All the News That's Fit to be Tied

I have an axe to grind, but unlike the New York Times, I freely admit it.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Wake Up Geraldo Rivera

Your new book (His Panic) is bull. You cannot dismiss America’s distrust of illegal aliens and attribute it to the acts of extremist groups such as the KKK as a way to shame regular Americans into accepting alien lawbreakers into the mainstream. The reason that many Americans do not want to accept illegal aliens is because they are illegal. Not because they are Hispanic, not because they do not want to speak English, not because they are willing to work cheap, but because they have entered the country illegally. Your effort to marginalize people by calling everyone who resents illegal aliens a racist or a bigot is just a cheap literary device designed to fool people into thinking they must accept law-breaking because it is being done by people are poor, hungry and ignorant, who are just looking for work to support their families. That several million people who are in the process of becoming citizens by the book are irrelevant to you is no surprise. Your illusion that Americans are afraid of “Hispanics” is pure rubbish. Your comparisons to the Irish, Italians, Jews and others are completely false. Your effort to paint the Hispanic community as saviors of America is idiocy, and you once again proved your short-sightedness by your continuous repetition of defending illegal aliens because they share some distant heritage with you. Only a moron could say that illegal aliens, who are lawbreakers by definition, break the law less than citizens who are here legally. While that may be true in a numeric sense, it is not true in the legal sense. They break the law every day they are here. You prefer to focus on six members of the KKK who were recently prosecuted and ignore the several thousand illegal aliens that have committed crimes in California alone. For an enlightened liberal you are as bigoted and racist as any member of the KKK.

The Bloodletting of Obama

Barack Obama's interview on The View proves once again that he does not have the integrity, principles, judgment or honesty required to be President. His cheap declaration that he would leave the church if Jeremiah Wright had not retired is an entirely meaningless statement. It requires no action, cannot be tested for veracity, and stands in stark contrast to Obama's condemnation of Don Imus last year when he demanded Imus be fired for his comments. Adding Reverend Wright to those (like his "typical white mother") he has already tossed under the proverbial bus to get the nomination, it merely illustrates that no friend is to great to be brought to the slaughter for the goal of being the nominee. Barack Obama wants people to believe that he sat mindlessly in a church for 20 years, selected Wright as a mentor and yet never shared his beliefs about America, the government and the state of blacks in America. Obama and many of his allies in the media, which are so in the tank for him it's really pathetic, want the voters to believe that only those who have heard all of Wright's sermons may criticize him. Obama is wrong, his media lackeys are wrong and if the Democrats were smart they would dump Obama before it's too late. The man cannot win. His loathing of America as expressed by his support of Jeremiah Wright, his wife's statements about the country and his failure to be honest with the American people translate into a loss for the Democrats in November; where up to now victory seemed inevitable. The bloodletting of Barack Obama will not stop until there is no blood.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Clinton, Obama to Battle in Denver

The New Narrative was one of the first to predict that neither Obama or Clinton would have enough delegates to reach the 2,025 threshold required to get the nomination. We were weeks ahead of Jeffery Toobin, Sean Hannity and others who are now doing analysis based on the idea that Obama and Clinton will fight it out in Denver. We did the math early on and saw that after Texas and Ohio neither could get it before the primaries were over. Of course it's still possible that one of them will quit and hand it to the other - Yea, right. It is apparent now that many Democrats do not want either of these two Prima Donnas. If neither one reaches 2,025 after the first ballot at the convention, all bets are off. Delegates can then vote for whoever they want. If it goes to the convention it’s very possible that an entirely different ticket could emerge in an effort to not anger both Obama and Cinton supporters. For example they could turn to Joe Biden or Bill Richardson or even Diane Feinstein, or Jean Harmon. All four would be credible and qualified candidates for the Presidency. If I were a conservative I would be jealous that the Democrats may be able to undo the miserable choices they have been given by not giving Clinton or Obama enough votes to win. Republicans are stuck with John McCain, a conservative that even liberals can love. So in a way it doesn't matter who wins the Democratic convention. America gets a liberal President no matter which party wins.

Congressman Patrick Murphy (D) - Hypocrite

Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy (D) was on the IMUS in the Morning radio show today and was hawking his book, which has not sold very much since the last time he was on IMUS. Once you experience a good thing it's hard not to go back. An Iraqi Freedom vet, Murphy holds the Democratic view that we are fighting in the wrong place and that the Iraqi government is not acting fast enough. He was very critical of their vacation last summer when there were pending issues on the table. However he has offered no such criticism of our own Congress, which not only takes summers off, but recesses on Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, President's week, Easter, Passover, Memorial day and almost every other holiday they can find on the calendar. And, these are not one or two day recesses. They are off for at least a week, and sometimes more for every recess. In all they spend just over 100 days a year in session, and despite the prevailing Democratic view that the country is in terrible shape they have not spent any more days in session this year than in past years. So I think that before U.S. Congressman criticize the Iraqi government for taking some time off they ought to re-evaluate their own work schedule.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

New York and Detroit Need Cleaning Up

New Yorkers and Detroiters have to ask themselves one question. Is this what I want in my Governor and my Mayor. Shouldn’t voters have some recourse when it becomes obvious that the head of a state, city or country for that matter, has become so corrupted that their presence in office is offensive. In New York we have David Patterson, who recently replaced the disgraced Elliot Spitzer, whose fetish for hookers cost him and possibly New York taxpayers more than $80,000. Patterson, son of long-time New York politician Basil Patterson, has admitted to having relationships outside his marriage, taking drugs and using taxpayer funds to fund his escapades. In Detroit we have Kwami Kilpatrick. This multi-term mayor is implicated in giving false testimony is a civil trial in which he was accused of the firing of two Detroit internal affairs police officers, who were investigating misconduct by the mayor and his staff and had discovered an adulterous relationship between him and his chief of staff. Both denied such a relationship existed. The police officers won the case and it cost Detroit taxpayers $8.4 million. After the case was decided the Detroit Free Press released portions of thousands of sexually explicit and steamy text messages. Have we become so chastened about passing judgment on others that we are afraid to criticize officials who would willfully take part in behavior that can only be considered obscene, dishonest and disgusting? Do we not have a right to expect our elected officials to be honest, forthright and faithful to their path and their family? I think we do. Patterson and Kilpatrick should resign.

Who are these people?

Who are these people who think that a Presidential candidate who is black and has attended a separatist church for over 20 years shouldn't be criticized or questioned? Who are those who are now calling for us to put this episode behind us? As they use to say in the Clinton Years; let’s move on. The mainstream liberal media is in the tank for Obama, and makes no attempt to hide their favorite son. This week they are trying to say that Obama’s poll numbers are rising so therefore no one minds that he attended a church for 20 years where America was the brunt of hateful diatribes. Most commentators have bowed before the bronze God of color citing his “it’s your fault I’m a racist” speech as the one the greatest, frankest speeches ever on the subject of race. We are now being told that unless we have seen the entire speech we are not capable of interpreting what he said. No one has ever applied such standards to John McCain, Hilary Clinton or George W. Bush. Sound bites from their speeches are constantly used to characterize a whole speech. But because he is black we can only comment if we have heard the whole speech, and if we are fully capable of understanding the nuances of his wonderful and humane intellect. From now until the Democratic convention Obama’s Achilles heel will be his former Reverend, and despite all the efforts being made to sink this story it will not go away. If in the end Obama does not get the nomination or loses the election his failure to denounce the separatism being espoused by his church will be a major reason.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

2,025 is the Magic Number

In my previous column I wrote that 2,024 delegates are required for either Barack or Hilary to get a majority of delegates. Having predicted a brokered convention I went to the Democratic convention site to do some research and discovered that minus the delegates from Florida and Michigan a candidate needs 2,025 delegates to achieve a majority. Based on the math I did in a previous column (The Unbelievable Comes True) neither Barack nor Hilary can get to that number by the end of the primary season. In an effort to find out what happens then, I went to the DNC convention site and discovered no specific rule as to how the nominee would be determined other than the convention would be brokered. If the DNC follows the precedent of previous conventions before the creation of super-delegates, ballots will be taken for the nominees and if no one is chosen on the first ballet there will be additional ballots until a candidate is chosen. That is how it worked in the "old' days when deals in smoke-filled rooms were the order of the day. Could we have a non-smoke-filled room decision this year? It's very possible. In such an environment Barack and Hilary could lose the nomination to a candidate the Democrats perceive to have a better chance of winning in November, especially if Barack remains radioactive and Hilary's negatives stay above 50-percent. It's possible that the concept of the first black or first women President could give way to a ticket with a greater chance of winning because more than having the first black or the first woman President, the Democrats want to win the White House. In the same way Barack threw his Caucasian mother under the bus in his Philadelphia speech, the Democrats will dump Clinton and Obama if they come to think they cannot win in November.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The Unbelievable Comes True

The most unexpected scenario is about to come true for the Democrats. They have talked it down for months. No one would have predicted it but we are now headed for the most contested nomination in American History; Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama battling for the Democratic nomination in the August Convention in Denver. The pervasive belief among the experts and pundits has been that Hilary Clinton cannot catch Barack Obama in the delegate count (Ergo, Obama gets the nomination). That is about to come unraveled because of Obama’s troubles with his pastor, his church and his defense of an anti-American sentiment that cannot be disguised, misdirected or obfuscated by the sudden appearance of an American flag lapel pin, a God Bless America attached to the end of every speech or tangled prose that compares Geraldine Ferraro to Malcolm X. While he may say he believes none of what his pastor said, or supports any of his church’s affiliation, he never-the-less attended for twenty years and provided monetary support throughout that time for the church’s activities. I won’t make fun of the people that have been saying this was a good week for Obama. I’ll ask instead: What if both candidates end the Primary period without enough delegates to reach the so-called "magic" number? Then what happens? The current view (Obama gets the nomination) is predicated on the idea that he will get the 2,024 delegates he needs during the Primary, but given the proportional system of the Democrat primary Barack needs 71-percent of the remaining delegates to reach the required number. Hilary needs 99-percent of the remaining delegates. If Obama and Hilary split the delegates they each get 283; not enough to win. If Hilary wins 60-40, she gets 339.6, Obama gets 226.4. That is still not enough to win. Even if Obama wins 60-40 he still doesn't get enough. If it goes 55-45 either way, both candidates cannot reach 2,024. The numbers do not lie. Many Democrats are convinced that Obama has the nomination locked up, but with only 566 delegates left its hard how to see how the Illinois senator wins before the convention. The only way for Barack to win is for Hilary to concede. Some people have been trying to sell that car, but there a no takers, and only a few window-shopping wishful thinkers. But if she is who I think she is, Hilary, Bill, and the rest of the team did the math too, and there is no way they lay down before the convention unless through some as-yet unforeseen miracle Obama gets 71-percent of the remaining delegates. There are many who argue that Obama may be able to overcome the "liberation theology" mess because the election is eight months away and by the time the election comes the Reverend Wright will be retired and old news. But it is still very likely the voting pool has been poisoned for the rest of the primary season, and that cannot be good for Obama. His willingness to give Wright a pass, call typical white people racist and his failure to answer the questions about his long-term membership in that church, will very likely drive the voters he needs into Hilary's camp: Or perhaps, drive them to not vote at all. Given the voter response to Obama’s issues with his church it is very likely he would not be the nominee if this had surfaced before the New Hampshire primary. What will the post-primary, pre-convention season be like if neither candidate wins enough delegates by June 30th? You can decide that for yourself, but I think it will be a long, hot summer.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Can Liberation Theology Become Political Reality

Are the Democrats and their lackeys right? Is the Obama fiasco just a distraction or is it the death blow? ABC's The Note called this past week a great week for Obama. I wonder if they would have called the week the Allies invaded Berlin a great week for Hitler? In the reality I see Obama is hanging on by a thread. Even if he wins the delegate race, which is doubtful given the spoils system and the absence of Florida and Michigan in the count, it will still be close enough to cause mayhem at the convention. Barack needs 400 and Hilary needs 550. They’re pretty close and an even race in the states that remain may stop both from reaching the required 2,025 delegates. At any rate, Bob Kerry and Bill Richardson have both endorsed Obama, so they must agree with Bob Beckel, a member of the original group of bosses who developed the super-delegate system. He says any attempt by super-delegates to overturn Obama's victory will result in terrible consequences. He assumes of course that Obama takes the delegate count and the popular vote and acts as if it already happened. What if Obama doesn't? What if Hilary victories eat away at that margin and when the votes are counted the popular vote is close and neither candidate has reached the delegate threshold? This is only possible because of the discovery of Obama's support for the liberation theology of his pastor, mentor and crazy Uncle Jeremiah Wright. It has not been said in words, but in this case words are not required. The very votes that Obama needs to win the White House will never vote for a man (or woman) surrounded by men who hate America. His Philadelphia speech exposes his need to blame "typical white people" for the problems of black America. The fact that he even acknowledges the existence of two America's is reason enough for him to lose. If we agree that 70-80 percent of the electorate is committed to their party, it is the 20-30 percent in the middle who will decide this year's Presidential race. Even if Obama wins the nomination it will very difficult for him to beat McCain because McCain is far more moderate than Obama. The moderates will never vote for a man who can make liberation theology the political reality in the White House. They may be mad at President Bush and the Congress, but they're not crazy. Since all three candidates are liberal on the issues facing the nation the Liberals win no matter who gets elected, so why vote for a man whose friends hate America.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

America's Racial Hangover

Obama's so-called Philadelphia Race Speech was just typical blather from a guy in trouble who wants to change the subject as soon as possible. The truth is Obama did what most politicians and spokespeople of color do: Blame "white" America for the problems and lack of progress of black Americans, and imply that "typical white folks" are the problem rather than the comments of his racist pastor or the ascent of the congregation to his words. A truthful speech would have pointed out that the black liberation theology of the sixties as practiced in the church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright is part of the great racial hangover in America and he wants no part of it. Once predominantly Republican voters, today's black population has been fooled by LBJ's great society, beguiled by race hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and played by charlatans like Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm Zulu Shabazz. Obama did not mention that. They have been co-opted by a Democratic party that wants their votes and gives them crumbs in return. The Democrats, who run most of America's big cities, make sure they keep the slums full, the schools inferior and taxpayer funded programs available to those who wish to maintain the plantation lifestyle of the Old South in the New North. He failed to mention that. We'll take care of you if you vote for us. We'll give you sustenance and the Republicans will only teach you how to fish. Bound by the chains of low expectations today's "typical" Black American foolishly votes for the party that keeps them on the edge of society, while it denigrates successful blacks who preach and practice the values of success by being a part of society rather than apart from it. He failed to mention that. The truth is that the lessons of history are difficult, but you have to be able to read and the Democrats make sure that blacks can't read well enough to understand those lessons.

Turnabout is Fair Play

The latest flap in the Clinton-Obama primary battle is the Democratic Party in Ohio accusing Republican voters of switching parties to affect the outcome of the primary by supporting who they think would be a weaker candidate against John McCain in the fall. The Dems are so annoyed they want to sue and investigate the voters for filing a false commitment pledge. This same Democratic Party did not mind when Democratic voters supported John McCain in open primaries against more conservative Republican nominees, but they pulled out their crying towels now because Hilary is on the verge of losing and Obama is on the verge of going down in flames. The so-called pundit class has just about lost all of its courage in this matter. They have chosen not point out that it was a strategy employed by Democrats to make sure the least-conservative Republican got the nomination. The truth of the matter is that no matter who wins the election the liberals win the White House. As noted in this column McCain may have an 82-percent conservative voting record, but the 18-percent of issues with which he sides with the liberals are the most important and critical issues facing America today: security, immigration and global warming, just to name three

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Bill Maher: Hypocrite-at-Large

Just when I felt like I might not be able to take another poke the Democratic Party mess without guilt, along came Bill Maher. This is a guy I despise because he is a great joke writer who espouses juvenile ideas about the Americans who have grown to take care of imbeciles like him. He said in an interview with Chris Matthews that the Corporation is the true enemy of the working man in America. He works for a Corporation (HBO) that pays him big bucks for his smaltzy jokes and political character assassination. Along with the sale of his books, videos, and personal appearances that support his jet-set Hollywood lifestyle, which is for the most part all done by corporations, Mr. Maher makes a fair living on the corporate dime and the best he can do is call them the enemy. What a moron. For your information smart guy. Almost 140 million people in America work for these corporations that you condemn. In case you’re wondering. Every show you sell, every ticket you sell, every t-shirt and coffee mug, every tv and radio appearance you sell is most likely being paid for by somebody who works for a corporation. They buy the tickets and t-shirts, the books and CDs, and HBO subscriber fees that make your privileged life possible and you spit on their companies while enjoying the fruit of their labor. You characterize them as dullards then proceed to ask them to buy a coffee mug with your name on it. You substitute one-liners for thoughtful discussion and then insult your chosen political target of the day. Without their money to buy what keeps you in chips, you'd be homeless in LA sleeping on the beach. Then you'd find out who your friends really are.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Ignore him, he’s my crazy uncle

What Barack tried to do in Philadelphia today is no less than despicable. He tried to divert the story from the ravings of his pastor to a story about race in America. He blamed us so we would not blame him. He really missed the point. What was more disturbing than the hateful sermons of the now in-hiding Reverend Wright is the enthusiastic response of his parishioners. They oohed, aahed, cheered and encouraged the right reverend Wright in his bombastic tirades against America. That was what Obama’s speech should have been about. He should have more clearly explained how his brothers and sisters in that Chicago church could cheer at Wright’s suggestions of America’s cruelty. He should have explained how Wright’s tirade about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were misplaced. Instead, at his speech in Philadelphia Barack asks us to sympathize with his inability to distance himself from the pastor who liberation theology has been an integral part of Barack's political upbringing in Chicago. Instead, he says we should focus on the fact that he is both white and black. That he is both African and Caucasian. That race relations, in his view, are the elephant in the room. He wants us to overlook the fact that he sat in the congregation for 20 years and never uttered a word of criticism until his political future depended on it. Overlook that he rarely mentioned his Caucasian heritage until it offered protection from reverse racism. As a 21st century American I have some news for Obama. Most white Americans in this day and age are far less racist than most black Americans. We have learned the lessons of bigotry, rejected Jim Crow and eschew the separate but equal doctrine of the 20th century. We are more capable than many of the country's prominent blacks, who can he heard on radio and television, of judging people by content rather than skin color. Caucasians are far more ready to accept a black man as President than black people are ready to accept the fact that Jim Crow and slavery no longer exist. Caucasians are more likely to overlook the ranting of a separatist preacher than black people are likely to overlook the ranting of a skinhead. And, we are more ready to treat black people equally than they are, it seems, to accept equality. Everybody may have a crazy uncle who brings embarrassment to the family, but Barack’s crazy uncle may to get a podium in the White House if his naive nephew becomes President.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Let's Move On

Let's move on: That is the Democratic response to Barack Obama's pastor the Reverend Wright, whose condemnation of America, Israel and the "white" race has made headlines all week. Lets move on past who is funding Hilary Clinton's campaign and the Clinton Library, whether or not the Clintons will release the archive documents on Hilary's role in the Clinton Presidency and their latest tax returns. Yes, let's just move on. Let's ignore that Obama has attended Wright's church for 20 years, was married there and had his children were baptized there. Let's ignore that Obama has made large contributions to the church. Yes, let's just ignore that he only decided to separate himself from Rev. Wright when it became news. But, let's not ignore why it became news. It became news because of little things like Barack did not put his hand over his heart when the pledge was said. That Barack refused to were the commonly worn American flag lapel pin worn by many Congressmen and women. That his wife, herself a Harvard educated lawyer only became proud of her country when it was considering choosing her husband to be President. For that to be true she must have chosen not to be proud of Martin Luther King's efforts at overcoming racism, not to be proud of the accomplishment of many successful African Americans in today's society, and not to be proud of America's efforts around the world to help the poor and disadvantaged fight poverty, disease and oppression. For Obama to get the vote of Americans we must forget these disturbing facts the same way we had to forget the Clinton abuse of his employees (Travel-gate and File-gate, his family (Monica-gate), and his own oath of office (lying under oath) that permitted Hilary to become the potential nominee of her party in the first place. In the final analysis Americans will move on. Right past Obama, right past Clinton and, yes, right past John McCain. Republicans, conservative Republicans at least, know that McCain is the media's choice and that any Republican president that attempts to meet the Democrats half way is destined to failure. Ask this President, ask his father, ask Ronald Reagan. McCain's positions on the most important issues of our time are the wrong positions. He is wrong on security, illegal immigration and energy. Republicans must forget his lack of loyalty to the President, his lack of loyalty to his party and his disloyalty to the people who voted him into office. Most republicans and democrats realize we have been sold lousy choices for the great task of running this nation. So we are forced to hold our noses and vote for best of the worst. So, yes, let's move on. On to 2012, and hope that in that election we get better choices than we are getting in this one.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Call or Ride A Bicycle

Are you enjoying the surging price of gas? Is it high enough yet? Did you know that the gasoline inventory is the highest it's been in years? Did you know there’s very little reason for the price to be rising and it wouldn't be if:
1) Our pathetic Congress would pass a bill requiring that one gas blend be used throughout the U.S.
2) Our scardy cat Congress would vote for drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and off the coasts of California and Florida.
3) Congress provided incentives to companies that use Atomic Power and Coal to provide electricity and increase our capability to refine oil into useful products.
Those are just three of the things that would help. There are more of course, but nothing will be done to achieve independence from foreign oil unless you get a receipt for your gas and send it along with a letter to your Congressman advising him that if does nothing to help you he will be voted out of office. And, nothing can be done to alleviate our dependence on using oil for our industrial and transportation needs for a least the next fifty years. We may invent and improve emerging technologies, but the reality is that oil is here to stay for quite a while and a continent of windmills and batteries will not change that reality. Call your Congressman or ride a bicycle.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Don't Spitz on Me

Don't pee on my leg, and tell its raining: The title of a book published by a New York Judge is almost the perfect way to describe what Elliot Spitzer will have to do to get out of this mess. Using a prostitute and financing her travel across state lines. Using the mail to commit a crime. The man could go to jail for years. The great irony is that a less righteous, arrogant and pompous man could walk, but Spitzer's enemies will not let him off easily. They will see his life and career ruined. They will see him humiliated for his hypocrisy. And, when they are done they will discard him like the trash he proved to be. Never be a man who fails if you cannot forgive the failures of others. Unlike Bill Clinton, who empathized with the failures of others and was spared complete humiliation because if it, Spitzer will enjoy no such luxury. He will be taken down and it will be enjoyed. His political enemies will pile on, the media will lap it up like sweet milk and they will revel in the more than perfect irony. Goodbye Spitzer, Hello Siberia.

Follow the money

If Miles O'Brien and CNN want to do a real service for America they should examine whether or not organizations like the National Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace receive money from oil-producing nations. They should examine whether or not countries that own their oil resources like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia, support the many US-based environmental organizations that continue to prevent oil exploration and development in the United States. It is to the advantage of such nations to prevent exploration in our country so they can continue to rack in the money from high oil prices. As the saying goes; follow the money. If America wants to be independent of foreign oil it must drill and refine more of its own oil, develop alternatives for the second half this century, and use coal and atomic energy for our electric power plants.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Broken Journalism

CNN reporter Miles O'Brien continued his Broken Government series tonight with a stunning analysis of the Bush Administration's opposition to the mainstream view of global warming and his network's complete acceptance of the warming theory despite the strength of the opposing arguments. It is clear from O'Brien's perspective that any opposition to global warming is fanned by the oil and gas companies and anyone who disagrees is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. In this episode he clearly places the blame for America's reluctance to embrace the theory on President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their "friends" in the oil industry. He trumpets Nasa's Jim Hansen's 20-yeaar old declaration that the ice pack is melting, but fails to note that currently it is thickening. He accepts the idea that the Earth's temperature is increasing, but ignores that currently it is dropping. He lauds Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, despite the fact that an English Judge has ruled that any showing of the film must be accompanied by a correction of the errors in the film presented as truth when they are merely conjecture and factually incorrect. He accuses the Bush Administration of trying to silence government scientists who believe global warming theory as if not believing in warming was itself an unforgivable offense. O'Brien is no better than those he criticizes. His mind is totally closed to any idea opposing global warming. It would not surprise me if he used Al Gore's "green" light bulbs. You know the ones that have mercury in them. It also wouldn't surprise me if he buys "carbon credits." If Bush and Cheney are tools of the oil industry, then certainly O'Brien and CNN are tools of the environmental movement. A movement whose goal is to make all the people of the world equally poor, and to prevent the forward movement of the human race. Wake up America or you'll be limited to reading in daylight.

Friday, March 7, 2008

On Doing it Over

There is such clamor for a do-over in the Florida and Michigan primaries because the Democratic race is closer and more vitriolic than anyone anticipated, and it is advantageous for the Republicans to encourage Democratic cannibalism. However, so much of this is inside baseball and for most voters it is hard to care as much as the candidates and the political machinery. In a previous post I proposed that in the spirit of bi-partisanship John McCain should also engage in do-over primary vote in Florida and Michigan so that disenfranchised Republicans could have another opportunity to be heard. I doubt that Florida Governor Charlie Crist would be as supportive if McCain would also be required to participate. The point is: Do-Overs are for the losers. I know this because the loser always wants a do-over. Give it up Florida. Give it up Michigan. Give it up Hilary. Florida and Michigan are history and rules of the game have been set. There is no crying in baseball and there are no do-overs in politics.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Let's Have A Do-over

Hey I'm all for that. And in the spirit of bi-partisanship; reaching across the aisle; and extending the hand of cooperation and friendship, I think John McCain should join hands with his Democratic brethren and take part in the do over of Florida and Michigan. Instead of splitting the vote in the Solomonian way, Republican voters in those states should get to vote again, just like their Democratic counterparts. I've heard from many Republicans that wish they had a chance to vote again. Spitting the delegate count is meaningless in a one-man race, so McCain should give Republicans a chance to have their voices heard, again. Obama is reluctant, Hilary is truculently in support, and the Democratic Party is just ducking for cover. Despite all the talk about Obama's big lead, which is about 80 delegates, there are still seven times as many to be claimed by the last primary. A do-over would create great excitement, especially if John McCain would join in and let the voices of disenfranchised Republicans be heard. He would truly live up to his reputation as a Maverick who is not afraid to step out and endure the criticism of his political allies. It may also convince both party's that the American voter would like a primary season that is shorter in duration and closer to the upcoming election. If we're going to have a primary season let it be that. Don't let is be like a buying Christmas gifts in July.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

The Presidential Charade

I wish that supporters that fill the halls when a candidate speaks would shut up. All the signs, the phony yelling, and the trumped up applause generated by the prompts and cue cards of handlers in the audience is an attempt to convince the TV audience that the candidate is popular and an orator of grand style, when in fact these speeches are filled with crafted and clichéd aphorisms that would not generate such adoration, applause and cheering without the cues and prompts. McCain does it, Obama does it and Clinton does it. It only fools the especially inattentive. It is meant to convey an impression to fool the people watching. When you watch these candidates make these speeches remember: They are talking to a friendly audience of hand-picked supporters who are all coached to make lots of noise, applaud often and wave signs in a show of support that is nothing but stagecraft designed to fool you. These techniques, which include audience motivators, electronic cue signs and other devices, are used throughout the television industry for live and recorded shows to create the impression the producers want to achieve. In the case of candidates the desired effect is to convince you to vote for them. When you finally get into that voting booth don't vote on the loudest applause, the most beautiful signs, or the crafted words of professional writers, or they will have fooled you again.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Global Warming Under Fire

Whether your one who wishes to conserve energy and live green, an energy consumer of the kind the world has never seen, or like most of us, somewhere in the middle, you need to know that this has been the coldest winter in a long time, the ice sheets are thickening at both poles and the world-wide temp average is falling. Global Warming or Cooling, if you prefer, is a natural change (evolution) in weather patterns overtime. The very same people who want to preserve the environment in its current form, are the same people who say it is impossible to not believe in evolution. In a recent interview in the University of New York's Stony Brook Alumni Magazine, Professor Richard Leakey, Son of the famous Dr. Richard Leaky said he laments the change (evolution) in the environment of Africa, but believes that people who doubt the Theory of (change) Evolution are Antediluvian relics. So let me get this: The evolution of man from a microbe to Homo Sapien Sapien is okay, but the changing of the environment from evolving weather patterns must be prevented. Evolution is undeniable, but global warming must be stopped. During the past few weeks the warming theory has been under considerable attack from a wide variety of angles. One is the evolving carbon credit market, which is designed to penalize you for exhaling, and put what amounts to a tariff, fee or tax on carbon dioxide. An extremely useful gas, without which there could be no life on earth. This odorless, colorless gas, which comprises a mere 3.9-percent of our atmosphere, is an essential by-product of breathing, vital to respiration in animals and plants and, a vital component in the process of photosynthesis where it is absorbed from the atmosphere by green plants and converted to oxygen. It is the perfect tool in the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals. Aside from the living and breathing process of plants and animals, volcanoes are the biggest producers of carbon dioxide. Just by coincidence the part of the world where the carbon dioxide concentration is measured in the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in the vicinity of one of the most active volcano areas on the planet. In addition to its usefulness as an atmospheric gas it also has a variety of industrial uses that are too numerous to mention. For a more complete picture of carbon dioxide's uses please check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide. If we permit the carbon credit hustlers or the government to tax carbon dioxide things that we now take for granted will become much more expensive and the quality of life as we know it will be changed forever.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Economy and Hilary Clinton

Despite the headline this discussion is really two separate, but related topics. One is the economy and the other is the Hilary write-off crowd predicting her doom on Tuesday. By my modest counting skills Clinton and Obama are separated by a mere 100 delegates depending on who's doing the counting. There are just under 2,000 additional delegates to garner, and with the Democrat's proportional voting rules the delegate count is not likely to swing big in one direction or the other unless the margins of victory are huge on Super Tuesday II. That makes a showdown at the convention unavoidable unless Clinton or Obama bow out. I have predicted, of course, that if that takes place Obama will take the hit. On the economy. We have not had a negative growth rate for the entire seven years of the Bush Presidency and there are no indicators that our economy will meet the definition of recession by the time he leaves office. So what then is this talk of recession? Yea, we're mad about the rising gas and food prices, but we've been so busy spending like hell, we didn't notice the change until it was too late. Well, consider this: We refuse to exploit and use our own supplies of oil. We take the most useful vegetable we grow and convert it into an ersatz replacement for fuel, and then complain the food and fuel prices are raising. We take our two most important survival items and make both more expensive at their own expense. We let some junk science and good public relations send us down the primrose path, while our greatest source of energy is orphaned for a second-rate, more expensive alternative, which results in driving up the prices of many types of the food and fuel required for a modern society, and is perhaps more harmful to the atmosphere than oil. Without getting into a long-winded discussion of why corn will not replace oil for at least another 50 years, our willingness to convert corn into fuel while people are starving doesn't seem like the policy of an enlightened people. It will be a lot easier for people to pick a President in November than it will be to solve our food and fuel inflation problem.