Llano Estacado

Obama today agreed to commit an additional 40,000 troops

2009-10-23T21:31:00.004-06:00

...to help fight Fox News. Jay Leno

In an attack on the press that we haven’t seen since Nixon’s “enemies” list Obama continues his war with Fox News.

“This is an administration that's getting very arrogant and slippery in its dealings with people. And if you dare to oppose them, they're going to come hard at you and they're going to cut your legs off." Karl Rove

No kidding. It’s ominous but in keeping with the attacks on the health care and insurance industry when they oppose him. When managed care provider Humana published a letter to its members warning them of potential drastic cuts to the Medicare Advantage program Centers for Medicare and Medicaid sent this order:

“As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites”

When the insurance industry’s trade association released a report saying a measure in the Senate Finance Committee would produce sharp increases in premiums for millions of people who currently have insurance the Dems launched a drive in both Houses to strip the industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come under attack even though they began with a friendly attitude towards this administration. Disagreements with Obama over the “crap and tax” legislation and on socialized medicine have put the Chamber square in the sights for punishment. These attacks against the Second Amendment rights of citizens are part and parcel of the Chicago Way and should come as no surprise to anyone who was aware of the political climate Obama came out of. Still one could only wish they would fight the war in Afghanistan with the same zeal they attack domestic opponents of Obama’s policies.

“If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban – or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged – that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.” March 27, 2009 Barak Obama announcing a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.

“I will give you a clear mission, defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That’s my commitment to you.” August 17, 2009 Obama’s promise to America’s armed forces speaking at the VFW.

Granted this President hasn’t had a stellar performance in fulfilling his promises, Jim Geraghty’s quip that everything he says has an expiration date has really caught on, but that promise has life and death consequences, not just to our troops but to the security and reputation of our nation. It has now been seven weeks since General McChrystal requested 40,000 additional troops be sent to Afghanistan ASAP, and the President has yet to decide whether he will listen to his handpicked General on the ground or follow the advice of military genius “Oh that Joe!” Biden. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama had not even decided when a decision would be reached. Obama has only managed to squeak McChrystal into his busy schedule a couple times and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Tuesday that he is working to get face time with the commander in chief.

Having turned the tide in Iraq by routing the radical Islamists there, a front Al-Qaeda’s Ayman Zawahiri said was crucial to restoration of the Caliphate; the terrorist enemies of Democracy have stepped up their efforts in Afghanistan. This makes sense because there is nowhere else to go to fight for global jihad. None the less, having won the war on one front President Obama may have decided that we should abandon it on the other; this at a time when Pakistan has finally begun to recognize that the Taliban presents more danger to its fragile Democracy than its value as a thorn to India justifies. Reacting to a Taliban breakout from the Swat region that threatened Islamabad itself as well as stepped up terror attacks the Pakistani forces have launched a major offensive against Taliban sanctuaries in South Waziristan. While pressure is being applied in Pakistan the situation presents itself for a modified hammer and anvil tactic against the Taliban forces in both regions. While there are not enough forces on either side to be a classic hammer or anvil that could crush and destroy the Taliban the Pakistanis can drive significant forces out of the region. If we could gain sufficient control of the areas they would like to flee into we could then further stress those troops into giving up or retreating into Iran. However we need to be more than a collection of isolated firebases spread out over the countryside. General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy is designed to actually clear and hold territory and that would give us the presence and intelligence to be at least a modified anvil to deny them a safe haven.

Obama will wait till after the November elections before angering his base and probably sending some troops, a McChrystal light strategy that he will figure is the most politically expediant course. It may be too little too late. It's too bad that he will be a politicain first and Commander in Chief second but that's where we are. If he would commit to victory can anyone doubt that this military can win?

Weekend at Khamenei's

2009-10-17T20:28:00.011-06:00

The “free” Iranian press did its best to put fears to rest today that Supreme Leader and election fraud supporter Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei is in a coma or dead. He was shown meeting with President Ahmadinejad and the President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade. Unfortunately for those of us familiar with faux photography this is not enough and so conspiracies abound whether this is real or photoshop. First we have the photograph from the Supreme Leader’s official website.

President Wade is in the same garb that he is in when he met with Ahmadenijad in this set of pictures from the Fars News Agency.

So far so good. Enter the Fars News Agency’s story on the meeting and the picture they use.

Turns out someone screwed up because this is a picture from a meeting that occurred in 2006. So is this.

So the question for the experts out there, is the first picture legit?

In the new picture the color of the wall is lighter, Khamenei’s suit color is darker and Ahmadenijad’s is lighter. Same couch three years later and the thing on the table, a Koran?, is the same. Just to add one other point, The Islamic Republic News Agency’s story has a blank space where the photo should be. Tons of pictures from the 2006 meeting, one lousy picture for the 2009 meeting that proves he’s alive? We may be reading a lot more into this than is actually there, but there you are. They are really just going to have to trot this guy out for all to see to kill this rumor.

Hat tip to Michael Ledeen and Enduring America for the story and pics.

Update I:

A few other photos of the new meeting are up a SL's web site, I don't thing they are photoshopped. Too bad.

Chuck Johnson Race Detective vol I

2009-10-17T19:10:00.004-06:00

BITE ME has a comic that is going viral. Ex-Lizards, even current Lizards will love this.

Iranian War

2009-10-16T23:46:00.010-06:00

Victor David Hanson has a rather scary article on the demise of Israel should Iran get the bomb. In his scenario however Iran realizes its goal of wiping Israel off the map without ever using its nukes.

The net effect would be for half the world’s Jews to hear constantly two messages — there was no Holocaust, but there might well be one soon. It would be analogous to the American public reliving the threats of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 — every day.

A recent poll revealed that a quarter of Israel’s population quite understandably might emigrate if Iran gets the bomb. And it seems likely that within a decade or two, a nuclear Iran could so demoralize the Israelis by such psychological intimidation that it could unravel Israel demographically without dropping a bomb.

Aside from being at war with Iran since the takeover of our embassy, a war every administration since and most Americans are in denial about, when Iran gets the bomb things in the Middle East will go from bad to horribly worse. That Iran will get the bomb seems to be a safe bet. Obama’s shafting of East Europe by reneging on his campaign promise to keep the missile defense shield in Poland was supposed to yield Russian help on sanctions against Iran. (Ironically enough, scuttling a defensive missile shield designed to prevent attacks was one reason given by the Norwegians for giving Obama his Peace Prize.) When Russian President Medvedev signaled in September that Russia’s opposition to sanctions was being reconsidered it was hailed as a diplomatic victory for Obama, but that victory turned out to be only short lived rhetoric from the Russians. While Hillary was making her first public visit to Moscow on Monday the real power in Russia, Vladimir Putin, was in China reassuring Beijing that he had no intention of supporting tough sanctions. From China Putin told reporters the threat of sanctions is unneeded at this point because it could scare the Iranians, scuttling chances that talks with global powers could end Tehran's recalcitrance. Equally worthless diplomatically was Obama’s pandering to the Chinese. During Hillary’s trip to China human rights were taken off the table and Obama dissed the Dalai Lama. That didn’t gain much vis a vis Iran either, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that "China always believes that sanction and pressure should not be an option and will not be conducive to the current diplomatic efforts over the Iran nuclear issue”. Trade between China and Iran grew 35% last year, to $27 billion. China wants Iran’s oil and no amount of hope from Obama will change that, sanctions will only drive up the price of oil for China, the world's second-largest buyer of crude oil.

Obama himself isn’t ready to sanction Iran, still hoping that more talks will change Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but he would at least like the Iranians to think that maybe sanctions could be a possibility if the talks lead nowhere. Why these talks would lead to anything substantial when the previous nine years of talking didn’t is anyone’s guess. What Obama should be doing is unilaterally imposing sanctions and telling Tehran that we will lift them only when they drop their nuclear program and allow verification. Republican candidate for Senate, (Pennsylvania), Pat Toomey explains here that Congress is attempting to do just that:

Many in Congress understand the importance of using the diplomatic “stick.” The vast majority of members of Congress in both the House and the Senate are sponsoring legislation to do that.

The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is a bipartisan bill that would require President Obama to sanction foreign firms that sell, ship, or insure gasoline and diesel fuel to Iran, unless Iran agrees to drop its nuclear ambitions. To date, 75 senators and 321 representatives have co-sponsored the legislation.

The Iran Sanctions Enabling Act would authorize state and local government to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with large investments in Iran’s energy sector. To date, 34 senators and 247 representatives in both parties have co-sponsored this important legislation.

He also asks “Why aren’t Sen. Arlen Specter’s and Rep. Joe Sestak’s names on either of these bills?” My question is will Obama veto the bill?

The other option that everyone hopes for and yet justifiably fears is an Israeli attack. An attack by Israel will be really tough to pull off and only delay the bomb by about five years. Of course allot can happen in five years., but then all hell will break loose if Israel attacks, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, and along the Syrian border from Iranian orders alone. While Egypt and Saudi Arabia will privately applaud Israel for slowing down a Shiite bomb publicly they would come down hard on Jews and Americans worldwide. The rest of the Muslim world would do likewise.

Currently we are hearing rumors that Khamenei is either in a coma or dead. Should the current military takeover fail with the death of Khamenei and a more moderate reform minded theocracy take its place that would only be good for America. It may not mean an end to Iran’s nukes or support for terrorism. If however a new Democratic revolution comes out of the impending chaos then maybe we could see the end of the Iranian war on America, and maybe an end to support for Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Al Qaeda, and Hugo Chavez.

War on Iran

2009-10-13T19:49:00.007-06:00

Dr. Michael Ledeen has been the foremost advocate for the people of Iran. His posts are headlined by the plea “Faster Please!” in a cry for more support of those who would overthrow the tyrannical regime in Iran. That is a plea that was largely ignored by G.W. Bush and even more ignored, even apparently disdained, by B.H. Obama. In an effort to promote his extended hand of diplomacy towards Iran Obama mutely sat by while the Iranian people took to the streets to protect what little voice they have, had, in the governance of Iran. For that he got the peace prize?

Things may be coming to a boil however, Dr. Ledeen has reported that a source he respects has said Khamenei is in a coma. Commenter Uzi asks a brilliant question:

If the Supreme Leader ( if I’m not mistaken that translates into German as der uberfuhrer) is really in a coma, what will happen if his situation doesn’t change, if he doesn’t recover and doesn’t die? Arik Sharon has been in a state of low conciousness for nearly four years. A client of mine who was hit by a car has been in a coma since April, 2006.
But the Supreme Leader is supposed to be Allah’s representative on earth. How will they deal with an unconcious leader if the situation persists?

Dr. Ledeen is the first to express cation that this an unconfirmed report. We have seen the death of Castro, Bin Laden, and Khamenei before and have been bitterly disappointed. The death of Khamenei, or even his being immobilized politically as well as physically, will bring to a boil the simmering clash between the military and the clergy in Iran. Khamenei’s support for Ahmadinejad’s blatantly fraudulent election came as a surprise and did not sit well with many of Iran’s clerics. Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran, had set up a theocracy that had within it some form of checks and balances based on the elections of parliament and the presidency, (although candidates are chosen by the Guardian Council). Khamenei was always suspicious of elections and reform and pretty much destroyed the illusion of both in the last election. Standing against him and Ahmadinejad was the power broker Rafsanjani, top cleric Montazeri, Mousavi (second place in the election), Karroubi (third place), Khatami (the reformer), and the people of Iran. Fence sitters like speaker of parliament Larijani will most likely support whoever comes out on top.

Rafsanjani heads the Assembly of Experts, those clerics who will choose the next Supreme Leader; a position Ahmadinejad has no hope of filling. Supreme Leader is a position that can be held only by extremely respected Islamic clerics, Khamenei barely had the religious creds to hold the job. When the Assembly of Experts elects a new Supreme Leader, and that title is no joke, Ahmadinejad will find that his authority will be subjected to a veto by the new Supreme Leader. That will set up a power play between Ahmadinejad and the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, (who are supposed to take their orders from the Supreme Leader but are very supportive of Ahmadinejad), against the Mullahs. Rafsanjani will have support from most of the business community but the IRGC has taken bigger and bigger pieces of the economy into their hands. This could get really ugly and could present Obama with excellent opportunities to exploit the situation to America’s advantage but he won’t. To take a side in the interests of his country would be very abrasive against his sensibilities as a member of the post America world community organizer that Obama visions himself to be. Obama doesn’t believe in meddling with other countries, except of course Israel.

I got bounced at Little Green Footballs

2009-10-11T11:40:00.004-06:00

I got the bounce but at least I didn't flounce at LGF . This post got me banned:

My bad, his dual citizenship is as a Kenyan, so he is a Kenyan apostate. And socialist.

Charles hit the roof:

What the hell are you talking about?! Barack Obama does NOT have dual citizenship in Kenya!

Why are you spreading this hateful garbage at my website?

Then he lowered the boom:

I've thought about this a little bit, and that's the end of the line for you. If you want to promote your stupid "Obama's a sekrit Muslim" bullshit it will have to be somewhere else.

Charles doesn't put up with any talk of Obama being Muslim or not being born in the US. Of course I didn't call Obama a Muslim, I don't believe he is. Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam. This is not in dispute, his father was Muslim so he was born a Muslim. When he later became a Christian he became an apostate. Where I did screw up was in saying that Obama has dual citizenship. My source for this belief was a series of NRO articles, (like this one) on Obama's birth and status in regards to his eligibility to run for President. My mistake was in thinking that because he was also born with Kenyan citizenship he still had Kenyan citizenship. Had I gone to Obama's fact checking web site I would have seen the following:

He held both U.S. and Kenyan citizenship as a child, but lost his Kenyan citizenship automatically on his 23rd birthday.

So for saying such a hateful thing, that his dual citizenship is as a Kenyan, instead of was as a Kenyan, I got banned. What I don't understand is what is so hateful about saying someone is a dual citizen? Interestingly enough, this post wasn't considered hateful:

You know what pisses me off the most? The tea party turds are trying to tell us that more people showed up to hear loonies rant than to see President Reagan's inaugurations.

But at least I didn't flounce. Many Lizards have flounced lately, which is to say they had finally had enough of Charles ripping into tea parties, Glen Beck, Mike Huckabee, creationists, Sara Palin, birthers, etc. while hardly touching on the war with radical Islam. The latter of course has been the main reason most conservatives became Lizards in the first place. So when someone comments on the fact that LGF just isn't fun anymore and that they are no longer going to visit the site Charles bans them and they are said to have been "flounced". I never wanted to be banned, and certainly never for being "hateful", because I still liked LGF and could actually get into reasoned debate with those who supported some recent policies of Obama's such as the stimulus package. My take on those who flounce was "why burn your bridges"? John Hawkins at Right Wing News has more on what he calls "The Descent of Little Green Footballs". As for me if Charles was to let me back on I would stay away from such toxic subjects as creationism or Obama's birth and focus on issues that actually matter. Sadly, being banned means that I can't even apologize and beg forgiveness for being a bit of a bore, on a dead thread no less. So now I have come back to my blog to vent, but at least here I don't have to watch my mouth.

Finally I do have to laugh at the birther story because it just wont die.

Shocker! Judge orders trial on eligibility issue.

Feliz Navidad

2008-12-24T18:54:00.003-07:00

"THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS"
Jim and Nita Lee (Dec. 1972)
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring -- Caramba! Que pasa?
Los ninos were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas,
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a fightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.
I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!"
Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,
Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos --
For none of the ninos had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and Feliz Navidad!

The Chicago Way

2008-12-11T09:38:00.014-07:00

12/12/08 Developing: Scroll down for updates

...they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.
Sean Connery as Jim Malone in The Untouchables

Corruption in Chicago goes back to the days of Al Capone. Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson was on Capone's payroll in the late '20s. The late Mayor Richard J. Daley ran the infamous Chicago machine, as a Committeeman and Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee in the '50s and as Mayor of Chicago in the '60s. While never charged with a crime several of his high-ranking aides were sent to prison. His son and current Mayor Richard M. Daley is tied to contracting scandals involving 30 indictments and 23 convictions. In his book When Corruption Was King insider Robert Cooley has written about how the mob and it's Democrat allies ran Chicago in the '70s and '80s. Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, who served 30 years as a state legislator and never earned more than $30,000 a year left behind an estate worth more than $2 million, including $800,000 found in shoe boxes, briefcases and strong boxes in his hotel closet. The son of a ward boss, Illinois Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski, served from 1959 to 1995 and was the Democrat chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, plead guilty to mail fraud. He would later be pardoned Bill Clinton. Three Illinois governors: George Ryan,(the only Republican in all this), Dan Walker and Otto Kerner Jr., have done time. Which brings us to this guy...

the Senate seat “is a fucking valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.”
Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich

The FBI arrested Illinois Democrat Governor Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, Tuesday. They were named in a federal criminal complaint that charges a criminal conspiracy aimed at firing Chicago Tribune editorial members who were critical of the administration and an attempt to sell Senator Obama's vacant seat to the highest bidder. Some of the offers solicited included Obama getting Blagojevich's wife Patti, the daughter of a Chicago alderman and ward boss, on “paid corporate boards" or for Obama getting “his friend Warren Buffett or some of those guys to help us" fund a 501(c)(4) organization (a non-profit organization that may engage in political activity and lobbying) in return for appointing Senate Candidate 1, Valerie Jarrett, Obama's choice for the seat. Other offers floated by Blagojevich for appointing Jarrett included Obama naming Blagojevich secretary of health and human services, an ambassadorship, or a six-figure job with the union coalition Change to Win. Obama apparently wasn't willing to give Blagojevich anything other than "appreciation" so Blagojevich said "Fuck them". When approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5, Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, Blagojevich said “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

The affidavit claims Blagojevich stated he was “elevating” Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates for the open Senate seat and that he might be able to cut a deal with him if he provides Blagojevich something “tangible up front.” Blagojevich had a problem with Senate Candidate 5 just promising to help because Blagojevich had a prior bad experience with Senate Candidate 5 not keeping his word. Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that if Senate Candidate 5 is going to be chosen to fill the Senate seat “some of this stuffs gotta start happening now . . .right now. . . and we gotta see it. You understand?” Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D if there is “tangible political support (campaign contributions) like you’ve said, start showing us now.”

Fitzgerald stopped the investigation before Blagojevich actually got anything. If Jesse Jr. was supposed to put up something tangible real soon, before Blagojevich was going to appoint anyone, way before Obama was to be sworn in, why didn't he wait to see how this played out? He kept the Plame case open long after he knew who the leaker was. Was he afraid others close to Obama would also get sucked in to committing illegal acts? Key to this investigation is Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a prominent fundraiser for both Blagojevich and Obama and partner in a shady land deal he and Obama were involved in. Rezko was convicted on 16 corruption-related counts, including fraud and money laundering. He previously accused federal prosecutors of improperly pressuring him to turn on Obama and Blagojevich. “They are pressuring me to tell them the ‘wrong’ things that I supposedly know about Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Obama. I have never been party to any wrongdoing that involved the governor or the senator. I will never fabricate lies about anyone else for selfish purposes. I will take what comes my way, but I will never hurt innocent people.” However it seems Rezko did do some singing. Aside from Rezko and Valerie Jarrett others involved in the Chicago Machine are David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel holds the Illinois seat that Blagojevich gave up to run for congress. Axelrod was an adviser to Governor Blagojevich and media strategist for Emanuel. David Axelrod is Obama's top strategist going to the White House. Emanuel is Obama's new chief of staff. Jarrett is an incoming senior advisor to Obama and good friend to Michelle Obama. She got Michelle her job in Mayor Daley's city hall. Both Jackson and Obama need to come forward as to who were the go betweens apparently speaking on their behalf to Blagojevich's people. They also need to address the fact that they seem not to have notified authorities that Blagojevich was selling this Senate seat.

Because this affidavit is submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint and corresponding arrest warrants, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation.

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald

12/12/08 Update:

It looks like Rahm Emanuel is being looked at as the Obama "advisor". He isn't talking. Rev. Jesse Jackson goes on record stating he was not "an emissary" in efforts to get Jackson Jr. the seat. However businessmen with ties to both the governor and Jackson Jr. as well as Jackson Jr.'s brother Jonathan have come under suspicion as active participants in a Chicago Tribune article.

I am Joe!

2008-10-18T17:20:00.011-06:00

Iowahawk gets serious about Joe the Plumber.

First, a pre-emptive apology for the intentional non-humor to follow. I promise that all future non-humor will be strictly unintentional.

We've all witnessed a lot of insanity in American politics over the last few years. Up until the last few days, none of it has seriously bothered me; hey, just more grist for the satire mill. But after witnessing the media's blitzkreig on Joe 'the Plumber' Wurzelbacher, I can only muster anger, and no small amount of fear.

Please read the whole thing, but this is especially important:

If it's meta-memes and meta-meta-narratives these media headlice want, so be it. I hope you will join me in expressing a simple bit of solidarity with this guy, Spartacus style. I AM JOE. I am a Wal Mart schlub in flyover country who changes my own oil and unclogs drains without a license. I smoke and drink beer and toss the football in the front yard with my kid, and I figure I can fend my way without handouts from some Magic Messiah's candy bags. Most everyone in my family and most everyone I grew up with is another Joe, and if you screw with them, you screw with me.

Are you a Joe? Say it proud. Leave it on every goddamn newspaper comment section and online forum. Let these pressroom and online thugs know you won't stay silent when they try to destroy the life of a private citizen for speaking his mind -- because for every one of them, there are a million Joe Wurzelbachers. And for that we should all be thankful.

I AM JOE! I work for $7 an hour as a front desk clerk/maintenance man. I have ~~$1600~~ $1300 (thanks Dems) in a mutual fund. That mutual fund's capital gains will be taxed under Obama before I even see the money. Even before capital gains are taxed Obama will tax any oil companies in the fund. Any companies in the fund that make over $250,000, which is every company in the fund, will now be required to provide health care for employees or get taxed on their payroll for a government plan. My employer, a family hotel business that currently offers no benefits, makes over $250,000. Will I be required to pay part of any plan Obama mandates? At $7 an hour I can't afford to have anything else deducted from my check. If I wanted health insurance I could quit drinking and buy it. It's my damn responsibility and choice. Now I have to worry that my boss may cut back on the number of employees he has and just give the rest more overtime. I was last hired so I will be first fired.

I also drive 70 miles a day to work and back. Tax the big bad oil companies? Hey stupid, the oil companies, or any company you tax, will eventually pass that cost on to the consumer or go out of business. I certainly make less than $250,000 and yet I can already see where Obama will stress my paycheck, my savings, my 401K and maybe my job. The fact that he has bought off millions of voters by saying he will share the wealth, i.e. cut them a check, doesn't work for me. I know that Marxism has never worked. My niece however, who will vote for the first time, if she votes, will vote for Obama. Why? She doesn't like rich people. The class envy the Democrats have been pushing for years has come home to roost.

Bail Out!

2008-10-16T05:13:00.002-06:00

You’ve got only a couple thousand bucks in the bank. Your job pays you dog-food wages. Your credit history has been bent, stapled, and mutilated. You declared bankruptcy in 1989. Don’t despair: You can still buy a house.

April 1995 Chicago Sun-Times

Obama is blaming the current financial crisis on "deregulation" and failed Bush economic policies when his and his party's fingerprints are all over this mess. In 1985 as a director at Chicago’s Woods Fund Obama was trying to get more tax dollars to support ACORN as well as sending money from his and Ayers' Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Community organizations like ACORN would picket banks that they felt were "redlining" minorities based solely on where they lived. Other intimidation by ACORN included breaking into private offices and protesting at banker’s homes. Rutgers University political scientist Heidi Swarts describes ACORN members in her book Organizing Urban America as “militants unafraid to confront the powers that be.” “This identity as a uniquely militant organization is reinforced by contentious action.” An ACORN supporter,Swarts says ACORN organizers “tend to see the organization as a solitary vanguard of principled leftists...the only truly radical community organization.” Obama may say "This is not the ACORN I knew!" but he did. As an ACORN lawyer and trainer how could he not? He also oversaw a Woods Fund report bragging that they managed to fund ACORN despite its tactics.

Obama was also among the legions of lawyers sueing banks for not making as many loans in poor minority neighborhoods as in rich white neighborhoods. In the lawsuit that Obama helped on they admitted that 58% of loans to minority neighborhoods were approved whereas 81% of loans in "white" neighborhoods were approved but that 23% differance was due to racism, not the fact that poor people tend to be riskier borrowers. Citibank settled with Obama's firm and agreed to ease restrictions on low income mortgages as did many other lending institutions that were similarily sued.

When banks began complaining that they couldn't make anymore risky loans because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refused to buy them up for sale on the "secondary market" Democrats in Congress forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the loans. During the '90s they required ever-increasing subprime-lending quotas on Fannie and Freddie.

When the Republicans took back Congress Rep. Marge Roukema,(R-NJ), who chaired the House Banking subcommittee, held hearings. She was afraid that the race card was being played forcing lower credit standards. She also felt that new CRA, (Community Reinvestment Act), regulations that the Democrats were pushing for could amount to an illegal quota system. The hearing was contentious to say the least. 50 to 100 ACORN members were present. Led by ACORN President Maud Hurd they stood up chanting, "CRA has got to stay!" and "Banks for greed, not for need!" The protesters then demanded the microphone. They were arrested but when Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) had a "sit-in" at the jail they were let go.

Needless to say all the Republican efforts to stop the insanity failed amongst stong opposition from Democrats, especially from Barney Franks.

Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.):

I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . .

I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . .

Let me ask Gould and Raines on behalf of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, do you feel that over the past years you have been substantially under-regulated?

Mr. Raines?

Mr. Raines: No, sir.

Mr. Frank: Mr. Gould?

Mr. Gould: No, sir. . . .

Mr. Frank: OK. Then I am not entirely sure why we are here. . . .

I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Franks didn't see any problems with Fannie. This is the man who didn't realise his boyfriend was running a prostitution ring out of Frank's apartment. He was also living with Fannie Mae executive Herb Moses for seven years while also serving on the House Banking Committee which had oversight of Fannie Mae. No conflict of interest there, right? Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs." Another affordable housing cheerleader and Banking Committee member was Senator Chris Dodd who, as a "Friend of Angelo", Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO, got preferential rates when he refinanced two properties with Countrywide in 2003.

Of course minority loans weren't the sole culprit in this mess, The Community Reinvestment Act applied to depository banks but many other institutions such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers weren't under the CRA. House flippers and other investors that assumed the bubble in real estate would never burst are also to blame. No doubt some banks used preditory lending tactics to meet quotas and then quickly bundled those loans for sale to Fannie and Freddie. Some other culprits that no one wants to talk about are illegal aliens and the banks that sought out their business. Remember when Bank of America started to issue credit cards to customers without social security numbers?

In recent years, banks across the country have begun offering checking accounts and, in some cases, mortgages to the nation's fast-growing ranks of undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic. But these immigrants generally haven't been able to get major credit cards, making it hard for them to develop a credit history and expand their purchasing power.

The La Raza Development Fund has been getting loans for illegals for decades.The Washington Post saw it coming.

Immigrants are emerging as among the first victims of a growing wave of home foreclosures in the Washington area as mortgage lending problems multiply locally and across the country.

Nationally, 375,000 high-interest-rate loans were made to Hispanics in 2005, and nearly 73,000 of them are likely to go into foreclosure, said Aracely Paname?o, director of Latino affairs for the Center for Responsible Lending. About 1.1 million homes in the United States are expected to go into foreclosure in the next six years, and many native-born Americans are likely to be stuck with burdensome loans. But immigrants are getting hit first in part because their incomes tend to be lower and many have lost construction jobs.

Aside from DC other illegal alien sanctuaries such as Loudon County, Virginia, California’s Inland Empire, Stockton, San Joaquin Valley, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, have also been hit hard by foreclosures. Former Clinton Secretary of Housing And Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros admits:

people came to homeownership who should not have been homeowners

He helped Clinton and the Dems water down mortgage restrictions then got in on the building binge by joining the boards of KB Home and Countrywide Financial as well as becoming a developer himself.

Joining with KB, he built 428 homes for low-income buyers in what was a neglected, industrial neighborhood. He often made the trip from downtown to ask residents if they were happy.

“People bought here because of Cisneros,” says Celia Morales, a Lago Vista resident. “There was a feeling of, ‘He’s got our back.’ ”

But Mr. Cisneros rarely comes around anymore. Lago Vista, like many communities born in the housing boom, is now under stress. Scores of homes have been foreclosed, including one in five over the last six years on the community’s longest street, Sunbend Falls, according to property records.

Way to help the jente wey!

As quasi-government intities Fannie and Freddie were always seen as being backed by the taxpayers. They are a natural catch basin for every bad loan that no one else will touch. Now those bad loans belong to us but please don't start counting the profits we will make on these loans. Neither candidate will foreclose on those who can't afford their houses, loans will be restructured or even flat out forgiven at our expense. Not one condition that brought us here has been changed with the bailout. In fact huge amounts of new capital have been given to the very banks that brought us this disaster. Franks and Dodd will not be put under oath. Illegals will continue to get credit. ACORN will continue to get taxpayer funding even with the current voter fraud investigations into the organization. I foresee no immediate relief from our slide into socialism, in fact the resulting mess has actually helped Obama in the polls. From a little ACORN he helped plant the seeds of destruction that may get him in the White House.

Note: Most of what we know about ACORN and Obama come from the great efforts of Stanley Kurtz at NRO.

Obama Tax Increases.

2008-09-20T13:29:00.010-06:00

A note from my nephew:

I'm curious what you've heard Obama say and when he's said it that makes you think taxes on the middle class or small businesses will increase...

From Obama's web page:

Employer Contribution: Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan

A mandatory increase in the labor costs for small businesses, one way or another. Obama doesn't say what the percentage is but why is my employer responsible for my health care? What else will employers have to pick up to cover for my lack of personal responsibility? My beer tab? Oh Rahh! I could give up beer and afford health insurance. Most "poor" I know could give up something, if they choose to, those that make too much to qualify for Medicaid anyway. I choose not to. Businesses that can will pass this cost on to consumers. Those that can't will cut employees. This study of California’s “pay or play” attempt shows it would have eliminated 71,000 jobs in that state alone. However many, jobs will be lost, probably mine which means back to prison for me at a time when it is now twice as dangerous as when I left. Hurray because the prison does have medical! I'll be insured! I'll need it.

Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families:Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on the Obama-Biden long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief.

Take from the evil rich obscene oil companies and give to the poor. I think this is called income redistribution. Or communism. Problem is mom was big oil. Pensions, 401Ks, and IRAs are big oil. Half the income tax returns showing capital gains in 2005 earned less than $50,000. Three thirds earned less than $100,000. In any case if I invest in a company, putting my hard earned cash at risk, why should the government, who risked nothing, come in and take it? Why when your business makes a profit should the government say, well that's too much. And what is too much profit? Notice how they always put it in terms of so many billions? Not an obscene percentage in return on the trillions invested but a figure where they can say billions. Oil companies are earning a comparable rate of return to most industrials. Who do we go after next? Big pharmaceuticals? Big liqueur? (Remember the Whiskey Rebellion!) When these companies loose money do they get the tax back? Also consider the extra tax income the government gets from increased oil and gas prices. Why not give that back to the people? Consider that this only makes our public oil companies less competitive in relation to nationalized giants like those in Russia. Venezuela, and Iran. Our oil companies are at least trying to find us more oil as well as spending billions in alternative research. Nationalized oil companies are a cash cow for the regimes that control them and except for Russia their infrastructures are crumbling because so little is put back into the companies that production is in a downward spiral. Finally, and this is a basic economic tenant: No tax is ever paid by a company. As with any other cost, like health care for employees, it is passed on to the customer or the investor. The investor will not continue to take a hit and will divest. Someone pays, not a nameless, faceless behemoth called big oil but living human beings. That's why this won't work. Jimmy Carter tried it. According to a 2006 study by the Congressional Research Service, it generated less than one-fourth of the revenues that were expected and reduced domestic oil production by at least 8 percent. Less production is not the answer. Should Obama win I will make all my economic decisions based on the Carter years.

That's two I found with a quick look at his web page. More will follow. I throw this next one in even though it only soaks the rich because a tax increase that hurts the economy hurts the economy regardless of whatever class envy feel good feelings such increases may bring you.

Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

Fairness being I pay nothing, you pay for all of us 'cause you make a good earning. Obama will give a tax break to a hell of allot of people, (95% of Americans!), many of whom don't pay any taxes. How? My guess is by giving them more money like the Earned Income Tax Credit. Most of the taxes paid are paid by the top ten percent of wage earners, that's why any tax break intended to increase revenue has to include those who pay most of the taxes. But under Obama tax breaks for the rich will disappear, which is a tax increase that will hurt the economy. America's most productive earners will be further punished, taking the money out of their apparently talented hands and giving it to the, in my opinion, far less capable hands of the government. The fact that I get a cut in this extortion doesn't make it right in my book. The fact that the rich are getting stuck brings me no joy, those are the folks paying me to blog all night.

What Bias?

2008-09-15T06:59:00.006-06:00

Some photos from an Atlantic Monthly shoot of John McCain by photographer Jill Greenberg.

Your daughters will die!

2008-09-11T10:25:00.006-06:00

Subtle as lipstick on a pig

I just got an e-mail.

I'm not undecided so I don't want this or anything else pertaining to the Republican ticket nor the repulsive jokes circulating around about Barack Obama. If you don't like him that is one thing but to circulate lies and disgusting offensive jokes is not acceptable. Not very Christian to be doing such things. All of you out there who are really undecided had better think about the fact that this Republican ticket will strongly be in favor of turning around Roe V Wade and what religious right wings they will try to appoint to the Supreme Court as justices. If any of our daughters or daughter in laws get pregnant and their lives are in danger they won't have a choice whether to choose to have the baby or not. The mother will have to die and the baby will be born without a mother and some of these babies will not even have fathers. I am not for abortion for myself but I do believe that it is a difficult choice for a woman to make if raped or other unforseen situations which are not black and white. I don't think that the federal government should be telling us what to do....and by the way, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain are also pro choice as was Barbara Bush. But believe me, the religious fanatic men who don't have to carry the babies after being raped or other unforseen situations that are not balck and white will have their way if you elect McCain and Palin. Oh, and by the way, the rich women and young ladies will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to afford to fly over to a country where it is allowed. It happened in the '60s and 70s and don't think that it won't happen again. It will just be a little dirty secret that they can keep to themselves as they criticize others. The poor women will just be expected to flounder on and on and take care of it in the back streets and then maybe we can throw them in jail for violating the law.

Also, our economy is in a shambles, middle class people are losing jobs, poor people are working two jobs and some people cannot find jobs so just maybe we need to try something different and that is not John McCain who just wants to give big tax cuts to those big oil companies and to the top 5% who don't need more money. Just maybe we who have a little more than others don't need more tax cuts and those who don't have much and are struggling can use a few more breaks. I don't know about any of you but my money isn't going as far as it use to, gas prices are up and I feel like we haver taken 3 steps back. Oh, and by the way again, John McCain has been in office for 23 years and is just now realizing we need to change the direction of this country. If you ask me he wants this presidency sooooo badly that he is willing to compromise some of the principles he has held strongly in the past.
This is how I feel and as you can see I feel very strongly about it so please don't send me anymore "stuff" about this.

Roe, Roe, Roe th' boat, sinking in the stream.
Panicky, panicky, panicky, panicky lying for the dream.

Now I saw this coming because of the blogs.

Roe vs Wade - Obama’s “ace in the hole”

The SCOTUS, Roe v. Wade and women’s issues was the BO campaigns “ace in the hole” according to Chuck Todd from MSNBO network. The BO spokesperson told Todd that they would use any means necessary to beat Hillary and if women were offended, they would come back to the party during the GE because their plan was to “play the Roe v. Wade card.” THAT is a direct quote from the BO campaign via Todd.

Let's dissect this puppy. (Well the first half, I'll talk about economics in another post, too much BS to shovel at one time.)

I'm not undecided so I don't want this or anything else pertaining to the Republican ticket nor the repulsive jokes circulating around about Barack Obama. If you don't like him that is one thing but to circulate lies and disgusting offensive jokes is not acceptable.

Then it goes on to spread offensive lies about Republicans.

If any of our daughters or daughter in laws get pregnant and their lives are in danger they won't have a choice whether to choose to have the baby or not. The mother will have to die and the baby will be born without a mother and some of these babies will not even have fathers.

Blatantly trying to scare the ignorant. First off nobody is going to deny abortions when the mother's health is at risk. Most conservatives even support partial birth abortions in such cases. I do. Also if Roe Wade was struck down, and just as a matter of it being bad Constitutional law it should be, each state would make its own laws, again, as the Constitution requires. What states will ban abortion, even the abortions of convenience liberals so love? Utah maybe. Most states are as down the middle on abortion as the country as a whole so I don't see it happening. A Constitutional Amendment banning abortions, and again that would exclude cases where the mother's life would be at risk, would require passage in 38 states. That's 75% of the states! We will never see it and neither will any Judges McCain appoints. And that's another thing, we are talking about McCain. Let's just see what kind of crap he'll pull once he doesn't need his base. He could appoint another Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I don't think that the federal government should be telling us what to do

A conservative! Actually we draw the line at murder.

and by the way, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain are also pro choice as was Barbara Bush.

And by the way Bush was in office with both houses of congress for six years and no Amendment attempt.

Oh, and by the way, the rich women and young ladies will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to afford to fly over to a country where it is allowed.

Oh, and by the way, any women and young ladies, (young ladies aren't women?), will get their abortions anyway because they will be able to hop aboard the many Planned Parenthood Abortion Tours that will be offered. Follow the money, there is a huge abortion industry that makes over a billion dollars annually, a third taxpayer money,so they want every woman who can to have an abortion. From the last link:

Yes, I’m talking about that gigantic growth corporation, Planned Parenthood. There has likely never been a more misleading name for any major business, of course, because this smooth-running industry does anything but “plan parenthood.” It quite openly and proudly makes sure, for a great majority of its pregnant clients, that they won’t birth their babies at all, and there will be no “parenthood” to plan.

According to Care Net, a leading pro-life counseling and nurturing provider across America, Planned Parenthood’s “services” result in abortions outnumbering adoption referrals and kept children by 180-to-1!!

Surprised? You shouldn’t be — this is a business, a money machine. There is no profit in convincing young girls to keep the children they’ve created or give them up for adoption by eager parents that will love and nurture them. Though occasionally that is the outcome, and the staff and administrators of the slaughterhouses love to publicize those few incidents, the recently revealed numbers tell the true story: Their annual income now exceeds a billion dollars, including $336 million in taxpayer funding!

Now I haven't even looked this up but:

The poor women will just be expected to flounder on and on and take care of it in the back streets and then maybe we can throw them in jail for violating the law.

Has that ever happened? Ever?

Update: Pen of Jen says:

Good to see you point out planned parenthood (planned notparenthood) as there
annual profits are 11% vs...the BIG EVIL OIL CO...whose profits float around 9%.

We need to hit them with a windfall profits tax. Palin might know how to do that, lol. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Never forget.

Michael Uliano probably would have preferred to be somewhere other than at the 105th Floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. An options broker for Cantor Fitzgerald, Michael enjoyed his work but would rather have been an actor. Surpassing his love of the stage was his love for fishing. To his fishing lure customers on the net he was known as Artie Fishhills, a play on the word artificial because of his knack for tying fishing flies. So if he could have Mike might have been fishing and clamming off Cape Cod in his old ’73 Jeep with the Shark’s mouth grill instead of one of millions of New Yorkers reporting to duty at thousands of desks across the world’s financial nerve center.

Michael's quilt at the United in Memory Gallery.

Michael acted off Broadway and was working on a screenplay. He so loved acting that he endured the amusement of his fellow Ithaca College football players and took ballet lessons. Many of those expressing fond memories of Michael at Legacy.com remember him on the stage or the football field. As quarterback of Canton high school Mike’s Number 10 was retired. He is survived by his wife Linda Buffa, his mother Gail, and eight brothers and sisters.

I Love this woman.

2008-09-01T11:35:00.007-06:00

McCain just announced Palin's daughter is pregnant. This violation of the family's privacy, something Obama professes to respect, is in response to vile left wing smears.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter’s pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called “mud-slinging and lies” circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin’s child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

A senior McCain campaign official said the McCain camp was appalled that these rumors had not only been spread around liberal blog sites and partisan Democrats, but also were the subject of heightened interest from mainstream news media.

MSM thinks this will hurt her. MSM is clueless, seeing the Christian right as some monolithic hate monster.

Update: 9/3/08

Fox is comparing the Obama Us magazine cover:

with Palins cover.

What media bias?

I was debating whether I could vote for McCain. I figured if NM was in play I'd bite the bullet, otherwise I would not cast a vote for POTUS. Now I'm jazzed. She was not selected because she could get women votes, she was selected to energize the base. Like me. Like Jungle Mom. Like Pam. The more the MSM attacks her the more I love her. Who has evoked such a Deranged Syndrome since Bush, to whom the Bush Deranged Syndrome was originally named? If she is such a bad choice why the panic? Just say'in.

Obama on the relative experience he and Palin have:

Well, my understanding is that Governor Palin’s town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month. So I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the last couple of years.

What happened to Alaska? As Byron York points out at NRO:

Just for the record, Alaska's FY2008 operating budget is $11.2 billion, and the state employs approximately 15,000 people.

So his Presidential experience is predicated on his Presidential campaign experience. Makes since because he has done a lot more campaigning than legislating.

Baby Killer

2008-05-15T05:22:00.007-06:00

Obama and infanticide.

8/13/08 Scroll down for Update

There are pro-choice (kill the baby before it's born) Americans, pro-partial birth (kill the baby as it’s being born) Americans, and pro-infanticide (kill the baby after it’s born) Americans. From The Catholic League:

To read more about how, while in the Illinois state senate, Obama led the fight to deny medical care to infants born alive as a result of botched abortions and let them die unaided in hospital rooms, check out the links below.

National Catholic Register, 5-18-08: "Obama vs. The Right to Life"

Nat Hentoff, The Sacramento Bee, 4/29/08: "Infanticide Candidate for President"

Rick Santorum, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/28/08: “The Elephant in the Room: Obama: A harsh ideologue hidden by a feel-good image”

Terence P. Jeffrey, Cybercast News Service, 1/9/08: "Obama Is the Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever"

Jill Stanek, American Conservative Daily, 4/14/08: “Obama Blocked Born Alive Infant Protection Act”

Update: Humble wife reminded me of a famous Obama quote that fits here.

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old,” he said. “I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. I don’t want them punished with an STD at age 16, so it doesn’t make sense to not give them information

When I commented on this at LGF galloping granny had this to say.

re: #121 Rancher
It’s a big step for even the most pro-choice advocate to say it’s acceptable to leave a living baby to die on a table of neglect.

I cannot imagine ANY of the "pro choice" or even "pro abortion" people I know seeing that as acceptable. Nor can I see even one nurse or doctor I have ever known or worked with (at least in the last 30 years or so) seeing that as anything other than murder.

Most states do not require any such thing as a Born Alive Infant Protection Act. And in most states medical personnel that participated in such a thing would be prosecuted for murder. Not to mention, what do you do six months down the road when "mommy dearest" changes her mind and decides to sue you for malpractice? After all, you should have known she was out of her mind, etc.

Maybe Illinois is just weird.

It seems the need for a Born Alive Infant Protection Act was because of legal ambiguities that arose from allowing partial birth abortions. Illinois was trying to pass an act similar to the Federal Law H.R. 2175, I’ve no idea why. Nevertheless this bit of acrobatic disingenuousness by Obama is Clintonesque.

My friend stood in Obama’s path and said, “Senator, we are going to pass Born Alive here in Illinois this year.”
Obama smiled smoothly and agreed, “I think you will,” adding, “I would have voted for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in Illinois had it been worded the same as the federal bill. I think that’s the position the Democrats should take.”
There’s just one thing he forgot to mention: Obama had stopped his committee from adding the federal wording.

8/13/08 Update: Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com confirms this:

Obama has claimed again and again he would have supported his state’s version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act if it included language to protect abortion rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade and viciously attacked conservative opponents who suggested otherwise. Now there’s documentation showing Obama did vote against a version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act that contained language to protect abortion rights identical to the bill that passed 98-0 in the U.S. Senate.

“We have a smoking gun committee report,” the National Right to Life Committee’s Legislative Counsel Susan Muskett said. NRLC posted the unearthed documents from the Illinois senate archives Monday.

10/15/08 Update: Jill Stanek has Obama on tape arguing he had "confidence" that an abortionist attempting to kill a baby would save the baby if he botched the job.

Operation Chaos

2008-05-08T07:40:00.005-06:00

Dems, independents, and the MSM picked John McCain to be our nominee, so Rush Limbaugh’s interference in the Dem’s primary is welcomed justice. Since John McCain has said he won’t go after Obama regardless of whether an issue warrants it, Rush Limbaugh decided to launch Operation Chaos. By having Republicans vote for Hillary she is kept in the race and the two Dems continue to attack each other. Obama is being bloodied by Hillary, doing McCain’s job for him.

Equally funny, Operation Chaos is being misrepresented as some call to violence in the streets of Denver. Note to the DNC, Republicans don’t riot. Rush is just predicting, based on comments by Charlie Rangel and Rosie O'Donnell, what will happen if the party steals this nomination from Obama. Dreaming of riots, yes, inciting no.

Operation Chaos has succeeded beyond all expectations. However it is now up to Hillary to take this to the convention, demand Florida and Michigan be counted, and convince enough Super Delegates and Committed Delegates, both of whom can vote however they wish, that Obama can’t win in November. Whether she is willing to “go nuclear” and bring Operation Chaos to a spectacular crescendo is today’s question. Is she willing to bring such destruction to her party? Will Blacks ever forgive her? Is her career over regardless? We can only hope. Operation Chaos continues…

Sharia and Children

2008-04-27T13:20:00.009-06:00

Americans were shocked to learn the insidious fact that little girls were having sex with their elderly “husbands” at the FLDS compound in Texas. Not to mention the polygamy and beatings. There should be no shock, this was all well known. This religion’s prophet Warren Jeffs not only practiced such but also preached the morality of it to his followers. He is doing time for marrying a 14 year old to her cousin. We also have women such as Kathy Jo Nicholson who have freed themselves of the Church’s tyranny and have bravely come forward to recount their experiences.

They’ve never experienced the freedom to think for themselves or to freely question their leaders. They’ve been told to keep “sweet,” to sacrifice their feelings for the greater “good.” They’ve been taught that perfect obedience leads to perfect faith. When you are taught that it is a sin to think or question things, you begin to function in total obedience to the will of another. It is as if you are a robot made to do the bidding of your husband and the Prophet.

Sound familiar? That’s because we have things like this going on all the time in Sharia governed countries.

A Yemeni court on Tuesday granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl whose unemployed father forced her into an arranged marriage this year, saying he feared she might be kidnapped.

"I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school," Nojud Mohammed Ali said, after a public hearing in Sanaa's court of first instance.

In response to a question from Judge Mohammed al-Qadhi, he acknowledged that the "marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her." What constitutes child abuse under Sharia? There seems to be some debate leaving each country’s Mullahs to decide.

Islam also has courageous women exposing the plight of little girls under Sharia. Ghada Jamsheer is one.

Announcer: Some people say that Ghada Jamsheer is Sunna muslim, so she opposes a type of marriage that is in the Islamic law of the Shiat muslims
Ms. Jamsheer : Approved by the Islamic Islamic law?
Announcer: Yes it is approved by the shiat Islamic law
Ms. Jamsheer : The Islamic law approved the marriage for pleasure? Approved this characterization of enjoyment? Let me explain. They have the Enjoyment of the thighs The enjoyment of touching The enjoyment with the breasts The enjoyment with a young girl The enjoyment with a young girl…do you know what this means? It means they can enjoy themselves with the little girl who is two years old, three years old, four years old,
Announcer: Let us not get into this..
Ms. Jamsheer: Let me explain it to you
Announcer: don’t explain to me
Ms. Jamsheer: This is against the rights of children This is considered sexual abuse of a young child. Enjoying oneself with the thighs, what does this mean? This means enjoyment with the toddler who is one year old, or even months old

Update: Another form of child abuse:

An eight-year-old girl was strapped with remote-controlled explosives and used as a human bomb by Iraqi insurgents in a blast that killed an Iraqi commander earlier today.

Final Warning

2008-04-20T13:01:00.005-06:00

So I am giving my final warning ... to the Iraqi government ... to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people. If the government does not refrain ... we will declare an open war until liberation.

In other words quit killing my thugs or you're going to see the mother of all etc. You may have heard, we are fighting Sadr’s militia again. Someone please kill this son of a goat! We had him twice and the Iraqi governments at the time told us to let him go. This time however it’s the Iraqi government and one time ally al-Maliki going after him, or at least going after his minions, brave Muqtada is still hiding out in Iran.

As usual the MSM has missed the real story. Yes Maliki launched a hasty attack using the Iraqi Army 14th Division, made up largely of Shiites from the Basra region. Two brigades, around 1200 men, committed treason. Most of Basra’s 11,000 police force also refused to fight. This should come as no surprise, Basra has been Sadr’s since the British surrendered the region last September. Iraqi Army forces could not even use local hospitals, those were in Sadr’s control. That’s the story you heard, victory for Muqtada since the Iraqis couldn’t finish him.

Most Americans know of the Battle of Bunker Hill but most would be surprised that we lost. What makes the battle so important is that while the British took Breed and Bunker hill, they paid a terrible price and America demonstrated to the world that they could go toe to toe with the best army in the world. British General Clinton remarked; “A few more such victories would have shortly put an end to British dominion in America." The real story here is that a Shiite led Iraqi government went after a Shiite led militia, and went toe to toe despite the defections.

The ISF mobilized more than 30,000 troops for the fight, including thousands drawn from outside of Basra. While it did use some coalition transport, it also employed its own aircraft for the movement, which went relatively smoothly. Again we might recall that a key benchmark in 2007 was the deployment of three Iraqi army brigades (perhaps 9,000 soldiers) to support the Baghdad Security Plan. The ISF just deployed more than three times that number on short notice to fight without coalition ground forces in support.

Iranian military intervention in Iraq should now be manifest to everyone. The commander of the Quds Force was himself involved in the cessation of fighting, and he did not "broker" the deal as a neutral mediator since his forces were among the belligerents.

The ability of the Sadrists and Iranian-controlled Special Groups to plunge Iraq into chaos has been exaggerated. To the extent that they have just tried to do that, they failed completely. In 2004, Sadr threw Baghdad and Karbala into full-scale combat that lasted for weeks and required the deployment of thousands of American soldiers to reestablish control. The most recent showing was a pale shadow of 2004.

The even bigger story is why and for that we go to Omar at Iraq the Model.

Telling Sadr that his movement cannot take part in elections unless he disbands his militias and surrenders weapons is a turning point in Iraqi politics, especially because a broad political front including leading Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish powers emerged to back this new trend in dealing with this issue.

He is talking about the Political Council for National Security that last Saturday called on all parties and political movements in Iraq to dissolve their armed militias or forgo participating in the local and provincial council elections due next October.

This entity managed for the first time a week ago to overcome the impotence that had halted its mission since its inception. Evidence of the newfound potency of this entity is that Ayad Allawi, who had refused being part of it for a long time, is now sending delegates to negotiate terms for his membership.

The ongoing confrontation highlights a dramatic change in the inclination of the Iraqi leadership, which decided to face the challenge with unwavering resolve instead of shrinking away. We have learned from the experience of the last five years that unresolved fights tend to be very costly in the long run, as we will have to deal with recurrent fights over and over again. It can be understood from Maliki’s words that he came to realize that the decision to disband or exterminate illegal military entities should have been made a long time ago.

Haven’t heard of the Political Council for National Security? Well now you have and that my friends is the rest of the story. This could be as big a development as the Sunni Awakening, a Shia Awakening if you will.

Update: The Iraqi Government is now in total control of Basra. Brave Muqtada is still in Iran.

Barack Obama Would Let Shoaib Choudhury Die

2008-03-25T08:00:00.003-06:00

The MSM still refusing to vet Obama? No problem, the info's on the net. In this case at American Thinker.

Like everyone else, I have my own political principles and beliefs; and I feel very strongly about them. But when I began fighting for anti-Islamist Muslim journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury [see AT Sunday edition], I knew that I could not be successful if I garnered support from only one political party or philosophy. The fact is, Shoaib was in prison, being tortured, and risking his life. He still is; which is why we have not stopped fighting. Clearly this was a matter of human rights, of basic American principles, and everyone with an ounce of human decency should support us.

In fact, I approached about 15 percent of the House and a handful of Senators: Democratic, Republican, left, right, moderate; you name it. And every one of them reacted with support; every one of them, that is, except one. Who was the one lawmaker that took a pass on saving the life of an imprisoned US ally and opponent of Islamist extremism? That's right, my own Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Perception.

2008-03-15T12:32:00.005-06:00

Much has been made of this picture of Obama in Somali attire. I was far more offended by Pelosi trying to suck up to Assad with the headscarf than Obama donning native dress but Obama’s reaction highlights what I want to point out in this post. His campaign manager accused Hillary’s campaign of “the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election”. Welcome to the machine. The inference of course is that people will perceive Obama as a Muslim. Stupid E-Mails notwithstanding, Obama is not a Muslim. Truth be told I would be more comfortable if he was attending a main stream Mosque than Reverand Jeremiah Wright’s Church of Hate the White Man.

Mr. and Mrs. Obama’s Pastor and mentor of twenty years has opinions of America that are in lockstep with the Jihadists.

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people.

After 9/11

We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

As does his opinion of Israel.

The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now,” Wright has said. “Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.

Other Obama advisors like Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert Mally, and Samantha Power also reinforce this anti-Isreal attitude.

Back to Obama’s Muslimhood. His father was a Muslim. Obama was not raised in the Muslim Religion. To most in the Middle East if your father was a Muslim, guess what? Yes Virginia, you must believe in Mohammed weather you like it or not. To not do so makes you an apostate and puts you under sentence of death. Nothing else is pertanant from the Jihadist point of view other than that Obama’s father was Muslim and therefore ipso facto, so is Obama. How that will be used by Mullahs to manipulate the Muslim street depends on their needs at the time. In fairness how the Mullahs react to Hillary, a woman, (no really), also depends on their needs but in Hillary’s case they can only go negative.

Of a far graver concern is how the Jihadists will view a pullout of Iraq. Rep. Steve King has taken allot of heat for saying “The radical Islamists, the al-Qaeda ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror.” Is he wrong? Iran will certainly declare victory because they will have won. Sadr’s still out there as is his Mahdi militia. He will certainly have reason to declare victory. Sunni countries like Saudi Arabia and progressive countries like the UAE will have reason fear. Al Qaeda in Iraq is finished and is struggling in Afghanistan and Pakistan, nevertheless they will not only declare victory but also take credit for it. The Taliban will get a sudden influx of Jihadists since the main battlefield will become Afghanistan; also Obama is hostile towards Musharraf’s regime. Security has already been compromised because of failure to pass a new surveillance bill, Obama would continue to press for terrorists right to privacy as well as pacify the trial lawyers. All in all, a victory for Obama will be perceived as a victory for radical Islam, not just by the terrorist but by me. I will not be dancing in the streets however; I’ll be locked and loaded.

Hope

2008-02-22T10:33:00.004-07:00

Hope. Hell of a thing to base a national election on. Pull out of Iraq and hope the situation doesn’t massively deteriorate. Bomb our allies and hope they remain allies. Talk to Iran in the hope that Ahmadinejad can be reasoned with. Remove the assurances to companies that they will be protected from trial lawyers and hope they continue to cooperate on the war on terror. When did we become so hopeless that we need to depend on hope?

Change, now that we could use. Change our reckless spending. Change the weak policy on the Iran war. Change our support for PA terrorists. Change our porous borders. However don’t change an Iraq policy that is working so well that even Democrats can’t deny the success.

Many of us have said we would not vote for McCain because he would be a lib light ready to work together with a Democrat congress to further a leftist agenda. I don’t want my party associated with the following mess. However I can’t in good conscious leave the security of my country to hope.

Obama couldn’t close the deal and the Clinton machine will take the Democrat primary right to the convention and maybe beyond to the courts until she gets the nomination. She will not abandon Iraq despite what she says. He is sincere in his support of quick flight from our responsibility in the region. So with lives on the line I will hope Hillary becomes the nominee and then face the McCain dilemma anew. Should Obama face McCain I will have to vote for McCain. Someday we will have a true conservative back in the White House but the next four to eight years are going to be tuff.

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

2008-01-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one!

Jay-Z's "99 Problems" blasted out of the sound system at Barak Obama’s HQ as he declared victory in Iowa. Au contraire Mr. Obama, the Bitch runs the Clinton Machine and with a well liked Ex-President and other surrogates as her henchmen doing the negative stuff the pain has just begun. Democrats are so desperate at the thought of Hillary being their candidate that they are willing to back an inexperienced charismatic upstart. That wasn’t supposed to happen so the machine is going to work. Racism, class envy, all the tools that are regularly aimed at Republicans will be brought on Mr. Obama. Unless given the V.P. bone Blacks may stay home in November after what she is going to do to him.

Conservatives may stay home if Mc Cain gets the nomination. He can’t win anyway, liberals will vote for the real thing rather than Liberal Light. If he does win he will work hand in hand with the liberals so as to be the MSM’s darling. Republicans will get blamed for the resulting mess. I will not vote for McCain. I won’t stay home, lots of other races out there, Conservatives like Steve Pierce for Senate, but I will not vote for McCain.

A State of Their Own

2008-01-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

We are all extremely proud to be a part of the vision for the future of Palestine

A quote from the American International School in Gaza, which was robbed and trashed a day before Bush’s visit to the autonomous Palestinian region. I love GB but sometimes I don’t know what planet he comes from. He can’t really believe he can accomplish peace in the Middle East yet I guess as POTUS he has to try.

Gaza under brutal Zionist ocupation

Gaza under Palistinian rule

Lobna Al-Rayes, who teaches five year olds at the school said, "we teach children how to live in peace". That and the fact that the state department pays for the school and it has the name America in it are enough to make it a target. Who exactly wants peace? Arab leaders want to keep the Palestinians in camps breeding generation after generation of Jew hating terrorists.

Who did the Palestinians elect as their representatives? Hamas. Hamas’ charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Any peace would be a hudna: "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet made a truce with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud" ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).

You can't have peace until one side accepts defeat, something many Americans don’t understand. You can’t just “stop the war” without surrender, unless you are winning and willing to accept stalemate, but why would any sane person “stop the war” when you are winning? We did in Nam. Many want us to do the same in Iraq. Obviously we aren’t asking Israel to do anything we haven’t done but then we have never been under the knife as Israel has been since it’s recent inception. We survived Nam, we would survive retreating in Iraq albeit with many American lives lost in future attacks, but Israel cannot survive any retreat and we should not pressure them to do so.

Fire in the Belly

2008-01-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

I’m back, hope everyone had a happy holidays. I had to move domiciles and just got back the net. No wi-fi in my small town.

The knock on Thompson continues to be the idea that he doesn’t want it enough. While Democrats hit each other on whether their opposition has wanted it since kindergarten or marriage the one man who admits he is only in the race because he fears for the future of his country gets hammered cause he has no fire in the belly. Understand the man is an actor and could easily get a focus group together to ascertain the public persona he should adopt and take on that character. You can have the real man or a chameleon; I prefer the real man and the only true conservative in the race. Maybe he should cry.

“Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There's no crying! THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL! ”

Tom Hanks: A League of There Own

Maybe not in baseball but then baseball is pretty serious business in the big leagues. Presidential politics however… did Margaret Thatcher ever cry? How will this go over in macho Latin America or anti-women Muslim countries? It seems it went over well with women in New Hampshire, Dummies are claiming voter fraud however.

Veterans Day

2007-11-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

When I got a little bit older, I went out and worked on the railroad awhile. I might say, too, that in my early days I got in bad company and I broke off from my mother's and father's advice and got to drinking and gambling and playing up right smart. I read about Frank and Jesse James. I thought if Frank and Jesse could be crack shots I could too. I used to gallop my horse around a tree with a revolver and muss up that tree right smart. And I got tolerably accurate, too.

And one night, after being very drunk and fighting, I got in after midnight, and found my mother sitting up waiting for me, and I asked her, "Why don't you lie down?" And she said, "I can't lie down. I don't know what's going to become of you when you are out drinking, and so I wait until you come in." And then she asked me, "Alvin, when are you going to be a man like your father and your grandfathers?" I promised my mother that night I would never drink again; I would never smoke or chew again; I would never gamble again; I would never cuss or fight again. And I have never drunk any whiskey, I have never touched cards, I have never smoked or chewed, and I have never fought or rough-housed since that night. I was very fond of tobacco, too.

I had already told my mother I would quit the things I had been doing, and at that time I had already quit gambling and drinking and fighting and was ready to begin another life. I joined the church and became an elder. I was teaching singing schools and led all the singing in the church before I went in the army. That is why they used to call me the Singing Elder.

OCTOBER 8th 1918

I don't know whether it was the German major, but one yelled something out in German that we couldn't understand. And then the machine guns on top swung around and opened fire on us. There were about thirty of them. They were commanding us from a hillside less than thirty yards away. They couldn't miss. And they didn't!

They killed all of Savage's squad; they got all of mine but two; they wounded Cutting and killed two of his squad; and Early's squad was well back in the brush on the extreme right and not yet under the direct fire of the machine guns, and so they escaped. All except Early. He went down with three bullets in his body. That left me in command. I was right out there in the open.

And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a 'racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush, I didn't even have time to kneel or lie down.

I don't know what the other boys were doing. They claim They didn't fire a shot. They said afterwards they were on the right, guarding the prisoners. And the prisoners were lying down and the machine guns had to shoot over them to get me. As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them.

There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharpshooting. I don't think I missed a shot. It was no time to miss.

In order to sight me or to swing their machine guns on me, the Germans had to show their heads above the trench, and every time I saw a head I just touched it off. All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had.

Suddenly a German officer and five men jumped out of the trench and charged me with fixed bayonets. I changed to the old automatic and just touched them off too. I touched off the sixth man first, then the fifth, then the fourth, then the third and so on. I wanted them to keep coming.

I didn't want the rear ones to see me touching off the front ones. I was afraid they would drop down and pump a volley into me.

--and I got hold of the German major, and he told me if I wouldn't kill any more of them he would make them quit firing. So I told him all right, if he would do it now. So he blew a little whistle, and they quit shooting and come down and gave up.

I had killed over twenty before the German major said he would make them give up. I covered him with my automatic and told him if he didn't make them stop firing I would take off his head next. And he knew I meant it. He told me if I didn't kill him, and if I stopped shooting the others in the trench, he would make them surrender.

He blew a little whistle and they came down and began to gather around and throw down their guns and belts. All but one of them came off the hill with their hands up, and just before that one got to me he threw a little hand grenade which burst in the air in front of me.

I had to touch him off. The rest surrendered without any more trouble. There were nearly 100 of them.

Sgt Alvin C. York used to be known to every American. This Veterans Day I would like to honor this forgotten hero. I would also like to honor my Dad who landed on Normandy with the 474th Fighter Group two weeks after D-day when it is was still pretty hot. I have a picture of Bob Hope in a P-38 supposedly wearing my Dad's service cap. Likewise I would like to honor my son who went all over the world in the Army and had to take a medical discharge because his knees gave out after 7 years of service. Had they not he would have gotten his Ranger Tabs. My brother in law who as a Lt. in Nam took a round in the ear and lost a thumb. My two nephews, one a graduate of the Air Force Academy and one currently a cadet.