Politics – Page 3

A-I-Gee, It Wasn’t My Fault

March 18, 2009

Seriously, folks…it’s way past time we throw the tea in the harbor…or better yet, drop a bomb on anything that moves in Washington. The American people are being bent over like Barney Frank at a Fire Island biker party, and there is no end in sight as the finger-pointing has just begun.

Amid the hue and cry about AIG executive bonuses, the loudest voices are those of our beloved, two-faced Congressmen screeching their indignation about payouts they engineered and wondering why there was no “oversight” to the billions and billions being taken from the taxpayers’ pockets. They conveniently leave out the part about how they ramrodded 1000-page legislations into law, literally overnight, and against the will of the people, without bothering to read them. “Something has to be done now,” they intoned. Now they profess ignorance of the bills’ pesky little fine points that allow AIG’s “best and brightest” to receive bonuses so obscene that the notion of a mere $100,000 salary is considered destitution.

“This is another outrageous example of executives-including those whose decisions were responsible for the problems that caused AIG’s collapse-enriching themselves at the expense of the taxpayers,” cried Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, all three of his chins quivering in mock outrage. Dodd didn’t mention that during last year’s campaign cycle he was the largest recipient of AIG campaign contributions. He also failed to discuss his massive role in the current economic meltdown as he blocked legislation for oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and received sweetheart loans from Countrywide, one of the largest villains in the mortgage crisis. Like father, like son. Dodd’s old man was a crook, too. Thomas Dodd was censured by the Senate in 1967 for using campaign money for personal purposes, and, mercifully for the good people of Connecticut, died of a heart attack in 1970 before he could put his sticky fingers into the till again.

John McCain was on the Hannity show last night expressing his outrage-as much as that Cigar Store Indian automaton can express outrage-at the malfeasance being committed by his brethren and cronies against the “American people.” Always the “American people.” McCain was the one who, in a grand choreographed flourish, interrupted his presidential campaign last September to “return to Washington” so he could spearhead the first government bailout. To think that McCain was the next best choice to the Messiah last November is not only stunning, but downright terrifying.

Now, it turns out, tax cheat and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, knew about the AIG bonuses, but did nothing to stop them even as taxpayer money was being back-hoed into AIG coffers. Geithner is now in the unenviable position of having to admit ignorance, or admit culpability. Either way, he’s thoroughly incompetent, but that’s hardly cause for concern in Washington where ignorance, inculpability, and incompetence are the order of the day. “We’re doing more in weeks than other countries do in years,” Geithner proclaimed last week while trying to sell the ever-continuing three-card Monte the government is playing on the taxpayers. Geithner is as oily as they get, and he looks every bit the entitled, smug, little Ivy League liar that he is.

But they say you get what you deserve, and in the case of the American people, this is eminently true. Americans, as a whole, are painfully stupid about most things, but especially politics. All those exit polls where Betty Sue and Billy Joe are interviewed after voting are great fodder for Jay Leno and Jon Stewart (America’s main source for “news”), but also offer a glimpse at the swirling eddy we are now beyond escaping. Americans, the media tells us, are angry, but they continue to re-elect incumbents at well over a 90% clip. Most, I’m sure, are unaware that you can vote for someone besides the cynical and scheming mountebanks from the two major parties. Alas, the brainless among us can hardly be convinced to pull a third-party lever when they’re pre-occupied texting their votes into American Idol. “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them,” Patrick Henry once said during the American Revolution. Indeed.

We’ll Soon See if Barack Goes BRRR–AAA–CCCKKKK!

March 14, 2009

You can call Joe Biden a lot of things: loudmouth, loose cannon, plagiarizer. Now add prescient to the list. CNN reported today that Russia’s Interfax news agency has announced its interest in using Cuban airfields during patrol missions of its strategic bombers. Just as Biden predicted during the campaign at a speech in Seattle, we may be seeing the “major international crisis” that he expected to test the fortitude of our new Commander-in-Appeasement, Barack Obama.

“There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long runways, which absolutely suit us,” Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev told Interfax.

Zhikharev, who is the chief of staff of the Russian Air Force’s long-range aviation, said, “If the two chiefs of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there.”

Hopefully Barack will have fulfilled his promise of closing Guantanamo by the time the Russians arrive—the base will make suitable quarters for the Cossacks, whom Barack will, no doubt, eagerly welcome in his new global community.

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy,” Biden said back in October. “The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here . . . we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

So here we have it. As so often happens, history is repeating itself, and we’re going to soon see if our new prez has the gumption to go nose-to-nose with Vladimir Putin, who has been busy rebuilding the Soviet empire by slapping down Chechen rebels and invading Georgia while Obama has been tilting at windmills. Presumably, Putin won’t agree to a game of H-O-R-S-E to negotiate matters, and the silk-talking Obama will have to finally use some tough rhetoric to conciliate the potentially disastrous engagement. Of course, we can always use Hillary, our new Secretary of State, as the point man. We’ll surely get a tough stance from the woman who didn’t have the balls to call out her husband when he was getting hummers in the Oval Office. God forbid, we may even find ourselves wishing for the good ol’ days when “W” was running the ranch.

But wait…it gets better. Zhikharev also told Interfax that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered a military airfield on La Orchila island as a temporary base for Russian strategic bombers.

“If a relevant political decision is made, this is possible,” he said, according to Interfax. Zhikharev said he visited La Orchila in 2008 and can confirm that with minor reconstruction, the airfield owned by a local naval base can accept fully-loaded Russian strategic bombers.

Let’s get Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon on that one, Mr. President. Penn’s jump shot is weak, and Sarandon is iffy with her back to the basket, but we know they can both go to their left. The fun is about to begin…I’ll take Putin laying the points.

Eric Holder…Hold This!!

February 20, 2009

So Eric Holder, our country’s new Attorney General, wants to have a discussion on race. He said so today during a speech honoring Black History Month. “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. “Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial.”

Well, Mr. Holder, allow me to offer some insight as to why talks about race are lacking in this country. Perhaps it’s because such “talks” aren’t talks at all, but rather one-sided diatribes where black leaders recite grievances and blame everyone but blacks themselves for their inability to get their acts together. Perhaps it’s because blacks scream “racism” for any perceived slight and whites have to cower and take it lest they lose their jobs, are charged with hate crimes, or are socially ostracized.

But I, Mr. Holder, am not afraid of you, as to me you are just a sleazy remnant of the Bill Clinton administration. So let’s have that talk. Let’s talk about the fact that blacks make up 14% of the U.S. population but are 41% of the prison population. Let’s talk about the fact that 70% of black children are born out of wedlock. Let’s talk about the fact that blacks under perform every single racial and ethnic group on any standardized test—I know…it’s cultural bias. Nevertheless, Asians and students from the Middle East-many of whom don’t even speak the English language-outperform whites on said tests.

Let’s talk about the fact that black criminals prey on white victims for 45% of their crimes while whites prey on black victims a mere 3% of the time. Let’s talk about “black leaders” like Jesse Jackson, the Rev. who fathered a child out of wedlock, and blowhard Al Sharpton, who cry about injustices they manufacture like the Duke rape case and the Tawana Brawley hoax, but are largely silent when it comes to imploring their own to demonstrate personal responsibility.

Indeed, in the black community, those who choose to achieve are called sell-outs and Uncle Toms. Bill Cosby is routinely castigated for calling attention to the plight of inner cities where blacks complain about not being accepted in the mainstream even as they kill one another, refuse to speak the King’s English, and insist on retaining their “culture.” Success stories like Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas are derided as being too white, and even comedian Chris Rock admits that, “Books are like Kryptonite to a nigger.”

So while Holder wants to look the other way and disregard the billions of dollars thrown at the black problem in the form of welfare, affirmative action, college admission quotas, Section 8 housing, and myriad other social programs, he wants to look closely at, and have “talks” about, race. Be careful what you wish for Mr. Attorney General, because if all the fed-up middle-aged white guys take you up on your talks, we may decide we’ve had enough of carrying your race on our backs.

There May Be HOPE, After All, For Obama

February 3, 2009

Well you can knock me over with a feather! Our new president may actually have some substance behind all the hot air he’s been blowing for the past several years. His admission that Tom Daschle was a bad nomination, and that it sent a bad message, is my first ray of hope (that word again!) that Obama may actually be trying to change the culture of Washington, even if his hand was forced.

Obama admitted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “I don’t want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards, one for powerful people, and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes.” In so doing, Obama has become the very first politician I can ever recall taking responsibility for anything that didn’t involve self-aggrandizement. Hats off to the new prez!

Now I’m not naïve enough to think that Obama doesn’t have an agenda, but as an American, I will pull for anyone–Democrat, Republican, or otherwise– if they are doing honest work and trying to flush Washington of the bloated and vile lifers that seem intent on spending forever at the public trough. (The Kennedys or Clintons, anyone?) If Obama remains true to his word, I’m in his corner….but I’m not holding my breath.

Obama Brings Chicago to the White House

January 30, 2009

There’s so much change going on in Washington right now that my head is spinning faster than Linda Blair’s at a revival meeting. Former Senator Tom Daschle, Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, is under fire for not paying over $140,000 in taxes for free use of a car and driver that was provided by a Democratic fundraiser. This is Obama’s second nominee to brush off his tax obligations in what is becoming a disturbing, if not utterly predictable, pattern.

It seems the tax and spenders can’t be bothered to dig into their own pockets, but they’re ready to stick it to you and me. Obama administration officials called Daschle’s skullduggery “a stupid mistake,” and decided Daschle should not be penalized because he had discovered the tax liability himself and brought it to the attention of the Finance Committee, which is vetting his nomination. Daschle said he realized in June 2008 that he might have a tax problem.

This doesn’t pass the laugh test, even for the odious cesspool that is Washington. Daschle’s “stupid mistake” took place over a period of four years, making them “stupid mistakes”…plural. So this wasn’t any oversight, but rather an ongoing criminal enterprise as they say in the racketeering game. Daschle would have us believe that he spends his free time combing over old tax records just to make sure he’s paying his fair share—how else to explain his sudden discovery that he’d made a “stupid mistake.”

It turns out Daschle is a two-sport athlete. He has spent the last four years doing lobbying work for K Street law firm Alston & Bird, where he received generous remuneration (can you say millions?) from the insurance companies and health care providers he will be charged with policing should he be confirmed. That makes two tax cheats and two lobbyists among Obama’s nominees. And the night is still young.

Daschle has been a long-time confidant of Obama’s, just another one of the Messiah’s “guys on the block”—those close acquaintances that end up being indicted, going to jail, and generally abusing their power, with Obama apparently oblivious to it all. The more things change, the more they stay the same. But fret not, rumor has it Daschle has a deadly hook shot from the low block.

Blogging for Blago

January 28, 2009

To borrow a phrase still floating amidst the detritus of the interminable and bloated presidential campaign….I have officially flip-flopped! I am now firmly and proudly in Rod Blagojevich’s corner! I just got finished watching his interview with Fox News’ Glenn Beck, and I’m impressed.

Now don’t misunderstand me, Blago is as dirty and as crooked as the day is long, but he has done something that most other Democrats, including the recently-elected sainted one, wouldn’t dare do: He went into enemy territory and answered every question Beck posed, forthrightly and with humor. I may not have liked all his answers, but at least he faced the fire.

This show of heresy alone, his acts of malfeasance aside, will probably get Blagojevich drummed from the political system…the good ol’ boy network certainly can’t sit back and do nothing when one of theirs deigns to fields tough questions. It reflects poorly on the 535 dissemblers in the Capitol, the thieves and liars in the White House, and the corrupt governors across the nation.

The Messiah, to his credit, did do an interview with Bill O’Reilly, but beyond that, he spent his seemingly decade-long campaign (remember when he wasn’t going to run for president until he completed his term in the Senate?) going into comfortable environments, reading scripts, and fielding softball questions from hard-hitters like Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Keith Olbermann, and Chris Matthews.

John McCain, of whom I’m no fan by any stretch, at least had the sack to go places where he knew the cards were stacked against him. He made appearances on the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, David Letterman, Chris Matthews, and The View. Sarah Palin was ritually abused by the press, especially during her sandbag interview with Katie Couric. Imagine being made to look stupid by Katie Couric…the mind reels. But at least Palin bucked up and showed up.

That brings me back to Blagojevich. Like him or hate him, he answered Beck’s questions. Though he refused to appear at his own impeachment proceedings in the Illinois senate, I’m confident, after seeing his arrogance up close on Beck’s show, that he skipped the impeachment hearing out of hubris, not fear.

As this country is far beyond ever hoping for an honest politician, at least give me one with balls who will spit in the face of his sanctimonious brethren. Dare I say it…Blago for Prez in 2012!!

And Obama Sayeth…Let There Be a Stimulus Plan

January 28, 2009

Obama certainly does work in mysterious ways. A poll on CNN’s website this morning revealed that 61% of Americans support Premier Obama’s proposed $850 billion “stimulus plan”, that cruel hoax soon to be played on the American people. History has shown time and time again that stimulus packages don’t work, but the American people are perfectly content to throw good money after bad as long as it’s the Messiah doing the selling. H.L. Mencken said that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public….he had no idea. He also said “Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses,” but I digress.

When Henry Paulson first started grabbing with both hands back in September, there was a hue and cry across the nation as fed-up citizens took to the streets and e-mailed their Congressmen to prevent this blatant theft of taxpayer money. “George Bush, Republicans, and greedy Wall Street types are robbing us blind,” the citizens cried. By margins of 80-20 and as high as 90-10, the people rightly opposed the bailout. And their anger was well-placed, though not nearly as widespread as it should have been.

Wall Street, “W”, and all the usual suspects were HUGELY complicit, but few cared to think that there were actually some Democrats that might be responsible as well. While Republicans were raked over the coals, few cared to listen that Christopher Dodd (he of the triple chin and the sweetheart loans), Maxine Waters (serial violator of the Federal law prohibiting nepotism), Barney Frank (who seems to think that because he likes it in the ass, so do the rest of us), and Obama cronies Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson were equally, if not more culpable, than the Republicans. Few cared to listen that it was the Community Reinvestment Act, signed into law by Jimmy Carter, and further strengthened by Bill Clinton in 1995, that set America down its current path.

As a former real estate agent, I know first-hand the insidiousness of the CRE. At our weekly meetings, the first priority was ALWAYS, “Don’t get sued! Don’t redline! EVERYONE gets a loan!” The sins of the father are now being visited upon the rest of us, and we, the sheep, play right along. We can’t wait to give more money to the very people who created this mess in the first place.

Obama has been making noise about delaying the nationwide conversion to digital TV, with the argument that many American citizens aren’t prepared for this overhaul. Why this conversion should be subsidized by the government is a rant for another day, but Obama’s intent should be closely scrutinized—like Hitler at Munich, he relies on the glassy-eyed masses, this time in front of their idiot boxes, to get his message across. Sadly, no one in the media calls him on it. Even more sadly, we, the people, are the ones who pay in the end.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

January 27, 2009

And so Premier Obama’s selling out of America continues apace. After a mere week in office, Obama chose the Arabic TV network Al-Arabiya for his first formal interview as “president.” Like a modern-day Neville Chamberlain, Obama marches down the path of appeasement, declaring, “that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there’s no reason why we can’t restore that.” Obama is referring, no doubt, to those halcyon days of 30 years ago when Iran took American hostages and held them for 444 days. Obama’s “Peace For Our Time” speech can’t be far behind, so now we may all “go home and sleep quietly in [our] beds”!

During his chat with the enemy, Obama talked about growing up in Indonesia and having Muslim relatives. Is this the same Obama who vociferously abnegated his Muslim ties during his presidential campaign? The same Obama who embraced Christian values while apparently wearing earmuffs at the sermons of Reverend Jeremiah Wright? The same Obama who had Muslims removed from behind his lectern during a June, 2008, speech, so as not to alienate voters?

The winds of change are blowing my hair back. Our new Treasury Secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, is a tax cheat whose domestic help has visa issues. The nominee for Deputy Defense Secretary, William J. Lynn III, is a long-time registered lobbyist for Raytheon, one of the military’s top defense contractors. Lynn will be granted an “ethics waiver” to allow him to pursue the nomination. All this, one day after the Messiah issued new ethics rules for his administration. Presumably, Geithner and Lynn can at least hit mid-range jump shots and defend the 3-on-2 fast break, ostensibly the only requirements necessary to be on Obama’s staff.

To quote Pete Townshend, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” But what is so dismaying is the blind eye turned to the Premier’s machinations. The American media, like so many Jonestown cultists, continue to make excuses and celebrate this Chicago-style politician who wants to close Guantanamo–effectively making U.S. citizens out of men sworn to kill Americans–and granted interviews with those who fly planes into our buildings. With all respect to Chris Matthews, the only thrill I feel going up my leg is that of Obama pissing on it as he tells me it’s raining.

Charles Being Charles

October 29, 2008

So Charles Barkley is at it again. His mouth flows like the river Nile, but people keep giving him a platform, and for some reason he never seems to get called out for his ridiculous pronouncements because…..it’s CHARLES BEING CHARLES!!!!!

Just as a certain Dodgers’ outfielder has all his sociopathic peccadillos dismissed as “Manny being Manny,” Barkley is the Teflon Don of loudmouthed ex-jocks. Several years ago he blurts, “That’s why I hate white people,” and that’s just “CHARLES BEING CHARLES.” He spits on a fan and it’s “CHARLES BEING CHARLES.” He throws someone through a plate-glass window and it’s “CHARLES BEING CHARLES.” John Rocker wishes he had it so good.

Well, maybe “Charles being Charles” is code for “Charles being a friggin’ idiot.” Barkley knows all about code words…or so he says. In a recent interview with CNN’s Campbell Brown, Sir Charles opined that the Republican Party uses code words like welfare, terrorist, and Muslim to disguise their racist views. He also added, “The only way they can win this election is to make it about race. That’s the only way they can win it.”

Never mind that the McCain camp has not once mentioned race in the campaign, and has even eschewed what would surely be a winning tactic…establishing the Messiah’s blatant racism by being all- Reverend Wright, all the time. And never mind that Muslim terrorists took down the World Trade Center seven years ago. Charles wants to wrap them in a loving embrace.

The thing is this—Barkley is just another left-leaning Democratic hypocrite. It wasn’t too long ago that Barkley considered himself conservative (probably since he’s rich enough to cavalierly dismiss million dollar gambling losses), but put a black man into the race and the self-anointed master of race relations switches sides. Who’s the racist now?? Come to think of it, he has put on enough weight over the years to look smashing alongside fat cats Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, and the other millionaire Democrats who are so concerned with the plight of the common man.

Charles claims he shudders whenever he hears the word “conservative,” as if it’s only the Republican Party doing the raping and pillaging in our government. But he doesn’t mention the video that surfaced today of Dianne Wilkerson, a black Democrat stuffing bribe money in her bra, or William Jefferson, the black Democrat from Louisiana, currently facing trial on racketeering and bribery charges after FBI officials found $90,000 stuffed in his freezer. And he doesn’t mention the battleground state of Michigan where Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm and Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit’s black Democrat mayor have run that state into the ground. Kilpatrick will have lots of time to ponder how to get Detroit back on track while he sits in jail for essentially partying too much on the public dime.

Now lest you think I have it in for Democrats or want to stifle free speech, let me assure you nothing could be further from the truth. I detest Republicans (or anyone holding public office), and I believe short of yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, anyone should be able to say whatever moves them. It’s the double-standard I object to. The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman makes a 100% innocuous remark about Tiger Woods and she’s thrown under the bus and suspended; John McCain innocently refers to Barack as “that one” during a debate and he’s branded a racist, but Charles prattles on and on with impunity. I wonder if he’ll be asked to apologize for his most recent gaffe when he lampooned Isaiah Thomas’ recent drug overdose by inferring the Knicks would be better this year since their new coach probably won’t try to commit suicide.

Probably not, since the liberal media genuflects (on their knees and with their mouths open, no doubt) at the altar of “Sir Charles” simply because he’s a “good sound bite.”

I have no problem with Charles speaking his mind…I’ll even admit I admire him for saying what no one else will…but Sir Charles, please let others speak their minds as well without you and your ilk screaming racism at every turn.

To Hell With Hezbollah

July 18, 2006

Upon witnessing the renewed violence in the Middle East as Israel and Hezbollah square off, I’m reminded of Clint Eastwood in the movie Dirty Harry when he’s asked how he can be certain that the serial killer he’s pursuing will continue to kill. “Because he likes it,” Dirty Harry explains.

This, in a nutshell, sums up those in the Middle East. They like–no make that love– violence. Year after year, through cease-fires and civilian withdrawals from various “homelands,” the carnage continues unabated. So, I ask, “When are we going to stop wringing our hands and start embracing the death and destruction?” It’s not about statehood or hegemony…it’s about a group of people that are by their very nature violent and clannish and predisposed to gutless killing. It’s ingrained in Arab culture, indeed, it’s ingrained in their very souls.

So let them die, but keep American boys out of the mess. I simply have to laugh when people talk about establishing peace in the Middle East, or anywhere else for that matter. It AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!!!! EVER!!!! So give it up…let those who want to fight kill each other off and spare me the crocodile tears about the “innocent civilians.” These “innocent civilians” are the people shouting in the streets and burning American flags. Let’s kill all them, too. You’d better believe, given the chance, they would kill us. It seems silly to me that civilians are supposed to be somehow sheltered from the violence perpetrated by their various leaders. The sight of dead civilians, to any civilized culture, would be an incentive to cease and desist. Sadly, in the Middle East, there is no such civility—so let the Middle East burn, but keep our boys out of it.