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?

Could We Re-Vote John McCain for President 2008?

I suppose I'm prescient judging by my earlier terrorist alert. I just had the wrong city and the wrong country. The coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai India are horrific. Suicidal Islamo-Nazis attacked several sites in Mumbai, killing 85 and wounding hundreds of others. The Islamo-Nazis took over hotels and hospitals, and fired into crowds indiscriminately as they targeted Americans and British vistors to India's financial center.

I expect the same thing will be coming to other cities soon now that the U.S elections are over. That's what I wanted to talk about anyway. I wonder if there is some way that the elections might be held again because I'm sure, if they were able to rethink the matter, most voters feel they may be better off with John McCain at the wheel. No disrespect to Barack Obama, who has style and elan and will try to do his very best, but I'm afraid Barack's philosophies and beliefs will not be up to snuff, not when America and its allies have to deal with assholes like the Decca Mujahadeen.

I have written to my congressional representatives urging that they pass some special legislation so that we may turn out in greater numbers to vote for John McCain. McCain, at least, has the experience of fire, of suffering, and of impending death. Perhaps Senator Obama will even go along with a re-vote; he's certainly had second thoughts about many things and perhaps now he is re-thinking the presidency. Obama could very well think it's unfair that the mainstream media helped him to such an extent, and perhaps prefers a bit more experience in the Senate before embarking on a presidential destiny.

Congress should understand. We made a mistake. We're only human, after all. The mood of the moment was toward Obama. Surely, we can vote again, and that would, in itself, reinforce whatever choice is made the second time around.

FOXNews.com - FBI Warns of Possible Terror Plot Against New York City Subways During Holidays - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

FOXNews.com - FBI Warns of Possible Terror Plot Against New York City Subways During Holidays - Local News | News Articles | National News | US NewsIt's the holiday season and, as you might expect, Al Qaeda terrorists are not full of good cheer. Clearly, the Islamo-fascists are thrilled by the crash dive of the U.S economy and they feel that it is best to strike during a time of perceived U.S. weakness. Aside from the economy, there is another positive for the Al Qaeda Nazis in that we will soon have a new and untested president who, according to Joe Biden, is "guaranteed" of a test.

The geo-political pressures are building alongside the economic ones. Iran incrased its numbers of centrifuges very quickly to 5,000 all spinning away merrily at once. And when we last looked into Agent Raz Putin's eyes, he was pulling Medvedyev's strings to put missiles around Poland in perceived "retaliation" for the planned U.S. missile shield. The Russian Navy is in a joint manoever and manipulative circle-jerk with Chavez of Venezuela; they're doing this to please the old line communists who pine for the former Soviet Utopia.

So...if you click on the headline title, you will be taken to a Fox News site which tells the story of anticipated threats to the New YOrk Subway system. To tell the truth, any New York infrastructure element would make a great target but that surely doesn't rule out the transportation systems and institutional buildings of other cities and towns.

America is a mix of great people and idiots, and I wonder if the mix is not too much in favor of the latter. I wonder, too, if the new president can keep us as safe from future attacks and security threats as the outgoing president did. If the Islamo-Nazis, the Russians, or the Persians detect even a slight hint of mushiness (if they haven't sensed it already), you can be sure they'll go for the juglar.

There are stewing in their own sauces and they are tired of the successful experiment called the United States of America, a work still in progress.

Secretary of the Bailout: Tim Geithner

For sure, Barack Obama has picked some people will experience in bailouts. Tim Geithner is one such bailout expert. He was present during a whole bunch of bailouts, not only of banks and other financial institutions, but also of governments.

I don't know about you but I'm suffering from BB, a dangerous condition sometimes referred to as Bailout Blur. That's what happens when you get bailout on top of bailout and there appears to be no end in sight. My mind tends to wander, become distracted. At night, I count Bailout Sheep, jumping over the planned fence between the U.S. and Mexico.

Hank Paulsen just yesterday announced a bailout of Citigroup with its two trillion dollars in assets. The president elect and his cronies in Congress are not about to be outdone in the generosity department. On top of the Paulsen 750 billion, Obama's planning another 750 billion bailout heading your way. Christmas may soon be coming to your bankrupt town, city, or state.

Frankly, the word "bailout" is outmoded. It's a sort of nautical term where the image is conjured up of using a steel bucket to bail water out of the bottom of a sinking ship or boat. That's not what's happening. The "boats" are already at the bottom of the sea. Waht's happening here is we're trying to rescue the "sailors."

Some of the sailors happen to be in Congress... people like BArney Frank and Chris Dodd, and their pal at bankrupted Countrywide Bank, Angelo Mozilo.

And what about Frank Raines and Jamie Gorelick. If Jame Gorelick could eff up the 9-aa Commossion and rob millions from Freddie Mae, why can't she be hired by the Obama administration as a PICOB (Person In Charge of Bailout)?

And what about me? My ship is sinking? I have experience. I have learned. I'll tell you what's wrong! They're not printing enough money, dammit!

Did Barack Obama Offer Hillary Clinton Secretary of State? - Associated Content

Did Barack Obama Offer Hillary Clinton Secretary of State? - Associated ContentHow long does it take to appoint Hillary Clinton Secretary of State? You knew, the minute you heard that Hills was invited for a tete-a-tete, that the die was cast. So who's responsible for the charade in mentioning Fat Boy Richardson or John Kerry-Heinz? It's Hills all the way! But what's taking so long?

Will Barack Obama Make His First Big Mistake by Supporting an Auto Industry Bailout? - Associated Content

Will Barack Obama Make His First Big Mistake by Supporting an Auto Industry Bailout? - Associated ContentThe surest way to rescue the Big Three is for Americans to buy American cars. While there was a problem with quality in the 80s, the Big Three are producing some nice rides like the redesigned Chevy Malibu and the Ford Fusion, the new Taurus, the Ford Focus, the Dodge Charger, the Magnum, the Mustang, and I can't wait for the new Camaro. And it's not like the Japanese, German, Subaru, and other makers haven't had their problems. But the loss of image in the 80s hurt the Big Three and it's a hurt they're still feeling.

Do you favor a bailout for the industry? Better spend your energy convincing yourself and your friends to find some American cars they don't mind buying. A bailout is just an imprimatur to maintain the status quo. The status quo is that UAW workers get about 35 bucks more per hour than what a Toyota, Honda worker gets in the southern states where the Japanese have their car factories employing substantially more than 100,000 Americans. Is that competitive?

Anyway, the top heavy bureacracy of the United Auto Workers expects Obama to pay them back for their support by spending your taxpayer dollars on an industry upon which the UAW has a death grip. Are you comfortable with that?

To read more, click on the title...

Obama Picks Eric Holder Anti-Gun Attorney General

So much for "I support the Second Amendment," and so much for the notion of "change." Those were Barack Obama's words during the campaign and, of course, the truth will out.

Holder was Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno during the Clinton Administration. Indeed, it seems that Obama has hired the entire Clinton clan to run the White House for the next four years. That's "change we need." The twinkie left has to be having conniptions when thinking of the Obama message of "change" and then having to deal with all these Clintonistas who keep popping up.

Eric Holder, like many newly elevated elites, has his own left-liberal fanatical interpretration of Second Amendment rights. Holder said that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right, but instead protects the right to have a firearm when serving with a militia. I'll have to join the U.S. Army again, apparently, or move to Afghanistan.


The NRA researched Holder's position and points out that Holder signed Janet Reno's brief to the Supreme Court in the Heller case.

For sure, the Obama people want a redo of the recent Supreme Court decision which supports the 2nd Amendment rights to gun ownership by responsible citizens.

Where Is Barack Obama on this Economic Crisis?

So Obama selected his new treasury secretary, Tim Geithner. People are wondering if the new guy is going to be like Greenspan with a lisp. Like Greenspan, Geithner seemed to favor a hands-off policy. But the strangeness of the economic times has triggered some unprecedented actions.

It’s not exactly news that the financial institutions are nervous and inclined to hold to whatever capital they have now. But wasn’t one of the more often heard reasons for voting for Barack Obama that the Bush economic plan failed?

I have a simple question. What is the Obama economic plan? The campaign rhetoric was not helpful in clarifying this mystery, nor was the campaign website. I know Bush is still the president but Jan 20 will come soon enough and it’s not too early for Obama to tell people what he intends to do about the economic crisis. We are in crisis, aren’t we, Barack? Hello, anyone there? Barack?

Auto Bailout: Pelosi, Reid, & Frank on the UAW Union Hook

So the auto bailout seems to have failed on the first time around. I guess they ran out of runway for the corporate jets. You know, I don’t have a problem with Nardelli, Waggoner, or Mulally—they are who they are. Actually, I like that guy Mulally and I like what he’s done for Ford. Those other dudes I don’t know about…

I love American cars like the beefed up Ford Mustang my friend has. It goes from zero to sixty in less time then it takes me rescue my heart from the back seat. And I like the design of the new Chevy Malibu, not as much as I’d like to have the new Camaro which is still on the launching pad but pretty much. I like the Ford Focus, too, and I like the sticker price which is about 4,000 dollars less than it’s rival Honda Civic which can be tricked out to be too fast too furious and too boring. I also like the 5,000 pound Crown Vic, the police cruiser/taxicab looking thing that can take a hit and keep on ticking. I like the Ford trucks—I have one now but I’d like to have a bigger one so that I could burn more gas just kidding. I think the government should give me some cash so I can buy a Ford 150 with an extra cab for the groceries. I like to haul dirt or gravel from the local quarry for home projects. I like to move used furniture. I like to carry heavy stuff once in a while. But most of America buys Toyota and Honda and BMW and VW and Subaru because they’re brainwashed from the 80s when the Big Three was building crap cars.

But all that has nothing to do with the UAW job banks where schmucks get paid not to work and have phat pension plans. I really hate bailing out the union bureaucracy which is top heavy and has its own corporate jets. I really really hate bailing them out when the bailout is a payback for supporting Barack Obama and not giving a shit what happens to the damned country.

I’m praying that Barack Obama will be a better president than I gave him credit for, but so far he seems to have hired a lot of unemployed Clintonista lobbyists. His anti-war pronouncements and posturing while troops were in the field still rankle, but I suppose he was the prototype left-wing Democrat of the Year in that constellation. But the real beast is hiding behind the curtain and the slide in the stock market indexes is a sign that people in are not exactly heeding the message of “hope and change.” You’re supposed to be getting an election bounce but, except for the rare day or hour, the market’s gone down, down, down and taking everybody with it. The poor slobs like me can’t afford to lose even 10Gs in the pension plan and the housing crash compliments of Barney Frank, Frank Raines, Jamie Gorelick and Chris Dodd. Yeah, I know—those Fanny-Freddies are my scapegoats but they did a lot to make sure things turned rotten for America’s economy.

Well the best thing about the Congressional hearings that failed to bail out the Auto Industry and pay back Gettelfinger and the Unions was to see Barney, and Nancy and Harry sweating it out in front of the hot lights and trying to save face. Pelosi’s makeup was caked and her botox seemed to have melted. Barney was stuttering more than usual and his pores were emitting a jet spray as Harry sheepishly confessed there had to be a better way to do it, do something, save the Obamanites from public embarrassment and pay back the Unions, that debt needing to be discharged.

Did Barack Obama Offer Hillary Clinton Secretary of State? - Associated Content

Did Barack Obama Offer Hillary Clinton Secretary of State? - Associated ContentThe sub-plot to this political drama is that Hillary may not want the job. Obama could be a one-term president. One thing's for sure--Hillary could get about 18 million votes in "Twelve."

Is it a Bailout Plan or a Payback to the Unions?

Barack Obama sent a letter to President Bush urging him to support a bailout plan for the Big Three. Nancy Pelosi did the same. Top Democrats have everything to be thankful for.... Give me 15K so I can buy a Ford Focus instead of going into debt for $30K to buy a Prius. I'll be happy, too.

Click the link. It should bring you to another site where I occasionally scribble.

What’s In the McCain-Obama Meeting for Me?

President-elect Obama made a positive move in calling for a fence-mending meeting with John McCain. It’s easy to see that McCain would be a valuable ally in pushing some of the programs where the candidates meet on edges. Harder to understand is what the meeting can do for McCain and, by extension, for me.

I can only think of one thing. If McCain is successful in persuading Obama to get real about Iraq and other foreign policy matters, I would be in a better mood to cut my losses on some other matters. I’m hoping Obama turns out to be a much better president than I have pre-judged him to be. Even in my worst moments, I could see that the guy had something going for him.

Effing up the foreign policy would be the one unforgivable mistake Obama could make. Announcing a too-early pullback from a Free Iraq could reignite what Democrats used to call a “failed Iraq policy.” The only “failed Iraq policy” was the submission-monkey programs offered by Pelosi, Reid, and yes—Obama.

Pennsylvania Opposes a Big Three Bailout

Our local newspaper, The Pocono Record, supported Obama and will support any Democrat without a felony record over any Republican. That means they blithely applaud any edict which comes from Pelosi, Reid,and Obama and go along with it. Some of our local readers think otherwise:

"I happen to prefer American cars and we have 2 of them. But what we don't need from a Big Three Bailout is a billion dollar boondoggle designed to pay back the UAW and other unions for support of the Obama campaign. The U.S. industry has been promising fuel efficient cars since the 70s oil crisis. Their most creative "innovation" so far has been "job banks," the practice of paying union workers who don't work because technological efficiency has streamlined the assembly line. America can produce great cars but the unions have made them uncompetitive with the Toyota, Honda and other plants in the South. A pared down, restructured U.S. car industry will be hugely better than a politically inspired bailout which pours money down the same hole where it has previously disappeared. "

And then there is this:

Nov-15 - CGraham — I say let 'em fail. They've had 30 years to clean up this mess and build better cars and they chose not to. The only two things US auto makers have ever been good at is building trucks and manipulating the American public into thinking it's good for the country if we waste our hard-earned money on their second-rate products.

And here's an example of the kind of fluff written by this local managing editor:

If you bought GM stock, you'd want a financial return on your investment. How about a social and political return? Anything that reduces our reliance on oil reduces our reliance on other nations. That's where we want to go: Energy independence. Everything government does should have that built in.

It's not pie in the sky, either. It's just a lot of effort and a lot of retooling. And with demand for petroleum products increasing around the world, alternatives will become a necessity, not an option. Why not seize the moment to save both jobs and the future?

Strong arguments from a "pillar of the community" right?

Secretary of State HIllary Clinton - Will She Accept or Decline

Obama's trying to recreate some of the excitement of Kennedy's Camelot but that's an impossible task in the computer age. In spite of the Kool-Aid message of change, Democrats are even more cynical than conservatives. The list of names being considered for Secretary of State includes Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Bill Richardson, and even Chuck Hagel.

Let me tell you right now--Hagel's a smokescreen intended to roil the waters and convince people of Obama's egalitarianism. He's talking to McCain for the same reason--to convey the image of a guy capable of working across long standing political and philosophical boundaries.

Bill Richardson is the bagman buffoon who defected from the Clinton campaign to support Obama. He carries baggage, too. While Bill Clinton's Energy Secretary, he persecuted the largely innocent nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee and was at the center of a national espionage scandal. He once boasted he was drafted into pro baseball, a claim that turned out to be untrue. His chief value to Obama was in drawing off some of the Hispanic vote but he looks and acts too much like John Belushi for people to take him seriously as Secretary of State. If paying off the Spanish vote is Obama's game, I'd suggest Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. That guy would be a million times better than Richardson, and he might have better luck as "pack leader" to world despots.

John Kerry has "gravitas" in spades but too many Huffington Post liberals find him ultimately boring as the Senate's Ted Kennedy Clone.

No,Hillary is the brightest light that Obama can summon to the job and you have to think that the job is hers if she wants it. Personally, I hope she has declined to express an interest in the position because I think her strengths lie elsewhere. Obama may be a one-term president and, as Obama Secretary of State, she'd be out of the running in "12" by accepting the job.

Pelosi, Obama, Reid: Evil Triumvirate Pushes for Auto Bailout

It remains to be seen how far Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama will push for an auto Big Three bailout package. The Bush administration has allowed a $25 billion loan to the industry with clearly defined and targeted goals of retooling the industry and working on energy-efficient vehicles.

For some Democrats, however, a payback to the unions like the UAW which came out big for Obama is de rigeur. The Bush Administration hasn’t been stupid enough to fall into the trap so it’s likely that Pelosi and others will skewer themselves behind an auto bailout.

It should be funny to watch when Obama takes office. The WSJ has reported that Pelosi tasked Barney Frank to patch together some bill. Poor hard-working Barney!... he screwed up the housing industry and now he’ll be working on screwing up the auto industry. The WSJ also said that the unions and the “greens” were at each other throats regarding the direction of any auto bailouts.

Except for the people in the UAW “job banks” who get paid for doing nothing, people don’t want another bailout. It will never end until citizens scream “NO”, something they’re already beginning to do. The mood is ugly, sour, and the Treasury guy Paulsen keeps people guess with his frequent direction changes.

Why don’t we all get handsome health benefits and pay for doing nothing. I had a idea a while back that the Gov ought to just give us the money to buy new cars. We give it to the car companies and get a new car, at least.

That way the taxpayers get something. By pouring billions into the phat car companies which mismanaged their own billions for years, the taxpayers get nothing except endless debt.

Gun Ban Advocate in the White House: NRA and ILA Alert

They're baaaaaack!.... I wonder if you saw the dorky pseudo-hunting advertisement that appeared in the Obama election campaign. It was designed to sucker conservative Democrats and to keep them in the fold. Right now Obama is recruiting a whole legion of Clintonista gun-banners to fill jobs in his administration and you can be sure that these people are ready and willing to do your thinking for you. Here's some important news from the NRA-ILA website:

Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign slogan, "the audacity of hope," should have instead been "the audacity of deceit." After months of telling the American people that he supports the Second Amendment, and only hours after being declared the president-elect, the Obama transition team website announced an agenda taken straight from the anti-gun lobby--four initiatives designed to ban guns and drive law-abiding firearm manufacturers and dealers out of business:

"Making the expired federal assault weapons ban permanent." Perhaps no other firearm issue has been more dishonestly portrayed by gun prohibitionists. Notwithstanding their predictions that the ban's expiration in 2004 would bring about the end of civilization, for the last four years the nation's murder rate has been lower than anytime since the mid-1960s. Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the National Institute of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun prohibition or gun control reduces crime. Guns that were affected by the ban are used in only a tiny fraction of violent crime-about 35 times as many people are murdered without any sort of firearm (knives, bare hands, etc.), as with "assault weapons." Obama says that "assault weapons" are machine guns that "belong on foreign battlefields," but that is a lie; the guns are only semi-automatic, and they are not used by a military force anywhere on the planet.

"Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment." The amendment--endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police--prohibits the release of federal firearm tracing information to anyone other than a law enforcement agency conducting a bona fide criminal investigation. Anti-gun activists oppose the restriction, because it prevents them from obtaining tracing information and using it in frivolous lawsuits against law-abiding firearm manufacturers. Their lawsuits seek to obtain huge financial judgments against firearm manufacturers when a criminal uses a gun to inflict harm, even though the manufacturers have complied with all applicable laws.

"Closing the gun show loophole." There is no "loophole." Under federal law, a firearm dealer must conduct a background check on anyone to whom he sells a gun, regardless of where the sale takes place. A person who is not a dealer may sell a gun from his personal collection without conducting a check. Gun prohibitionists claim that many criminals obtain guns from gun shows, though the most recent federal survey of convicted felons put the figure at only 0.7 percent. They also claim that non-dealers should be required to conduct checks when selling guns at shows, but the legislation they support goes far beyond imposing that lone requirement. In fact, anti-gun members of Congress voted against that limited measure, holding out for a broader bill intended to drive shows out of business.

"Making guns in this country childproof." "Childproof" is a codeword for a variety of schemes designed to prevent the sale of firearms by imposing impossible or highly expensive design requirements, such as biometric shooter-identification systems. While no one opposes keeping children safe, the fact is that accidental firearm-related deaths among children have decreased 86 percent since 1975, even as the numbers of children and guns have risen dramatically. Today, the chances of a child being killed in a firearm accident are less than one in a million.

Big Three Bailout Plans: Pelosi, Reid, and Obama Ride to the Rescue

I read a terrific article in the Wall Street Journal by columnist Joseph White. It was called "Two Car Companies," or something like that It was about the Democrat's cheerleading for a bailout of General Motors Corporation and Chrysler, and Possibly Ford. Of the Big Three, Ford is probably faring the best and has streamlined some of its auto lines. I like the Ford Focus and the Fusion, as well. I like the Edge, too, and the hybrid development they're doing.

The "two car companies" mentioned are the Big Three and the other one, comprised of Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai, which do not have the burden of ancient marketing practices, union bureacracy, and management which hasn't responded to lean market conditions.

The Asian car makers produce a limited number of model, unlike their American counterparts which seem addicted to the practice of "twinning" or making too many different product lines with and endless and confusing variety of options which were dreamed up in the 50s.

With regard to Mr. White's article, I liked the prognosis but I didn’t like the diagnosis. Screw the UAW and the Democrat’s payback to the unions.

Let the car companies re-structure, then we'll see if they can make it on their own. We've all got hurt by the Fanny-Freddie ripoff and other credit default problems. So why then do we have to pour money down a possible hole unless the hole is patched up first?

We’ve got blue-collar death over here in Pennsylvania and no cavalry riding to the rescue.

White's article can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122608860916209213.html?mod=djemroad

Is Hank Paulsen the Stock Market Fairy?

Yeah, okay, I'm not the only one who got burned by the credit slash mortgage crisis. But I hate being suckered twice. The first time was when housing prices soared thanks to the wealth spreading generosity of Fanny and Freddie Mae. Needing to move and therefore to buy another house, we bought when prices were high and the market for housing was brisk and competitive.

The second time was when I believed the B.S. that Hank Paulsen and Ben Bernanke were feeding Congress and the public about the currently titled "TARP" but which was then known by its more accurate term: the bailout.

So you have to see how this plays out in the Post-Bush era. With the ascendance of Barack Obama, we're all supposed to be in the hopeful phase, a wonderland where everything can be solved with good will and right thinking. And like an economic giant MacGyver, we think we can fix things with a little duct tape, some pliers, and a string. Even gravity.

The weird thing is that the markets keep falling through a series of false bottoms, all the more since Obama's election. Steve Leisman of CNBC was arguing with a skeptical Italian guy I like a lot (but whose name I can't remember) and the Italian guy was saying that "the market" also didn't believe in what Paulsen and Bernanke were telling Congress.

Leisman was kind of angry, and making little attempt to hide it, when he told Italian Guy (now I got it--Charlie Gasparino) that "the market is not an entity." Get it? No, not an entity but it is a leading indicator and the smart guys and dolls who work the street aren't buying what Paulsen is saying.

Meanwhile, they are being very generous with taxpayer dollars and the profits gets no higher and neither do the stock prices and neither does it seem to "free up" the credit markets.

So WTF is going on? Don't ask Paulsen and Bernanke, they're likely to tell you to wait for the tooth fairy. But meanwhile, we'll bail out the car companies.

Which brings us back full circle to the wonderfulness of it all, and Barack Obama, and how everyone wants to believe.

Obama Administration Welcomes Lobbyists

Buyer's remorse with regard to the Obama administration will be a long and painful process. The "kids" who swelled with pride as Messiah Obama challenged the former lobbyists in the McCain-Palin camp may be a little disappointed to discover that Obama acknowledges that lobbyists must be a vital part of his presidency.

We're coming down to reality again, people, and the decompression process will be painful to watch. Meanwhile, America's enemies are plotting. Russia has already slimed the president-elect and then reversed course to "reach out" in the hopes that Obama will respond to the "good cop" and ignore the "bad cop."

I can deal with just about anything, but national security must always be paramount, especially in these times. If there is one time where my hopes are high that Obama can be tough on America's enemies, it is now. If he's squishy-washy on domestic matters, I'll just have to grin and bear it.

Will President Barack Obama Buoy Wall Street Stocks?

I want to make one thing plain. Blaming Barack Obama for Wall Street's woes would be a ridiculous position at this point. That doesn't mean that Barack's ideological and philosophical positions won't have an effect however, nor does it hold blameless the entire public works-big government apparatus that "spreads the wealth" by taxing the well-to-do.

The stock market has been behaving weirdly these days, no doubt. On election day, there was a significant rally in the major averages. That didn't stop pundits from crediting Obama's election as a positive believe-in-the-Democrats force on the Street. But it didn't take long for the news to sink in that Obama brings to bear a whole raft of policy issues that would work against Wall Street profits, including more regulation, or rather, selective regulation.

The latest Pelosi-Reid-Obama concern is to pay back the unions for their financial and political support. The UAW figures significantly in Obama's entreatment of President Bush to support a Big Three bailout. That would certainly help the stocks of the Big Three, but what would the Obama policies do to the others?

For these and other reasons, there seems to be little Wall Street credibility in an Obama future of "change." Already beaten up indexes have sustained almost unrelenting beatings since the election. The Wall Street indexes do not directly respond to any president and are best regarded as a "leading indicator."

That means that financial wizards are looking down the road six months or more and responding to future conditions. There would be less worry over an Obama presidency had the candidate not raised expectations so much by attacking the economic policies of the Bush administration.

There may be hell to pay when the bloom comes off the rose.

Should the TARP cover GM, Ford, and Chrysler?

I'm driving a Ford and it's been a great vehicle. I mention it because, from a consumer standpoint, it's been competitive with anything from the Japanese in quality, reliability, and performance. At the time of purchase, there was a significant cost advantage to the Ford when I compared it to the Toyota Camry I also thought of buying. That's a roundabout way of saying thatI believe the American car companies can compete head to head--if not for their exhorbitant costs, part of which come from the fat union contracts negotiated by the auto workers.

I'm not totally against unions nor employee wages and benefits, but when they become so extortionist that they strangle and threaten to bankrupt the industry, it's hard to support any "bailout" of that industry with taxpayer money. Yet, that's what Nancy Pelosi asked Hank Paulsen to do with some of the 700 bn bailout money.

The Fed responded to Pelosi's letter of beseechment but it was a neutral reponse. Paulsen was right in stonewalling and let's hope he continues to do so. The Japanese make cars in the U.S.; they're squeezed too but there's no talk of bankruptcy.

There's nothing wrong with the U.S. car industry that can't be remedied with a little management "kan-ban." That means assembly line "efficiency" (and a whole lot more) but both union and corporate fat cats could use a little such discipline in regulating their appetites for power.

So you can see what Pelosi and Reid are up to--extending the range of the TARP for political reaons. They want to push a payback to the unions which provided millions for the Obama victory. Coupled with a "card check legislation" which limits the freedom of American workers, the unions certainly expect to extract more than a pound of flesh from the American taxpayers.

The TARP was designed with only one purpose in mind--to buttress FINANCIAL institutions providing liquidity to the economy. Somebody ought to explain to Pelosi and Reid that they can't hand taxpayer money over to pay their own political debts to the United Auto Workers Union.

Obama's Lefty Critics Find Fault with Rahm Emmanuel

Obama's already got flak within his own supporters as some snooty Huffington Posters have their panties in a bunch over the choice of Rahm Emmanuel as White House Chief of Staff. What is the reason for this internecine angst? It's rather hard for me to believe but the Panty Posters take issue with the Emmanuel's volunteer service with the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). In other words, he was once an Israeli soldier. You still don't understand? Well, it's a simple matter for the twinkie-left. Rahm is a Jew. Rahm was an IDF soldier. Rahm carried a gun. There, now you have it, the whole story. What could be worse than to have a Chief of Staff who was an IDF soldier and carried an automatic rifle? Worse, all that happened in Israel! The Israeli state is an emetic for the twinkie-left fascists who believe, and think Obama also believes, that the state of Israel has no right to exist.

Obama Gives Stock Market A Dead Cat Bounce

News service Reuters got most of it wrong in an article describing the positioning of Wall Street investors in aftermath of the Obama victory in the 2008 campaign. Tuesday, November 4, was voting day in America, as everyone knows, and the stock market went up a couple of hundred points. The Reuters writer Jennifer Ablan must have been steeped in euphoria when she wrote her November 5 article praising the wonderfulness of it all. She probably wishes she could withdraw the entire article since, just one day after the Obama victory, the Dow index experienced its biggest HISTORICAL two-day point drop in its long life, far worse even than 1987. The S@P lost ten percent in the 2-day period.

The Dow is down another 443 points after a similar drop yesterday. Obama's scrambling to get his economic team in place and has called a press conference for tomorrow to see what it can do to buttress business confidence.

What I'd like to know is what can Obama's team do that $700bn didn't? Nonetheless, Reuters didn't get the entire article wrong, just 90 percent of it. They did publish the comments of a skeptic:

Doug Kass, founder and president of hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management, said Tuesday's 300-plus point rise was an "Obama bounce, not an Obama rally. I think that all we are going to see is what we've basically seen now."

Kass said the economic fundamentals are deteriorating, giving him reason to keep selling stocks short.

"My plan is to expand my short book," Kass told Reuters in a telephone interview late Tuesday. "It's growing clear that the recession is going to have a shelf life unlike the last recessions in both scope and duration."

Why Shouldn't the World Be Part of the Social Security System?

Some People Rob You With A Fountain Pen: Obama's Redistribute the Money Plan

Obama's Repressed Alter Ego: Reverend Wright

Gov. Schwarzenegger Campaigns for McCain-Palin In Ohio

Courage, Conviction, Self-Sacrifice-- Vote for John McCain November 4th.

The NRA vs. Obama - HUMAN EVENTS

The NRA vs. Obama - HUMAN EVENTSSome reading material on Barack's gun control mania. Click the headline.

Obama University Language Arts: Deconstruction and Analysis

Okay, school is in session. Here is a quotation from one of Obama's two books:

From Dreams of My Father:

'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'

Let me break it down for you. Note the word "advertise." Then note the word "race." And of course "whites."

Advertise: The first thing to realize is that (up to age 12/13) Obama must have ADVERTISED himself as a proud descendant of "whites." No doubt he did that because of a clear preference he had for such an identification at that time. I do doubt that he stopped advertisements because of his suspicion that "I was ingratiating myself to whites." While adolescent boys age 12 and 13 do often experiment with new identities, but most likely Obama was content with his "white" identification until he discovered the political expediency of playing into race. It is likely Obma "threw off the shackles of 'white' bondage" while writing his book because it pleased his new coterie of friends and political supporters and liberation theologists, some of whom were 'white."

It is indeed unfortunate that Obama, like many others, views the world in terms of black and white. Aren't we all of mixed race? Is there a "white" world? A "black" world? I've never met or read of anyone who was all of any single "race."

My mother was born in Italy, has a French maiden name, and is sort of beige in color. My father's people have curly, dark hair and other features of the type that, in long ago textbooks, was called "negroid." I am sure that, in both cases, the characteristics derive from Moorish and French invasions or travel throughout Italy.

Should I stop advertising my family African-ness or French-ness because of a suspicion that I am ingratiating myself to "blacks" or "Frenchies"? Maybe when I write my book, I will speak of a new consciousness achieved at age 12, wherein I made complete and full contact with my Italian-ness.

Revolution By Any Means Necessary: Barack Obama

DUBIOUS DONATIONS - New York PostCandidate Obama, who lied about public financing, often boasts that his millions in contributions are from "small contributors." Fact is that many of these "small contributors" have multiple identities. Fortress Obama continues to copy the tactics of Leni Riefenstahl and Albert Speer, and the MSM follows in lockstep.

LA Times Refuses to Release Tape of Obama Praising Controversial Activist - FOXNews.com Elections

LA Times Refuses to Release Tape of Obama Praising Controversial Activist - FOXNews.com ElectionsThis should be required reading for American voters, especially those on U.S. campuses. Of course, "academic freedom" does not apply in many of them which, like Columbia University, are afraid to expose their students to anything that is not left, left-liberal, ultra-left-liberal, Marxist, Socialist, or anti-U.S. Hence, Obama's alma-mater, Columbia University invites fascists on the left into its sanctums but won't permit ROTC to put one foot on campus. So much for "academic freedom."

My Favorite Sarah Palin Stump Speech Line

Obama’s campaign rhetoric is hyperbolic and often meaningless. “Change You Can Believe In” becomes “Change We Need” because bringing up the concept of “believe” in the former slogan calls his credibility into question. That’s not a good thing when Obama’s credibility IS in question. So we excise the issue in “Change We Need.”

Another great weakness of the Obama lexicon is when Obama tells the hypnotized ignorati that “I will fight for you.” Or “I will fight for America.” He uses the term “fight” so often that it becomes a dull and cheap word rather than an enlivening, engaged word.

Now I love many things about Sarah Palin but I get a chill running down my leg every time I hear her utter my favorite Sarah Palin stump speech line. Palin’s utterly clear perception of the meaning of the word “fight” is evident in that line and at every time she utters it:

“There is only one man in this presidential race who has really fought for America.”

Obama can talk the talk all he wants to but John McCain’s the only guy who can walk the walk. John McCain. Now and forever!

Obama Loves ACORN and ACORN Loves Voter Fraud

Has Massive Voter Fraud Become Politically Correct?


One strong indication of the impending rot of our Republic is that the Justice Department is turning a blind eye to massive voter fraud sanctioned by Barack Obama and his supporters. If you think I’m kidding, just try to remember the name of the current attorney general. I mean, hell, if he/she were doing anything, you’d know his name, wouldn’t you? It’s Michael Mukasey—if you don’t know. And it is a “he.” I had to look it up. I remembered every attorney general going back to A. Mitchell Palmer but the current one may be little more than a projection on a screen, given a name.

It’s likely that Barack Obama is thinking of giving a future A.G. job as a sop to Hillary Clinton, indicating a too late pro-woman change of heart. It’s likely he’ll need Hillary to get both legitimacy and expertise. I mean, would the high-profile senator from New York take a job at DHHS? No. I mean...after the tee-shirt beating Obama and his people gave her, Hillary deserves something important, doesnt' she?

Anyway, back at the ranch, Obama the lawyer has dispatched other teams of lawyers to badger Mukasey’s office about ACORN and accusing them also of consorting with McCain’s people. Wouldn’t you think McCain’s people had an interest in deterring voter fraud? It’s b.s.—a complete smokescreen—designed to prevent Justice from looking into the massive Obama voting fraud organization most evident in the activities of groups like ACORN. ACORN is the left- wing “community organization” which launched ballot stuffing and fake voter registration initiatives in about 30 states.

In Ohio, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is brazen enough to defy Congress’s election laws. She refuses to verify 200,000 suspect registrations and to screen them for address, felony convictions, and so on. This is just a single example. Think of similar goings-on in many other states.

So how then does Obama get away with this? One reason, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, theorizes it’s because many Justice Department attorneys are Obama supporters and contributors. The Journal mentions those lawyers by name and lists their contributions to the Obama campaign. The editorial is called “Justice and Vote Fraud” and appears in the Oct 27 edition of the paper.

Another reason is that Lawyer Obama has enlisted the aid of Civil Rights organizations to tie up the Justice Department in “amicus” style lawsuits with the aim of protecting against “voter intimidation.” You’d think that meant sweating white sheriff’s men standing around the voting booth with shotguns and police dogs. What it really means is that, unless the government pays for transporting Obama supporters to the polls in stretch limos, the Justice Department will be investigated for a range of infractions not to include phony registrations.

The U.S. needs to prosecute voter fraud, first and foremost. Obama needs to condemn voter fraud and distance himself (in more than words) from organizations like ACORN.

Is Obama Driving the Stock Market Down

Well, no. Not all by himself anyway. Obama had help from Senate pals Chris Dodd and Barney Frank and his cronies who worked for Freddie and Fanny. The mortgage debt crisis is at the bottom of it all. That can’t be said often enough, to my way of thinking. Because maybe saying it over and over will get someone to do something, to stop dreaming of a utopian cornucopia where everyone has a smart phone, a house in the country, an apartment in the city, an SUV and a Prius, and a house at the shore. And if you don’t have the money, Obama’s pals will make sure someone lends it to you.

But Obama’s “spread the wealth” comments, coupled with his planned increase of capital gains tax is not making it easy for the market to rebound. Investors who made money in the stock market over the past decade, and that includes the “little guy” with a 401K or similar pension plan, continue to sell off. The panic is not likely to abate soon as the government is heavily involved now in propping things up artificially. Obama’s sure to make a bad situation worse, and the sell-off is the result, even though Howard Dean appeared on CNBC this a.m. to say that the “stock market always did better under Democratic administrations.” Like Obama claiming he was too young to know anything about Ayers, Howard Dean conveniently forgot about Jimmy Carter. A far-left Obama administration, ironically, will have revisionist historians describing Carter as a conservative when compared to Obama.