Senate Ignores Wishes of the People

Since the Senate is ignoring the will of the people, the most we can hope for at this point is that a sane voice against the bail out will be raised in the house.

Who Am I?

I am under 45 years old,
I love the outdoors,
I hunt,
I am a Republican reformer,
I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,
I have many children,
I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office.

Who Am I?

I am Teddy Roosevelt in 1900.

Obama's Ties to Citigroup and Fannie Mae

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Chicago that then-state Senator Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general. The money may have been misspent. State records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association. Smith wrote another $20,000 in grant-related checks to K.D. Contractors, a construction company that his wife, Karen D. Smith, created five months after work on the garden was supposed to have begun, records show. K.D. is no longer in business.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who is supporting Obama's presidential bid, is investigating "whether this charitable organization properly used its charitable assets, including the state funds it received," according to Sun-Times article.

Obama vowed to "work tirelessly" to turn the lot into an oasis; today the garden site is a mess of weeds, chunks of concrete, and garbage.

Let the Obama Campaign respond I say (Cf. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/07/suntimes_probe_as_state_senato.html).

In an official response the Campaign stated that Obama worked with the Chicago Better Housing Association, a non-profit that received funding from Fannie Mae, and the Citigroup Foundation.

A further tie to the discredited Fannie Mae program and the Sharia affiliated Citigroup is supposed to reassure us?

Obamics: Obama's Crooks and Cronies on Economics

Robert Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury, later of Citigroup, Citi’s Global Islamic Banking operations were established in 1981 in London, and in 1996 Citi became the first international financial institution to set up a separately capitalized Islamic Bank: the Citi Islamic Investment Bank.

Former Secretary of Commerce William Daley, Mayor Daley's brother, Daley has been a lobbyist for the discredited Fannie Mae program that led to the economic crisis.

Former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy Federico Pena who assisted Enron. Former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay asked Clinton to propose a power deregulation bill to forestall legislation promoting competition and consumer choice in electricity. Lay wrote the letter at Pena's urging. Internal Enron documents show Secretary Pena gave Lay key information about "key contacts from important constituents" who could pressure President Clinton.

Penny Pritzker lost her family bank to the FDIC when federal regulators cited "poor oversight by [Superior Bank's] board" when it chose to shut it down.

No wonder Obama favors the failed bailout bid.

American Professor Seeks to Silence Novel About Mohammed's Nine Year Old Bride

Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, is an expert on the life of Aisha and she was asked for a comment to put on the cover of a novel by Sherry Jones called The Jewel of Medina. She demurred since she was appalled by the novel.

How I would like to know, could she claim that the book was "sacred history?" Was she speaking as a detached, secular, scientific observer? She was further quoted as saying the work was "softcore pornography." Spellberg said: "I felt it my duty to warn the press of the novel's potential to provoke anger among some Muslims. London-based cleric Anjem Choudhary has called the book an insult to the Prophet's honour, and thus warrants a "death penalty" under Sharia law. Goodness, we wouldn't expect Muslims to conduct themselves properly in a diverse, secular setting now would we? Spellberg further stated: "When combined with falsification of the Islamic past, it exploits Americans who know nothing about Aisha or her seventh century world." Thank you for looking after my reading habits and noting my ignorance professor.

Moreover, Spellberg then continued into areas fields further outside her academic expertise, she teaches the history of the Middle East and Gender in Islamic History, and was quoted as stating that the novel constituted a "declaration of war" and "a national security issue."

The author Sherry Jones has called on Professor Spellberg to retract her comments.

Spellberg has published an academic study of Aisha's life called Politics, Gender and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of Aisha bint Abi Bakr; she is currently on leave.

British Kow-tow to Muslim Censorship

Graphic source: AP

As the West begins to cower before Islamic censorship, the novel Jewel of Medina may not be published in Britain. The Random House publisher of the work, Martin Rynja, had his London house firebombed which provoked the cancelling of the publisher's right to a free press. Author Sherry Jones has called on freedom loving people to protest the indefinite postponent of the work. The book fictionalizes the life of one of the prophet Mohammed’s wives, Aisha.

Despite the London action, the American publisher, Beaufort Books, will publish the book on 15 October.

Girls Are the Perfect Weapon

15 Year old girl suicide bomber awaits her fate.

Video source: The Times Online

A 15 year-old teenage girl, handcuffed to an iron railing, patiently waits as an Iraqi explosives expert cuts the trigger cords on a suicide vest strapped to her body.

The footage originates from an August incident when police found Rania Ibrahim Mutlib in a side road in Baquba, north of Baghdad, having failed to detonate her charge. The girl claimed that she had been drugged and did not wish to become the 16th teenage girl bomber said to have struck in the past year. Her husband, Mohammed Hussein Mohammed Sameet, 24-years-old, bade her farewell as she dressed that morning. Police have been given metal detectors to scan women because women would pass through checkpoints without being searched since Islam forbids a man to frisk a woman. Young girls are the perfect weapon.

Same Old Chicago Boss: Obama

What is wrong in Ohio?

"How can you run when you know?"

"Ohio," lyrics by Neil Young

As the bailout fiasco continues, the Democrats in Congress managed to attach funds in the bill for Acorn which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Among their many activities is to organize voter registration efforts for the Democratic Party. In 2006 their efforts registered 1,800 new voters in Washington but only six were later verified as authentic. Yet, the same organization has been involved in similar nonsense in the swing states of Missouri, Michigan, and Colorado, in addition to Washington and Ohio. Moreover, the New York Times reported that the group misappropriated funds.

Who else would such an organization attract but of course Barack Obama during his community organizing. He trained Acorn staff and later the Democratic nominee funneled money to the group through the Woods Fund, on whose board he sat, and through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

During this organization, Acorn promoted non-credit-worthy borrowers and now taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for the failing lending companies.

Why not just put our collective feet down, on Acorn and their crony?

But, there is more.

The likelihood of fraud is greater than ever in this election year.

Ordinarily, ballots are safeguarded with representatives from major parties who overlook the voting process. Not this year in Ohio.

A lawsuit by GOP-backed voters was dismissed against the Democratic secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, and her interpretation of Ohio's absentee voting law. Ohio changed its election law in 2005 to allow any registered voter to cast an absentee ballot, beginning Sept. 30. The deadline for registering isn't until Oct. 6, so Brunner ruled there is a six-day window in which voters can register and vote at the same time.

In Ohio there are no safeguards, no validation of ballots, no oversight. Obama learned his Chicago style politics well: `vote early, vote often.' To quote the Who: "Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss."

Africom Debuts

One place the U.S. can not afford to go is Africa. Nonetheless, the U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, is beginning. Africom, as it is known, may be an expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. Insurgent groups have been active in Somalia and North Africa which may be leading to an anti-AQAM move into Africa. In 2006, the U.S. military supplied intelligence to help Ethiopia overthrow a fundamentalist Islamic regime next door in Somalia. As blowback, the invasion energized a Islamist insurgency. U.S. forces have continued to launch strikes on suspected terrorist targets.

The economic factor plays an important role in the debate. Department of Energy statistics indicate that 17% U.S. crude oil imports now come from Africa, more than the United States gets from Persian Gulf countries. However, China is a looming presence in Africa and counter-balances American influence.

Is the U.S. willing to open up a third front in the war on terror? We are already stymied on two fronts. Is the U.S. willing to cozy up to more repressive regimes in order to extend our dependence on foreign oil? Many Africans would think so. And finally, has the U.S. already been beaten to the punch since China preceded the U.S. as an important presence on the Continent?

I Hate Congress; I Love Congress

The news just keeps getting worse for Congress, if they would listen of course as more Americans are willing to say they disapprove of how politicians have handled the financial crisis. According to a Gallup poll Obama won the approval of 46% of Americans, although it is largely his party that supports rewarding poor business practices on Wall Street. This is typical behavior, disliking Congress but liking my representative. Indeed, 39% approve of Democratic leaders in Congress. 37% approve of how McCain has responded, compared with 31% approval of Republican congressional leaders. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the main author of bailout plan, and George Bush received only 28% of respondents who said they approved of how Paulson and Bush responded. The overwhelming majority of Americans weighed in, against the plan, yet the plan was rather narrowly defeated although most Democrats voted in favor of the measure. At least it was turned down, so far.

The People in Lashkars Fight the Taliban Invaders

Some intelligence is reporting that in Pakistan a possible popular resistance movement is emerging. In the chaotic North West Frontier Province and the tribal territory, and in the face of the violent Taliban, some resistance has occurred. Islamabad is quite removed from then, most likely can not defend them, and they have organized themselves. Pakistani culture consists of fierce tribes and widely held gun ownership which has resulted in traditional private armies, or lashkars, each consisting of hundreds or even several thousands of volunteers. Lashkars have arisen in Bajaur, in the tribal zone, and Dir and Buner in the "settled" areas of NWFP.

Anyone for the Sons of Afghanistan?

Slick Willie Calls McCain "Great," Not So Obama

Former President Bill Clinton declined to call Obama "great" but he then explained what he meant in characterizing McCain as a "great man."

"I think his greatness is that he keeps trying to come back to service without ever asking people to cut him any slack or feel sorry for him or any of that stuff because he was a POW."

Bill knows a great possible President when he sees one, it takes one to know one.

Obama Up Again

The latest Gallup poll shows Obama Biden at 50% and McCain at 42% which is only one point less than the biggest lead Obama has held all year.

Kissinger Opposes Obama

Obama misspoke in regards to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's comments about Iran in Friday's debate. Kissinger defended McCain's attack against Obama for Obama's willingness to meet with the Iranian president "without precondition."

Kissinger stated that he is not in favor of negotiations with Iran at the presidential level. He stated: "Sen. McCain is right. I would not recommend the next president of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the presidential level." Kissinger does not agree with McCain in all matters but he is right on Iran according to Kissinger.

Obama is embarrassing this country.

Pakistani Reaction to the 1st Presidential Debate

Mushahid Hussain, chair of Pakistan's Senate Committe of Foreign Relations, commented on the first presidential debate.

Hussain stated: "Senator McCain came across as more thoughtful with a better understanding of the situation in Pakistan's frontier regions, which he has visited, and he got it right when he said that we have to win the support of the people rather than threaten them with military strikes."

One thing strikes me, what is obvious to Pakistanis, is something that American independent voters fail to grasp.

What we can not agree to though, is something that weaker countries, allow for: unrestricted, and non-conditional talks. It should be obvious to the Pakistanis, and if the Islamabad bombing is not a message, I don't know what else could be, is that you can not sit down at the same table with people who want to kill you.

People Believe in Savior Obama

As I suspected, the polls suggest that most people believed the promises of Obama. An immediate telephone poll by CNN and Opinion Research Corp found 51% said Mr Obama had won, to 38% for Mr McCain; a poll of uncommitted voters by CBS News found that 39% gave Mr Obama victory, 25% thought John McCain had won, and 36% thought it was a draw.

Analysis of the First Debate

In the analysis of most commentators I believe last night's debate will be considered a draw. Both candidates were obviously not completely comfortable with the format, neither looked directly at the opponent for about the first 45 minutes, and they only got a bit more testy as the night wore on. If neither scored a knockout punch, then what else can we say about the candidates as they faced off head to head?

The debate hurt McCain more since he needed a knockout punch if he expected to pick up much needed votes. Also, it is difficult to evaluate the visible but hard to interpret reaction line that ran beneath the screen, consisting of Democrats, Republicans, and critically important Independents, but I would guesstimate that the Independents found Obama's words and promises more appealing.

On the other hand, several comments are in order. The issues of the economy seemed to have stumped Obama. When asked directly if he favored the proposed $700 billion dollar bailout, he waffled. Then, as a follow-up, when asked what he would cut since he identified not everything can be funded and some projects would need to be delayed, he again seem mystified. We are in dire financal straits but Obama went on to list more programs that he favored and would pay for, treasured Great Society programs such as education and food for poor children. Obama doesn't get it. He is not LBJ. We don't have that federal largesse any more. At one point McCain noted that Obama is the furthest from center candidate ever nominated by either major party. On the other hand, McCain stated his position bluntly. He would pay for defense, care for our veterans, and veto spending bills to reign in the free-spending government. In a time of fiscal crisis, which guideline might work? The French before the Revolution fell into a tailspin during war time yet they continued to fund extravagant projects.

In addition, McCain has been there. During any questions that involved how would you handle such and such international crisis or war effort, McCain was able to deftly respond, I've been there, I know the particulars and the players, and this is what I would do. Obama was left flailing on the ropes. He is embarrassingly out of his league in experience and international affairs, and the global situation is more dangerous today than it ever was during the Cold War. He is not prepared to handle an international crisis.

On the specific issues of war, Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama is running against the ghost of George Bush circa 2003. It is not 2003; it is 2008 and the surge worked in Iraq, and the military can apply the lessons learned there to achieve covert and overt victory in Afghanistan as well. Yet, Obama said we need to press Pakistan and take care of Osama et. al. by ourselves if necessary. As McCain rightly observed, you don't announce your intentions to your enemies, and doesn't Obama realize we have CIA assets in Pakistan who no doubt at this very moment are operating undercover? You don't unnecessarily put your troops at risk.

And, last but not least, isn't the lack of respect towards McCain revealing? Obama consistently referred to McCain as "John," ironically, even calling him "Tom" at one point, as if they were long-time colleagues from the Senate. They are not. In the Senate, Obama is in the background but McCain is a player who has reached across the aisle and cooperated with Democracts to sponsor major legislation. McCain, on the other hand, conducted himself as a gentleman, and respectfully referred to Obama as "Senator."

In the critical issue of experience versus judgement, McCain's experience trumped Obama's hailing of his sound judgement by calling him to task. Obama can not deliver; he is the Teflon candidate.

Of Vices and Dustbins

And now let us praise famous men, drum roll please: George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry, Daniel D. Tompkins, Richard M. Johnson, George M. Dallas, William R. King, Hannibal Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson, William A. Wheeler, Thomas A. Hendricks, Levi P. Morton, Garrett A. Hobart, Charles W. Fairbanks, James S. Sherman, Thomas R. Marshall, Charles G. Dawes, Charles Curtis, John N. Garner, Henry A. Wallace, Alben W. Barkley, Hubert H. Humphrey, Spiro T. Agnew, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Walter F. Mondale, and J. Danforth Quayle. If the names do not roll off the tongue, nor can you really identify who and what they are about, this should not surprise us. They are a particularly undistinguished lot in terms of their actual service record in the position in question. Even when their names are somewhat familiar, George Clintion, not the singer, nor related to "Slick Willie, or Gerry providing his name to a disreputable political practice, "gerrymandering," or even those more recent figures whose names might be somewhat known and may ring a bell: Wallace, Humphrey, Agnew, Rockefeller, Mondale, or Quayle, they are not easily identified. The point here is that Vice-Presidents, the list of unknowns here, really are "just a heartbeat away from the Presidency," but most Vice-Presidents simply retreat into the dustbin of history. It is true of course that numerous Vice-Presidents were known commodities, but that is largely because they went on to distinguish themselves as President or they were identifiable as part of a larger historical movement or made another important contribution.

To wit, Palin is a political choice for the Republican ticket, if she does not know all the intricacies of foreign policy, she will simply do what all Vice-Presidents do, study for the job and if history calls upon her, God help us if she is not ready.

This is the traditional role of Vice-Presidents anyway. Most just fade away over time. The more interesting aspect of the Republican ticket, it seems to me, is that many people already have poor McCain dead and buried while displaying an unhealthy predilection towards age discrimination.

Many older people can and do have important contributions to make to this country. I would hope that the nay-sayers would lighten up. McCain might not die tomorrow.

McCain Believable on Economy

McCain does not need to "grand-stand" on the economy, in fact, it hurts him. It is not in his interest to suspend the debates unless he truly believes, and he is of course a key player, he can help the U.S. to end the financial crisis. He would be better off trumpeting Iraq, an issue that he comes off stronger in the polls, if he were really only trying to get attention for his campaign. The debate should end and the principals should agree to a plan.

Maverick McCain Shows His Presidential Character

Whether he wins or loses, there is a candidate who certainly appears Presidential. In another surprising move for a guy who is accused of being more of the same, McCain had another idea. McCain announced that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the "historic" crisis facing the U.S. economy. If Obama follows, and he is in a difficult position, since he is following, he will demonstrate that he is not a leader. If he continues on the campaign trail, he will demonstrate that he is more interested in himself, and his campaign, than he is in the country's well-being. McCain also called on the organizers of Friday's presidential debate to postpone the event.

Bush has proposed a $700 billion bailout for the troubled U.S. economy.

The proposal was drafted by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

The troubling aspect of the Obama campaign is that he previously just played politics as usual by lashing out at the Bush administration, McCain, and the handling of the crisis on Wall Street as well as the $700 billion bailout plan by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

The move would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression. Maybe we should think about it first: 'ya think?