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Friday, October 31, 2008

Montana Gun Manufacturer Urges Obama-Endorsing Company President to Resign

If I've said once, I'll say again: keep your business and your personal politics and religion at great distance.

Montana Gun Manufacturer Urges Obama-Endorsing Company President to Resign - FOXNews.com Elections:
"HELENA, Mont. -- The board of directors for a small Montana gun manufacturer asked the company's president to resign after word that he supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama led to calls on pro-gun Web sites to boycott the company's products.

Dan Cooper, who co-founded Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc., could not be reached for comment Friday. But he told USA Today on Thursday that he had resigned his post to protect the company's employees."

Schwarzenegger Pumps Up McCain Rally in Ohio - FOXNews.com Elections

Schwarzenegger Pumps Up McCain Rally in Ohio - FOXNews.com Elections:
"'John McCain served longer in a POW camp than his opponent has in the United States Senate,' he said. 'Ladies and gentlemen, I only play an action hero in my movies, but John McCain is a real action hero.'"

Redefining "Middle Class" - again

For the third time in 2 weeks reports are coming that Obama's plan to lower taxes is changing the threshold, again. First it was Joe the Plumber and $250,000, then Joe the Biden and $200,000, now it's Bill the Governor and $120,000.

The question to ask yourself: if you're a family of 4 and your joint income is $121,000 or more, do you feel wealthy? I thought not. A prominent spokesman for Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, thinks you are, though - he thinks the Obama plan means you're above the middle class and should be subject to increased taxes.

With numbers changing so much in these last few days before the election, it's hard to hit a moving target, and hard to think that we'll get from Obama what he says we'll get. So it comes down not to facts, but to depending on what you choose believe.

But perhaps Obama's tagline is no longer "Change," but now is "Chance."


How Low Can It Go? Richardson Pegs Middle Class as Those Making Under $120,000 - FOXNews.com Elections:
"For the second time in a week, a prominent Democrat has downgraded Barack Obama's definition of the middle class -- leading Republicans to question whether he'll stick to his promise not to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000.

The latest hiccup in the campaign message came Friday morning on KOA-AM, when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pegged the middle class as those making $120,000 and under.

Click here to listen to Richardson talk about Obama's tax plan.

'What Obama wants to do is he is basically looking at $120,000 and under among those that are in the middle class, and there is a tax cut for those,' Richardson said in the interview, according to a clip posted on YouTube."

Vote for the Candidate backed by Al-Qaeda!

Qaeda wants Republicans, Bush humiliated:

"DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda leader has called for President George W. Bush and the Republicans to be 'humiliated,' without endorsing a party in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to an Internet video posting.

'O God, humiliate Bush and his party, O Lord of the Worlds, degrade and defy him,' Abu Yahya al-Libi said at the end of sermon marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, in a video posted on the Internet.

Libi, a top al Qaeda commander believed to be living in Afghanistan or Pakistan, called for God's wrath to be brought against Bush equating him with past tyrants in history.

The remarks were the first from a leading al Qaeda figure referring, albeit indirectly, to the U.S. elections. Muslim clerics often end sermons by calling on God to guide and support Muslims and help defeat their enemies.

Terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence Group said in a report on Wednesday that militants on al Qaeda-linked websites have for months been debating the significance of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama or Republican John McCain.

Some posters have also argued over the merits of trying to attack the United States before the election or waiting until later, the report said."

More of what to expect from Obama

It is being reported by several major new agencies that the Obama campaign has unceremoniously kicked off at least 3 news organizations who had been embedded with the Obama campaign from the start. The NY Post and the Washington Times, among others, have been asked to vacate their seats on the plane. Note that these news organizations are slanted to the right.

They are to be replaced by reporters from Jet and Ebony magazines.

Just in time for Halloween!

Here you go - THE definitive Obama T-shirt.

I'm watching a particularly irritating moron named Reta Lewis talk about the recession - that it's caused by Bush's economic policies.

Too bad that most Americans are too uneducated in our own governmental system to know that Congress, not the president, wields the spending power. Congress, through its approval process, crafts the budget, not the president. And for the last 2 years, the Democrats have been in control of Congress, and therefore, the economy. It's part of our checks and balances. So if you want people to blame, look to Pelosi and Reid.

But there we are - lying politicians and political minions, and a stupid electorate.

Obama's Big Campaign Lie


Change - it's in the air everywhere, especially at the Obama campaign. It seems they are trying to alter what people think will happen under an Obama regime. Why? Because nothing will change, that's why, even though Obama has promised quite a lot. Given the plenitude of government insiders in Obama's camp, how could it?

And what does Barackula say to those who have already voted early? "Sorry, you got it wrong. I only meant 'Change a little.'"

What a great argument for NOT voting early. Folks need to wait and see what develops throughout an entire campaign. Like this.

If I were an Obama guy, I'd change my vote, because given McCain's performance throughout his career, I KNOW he'll shake things up. Bastards tend to do that (said with respect, John!).


Obama Lays Plans to Kill Expectations After Election Victory - FOXNews.com Elections:
"Barack Obama's senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week's election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harboring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of 'hope' and 'change' are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy."

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Corporate finance chiefs prefer McCain: survey

Corporate finance chiefs prefer McCain: survey | Politics | Reuters:
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chief financial officers of U.S. companies still prefer Republican presidential nominee John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama by a wide margin...

CFOs are much less optimistic about the U.S. economy and about their own businesses, and expect it will be much harder for their companies to access credit over the next six months, the survey by Financial Executives International and Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business found.

Sixty-two percent said they hoped McCain would win next week's presidential election, compared with 15 percent who prefer Obama....

Twice as many said McCain was best able to handle the economic crisis than said so about Obama, the survey found. The survey, conducted electronically between October 2 and October 17, included responses from 290 corporate CFOs."

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry walks this way with John McCain - BostonHerald.com:

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry walks this way with John McCain - BostonHerald.com:
"Aerosmith has generally left the politics to bands like U2 and the Dixie Chicks, but axeman Joe Perry says national security and economic woes have prompted him to split from the rest of the entertainment world and throw his support behind John McCain.

“We pretty much stay out of it, but seeing so many people come out for Obama, I just felt like ‘What the hell, I might as well raise my hand for this side,” Perry said from his Duxbury home."

Obama's Popularity: Bandwagon effect

Many people can't figure out why Obama is so popular. Here's one suppostion:

Bandwagon effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"The bandwagon effect occurs in voting: some people vote for those candidates or parties who are likely to succeed (or are proclaimed as such by the media), hoping to be on the 'winner's side' in the end.[4] The bandwagon effect has been applied to situations involving majority opinion, such as political outcomes, where people alter their opinions to the majority view (McAllister and Studlar 721). Such a shift in opinion can occur because individuals draw inferences from the decisions of others, as in an informational cascade."

What's Wrong with Early Voting

I am appalled at the concept of early voting. I feel this way for several reasons:

1. Early voting allows an opportunity for people to try to vote more than once. And if you think this doesn't happen, you're not paying attention.

2. I thought absentee voting was to allow for people who can't get to the polls on election day? Early voting is an unnecessary expense, taxing already-stretched local funds.

3. Early voting doesn't allow voters to consider late-breaking information about their choice. For example, what you voted for candidate A, then 2 days after you voted, it was revealed that he was a pedophile.

4. Early voting is nothing but an effort to get people to cast a vote for people who are really excited about a candidate; it's favored by some candidates because they are afraid that the voters' fervor will subside, and good sense will replace that emotion. In this way, it's a method to slanting an election.

We should do away with it, because early voting is really nothing but a ploy to steal an election.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The History of Progressives: Be Very Afraid

A very interesting article that mentions some of the history of liberalism, nee "progressives," in American politics.

Obama's Not ‘New’ by Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online:
"Wilson, Roosevelt and now Obama — all their ideas sprung forth from the work of John Dewey, the most important liberal philosopher of the 20th century. Dewey held that “natural rights and natural liberties exist only in the kingdom of mythological social zoology,” and that “organized social control” via a “socialized economy” was the only means to create “free” individuals. Dewey proposed that statism be taught as a kind of civic religion in our schools so that Americans could be raised to see the government as the solution to all of our problems.

"Dewey lives on in the education reform ideas espoused by former Weatherman Bill Ayers. Ayers, now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, often invokes Dewey when justifying his own dream of indoctrinating public school students in “social justice.” Obama doesn’t condone Ayers’ ’70s-era bombings, but he certainly subscribes to Ayers’ educational vision. In fact, Ayers’ educational work is the primary defense for the candidate’s association with an unrepentant terrorist."
Of course, Karl Marx lamented the use of the State in this kind of controlling, brainwashing capacity, and in fact described it as a means of how the State propagates itself to remain in power. But I suppose that's not to be mentioned - nor that fascism has a lot to do with state control of everything, too, including young minds. Obama Youth, anyone?

The Most Chilling Thing About an Obama Presidency

I was chilled last night when I realized who would have access to the highest office in the world under an Obama Presidency:

William Ayers: Unrepentant terrorist bomber and anarchist. How he ever rose to be a professor and involved in education policy speaks volumes about the state that American education is in. A quote from Ayers:
"Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents."

Jeremiah Wright: Reverend and spiritual adviser to the Obamas for over 20 years; America hater, racist. That this racist led a successful black church which taught black liberation theology speaks to the racism in American black culture. Flat out, they just hate whites.


Colin Powell: National Security Adviser under Reagan; Head of the Joint Chiefs under Bush I; Secretary of State under Bush II. If there was one, single person responsible for making the argument that putting American troops in Iraq was a good idea, he was it. He made an extremely compelling case at the UN, citing the same bad intelligence that the Republicans have been slammed over for the last 7 years. Powell's comments are what sealed the deal. Yet Bush got the blame. Here is his summation to the UN:

Nothing points more clearly to Saddam Hussein's dangerous intentions and the threat he poses to all of us than his calculated cruelty to his own citizens and to his neighbors. Clearly, Saddam Hussein and his regime will stop at nothing until something stops him.

For more than 20 years, by word and by deed Saddam Hussein has pursued his ambition to dominate Iraq and the broader Middle East using the only means he knows, intimidation, coercion and annihilation of all those who might stand in his way. For Saddam Hussein, possession of the world's most deadly weapons is the ultimate trump card, the one he most hold to fulfill his ambition.

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; he's determined to make more. Given Saddam Hussein's history of aggression, given what we know of his grandiose plans, given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond?

The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American people. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world.

My colleagues, over three months ago this council recognized that Iraq continued to pose a threat to international peace and security, and that Iraq had been and remained in material breach of its disarmament obligations. Today Iraq still poses a threat and Iraq still remains in material breach.



The Three Amigos from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac: Franklin Raines (former Clinton administration budget director); James Johnson (former aide to Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale); Jamie Gorelick (former Clinton administration deputy attorney general); they pretty much single-handedly collapsed the economic system worldwide, through an enormous number of bad mortage loans. And they got hundreds of millions of tax dollars in their Golden parachutes. They should be jailed; instead they're on Obama's economic advisory team. I guess they'll get off, too.


And there are so many more...

So, here's Obama's judgment, not much change on the horizon with so many big-time Washington insiders on board, and what you can expect in an Obama Administration.

Monday, October 27, 2008

More Media Bias and my own Shame

Look at this picture. Can you say, "blatant?" The media no longer care how they're perceived; they offer no illusion to being impartial. They've influenced the 2008 election, I'd say so forcefully that it should be investigated as election fraud. Certainly it should rank with Hearst's "yellow journalism" of 1898 and the newspaper-created Spanish-American war.

Just as Michael Malone is ashamed to call himself "journalist," I am ashamed to tell others that I am degreed in mass communication. All that means anymore is "propaganda."

A career Journalist Hangs Head in Shame

ABC News: Media's Presidential Bias and Decline:
"The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.

But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was 'a writer,' because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist."

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Voter confusion from the Polls


No wonder we're confused - whom does one believe?

Take a look at this snippet from my iGoogle news page. Maybe they're both ahead.

Did W. Backfire?

Interesting analysis of the film W by director Oliver Stone:

Did W. Backfire? by Tom Hoopes on National Review Online:

"Stone’s movie carefully makes the argument that all of America was put in danger because Bush was able to get to the presidency with no real experience after political handlers took him over following his failed attempts at various careers. It suggests that Bush has iffy military experience, and the script hurls Cheney’s “four deferments” in our face. If the lesson is, “Don’t put an Ivy League cushy career-jumping reinvented politician with little or no executive experience in office, and only turn to those with military experience in times of peril,” then the way to apply the film’s lesson is to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama."

Clinton WH pros warn of price for open gov't pledge - Carrie Budoff Brown - Politico.com

Clinton WH pros warn of price for open gov't pledge - Carrie Budoff Brown - Politico.com:
"CHICAGO—Veterans of the Clinton administration—who know something about tapping into voter anger towards Washington with pledges to root out special-interest influence, trim the size of government, and shine a floodlight on its inner workings—warn that Barack Obama will have a tough time balancing his campaign's promises of openness with his office's powers should he win the presidency.

Over 21 months of campaigning, Obama has promised a new brand of government that would negotiate a health care plan on C-SPAN, require agencies to conduct business in public, and force lobbyist meetings into the open.

It's not yet clear how a nominee who's maintained such tight control over his campaign would transition into a president who opens his administration to public scrutiny."

Biden’s Promise

Here's what Biden himself had to say about his potential boss:

Biden’s Hint by Bill Whittle on National Review Online: "“I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, “Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?” We’re gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I’m asking you now, I’m asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you’re going to have to reinforce us.”"

Is this what we want in a President? Someone who's running mate is assuring, even before he's elected, that Obama will tank in the polls because he's expected to perform so badly?

Or is Biden giving us an unconscious warning, that Obama is already so bad that he shouldn't be elected?

Friday, October 24, 2008

David Nitkin: "Vandalism at McCain supporter home It's tough being a John McCain supporter in heavily Democratic Prince George's County."

Maryland Politics - Your source of news and gossip from the Mason-Dixon Line to the Potomac - baltimoresun.com: "Vandalism at McCain supporter home
It's tough being a John McCain supporter in heavily Democratic Prince George's County.

A hotel in Clinton that dared erect a McCain sign on its property received boycott threats and touched off a firestorm of outrage, The Washington Post recently chronicled. And now, the home and property of a McCain supporter in Cheltenham has been vandalized.

rvvandalized.jpg

The Prince George's County Republican Party has distributed photographs of the damage done to the home of Kenneth Rose, with white spray paint on brick siding and windows of a recreational vehicle, and profanity added to a sign.

Rose, the homeowner, told us that he lives on a major coummuter route in a rural area of the county, and there are not a lot of McCain signs around. He said there is a history of vandalism of political signs in the county, but the damage he discovered Monday morning 'has gone way past that.' A registered Democrat and retiree, Rose told us he's thinking about contacting Fox New's Sean Hannity to draw attention to the episode. He's filed a police report, and was installing a new sign to replace one torn down when we contacted him on Tuesday. Mykel Harris, chair of the county Republican central committee, said he was 'shocked' when he heard of the damage and decided to distribute the photos below.

Tension over the election "does seem to be escalating a bit," Harris said in an interview.

Harris called for calm in an e-mail he sent out with the pictures attached. "Fortunately we have the means to restore peace and good order to our community," he wrote. "We must stand up for our rights and the rights of others to advocate on behalf of their party, candidate or issue."

signvandalized.jpg

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Not Good for Anyone's Health

Think about government. I have a rule about it: When government can fix a pothole in the street in front of my house within a few days time, I'll consider it successful. But everyone knows this just ain't so. From the time they get my call, it takes weeks to months for them to plan, then fund, shoveling $15 worth of material into the hole. And it ends up costing thousands. I could do it myself in 5 minutes.

Now imagine a government-controlled health care system. That's what you'll get under Obama. Rather than expanding and then allowing poor people direct access to the U.S. Public Health Service, they're all about insurance for the uninsured, on the backs of the middle class. Wow, what a perk for the insurance lobby! Socialized medicine, American style.

Don't say I didn't tell you so.

www.baltimoreexaminer.com >> Opinion: "Congress would create a new infrastructure for federal regulation of the delivery of medical care for large segments of the American population. The result: A down payment for federal control of health care delivery, combined with an explosion of special-interest lobbying by provider groups."

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Who decides the election? A Page from Stalin's Book

Are the left-wing Obama supporters who are enrolling voters, such as ACORN and others, moving the country to a Stalinist position? Read below:

"The people who vote decide nothing. The people who count the vote decide everything."
~ Joseph Stalin

Volcker Makes a Comeback as Part of Obama Brain Trust - WSJ.com

I refer back to my earlier comments regarding the status quo position of Obama. First Colin Powell, who lobbied hard in favor of the Iraq war, now Volcker. If you don't remember Volcker, he was Fed chairman under both Carter and Reagan.

First, Carter (and Volcker) fouled up the economy so bad mortgages were well into double-digits. Second, if you hate Reagan, what does Volcker offer you? So what the hell is Obama doing with this; how does it fit his "Change" message?

What's the difference, where's the change Obama promises, I ask you? All a fraud. It seems to me that all the same players are involved, but what's different is that there is a very inexperienced person at the helm. Obama's inexperience will offer him no wisdom nor knowledge about how these guys can and will take advantage of him.

The phrase, "Fox in the henhouse," comes to mind.

Volcker Makes a Comeback as Part of Obama Brain Trust - WSJ.com:
"NEW YORK -- At 81 years old, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker is getting a second chance to shape his legacy with a presidential hopeful more than 30 years his junior.

Mr. Volcker has emerged as a top economic adviser to Sen. Barack Obama during a presidential campaign dominated by a global financial crisis. Their growing bond is paying dividends for each man."

Monday, October 20, 2008

McCain: 'Obama won't have the right response' to a crisis - CNN.com

McCain: 'Obama won't have the right response' to a crisis - CNN.com:
"(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain attacked Sen. Barack Obama's readiness for office Monday night, saying the next president 'won't have time to get used to the office.'
Sen. John McCain says the country doesn't need a president that invites the world to test them.

Sen. John McCain says the country doesn't need a president that invites the world to test them.

McCain, speaking at a rally in Belton, Missouri, attacked comments made Sunday by Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, in which he said Obama would be tested within the first six months of his presidency.

'We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars,' McCain said. 'What is more troubling is that Sen. Biden told their campaign donors that when that crisis hits, they would have to stand with them because it wouldn't be apparent Sen. Obama would have the right response.

'Forget apparent. Sen. Obama won't have the right response, and we know that because we've seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign.'"

Obama: Powell will have role in administration. Huh?

Change. Ending the war, ending Republican policies. Obama's mantra. But if he wants real change, then why is he not only running with one of the Democratic Old Guard (Joe Biden), but now he's running with one of Bush's own top advisers. This action empties out Obama's arguments about the linkage between McCain and President Bush. In fact, it proves McCain's claims that he's radically different. It also puts on the table that Obama himself is the same as Bush.

If Obama's top people are the same or identical to Bush's, what will be different?

Are we not supposed to see the sameness of this?

Obama: Powell will have role in administration -- baltimoresun.com:

WASHINGTON - Colin Powell will have a role as a top presidential adviser in an Obama administration, the Democratic White House hopeful said today.

'He will have a role as one of my advisers,' Barack Obama said on NBC's 'Today' in an interview aired today, a day after Powell, a four-star general and President Bush's former secretary of state, endorsed him."

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Horse's Mouth (video)

Michelle Obama:
"You feel justified in your ignorance; that's America."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BogJvgdH6eo&feature=related

MSNBC has a good laugh:
Obama pushes the wrong button on several votes when voting in the Illinois Senate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKhzqG3_DPA&feature=related

MSNBC: Chris Matthews is stumped:
"What has Barack Obama accomplished?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGeu_4Ekx-o&feature=related

CSPAN: Ron Paul asked about Obama:
"'Change' means nothing. You offer no change... You offer the status quo."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez5robAWmu4&feature=related

This one's officially from the Obama campaign: Obama on offshore drilling:
"I've proposed taxing the record multibillion dollar profits of oil companies..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuCQss&feature=related
(He didn't say a word about the foreign relations problems concerning Russia and Cuba drilling off our coasts)

Privacy and the Right to Ask a Question

There are any number of liberal groups screaming for a protection of privacy, that the US Constitution guarantees it. Lawsuit upon lawsuit has been filed over federal policies - particularly concerning the Patriot Act - that individual privacies have been unlawfully invaded. Here in MD, a left-wing anti-war group assailed the Maryland State Police because the police kept an eye on them during their demonstrations.

If liberals are so concerned with personal privacy - and in the case of the anti-war group, even political privacy - then why is it OK for the media and the Obama campaign to peek into the personal records of Joe Wurzelbacher (aka "Joe the Plumber"), and broadcast them worldwide?

The first issue is that even though public records were accessed, it seems a violation of privacy to broadcast these things so far and wide. It's a question of degree; Joe's not running for office, so why was he so heavily "vetted," as the media likes to say, just because he asked a good question? Doesn't that have a chilling effect on other citizens' right to question authority?

Second issue: what's the point? A basic premise in the art of argument is to not go "ad hominem," or say something "against the man;" rather, address the argument, not the source. The source doesn't matter; his point does.

Third, and most important, is Obama's response. "Share the wealth" is what he said.

Obama regularly complains that things said against him are "distractions." Well, isn't he creating a distraction away from his arguably socialist answer to Joe's question by bringing up Joe's personal info?

It seems that plumbing the depths of personal information for political ammunition is the hallmark of democrats; this is a classic Clintonesque tactic.

One can only begin to imagine what havoc an Obama Administration can wreak on an individual when they have access to the glut of personal documents compiled by the same federal government so often sued by the left. Identity theft pales in comparison.

With Joe as a prime example, expect an exponential growth of this personal privacy invasion in an Obama presidency.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Musings on the Demoralizing Media


The media would have us believe, through their polling, that Obama is ahead in the presidential race. They make a convincing argument. Yet, wherever I go, I see more McCain yard signs and more energy for McCain than for his opponent. Curious...

Which has me wondering: is the mainstream media - unabashedly left-leaning - attempting to favor the election to Obama by demoralizing the McCain side? It could work, you know.

If you think this is paranoia, just remember what Wm Randolph Hearst did concerning the Spanish-American War (the birth of "yellow journalism").

Friday, October 17, 2008

Fairness

The liberals, Obama in particular, like to use the word, "Fair." But do they know the meaning of it?

What is fairness? Is it fair to, as Obama suggests, "spread the wealth?" To redistribute income, taxing those making over a certain amount of income, to then give it out to those who make less in an attempt to even out the distrubution on money, not based on work product nor effort, but based on need?

Or is it fair to simply allow those who made the money in the first place keep what they have earned? To allow those who made a thing keep it?

I think the answer is self-evident to an American.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

'Joe the Plumber' and the Depression of 2009

McCain Gives 'Joe the Plumber' Prominent Billing in Debate - FOXNews.com Elections:
"Earlier this week, when Wurzelbacher got a chance to speak with Obama during a campaign appearance in Toledo, he told Obama that his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him."
The person asking the question of Obama is Joe Wurzelbacher. He has become a media darling for both sides - but he's not the story, he's a distraction. The real story is in Obama's answer, and his penchant for socialism. Obama's answer was, "Spread the wealth."

But the ramifications of Obama's taxes get even worse than a business simply paying higher taxes. Other small business owners doing construction-related trades make considerably more money than the $250K Obama threshold - like $2M plus. And their intent, after an Obama win, will be to lay off all their employees, putting them onto unemployment assistance. Then, the businesses will go underground, rehiring the workers under the table and transacting all business in cash. Seriously, this is the plan of one plumbing business owner - who currently does more than $2M per year in business - who called in to talk radio this afternoon.

Democratic politicians just don't get it about taxes. Here in Maryland, our new governor, Martin O'Moron, was faced with a deficit. Not a real one, mind you, but what he termed a "'structural" deficit - meaning that it will roll around in the future if something is not done. So he did something. he raised the sales tax, and pushed some other taxes off onto counties.

It should come as no surprise that this week, he announced that he will be cutting the budget and services because tax revenue is down. Well, duh, this is, once again, Econ 101: if you raise the tax rate, the tax revenue will go down. Always does, because people react to not having enough money.

So imagine Maryland's situation - tax revenues down because tax rates are up - multiplied by all 50 states, then further multiplied by the literal millions of people in construction trades no longer paying taxes because they're working "off the grid." It's not sustainable to have such low revenues with so many demands on our government, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, the banking crisis, the Wall street bailout, FannieMae/FreddieMac debacle, and on... I haven't even mentioned the tax cuts and increased health care burden that Obama has proposed. There's not enough money in the world for all that.

So the tax situation is once again a mess. Adding it up, when people say an economic depression is possible, believe it. Brought to you by Obama and the Dems.

Just wait for 2009, and this time forget holding onto your wallet, you might have trouble holding onto your job, because it won't be there. Hope that at least the breadlines will.

Fannie and Freddie just the beginning?

This is an absolute must-read on why the economy got so bad, and Obama's - yes, Obama's - direct role in it. An excerpt:

Obama’s Cover-Up by Peter Ferrara on National Review Online:
...government-backed Fannie and Freddie came to be plagued with outright corruption. [Franklin Raines, former head of Fannie Mae and now an Obama advisor] criminally led Fannie to falsify its books so that he would qualify for excessive bonuses and compensation eventually totaling $90 million. Fannie and Freddie sought to protect their ongoing racket by hefty political contributions to key political angels. (The top recipient of such contributions has been Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd. The second highest recipient has been Barack Obama.)

In 2004, the Bush administration renewed its proposal for a strengthened regulator. But Barney Frank accused the president of creating an “artificial issue,” saying “people tend to pay their mortgages. I don’t think we are in any remote danger here.”

By 2005, John McCain, supported by the Bush administration, was one of three co-sponsors of legislation to impose such regulatory supervision and controls over Fannie and Freddie. But the Democrats shouted these proposals down.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Obama Ads Invade Video Games, ala Karl Marx

Enough is ENOUGH! EA has ensured I'll never buy another of their products. Ever.

This truly Marxist. These socialist theories identify things such as State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). Consider political imagery in games - played mostly by impressionable children and young adults - as an extension of the ISA. Don't you recall how the former USSR displayed billboards, posters and pictures everywhere of it's leaders, such as those HUGE posters of Joseph Stalin? Same thing here.

FOXNews.com - Obama Ads Invade Video Games - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News:
"The Barack Obama presidential campaign is EVERYWHERE.

Drivers of high-performance racing cars were a bit surprised over the weekend to spot roadside billboards with the Illinois senator's familiar face on them and the message 'Early Voting Has Begun. VoteForChange.com.'

Not unusual, you say? Well, these were virtual billboards, on imaginary roads, driven by Xbox 360 players in an online version of the popular racing video game 'Burnout Paradise.'

Game maker Electronic Arts confirmed Monday that the Obama campaign ads were the real deal.

'Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates,' EA spokeswoman Holly Rockwood told the tech blog GigaOm. 'Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.'"

"Spread the wealth around..."

That was what Obama said to a plumber when the plumber asked if he was going to be taxed if he bought a business that made over $250K.



Basically, Obama is arguing that this plumber should pay people to be his customers, essentially paying them so he can work for them. This is Obama's thinking on economics - that it's good for the plumber if he has more customers, even if those customers are paying for the plumbing work with money given them byt the plumber himself. Any way you slice it, that's how this argument breaks down.

See, Obama wants to spread socialism around, and here it is in his own words. Not only that, but there is then little impetus for anyone to make higher than $250K per year in their business. It's like a ceiling; you want to make less than that amount, unless you can make so much more that it then offsets the taxes. Remember, if the tax gets triggered at $250K, then all of the money is taxed, not just the portion above $250,000. So small businesses in this gray area will just stop earning at, say, $249K, and then lay off everyone until the next years starts up.

That's what I'd do - why work just to "share my wealth" with some lazy bastard?!

This is how Obama wants to jump-start a sluggish economy, by limiting how much people can make.

Really, it's how Obama wants to corral his power - through socialism like this, he controls the money, where it goes, how it's spent, and therefore controls everything.

This man is dangerous.

‘Howard Stern Show’ - Obama Supporters endorse McCain Policies

Breitbart.tv » ‘Howard Stern Show’ Quizzes Obama Supporters in Harlem on Candidate Policies

Let me set up the video you are about to watch. Howard Stern sends a person from his staff out into the NY streets to ask blacks who they are voting for and why. But he 'sets them up'. As they say 'Obama' the interviewer states McCain positions and even suggesting that Obama is running with Sarah Palin.....they all LOVE Obama.... but THEY ENDORSE McCAIN POSITIONS...!

Who gets your vote: McCain, Obama, or YOU

Overlooked in presidential campaigns are, unfortunately, the interests of the people. Presidency is about power, and consequently lots of promises are made as candidates jockey to offer the best deal to voters. But who really benefits? Seriously, ask yourself. Boiling it down...

Obama offers a lot: higher taxes on the filthy rich, tax cuts to the great unwashed. Increased role of government in pretty much all areas of society. Over $300B in new spending (on top of what's already there). Health care for everyone, regardless of ability to pay (that's huge, in terms of dollars and political ideology).

McCain offers less government, less taxes on everyone, including corporations. An increase in jobs through support to employers.

But what do YOU actually get?

It seems to me that one should vote for himself in any election, meaning that one's own interests should be best reflected in the proposed achievements of the candidate. To vote for one's self isn't selfish - it's mandatory in a capitalist society. Because, the better one does, then the better we all do, one by one. In a country based on the rights of the individual over the interests of the collective, this is the way it's supposed to be.

So my read of the candidates' promises are: First, Obama's numbers don't add up. On October 12th, he said that he wants to redistribute wealth (a basic socialist tenet, by the way), but there's no way he can do the things he wants, including balance the budget, with the numbers he proposes. So, say goodbye to that tax cut "on 95% of working Americans" that he likes to say. As for health care, his proposal is to have those who can pay, fund the health costs of those who can't. More socialism, but a huge ideological shift from the capitalism that made our health care the finest in the world.

McCain, on the other hand, seems to offer a reasonable alternative: cut government. Cut taxes. On everyone. Re-regulate where it's called for (we sure could use that in Maryland's energy sector). View energy as a security issue and move away from oil. These are simple ideas that hav cause and effect at heart, and make much more sense. Consequently, it's doable. Simplicity is always more achievable, mo' better.

And as for YOU, the voter, the taxpayer: The choice is pretty simple: Obama for higher taxes and an ideological shift toward socialism. McCain for lower taxes, less government and a reinforcement of capitalism.

Being a guy who likes freedom, I know where my interests are.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

True Democracy

"Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
- Clive Barnes"

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Bare Knuckle Depression Therapy

Depression - not the economic kind, but the psychological kind, that's what's going on. It's understandable after that mess of a debate on October 2. But was that a debate at all?

There are so many things to rail over about that event - it was a meeting of the 2 candidates, supposedly in "town hall" format, which was anything but. It was too locked-down, too formulaic. It just another stump speech event crafted to give the 2 candidates time to pontificate. The meeting should have been in a format that allowed them to speak openly to each other; that way we could have seen what they were made of. Instead it was just more of the same talking points. I am incredibly disappointed.

My big question is why would John McCain agree to such a format? He should have insisted that there was no moderator at all. Tom Brokaw, whom I respect, was clearly trying to adhere to the rules, but he's another of that ilk of journalist who love his profession to narcissism. It has been said that the difference between a reporter and a journalist is that the reporter does not become the hero of the story. So it was with this debate; Brokaw injected himself too often.

I also have to ask what's up with McCain? I like the "bastard" part of his personality. He's clearly trying to muzzle that, but I think when he does everything he says falls flat. Come on, John, get with your old self!

I can't really fault Obama; he is what he is - a Harvard-educated lawyer crafted to be wily and evasive. He speaks well, but can do nothing else, so no straight answers were expected from him. But if McCain would get with it, he could help cut through that legal-minded nonsense and make things understandable to us real people. Remember, McCain (and Palin, too) are not lawyers.

A point in history is instructive: Teddy Roosevelt did not seek a third term in office because it was not done; there were no term limits then, it was just unspoken that a president served no more than 2 terms. It was a point of honor. Roosevelt could have been easily reelected. Later, when he tried to return to the presidency, he could not, and was never elected to office again.

McCain is a likewise honorable man, but in trying to take the high road, he'll find the path littered with the remains of many honorable statesman.

Enron and Current Politics

"The Enron scandal should launch a national movement to leash the corrupt power of money in politics so that legislators and regulators can serve the public interest.
~ The American Prospect (2002)"

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Who is Bill Ayers?

There is a much larger question to be asked concerning Ayers: How did he gain access to the high levels of the democratic party in Chicago?

Bill Ayers (and now it seems, also fellow radical Bernadine Dorhn) was involved in kicking off Obama's political career. In politics, one keeps these connections, despite what Obama says.

But how did Ayers get there, into the circle of political kingmakers? How did he know them, why was he invited to these get-togethers?

There's more to this story, I believe; not necessarily indicting Obama, but the Democratic Party, certainly in Chicago.

Renegade Eye: Who is Bill Ayers?: "
The NY Times reported that in 1995 State Senator Alice Palmer “introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district’s influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.” In other words, Ayers and Dohrn were involved with the Democratic Party at a fairly high level. Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago, served as an adviser to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, the son of the former Mayor who unleashed the cops on peaceful demonstrators in 1968."

Monday, October 6, 2008

Shame of the Fact-Checkers by The Editors on National Review Online

Shame of the Fact-Checkers by The Editors on National Review Online:
"Over the last few months, a number of journalists have suggested that John McCain is running a particularly dishonest and dishonorable campaign and that journalists should not allow the desire to be even-handed keep them from saying so.

That judgment, by our lights, tells us more about journalists’ political inclinations than about the campaigns. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidate has, until recently, been much less honest than the other, and neither has offended against the truth egregiously by historical standards. Nothing in this campaign, for example, has risen to the level of the Democrats’ concerted efforts during 2004 to convince young people that a reelected President Bush would reinstate the draft."

Pope criticises pursuit of wealth

BBC NEWS | Europe | Pope criticises pursuit of wealth:
"When he opened the Synod on Sunday, the Pope attacked modern culture, saying that 'nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture'."

Facts, the Truth, and Annenberg's Factcheck.org

From the film 12 Monkeys: "There is no truth, there is only public opinion!"

McCain and the Fact-Checking Fallacy by Byron York on National Review Online:
"The point of all this is that factchecking reports begin with an analysis of details but end with the factchecker’s opinion of what an ad or speech “implies” or what “impression” it leaves. And that takes the fact-checkers away from the realm of fact."

Friday, October 3, 2008

Twain On Congress. Again.

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. "
- Mark Twain

Thursday, October 2, 2008

If Mark Twain were alive...

"I think I can say, and say with pride, that we have legislatures that bring higher prices than any in the world."
- Mark Twain