to Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. That's Burris in the picture, too.


Slick, slick move by Blago, you have to admit. The raising of a straw man to a seat that was for sale. You can bet that Burris made no move to buy the seat and can't be implicated in the Blagojevich criminal complaint. So that gives everyone a target designed to get the opposition to use up all its ammunition in opposing the Burris appointment. Complicating matters is that Burris is an African American, and in the mind of a Byzantine like Blago, that is designed to puzzle and stall the opposition. That's one presser you won't want to miss but you can be sure Blago won't be taking questions after today's announcment. Is there anyone in politics today who is taking questions? Barack? Are you there?

Sick of Obama Already - Associated Content

Sick of Obama Already - Associated ContentIt needed to be said but someone else said it first. Click on the headline link. It's a bit funny and a lot true.

Joe Biden: Dunce of the Year 2008

We rescued this dog from our local SPCA and she's a real champion with a great heart.






Biden might have gotten this guy, a puppy rescue at our local SPCA. Instead, the VP went to a breeder to get a dog with "papers." But isn't this guy a thoroughbred?







More “change you can believe in” concerns VP Joe Biden who felt impelled to buy a dog with a ‘pedigree’ for the kids. With about five million dogs euthanized each year in animal shelters, you might think Biden would have found an opportunity to set a good example. Instead, he goes to a breeder to get a dog with “papers.”

What exactly does a dog with “papers” confer on America’s newest statesman? Does it increase the value of the dog? Does it confer some kind of legitimacy on the acquisition? Does it guarantee the dog will be a “good dog?” No, I’m afraid it doesn’t do any of those things. The only thing is does is convince even more people that Obama’s choice for vice-president has established his bona-fides as a full-fledged pedigreed idiot.

I volunteer occasionally at our local SPCA and I’ve adopted two unwanted dogs from the organization. I’ve also assisted in finding adoptive “parents” for other dogs. We recently adopted “Mandy,” a beautiful animal who looks a great deal like a purebred German Shepherd. I don’t know if she is a “purebred” and really don’t give a damn. She’s highly intelligent and responsive and has grown out of what few issues she had when we got her (mainly a bit of stir-craziness from living in an overflowing SPCA kennel).

So now is a great time to score a point for America’s unwanted and abused animals. Write to the vice-president and let him know what you think about his pedigreed pooch. It won’t change his mind, of course, but it’ll set a good precedent, particularly if some numb newsperson is inspired enough to ask VP Biden a question at a presser.

Hamas Nazis Accomplish Mission of Sabotaging Peace Efforts

In order for there to be peace in the Middle East, Hamas has to go. Iran and Syria have to take their bloody fingers out of Gaza’s corpse and let it go. Who tolerates rocket fire down on half a million citizens who would like nothing more than an abiding peace? And who holds the moderates in Gaza as hostages? Hamas hides behind the innocent women and children of Gaza and provokes retaliation in hopes of sabotaging the region’s moderates who know that peace will bring autonomy and prosperity to the Palestinians and Israelis alike. It was in the hope of peace that the Israelis withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Israelis were told to withdraw from Gaza as a gesture of goodwill which would pay off in the world court of public opinion. But the world court of public opinion doesn’t acknowledge the level of hatred and bigotry in the hearts of the Hamas leadership. The withdrawal provided an excellent opportunity for self-government, but the Hamas Pseudo-Religious Nazis cannot govern; they can only implement a policy of state suicide in search of 72 Virgins and martyrdom and expect the innocent and hopeful children of Gaza to follow them in death.

Obama Report: More Questions Than Answers? - Associated Content

Obama Report: More Questions Than Answers? - Associated ContentJust click on the headline to read the full article. Or stick your head in the sand and watch MSNBC.

Caroline Kennedy: Too Far Out Over Her Skis?

The Chattering Classes on morning news television are buzzing about the possibility of NY Governor Patterson appointing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton's vacated senate seat. Many people think Caroline's a cinch for the job, considering her celebrity, the wealthy connections, and the tremendous amount of money she could bring into Democratic Party coffers. I can't tell you anything you don't know about that, but I was amused by a Caroline Kennedy supporter who appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program who used a particular expression that is bound to have resonance only to people who ski at expensive winter resorts.

If Language is destiny, there is a large chasm between America's liberal elite and the people they presume to govern. The "reporters" on the show were saying that Caroline Kennedy was creeping around the backdoors of politics rather than facing the press and taking questions. So the Kennedy spokesman defended her girl, naturally, and said that the quiet, low-profile approach was appropriate to the situation. She said that Caroline (and other pols) "don't want to get too far out over yours skis?" Huh?

"Too far out over your skis?"…. That’s a phrase bound to resonate in South Central, Olney, Kensington, Bed-Sty, and Roxbury and other poor, rough, and desperate urban enclaves. I can see the boyz in the hood scratching their heads over that one. WTF that mean?

Barney Frank: My Knickers are in a Knot over Rick Warren

Barney Frank’s knickers were in a knot when he criticized Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the Inaugural invocation. There’s no reason he or anyone else should be surprised. Militant Gay Rights Activists, predominantly white, are pushing private cultural and personal choices into the government agenda.

Barack Obama is opposed to gay marriage and so are the 70 percent of blacks and Hispanics who voted for Proposition 8 in California.

Rick Warren drew a hearty round of applause when he loudly proclaimed: “I love Lesbians, gays, straights, Hindus, and Jews”… The entire litany. Why do people like Barney Frank and the audience he plays to believe that every difference of opinion is rooted in bigotry? It’s political manipulation and demagoguery of the worst sort and it adds rather than subtracts from the struggles of gay Americans.

Days of Our Lies: The Continuing Saga of Chicago Political Corruption

The story so far: The Fictitious Governor of Illinois, Roderick BLAGO, has just discovered that the senate seat of the fictional president-elect BARACK Osama can be sold for a handsome sum of money. Unfortunately, an ambitious Federal Prosecutor has discovered BLAGO'S scheme to auction off the senate seat to the highest bidders. The bidding was not open to the public, as might be expected, but it is rumored that the fictitious bidders for the Senate Seat include many Chicago cronies like the fictitious Valerie Jarrett or even BARACK's fictitious chief of staff RAHM Emmanual, or possibly Jesse Jackson Jr. who was said to be a "snitch" during previous federal investigations. And now, we get back to DAYS OF OUR LIES:

FADE OUT:

PULL BACK to a view from the outside of the BLAGO mansion. Camera caresses the street, turns 180 degrees. Now we are focused on the Barack Obama Transition Team office, which is right across the street from where BLAGO and HARRIS are being charged with public corruption.



CUT TO:

Two men are depicted with their backs toward the camera. They have their fingers in the venetian blinds, peering outward. One is tall, dark skinned, with large ears. He has a basketball tucked under his arm. The other man is half bald, shorter, with dark hair and short mustache. These man are Barack Obama and David Axelrod, respectively.

BARACK
Do you see what I see?

AXELROD
Cars...cars pulling up to the house.

PAN TO:

The street in front of BLAGO's house. A black Ford Crown Victoria pulls up to the BLAGO mansion. A crew-cut man in a dark suit walks to the door. He's followed by another older man in a gray suit.

CUT TO:

Reverse angle on AXELROD and BARACK through the venetian blinds. The two heads are huddled close.
AXELROD
They're going into the house. Sheeit! I can see BLAGO...do you see BLAGO?

BARACK
Hmmm... I think it was him at the door. I'm not sure..

AXELROD
It was him.

BARACK
He answwers his own door? When I'm president, I'm not going to be answering the door.

BARACK turns away from the window.

BARACK
They're not going to do anything...

AXELROD (shouting)
They're coming out!...sheeit!

BARACK rushes back to the window.

AXELROD
It's him...It's BLAGO!... They're cuffing the Governor!

BARACK
Cuffing the governor? Can they do that?

PAN TO:

The front portico of the Governor's Chicago house. The two "suits" are on either side of BLAGO. BLAGO is dressed in a blue Addidas track suit.

BLAGO
Hey, c'mon, fellas'....Can't we do this later? I always go jogging at 7:00.

FEDERAL AGENT ONE
You can jog on the way back. After the hearing...
BLAGO (resignedly)
Can I ride shotgun?

CUT TO:

BARACK and Axelrod withdraw from the window. AXELROD slumps into his desk. BARACK lets the basketball drop from beneath his arm and stands disconsolately in the room. The basketball dribbles along the floor and finally settles near a file cabinet.

C.U.

The FILE CABINET has several drawers, each one labeled. The camera travels along each drawer. There is one labelled AXELROD STATEMENTS, another is labelled BARACK STATEMENTS. The other file drawers may be labelled BIDEN STATEMENTS. And there is ANOTHER file drawler labelled STATEMENT REVISIONS PAST. And another labelled FUTURE STATEMENT REVISIONS.

BARACK
Get somebody in here and have them pull out all your statements on BLAGO since the campaign started. We got to go over every one.

AXELROD
No need to worry about that. I pwn the American press and the foreign press worships you.

BARACK
But you already told Fox News in November that I never talked to BLAGO.

AXELROD
That was months ago, BARACK! I didn't mean "not ever!" I meant "not ever" this month.

BARACK (thoughtfully)
When did I last talk to BLAGO? I can't remember....

AXELROD
RAHM says that depends on what you mean by "talk to."

BARACK
What else does RAHM say?

AXELROD
We're working on that right now.
BARACK
You mean a statement?...

AXELROD
On what RAHM said and what RAHM meant.

BARACK
But I got a press conference today!

AXELROD crosses the room and puts an avuncular arm over BARACK'S shoulder.

AXELROD
Listen, BARACK...just put them off for another week.

BARACK
I've already put them off for 2 weeks.

AXELROD
Christmas!

BARACK
What?

AXELROD
Christmas! The day before, the day after...it doesn't matter. Tell you they'll get the full story Christmas Week. Tell them the feds forbid you to talk until then. Besides...the press loves you!...the nation loves you!...the world loves you, Barack! Can't you see it in their eyes. I see it every presser...misty-eyed reporters hanging onto your every deliberative word. They want to believe you...

DISSOLVE TO:

A press conference. In the front row are Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, Jamal Simmons, Keith Olberman and Katie Currick. David Shuster is in the third row. Next to him is Kelly O'Donnell in a swank black velvet evening gown. Kelly is flirting, having a fine old time, possibly inebriated. The PRESIDENT-ELECT comes to the podium, criticizes the Bush Administration, Guantanamo Prison, the FISA laws, Wall Street, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the Bush economy, and tells the press how he will accomplish the Greening of America. BARACK praises the UAW, the SEIU, the Teacher's Unions, the Teamsters Union, Al Gore's Movie, All the Smart People Who Voted for Me, Richard Daly, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and the World Leaders of the only European countries he could think of. Then he dropped the bombshell..

BARACK
I think the Governor of Illinois can no longer be effective in his job.

The press, aghast, emits a collective gasp and seems to struggle for air. There is a hubbub and an uproar in the press room. One brave reporter calls from the back of the room a challenge that can scarcely be heard amidst the din.

REPORTER
Don't you think that you are losing some credibility by withholding information about your staff's contacts with the Governor's office until Christmas Day?

BARACK
That's all, folks. You're all welcome to join me on the basketball court in the White House Gym in January.

FADE OUT:

Darkness settles on America.

Jesse Jackson Jr. A Snitch?

If there's a guy in the Chicago Political Mob I feel sorry for it's Jesse Jackson Jr. One of the major media outlets was reporting that Jackson had been working with investigators looking into Chicago political corruption over many years. If that's true, they should give the guy some respect for not selling his soul to Blagojevich, as nearly everyone else in the Chicago Mob did. The story goes that Blago's wife was denied a job with the state's lottery commission because of Jackson's refusal to cough up $25K for Blagojevich. I do pause and wonder why Jackson's wife wanted the lottery commission job in the first place; it would seem to me that she would want to steer clear of political patronage jobs like that if she wants her man to ascend.

I'm not much the audacious type when it comes to "hope," but I hope that Jackson Jr. comes up clean in the Blagojevich mess with all its nefarious tentacles which have ensnared even the president elect's chief of staff Rahm Emmanual.

Speaking of Rahm Emmanuel, here's a question for you:

Q: How many times was Rahm Emmanual caught in prosecutor Fitzgerald's tapes of contacts to Blagojevich?

A: 21 times.

Yet, David Axelrod was sweating out the rounds today trying to put out the smoke. Axelrod intimated they were talking about unimportant things...like what?...well, hairspray, for example. Were there any other style tips?

Obama Time Magazine Man of the Year! Surprise! Surprise!

Could anything be more wonderful? More pleasing to the eye? More chilling to the legs, as Chris Matthew's has it? Times leading aristocratic flak Rick Stengel was rushing from TV studio to TV studio, sweat dripping down his face, an unapologetic toady, all at the service not of a free press, but of slavish, doting national magazine which has "found it" in the person of president-elect Obama. It would have been hilarious, except that it went on and on and on at a glacial pace.

Time's Managing Director Stenger has this really queer accent and I don't mean that in the contemporary popular sense of the word. I'm referring to the "tonal issues" of a major weekly magazine redressing everything that Obama says and does and might be thinking to fit an agenda popular in San Francisco, the Upper East and West Sides of New York City, and at the Kennedy Compound at Hyannis.

Obama's Endless Basketball Diaries: Arne Duncan Education Secretary

There will be no dearth of Basketball Stories coming from Barack Obama. It seems there's not a neighborhood in the world where Obama hasn't played basketball and not a person he hasn't played against. That includes Arne Duncan, Chief of Chicago Schools, who is bound to be loved by students everywhere since Duncan came up with the Great Idea of paying kids for good grades. Another of Duncan's passions is the shaping of Gay-friendly schools. Wow, now we can breathe freely.

Between the lines, Duncan bills himself as someone who's not afraid to stand up to the teacher unions but he "shares" some of their most cherished objectives. School teaching certificates must be rigidly homogenized so that no outside forces can infect the hallowed teaching sanctuaries of our nation's gang warfare systems in the public schools.

The "press conference" Obama gave was straight out of the "neighborhood organizing" texbook. He used a lot of words like "process" and "hope" and "dream" and "our kids." It was a talk guaranteed to bring out the mommy in the worst of us.

The dialogue about this choice is going to be "very, very, very, very, very" ____________ (fill in the blanks with all the good things you can think of).

President Bush Ducks Iraqi Shoe Throwing Shiite

All of the jacks jumped out of their boxes at the Iraqi shoe throwing incident involving President Bush. It’s like there’s a whole bunch of latent passive-aggressive types out there who have no aggression outlets except watching YouTube videos.

I don’t see how it’s such a big deal since that shoe handling style of protest first surfaced with Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev in the 60s. Kruschev didn’t throw his shoes at anyone but he often had them ready at hand to demonstrate his displeasure. While Kruschev is best remembered for pounding the desk with his shoe at the U.N., he was known to do it at other times, once when he was speaking out against Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco.

So this Iraqi jerkwad who called himself a reporter would seem to have a bias. His “reporting” must make for enjoyable reading in Iran. I only wish he had been so demonstrative when Saddam was in power. Maybe brave U.S. troops wouldn’t have had to go over there to rescue his punk ass. Saddam would have enjoyed the show and then dropped the guy from the top of a tall building with his hands tied behind his back. So I guess his throwing the shoe was really a positive thing, something to be proud of, kind of.

Honorable mention must be given to President Bush who ducked both shots (or shoes) with the acumen of a professional boxer. The president seemed weirdly alert when the first shoe was thrown ala Roger Clemens. The Prez saw it coming, watched it coolly, then dodged his neck rapidly left, a nice little head fake. I appreciated the move because I’m a boxing coach and it’s hard to get my fighters slipping punches with such an adroit sense of incoming missiles. Bush seemed to have his guy measured when the crackpot launched the second shoe; there was no chance of that one hitting him. Bush said it was a size ten but I think he was referring to the guy’s dress size rather than his shoes. Or so it appeared.

Anyway, I’m more offended by the guy’s shouting than by what he did. He was calling Bush a dog in Arabic. Resentful and passive-aggressive left-liberals would say that is giving dogs a bad name, but more appalling to me is that the Iraqi nut doesn’t understand that dogs are great people and so is freedom for Iraq.

So anyway, I wonder if anyone appreciated the President’s shoe-ducking abilities? I guess the world should be glad that it wasn't John McCain standing at the podium where Bush was. McCain would surely have fired back with both barrels and the nutjob would have had a mouthfull of shoe leather which would have required extensive surgery paid for by the taxpayers of the United States.

I wonder how Obama would have done in that slot. Certainly, the press championed Obama’s studied three-pointer on the basketball court. My worry is that one of those shoe shots would have hit Obama since he’s such a slow and deliberative speaker-thinker. Obama would have been parsing it out, searching for words, trying to strike a conciliatory tone. I wonder if the voters thought about the candidate’s shoe ducking abilities during the November election.

But I guess we're not supposed to be thinking of that.

Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Blagojevich’s Big Conference Call and Valerie Jarrett’s Clean Break

Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Blagojevich’s Big Conference Call and Valerie Jarrett’s Clean BreakHere's a great link from a Wall Street Journal ...............................................


One of the reasons I was for John McCain and Sarah Palin is that neither is a lawyer. You might get a little “straight talk” from them, as McCain’s bumper sticker had it. On the other hand it’s hard to find anyone in Obama Land who is not a lawyer. Most likely the White House chef will be a Doctor of Jurisprudence. Simple, honest answers are not to be found in Obama Land, unfortunately, and a Fortress Mentality has descended upon the staff of the Jan. 20 White House.

Obama doesn’t think it’s appropriate to comment on Blago’s arrest and is “saddened and sobered.” There’s no such thing as direct statement in Obama Land. Obama and people like Axelrod can’t seem to get it right the first time, whether we’re talking about Wright, Ayers, or a conversation they had with Blagojevich. When is a truth a lie? When is a lie the truth? When does a closed book provide the information a Democratic society needs?

Axelrod said the Obamanites had spoken with Blago about a successor to his seat. It took them a week to revise the statement, saying that AxelRod was “mistaken.” During that week, teams of lawyers were assigned to find out just how much they could get away with denying. If a tree falls in the desert…and so forth.


It pretty much sux that we’re going to have four years of equivocating, splitting hairs, sophistry, censoring, and manipulation of both public and media. In too many cases, the liberal media is cooperating in information suppression. Many broadcast reporters on CNN, MSNBC, and the Big Networks are in full court denial about their ?Celebrity Son. Why should things be different now than they were in the general elections where it was considered impolite to use facts about Obama in a news story.

Days of Our Lies: A Tale of Chicago Political Corruption

This is a photo of the Illinois' Governor's mansion in Springfield. I wonder if it's for sale, too. Can you rent it? Maybe it will become the permanent home of the Service Employees Union International Museum.




And now, the Obama Channel Presents:

The state capitol building in an undisclosed Midwestern state. We are moving down a long hallway as men and women pass quickly toward us. At the end of the hallway is a sumptuous office, except that it does not resemble an office as we know it. The carpeting is oriental. There is original art on the wall. The GOVERNOR has one of his aides holding a bucket of golf balls, placing them on the floor one by one. The GOVERNOR smiles through even capped teeth. His bouffant hairdo is reminiscent of Elvis and his powder-blue leisure suit adds to the effect of celebrity. Another aide suddenly rushes in...

C.U.

On face of the aide, flushed, alarmed....

BLAGO (irritably)
Damn... You made me miss my put!

AIDE
We need to talk...

BLAGO
I've got a plane to catch. Pebble Beach!...Compliments of the Service Employees Union!...

AIDE
We need to talk first...

BLAGO raises a hand and gestures to the female aide placing the golf balls onto the floor while he puts. He gestures with his thumb--like a hitchhiker.

BLAGO
Alright, Brittany...that's enough!...gettafuckoutaheah,ok?

The aide saunters away with the golf balls, her hips swaying sensuously as BLAGO and the AIDE watch her exit.

BLAGO
This better be fuckn' good.

AIDE
It's candidate Number Five.

BLAGO (perturbed)
You fuckn' serious? What the hell's he want?...

AIDE
He wants to talk to you...

BLAGO
Talk costs $50,000--tell him!
AIDE
I did tell him...he says he can't.

BLAGO
F____ him! Tell him I'm already on the plane.

AIDE
But...

BLAGO
Gettafuckoutaheah!...

AIDE
But...

BLAGO
Gettafuckoutaheah!... now!

The AIDE rushes away but now another aide dashes in. The GOVERNOR puts the golf club over his shoulder and looks at her. She hands him a phone.

AIDE
It's the president-elect..

BLAGO (grabbing the phone)
Barry!...Barry, listen... I can't talk now. What? Waht? What?.....Wait a minute!...Wait!...

BLAGO thrusts the phone toward his AIDE. He looks terrible, his face seized up.

BLAGO
Sonofabitch hangs up on me...

AIDE
What's wrong?

BLAGO
Shut up!
(throws the golf club)
Arrogant prick! Who the fuck he think he is!

AIDE
He's your next president.
BLAGO
Ungrateful bitch!... I give him money, I give him friends, I give him fame, I give him everything we have to offer and the sonofabitch hangs up on me!

AIDE
What's he saying?

BLAGO
He says he never talked to me. He says he don't know me anymore. He said he didn't know me yesterday.

FADE OUT:

PULL BACK to a view from the outside of the BLAGO mansion. Camera caresses the street, turns 180 degrees. Now we are focused on the Barack Obama Transition Team office, which is right across the street from where BLAGO and HARRIS are being charged with public corruption.

Obama: I'm shocked, shocked, shocked, I tell you!

MSNBC, the Obama Channel, is very concerned with whitewashing the participation of Barack Obama in the aristocracy of corruption which typifies Chicago politics.

Head Sanitizer, Mika Brezinski, quickly pointed out that Jesse Jackson Jr. stood out as a person most likely to be hurt by the criminal complaint filed against Gov. Blagojevich. MSNBC is not the only channel to be afflicted with terminal euphemism in discussions of Obama’s rise in Chicago politics, and his associations with Blagojevich and Rezko, both of whom are now in the docket. CNN has its sanitizers, too, and is working hard to ignore the story of Obama’s political connections in Chicago, preferring instead to spend half an hour on the possibility that an illegal immigrant may have strayed into Michael Chertoff’s work force.
“We don’t know that this actually happened,” said the CNN reporter.

Wow, that’s deep! But we report the story anyway, avoiding what CNN knows DID happen with Obama-Rezko-Blago. Showing just how much CNN has its finger on the pulse of the nation, CNN put up a list touting Alaska and Louisiana as being the “most corrupt states,” not bothering to mention that if one guy gets indicted in Alaska, a state with little more than half a million residents, it skews the statistics.

No mention that four recent Illinois governors have been jailed for corruption. The entire idea is to not report the news, not follow up on the living story of BLAGO and Lady Macbeth BLAGO , to distract, deny, delude, and temporize. Methinks they dost protest too much.

Fortunately, an iota of unflinching journalism survives in such papers as the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, which BLAGO and fellow mobsters tried to suborn and suppress. The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass had it right in describing

the national media's "almost willful" fantasy that Mr. Obama and Chicago's political culture have little to do with each other. Mr. Kass notes that the media devoted a lot more time and energy to investigating the inner workings of Sarah Palin's Wasilla, Alaska, than it has looking at Mr. Obama's Chicago connections.

That last is from the Wall Street Journal John Fund article on 12/11/2008.

Chicago Politics: An Aristocracy of Corruption

Barack Obama doesn't know the guy, I tell you!


The level of faith in Illinois toward government officials has collapsed, but it didn’t collapse yesterday, it collapsed long ago. Blagojevich is only the latest in a long line of corrupt Illinois officials in an aristocracy of corruption. Dan Rostenkowski, former Governor Ryan, many more. The list is long, so long that C-Span reports that 20 percent of Illinois’ government officials have been implicated or indicted in political fraud.

Antoin Rezko wasn’t a public official but he was a big player in Chicago politics and was awarded phat housing contracts from then state senator Barack Obama. Obama and the Rezkos worked together on other projects, too, including the purchase of Obama’s house. Rezko’s name comes up in the Blagojevich criminal complaint several times and some reporters speculate that, when an indictment is entered into the judicial record, Rezko’s testimony will factor into the prosecution of the case against Blagojevich.

Equally horrible allegations in the criminal complaint concern attempts by Blagojevich at press manipulation. Blago threatened to hijack the sale of the Tribune’s baseball club unless the editorial board fired some of the Chicago Tribune reporters. Such subornation and intimidation of the press is not unusual in Cook County, Illinois.

Congressional Hearings on Fanny Mae & Freddie Mac Fast Money Crowd

Squeezed out of the news of the Chicago Sensation, Crooked Governor Rod Blagojevich, were the congressional hearings on the troubled Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac government-sponsored institutions. There’s no doubt Fanny and Freddie played fast and loose and that their overpaid executives are largely responsible for the collapse in the credit markets. The sad thing is that these failed “leaders” of the 2 major financial housing institutions drained the taxpayers of millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. Big Democratic party contributors and Obama advisors like Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines were unable to tell the congressional investigators why they ignored their own risk officers and continued to make Alt-A no documentation loans to people they knew couldn’t pay them back. This unchecked speculation and greed causes the housing piñata to explode. Even stinkier is that the risk officer who advised Fanny’s CEOs to restrain themselves was fired.

The records show that Fanny and Freddie made 150 billion in Alt-A no documentation loans. The result is that 8 billion dollars of the Fanny-Freddie loans are currently in default. That’s 8 bn in dead money debt having to be paid by the taxpayers in the butt-saving bailout.

Obama Said, Axelrod Said

So David Axelrod said in November that Barack Obama had been conferring with Chicago Governor Blagojevich about the appointment of a successor to Obama’s Senate seat.

And then yesterday, Obama says he had not spoken with Blago. This entire lack of candor, having already manifested itself during the primary campaign, is only the harbinger of things to come from an Obama administration.

Senator Dodd Calls for Firing of GM Auto Exec Rick Waggoner

This is a Dog and Donkey Show but Chris Dodd is creating one of his own...

You gotta’ hand it to Chris Dodd—he’s unsurpassed in cynicism. On Meet the Press yesterday, he called for the ouster of GM CEO Rick Waggoner. As if Congress should now be in charge of hiring and firing at American corporations.

I don’t know Waggoner, and if the GM board wants to fire him, that would be none of my business. But the arrogance of a U.S. Senator trying to pressure a corporation with a management change seems bizarre and out of order. Waggoner’s not a crook, is he? Whereas you could make the argument that Chris Dodd is, sort of, with his cheap money loan from bankrupt Countrywide Bank pal Angelo Mozilo.

The other bizarre thing about Dodd’s comments is that he doesn’t know how to run a business whereas Waggoner probably does. But the really troubling thing, to me, is the kind of thinking reflected in Dodd’s political thinking. It seems to me to be the worst kind of cynicism and political manipulation.

On the one hand, calling for management change at GM is pet food for the left. Firing Waggoner and some other auto execs would satisfy the blood lust of the anti-capitalist Democrats who stop just sort of chanting “Death to Wall Street,” “Death to the Oil Companies,” “Death to Capitalism!”

Chris Dodd believes also that his corporate meddling will be a sop to conservative Republicans and Democrats who oppose any kind of auto bailout. It is a move calculated to demonstrate he is willing to play “hard ball” politics to achieve his personal political goal of being the guy who saved the UAW from embarrassment and paying them back for financial support during the recent general elections. Had Dodd called for the resignation of UAW executive Ron Gettelfinger, his comments may have gained some credibility. Otherwise, he should explain next week on Meet the Press why and how his arrogant call for Waggoner’s head is anything but another Democrat Dog and Donkey show.

The UAW and the Strangling of the Big Three

Click on the link and it'll take you to a homespun story about a threatened GM strike in 2007. Not so long ago. So now Gettefinger appeared today at the Congressional hearings with the Big Three execs.

With GM on the verge of bankruptcy, Gettlefinger has his hand out for a government bailout. It's a shame. I went back to buying American cars about six years ago (we have 2) and I want the Big Three to survive but the UAW seems to have killed the Golden Goose. Now the taxpayers are on the hook.

Why don't they just give us money to buy a Big Three new car? That would be cheaper and it would work. All these bailouts are a boondoggle, a temporary delusional state which hides the real framework of the economy. It's like the old parents are eating all the grub and saying to hell with the next generation's kids.

One of the more interesting things during the hearing was when Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, asked the Chrysler Chief Nardelli why their parent company Cerberous (which is fat with cash) won't front Chrysler some money. It was hilarious if not so pathetic. It came out that Cerberus Private Capital bought Chrysler for the its banking/credit business, not for the cars. The cars were a sidetrip, said Representative Corker. He should know; he had dinner last night with a biggie on the Cerberus board.

The most ridiculous speech of the hearings came from newly purchased Senator Bob Casey of our home state of Pennsylvania. Continuing the rot and corruption which typifies Pennsylvania politics, Casey feels it is his duty to serve as the mouthpiece of his pals in Detroit and Chicago. Casey's an aristocrat with long-term ambitions for himself. He doesn't much give a shit about the workers in the Michigan plants--he trumpeted the UAW line--I thought for a moment he was going to picket but then I remembered aristocrats don't do that.

Who Benefits from a Big Three Bailout?

Cui bono? Who benefits from the proposed bailout of the Big Three auto companies? That’s the first thing you have to ask yourself when you’re considering whether you want Congress to hand over your cash to GM, Chrysler-Cerberus, and Ford.

The second question to ask is this one: “Is this truly an emergency for the car companies or not?”

With regard to the latter, it can’t be an emergency and a non-emergency at the same time. If it truly is an emergency, then why shouldn’t Congress let the Big Three spend the 25 Billion dollars already loaned to the car companies to meet the emergency crisis? After all, it’s a matter of priorities. The idea that $25 billion dollars be earmarked strictly for the development of alternative fuel vehicles is stupid if there is no company to produce them. Equally absurd is the notion that the car makers wouldn’t produce green vehicles unless the government and the taxpayers cough up the cash. The car companies will produce the vehicles that people want. If people want alternative fuel vehicles and are willing to pay for them, then the car companies will make them. The idea that government largesse is such a big stimulant to creativity and productivity is egomaniacal and delusional.

Using the $25 billion already provided to the car companies to sustain them in tough economic times is the smart thing to do. Indeed, there could be only one reason for not doing so. That reason would be that it is not an emergency at all and that a bailout is being contemplated by some in Congress for other reasons. Cui bono?

The UAW benefits from a buyout, certainly, as do members of congress who support it. Barack Obama benefits hugely from a Big Three bailout because it guarantees votes in the next election. Nanny Pelosi and Oil Can Harry benefit because it locks in the blue states which can be relied upon to activate the political machinery necessary to political power.

But does the taxpayer who must cough up the money benefit? What if the car companies are the bottomless pit and can’t stand on their own no matter how much money is provided to them? The public is being frightened into believing that the crisis is so aggravated that it cannot be ameliorated except by mortgaging the future at unsustainable rates. The politicians would have you believe there is no penalty on the other end. The public is being told that they can “buy” their way out of an economic crisis if only they borrow and spend with government debt securities purchases globally. But isn’t that kind of thinking what got us in the mess in the first place? Borrow and spend. Leverage as much as you can. Think big! Why buy a tiny little shoebox house when we can show you how you can afford a castle?

Who benefits? Cui bono? Americans may not understand the mechanical underpinnings of their complex economies but they should not allow themselves to be brainwashed by “superior intellects” who haven’t managed to solve the problem except by spending more money. It doesn’t take an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT to figure that out.

Don’t get the impression that I am some Luddite skinflint who won’t spend a penny on good faith efforts to help Americans in a time of need. I agreed with the Bernanke-Paulsen warning of “systemic risk” even though it was only later that I found out about root causes. I found out most of the root causes are in the Congress of the U.S. and the concept of “root causes” is synonymous with the names of Jamie Gorelick, Frank Raines, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nanny Pelosi and a host of other major and minor players in this shadow play of Screw the Taxpayers and Look Good While Doing It.

If the chumps who are otherwise known as taxpayers have learned one thing, it is that they can say “no.” That doesn’t mean that “no” is always right, but it certainly means that they are not rubber stamping the ever expanding chorus of “yes” they are hearing from the Great Panderers in Congress.

I love American cars and we own two of them. I wonder if the most ardent advocates of an auto company bailout are driving American cars. I would love to see the American car companies expand on the cars and trucks that have been such great successes and slice away at the greedy excesses of the UAW bureaucracy.

And Congress should announce they’ve got the message that “no” means “no” without the taxpayers having to show the results of the rape kit.

Bill Richardson Blows Hard At Commerce: Obama Press Conference

Bill Richardson is right now on television with Barack Obama and he's delivering a speech in Spanish. That's okay... I understand most of it because it's not a complicated sort or Spanish he speaks...it's the kind of stuff you would get from say...working in a boxing gym or hanging around a lot at Mexican restaurants in the Western States.

Richardson is a first-class blowhard but he must be repaid for his abandonment of Hillary Clinton to support B.O. So he gets Department of Commerce,a good spot for a man with a mercantile feel and a pedestrian mind.

In the Q and A, they're asking Obama about the Big Three Bailout. Barack's making a careful play, aimed more at demonstrating his philosophical thoughtfulness than at providing information.

A Latino reporter tells Obama that he thinks it's somewhat insulting that Hispanics like Bill Richardson were relegated to the outer reaches of the Obama cabinet. Reporter also says there is a paucity of Hispanics overall. Obama responds that "Commerce is very, very important" and blah,blah, blah. Obama describes his staff with the "D" word, popular in Democratic circles, "D" as in "diverse." I would respond with a "C" as in "cliche."

I don't know, it's going to be very boring if Obama's delivery is always so protracted, deliberative, and null of content. Of course, he is not yet the president so perhaps he should be excused for this vacuous "press conference" which ends with Richardson patting him on the back as they exit stage right.

Temporary Oil Prices Collapse Won't Break Your Heart

Call it a bad case of Schadenfreude but with crude oil prices slipping down to 46 dollars a barrel, I'm 'bout to dance. As it is, I'll be dancing with the rest of the economic world tumbling down about me. My house is worth less; so is my pension fund; so is my car.

One some days, I'm angry and on other days I laugh. There's lots to laugh at. Most of the people tasked with having to explain it to us don't understand it either. It's surreal. You have these idiots reading you the news, some of which is three days old already, and the news writers seem not to understand that you can't write a news story based upon one single element of the economy. So they keep spilling it out, one story after the other, one headline after the other, the whole picture fractured like a jigsaw puzzle, or scattered like leaves in a fall wind.

The worst thing about it all is that it's soooooooooo political. The reality of the economic crisis is completely lost in spin and slant and ideology so that you can't tell which end is up.

What can we do. There's only one sensible thing to do. Just say "no" to bailout.

Obama's Team: Why Doesn't It Feel Like Utopia?

I misplaced my vitriol. That's not like losing your false teeth but it is unnerving. I had deluded myself into thinking I didn't like Barack Obama but what was really bothering me were his legions of sychophants. CNN, MSNBC, The NYT, and all the little newspapers around the country were mesmerized by the "path of change." Of course, most people have figured out by now that the self-ordained intellectuals like Paul Krugman and Whats-his-name Friedman the Nobel Economist are jerking each other off with awards and are dullards and bores of the highest order.

But now that we've got the Clinton Cabinet in place, I thought things would feel a little bit more like the promised Utopia. I mean, there they were, the stock market drops and the talking heads immediately launch into the "Bush Legacy" and then the stock market bumps up for a day (or a minute) and the puff-adders who call themselves "reporters" can't stop talking about how Obama's hiccup, fart, or arched eyebrow raised up investor confidence. You'd think we'd have a better feeling for it all. But that Mumbai thing has people caught in their cups, sort of.

And much as we're trying to ignore the 5000 spinning centrifuges while No-Holocaust-Iran builds a bomb capable of blasting tiny Israel to a sandstorm, it's occasionally mentioned on CNN or by some "Right-Wing Conspirators" or even by the liberal New York Times.

And then there's the Russkies and their feudal ambitions, their clever and sophisticated blue-eyed devil Putin, and the puppet Medvedev. And the Big Three fallout. And don't mention the economy. The money-grabbers Gorelick, Raines, and Johnson. The mortgage crisis caused by those champions of the people, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, and others.

It should feel like Utopia. The mainstream media is telling us it's Utopia. We want to believe it's Utopia. Why can't we?