This clip is well done. Pulls it together, with some clips I haven't seen. Won't do any good, but we should remember for when these people appear in the Obama Administration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNfRb87dtY4
Friday, October 31, 2008
Obama Campaign charging reporters big bucks for access
And the Drudge Report claims that reporters from papers that endorsed McCain have been denied seats on the Obama plane. I guess if you can charge reporters to cover your campaign, you can deny access to reporters:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/obama-campaign-to-charge_n_136668.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/21/obama-campaign-to-charge_n_136668.html
Blacks supporting McCain guilty of Racial Betrayal?
This is an article about students for McCain at a small, Christian college. No surprise there, of course.
But the line that caught my eye was the black student, who is accused by other blacks of "racial betrayal" for supporting McCain.
Imagine if whites were accusing whites of "racial betrayal" for supporting Obama? Think it would be a media story about racism in America?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004757.html?wpisrc=newsletter
But the line that caught my eye was the black student, who is accused by other blacks of "racial betrayal" for supporting McCain.
Imagine if whites were accusing whites of "racial betrayal" for supporting Obama? Think it would be a media story about racism in America?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004757.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Thursday, October 30, 2008
DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' TAX PLANS
This is a must read from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a pro-market think tank. As I've recommended before, you can sign up for their daily e-mail briefing of condensed articles on economic policy and health care at http://www.ncpa.org/. Do it and stay informed!
DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' TAX PLANS
Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have sharply different visions of how taxes affect economic activity and what modifications to the current system should be made, say economists Stephen J. Entin and Michael Schuyler.
Sen. McCain's tax plan focuses mainly on enhancing economic growth and job creation by reducing marginal tax rates on labor and capital income and by improving economic efficiency.
Sen. Obama's tax plan focuses mainly on income redistribution by raising marginal tax rates.
When fully phased in, and all economic adjustments are made:
The McCain tax plan would increase the private sector portion of gross domestic product (GDP) by about 2.7 percent, and the Obama tax plan would reduce it by about 3.5 percent.
The difference in private sector capital accumulation would be 15.8 percent or $4.1 trillion in favor of McCain.
Hourly wages before-tax would be up 2.2 percent under McCain, down 2.6 percent under Obama.
Hours worked would be 0.5 percent higher under McCain, and 1 percent lower under Obama.
The dynamic economic response to the McCain proposals would fully offset the cost of his four major tax elements: the lower corporate and estate tax rates, partial expensing, and the rise in the dependents exemption, for a net revenue gain of about $16 billion.
The dynamic economic response to the Obama plan would be to reduce tax revenues. However, his business tax increases ("loophole" closings) would result in higher corporate tax revenues, but not as much as a static revenue forecast would indicate. His increases in the two top marginal income tax rates, in the tax rates on capital gains and dividends, and other marginal work disincentives, would depress revenues, resulting in a net revenue loss of about $53 billion a year.
Source: Stephen J. Entin and Michael Schuyler, "The Candidates' Tax Proposals: Their Impact on Taxpayers and the Economy," Institute For Research on the Economics of Taxation, Policy Bulletin No. 92, October 20, 2008.
For text:
http://iret.org/pub/BLTN-92.PDF
For more on Taxes:
http://www.blogger.com/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=20
DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' TAX PLANS
Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have sharply different visions of how taxes affect economic activity and what modifications to the current system should be made, say economists Stephen J. Entin and Michael Schuyler.
Sen. McCain's tax plan focuses mainly on enhancing economic growth and job creation by reducing marginal tax rates on labor and capital income and by improving economic efficiency.
Sen. Obama's tax plan focuses mainly on income redistribution by raising marginal tax rates.
When fully phased in, and all economic adjustments are made:
The McCain tax plan would increase the private sector portion of gross domestic product (GDP) by about 2.7 percent, and the Obama tax plan would reduce it by about 3.5 percent.
The difference in private sector capital accumulation would be 15.8 percent or $4.1 trillion in favor of McCain.
Hourly wages before-tax would be up 2.2 percent under McCain, down 2.6 percent under Obama.
Hours worked would be 0.5 percent higher under McCain, and 1 percent lower under Obama.
The dynamic economic response to the McCain proposals would fully offset the cost of his four major tax elements: the lower corporate and estate tax rates, partial expensing, and the rise in the dependents exemption, for a net revenue gain of about $16 billion.
The dynamic economic response to the Obama plan would be to reduce tax revenues. However, his business tax increases ("loophole" closings) would result in higher corporate tax revenues, but not as much as a static revenue forecast would indicate. His increases in the two top marginal income tax rates, in the tax rates on capital gains and dividends, and other marginal work disincentives, would depress revenues, resulting in a net revenue loss of about $53 billion a year.
Source: Stephen J. Entin and Michael Schuyler, "The Candidates' Tax Proposals: Their Impact on Taxpayers and the Economy," Institute For Research on the Economics of Taxation, Policy Bulletin No. 92, October 20, 2008.
For text:
http://iret.org/pub/BLTN-92.PDF
For more on Taxes:
http://www.blogger.com/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=20
Vote for National Survival
The problem with the article is that probably only 2% of the population has the cognitive ability to understand this academic, the experience to judge his comments, and the mental focus to read through it. But valuable for future reference as things unfold.
October 30, 2008
Vote for National Survival
By Walid Phares
The financial drama that we've been living through is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of an attack against America. As I argued in previous writings, the first volley was OPEC's driving the prices at the pumps as high as needed to crack our economic resilience. The hard core (and ideological) oil-producing regimes have been trying to affect the minds of millions of Americans in the same way al Qaeda's propagandists did with the upset Spanish voters in March 2004.
OPEC has just launched its second offensive -- possibly its last before Election Day -- to reduce petrol production as prices fell. After hitting US citizens with an economic meltdown, it wants to smack them with a goods shortage crisis to force them into making the ultimate decision: jump into another realm. The current economically-induced crisis is only a treatment to provoke a regime change in America. As odd as it is, the forces pushing for the change "they need" have set the US Presidential election as a mechanism to morph this democracy into the uncharted future that awaits it, if the polls are on target.
Read the full article:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/vote_for_national_survival.html
October 30, 2008
Vote for National Survival
By Walid Phares
The financial drama that we've been living through is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of an attack against America. As I argued in previous writings, the first volley was OPEC's driving the prices at the pumps as high as needed to crack our economic resilience. The hard core (and ideological) oil-producing regimes have been trying to affect the minds of millions of Americans in the same way al Qaeda's propagandists did with the upset Spanish voters in March 2004.
OPEC has just launched its second offensive -- possibly its last before Election Day -- to reduce petrol production as prices fell. After hitting US citizens with an economic meltdown, it wants to smack them with a goods shortage crisis to force them into making the ultimate decision: jump into another realm. The current economically-induced crisis is only a treatment to provoke a regime change in America. As odd as it is, the forces pushing for the change "they need" have set the US Presidential election as a mechanism to morph this democracy into the uncharted future that awaits it, if the polls are on target.
Read the full article:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/vote_for_national_survival.html
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Twenty Last Minute Questions for Senator Obama
Twenty Last Minute Questions for Senator Obama
Robert A. Hall
There are a few questions I wish Senator Obama would answer before the election. Doing so would really help his campaign, assuming he’s been telling us the truth. They fall under what journalists used to call “the Public’s Right to Know.”
1. Sen. McCain has promised as President he will veto any bill put on his desk that contains “earmarks,” that is, funding for special interest projects put in by individual Congressmen and Senators for their districts, regardless of party. Will you make the same promise?
2. You have said you will be a post-partisan president and will work with both parties, ending gridlock. What part of the Democrat/liberal agenda will you give up to compromise with Republicans? Or is your idea of working together that they give up all their positions and vote with the Democrats for all of the Democrat policies?
3. You have said that the Fannie Mae looters Franklin Raines, Tim Howard and Jim Johnson really don’t have a connection with your campaign. Fair enough. Will you promise that they will receive no positions in your administration?
4. I have never believed the Internet rumors that you were born outside the United States or were a Muslim. Will you instruct the clerk in Hawaii to release an original copy of your birth certificate to anyone who asks for it, to put this rumor to rest? If not, why not?
5. Republicans are claiming you won’t release any of your college transcripts? Is this true? Why not—shouldn’t the public have a right to know? Will you order their release?
6. You have said you have supported tort reform in the past. Will you fight the trial lawyers who contribute to Democrats and your own party, the leadership of which is almost completely composed of lawyers, to get a real national tort reform bill passed in order to control the costs of health care and everything else? Or may we expect to see an explosion of lawsuits under your administration?
7. I’ve read that some Democrats are calling for an across-the-board 25% cut in defense spending. Do you support that?
8. I could have qualified for a mortgage two or three times larger than I took out, and bought a much bigger home. Instead, we bought a smaller house and paid it off. Will I now be taxed to keep people in homes they couldn’t afford?
9. The Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend money to poor people who couldn’t afford them. Many are now in foreclosure, a contributing factor in the economic meltdown. Will you repeal this law and stop forcing banks to write bad mortgages?
10. Will your administration support racial quotas for admission to colleges and universities? Doesn’t the perception that blacks benefited from lower admission and graduation standards hurt them in the marketplace?
11. You have said the top 5% of taxpayers whose taxes you want to raise are those making over $250,000. The IRS reports that in 2006, the last year with complete numbers, the cutoff was $153,000 to be in the top 5%. Who’s lying, you or the IRS?
12. Will you promise not to pardon Tony Rezko, the Chicago fixer now in prison, who used to raise money for you, and who, by coincidence, paid full price for the lot next to your house the same day you bought it at a steep discount, from the same seller? Or has he already been promised a pardon for his silence?
13. One of the major factors in persistent poverty is young, unwed mothers. The birth rate for children born to single mothers is especially high among high school dropouts and minorities? Will you address this? How?
14. You have pledged to raise the Capital Gains Tax, popular with many voters as a way to “soak the rich.” But the history of Capital Gains Taxes is that increases drive job-creating investments out of the market, and reduce government revenue from the tax. How will you make up the revenue loss? Or will you quietly drop the plan? Would you consider increasing government revenue by decreasing the Capital Gains Tax, as JFK did?
15. Will any of the Chicago Daley Administration people be in your administration? Have you promised any favors or jobs to Mayor Daley or prominent members of his machine for his support? What steps will your administration take to clean up corruption in Chicago? Why have you never spoken out about corruption in Chicago?
16. You have promised the union bosses you will take the secret ballot on union elections away from working men and women. Will your administration vigorously prosecute intimidation and violence by union thugs against working people who vote against the unions? Will this be made a national crime, perhaps even a “hate crime”?
17. I’ve read that a young, black male in an American city is more likely to be murdered by another young black male, than a soldier serving in Iraq is likely to be killed by the enemy. Is that true? What will your administration do about gang violence, and the growing numbers of blacks murdered by blacks in Chicago and other Democrat-governed cities?
18. You have said that you want to appoint judges who are sensitive to minorities, gays and women. Will the judges you appoint decides cases on the facts and the law, or will they weight their decisions towards favored members of these groups? Will justice no longer be blind?
19. Do you support the death penalty for terrorists who murder and detonate bombs in the United States? Bill Ayers has admitted bombing the pentagon, capital and NYC Police Headquarters. Did you know that when you held a campaign function in his home, and served on boards with him? What penalty do you think he should have gotten, in a just world?
20. You are running for the top executive job in the executive branch of government. Would you explain how you have more executive experience than Governor (and former Mayor) Sarah Palin, whose experience your campaign has derided?
I could think of more, but we won’t get any answers. Such answers would have been demanded by journalists in the past. But “journalists” are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Obama campaign, too busy dumpster-diving in Wasilla, or interrogating Joe the Plumber over his licenses, taxes, marital problems and work history to ask tough questions of The One. So you’ll have to vote Tuesday without knowing Obama’s answers. God save the Republic.
Robert A. Hall
There are a few questions I wish Senator Obama would answer before the election. Doing so would really help his campaign, assuming he’s been telling us the truth. They fall under what journalists used to call “the Public’s Right to Know.”
1. Sen. McCain has promised as President he will veto any bill put on his desk that contains “earmarks,” that is, funding for special interest projects put in by individual Congressmen and Senators for their districts, regardless of party. Will you make the same promise?
2. You have said you will be a post-partisan president and will work with both parties, ending gridlock. What part of the Democrat/liberal agenda will you give up to compromise with Republicans? Or is your idea of working together that they give up all their positions and vote with the Democrats for all of the Democrat policies?
3. You have said that the Fannie Mae looters Franklin Raines, Tim Howard and Jim Johnson really don’t have a connection with your campaign. Fair enough. Will you promise that they will receive no positions in your administration?
4. I have never believed the Internet rumors that you were born outside the United States or were a Muslim. Will you instruct the clerk in Hawaii to release an original copy of your birth certificate to anyone who asks for it, to put this rumor to rest? If not, why not?
5. Republicans are claiming you won’t release any of your college transcripts? Is this true? Why not—shouldn’t the public have a right to know? Will you order their release?
6. You have said you have supported tort reform in the past. Will you fight the trial lawyers who contribute to Democrats and your own party, the leadership of which is almost completely composed of lawyers, to get a real national tort reform bill passed in order to control the costs of health care and everything else? Or may we expect to see an explosion of lawsuits under your administration?
7. I’ve read that some Democrats are calling for an across-the-board 25% cut in defense spending. Do you support that?
8. I could have qualified for a mortgage two or three times larger than I took out, and bought a much bigger home. Instead, we bought a smaller house and paid it off. Will I now be taxed to keep people in homes they couldn’t afford?
9. The Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend money to poor people who couldn’t afford them. Many are now in foreclosure, a contributing factor in the economic meltdown. Will you repeal this law and stop forcing banks to write bad mortgages?
10. Will your administration support racial quotas for admission to colleges and universities? Doesn’t the perception that blacks benefited from lower admission and graduation standards hurt them in the marketplace?
11. You have said the top 5% of taxpayers whose taxes you want to raise are those making over $250,000. The IRS reports that in 2006, the last year with complete numbers, the cutoff was $153,000 to be in the top 5%. Who’s lying, you or the IRS?
12. Will you promise not to pardon Tony Rezko, the Chicago fixer now in prison, who used to raise money for you, and who, by coincidence, paid full price for the lot next to your house the same day you bought it at a steep discount, from the same seller? Or has he already been promised a pardon for his silence?
13. One of the major factors in persistent poverty is young, unwed mothers. The birth rate for children born to single mothers is especially high among high school dropouts and minorities? Will you address this? How?
14. You have pledged to raise the Capital Gains Tax, popular with many voters as a way to “soak the rich.” But the history of Capital Gains Taxes is that increases drive job-creating investments out of the market, and reduce government revenue from the tax. How will you make up the revenue loss? Or will you quietly drop the plan? Would you consider increasing government revenue by decreasing the Capital Gains Tax, as JFK did?
15. Will any of the Chicago Daley Administration people be in your administration? Have you promised any favors or jobs to Mayor Daley or prominent members of his machine for his support? What steps will your administration take to clean up corruption in Chicago? Why have you never spoken out about corruption in Chicago?
16. You have promised the union bosses you will take the secret ballot on union elections away from working men and women. Will your administration vigorously prosecute intimidation and violence by union thugs against working people who vote against the unions? Will this be made a national crime, perhaps even a “hate crime”?
17. I’ve read that a young, black male in an American city is more likely to be murdered by another young black male, than a soldier serving in Iraq is likely to be killed by the enemy. Is that true? What will your administration do about gang violence, and the growing numbers of blacks murdered by blacks in Chicago and other Democrat-governed cities?
18. You have said that you want to appoint judges who are sensitive to minorities, gays and women. Will the judges you appoint decides cases on the facts and the law, or will they weight their decisions towards favored members of these groups? Will justice no longer be blind?
19. Do you support the death penalty for terrorists who murder and detonate bombs in the United States? Bill Ayers has admitted bombing the pentagon, capital and NYC Police Headquarters. Did you know that when you held a campaign function in his home, and served on boards with him? What penalty do you think he should have gotten, in a just world?
20. You are running for the top executive job in the executive branch of government. Would you explain how you have more executive experience than Governor (and former Mayor) Sarah Palin, whose experience your campaign has derided?
I could think of more, but we won’t get any answers. Such answers would have been demanded by journalists in the past. But “journalists” are now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Obama campaign, too busy dumpster-diving in Wasilla, or interrogating Joe the Plumber over his licenses, taxes, marital problems and work history to ask tough questions of The One. So you’ll have to vote Tuesday without knowing Obama’s answers. God save the Republic.
Worth Reading
The Europeanization of America
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122504438328069963.html
Obama Accepting Untraceable Donations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803413.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Palin and the Culture Wars
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122515054936474213.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122504438328069963.html
Obama Accepting Untraceable Donations
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803413.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Palin and the Culture Wars
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122515054936474213.html
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Hyperinflation of the Dollar will then be inevitable
I received an e-mail today from a friend who has been quite successful as a professional, and done well thereafter investing the money he earned. Through his hard work, he certainly meets Obama’s definition of “rich,” if not that of the Kennedys, Heintz-Kerrys or George Soros. I’ve deleted his full name and the fairly prominent person he was visiting, which might identify him.
He writes:
“Dear Bob,
I was at …. on Friday night, sharing some sober thoughts about what is pending next Tuesday night. ….. We are facing some rough times. Congratulations on the blog. I liquidated all of our market investments early in the Summer and went into 100% cash. We are now considering getting everything out of the U.S. and into another currency, while it is still possible. Once you see a restriction placed on the free movement of capital, you will know that that the game is over. Hyperinflation of the Dollar will then be inevitable.” --R
Maybe he’s just an alarmist. But if “the rich” flee the US Economy because they are worried about Obama’s policies, there will be no investment in jobs, no economic recovery, and those in the bottom 50%, who are voting for Obama because he’s going to take money from the rich and send them a check, will be those who suffer the most. (Look at how the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe under Mugabe has hurt the poorest people, whose life expectancy has dropped from 63 to 37.)
The reaction to the 1929 market crash was to pass the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill to “protect American jobs.” It locked in the Great Depression.
Unfortunately, even most people who are nominally well-educated have a limited understanding of economics and the role of investments, profits and prices in making us better—or worse—off.
We have got ourselves debt-free to weather the coming storm. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when McCain, Bush and others warned in 2005 that Fannie and Freddie were going to create problems, so about 40% of my IRA is still in mutual funds. I’m sure they wish they’d been a little louder when the Democrats were saying Fannie & Freddie were sound as a dollar.
But Europe and Asia were even more over-leveraged in junk mortgages than the US. Hard to see how we can blame Fannie and Freddie or George Bush & the Republicans for that. More a case of everyone seeing vast profits and blindly piling on, like the Tulip Bulb Bubble or the Darien Colony in the 1600s.
The guys with a gun and a box of Krugerrands under the bed may turn out not to be as far out as I’ve thought.
He writes:
“Dear Bob,
I was at …. on Friday night, sharing some sober thoughts about what is pending next Tuesday night. ….. We are facing some rough times. Congratulations on the blog. I liquidated all of our market investments early in the Summer and went into 100% cash. We are now considering getting everything out of the U.S. and into another currency, while it is still possible. Once you see a restriction placed on the free movement of capital, you will know that that the game is over. Hyperinflation of the Dollar will then be inevitable.” --R
Maybe he’s just an alarmist. But if “the rich” flee the US Economy because they are worried about Obama’s policies, there will be no investment in jobs, no economic recovery, and those in the bottom 50%, who are voting for Obama because he’s going to take money from the rich and send them a check, will be those who suffer the most. (Look at how the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe under Mugabe has hurt the poorest people, whose life expectancy has dropped from 63 to 37.)
The reaction to the 1929 market crash was to pass the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill to “protect American jobs.” It locked in the Great Depression.
Unfortunately, even most people who are nominally well-educated have a limited understanding of economics and the role of investments, profits and prices in making us better—or worse—off.
We have got ourselves debt-free to weather the coming storm. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when McCain, Bush and others warned in 2005 that Fannie and Freddie were going to create problems, so about 40% of my IRA is still in mutual funds. I’m sure they wish they’d been a little louder when the Democrats were saying Fannie & Freddie were sound as a dollar.
But Europe and Asia were even more over-leveraged in junk mortgages than the US. Hard to see how we can blame Fannie and Freddie or George Bush & the Republicans for that. More a case of everyone seeing vast profits and blindly piling on, like the Tulip Bulb Bubble or the Darien Colony in the 1600s.
The guys with a gun and a box of Krugerrands under the bed may turn out not to be as far out as I’ve thought.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Imagine if Sarah Palin was a Democrat
Imagine if Sarah Palin was a liberal Democrat, pro-choice, anti-gun, supported the total Democrat agenda, and had been tapped to be the VP on the Democrat ticket.
Imagine Republicans are attacking her as completely inexperienced. Democrats and the media are pointing out that as a governor, she has more executive experience than John McCain does, who was CO (i.e. CEO) of a Navy Squadron, with far fewer assets and employees than Alaska. They are noting that she’s running for VP, while McCain with less executive experience is running for President.
Imagine Republicans are attacking her for trying to get her trooper brother-in-law fired. Democrats and the Media are blasting Republicans for defending rogue cops, being in favor of cops tasering ten-year-olds, and keeping cops on the force when they drive drunk, threaten people and hunt without a license, as he did.
Imagine Republicans are sending around phony transcripts of her high school grades to try to make her look dumb, circulating a fake list of adult books thy claim she wanted grade school kids to read (instead of ban) some of which were not even published when she was mayor, and even sliming her young daughter by e-mailing a fake photo-shopped picture of Piper Palin flipping off a kid. The Media and Democrats are condemning this slime on page one daily. It would be THE story of the election.
Imagine Republicans have photo-shopped Palin’s head onto nude photos on the Internet, circulated photos of themselves wearing “Sarah Palin is a c_nt” tee shirts, circulated fake claims that she isn’t the mother of Trig, or claimed she should have aborted him. Imagine Republicans write on blogs that they hope Palin gets raped and murdered, and hold “Sarah Palin Stripper Look Alike Contests.” Imagine they are making a porno-movie in California with a Sarah Palin look-alike running for VP. Imagine Republican talk show hosts compliment her on “being hot.” Imagine Republicans are saying she should stay home with the kids. Imagine Republican operatives are swarming Wasilla, dumpster-diving for any piece of dirt. Imagine Republicans are trying to make liberal Democrat Sarah Palin's family, wardrobe and sex appeal the major issues of the campaign.
The Media, Democrats and every woman’s organization in the country would be claiming, front page, that this showed the Republican Party hates women, and treats women with contempt as sex objects. Editorials would be braying about the “politics of personal destruction” and saying that these Republican tactics mean no woman will dare run for national office again in our lifetimes.
Liberal Sarah would be the darling of Hollywood and the Media, and her future would be guaranteed, as a victim of those evil, right-wing Republicans, who will stoop to anything to get power and destroy a person. Her book advance alone would set her up for life.
Imagine I had the choice of voting for Palin or Obama for President. I’d vote for Palin. She has more executive experience, equal foreign policy experience, a rationalist world view, and a lack of Obama’s hubris, so she’d be trying to put the best people around her. Does the public know she refused calls to make abortion a legislative issue in Alaska, and vetoed a bill banning same sex partner benefits as unconstitutional? Probably not—it's not front page news that she has governed as a centrist. Her wardrobe, children, sex-appeal and does she make the verbal mistakes the media gives Obama and Biden a pass on--those are the key issues!
So why isn't the fair and balanced Media reacting as they would if Palin was a liberal Democrat, and Republicans were doing this stuff? Couldn't be bias?
And if Piper flipped off the Media, who could blame the kid?
Update: Just after I put this piece up to be posted, a friend sent me this: http://cbs2.com/local/Sarah.Palin.mannequin.2.849299.html
Imagine if Palin was a Democrat and a Republican did this!
Imagine Republicans are attacking her as completely inexperienced. Democrats and the media are pointing out that as a governor, she has more executive experience than John McCain does, who was CO (i.e. CEO) of a Navy Squadron, with far fewer assets and employees than Alaska. They are noting that she’s running for VP, while McCain with less executive experience is running for President.
Imagine Republicans are attacking her for trying to get her trooper brother-in-law fired. Democrats and the Media are blasting Republicans for defending rogue cops, being in favor of cops tasering ten-year-olds, and keeping cops on the force when they drive drunk, threaten people and hunt without a license, as he did.
Imagine Republicans are sending around phony transcripts of her high school grades to try to make her look dumb, circulating a fake list of adult books thy claim she wanted grade school kids to read (instead of ban) some of which were not even published when she was mayor, and even sliming her young daughter by e-mailing a fake photo-shopped picture of Piper Palin flipping off a kid. The Media and Democrats are condemning this slime on page one daily. It would be THE story of the election.
Imagine Republicans have photo-shopped Palin’s head onto nude photos on the Internet, circulated photos of themselves wearing “Sarah Palin is a c_nt” tee shirts, circulated fake claims that she isn’t the mother of Trig, or claimed she should have aborted him. Imagine Republicans write on blogs that they hope Palin gets raped and murdered, and hold “Sarah Palin Stripper Look Alike Contests.” Imagine they are making a porno-movie in California with a Sarah Palin look-alike running for VP. Imagine Republican talk show hosts compliment her on “being hot.” Imagine Republicans are saying she should stay home with the kids. Imagine Republican operatives are swarming Wasilla, dumpster-diving for any piece of dirt. Imagine Republicans are trying to make liberal Democrat Sarah Palin's family, wardrobe and sex appeal the major issues of the campaign.
The Media, Democrats and every woman’s organization in the country would be claiming, front page, that this showed the Republican Party hates women, and treats women with contempt as sex objects. Editorials would be braying about the “politics of personal destruction” and saying that these Republican tactics mean no woman will dare run for national office again in our lifetimes.
Liberal Sarah would be the darling of Hollywood and the Media, and her future would be guaranteed, as a victim of those evil, right-wing Republicans, who will stoop to anything to get power and destroy a person. Her book advance alone would set her up for life.
Imagine I had the choice of voting for Palin or Obama for President. I’d vote for Palin. She has more executive experience, equal foreign policy experience, a rationalist world view, and a lack of Obama’s hubris, so she’d be trying to put the best people around her. Does the public know she refused calls to make abortion a legislative issue in Alaska, and vetoed a bill banning same sex partner benefits as unconstitutional? Probably not—it's not front page news that she has governed as a centrist. Her wardrobe, children, sex-appeal and does she make the verbal mistakes the media gives Obama and Biden a pass on--those are the key issues!
So why isn't the fair and balanced Media reacting as they would if Palin was a liberal Democrat, and Republicans were doing this stuff? Couldn't be bias?
And if Piper flipped off the Media, who could blame the kid?
Update: Just after I put this piece up to be posted, a friend sent me this: http://cbs2.com/local/Sarah.Palin.mannequin.2.849299.html
Imagine if Palin was a Democrat and a Republican did this!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts not long enough for a column
I just started this blog. Have been arranging political stuff I wrote over the last month, so I'm sorry if things have jumped around (if anyone is reading). It should settle down. I have some pieces about other matters I’ll post after the election.
Local TV station just suggested that if BO is elected President, Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr. will be appointed to his senate seat. Dear God, is there no end to the trouble you are sending this Republic?
My friend Margaret from Mensa sent me a suggestion that Congress Critters be required to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, with the logo of their corporate sponsor on it. That works for me.
My sailing buddy George, from two trips on the Maine Windjammer Lewis R. French, sent me the next great bumper sticker, for the coming Obama administration: O-Bummer! I think he can make some dollars on e-bay. "Another Taxpayer Mugged by Obama" will also sell well--next year.
Polls show that Congress’s approval rating is about 12%--and that the public is going to vote strongly Democrat, to strengthen the leadership of the current Congress, so they get more of the same. I think it was H. L. Mencken who said something like, “Democracy is the theory that the public knows what it wants, and deserves to get it good and hard.”
I think it will be Obama by 315+ electoral votes, at least 54-46 in the popular vote. But McCain may have one more Hail Mary in him. Maybe he’ll announce his cabinet this week, as I’ve been hoping. Or maybe a tape of Obama talking to Rezko, or Raines, or Ayers or Rev. Wright will emerge.
All the people who didn’t pay taxes, which I read is about 40%, have been promised a (bribe)“tax rebate check" if they’ll vote for Obama. That should put him well over the top. I wonder how long they will have to wait for their payment for their vote?
If a miracle should happen, and McCain wins, I’m immediately going to put a new sticker over my McCain sticker. I’m living in Cook County, home of the Daley-Obama machine. I bet the riots will be worse here than elsewhere.
I expect if Obama wins, there will be some inner city parties that will get out of hand anyway, not to mention wild celebrations in the Muslin world. I’m sure President-elect Obama will deplore the deaths and promise in Bill Clinton fashion to “bring the perpetrators to justice.” Unfortunately, all this will be after the election.
Here's a well-done, funny video abut the news after President Obama takes office. We have to keep our sense of humor. http://hillbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/people-sure-have-gotten-creative-this-campaign-season/
Who do the special interests like? And what ROI do they expect from the guy who comes from the Chicago Machine to clean up Washington? “More than 600 donors contributed $25,000 or more to (Obama) in September alone, roughly 3 times the number who did the same for McCain.” Source: New York Times, 10/20/08
I just started this blog. Have been arranging political stuff I wrote over the last month, so I'm sorry if things have jumped around (if anyone is reading). It should settle down. I have some pieces about other matters I’ll post after the election.
Local TV station just suggested that if BO is elected President, Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr. will be appointed to his senate seat. Dear God, is there no end to the trouble you are sending this Republic?
My friend Margaret from Mensa sent me a suggestion that Congress Critters be required to wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, with the logo of their corporate sponsor on it. That works for me.
My sailing buddy George, from two trips on the Maine Windjammer Lewis R. French, sent me the next great bumper sticker, for the coming Obama administration: O-Bummer! I think he can make some dollars on e-bay. "Another Taxpayer Mugged by Obama" will also sell well--next year.
Polls show that Congress’s approval rating is about 12%--and that the public is going to vote strongly Democrat, to strengthen the leadership of the current Congress, so they get more of the same. I think it was H. L. Mencken who said something like, “Democracy is the theory that the public knows what it wants, and deserves to get it good and hard.”
I think it will be Obama by 315+ electoral votes, at least 54-46 in the popular vote. But McCain may have one more Hail Mary in him. Maybe he’ll announce his cabinet this week, as I’ve been hoping. Or maybe a tape of Obama talking to Rezko, or Raines, or Ayers or Rev. Wright will emerge.
All the people who didn’t pay taxes, which I read is about 40%, have been promised a (bribe)“tax rebate check" if they’ll vote for Obama. That should put him well over the top. I wonder how long they will have to wait for their payment for their vote?
If a miracle should happen, and McCain wins, I’m immediately going to put a new sticker over my McCain sticker. I’m living in Cook County, home of the Daley-Obama machine. I bet the riots will be worse here than elsewhere.
I expect if Obama wins, there will be some inner city parties that will get out of hand anyway, not to mention wild celebrations in the Muslin world. I’m sure President-elect Obama will deplore the deaths and promise in Bill Clinton fashion to “bring the perpetrators to justice.” Unfortunately, all this will be after the election.
Here's a well-done, funny video abut the news after President Obama takes office. We have to keep our sense of humor. http://hillbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/people-sure-have-gotten-creative-this-campaign-season/
Who do the special interests like? And what ROI do they expect from the guy who comes from the Chicago Machine to clean up Washington? “More than 600 donors contributed $25,000 or more to (Obama) in September alone, roughly 3 times the number who did the same for McCain.” Source: New York Times, 10/20/08
Keep yourself informed
Stay informed. Below are some good free sources of information:
www.ncpa.org
The National Center of Policy Analysis, a free-market think tank, will send you free their “Daily Policy Analysis,” a short synopsis of five or six interesting stories about the economy, tax policy, health care and the environment. Always worth reading and often forwarding.
www.jihadwatch.com
Jihad Watch is a great resource for the history of the world wide effort to bring everyone under the tyranny of Shari’a Law, eliminating freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and woman’s right. They will send you free their daily e-newsletters, with links to Jihad-related stories of the on-going daily attacks by “the small minority of extremists” (pretty busy small minority!) who have “Hijacked Islam, a Religion of Peace” on Christians, Jews, Buddhists, westerners, assorted Kuffir and each other. Also links to translations of the Qur’an and the Hadith or Sunna, the collections of the traditions of the Prophet (Peace be Upon All of Us!) which are considered authoritative. Be warned, if you quote the Qur’an, you will be labeled “Islamophobic.”
http://townhall.com/ref/connected
You can subscribe to a free daily e-mail that gives you links to columns by conservative writers.
On days when you are too busy, you can hit the “delete” key, no extra cost.
Another great site is www.tsowell.com, for the every-brilliant Dr. Thomas Sowell, for links to his list of must-read books on economics, race, and culture, and an achieve of his columns. Interesting take on being a writer, and a great list of his favorite quotes as well.
www.ncpa.org
The National Center of Policy Analysis, a free-market think tank, will send you free their “Daily Policy Analysis,” a short synopsis of five or six interesting stories about the economy, tax policy, health care and the environment. Always worth reading and often forwarding.
www.jihadwatch.com
Jihad Watch is a great resource for the history of the world wide effort to bring everyone under the tyranny of Shari’a Law, eliminating freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and woman’s right. They will send you free their daily e-newsletters, with links to Jihad-related stories of the on-going daily attacks by “the small minority of extremists” (pretty busy small minority!) who have “Hijacked Islam, a Religion of Peace” on Christians, Jews, Buddhists, westerners, assorted Kuffir and each other. Also links to translations of the Qur’an and the Hadith or Sunna, the collections of the traditions of the Prophet (Peace be Upon All of Us!) which are considered authoritative. Be warned, if you quote the Qur’an, you will be labeled “Islamophobic.”
http://townhall.com/ref/connected
You can subscribe to a free daily e-mail that gives you links to columns by conservative writers.
On days when you are too busy, you can hit the “delete” key, no extra cost.
Another great site is www.tsowell.com, for the every-brilliant Dr. Thomas Sowell, for links to his list of must-read books on economics, race, and culture, and an achieve of his columns. Interesting take on being a writer, and a great list of his favorite quotes as well.
Obama Loves Me
Obama Loves Me
Tune: Jesus Loves Me
(To be sung in all Churches, Synagogues and Mosques the weekend before the election)
Obama loves me, this I know,
For the media tell me so,
All our lives to him belong—
He’s The One who’s never wrong!
Chorus: Yes, Obama loves me,
Yes Obama loves me,
Yes, Obama loves me,
The media tell me so.
Obama is the only one
Who knows just what must now be done.
He will give us free health care,
So “Hope and Change” is now our prayer!
Reverend Wright he never heard
Damning America, we have his word,
Rezko and Raines are now no shows,
And William Ayers he hardly knows!
He’ll tax the rich ‘til they are poor,
So we won’t have to work no more.
Obama makes all Europe rave,
For he will make terrorists behave.
Do not question, do not ask,
Do not peek behind the mask,
Change will come Election Day,
For Daley’s with him all the way.
Obama loves me, this I know,
Hollywood fat cats tell me so,
He’s handsome, wise and not too old,
So we must vote just as we’re told!
Tune: Jesus Loves Me
(To be sung in all Churches, Synagogues and Mosques the weekend before the election)
Obama loves me, this I know,
For the media tell me so,
All our lives to him belong—
He’s The One who’s never wrong!
Chorus: Yes, Obama loves me,
Yes Obama loves me,
Yes, Obama loves me,
The media tell me so.
Obama is the only one
Who knows just what must now be done.
He will give us free health care,
So “Hope and Change” is now our prayer!
Reverend Wright he never heard
Damning America, we have his word,
Rezko and Raines are now no shows,
And William Ayers he hardly knows!
He’ll tax the rich ‘til they are poor,
So we won’t have to work no more.
Obama makes all Europe rave,
For he will make terrorists behave.
Do not question, do not ask,
Do not peek behind the mask,
Change will come Election Day,
For Daley’s with him all the way.
Obama loves me, this I know,
Hollywood fat cats tell me so,
He’s handsome, wise and not too old,
So we must vote just as we’re told!
What to Expect From President Obama
What to Expect From President Obama
Robert A. Hall
John McCain’s jet couldn’t avoid the rocket that plunged him into five years of Communist hell in 1967. It’s now clear that McCain’s campaign can’t avoid another rocket, and the country will be plunged into four years of an Obama Administration.
The rocket coming at McCain is Bush and the economy. Obama must love the irony. McCain was Bush’s implacable enemy in the Republican Party, an apostate to the far right. And McCain sought to rein in Fannie and Freddie with S-190 in 2005, while recipients of Fannie contributions, like Senators Dodd and Obama, defeated the attempt. Now McCain’s old nemesis Bush and the Fannie-fueled economic implosion will bring McCain down.
What can we expect from President Obama?
1. It won’t be as bad as conservatives think. It’s hard to move the bloated bureaucracy off the shining path of making bureaucrats comfortable. Obama won’t be able to swing the country as far left as his base hopes. Plus the economic meltdown will tie the hands of the next president, regardless.
2. Despite his class warfare speeches, the most productive members of society won’t suffer as much as Obama’s leftist supporters want. But people without education and skills will hurt more. Taxing those who make over $250,000 sounds sweet to the boobocracy, but the threshold for the upper 5% of taxpayers is only $153,000. There just ain’t enough “rich” to pay for all the goodies, so the rest of us will. And raising the Capital Gains Tax as Obama has promised reduces revenue by driving job-creating capital from the market—just what we need. Obama will have less experience and a stronger Democratic congressional majority than Jimmy Carter. Remember interest rates, unemployment and inflation in the Carter years?
3. Republicans will do well in the 2010 midterm, as the corruption shoe fits the other foot. Democrats will now have more opportunities, and Obama is tied to the Fannie Mae looters and the Daley machine, all eager to get their hands back in the cookie jar. The fawning media will have a huge emotional letdown when Obama turns out to be just another Chicago politician, and will turn on him savagely. You read it here first.
4. Obama is deeply committed to multilateralism and working with Europe and the UN. But they are deeply committed to inaction. So in foreign policy, expect lots of talk and little action. He’ll push the war in Afghanistan hard or look weak. And he’ll follow the Clinton Doctrine of firing off a few missiles and talking tough after every terrorist attack.
5. There will be terrorist attacks. Watch for the Arab street to go wild with joy after Obama’s win is announced. Doubtless a few Jews and Christians will be murdered in celebration, creating hand-wringing and empty vows to “bring them to justice.” But the inevitably cut-and-run and chaos in Iraq, and the inevitable military cutbacks of an Obama administration will embolden our enemies, who will strengthen and attack. Israel will have to take out Iran’s atomic program alone, or die.
6. Watch for increasing accommodation to the stealth Jihad at home. Criticism of Islam and Muslims will become illegal as “hate speech,” though trashing Christians and Jews will still be fine. Every Muslim demand acceded to will lead to new demands. Resistance will be labeled “racism” as though Islam was a race, rather than a political-religious philosophy.
So what must we do?
Call out every speck of political corruption.
Call out politicians of both parties who push to spend military dollars on high-tech weapons to get votes rather than on the trained troops we need for this war.
Call out every attempt to silence dissent against creeping Islamization and the tyranny of Sharia.
And fight to preserve the Republic for the next Reagan, who will defeat this new Carter in four years.
Robert A. Hall
John McCain’s jet couldn’t avoid the rocket that plunged him into five years of Communist hell in 1967. It’s now clear that McCain’s campaign can’t avoid another rocket, and the country will be plunged into four years of an Obama Administration.
The rocket coming at McCain is Bush and the economy. Obama must love the irony. McCain was Bush’s implacable enemy in the Republican Party, an apostate to the far right. And McCain sought to rein in Fannie and Freddie with S-190 in 2005, while recipients of Fannie contributions, like Senators Dodd and Obama, defeated the attempt. Now McCain’s old nemesis Bush and the Fannie-fueled economic implosion will bring McCain down.
What can we expect from President Obama?
1. It won’t be as bad as conservatives think. It’s hard to move the bloated bureaucracy off the shining path of making bureaucrats comfortable. Obama won’t be able to swing the country as far left as his base hopes. Plus the economic meltdown will tie the hands of the next president, regardless.
2. Despite his class warfare speeches, the most productive members of society won’t suffer as much as Obama’s leftist supporters want. But people without education and skills will hurt more. Taxing those who make over $250,000 sounds sweet to the boobocracy, but the threshold for the upper 5% of taxpayers is only $153,000. There just ain’t enough “rich” to pay for all the goodies, so the rest of us will. And raising the Capital Gains Tax as Obama has promised reduces revenue by driving job-creating capital from the market—just what we need. Obama will have less experience and a stronger Democratic congressional majority than Jimmy Carter. Remember interest rates, unemployment and inflation in the Carter years?
3. Republicans will do well in the 2010 midterm, as the corruption shoe fits the other foot. Democrats will now have more opportunities, and Obama is tied to the Fannie Mae looters and the Daley machine, all eager to get their hands back in the cookie jar. The fawning media will have a huge emotional letdown when Obama turns out to be just another Chicago politician, and will turn on him savagely. You read it here first.
4. Obama is deeply committed to multilateralism and working with Europe and the UN. But they are deeply committed to inaction. So in foreign policy, expect lots of talk and little action. He’ll push the war in Afghanistan hard or look weak. And he’ll follow the Clinton Doctrine of firing off a few missiles and talking tough after every terrorist attack.
5. There will be terrorist attacks. Watch for the Arab street to go wild with joy after Obama’s win is announced. Doubtless a few Jews and Christians will be murdered in celebration, creating hand-wringing and empty vows to “bring them to justice.” But the inevitably cut-and-run and chaos in Iraq, and the inevitable military cutbacks of an Obama administration will embolden our enemies, who will strengthen and attack. Israel will have to take out Iran’s atomic program alone, or die.
6. Watch for increasing accommodation to the stealth Jihad at home. Criticism of Islam and Muslims will become illegal as “hate speech,” though trashing Christians and Jews will still be fine. Every Muslim demand acceded to will lead to new demands. Resistance will be labeled “racism” as though Islam was a race, rather than a political-religious philosophy.
So what must we do?
Call out every speck of political corruption.
Call out politicians of both parties who push to spend military dollars on high-tech weapons to get votes rather than on the trained troops we need for this war.
Call out every attempt to silence dissent against creeping Islamization and the tyranny of Sharia.
And fight to preserve the Republic for the next Reagan, who will defeat this new Carter in four years.
The Quest for Cosmic Justice
“The Quest for Cosmic Justice” by Dr. Thomas Sowell was recommended to me by a fellow Mensa member. I’ve been reading Sowell’s excellent books on economics, and have just purchased a couple of his books on race and culture, which I haven’t gotten to yet.
I think “The Quest for Cosmic Justice” is a must read for anyone who considers him/herself an intellectual. For liberals, it will help you understand where conservatives come from. And if you cannot articulate answers to Sowell, rather than just dismiss him, that should tell you something. It’s short. (I read it in a 24-hour period during which I also slept, went out to eat, made two shopping forays to several stores, attended a kids’ birthday party, visited friends with a new baby and watched Penn State beat Ohio State by seven.) It is, however, intellectually challenging and mentally stimulating—I would not recommend it to anyone without good cognitive powers and the ability to focus mentally to follow intellectually arguments.
“Quest” lays out the conservative world view, which believes in traditional justice verse “cosmic justice.” It explains clearly why, based on evidence and outcomes, conservatives believe liberal policies harm, perhaps irreparably, both our civilization and the people they are intended to benefit, such as the poor and minorities. After reading it, you will understand why this black intellectual strongly opposes Barack Obama.
Sowell’s discussion of the place of the “rule of law” in a free society is must reading for anyone in business or managing an organization, because you will not know if you are in violation of current anti-trust or discrimination law until you are in court, with the burden of proving that you are innocent on you—a reversal of our legal tradition.
When discussing the liberal view that the way to peace is disarmament and “personal contacts” (personal diplomacy) with people like Hitler, Sowell in 1999 anticipated one of the issues of the 2008 election, that of having “talks without pre-conditions” with countries like Iran. He points out that we now know that Hitler and his fellow tyrants held Chamberlin and other western leaders who went hat-in-hand to see him in contempt, and that their attempted negotiations were viewed as weakness that fed his dreams of conquest.
His section on the quiet repeal of the American Revolution is chilling for anyone who cares about the future of our free Republic.
Sowell believes that policies should be tested against the evidence before being enacted and judged by the results, not the intentions of policy makers, afterwards. What a radical, right-wing thought!
“Quest” says some things I’ve been saying for years, including that liberals are not as concerned about the outcomes and who suffers as they are in feeling good about having done the “right thing,” regardless of who is harmed. The millions who have died because of liberal policies, the millions trapped in poverty or living under oppressive governments because of their policies are of no interest to them, as long as their vision of “cosmic justice” was fulfilled. Sowell just says it more clearly, more intelligently, and with a broader reference of historical and economic facts than I could bring to bear.
For those who haven’t read “A Personal Odyssey,” Sowell’s excellent autobiography, he was born to a poor black family in NC. They didn’t have electricity, hot water or an indoor privy. By 17, he was on his own, supporting himself in NY City, working in a machine shop. He dropped out of high school. Was drafted into the Marines for two years. After that, he worked his way into and through Harvard (this was before affirmative action), then earned a master’s degree in economics, and eventually earned a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.
He has taught economics at Cornell, UCLA, Stanford and several other top universities. His columns appear in many papers, and his books on economics, especially “Basic Economics” are used as text books in many universities. He also writes widely on race and culture. Contrary to press reports he has never been a Republican. He started his academic life as a Marxist, but looked at the evidence and the results for real people, not the intentions of the policy makers. He is now the leading free market economist in the country.
Okay, after reading four of his books, it’s now clear that Thomas Sowell is better educated, more intelligent, more articulate, a better writer and far more influential than I am. But I was a Staff Sergeant of Marines and he was only a Corporal. So there!
I think “The Quest for Cosmic Justice” is a must read for anyone who considers him/herself an intellectual. For liberals, it will help you understand where conservatives come from. And if you cannot articulate answers to Sowell, rather than just dismiss him, that should tell you something. It’s short. (I read it in a 24-hour period during which I also slept, went out to eat, made two shopping forays to several stores, attended a kids’ birthday party, visited friends with a new baby and watched Penn State beat Ohio State by seven.) It is, however, intellectually challenging and mentally stimulating—I would not recommend it to anyone without good cognitive powers and the ability to focus mentally to follow intellectually arguments.
“Quest” lays out the conservative world view, which believes in traditional justice verse “cosmic justice.” It explains clearly why, based on evidence and outcomes, conservatives believe liberal policies harm, perhaps irreparably, both our civilization and the people they are intended to benefit, such as the poor and minorities. After reading it, you will understand why this black intellectual strongly opposes Barack Obama.
Sowell’s discussion of the place of the “rule of law” in a free society is must reading for anyone in business or managing an organization, because you will not know if you are in violation of current anti-trust or discrimination law until you are in court, with the burden of proving that you are innocent on you—a reversal of our legal tradition.
When discussing the liberal view that the way to peace is disarmament and “personal contacts” (personal diplomacy) with people like Hitler, Sowell in 1999 anticipated one of the issues of the 2008 election, that of having “talks without pre-conditions” with countries like Iran. He points out that we now know that Hitler and his fellow tyrants held Chamberlin and other western leaders who went hat-in-hand to see him in contempt, and that their attempted negotiations were viewed as weakness that fed his dreams of conquest.
His section on the quiet repeal of the American Revolution is chilling for anyone who cares about the future of our free Republic.
Sowell believes that policies should be tested against the evidence before being enacted and judged by the results, not the intentions of policy makers, afterwards. What a radical, right-wing thought!
“Quest” says some things I’ve been saying for years, including that liberals are not as concerned about the outcomes and who suffers as they are in feeling good about having done the “right thing,” regardless of who is harmed. The millions who have died because of liberal policies, the millions trapped in poverty or living under oppressive governments because of their policies are of no interest to them, as long as their vision of “cosmic justice” was fulfilled. Sowell just says it more clearly, more intelligently, and with a broader reference of historical and economic facts than I could bring to bear.
For those who haven’t read “A Personal Odyssey,” Sowell’s excellent autobiography, he was born to a poor black family in NC. They didn’t have electricity, hot water or an indoor privy. By 17, he was on his own, supporting himself in NY City, working in a machine shop. He dropped out of high school. Was drafted into the Marines for two years. After that, he worked his way into and through Harvard (this was before affirmative action), then earned a master’s degree in economics, and eventually earned a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago.
He has taught economics at Cornell, UCLA, Stanford and several other top universities. His columns appear in many papers, and his books on economics, especially “Basic Economics” are used as text books in many universities. He also writes widely on race and culture. Contrary to press reports he has never been a Republican. He started his academic life as a Marxist, but looked at the evidence and the results for real people, not the intentions of the policy makers. He is now the leading free market economist in the country.
Okay, after reading four of his books, it’s now clear that Thomas Sowell is better educated, more intelligent, more articulate, a better writer and far more influential than I am. But I was a Staff Sergeant of Marines and he was only a Corporal. So there!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Are you smarter than a Democrat?
Are you smarter than a Democrat?
Take this 10-question quiz and find out?
1. How many states are there in the United States?
A. 48
B. 50
C. 58
D. 60
Your answer: _________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: D
May 9, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama: “It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it." AK & HI would make 60, after he visits the 58th state where he is “allowed” to go.
2. The Stock Market crashed in 1929. Franklin D. Roosevelt became president of the United States in January of?
A. 1925
B. 1929
C. 1933
D. 1936
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: C.
Sen. Joe Biden’s answer: B.
See quote after question 3.
3. When did a president first speak on television?
A. 1929
B. 1933
C. 1934
D. 1939
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: D.
Joe Biden’s Answer: A.
September 23, 2008: Sen. Joseph Biden: “When the stock market crashed (Note: in 1929), Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'”
In 1936, there were about 200 televisions in use worldwide. But very few American homes had TV until after the war. Franklin Roosevelt was the first President to speak on TV—in 1939, ten years after the Market crashed.
4. Do they speak the same language in Iraq and Afghanistan?
A. Yes
B. No
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s answer: A
On Memorial Day, 2008, Sen. Obama stated that U.S. military Arabic translators in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan. “We only have a certain number of them, and if they are all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them in Afghanistan.” The problem is Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashto, Farsi, or other non-Arabic languages. So to transfer the translators from Iraq to Afghanistan would be a worthless effort.
5. Who liberated the Auschwitz concentration came in Germany?
A. American Troops
B. Soviet Red Army Troops
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
Speaking in New Mexico on Memorial Day, Obama said a great-uncle had helped to liberate the Auschwitz death camp at the end of World War II. "I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps," Obama said.
The Red Army liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
6. If you wanted to condemn the Russians for invading Georgia, you should:
A. Ask the UN Security Council, where Russia has a veto, to condemn Russia, in hopes that Russia will vote to condemn herself.
B. just go on TV and condemn them.
Your vote: __________
Correct Answer: B.
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
August 26, 2008: "I condemn Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and call upon all countries of the world not to accord any legitimacy to this action," Obama said. In his written statement that marked a toughening of his rhetoric toward Russia, Obama also said the United States should call for an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council to condemn Moscow's decision in coordination with European allies.
7. The leader of Canada is the:
A. President
B. Prime Minister
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B.
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
August 7, 2007: Barack Obama said, "I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA….”
8. How many people died when the tornado destroyed the town of Greensburg, KS in May, 2008?
A. 10,000
B. 12
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
May 8, 2007. Sen. Obama said, "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed." 12 had died.
9. The terrible “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, AL, iconic to the Civil Rights movement, took place what year?
A. 1960
B. 1961
C. 1965
D. 1969
Your answer: __________
Correct Answer: C
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
“My parents got together because of what happened in Selma.” - Barack Obama, marking the anniversary of the March 1965 “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. Obama was born in 1961.
10. Iran is a serious threat to the United States?
A. Yes.
B. No
C. Yes and No.
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: Most experts say A.
Barack Obama’s Answer: C
May 18, 2008: Iran doesn’t “pose a serious threat to us.” - Barack Obama, stating that “tiny countries” with small defense budgets cannot do us harm. The next day he stated, “I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave.”
Take this 10-question quiz and find out?
1. How many states are there in the United States?
A. 48
B. 50
C. 58
D. 60
Your answer: _________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: D
May 9, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama: “It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it." AK & HI would make 60, after he visits the 58th state where he is “allowed” to go.
2. The Stock Market crashed in 1929. Franklin D. Roosevelt became president of the United States in January of?
A. 1925
B. 1929
C. 1933
D. 1936
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: C.
Sen. Joe Biden’s answer: B.
See quote after question 3.
3. When did a president first speak on television?
A. 1929
B. 1933
C. 1934
D. 1939
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: D.
Joe Biden’s Answer: A.
September 23, 2008: Sen. Joseph Biden: “When the stock market crashed (Note: in 1929), Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'”
In 1936, there were about 200 televisions in use worldwide. But very few American homes had TV until after the war. Franklin Roosevelt was the first President to speak on TV—in 1939, ten years after the Market crashed.
4. Do they speak the same language in Iraq and Afghanistan?
A. Yes
B. No
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s answer: A
On Memorial Day, 2008, Sen. Obama stated that U.S. military Arabic translators in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan. “We only have a certain number of them, and if they are all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them in Afghanistan.” The problem is Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashto, Farsi, or other non-Arabic languages. So to transfer the translators from Iraq to Afghanistan would be a worthless effort.
5. Who liberated the Auschwitz concentration came in Germany?
A. American Troops
B. Soviet Red Army Troops
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
Speaking in New Mexico on Memorial Day, Obama said a great-uncle had helped to liberate the Auschwitz death camp at the end of World War II. "I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps," Obama said.
The Red Army liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
6. If you wanted to condemn the Russians for invading Georgia, you should:
A. Ask the UN Security Council, where Russia has a veto, to condemn Russia, in hopes that Russia will vote to condemn herself.
B. just go on TV and condemn them.
Your vote: __________
Correct Answer: B.
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
August 26, 2008: "I condemn Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and call upon all countries of the world not to accord any legitimacy to this action," Obama said. In his written statement that marked a toughening of his rhetoric toward Russia, Obama also said the United States should call for an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council to condemn Moscow's decision in coordination with European allies.
7. The leader of Canada is the:
A. President
B. Prime Minister
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B.
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
August 7, 2007: Barack Obama said, "I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA….”
8. How many people died when the tornado destroyed the town of Greensburg, KS in May, 2008?
A. 10,000
B. 12
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: B
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
May 8, 2007. Sen. Obama said, "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed." 12 had died.
9. The terrible “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, AL, iconic to the Civil Rights movement, took place what year?
A. 1960
B. 1961
C. 1965
D. 1969
Your answer: __________
Correct Answer: C
Barack Obama’s Answer: A
“My parents got together because of what happened in Selma.” - Barack Obama, marking the anniversary of the March 1965 “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. Obama was born in 1961.
10. Iran is a serious threat to the United States?
A. Yes.
B. No
C. Yes and No.
Your Answer: __________
Correct Answer: Most experts say A.
Barack Obama’s Answer: C
May 18, 2008: Iran doesn’t “pose a serious threat to us.” - Barack Obama, stating that “tiny countries” with small defense budgets cannot do us harm. The next day he stated, “I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave.”
Is Obama buying votes? What else do we call it?
A guy named Fred with only a dollar to his name learns a trade, gets a job, works hard, and earns a tight living for his family. At thirty, he decides to take a risk. Fred mortgages the house a second time, borrows a lot of money and starts his own business. He works 70-80 hours a week, and eventually hires a few people, who can then support their families. He works harder and, unlike many people who take this kind of risk, Fred doesn’t go bust. Thirty years later, the business is a success, Fred’s 60, he employs 30 people who support their families because Fred took the risk and worked hard, and Fred’s now earning $300,000 a year. He’s also in the top 3% of taxpayers, paying the highest tax rate, about 35%. Fred’s a success, and his family is comfortable, but it took years of back-breaking work, and he risked losing everything he had to get there.
One night, a thug who never worked a 40-hour week in his life sticks a gun in Fred’s belly, and takes his wallet, with $800 in it, which he shares with his pals, who also never worked full time. (Fred has to give the wallet up, because he lives in a state where the Democrats won’t let him carry a gun to protect himself. Besides, if he shoots the thug, preventing him from robbing other hard working people, Fred might well go to jail.)
We call that theft.
But suppose Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress decide Fred’s now rich, and they send the IRS to take another $15,000 a year from him, to share with lots of people (who voted for Obama), who never took a risk to start a business, or worked a 40-hour week in their lives.
Sen. Obama calls that “being fair” and “spreading the wealth around.” I still call it theft.
Fred decides to hell with it, takes early retirement, sells the business to someone who works only 40 hours a week, in two years it folds, and the employees are laid off. They and Fred stop paying much in taxes, so those still working have to pay even more.
The Democrats call that “bad luck.”
Or suppose I offered to pay people $10 to vote for me, back when I ran for the state senate?
We’d call that a bribe and I’d have gone to jail for corruption.
But suppose Barack Obama promises the 40% of the people who don’t pay any taxes at all, that, if elected, he’s going to raise taxes on Fred and the others in the top 5% (those earning $153,000 and up, according to the IRS, not $250,000 and up as Obama claims) and he’s going to take that money and send a government check worth $500 or $1,000 to each of those people who didn’t pay any taxes. All they have to do to get their cash reward is vote for Sen. Obama.
Sen. Obama calls that “cutting taxes” and a “tax credit” for those people. I still call it a bribe.
If white people vote for John McCain, just because he’s white, we rightly call that racism. If black people vote for Barack Obama just because he’s black, we keep our mouths shut.
When Sen. Obama raises $150 million in donations, in one month, the media calls it an expression of his strong support. When Bush raised far less, they called it obscene.
I’d say it’s time to call a spade a spade. But Democrats would doubtless call that racism, though the phrase was first translated into English from the Greek in 1542, and “spade” as an ethnic slur only dates to about 1928.
What things are called matters. Unfortunately, that’s usually decided by the media. And we know where they stand.
One night, a thug who never worked a 40-hour week in his life sticks a gun in Fred’s belly, and takes his wallet, with $800 in it, which he shares with his pals, who also never worked full time. (Fred has to give the wallet up, because he lives in a state where the Democrats won’t let him carry a gun to protect himself. Besides, if he shoots the thug, preventing him from robbing other hard working people, Fred might well go to jail.)
We call that theft.
But suppose Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress decide Fred’s now rich, and they send the IRS to take another $15,000 a year from him, to share with lots of people (who voted for Obama), who never took a risk to start a business, or worked a 40-hour week in their lives.
Sen. Obama calls that “being fair” and “spreading the wealth around.” I still call it theft.
Fred decides to hell with it, takes early retirement, sells the business to someone who works only 40 hours a week, in two years it folds, and the employees are laid off. They and Fred stop paying much in taxes, so those still working have to pay even more.
The Democrats call that “bad luck.”
Or suppose I offered to pay people $10 to vote for me, back when I ran for the state senate?
We’d call that a bribe and I’d have gone to jail for corruption.
But suppose Barack Obama promises the 40% of the people who don’t pay any taxes at all, that, if elected, he’s going to raise taxes on Fred and the others in the top 5% (those earning $153,000 and up, according to the IRS, not $250,000 and up as Obama claims) and he’s going to take that money and send a government check worth $500 or $1,000 to each of those people who didn’t pay any taxes. All they have to do to get their cash reward is vote for Sen. Obama.
Sen. Obama calls that “cutting taxes” and a “tax credit” for those people. I still call it a bribe.
If white people vote for John McCain, just because he’s white, we rightly call that racism. If black people vote for Barack Obama just because he’s black, we keep our mouths shut.
When Sen. Obama raises $150 million in donations, in one month, the media calls it an expression of his strong support. When Bush raised far less, they called it obscene.
I’d say it’s time to call a spade a spade. But Democrats would doubtless call that racism, though the phrase was first translated into English from the Greek in 1542, and “spade” as an ethnic slur only dates to about 1928.
What things are called matters. Unfortunately, that’s usually decided by the media. And we know where they stand.
Why will President Obama have low poll numbers?
Joe Biden predicted that if Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis: "Mark my words, within the … first six months of this administration …, you're gonna face a major international challenge, because they are going to want to test him ..." Biden followed that up with, "You're not going to like what we do; you're not going to appreciate our response. Our poll numbers are probably going to be low after this happens, so please hang in there with us, 'cause it's going to be bad. It may not look like we're doing the right thing."
About two years down the road, President-to-be Obama’s poll numbers will look like the Democrat Congress’s numbers do today. An international crisis, with a Washington rookie at the helm, would certainly do it. But there are a lot of reasons Obama’s numbers will be low.
The economy: Sure, Obama will be able to blame Bush for a year or two, despite his Fannie-Looter advisers like Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson. But after two years of Democrat control of the White House and Congress, there will be no Republicans to blame. Obama is locked into increasing trade barriers for the union bosses he owes. Not even little Columbia will get a trade break. Trade barriers raise prices and cost jobs across the economy. (Look up Smoot-Hawley.)
And Obama has promised Capital Gains tax increases to help pay for the “tax credits” he’s offering people to vote for him. Capital Gains taxes drive job-creating investments out of the market, and thus actually reduce government revenue. And they will sink what’s left of millions of folk’s IRAs and 401ks. Remember high inflation, unemployment and interest rates under Jimmy Carter and his strongly-Democrat Congress? They’re coming back.
Taxes: President Obama has promised 40% of the people a “tax credit” bribe to vote for him. Though they didn’t pay any taxes, they’ll all get a check for $500 or $1,000. He’ll just take the money from the top 5% of taxpayers, people he says earn over $250,000. The IRS says the top 5% starts at $153,000 and for the top 10%, who already pay 70% of the taxes, the threshold is only $108,000. When they find out how much their taxes have to go up to pay for the Obama landslide, there’s going to be hell to pay.
Lawsuits: The trial lawyers will be riding high. They’ve invested a pile of money in Obama and the Democrats, and they expect a return on their investment, especially because every top Democrat is a lawyer: the Obamas, the Clintons, Biden, Edwards, Pelosi, and Reid. But Americans are sick of the “sue-everyone-in-sight” culture. When they see lawsuits spiking, and figure out what it costs them, they’ll notice that only Democrat lawyers are in charge.
Corruption: Obama promises to clean up Washington, but this friend of convicted political fixer Tony Rezko is a critter right from Mayor Daley’s Chicago Machine, and he counts the folks who took $150 million out of Fannie among his top advisors. Once it’s mainly Democrats getting caught with their hands in cookie jars, their poll numbers will sink faster than the stock market after a Capital Gains tax increase.
Terrorists: Democrats have other priorities than the military and defense. Obama will have little choice but to eviscerate the military, as Clinton did, to help pay for all the goodies. That, and his naïve “we’ll talk to them and they’ll behave” approach to rogue states will embolden our enemies. It will get nasty again. So Biden’s right in that way; an international crisis is likely to be part of President Obama’s depressing poll numbers. But only part. Just hang in there.
About two years down the road, President-to-be Obama’s poll numbers will look like the Democrat Congress’s numbers do today. An international crisis, with a Washington rookie at the helm, would certainly do it. But there are a lot of reasons Obama’s numbers will be low.
The economy: Sure, Obama will be able to blame Bush for a year or two, despite his Fannie-Looter advisers like Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson. But after two years of Democrat control of the White House and Congress, there will be no Republicans to blame. Obama is locked into increasing trade barriers for the union bosses he owes. Not even little Columbia will get a trade break. Trade barriers raise prices and cost jobs across the economy. (Look up Smoot-Hawley.)
And Obama has promised Capital Gains tax increases to help pay for the “tax credits” he’s offering people to vote for him. Capital Gains taxes drive job-creating investments out of the market, and thus actually reduce government revenue. And they will sink what’s left of millions of folk’s IRAs and 401ks. Remember high inflation, unemployment and interest rates under Jimmy Carter and his strongly-Democrat Congress? They’re coming back.
Taxes: President Obama has promised 40% of the people a “tax credit” bribe to vote for him. Though they didn’t pay any taxes, they’ll all get a check for $500 or $1,000. He’ll just take the money from the top 5% of taxpayers, people he says earn over $250,000. The IRS says the top 5% starts at $153,000 and for the top 10%, who already pay 70% of the taxes, the threshold is only $108,000. When they find out how much their taxes have to go up to pay for the Obama landslide, there’s going to be hell to pay.
Lawsuits: The trial lawyers will be riding high. They’ve invested a pile of money in Obama and the Democrats, and they expect a return on their investment, especially because every top Democrat is a lawyer: the Obamas, the Clintons, Biden, Edwards, Pelosi, and Reid. But Americans are sick of the “sue-everyone-in-sight” culture. When they see lawsuits spiking, and figure out what it costs them, they’ll notice that only Democrat lawyers are in charge.
Corruption: Obama promises to clean up Washington, but this friend of convicted political fixer Tony Rezko is a critter right from Mayor Daley’s Chicago Machine, and he counts the folks who took $150 million out of Fannie among his top advisors. Once it’s mainly Democrats getting caught with their hands in cookie jars, their poll numbers will sink faster than the stock market after a Capital Gains tax increase.
Terrorists: Democrats have other priorities than the military and defense. Obama will have little choice but to eviscerate the military, as Clinton did, to help pay for all the goodies. That, and his naïve “we’ll talk to them and they’ll behave” approach to rogue states will embolden our enemies. It will get nasty again. So Biden’s right in that way; an international crisis is likely to be part of President Obama’s depressing poll numbers. But only part. Just hang in there.
Why I'm voting Democrat
Several older versions of this were floating around the net. I added 16 items, dropped a few, and rewrote about half of the rest, so it's about 2/3rds new. It has been picked up several places, so I thought I'd post it myself.
WHY I'M VOTING DEMOCRAT!
I’m voting Democrat because like most Americans I trust Lawyers more than anyone else, I think only lawyers should run the government, and all the Democrat Leaders are lawyers: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John Edwards, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Harry Reid, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry, to name just a few. (Al Gore dropped out of Law School, so I don’t trust him as much, except on Global Warming.)
I’m voting Democrat because the Democrats support the trial lawyers and I think this country needs more lawsuits and less tort reform. And I don’t believe the trial lawyers’ contributions have a thing to do with it.
I’m voting Democrat because Congress has done such a wonderful job under Democrat leadership the last two years, that I want a lot more of the same.
I’m voting Democrat because I want to get my health care from the same competent, efficient, cost-effective, customer-service-focused folks who run the US Post Office, the Pentagon, FEMA and the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves. Besides I live in Mayor Daley's/Sen. Obama's Cook County, where there is never any serious crime.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to cut the taxes of 95% of the people, including the 40% who don’t pay taxes. Those who don't work deserve checks from those who do--it's only fair.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to take away the secret ballot in union elections, and I think the union bosses should know if a workingman or woman is with them, or against them.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has over three years experience in the Federal Government, and “Hope” is a great strategy.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama voted “present” instead of “yes” or “no” over 120 times in the Illinois State Senate, and I think we need a decisive president.
I’m voting Democrat because I think that drilling for American oil is foolish, when we can buy oil from the Middle East.
I’m voting Democrat because I think windmills (except off Hyannis) are a better answer to reliable, clean energy than Nuclear Energy.
I’m voting Democrat because I don’t think we give enough to other countries in foreign aid.
I’m voting Democrat because I’m for putting up barriers to free trade, as they did in 1930 with the Smoot-Hawley bill. That made things much better then.
I’m voting Democrat because I miss the high unemployment, inflation and interest rates of the Jimmy Carter years.
I’m voting Democrat because parents shouldn’t get to choose the school their kids go to. Parents should leave their children’s education to the teachers and stay out of it.
I’m voting Democrat because I think this is the perfect time to raise the Capital Gains tax and drive investment money out of the stock market.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't. And I want Sen. Obama's new tax on oil companies, to drive the price of gas back up.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would, and I want to spread my wealth around to those who earn less—or nothing.
I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as you don't criticize Muslims or minorities. That should be outlawed as "hate speech."
I'm voting Democrat because, when we pull out of Iraq, I trust that the bad guys will stop attacking us because they now think we're good people.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us what the weather will be next week, can tell us what it will be 50 years from now.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about restoring partial birth abortions so long as we keep all death row murderers alive.
I 'm voting Democrat because I believe that small businesses should not be allowed to make a profit. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution to people who didn’t start businesses.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the law is what judges say it is, and not what legislators say—or the constitution.
I’m voting Democrat because there will be riots if McCain wins.
I’m voting Democrat because the media would call me a racist if I didn’t.
WHY I'M VOTING DEMOCRAT!
I’m voting Democrat because like most Americans I trust Lawyers more than anyone else, I think only lawyers should run the government, and all the Democrat Leaders are lawyers: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John Edwards, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Harry Reid, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry, to name just a few. (Al Gore dropped out of Law School, so I don’t trust him as much, except on Global Warming.)
I’m voting Democrat because the Democrats support the trial lawyers and I think this country needs more lawsuits and less tort reform. And I don’t believe the trial lawyers’ contributions have a thing to do with it.
I’m voting Democrat because Congress has done such a wonderful job under Democrat leadership the last two years, that I want a lot more of the same.
I’m voting Democrat because I want to get my health care from the same competent, efficient, cost-effective, customer-service-focused folks who run the US Post Office, the Pentagon, FEMA and the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves. Besides I live in Mayor Daley's/Sen. Obama's Cook County, where there is never any serious crime.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to cut the taxes of 95% of the people, including the 40% who don’t pay taxes. Those who don't work deserve checks from those who do--it's only fair.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to take away the secret ballot in union elections, and I think the union bosses should know if a workingman or woman is with them, or against them.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has over three years experience in the Federal Government, and “Hope” is a great strategy.
I’m voting Democrat because Sen. Obama voted “present” instead of “yes” or “no” over 120 times in the Illinois State Senate, and I think we need a decisive president.
I’m voting Democrat because I think that drilling for American oil is foolish, when we can buy oil from the Middle East.
I’m voting Democrat because I think windmills (except off Hyannis) are a better answer to reliable, clean energy than Nuclear Energy.
I’m voting Democrat because I don’t think we give enough to other countries in foreign aid.
I’m voting Democrat because I’m for putting up barriers to free trade, as they did in 1930 with the Smoot-Hawley bill. That made things much better then.
I’m voting Democrat because I miss the high unemployment, inflation and interest rates of the Jimmy Carter years.
I’m voting Democrat because parents shouldn’t get to choose the school their kids go to. Parents should leave their children’s education to the teachers and stay out of it.
I’m voting Democrat because I think this is the perfect time to raise the Capital Gains tax and drive investment money out of the stock market.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't. And I want Sen. Obama's new tax on oil companies, to drive the price of gas back up.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would, and I want to spread my wealth around to those who earn less—or nothing.
I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as you don't criticize Muslims or minorities. That should be outlawed as "hate speech."
I'm voting Democrat because, when we pull out of Iraq, I trust that the bad guys will stop attacking us because they now think we're good people.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us what the weather will be next week, can tell us what it will be 50 years from now.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about restoring partial birth abortions so long as we keep all death row murderers alive.
I 'm voting Democrat because I believe that small businesses should not be allowed to make a profit. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution to people who didn’t start businesses.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the law is what judges say it is, and not what legislators say—or the constitution.
I’m voting Democrat because there will be riots if McCain wins.
I’m voting Democrat because the media would call me a racist if I didn’t.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Why I'm not a liberal
Why I'm not a liberal
Robert A. Hall
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves. -- T.S. Eliot, 1950
Nothing made liberals feel more self-satisfied than their opposition to American involvement in Vietnam. Not only did they force evil “Amerika” out of the war, but they cut off military support to South Vietnam, so that when–surprise—the North broke the peace treaty and invaded the South, it had no chance.
North Vietnam invaded with more tanks than the Nazis used to conquer France in 1940. Cambodia fell to the Communists as well, and the Khmer Rogue murdered a quarter of the population. In South Vietnam, tens of thousands died in “re-education camps.” Millions fled the country, with many thousands of “boat people” drowning, or being raped and murdered. It's been claimed that twice as many people were murdered in SE Asia by the Communists in the first two years after the war ended, than died in the course of the eight-year war.
Vietnam became a permanent one-party state, without freedom of the press or speech. The Montagnards are being slowly exterminated. Liberals didn’t want these people to suffer and die, it just didn’t interest them. It was more important they think well of themselves. If that means a few million yellow-skinned people have to die, so what?
Liberals fought to end evil white rule in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), imposing economic sanctions until in 1978 a black-majority government, headed by Robert Mugabe, was installed. Farms were taken from the evil white farmers and given to black supporters of Mugabe—unfortunately, farming skills were not included in the transfer. Today, Zimbabwe, which once exported food, is starving. Life expectancy has declined from 60 to 37 for males, and to 34 for females. Infant mortality has gone from 53 to 81 deaths per 1,000.
But if millions of black people have to suffer and die so white liberals can think well of themselves, that’s a small price. Unfortunately, South Africa is on the same path. Liberals fought apartheid until black rule was establish there as well. Since then soaring crime has driven out those who can afford to flee. According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, 800,000 or more whites out of four million plus have emigrated since apartheid ended. Skilled blacks who have the financial resources are bolting as well. They take with them the knowledge to run an economy and government. But the disintegration of South Africa isn’t a suitable topic for the Brie and white wine set in wealthy liberal neighborhoods like Chicago’s Hyde Park. They feel so good about having established black rule, that the suffering of millions of blacks people is of no consequence.
Another liberal triumph was bringing down the evil, pro-American Shah of Iran. Since then, Iran has hanged Gays, stoned women for adultery, engaged in a war with Iraq that slaughtered millions, and started work on an Atomic Bomb to create a new holocaust in Israel. No matter to liberals as long as they can feel self-satisfied about opposing the Shah.
Liberals all read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and fought to ban DDT, to save the birds. That banning DDT resulted in the deaths of millions of third world children from Malaria doesn’t intrude on their self-congratulations.
Liberals fought to force the evil banks to make loans to poor people through the community reinvestment act and developed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create “Affordable Housing.” The collapse of those institutions is of no concern to them. It was the greedy Wall Street Investors who created the current economic meltdown, not them, don’t you know?
Liberals reading this will be enraged. Their intentions were good, and for liberals, intentions are far more important than outcomes.
Now they are about to elect the most liberal, inexperienced president in America’s history, because voting for a black man will make them feel so good about themselves. And they won’t take any responsibility for what comes next.
Because being a liberal means never having to say you’re sorry.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran and former Massachusetts state senator.
Permission to publish or forward this opinion piece is granted without restriction.
Update: About a week after I read this post, I read The Quest for Cosmic Justice, by Dr. Thomas Sowell, which makes this and other points, only much better. See my post on that subject. Better yet, read the book.
Robert A. Hall
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves. -- T.S. Eliot, 1950
Nothing made liberals feel more self-satisfied than their opposition to American involvement in Vietnam. Not only did they force evil “Amerika” out of the war, but they cut off military support to South Vietnam, so that when–surprise—the North broke the peace treaty and invaded the South, it had no chance.
North Vietnam invaded with more tanks than the Nazis used to conquer France in 1940. Cambodia fell to the Communists as well, and the Khmer Rogue murdered a quarter of the population. In South Vietnam, tens of thousands died in “re-education camps.” Millions fled the country, with many thousands of “boat people” drowning, or being raped and murdered. It's been claimed that twice as many people were murdered in SE Asia by the Communists in the first two years after the war ended, than died in the course of the eight-year war.
Vietnam became a permanent one-party state, without freedom of the press or speech. The Montagnards are being slowly exterminated. Liberals didn’t want these people to suffer and die, it just didn’t interest them. It was more important they think well of themselves. If that means a few million yellow-skinned people have to die, so what?
Liberals fought to end evil white rule in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), imposing economic sanctions until in 1978 a black-majority government, headed by Robert Mugabe, was installed. Farms were taken from the evil white farmers and given to black supporters of Mugabe—unfortunately, farming skills were not included in the transfer. Today, Zimbabwe, which once exported food, is starving. Life expectancy has declined from 60 to 37 for males, and to 34 for females. Infant mortality has gone from 53 to 81 deaths per 1,000.
But if millions of black people have to suffer and die so white liberals can think well of themselves, that’s a small price. Unfortunately, South Africa is on the same path. Liberals fought apartheid until black rule was establish there as well. Since then soaring crime has driven out those who can afford to flee. According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, 800,000 or more whites out of four million plus have emigrated since apartheid ended. Skilled blacks who have the financial resources are bolting as well. They take with them the knowledge to run an economy and government. But the disintegration of South Africa isn’t a suitable topic for the Brie and white wine set in wealthy liberal neighborhoods like Chicago’s Hyde Park. They feel so good about having established black rule, that the suffering of millions of blacks people is of no consequence.
Another liberal triumph was bringing down the evil, pro-American Shah of Iran. Since then, Iran has hanged Gays, stoned women for adultery, engaged in a war with Iraq that slaughtered millions, and started work on an Atomic Bomb to create a new holocaust in Israel. No matter to liberals as long as they can feel self-satisfied about opposing the Shah.
Liberals all read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and fought to ban DDT, to save the birds. That banning DDT resulted in the deaths of millions of third world children from Malaria doesn’t intrude on their self-congratulations.
Liberals fought to force the evil banks to make loans to poor people through the community reinvestment act and developed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create “Affordable Housing.” The collapse of those institutions is of no concern to them. It was the greedy Wall Street Investors who created the current economic meltdown, not them, don’t you know?
Liberals reading this will be enraged. Their intentions were good, and for liberals, intentions are far more important than outcomes.
Now they are about to elect the most liberal, inexperienced president in America’s history, because voting for a black man will make them feel so good about themselves. And they won’t take any responsibility for what comes next.
Because being a liberal means never having to say you’re sorry.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran and former Massachusetts state senator.
Permission to publish or forward this opinion piece is granted without restriction.
Update: About a week after I read this post, I read The Quest for Cosmic Justice, by Dr. Thomas Sowell, which makes this and other points, only much better. See my post on that subject. Better yet, read the book.
A metaphysical, philosophical and psychological comparison of the candidates
A metaphysical, philosophical and psychological comparison of the candidates
Describe in one word:
--McCain: Experienced
--Obama: Trendy
If his national defense policy was a martial art:
--McCain: Karate
--Obama: Tai Chi
If his administration was a meal:
--McCain: Steak, potatoes, broccoli (because it’s good for you), side of horseradish
--Obama: Tofu and bean sprouts
If his administration was a drink:
--McCain: Microbrew beer or aged whisky
--Obama: French wine or mineral water
Star who’d best portray his personality in a movie about the election:
--McCain: Clint Eastwood
--Obama: Woody Allen
Ruling value:
--McCain: Freedom
--Obama: Consensus
Most political-valuable trait:
--McCain: Determination
--Obama: Articulation
Educational knock:
--McCain: Got into Annapolis because father & grandfather were admirals.
--Obama: Got into Harvard because of affirmative action.
Most courageous moment:
--McCain: Flying fighter-bombers off aircraft carriers into combat, surviving five years of torture as a POW, and refusing early release, as it was against the POW’s code.
--Obama: Making anti-war speech to anti-war crowd in Chicago, when most national Democrats were supporting Bush on Iraq.
Ego book he wrote:
--McCain: Tribute to his family’s and his own service in the Navy and to patriotism. (Faith of My Fathers)
--Obama: Two tributes to himself (Dreams of my Father and The Audacity of Hope)
His election would most please:
--McCain: Veterans who served and love America
--Obama: Europeans and Muslims who loath America
President he’ll be most like:
--McCain: Teddy Roosevelt
--Obama: Jimmy Carter
Priorities:
--McCain: Keeping America safe, rebuilding the economy
--Obama: Helping the disadvantaged, the poor, the Chicago machine, the union bosses and the trial lawyers.
Person he wishes he never met:
--McCain: Charles Keating
--Obama: Three-way tie: Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rev. Wright
Economic philosophy
--McCain: Free enterprise and free trade
--Obama: Spread the Wealth Around
Made his political reputation:
--McCain: Opposing his own party on things like stem cell research and earmarks.
--Obama: Giving a great speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004, when he was still a state senator, and writing two books about himself.
If only one group could vote, who would the candidates chose:
--McCain: Veterans
--Obama: Welfare recipients
Position on Islamic Terrorists
--McCain: Hunt them down and kill them
--Obama: “If the political winds turn ugly, I will side with the Muslims.” (Dreams of my Father.)
Promise he can’t keep:
--McCain: Will Veto any bill with earmarks. (A Democrat controlled Congress can make every bill, for defense, education, etc. full of earmarks for favored legislators.)
--Obama: Will cut taxes for 95% of the people. (About 30% don’t pay taxes.)
Biggest irony:
--McCain: Will probably lose because Sarah Palin is viewed as unqualified, though she has more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined.
--Obama: Will probably win because the mortgage crises, led by Fannie Mae, collapsed the economy, though he supported Fannie and took the second most money in political contributions from Fannie employees/PACS, while McCain sponsored legislation in 2005, S-190, to better regulate Fannie.
If he loses, will blame:
--McCain: Himself
--Obama: Racism, the Clintons
People who know the candidate best:
--McCain: His fellow POWs
--Obama: Mayor Daley, Sen. Emil Jones, Tony Rezko and other fellow members of the Chicago political machine
In 50 years, will be remembered as:
--McCain: American patriot and hero
--Obama: Pop-culture icon
Describe in one word:
--McCain: Experienced
--Obama: Trendy
If his national defense policy was a martial art:
--McCain: Karate
--Obama: Tai Chi
If his administration was a meal:
--McCain: Steak, potatoes, broccoli (because it’s good for you), side of horseradish
--Obama: Tofu and bean sprouts
If his administration was a drink:
--McCain: Microbrew beer or aged whisky
--Obama: French wine or mineral water
Star who’d best portray his personality in a movie about the election:
--McCain: Clint Eastwood
--Obama: Woody Allen
Ruling value:
--McCain: Freedom
--Obama: Consensus
Most political-valuable trait:
--McCain: Determination
--Obama: Articulation
Educational knock:
--McCain: Got into Annapolis because father & grandfather were admirals.
--Obama: Got into Harvard because of affirmative action.
Most courageous moment:
--McCain: Flying fighter-bombers off aircraft carriers into combat, surviving five years of torture as a POW, and refusing early release, as it was against the POW’s code.
--Obama: Making anti-war speech to anti-war crowd in Chicago, when most national Democrats were supporting Bush on Iraq.
Ego book he wrote:
--McCain: Tribute to his family’s and his own service in the Navy and to patriotism. (Faith of My Fathers)
--Obama: Two tributes to himself (Dreams of my Father and The Audacity of Hope)
His election would most please:
--McCain: Veterans who served and love America
--Obama: Europeans and Muslims who loath America
President he’ll be most like:
--McCain: Teddy Roosevelt
--Obama: Jimmy Carter
Priorities:
--McCain: Keeping America safe, rebuilding the economy
--Obama: Helping the disadvantaged, the poor, the Chicago machine, the union bosses and the trial lawyers.
Person he wishes he never met:
--McCain: Charles Keating
--Obama: Three-way tie: Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rev. Wright
Economic philosophy
--McCain: Free enterprise and free trade
--Obama: Spread the Wealth Around
Made his political reputation:
--McCain: Opposing his own party on things like stem cell research and earmarks.
--Obama: Giving a great speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004, when he was still a state senator, and writing two books about himself.
If only one group could vote, who would the candidates chose:
--McCain: Veterans
--Obama: Welfare recipients
Position on Islamic Terrorists
--McCain: Hunt them down and kill them
--Obama: “If the political winds turn ugly, I will side with the Muslims.” (Dreams of my Father.)
Promise he can’t keep:
--McCain: Will Veto any bill with earmarks. (A Democrat controlled Congress can make every bill, for defense, education, etc. full of earmarks for favored legislators.)
--Obama: Will cut taxes for 95% of the people. (About 30% don’t pay taxes.)
Biggest irony:
--McCain: Will probably lose because Sarah Palin is viewed as unqualified, though she has more executive experience than Obama and Biden combined.
--Obama: Will probably win because the mortgage crises, led by Fannie Mae, collapsed the economy, though he supported Fannie and took the second most money in political contributions from Fannie employees/PACS, while McCain sponsored legislation in 2005, S-190, to better regulate Fannie.
If he loses, will blame:
--McCain: Himself
--Obama: Racism, the Clintons
People who know the candidate best:
--McCain: His fellow POWs
--Obama: Mayor Daley, Sen. Emil Jones, Tony Rezko and other fellow members of the Chicago political machine
In 50 years, will be remembered as:
--McCain: American patriot and hero
--Obama: Pop-culture icon
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Three Reasons to Support McCain
Three Reasons to Support McCain
Robert A. Hall
Security
If Islamic Terrorists obtain the materials and knowhow, they will set off an atomic bomb in Washington, DC, murdering millions, triggering the worst depression in history, and guaranteeing the suspension of constitutional liberties to gain security.
They believe Allah commands them to establish Islam as a unified political-religious system controlling the world, where women are chattel and freedom of speech and religion no longer exist.
John McCain has the experience, leadership and demonstrated courage to protect us from creeping accommodation with the tyranny of Shari’a law, and a Jihad that includes nuclear genocide.
Economy
The implosion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over bad mortgages is driving the economic turmoil. In 2005, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill, S-190, was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill to give regulators new powers would have required the companies eliminate investments in risky assets. John McCain was one of three sponsors of the bill. It was blocked by Senate Democrats, including Chris Dodd and Barack Obama, who were the leading recipients of political contributions from employees and PACs of Fannie and Freddie over the years.
Obama has attacked free trade through NAFTA and promised to “soak the rich” by raising capital gains taxes. Hopefully he’s just pandering to economically-ignorant voters. His advisors must know raising trade barriers locked in the great depression, and that increasing the CG tax has always reduced government revenue, by driving job-creating investments out of the market. But can we take the chance he’s lying?
A naïve President Obama backed by a solidly Democratic congress will give us the situation of the late 1970s, when a naïve President Carter, backed by a strongly Democratic congress produced interest rates over 20%, and a “misery index” (inflation and unemployment combined) that hit 22%. Brace yourself.
Experience
If choosing an airline pilot, a heart surgeon or a carpenter, you’d choose one with over 20 year’s experience before one with under four. Sen. Obama doesn’t have four year’s experience at the national level, to McCain’s 20+ years. As Commander-in-Chief, McCain has over 20 years in the military, Obama zero.
Obama’s assertion that Iraq was soaking up translators needed in Afghanistan (they speak different languages) and that we should ask the UN Security Council to condemn Russia’s invasion of Georgia (Russia has a Council veto) betray a minimal understanding of world affairs that no rock-star speech in Germany can remedy.
These are the best reasons to back McCain. But if you need more, Obama, like most Democrat leaders, is an attorney, deeply committed to the trial lawyers, whose lawsuits drive up the cost of health care and everything else. He’s deeply committed to teachers’ unions, thus opposed to parental choice of schools and fixing our crumbling system. He’s deeply committed to labor bosses, thus supports taking the secret union ballot away from working people. Despite recent pandering, he’s deeply opposed to developing America’s energy sources—think $10-a-gallon gas in four years.
And he’s probably going to be our next president. But don’t blame me. I’m voting for McCain.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts senate.
Robert A. Hall
Security
If Islamic Terrorists obtain the materials and knowhow, they will set off an atomic bomb in Washington, DC, murdering millions, triggering the worst depression in history, and guaranteeing the suspension of constitutional liberties to gain security.
They believe Allah commands them to establish Islam as a unified political-religious system controlling the world, where women are chattel and freedom of speech and religion no longer exist.
John McCain has the experience, leadership and demonstrated courage to protect us from creeping accommodation with the tyranny of Shari’a law, and a Jihad that includes nuclear genocide.
Economy
The implosion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over bad mortgages is driving the economic turmoil. In 2005, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill, S-190, was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill to give regulators new powers would have required the companies eliminate investments in risky assets. John McCain was one of three sponsors of the bill. It was blocked by Senate Democrats, including Chris Dodd and Barack Obama, who were the leading recipients of political contributions from employees and PACs of Fannie and Freddie over the years.
Obama has attacked free trade through NAFTA and promised to “soak the rich” by raising capital gains taxes. Hopefully he’s just pandering to economically-ignorant voters. His advisors must know raising trade barriers locked in the great depression, and that increasing the CG tax has always reduced government revenue, by driving job-creating investments out of the market. But can we take the chance he’s lying?
A naïve President Obama backed by a solidly Democratic congress will give us the situation of the late 1970s, when a naïve President Carter, backed by a strongly Democratic congress produced interest rates over 20%, and a “misery index” (inflation and unemployment combined) that hit 22%. Brace yourself.
Experience
If choosing an airline pilot, a heart surgeon or a carpenter, you’d choose one with over 20 year’s experience before one with under four. Sen. Obama doesn’t have four year’s experience at the national level, to McCain’s 20+ years. As Commander-in-Chief, McCain has over 20 years in the military, Obama zero.
Obama’s assertion that Iraq was soaking up translators needed in Afghanistan (they speak different languages) and that we should ask the UN Security Council to condemn Russia’s invasion of Georgia (Russia has a Council veto) betray a minimal understanding of world affairs that no rock-star speech in Germany can remedy.
These are the best reasons to back McCain. But if you need more, Obama, like most Democrat leaders, is an attorney, deeply committed to the trial lawyers, whose lawsuits drive up the cost of health care and everything else. He’s deeply committed to teachers’ unions, thus opposed to parental choice of schools and fixing our crumbling system. He’s deeply committed to labor bosses, thus supports taking the secret union ballot away from working people. Despite recent pandering, he’s deeply opposed to developing America’s energy sources—think $10-a-gallon gas in four years.
And he’s probably going to be our next president. But don’t blame me. I’m voting for McCain.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts senate.
The Fannie Looters
The Fannie Looters
We are the Fannie Looters,
We looted Fannie Mae,
Now we advise Barack,
So you will have to pay.
My name is Franklin Raines,
I was Fannie’s C. E. O.,
I took my ninety million
And now advise B. O.
We are the Fannie Looters,
We’re rolling in the bucks,
We raked in mega-millions
So you are out of luck!
I’m “Sweetheart” Jimmy Johnson,
I’m glad you were asleep,
First I looted Fannie,
Then helped to pick the Veep!
We are the Fannie Looters,
Who made the market crash,
Since we’re Obama’s buddies
You’ll pony up the cash.
My name is Timmy Howard,
I was Fannie’s C. F. O.,
I had a golden parachute,
So I now advise B. O.
We call Barack B. O.,
It isn’t why you think,
Sure those are his initials,
By we have made them stink!
We are the Fannie Looters,
We looted Fannie Mae,
Now we advise Obama,
Who says that crime don’t pay?
And we who looted Fannie,
You can bet we’re coming back—
We’re going to be in government
When you fools elect Barack!
Permission to forward, publish, record or present “the Fannie Looters” is granted without restriction by the author.
We are the Fannie Looters,
We looted Fannie Mae,
Now we advise Barack,
So you will have to pay.
My name is Franklin Raines,
I was Fannie’s C. E. O.,
I took my ninety million
And now advise B. O.
We are the Fannie Looters,
We’re rolling in the bucks,
We raked in mega-millions
So you are out of luck!
I’m “Sweetheart” Jimmy Johnson,
I’m glad you were asleep,
First I looted Fannie,
Then helped to pick the Veep!
We are the Fannie Looters,
Who made the market crash,
Since we’re Obama’s buddies
You’ll pony up the cash.
My name is Timmy Howard,
I was Fannie’s C. F. O.,
I had a golden parachute,
So I now advise B. O.
We call Barack B. O.,
It isn’t why you think,
Sure those are his initials,
By we have made them stink!
We are the Fannie Looters,
We looted Fannie Mae,
Now we advise Obama,
Who says that crime don’t pay?
And we who looted Fannie,
You can bet we’re coming back—
We’re going to be in government
When you fools elect Barack!
Permission to forward, publish, record or present “the Fannie Looters” is granted without restriction by the author.
Obama says time to move on, names cabinet
Obama says time to move on, names cabinet
FPI: Dateline Chicago, October 8, 2008. Presumptive President Barrack H. Obama today said that, based on the polls, media confirmation, and input from political experts in Hollywood, the 2008 Presidential Election “is effectively over, and it’s time to move on.”
“John McCain may want to put the American Taxpayer through the wasteful expense of actually voting,” the next president forcefully said, “but I’m moving forward and today I’m naming many members of my cabinet.”
Obama appeared relaxed and sure of himself. Looking every inch the greatest president who ever lived, as even some moderates have conceded he will certainly become, Senator Obama announced several cabinet positions in the incoming Obama administration. “These appointments are effect January 20, or sooner if that Bush guy will just step aside,” the Senator said.
Secretary of Defense: William Ayers. This was the big surprise, as Obama has said he hardly knows Ayers, who hosted election events for Obama at his home in Obama’s early campaigns, and served on a board of a left wing organization with Obama. “Who knows the Pentagon better than someone who tried to blow it up?” Obama asked the cheering crowd. “Who better to get the troops out of Iraq, and every place else, than someone who attacked them here at home?” Obama denied Republican’s claims that the appointment was a political reward for Ayers support of his earlier campaigns. “As I’ve said repeatedly, I hardly know him. We sat on opposite ends of the board table—when we showed up—and I don’t think he was home when my campaign event was held in his house.”
Secretary of the Treasury: Franklin D. Raines, with deputy secretaries Jim Johnson and Tim Howard. “Who better to run the country’s economy than the three men who made Fannie Mae such a bulwark of affordable housing and economic success?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And, since they took about $150,000,000 out of Fannie, they certainly don’t need the money and are serving only because I begged them to.”
Secretary of Homeland Security: Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. “His dad knew how to keep troublemakers in line, and this Mayor can do the same,” Obama said. “No one in the Chicago organization, me included, ever thought of criticizing the Mayor. He’ll keep a firm hand on any problems, and probably find time to help Frank Raines over at the treasury, if any problems come up.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Michelle Obama. “It’ll give her something to do, to make her proud of America,” the incoming president said. “I can’t have her rattling around the White House all day, especially while it’s being painted a more diverse color.”
Attorney General: Tony Rezko. “Tony knows the criminal justice system inside out, he knows how to cut a deal, and it was the least I could do for him after he helped me buy a house and raise so much campaign cash.” Smear-prone Republicans continued their vicious attack ads, pointing out that Rezko was a convicted felon, currently serving time. “The constitution wisely gives the president the power to grant pardons” Obama pointed out “I’m not waiting until the end of my term, as Bill Clinton did to help his convicted supporters, when I need Tony in my administration now.” A grateful Rezko reportedly refused additional interviews with agents probing political corruption in Illinois.
Secretary of Education. President-in-all-but-name Obama said that he had offered the position to a teacher’s union lobbyist, but that the secretary-designate was deciding if the cut in pay was worth it. “I promise you, however, that whoever holds this job will put teachers first, and no teacher’s job will be jeopardized by poor performance or by feckless parents choosing to send their children to a better school. I’m not that pro-choice!”
The One declined to name a new Secretary of Labor at this time. “We’re still counting votes,” Obama said, “But it will be someone who doesn’t support letting working people vote secretly on union issues, as I promised my loyal supporters among union leaders. The bosses should know how the rank and file vote, so they can take the appropriate action.”
“We have to be judicious in these things,” Obama said. “For example, I’ve narrowed the choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency to Michael Moore, Barbara Streisand or the Dixie Chicks. But I don’t want to move too fast and make my first mistake.”
Obama said he wasn’t able to name all of the cabinet, because contribution checks were still being tallied. “And wait until you see who I’m going to put on the expanded 15-Member Supreme Court,” he said, winking at the laughing reporters. “Can you say Chief Justice Hillary?”
Senator Obama then left for a meeting with the people he has designated to take over the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the incoming JCS Chairman, newly-promoted General Beau Biden. Accompanying the incoming president was the new Director of the CIA, Aldrich Ames, and Bernadette Dohrn, who will head up the FBI.
(Satire from Fake Press International. Not actual quotes.)
FPI: Dateline Chicago, October 8, 2008. Presumptive President Barrack H. Obama today said that, based on the polls, media confirmation, and input from political experts in Hollywood, the 2008 Presidential Election “is effectively over, and it’s time to move on.”
“John McCain may want to put the American Taxpayer through the wasteful expense of actually voting,” the next president forcefully said, “but I’m moving forward and today I’m naming many members of my cabinet.”
Obama appeared relaxed and sure of himself. Looking every inch the greatest president who ever lived, as even some moderates have conceded he will certainly become, Senator Obama announced several cabinet positions in the incoming Obama administration. “These appointments are effect January 20, or sooner if that Bush guy will just step aside,” the Senator said.
Secretary of Defense: William Ayers. This was the big surprise, as Obama has said he hardly knows Ayers, who hosted election events for Obama at his home in Obama’s early campaigns, and served on a board of a left wing organization with Obama. “Who knows the Pentagon better than someone who tried to blow it up?” Obama asked the cheering crowd. “Who better to get the troops out of Iraq, and every place else, than someone who attacked them here at home?” Obama denied Republican’s claims that the appointment was a political reward for Ayers support of his earlier campaigns. “As I’ve said repeatedly, I hardly know him. We sat on opposite ends of the board table—when we showed up—and I don’t think he was home when my campaign event was held in his house.”
Secretary of the Treasury: Franklin D. Raines, with deputy secretaries Jim Johnson and Tim Howard. “Who better to run the country’s economy than the three men who made Fannie Mae such a bulwark of affordable housing and economic success?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And, since they took about $150,000,000 out of Fannie, they certainly don’t need the money and are serving only because I begged them to.”
Secretary of Homeland Security: Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. “His dad knew how to keep troublemakers in line, and this Mayor can do the same,” Obama said. “No one in the Chicago organization, me included, ever thought of criticizing the Mayor. He’ll keep a firm hand on any problems, and probably find time to help Frank Raines over at the treasury, if any problems come up.”
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Michelle Obama. “It’ll give her something to do, to make her proud of America,” the incoming president said. “I can’t have her rattling around the White House all day, especially while it’s being painted a more diverse color.”
Attorney General: Tony Rezko. “Tony knows the criminal justice system inside out, he knows how to cut a deal, and it was the least I could do for him after he helped me buy a house and raise so much campaign cash.” Smear-prone Republicans continued their vicious attack ads, pointing out that Rezko was a convicted felon, currently serving time. “The constitution wisely gives the president the power to grant pardons” Obama pointed out “I’m not waiting until the end of my term, as Bill Clinton did to help his convicted supporters, when I need Tony in my administration now.” A grateful Rezko reportedly refused additional interviews with agents probing political corruption in Illinois.
Secretary of Education. President-in-all-but-name Obama said that he had offered the position to a teacher’s union lobbyist, but that the secretary-designate was deciding if the cut in pay was worth it. “I promise you, however, that whoever holds this job will put teachers first, and no teacher’s job will be jeopardized by poor performance or by feckless parents choosing to send their children to a better school. I’m not that pro-choice!”
The One declined to name a new Secretary of Labor at this time. “We’re still counting votes,” Obama said, “But it will be someone who doesn’t support letting working people vote secretly on union issues, as I promised my loyal supporters among union leaders. The bosses should know how the rank and file vote, so they can take the appropriate action.”
“We have to be judicious in these things,” Obama said. “For example, I’ve narrowed the choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency to Michael Moore, Barbara Streisand or the Dixie Chicks. But I don’t want to move too fast and make my first mistake.”
Obama said he wasn’t able to name all of the cabinet, because contribution checks were still being tallied. “And wait until you see who I’m going to put on the expanded 15-Member Supreme Court,” he said, winking at the laughing reporters. “Can you say Chief Justice Hillary?”
Senator Obama then left for a meeting with the people he has designated to take over the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the incoming JCS Chairman, newly-promoted General Beau Biden. Accompanying the incoming president was the new Director of the CIA, Aldrich Ames, and Bernadette Dohrn, who will head up the FBI.
(Satire from Fake Press International. Not actual quotes.)
Obama Blasts McCain Vietnam Surrender as “Stunt”
Obama Blasts McCain Vietnam Surrender as “Stunt”
San Francisco Chronicle-Daily Worker-Pravda: San Francisco, CA. Dateline, September 25, 2008.
Presumptive President Barack Obama today unleashed a blistering blast at his reeling rival, Senator John McCain, before a cheering crowd at a Vietnam Veterans for Obama rally. The audience waved the assault rifles and bibles to which they were clinging throughout the Senator’s magnificent speech.
Calling John McCain’s October, 1967 shoot down and capture by the North Vietnamese a “political stunt,” Obama pointed out that McCain “supinely surrendered” despite “superficial wounds.”
“If McCain is such a hero, how come he gave up so easily?” asked Senator Obama, whom all the Mainstream-Media-that-Matter and Hollywood Stars have conceded is sure to be elected president in November. “After all, we have only his word that he had two broken arms and a broken leg. It was just a political stunt to help McCain’s future political campaigns, by making him appear patriotic,” said the Flag-Pin-Wearing Obama.
Senator Obama, who is affectionately known as The-Choice-of-all-Europe, also effectively criticized McCain’s “vicious claim” that the North Vietnamese smashed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him, or that he was tortured during the five plus years when he was the “well-treated guest” of their government. “Anyone who would make such irresponsible statements, and thus damage our relationship with a friendly foreign government, isn’t fit to serve in the Illinois state senate, where I proudly voted “present” so many times, never mind to be leader of the Entire World as it Should Be, as I will be elected on November fourth,” said the President-To-Be. “This is the worst thing I’ve seen in my over three years' service in the United States Government!” the Veteran Legislator and Experienced Leader said.
But the President-in-Waiting wasn’t done ripping McCain. “John McLame criticizes my friend, political supporter and colleague Bill Ayers—whom I only know slightly— for not repenting that he and his wife took part in bombing New York City Police Headquarters, the Capitol building and the Pentagon, and for saying he hadn’t done enough to hurt America. But has McCain every repented of the bombing he did in North Vietnam? Not once! And he has the gall to talk about terrorists!” Ayers, now a respected professor in Daleyville after being acquitted on a technicality, has worked with Senator Obama as a fellow director of the Woods Fund and hosted Obama political gatherings in his home. The crowd sniggered delightedly at the clever “McLame” reference to McCain’s disabilities.
The one they call The One wasn’t done, “McCain also criticizes my friend and political fund raiser, Tony “The Fixer Felon” Rezko, for helping me get a few-hundred-K discount on my house. It’s a cheap shot to pick on someone in prison who can’t answer back—as former Yankee-Air-Pirate-War-Criminal-Prisoner McCain should know—but has John McCain ever paid back the Vietnamese government for the five and a half years he spent as their guest, with free room and board in, by his own admission, a Hilton? No—and he refused a generous offer from his gracious hosts to come home early, so it must have been a pretty plush freebee! Doubtless it was this largess that led McCain to support Vietnam’s lobbying effort for better trade relations!”
The crowd cheered wildly when the Next President joked about McCain’s inability to use e-mail and the Internet, because using a key board is painful for him, due to his war injuries. “He could type holding a pencil in his teeth to strike the keys. After all, an old fart like McCain has lots of time; it’s not like he’s out playing B-Ball or anything useful.”
The rapt attendees, all under age thirty, laughed until tears were streaming down their glowing young faces. “We want CHANGE, we want CHANGE NOW and we don’t care what KIND OF CHANGE it is,” they chanted, expressing their deep appreciation of the nuances of Senator Obama’s highly-detailed policy positions.
But their laughter dried up when Future Greatest-President-Ever Obama convincingly tied McCain to government waste. “McCain snidely condemns the millions in earmarks I brought home to my mentors in the Deserving Daley Dynasty in Chicago, and attacks my friend and valued advisor Franklin Raines for the well-earned compensation—under a paltry hundred million dollars by the way—he received while doing such a great job building Fannie Mae into the strong player in affordable American housing it is today, but has he ever mentioned the multi-million dollar fighter bomber he lost in North Vietnam, pulling off his political stunt? In my view, McCain should have to repay the taxpayers for the cost of both that aircraft, and the one he lost in the Forrestal fire, after he allowed it to be hit by a rocket accidently fired by another plane. With interest, of course, and not at the sweet discounted interest rate my friend and Veep-Pick-Advisor Jim Johnson got on his tiny $5 million in mortgages from Countrywide, either.”
Following his historic address, the Soon-To-Be-Elevated Senator shook hands with every worshipful member of the crowd of swooning supporters in the San Francisco VFW hall, estimated by this paper to be between 30,000 and 40,000 young Vietnam vets, before leaving ten minutes later for his weekly adoration session with the stars at yet another Hollywood fund raiser.
If they can make one after this devastating recital of facts by the God-Like Senator Obama, a rebuttal from the McCain camp will appear on page 17 of the Fashion Section, space available, if they can find someone to e-mail it to us.
Satire by Robert A. Hall, a Marine Vietnam Veteran and former Massachusetts state senator. Intended to be humor. Not real quotes. Please do not forward without this note!
San Francisco Chronicle-Daily Worker-Pravda: San Francisco, CA. Dateline, September 25, 2008.
Presumptive President Barack Obama today unleashed a blistering blast at his reeling rival, Senator John McCain, before a cheering crowd at a Vietnam Veterans for Obama rally. The audience waved the assault rifles and bibles to which they were clinging throughout the Senator’s magnificent speech.
Calling John McCain’s October, 1967 shoot down and capture by the North Vietnamese a “political stunt,” Obama pointed out that McCain “supinely surrendered” despite “superficial wounds.”
“If McCain is such a hero, how come he gave up so easily?” asked Senator Obama, whom all the Mainstream-Media-that-Matter and Hollywood Stars have conceded is sure to be elected president in November. “After all, we have only his word that he had two broken arms and a broken leg. It was just a political stunt to help McCain’s future political campaigns, by making him appear patriotic,” said the Flag-Pin-Wearing Obama.
Senator Obama, who is affectionately known as The-Choice-of-all-Europe, also effectively criticized McCain’s “vicious claim” that the North Vietnamese smashed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him, or that he was tortured during the five plus years when he was the “well-treated guest” of their government. “Anyone who would make such irresponsible statements, and thus damage our relationship with a friendly foreign government, isn’t fit to serve in the Illinois state senate, where I proudly voted “present” so many times, never mind to be leader of the Entire World as it Should Be, as I will be elected on November fourth,” said the President-To-Be. “This is the worst thing I’ve seen in my over three years' service in the United States Government!” the Veteran Legislator and Experienced Leader said.
But the President-in-Waiting wasn’t done ripping McCain. “John McLame criticizes my friend, political supporter and colleague Bill Ayers—whom I only know slightly— for not repenting that he and his wife took part in bombing New York City Police Headquarters, the Capitol building and the Pentagon, and for saying he hadn’t done enough to hurt America. But has McCain every repented of the bombing he did in North Vietnam? Not once! And he has the gall to talk about terrorists!” Ayers, now a respected professor in Daleyville after being acquitted on a technicality, has worked with Senator Obama as a fellow director of the Woods Fund and hosted Obama political gatherings in his home. The crowd sniggered delightedly at the clever “McLame” reference to McCain’s disabilities.
The one they call The One wasn’t done, “McCain also criticizes my friend and political fund raiser, Tony “The Fixer Felon” Rezko, for helping me get a few-hundred-K discount on my house. It’s a cheap shot to pick on someone in prison who can’t answer back—as former Yankee-Air-Pirate-War-Criminal-Prisoner McCain should know—but has John McCain ever paid back the Vietnamese government for the five and a half years he spent as their guest, with free room and board in, by his own admission, a Hilton? No—and he refused a generous offer from his gracious hosts to come home early, so it must have been a pretty plush freebee! Doubtless it was this largess that led McCain to support Vietnam’s lobbying effort for better trade relations!”
The crowd cheered wildly when the Next President joked about McCain’s inability to use e-mail and the Internet, because using a key board is painful for him, due to his war injuries. “He could type holding a pencil in his teeth to strike the keys. After all, an old fart like McCain has lots of time; it’s not like he’s out playing B-Ball or anything useful.”
The rapt attendees, all under age thirty, laughed until tears were streaming down their glowing young faces. “We want CHANGE, we want CHANGE NOW and we don’t care what KIND OF CHANGE it is,” they chanted, expressing their deep appreciation of the nuances of Senator Obama’s highly-detailed policy positions.
But their laughter dried up when Future Greatest-President-Ever Obama convincingly tied McCain to government waste. “McCain snidely condemns the millions in earmarks I brought home to my mentors in the Deserving Daley Dynasty in Chicago, and attacks my friend and valued advisor Franklin Raines for the well-earned compensation—under a paltry hundred million dollars by the way—he received while doing such a great job building Fannie Mae into the strong player in affordable American housing it is today, but has he ever mentioned the multi-million dollar fighter bomber he lost in North Vietnam, pulling off his political stunt? In my view, McCain should have to repay the taxpayers for the cost of both that aircraft, and the one he lost in the Forrestal fire, after he allowed it to be hit by a rocket accidently fired by another plane. With interest, of course, and not at the sweet discounted interest rate my friend and Veep-Pick-Advisor Jim Johnson got on his tiny $5 million in mortgages from Countrywide, either.”
Following his historic address, the Soon-To-Be-Elevated Senator shook hands with every worshipful member of the crowd of swooning supporters in the San Francisco VFW hall, estimated by this paper to be between 30,000 and 40,000 young Vietnam vets, before leaving ten minutes later for his weekly adoration session with the stars at yet another Hollywood fund raiser.
If they can make one after this devastating recital of facts by the God-Like Senator Obama, a rebuttal from the McCain camp will appear on page 17 of the Fashion Section, space available, if they can find someone to e-mail it to us.
Satire by Robert A. Hall, a Marine Vietnam Veteran and former Massachusetts state senator. Intended to be humor. Not real quotes. Please do not forward without this note!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Books for Congress
My fantasy of having great wealth is to start a foundation that would give a book a week to every member of Congress, every state legislator, every government policymaker, every opinion columnist and every candidate. "Economic Facts and Fallacies" by Dr. Thomas Sowell would be the second book we’d give out. First would be Sowell’s “Basic Economics.” Yes, it might not do any good. I recently cited to a newspaper columnist Sowell’s history of what happens to government revenues when you increase the Capital Gains Tax (hint: the opposite of what’s expected). The columnist told me those were “right wing facts” and he wasn’t interested in any facts that supported business. Really. Too many people want to discard any facts that don’t support their cherished illusions, preferring comfortable lies, which is why politicians of both parties get elected promising to do things that sound good, but hurt the majority of people they claim to be helping.
Reading Thomas Sowell would at least make it harder for them to do it with a straight face. And if every voter read Sowell, it would be much harder for politicians to pander to their uninformed prejudice. I think the books above should be required reading to hold public office, or to get a college degree.
Update: After posting this, I read Sowell's "The Quest for Cosmic Justice," published in 1999. There is no better discussion of the conservative world view, and how the outcome evidence demonstrates that liberal policies have greatly harmed, perhaps irreparably, both the larger society and the people they were intended to benefit, minorities and the "poor." They made the liberals feel wonderful, though, which Sowell (and I) believe was their main purpose. "Quest" is now number one on my "must read" list.
Reading Thomas Sowell would at least make it harder for them to do it with a straight face. And if every voter read Sowell, it would be much harder for politicians to pander to their uninformed prejudice. I think the books above should be required reading to hold public office, or to get a college degree.
Update: After posting this, I read Sowell's "The Quest for Cosmic Justice," published in 1999. There is no better discussion of the conservative world view, and how the outcome evidence demonstrates that liberal policies have greatly harmed, perhaps irreparably, both the larger society and the people they were intended to benefit, minorities and the "poor." They made the liberals feel wonderful, though, which Sowell (and I) believe was their main purpose. "Quest" is now number one on my "must read" list.