Ruh-Roh...Obama may be losing Jay Leno...

"Thomas Paine" on today's America

Dr. Bob Basso continues his series as "Thomas Paine" on today's America.

The New York Times: "All the news that fits our slant"

Ahhh...how the great Grey Lady has fallen. Having fully ignored the Van Jones controversy until he was ousted, the New York Times has once again showed why the "paper of record" is full of scratches and has become totally unplayable. (BTW, the AP omits that the "derogatory" comment he called Republicans was "a--holes.")

Most recently, the expose' of the corrupt ACORN organization, long known to be the political equivalent of La Cosa Nostra, (like here, here, here, here, and here) was exposed to be a fundamentally, and systemically, scam-riddled political operation. So? Well, it's even more illegal when it's done with government money. Who did this great public service of exposing this racketeering? The Times? The Washington Post of Woodward and Bernstein fame? No, they are busy sliming the 20-something messengers. The renowned CBS 60 Minutes? Nope, too busy trying to help Obama pass health care.

Nope. A 20 year-old intern and a 25-year old self-made undercover filmmaker blew the lid off this scandal when videos were released for several days on Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website showing several ACORN offices only too happy to help the pimp and his prostitute find subsidized housing and tax help for setting up there "business" of using underage illegal immigrants as sex slaves.

In the old days, when the press had at least a fig leaf of impartiality, these two would be heralded as heroes of journalism and get at least some buzz for possible Pulitzer prizes. As a side note, it's probably appropriate that the most cherished prize in journalism is named for one of the inventors of Yellow Journalism. Pulitzer and William Randolph Heart are considered by some historians to have engineered the war against Spain, considered by many of today's radical history professors as one of America's most embarrassingly imperial actions since becoming a major player on the world stage. Think of it as equivalent to the Lester Maddox Diversity Award, or the Kanye West School for Etiquette.

Today, we save this honor for those for people who go after vice-presidential nominees who we want to portray as spendthrifts even when the media knows the narrative has been a false and misleading one. Yea, who's the spendthrift now?

The NY Times ombudsman had the unenviable task of explaining yet another instance where Times readers not only didn't know about a story until much of it was pretty well-covered by talk radio and Fox News, but then had to make excuses for why they missed yet another story of corruption from Obama-related people/organizations. (Obama was an attorney for ACORN and has kept close ties to the organization)

Powerline blog has my favorite coverage of this ludicrous excuse of "insufficient tuned-in-ness"

The ombudsman, Clark Hoyt, quotes a journalism expert who says that in today's media environment, "[e]ven the suspicion of a bias is a problem all by itself.

Powerline's Scott Johnson then drops this classic line:

To say that the New York Times is suspected of liberal bias is like saying that Ted Bundy was suspected of being an unsuitable prom date.

You got that right.

In spite of mainstream media efforts to ignore, ACORN scandal goes viral

Jay Leno does ACORN...the end is near for this criminal organization.

Hat Tip to Andrew Breitbart's fabulous new website that broke this story...

www.biggovernment.com

And to James O'Keefe III and Hannah Giles...who should get Pulitzers for taking them down.

I won't hold my breath...

Barack Obama: Friend of our enemies, enemy of our friends

Obama in Prague in April:

So let me be clear: Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies. The Czech Republic and Poland have been courageous in agreeing to host a defense against these missiles. As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven. (Applause.) If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security, and the driving force for missile defense construction in Europe will be removed. (Applause.)

In the news today:

President Obama dismayed America's allies in Europe and angered his political opponents at home today when he formally ditched plans to set up a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The former Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, said: "This is not good news for the Czech state, for Czech freedom and independence. It puts us in a position wherein we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that's a certain threat."

Also:

Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.

And:

A spokeswoman at the Polish Ministry of Defense also said the program had been suspended.

"This is catastrophic for Poland," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with ministry policy.

I'm speechless.

Oh yea, Mr. Sensitivity announced this on the 70th Anniversary of the Soviet Invasion of Poland...which led to massacres like the Katyn Forest slaughter.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
-- George Santayana

9/12 in (of all places) Los Angeles

Hat tip to Steve Vernon and RJ Thomas at Andrew Breitbart's great website Big Hollywood.

The guy is doing truly patriotic work. I will soon post about his incredible revelations regarding ACORN's rampant corruption.

Coach

Eight years later...

As I have for the last several years, I showed my history classes the short documentary "Twin Towers." While the title suggests it's all about the WTC-9/11 event, it's actually not.

It was originally going to be about the people who work in the NYC Emergency Services Unit. These people take on the tougher assignments like SWAT functions, but also tasks like water and suicide-attempt rescues, building collapses, etc. As you can imagine, they were front and center on 9/11 trying to get people out of the WTC complex and lost 14 of their 34 person unit; a devastating blow to some of the Big Apple's finest.

I show it because it will easily fit inside a normal class period and because it is apolitical. It really doesn't even identify the hijackers at all. And most of the end of the film focuses on the devastating impact on the men and families of the unit, and particularly on one family, whose other son, a FDNY fireman, also died on 9/11.

The title comes from a suggestion by a reporter at the time who referred to the two brothers as "the twin towers." The film won the 2003 Oscar for documentary short, but I wonder if it would even get nominated today. We have dropped 9/11 down the memory hole. I wasn't going to show it to my senior classes but they had heard that my juniors had seen it and many of them were so young they had never seen much footage of the attacks.

Some say we avoid broadcasting the images because we don't want to whip up hatred against Muslims; others say it is because the event was used by Bush to justify a illegal war. All I can say is that those who started this war have not quit it. You don't stop until the enemy if completely defeated. I believe this government cannot wait to find a way to quit the war. Ignoring the threat allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place. Why do our leaders REFUSE to learn from history?

The attitude of some of the public, and arguably the US government, towards those who declared war on us that day is despairingly different from American determination in the years immediately after 9/11. Col. Ralph Peters article in today's New York Post is one of the best I have seen. A military man, he knows too well that many of his brothers-in-arms will pay the price for the dance we are doing with our enemies and the damage in trust this is doing to our relationship with our historic friends such as England, Israel, and Japan. It's under the surface now, but they know they are being told, "You're on your own, we are too busy trying to get our population under the control of socialism to help you anymore."

Iran has just told us to go intercourse ourselves regarding their nuclear program, indicating that the President's apology tour did not bear the fruit he had hoped for. Isn't this why Obama was reticent to criticize the Iranian government's crackdown on it's huge public protests last summer? I can see that went well...

Meanwhile, our other "buddies", like Russia and China are treating the USA with distain. And why shouldn't they? We are racking up the national credit card to prop up our labor unions and pay off campaign "community organizers". Meanwhile, on the foreign scene, our national penitence act has reaped derision, not adulation.

It does no good for those of us who stood in astonishment watching a leader painfully ignorant of history as his Appeasement Tour 2009 unfolded to simply whine about what is happening. Some of us must act before we lose our country.

I am grateful to the patriots who are in Washington today speaking up against the intentional bankrupting of the nation that the Democratic Party has instituted this year. These American citizens are using their 1st Amendment rights of peaceable assembly to put their elected representatives on notice. Congressmen and senators: ignore them at your peril; this is a MUCH bigger deal than 1994.

The policies the president is supporting will mandate a permanent dependent class reliant on government paper to keep their heads above water. After having done it to the lower classes in American society with the New Deal legislation and the Great Society socialist wealth transfer, the middle-class is now in the Statist sniperscope through "single-payer health insurance reform"; a phrase as truthful as "peaceloving government of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea". They just gave us the same finger the Iranians did.

It will be sad if Americans are unable to pressure the Democrats in Congress to reject this government theft of wealth by preventing a "reform" bill on 17% of the American economy. I suppose I will be someday telling my children what it was like before Chairman Barry "remade" America so it would work more smoothly...with none of that bothersome dissent that he finds so distasteful.

He called it "bickering"...our founders called it things like "protected speech", "dissent", and "democracy."

Today, he said this about the "bickerers":

This is when the special interests and the insurance companies and the folks who want to kill reform fight back with everything they’ve got. This is when they spread all kinds of rumors to scare and intimidate the American people. This is what they always do.

Divide and smear...divide and smear...Nice work Mr. Hope and Change. Your Alinsky methods are doomed.

Mr. Obama...it breaks my heart to have to say it, but you are a impugning an important interest group. They're called TAXPAYERS. This may work in Chicago...I pray it doesn't work for the rest of us.

It's time to stand up, America...or lose your liberties.

Coach

The Reality of "Health Insurance Reform"

It's been a while since I have posted, but there has been a lot of murkiness on the socialized medicine debate.

Why is this such a contentious issue? And more importantly, where did all this sudden opposition come from? Was it ginned up, or "astroturfed"? (This is a term for phony "grassroots" organizing. Astroturfed events are supposed to look like they came from a groundswell of public outrage, but is actually manufactured by well-organized political entities. David Axelrod, Obama's campaign manager proudly claimed the coining of the phrase...and admitting, after the election, that he was a very skillful user of the strategy.

So it should come as no surprise that the White House has attributed the contentious town hall meetings to astroturfing by conservative organizations, Republican operatives, or rabid talk radio personalities.

Michael Barone's latest in the NY Post truly hits the nail on the head by once again citing the reality of the numbers when it comes down to the basic ideological breakdown of the American voting public.

Read it here...and be informed.

More later,

Coach

An America Worth Keeping

There have been times in recent months when I began to despair for the morale of our land and the willingness of it's people to value the cost of freedom.

I fear no more. This video comes by way of Powerline blog and is 12 minutes that every citizen should be able to spare. It's not a professional video by any stretch of the imagination, but it's powerful because of what it depicts. A notice went in a local paper in suburban Atlanta that one of it's citizens, SSgt John C. Beale, a veteran of Desert Storm who had re-upped as a National Guard member, had been killed in Afghanistan. The paper noted his route from the airport to the cemetery in the short piece.

What you see here is the America I was worried had disappeared. The musical lyrics from the songs chosen are appropriate for the moment. Please watch the entire clip to the end...and look at the people who turned out. I am sure they are of many backgrounds and political persuasions...but they are ALL AMERICANS.

Keep a kleenex handy...but trust me...it's a good thing.

Barack Obama's Hope and Change

By the time I want to retire, I hope I have some change left...

Hat tip to Powerline blog

Nancy Pelosi vs. the CIA

I would imagine that most of the people who follow this blog have been up on the controversy of Nancy Pelosi and the CIA. It seems the Speaker has taken the stand that she didn't know that waterboarding was part of the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT) being used by the CIA in getting the other planned attacks on the USA in the wake of 9/11.

We captured a treasure-trove of Al-Qaeda's top operatives months after the attacks and some of the highest operatives even boasted that BIGGER events were to come shortly.

Many of us forget the climate of the times. If you had asked most Americans, within the first year of the attacks, "do you think we will go into 2009 without a follow-up attack in the USA" probably 85-90% would have responded "NO!"

And there was good reason for that pessimism. In fact, there were several follow-up attempts that have escaped most American's consciousness. Richard "Shoe Bomber" Reid was stopped mid-attempt, as were other plots like a multi-plane attempt to blow up planes mid-flight coming back from the UK.

Three Gitmo prisoners, two directly involved in the 9/11 plot, and another involved in the Cole bombing (remember that Clinton era attack?) were waterboarded. That's right. At one time or another, several hundred prisoners have been held at Guantanamo Bay and only THREE were considered to have such important information that it would require coercive action.

Let's leave aside whether this was "legal" or not for now. There as many positions on that these days as we have lawyers in the country (a lot).

What has been debated lately is this question: "What did Nancy know, and when did she know it?"

Beside the obvious Howard Baker-Watergate analogy here, it is important to remember that Mrs. Pelosi was NOT Speaker of the House at the time but was a key part of the Democratic house leadership. It's even more important to realize that because she was part of the opposition, it was MOST important for people like her to be briefed because the Republican leadership knew that having the support of the minority would protect them from criticism at that critical time right after the 9/11 attacks.

Again, let's remember the mood of the times. Few were questioning things like "how rough should we be on these guys?" The times right after the attacks was more like "how did this happen and why didn't we know?" And of course, most importantly, "how can we prevent this in the future?"

The CIA's EIT regimen was strongly monitored by both the Congressional Intelligence committees and the White House. I would imagine if there had been attacks, some of those who yell "torture" would be yelling "I thought you conservatives were supposed to keep us safe!"

Regardless, Pelosi has been saying, with varying emphasis and clarifications, that she was NOT briefed about the USAGE of EIT. She put an exclamation mark on it by slandering both the Bush Administration (expected) and the CIA (foolhardy) for being serial liars.

Wow. Mark Twain once said, "Never pick a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel" when referring to arguing with the press. Nancy has accused people who monitor conversations, take great notes, and perhaps even have her phone tapped!

Dumb.

To put an exclamation on this whole incident, Jim Geraghty at National Review Online sent a message to Gene Poteat, President of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Don't think that they are not keeping in "close touch" with some of their "old buddies" in government. The present officers are part of the executive branch of the US Government. The CIA exists to serve the president. That doesn't prevent some of them from selectively leaking information to suit their own agenda if it conflicts with their ultimate boss, Barack Obama. They sure did a number on Bush, leaking all sorts of doubts about the invasion of Iraq, before and after the event.

Here is what Poteat said to Geraghty, in response:

Those CIA officers chosen to brief the Congress, and especially the intelligence committees, are very senior, experienced officers, who well know the reputation and future of the CIA, as well as their own jobs, are on the line should they be perceived as not telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Such restrictions, however, do not apply to members of the Congress when they then appear before the public.

As Chris Farley said famously in Tommy Boy: "That's gonna leave a mark!"

President Obama seems more inclined to insert himself in all kinds of areas that past presidents have not. Ask former GM President Rick Wagoner!

But I don't think Obama will stop the CIA from defending itself. Nancy has made life more difficult for him lately. And she has been acting like a Queen Bee. As far as Obama is concerned, there is only one royal family in Washington.

Update: Is there a revolt against the Federal Government's abuse of power?

First the banks, then the auto industry, what area of American business is next? In the previous post, I talked about Obama's alleged bullying of investment firms who didn't want to go along with his strong-armed tactics to force acceptance of certain aspects of the Chrysler bankruptcy that would violate their fiduciary responsibility to their investors.

It's always easy to see the justification for the President's actions if you demonize financial people as "selfish, and not willing to sacrifice" like the rest of the investors. That's not an honest read on what is going on here. The others accepted his terms BECAUSE THEY HAD TO. THEY HAD ACCEPTED TARP MONEY. Some accepted because they needed it, others because they were told "take it, or else." But the hedge funds and other investment entities had followed the rules and bought Chrysler bonds expecting that the US Government would follow the law.

I'll say it right now. Barack Obama has violated his Constitutional oath. He is NOT following the law of the land. He is making his own. "I won" is his response to the financial people he "negotiated" with and now investors will pay the price. Because his goal all along was NOT to save GM or Chrysler, but to protect the United Auto Workers, who had worked hard to get him elected, and their pensioners. Now, you can expect more federal money to "bailout" GM and Chrysler over the next months and years. But only if those companies produce more unprofitable "green" cars and give up their profitable "ungreen" cars like SUVs and muscle cars.

Who died and made him king? He was elected president, but I don't see in http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleii.html where he gets this kind of power over business. This story continues to percolate today, but it will get nowhere because his personal popularity remains high as does his fawning treatment from the star-struck press. The public is unaware of what the president is up to. So sad. Fixing this is going to be expensive.

At least some states are willing to take on the federal juggernaut. First, you had some governors who were willing to say, "thanks, but we don't like the strings attached" to some of the stimulus money. Now, aware that acquiescence will lead to subservience, Oklahoma's legislature has taken a position that it will not give up it's sovereignty to the US government. Tennessee has taken a similar action.

What are they talking about?

This is why it is SOOO important that Americans understand the rule book for this country that governs ALL men, including the president.

The 10th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1790, and written by James Madison says this:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

As I have said often on this blog, over the last 70 years, since the American people gave unprecedented power to the federal government, FDR, and the Congress during the Great Depression, the federal government has taken powers away from the people and the states and exercised that power in the way they see fit. Here is a website formed by some who are watching this state sovereignty movement. Amity Shlaes, author of a much praised book reassessing the government's actions during the Great Depression, catalogs the jihad against those critical of Obama's power grab here.

Now you have a government in Washington completely controlled by one party. Republicans are spectators, not even allowed in certain key meetings to formulate laws, and Obama feels protected from scrutiny and criticism by the press, and thus the public. When polls ask people if they like the president, a strong majority says "yes!" When they are polled about his policies, without attaching them to him, they reject them. So why does he remain popular? BECAUSE THE MEDIA HAS KEPT THE PUBLIC IGNORANT

And you had better not attack him or them. Or they will "Palin" you...like we "Palined" Limbaugh, Joe the Plumber, Governor Sanford, Governor Jindal, and Miss California. Who said the Republicans had the monopoly on McCarthyism. Or the president will sic the White House Press Corps on you, as alleged in the Chrysler case.

So, what happens next? In a truly two-party system, with a truly "watchdog" press, this would the subject of hot debate. Instead, we will be told, "hey, we are tough on Obama, look at what we said about his wife's expensive tennis shoes!"

Meanwhile, new restrictions on banks that took TARP money is designed to keep them from paying it back, thereby staying under the federal gov'ts thumb. If you pay it back, then you can't be covered by FDIC insurance. Wait a minute! These banks paid into the federal government's FDIC fund with payment of insurance premiums! Do you think any private insurance company would be allowed to get away with that kind of bait and switch? Why should the USG be allowed to do that?!

Frankly, I don't think that the Obama administration will allow even that concession to stand. THEY DON'T WANT TO LET THE BANKS GO BACK TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE. They would not have been able to get the Chrysler deal go forward except they had the banks in their control. And they still have to do the SAME KIND OF DEAL with GM. You watch. So, in the end, I think they won't let them off that easily.

The internet has changed things more than even the internet-savvy left-wing blogs realize.

It won't happen, because it is a political act, but abuse of power is an impeachable offense. Obama should be very careful about going forward with his war on American capitalism.

What hath Barack wrought?

I have been quiet lately because I am working on several projects. I have two new classes for adult education this summer, and am in the early stages of my first book.

Each time something comes along, I see something that I want to blog about, but things come up...

But my background in the financial industry keeps coming back to my mind as we watch President Obama take this ship of state in a hard left turn.

He is killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

No one has EVER said that capitalism is perfect. Or even fair. My dad used to say that over and over, "no one said that life would be fair." We have a president who is trying to use fiscal and monetary policy to effect "fairness and justice." His concept is going to run the ship aground.

His latest move was to demonize Parella Weinberg, a financial group known as a "hedge fund." They also represent people. Imagine that. They invest for pension funds, teacher retirement funds, insurance companies...you know...humans.

Obama is trying to use the executive power of the US Government to bully them out of their proper financial position as first lien holders on Chrysler's debt.

Let me explain: Chrysler comes to you and says, "I need billions of dollars to build new cars."

You reply: "ok, I'm interested, but what happens if you fail and go out of business?"

Chrysler says: "We sell off the company, and you get the first dibs on what's left. It's a risk, but worth taking. And since you would be first in line, your risk is the least, so you get the lowest interest rate of any of our debtors."

You reply: "Ok. Since I would be first in line, I'll buy billions."

Suddenly, Chrysler may go bankrupt. Now, Obama doesn't want this to go to a bankruptcy court, because thay would invalidate the union contracts of Chrysler, and the UAW voted heavily for Obama. He's gonna protect them, so he forces most of the debtors to take @ 50 cents on the dollar. Especially the unions, who are far behind you and your pension funds in line.

YOU, you who had the first position, you get LESS on the dollar,(rumored to be more like 30%). After all, he has been demonizing banks and investment firms since he was inaugurated. And if you DON'T agree to this, his people tell you, "we will trash your reputation in the White House press corps." These are the people who worship Obama and will do his bidding. Heck, media people are one step above baby-killers and lawyers in public polling these days, this will make them popular!

I love how the White House denies this report.

"The charge is completely untrue," said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, "and there's obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way."

emphasis mine. Get it? "Can't prove it, pal. Learn to wire yourself for sound, amateur."

Meanwhile, the president goes out and says you weren't willing to "sacrifice" like everyone else was. We elected a president, not a king. This is the US Government, not Cook County, Illinois. You can't rule by intimidation. We have laws, Mr. Obama.

If you think I am making this up, read the links above. What this president is doing is chasing capital out of the country

Even Warren Buffet, who supported and voted for Obama, has warned that inflation and dollar devaluation will be the hidden tax.

Now, there is a very interesting post of a letter from a "hedge-fund" guy to the National Review. I spent enough time in the field to know that this guy is not kidding.

Money has flowed into this country since WWII because it was treated well here. Now, things are changing. All around the world, the warning signs are there for those who pay attention, and our number 1 debtor, CHINA, is paying attention. The demonization of the financial world is the mania of Barack Obama. It's like if you decided to discipline your head by tightening the noose around your neck. The head will get "taught a lesson"...and the body...well...

Here's the note...

Hey (redacted by me) — Would you like a sound bite from one of those evil hedge fund guys for Colmes' show tonight? How's this: "As a professional investor I'd have to be out of my skull to partner with this government on anything."

This administration has made it quite clear that they can't be relied upon to honor contracts or legal precedents and if I can't know what the rules are before the game starts then I'm not going to play. Hedge funds aren't like the banks … we haven't failed. We aren't beholden to the taxpayer to make our way. We have contractual and fiduciary obligation which we will honor. People pay us to make them money not to meet a political goal. So Obama had better think long and hard before he tries to bully us like he did the banks, or try to tell us that "he's the only thing between us and the pitchforks."

Also, Geithner and Obama have been saying that they plan on balancing the budget once the crisis is past. The press may believe that twaddle about how he'll do it by "making things more efficient," but we in the hedge fund industry aren't so stupid. We've looked at the numbers and know what he's planning to do. I know dozens of people who are already putting the legal structures in place to move their companies and themselves offshore and away from the grip of the tax man. These are some of the smartest most dynamic people in the world and they'll have no trouble staying ahead of the (offensive remark removed) over at the IRS.

So unless Obama wants to run out of "other people's money" a lot sooner than he expected, he had better keep some people around to pay the bills. And if he keeps demonizing the productive and saying that it's their responsibility to let him spend their money on the unproductive, then we'll all be gone. I'll be working my 14 hour days is Bahrain or Singapore, and Obama can go suck eggs. He needs the productive classes a lot more than the productive classes need him.

On the plus side, at least my [offspring] will be able to get a decent education.

And if the "smart money" leaves the country, who do you think is gonna be stuck with that huge debt payment long after Mr. "HopeIhavesomechangeleft" has left office?

Us...Mr. and Mrs. Dumbmoney...on the way to being Mr. and Mrs. Debtpayors.

You've been warned.

The Return of the Sons of Liberty

All over the nation, Americans will be gathering to protest the US Government's "generational theft" masquerading as "stimulus" and "fighting the recession."

I hope you will choose to attend one of these exhibitions of the 1st Amendment today. You can find where they are here.

I will be at Kiener Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri. Cheers!

PS...here are some facts to consider...

• If you’re a 50-year old-with a college degree, you will pay approximately $81,000 over your working life just to pay the interest on the debt in the Obama budget.
• If you’re a 40-year-old, you’ll pay $132,000.
• And if you’re a 20-year-old, just starting out after college, you will pay a whopping $114,000 just to service the interest on the debt created by the Obama budget.

Our New Commander-in-Chief: kudos and criticism

Let's get this said right away: good on you for the action against the "pirates", Mr. President.

I have been very critical of the president in this blog, so I want it clear that I will also speak out when he does something RIGHT. Taking out the pirates with the action by the Navy SEALS was the right thing to do. And yes, I would still be saying this if it had not been the unqualified success that it was; you can't appease terrorists. I hope Mr. Obama keeps this in mind as he formulates his approaches to North Korea, Iran, Al Qaida, etc., although early signs are not encouraging in Iran, or North Korea.

But there is no question that his approach to the military in the US is different from his predecessor. It's reported that huge military funding cuts are in the works for the Pentagon. This in spite of constant denials during the campaign that he would follow this path. Using the economy as an excuse won't wash, especially when you are planning to give billions to the International Monetary Fund in a strategy that even bypasses congressional approval. That may be considered to be a plus by the majority of those who voted for him, but some of his actions vis a vis the military are starting to cause dismay amongst the people he commands.

I support the Constitution of these United States over and above any person, of any ideology, so I expect and applaud the US military for keeping any misgivings about their new commander-in-chief to themselves. But at the same time, they have an obligation to give him their best advice on how to move forward in addressing some of our challenges in foreign affairs, and the importance of keeping our enemies reticent to take threatening actions against US citizens. I don't believe in random acts, so when we see that Somali pirates, who have been active for years, decide to attack a US vessel for the first time in decades within months of the ascension of a president who has been as critical of his country as some of our "friends" have been over the last several years...well, it's not a surprise. At least he now always wears his flag pin, where before he proudly didn't.

While we can all rejoice at the release of Captain Phillips, we should also be sobered by the prospect that President Obama seems intent on backing off of earlier strong statements about challenging the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. It sends a very bad signal at the time when the action against the Somalis could have been leveraged with very little risk. This kind of precision action reminds the rest of the world's bad guys that they might think twice about messing with the USA. Perhaps that worked better coming from a Texan, but when the bullets are flying, even liberals from San Francisco want a Texan in the foxhole with them. The world is now our foxhole, and we need to make sure our "Texans" have the munitions they need to keep the bad guys in check.

The fact of the matter is that the quiet word has gone out that the president is not happy that the response of his visits to military bases has been less enthusiastic than say, German citizens in Berlin. Perhaps they continue to respect their former C-I-C because he at least recognized the need to not criticize those who have to inhabit that office. It's nice to see George W. Bush remain classy towards Obama, even if Obama isn't classy in return.
Few of us knew that in preparation for his "unannounced" visit to Baghdad, his advance people decided to ensure that the world's media saw a president beloved by the men he commands, even if it took some behind the scenes deceit to achieve a "candid" moment.

This smacks of the kind of "photo-op" worthy of North Vietnamese portrayals of "humane treatment" of "American war criminals" during their captivity in North Vietnam. John McCain has been back to Hanoi several times, and while he has forgiven, he has not forgotten the conflict between the mirage and the reality of life in captivity.

It's unfortunate that the president's people felt that it was necessary to pre-screen his "loving troops" in this way. It would have been better if he had asked himself WHY the troops were less than thrilled about their commander's visit. But then that would require taking positive lessons from Bush's example. And that would be a reversal from the Bush-bashing policy that began with his inauguration.

President Obama puts US Business on Double-Secret Probation

Now here's something I have first-hand experience in: US Business. I was a private investment adviser for 9 years and did money management for a private school for another 8 years. During that time, when analyzing what makes a business successful, you tend to learn some basic principles.

1) You attract the best and brightest to come work at your organization. That usually means a good organization and top compensation.

2) You encourage them to compete and beat other organizations in the field of your business.

3) You work hard to keep distractions to a minimum.

4) You allow the people that know what they are doing to do their job. You hired them because they are the BEST, not because they are necessarily the nicest people.

5) You don't let your best people go to your main competition.

Barack Obama has revealed what we already know: He knows NOTHING about running a business and even less about running a country.

But he sure can make people swoon and he knows how to buy their votes. With taxpayer money.

That is what we have learned from his first 80 days. The Europeans are still swooning over his visit, but they didn't give him what he wanted: a more significant presence in Afghanistan, and a global stimulus package. (The trillion dollars promised was already in the works...this would have been on top of that)

His firing of GM president Rick Wagoner was intended to not only shake up GM, but ring a shot across the bow of ANY US business that has taken government money of late. Many bank executives, including some who were FORCED to take TARP money have tried to give it back lately. They have been told that they cannot. Some in a very forceful way...personally...but the new Czar of US business, Barack Obama. I'm still looking for that presidential power in Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution. But no matter...after all, Obama has said that the Constitution "represents the fundamental flaw of this country." (the link include a link to the audio from the 2001 interview. And this guy used to teach Constitutional Law? Those students should get a refund. Perhaps he will "fix" the Constitution by ignoring it. He's off to a good start.

Obama's war on US business is persuading our best and brightest to leave US corporations and seek out more friendly places with foreign institutions. Some believe that he doesn't want the economy to recover, that is part of what has been called the "Cloward/Piven" strategy for the US economy. This strategy would end the US free market economy and make us look more like European Socialism. I'm not ready to go say he is doing this...yet. But I still don't believe many of Obama's moves are what over 60 million people thought they were voting for last November.

So it is understandable that some executives would be willing to go overseas. Look for that exodus to speed up faster than you can say "Governor Patterson hates the rich people who pay New York City Taxes." What was that about? It was about a governor with approval ratings even lower than Rush Limbaugh...bashing Rush Limbaugh.

Meanwhile, the president has managed to apologize for every American offense short of the Edsel and new Coke. He also threw in a slap in the face, this time to past DEMOCRATIC president Harry S. Truman, by flagellating America over Hiroshima. Looks like he was there for more of the Reverend Wright Hate America preachings then he led us to believe in the campaign. You may remember that Wright's indignant accusations that the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were about racism against Asians, and not about ending the war. Shame on you, Mr. President.

Fortunately, the students in my US History classes know more about that event than the president of the United States, as they watch the film Hiroshima every year. It's a pretty accurate accounting of the timeline and reasonings that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II. I feel fairly certain that Mr. Obama never saw it. I believe it has great credibility as an accurate portrayal of the events leading up to Truman's decision because the Japanese side of the story is portrayed by Japanese and the US side portraying generally by Canadians. And we aren't terribly popular with Canadians these days...but I feel the US view is well-represented here.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too hard on our president for his mistaken view regarding that act. Even though it probably saved half a million US lives, not to mention over a million Japanese lives, by making the invasion of Japan unnecessary, but it showed us just how bad a full-scale nuclear war would be should we lose control of world events and let loose the ultimate "dogs of war."

Obama is obviously "historically-challenged." He was taught his high school US History in Hawaii where it is portrayed as a racist act by Americans against Asians. How ironic that this be taught in the vicinity of the still-rusting hulk of the USS Arizona at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. But that is the nature of politically correct history in our educational system in the US today.

The few of us who work overtime trying to be fair while at the same time making sure that they don't get the touchy-feely gobbledegook that passes for "social studies" these days.

So, when we hear him bashing his nation in foreign cities, he is getting applause for his more "reasonable" approach to US foreign policy and wiping away the memory of his cowboy predecessor.

Like a high-schooler at prom, they are excited at the thought of an "easy" date. But they won't respect him in the morning.

UPDATE: His boyhood home state asks him not to do anything to further trash their struggling economy

God Bless Thomas Sowell

I guess I'm not much of a blogger if I often just reprint something another writer has written. My thinking is that great crisis generate great thinking and writing from great people. We are very blessed to have some fantastic writers and thinkers at this point in our history, unfortunately, none of them have any political power right now. Our government is currently run by some of the worst demogogues in US History. Barney Frank, Joseph Biden, Chris Dodd, and The One are driving the US Titanic full speed towards the iceberg.

Fortunately, we have Victor Davis Hanson, Mark Steyn, Mark Levin, and the master: Thomas Sowell.

I know that there are those who simply see his skin color...hah! I read his stuff for years before I discovered his background. His latest article reflects exactly where I was during the campaign. Watching Americans elect a president like they are voting for a class president was a painful experience for a person who follows current events and contemplates their relation to the lessons history can teach us.

SO...here is his latest, A Rookie President. Read it, and don't weep, just get organized to do everything you can to stop his statist agenda.

A Rookie President
We can lose some very big games with this rookie.

By Thomas Sowell

Someone once said that, for every rookie you have on your starting team in the National Football League, you will lose a game. Somewhere, at some time during the season, a rookie will make a mistake that will cost you a game.

We now have a rookie president of the United States, and, in the dangerous world we live in, with terrorist nations going nuclear, just one rookie mistake can bring disaster down on this generation and generations yet to come.

Barack Obama is a rookie in a sense that few other presidents in American history have ever been. It is not just that he has never been president before. He has never had any position in any kind of organization where he was personally responsible for the outcome.

Other first-term presidents have been governors, generals, Cabinet members, or others in positions of personal responsibility. A few have been senators, like Barack Obama, but usually for longer than Obama, and not having spent half their few years in the Senate running for president.

What is even worse than making mistakes is having sycophants telling you that you are doing fine when you are not. In addition to all the usual hangers-on and supplicants for government favors that every president has, Barack Obama has a media that will see no evil, hear no evil, and certainly speak no evil.

They will cheer him on, no matter what he does, short of first-degree murder — and they would make excuses for that. Even Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan has gushed over President Obama, and even crusty Bill O’Reilly has been impressed by Obama’s demeanor.

There is no sign that President Obama has impressed the Russians, the Iranians, or the North Koreans, except by his rookie mistakes — and that is a dangerous way to impress dangerous people.

What did his televised overture to the Iranians accomplish, except to reassure them that he was not going to do a damn thing to stop them from getting a nuclear bomb? It is a mistake that can go ringing down the corridors of history.

Future generations who live in the shadow of that nuclear threat may wonder what we were thinking about, putting our lives — and theirs — in the hands of a rookie because we liked his style and symbolism?

In the name of “change,” Barack Obama is following policies so old that this generation has never heard of them — certainly not in most of our educational institutions, where history has been replaced by “social studies” or other politically correct courses.

Seeking deals with our adversaries, behind the backs of our allies? The French did that at Munich back in 1938. They threw Czechoslovakia to the wolves and, less than two years later, Hitler gobbled up France anyway.

This year, President Obama’s attempt to make a backdoor deal with the Russians, behind the backs of the NATO countries, was not only rejected but made public by the Russians — a sign of contempt and a warning to our allies not to put too much trust in the United States.

Barack Obama is following a long practice among those on the left of being hard on our allies and soft on our enemies. One of our few allies in the Middle East, the Shah of Iran, was a whipping boy for many in the American media, who vented their indignation at his regime — which now, in retrospect, seems almost benign compared to the hate-filled fanatics and international-terrorism sponsors who now rule that country.

However much Barack Obama has proclaimed his support for Israel, his first phone call as president of the United States was to Hamas, to which he has given hundreds of millions of dollars, which can buy a lot of rockets to fire into Israel.

Our oldest and staunchest ally, Britain, has been downgraded by President Obama’s visibly unimpressive reception of British prime minister Gordon Brown, compared to the way that previous presidents over the past two generations have received British prime ministers. President Obama’s sending the bust of Winston Churchill from the White House back to the British embassy at about the same time was either a rookie mistake or another snub.

We can lose some very big games with this rookie.

Finally, a film about our military I can recommend

Please click on and watch the above trailer.

Last night, my wife and I were heading for Chicago where I am giving a talk on Abraham Lincoln to one of many clubs around the country who support the school where I teach.

I had seen that the movie "Brothers at War" was going to be shown in Decatur, Illinois, so we made plans to stop there and see it before arriving in Chicago. Little did I know that Decatur was the hometown of the family of the subjects of the film. The director of the film, Jake Rademacher, and oldest of the brothers, had decided to make the film about his two younger brothers in order to get an idea why men were signing up to return over and over again to go back to Iraq.

He showed up for the film last night, being greeted by so many old friends, and gave us a little Q & A after the film. The audience had a decidedly supportive cachet but even more of a frustration with the way the mission in Iraq has been treated by Hollywood and the US press media. It was clear this was one reason that Rademacher made the film, but it is really refreshingly free of politics and polemics. What it is truly a tribute to is the sacrifice that the men and their families make to support their highest sense of service to the United States of America and a chance to help oppressed peoples who have been bullied by dictators like Saddam Hussein.

The last 30 minutes of the film are the most rewarding because we finally get a sense of the Iraqi people, and more importantly, the nascent new Iraqi army. Most of the film was shot in two stints Jake took with his brothers, and their comrades, in Iraq.

We see many things we never see on the TV news: Iraqis telling us our troops are "the good guys", GIs saying "I'd give my life for America...without hesistation", the boredom, the good-natured four-letter word joshing, a firefight...and casualties.

It's not a whitewash...it was clear that the Iraqi army isn't going to be the US Marines anytime soon, but the looks on their faces when they get praise from their Marine advisor for running TOWARDS the gunfire, and taking on the "wahabis" as the enemy is called, is priceless. The men kiss each other on the cheek, and you can see that if we are willing to have the gonads to hang in there with the Iraqi people, and not just for a few months or years, that they just might make a difference in that insane part of the world.

I stopped wiping away the tears after the first few minutes of the film an just let the salt dry; a mark of pride in what I was viewing.

There is no word yet on when there will be a DVD of this film, but I encourage anyone to go to the website and click on either "theaters near you" or "join a task force." As you can imagine, there were plenty of theaters showing junk like "Lions and Lambs" or even "Redacted", but getting "Brothers at War" has been a real challenge. Even with the financial and connective support of Gary "Lt. Dan" Sinese and Jon Voight has not made it easy for Rademacher to get this film distributed.

Any city that can sell 1000 pre-paid tickets will get the film there, so the producers are organizing "task forces" in various states to get the film shown in their area. As you can imagine, much of the focus has been in towns with a large National Guard or military base population.

But this is a film that should be seen by all US citizens so they have a better understanding of what military families sacrifice in order to keep us safe.

I, for one, would love to be able to show it in my classroom someday. There will be issues with that, it's rated R for language and a brief shot of a pretty tough war wound, but the message to our culture needs to be heard.

Coach

Meet the new blog, not same as the old blog

I wish I can say that we can "meet the new boss" and consider him "same as the old boss", but we will have to make do...

I have started a new blog and deleted two of the old ones. This is the one I am going to give most of my time and soul to. It's my intent that this blog will eventually result in some kind of writing project with an eye towards publication.

I hope to see you there! The link is over to the side...

Coach

All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date...Episode 8

Obama during the campaign

When soldiers return from fighting, they deserve nothing but the best in medical care, he said. More needs to be done, he said, to understand the effects of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury on soldiers returning from war.

"We'll have to keep our sacred trust with our veterans and fully fund the (Veterans Administration). We'll have to look after our wounded warriors, whether they're suffering from wounds seen or unseen

Obama this past week...

The American Legion Strongly Opposed to President's Plan to Charge Wounded Heroes for Treatment

And, in case you think the American Legion is making it up, here's a newspaper article...

What's next?

Here comes the next crisis...credit cards.

This article from the Wall Street Journal online is pretty deep in jargon.

In a nutshell, look for your bankcards to cut back on their credit lines...and many who carry a balance will get cut off completely.

What happens to the buying power in the economy when that happens?

I think this one should hit sometime this summer.

Stay tuned...

Coach

a quick update

I am getting ready for Spring Break, so I hope to get finished a number of drafts I am working on during that time. Meanwhile, I want to get one incredibly intelligent analysis of the current dust-up over the Obama vs. Limbaugh controversy going on right now.

It was silly enough that the President attacked a talk-show host, raising him up to the level of discourse that was unnecessary, and I think in the end, damaging, to his presidency. Many have taken on Limbaugh, Senator Harry Reid comes to mind, and ALL have been worse the wear for it. If you don't like Limbaugh, the best way to harm him is to IGNORE HIM. Obama isn't so wise in that way, and any short-term benefits he got from this ill-advised move will carry long-term baggage.

Now Newsweek has employed a former Bush speechwriter to carry their water in a piece of invective masquerading as an analysis piece. David Frum will go down as the Benedict Arnold of the conservative movement. There are plenty of both Republicans and conservatives who will blanch at Limbaugh's bombastic daily rant over culture and ideology, but few will be stupid enough to do so in a magazine who has been so busy kissing Obama's derriere that they need a year's supply of Chap-Stick every week.

Into the fray steps one of my favorites, Victor Davis Hanson. As per usual, I am overcome by envy. I would love to write like this man! Here it is:

Frum vs. Limbaugh

In the end, the controversy boils down to an argument of the moment versus one of the ages. Frum believes that conservatives have to change their message to appeal to new constituencies without which the Republican party will lose future elections. Limbaugh argues that conservatism’s message is not predicated on transitory appeals to particular groups, but rests on sound principles that, mutatis mutandis for new circumstances, don’t really change. Frum, the politico, wants to return to power and so make the necessary adjustments; Limbaugh, the talk-show host, would rather stay in the wilderness if it means forgoing principles.

I don’t see how Frum can win this argument, since he does not seem to understand the Limbaugh brief, which I think is something like the following:

Conservatism, to the degree it is failing, either has gotten off message (e.g., the mega-deficits of the irresponsible Republican Congress between 2001 and 2006, or the shamelessness of a Ted Stevens or Duke Cunningham or Larry Craig, or the inability of the Bush administration to convey to the public our aims and objectives in Iraq) or simply cannot communicate in an effective way why lower taxes, smaller government, individual freedom, muscular national defense, and traditional emphasis on the family and community are of interest to everyone, regardless of age, race, or class.

Accordingly, conservatism will return to prominence when it uses time-honored and unchanging free-market principles to address new problems, and when it finds advocates who both are adept at communication with non-traditional audiences (e.g., why it is in the interest of African-Americans to be skeptical of abortion on demand, why Hispanic small-business people need to be wary of intrusive regulations, why Asian-Americans should fear affirmative-action-driven de facto racial quotas at the University of California, why talented teachers should not have to join bureaucratic, ossified unions, why today’s young people should not have to pay off Obama’s annual $1.7 trillion deficits, etc.) and believe in their message’s resonance, without trimming[?] for the applause of the moment.

This all could be discussed in reasonable terms, but Frum unwisely chose to conflate the role of a political analyst and strategist with that of the nation’s premier talk-show host. The genre of talk radio hinges on entertainment — satire, invective, bombast, humor. A Limbaugh succeeds or fails not just by his ability to analyze politics (millions can do that), but by his acting ability, impersonations, ad hoc quips, and comedy, which hold an audience of 20 million for 15 hours a week (only a handful of people in the country can do that).

As a result of that confusion of genres, we get something incoherent like the analyst Frum, in ad hominem invective, decrying Limbaugh’s past problems with prescription drugs, three marriages, weight problems, cigar smoking, wealth, etc., as he weirdly accuses Limbaugh, the talk-show host par excellence, of resorting to ad hominem crudity in saying that Obama is using his biracial heritage to his advantage, and that it improperly shields him from normal scrutiny.

The other issues likewise weaken Frum’s case. Plenty of candidates, left and right, who are purported role models (in a way talk-show hosts need not be) have had divorces and admitted illicit drug use, smoke, and are not in top shape; the Democratic advocacy groups have had plenty of spokespeople, from the Daily Kos and Michael Moore to the Durbin/Kennedy/Murtha outbursts on Iraq, that make Limbaugh seem moderate in comparison; so far the venom that was expressed against Bush dwarfs any legitimate criticism of Obama (we haven’t yet, thank God, had novels like Checkpoint about Obama); the notion that a businessperson like Limbaugh is wrongly profiting from his criticism of Obama is far less persuasive than the suspicion that political operatives are wrongly scrambling to reinvent their message, either to regain power or to become acceptable to those now in power; and finally, the notion that a moderate D.C. insider, in this groupthink Age of Obama, should be deemed courageous for taking on Rush Limbaugh is, with all due respect, completely laughable.

Meanwhile, Obama fiddles with our capitalist system while the financial markets burn...

All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date...Episode 7...gov't vs. business

I can't keep up with these...and I have seen so so so many these days. But on Monday February 9th he fired off this classic.

It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs."

After his faux State of the Union address the other night, he said

"Business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country"

What a great four years this is gonna be. This guy is comedy gold.

The State of the Disunion

I suppose at this point, I should be embarrassed at the number of re-posts I have done on this blog lately.

I'm not.

I love writing...and have several long-term drafts that I am still working on for this blog, but when I see a great piece of writing, or seriously worthy analysis, well, I have to give a hat tip and re-post it here.

I love Andrew Breitbart's new blog, Big Hollywood. If you haven't read, and then bookmarked it, you are missing something great. This morning, preparing for The One's speech to a joint session of Congress (since he doesn't formally get a State of the Union speech until next January), Ernie Mannix, a regular blogger at Big Hollywood, does a great re-write of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as if given by the Chairman of the People's Democratic Republic of Amerika.

Here it is...

Four to seven years ago, our fathers scored and brought forth on this continent, some new homes, conceived in stucco, and dedicated to the proposition that all men can get second mortgages.

Now we are engaged in a great economic crisis, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated to overspending -putting in built-in pools - blowing a wad in Vegas- buying way too much crap on eBay, then stepping up to a “C” class - can long endure.

We are met on a great battlefield of this credit crisis. We have come to dedicate a portion of this field, as a final resting place for those who did the right thing; paid their mortgages, lived within their means and gave of their livelihoods, so that jackasses that didn’t put ANY money down, and still spent more than they had, might walk away from their homes scott-free and punk an entire neighborhood of innocent families. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, until it doesn’t work- and we need to do it again.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground, without Pelosi, Reid and Frank standing up and taking all the damned credit. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled to pay their mortgages, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to pork-up the stimuli.

The world will little note, nor long remember that I’m commandeering the census, but I will make sure it never forgets, when this all goes kablooey, that it’s still gonna be all Bush’s freakin’ fault.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work of paying through our noses and bowels, year after year, propping up those who overspent, high-tailed it, and are now running up another Capitol One credit card. It is also for us here to be dedicated to the great bailout ballooning before us — that from these toilet-less trashed foreclosures, we take increased devotion to the mighty socialistic causes that will give the short-end to the responsible ones.

That we here highly resolve that these four bedroom wrecks, shall not have foreclosed in vain — that this nation, under the Democrats, shall have a new birth of socialism– and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall never be seen again.

Sigh...I wish it weren't so accurate.

Coach

Media Malpractice - How Obama Got Elected

Well, it's finally out. I had a great weekend, driving to Tulsa to give a talk on the USA's first ladies, but also got to listen to Bernard Goldberg's latest book. My wife reads some of the books we both are dying to digest when we go on long trips.

Last summer, she shared Mark Steyn's fabulous "America Alone". This trip, we read and discussed Goldberg's "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media".

It was not surprising but in many ways quite dismaying. Not because Obama won, but because one of America's few professions to enjoy explicit 1st Amendment protections failed us so miserably and INTENTIONALLY in this past election.

If the American people can't count on a free press to be fair and incisive, than what hope to do we have of an informed electorate to make wise choices when electing their government? Now, we are in the middle of several economic and world crises and we just voted for the most popular inexperienced person as "class president."

Oops.

But wait, there's more! We also took THE ONLY candidate of the four in this election with executive experience and trashed the person like a bowery bum who stumbled into the posh country club. It's eye-opening to see some of the previews for John Ziegler's new documentary "Media Malpractice: How Obama got elected and Palin got targeted."

Who knows? Maybe Obama IS the second coming of Abraham Lincoln. But again, if the system was rigged, how will we ever know if the American people were ever given a fair choice...or, as Bernie Goldberg says in his book, did the press have it's finger pulling on the scales so hard that the McCain-Palin ticket should have just phoned it in and headed off on a vacation? Perhaps the election was little more than a set-up.

I just ordered the film on DVD...I expect I'll have more to say about it later. Meanwhile, here are the links for Bernie's book and John Ziegler's film. John will be plugging the film all this week...and I'm sure he's not expecting fair treatment from the partisan media people he fingers in this travesty.

By the way, I encourage you to click on the link for John's website and watch the trailer he has embedded in his home page...it's most instructive.

Coach

All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date...Episode 6...Ain't no sunshine in this White House

President Obama promised that, when he became president, all bills would be up on the White House website for 5 days before he signed them.

Pants on fire.

The "stimulus" bill was passed Friday. He went on vacation last weekend. He is signing it in Denver today. It's not on the White House's website.

He hasn't even been president a month.

This guy makes Clinton look like truth serum. I "hope" it "changes".

ugh.

I hate to say I told you so...

Not too long ago, I said this...

Could the new president be simply using his cabinet as a committee of figureheads

in this blog post.

Guess who is finding this out first?

I wish I could feel badly for her, but she made the deal, probably in the end of the delegate hunt that guaranteed her full support during the general campaign.. It reminds me of that great cinematic moment in Animal House when Otter blames Flounder for the destruction of Flounder's brother's car by Otter and his Delta House buddies.

You ****ed up, Flounder! You trusted us!!

All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date...Episode 6...Hope turns to fear

In his Inaugural speech, President Obama said:

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear

...that is, unless I want you all to force your congressional representatives to spend a trillion dollars without taking the time to debate what is in there and whether the next three generations of Americans should be saddled with the burden of paying back that debt for billions of payback to the interest groups that elected Democrats in November. Change, my butt.

Here is what Obama said YESTERDAY because he wants the Porkulus Bill passed TODAY.

A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe

See, it's not pork. Why, because he says so! No, I'm not kidding. He said all spending is stimulus. You think I'm kidding? Click it and weep.

Charles Krauthammer puts a fine point on it here.

The bill must be killed. Today. Call your congressperson and senators.

All statements by Barack Obama come with an expiration date...Episode 5...Shortest ever

This one could only take a stopwatch to see...
Barack Obama today at a prayer breakfast...

"We know there is no God who condones the killing of an innocent human being."

Does that include his support of the Freedom of Choice Act?
How about his opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act while an Illinois state senator. Has that changed?

It was too late for this infant.

This by the man who, in one of his first executive act, ended the Mexico City Policy which was intended to prevent US foreign aid from assisting in abortion procedures or education/indoctrination.

Look...I'm not a hard-core "pro-life" person, I think there are circumstances that require people to have that choice, and I don't think the government should be involved. But I think President Present really stepped in it here, telling a faith-heavy audience what it wanted to hear. It also happened to be in direct conflict with his past words and recent actions.

I feel like our government has become one long Fellini film.

Where we are after two weeks of the Obama Administration

No that's not Obama doing his version of Bush and "The Pet Goat", it's the Obama's trying to get these first two weeks behind them and restart his administration.

Leave it to Victor Davis Hanson, NRO contributor, educator, and writer extraordinaire to put the beginning of the Obama presidency into crystal clarity. I am posting Hanson's verbatim post from NRO Online with links explaining each news reference so that you see that it's not just Hanson's opinion about what happened, but for those who searched enough in the hidden news, what HAS actually happened in the Obama White House.

He calls this, "The impending Obama Meltdown." Perhaps overly melodramatic, but when you look at what has happened, you get an sense of what would happen to the presidency of men who came into office with lesser expectations.

Some of us have been warning that it was not healthy for the U.S. media to have deified rather than questioned Obama, especially given that they tore apart Bush, ridiculed Palin, and caricatured Hillary. And now we can see the results of their two years of advocacy rather than scrutiny.

We are quite literally after two weeks teetering on an Obama implosion—and with no Dick Morris to bail him out—brought on by messianic delusions of grandeur, hubris, and a strange naivete that soaring rhetoric and a multiracial profile can add requisite cover to good old-fashioned Chicago politicking.

First, there were the sermons on ethics, belied by the appointments of tax dodgers, crass lobbyists, and wheeler-dealers like Richardson—with the relish of the Blago tapes still to come. (And why does Richardson/Daschle go, but not Geithner?).

Second, was the "stimulus" (the euphemism for "borrow/print money") that was simply a way to go into debt for a generation to shower Democratic constituencies with cash.

Then third, there were the inflated lectures on historic foreign policy to be made by the clumsy political novice who trashed his own country and his predecessor in the most ungracious manner overseas to a censored Saudi-run press organ (e.g., Bush is dictatorial, the Saudi king is courageous; Obama can mend bridges that America broke to aggrieved Muslims—apparently Tehran hostages, Rushdie, serial attacks in the 1990s, 9/11, Madrid, London never apparently occurred; and neither did feeding Somalis, saving Kuwait, protesting Chechnya, Bosnia/Kosovo, billions to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians, help in two Afghan wars, and on and on).

Fourth, there was the campaign rhetoric of Bush shredding the Constitution—FISA, Guantánamo, the Patriot Act, Iraq, renditions, etc.—followed by "all that for now stays the same" inasmuch as we haven't been hit in over seven years and can't risk another attack.

Fifth, Gibbs as press secretary is a Scott McClellan nightmare that won't go away, given his long McClellan-like relationship with Obama (McClellan should have been fired on day hour one on the job). Blaming Fox News for Obama's calamities is McClellan to the core and doesn't work. He already reminds me of Reverend Wright's undoing at the National Press Club—and he will get worse.

Six, Biden is being Biden. Already, he's ridiculed the chief justice, trashed the former VP, bragged on himself ad nauseam in Bidenesque weird ways, and it's only been two weeks.

And the result of all this?

At home, Obama is becoming laughable and laying the groundwork for the greatest conservative populist reaction since the Reagan Revolution.

Abroad, some really creepy people are lining up to test Obama's world view of "Bush did it/but I am the world": The North Koreans are readying their missiles; the Iranians are calling us passive, bragging on nukes and satellites; Russia is declaring missile defense is over and the Euros in real need of iffy Russian gas; Pakistanis say no more drone attacks (and then our friends the Indians say "shut up" about Kashmir and the Euros order no more "buy American").

This is quite serious. I can't recall a similarly disastrous start in a half-century (far worse than Bill Clinton's initial slips). Obama immediately must lower the hope-and-change rhetoric, ignore Reid/Pelosi, drop the therapy, and accept the tragic view that the world abroad is not misunderstood but quite dangerous. And he must listen on foreign policy to his National Security Advisor, Billary, and the Secretary of Defense. If he doesn't quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism—angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame.

Victor Davis Hanson...perceptive, prescient...and all too precisely correct.