Charlotte Front and Center

Thomas Sowell: The Dangers of Obama's Inexperience

Sowell at the NRO has written a column "A Rookie President".  Thomas Sowell is using the word "rookie" in reference to Obama's lack of administrative experience where he would be responsible for the outcome of his decision making. This was the basis for most who opposed having a rookie as president. There is too much danger to experiment, but that is exactly what is happening, and none of us know the outcome of frantically doing so much so fast except for government taking dominance in our daily lives.

Sowell uses the following analogy of a "rookie" by stating: Someone once that,for every rookie you have on your starting team in the National Football League,you will lose a game.  Some where,at some time during the season a rookie will make a mistake that will cause you to lose a game." end quote~

What are the rookie mistakes so far for Obama?  Sowell points to a few things such as Obama trying to make a backroom deal with the Russians while leaving the NATO nations out of the loop. Russia chose to make the proposal known with the implication that the U.S. is not to be trusted. 

Obama also made his first phone call to Hamas (whom wh have given millions to in aid) which allows for mare missiles to be fired into Israel.

The Left is famous for being soft on its enemies and tough on its allies. Eternal guilt complex?  The snobbish treatment of the British by Obama hasn't been lost on those reading the news. Sowell calls Obama's treatment of Gordon Brown unimpressive, and the fact that Obama sent the bust of Winston Churchill that was in the White House back to the Bristish Embassy is either a genuine snub, or a simple sign of Obama's inexperience.

Jed Babbin wrote an article about Obamas rookie style back in January, and the foresight of his warnings and observations are now startling, and that was when we were all talking about a one trillion dollar budget.

So far, there is no indication that Europe sees Obama's economic style as innovative or containing any signs of forward thinking.

Rookies need to get their experience, but not on the world stage.

Biden's Daughter Latest Drug Scandal

Times Online reports how the White House was rocked by the news of a video of Vice President Biden's daughter being recorded as she snorted some coke. Times Online reported "The video purports to show Ashley Biden, 27, snorting lines of white powder at a house party in her home state of Delaware.

It surfaced days after Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, declared that the United States shared the blame for Mexico's violent drug wars. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Mrs Clinton said on a trip to Mexico." end quote

Thiscomes on the heels of Hillary Clinton accepting responsibility for the U.S. part in the on-going drug issues facing Mexico and the U.S.. It was in this month also that Vice President Biden swore in the new Drug Czar Kerlikowske, who has children who have been busted several times for marijuana use.

So what is the big outcry about when our own President has admitted to doing the same in his youth.

At least we can give Joe Biden credit for being a true anti-drug guy. The problem is there are too many around that don't have such a clean history.

What's Wrong Having A " National Day of Prayer"?

There have been several national days of prayer in the U.S. before the day was made official in 1952. The Continental Congress issued a day of prayer in 1775 to designate "a time for prayer in forming a new nation". During the Quasi-War with France, President John Adams declared May 9, 1798 as "a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer," during which citizens of all faiths were asked to pray "that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it".

Hillary: "You Have A Marvelous Virgin"

All Catholics believe they have a wondrous,beautiful Virgin called Mary. Hillary Clinton reminded a small crowd that greeted her as she left the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadeloupe with the statement  "You have a beautiful Virgin"!  

Earlier in the day,Msgr.Monroy took Secretary Clinton to see the image of Our Lady that had been lowered from the altar for the special occasion of Clinton's visit. After looking the image over, Hillary asked who painted it? The Monsignor exclaimed "God!"

The Catholic News Agency has the story of Our Lady of Guadeloupe:  In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to a humble Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City.

She identified herself as the ever Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth.

She made a request for a church to be built on the site, and submitted her wish to the local Bishop. When the Bishop hesitated, and requested her for a sign, the Mother of God obeyed without delay or question to the Church's local Bishop, and sent her native messenger to the top of the hill in mid-December to gather an assortment of roses for the Bishop.

After complying to the Bishop's request for a sign, She also left for us an image of herself imprinted miraculously on the native's til-ma, a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 476 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
It apparently even reflects in Her eyes what was in front of her in 1531. Read More

Kay Bailey Hutchinson Praises Hillary Clinton

Whether or not you supported Hillary Clinton's presidential bid last year, Kay Bailey Hutchison knows what guts and sheer grit it took for Hillary to fight for her beliefs until the end. Only a year ago pundits from both sides of the political arena had been telling Hillary 'to give up'.  But Hillary Clinton knew better than most when it was time to call it quits.

A year later,Secretary of State Clinton has a 72% approval rating, and the admiration from men and women the world over.  Aman Batheja reports from the Star Telegram that Hutchinson had this to say about the former First Lady:  "I think the most incredible thing I saw in you during this period was your ability to keep a happy face, a confident face, when you were getting so many disappointments," Hutchison said, speaking beside Clinton at an event at The Women’s Museum in Dallas.

It seems that Hutchinson admires and respects Hillary Clinton for the tough battles and trying times Secretary Clinton has faced so bravely. Both women cited legislation that allowed same-sex public schools as one of their proudest accomplishments in the Senate.

Kay Bailey Hutchinson will be facing her own tough battles as she challenges Perry for a run at Texas Governor.

But today, the women from different parties came together at a Dallas event and expressed a mutual admiration for the other.

Obama Failing Economics: Let Geithner Go Away

I like to follow Ruben Navarrette at CNN on the economic situation.  He doesn't let any party get away with anything especially when throwing blame around for the financial mess we are in.  First off, he notes too many Americans are emotionally invested in the Obama presidency to admit that some things may not be going well.  Get hurt hard enough too many times on the personal financial front, and you are bound to start looking at matters realistically.

Obama's main problem? You have heard it before, and Navarrette says it again:  Obama is trying to do too much too soon. Some things need focus, but your cabinet and aides need to be strong enough to help carry the load. So who is too weak at this point? Timothy Geithner.  The guy just doesn't instill confidence. Even though Wall Street perked up a bit after Geithner proposed shedding the toxic assets, Wall Street happiness doesn't always bode well for the man on the street.

Obama is known for two strengths: communication and marketing. So if we look at the press confernce this past week we  see a dull presentation with resentment from Obama at any pointed questions concerning AIG.  That teleprompter does make a difference with Obama.

The next issue for Obama is to get it out there about who told Dood to keep the loop-hole open on AIG bonuses.  Until that is answered, everything Obama does will overshadow any future moves he makes with that question unanswered. Timothy Geithner needs to step aside and let someone who can instill confidence try to sell this country on budget plans and programs.

Obama's Political Arm Reaches TV ADS Today on 3.5 Trillion Budget

If watching CNN or MSNBC you will get the biggest dose of political ads with the intent of putting political pressure on Congress to adopt his audacious budget.

CNN reports that..."earlier this month, the DNC ran an ad on cable television in South Carolina criticizing Republican Gov. Mark Sanford for refusing to accept all the stimulus money set aside for his state. Sanford has said that South Carolina would be forced to search for replacement funding once the stimulus money ran out, or be forced to make cuts".

Several other liberal groups will air ads both locally and nationally to try and gain populist support for his budget. Some of the ads will show clips of Obama supporters going door to door when Obama mastered his suporters to knock on doors a few weeks ago.

Arizona Captital Times reports, "As members of both parties increasingly express worry about President Barack Obama's massive $3.55 trillion budget for the coming Fiscal Year, several Democratic groups are turning to paid advertisements to push members of their own party, including two from Arizona, to back the budget.

Americans United for Change, a conglomerate of union groups and liberal social organizations, and MoveOn.org have each launched advertisements in Arizona aimed at convincing Democratic Reps. Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords to back Obama's budget." 

Fox goes on to say: The new ad, entitled "Blueprint," doesn't name names of specific lawmakers but asks citizens in target markets to call Congress and "tell them you support President Obama's budget. Let's all get to work rebuilding America."

One of the latest ads is from AUC : the group that ran an ad stating Rush Limbaugh was the new GOP leader.

When will the strong-arming of Americans begin taking place?

Police allowed to hack computers in UK without warrant

Flannery O'Connor and Her Grotesque Southern Characters

I was looking through the news and blogs trying to find inspiration of some sort so I could continue my usual onslaught against Obama. Stuff that Obama would call "chattering", and the things Michelle would say was "chirping". Anyways,I was on-line at The National Review and hit the bonanza...at least for myself. It wasn't political, but the article got me agitated just the same. I didn't know, but today is the birthday of Flannery O'Connor, the woman writer many of us read in short-story form from our sophomore lit classes. I thought O'Connor was a man until I learned differently much, much later...or maybe I just didn't listen too well back then.

So here we have Ralph C. Wood writing about the awful, grotesque, and depressing figures of the south that O'Connor built her stories upon. I hate to argue with Woods, because he is a professor of theology and English and has written "Flannery O'Connor and the Christ-Haunted South" . After I finished reading Wood's article, I knew he was fascinated by her. But Woods began his article by stating that we are all repulsed when trying to read O'Connor. He also poses the question: Why do southern writers immerse themselves with such revolting characters and violent death scenes in so much of its writing? My answer would be that it probably stems from habit going back to the days when agriculture was the South's leading industry and provided a lot of leisure-at times. It's not so really long ago it was that way.

Rural areas are thinly spread with people and little entertainment on top of it...especially years ago. Any story had to be colored with a fascinating input of gore or violence to entertain the crowd anyone was talking to..even if it was a group of three or four. Religion? Church was the main meeting place, the only place of salvation and socialization. Southerners demanded to be entertained in Church, and to have colorful visions of hell. So for O'Connor to be Catholic,Irish, and southern would explain her gift of story-telling.  When asked the question about her array of grotesque,immoral characters, she said: "anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic".

To fully understand Flannery O'Connor, and how she was compelled to write about such unusual people or circumstances, demands that you have,as Woods points out,a clear understanding of what "normal" might be, in order to take the unsentimental view she had of her main characters. I do know she had a social awareness for she referred to the"Holocaust" and the racial issues of her time in her writings.

The proudest moment of O'Connors life is when she taught her pet chicken to walk backwards and appeared in the "Pathe News".  The paper filmed her with her chicken to be shown in movie houses around the country. That was her first moment of celebrity, and she said that everything after that in life was "anti-climax". So, no wonder is it that we have these rich stories from a southern girl that trained her chicken, and later read St.Thomas Aquinas in bed before going to sleep.

O'Connor suffered from Lupus,just like her father did. She was diagnosed in 1951 and was only supposed to live another five years, but lived until 1964. She lived those last 15 years in Milledgeville,Ga. with her mother, and she continued to write her stories. 

So to celebrate her birthday, I am going to pull out my collection of her short stories, and read from "A Good Man is Hard To Find, and Other Short Stories".

Happy Birthday,Ms. O'Connor. I wonder how you would write about Obama, and if you would have also been a Hillary supporter...... and please read Wood's article on O'Connor.

The Hillary Movie and Its Controversy

The Supreme Court seems divided over how to deal with the movie documentary about Hillary Clinton that was shown in some movie theaters during the 2008 election. A Washington non-profit political group Citizens United, refrained from showing the movie because the current campaign laws would demand they reveal their financial backers.  

The group believes its freedom of speech rights have been violated, but some Supreme Court members,such as Ginsburg, see it strictly as a long political ad. Apparently, the group saw this as a way to fight the number one political adversary(Clinton) at the time. Citizen United was the group that went after Michael Moore's ads when Farenheit 911 was released.

Watching the previews (below) doesn't give a sympathetic view of Clinton. In fact, its biggest draw was an appeal to watch all the Clinton scandals at once. It is entertaining as a gossip fest, and Clinton's portrayal makes Nixon look soft on every account.

CNN reported "the comprehensive 2002 McCain-Feingold law bans broadcast of "electioneering communication" by corporations, unions and advocacy groups if it would be aired close to election dates and would identify candidates by name or image. The law also requires an on-screen notice of the groups financing such ads, as well as public disclosure of all donors to the sponsoring organizations". end quote.

The Supreme Court is also considering in its decision whether a  1 minute political commercial is similar to a 90 minute movie,especially when the goal is to say "don't vote for this candidate".

The Supreme Court will not rule on the movie until June,2009.

No Transparency Leads to Taxation and Tea Parties

It's too late now to correct, but Obama promised transparency for his administration as pointed out in Campbell Brown's article at CNN.

The promise Obama made to Americans was to post any non-emergency bill on the White House website to review and comment with American citizens contributing their input. First off, Obama signs the Ledbetter bill, and even though a good bill, it would have been perfectly fine to let Americans give their comments and concerns. Brown also points out this campaign promise Obama stressed, is still on his website.

Yet, the big problem for transparency was the bonus stipulation entered into the Stimulus bill,resulting in the terrifying tax bill fall out for the American taxpayer. No one got 5 days to review anything. There literally was not enough time. If you think back about the the rush to push this bill, it makes less sense the more time goes by. Call it Citizen Shock. For congressional review, Fannie and Freddie got 19 hrs.

So Americans get angrier the more new information is leaked about AIG. Due to this anger, "Tea Parties" are organizing around the country with a planned date in most cities for April 15. Tea Party, it does sound familiar.  Why are so many upset citizens responding to the notices of these protests?  Doesn't it concern a government where everyday citizens are wanting to hit the streets in protest?

Taking a look back at our colonial ancestors,we can go to the year 1773 where we get an explanation for the first tax rebellion shortly before the Revolutionary War:  "The East India Company's decision to grant franchises to certain American merchants for the sale of their tea created further resentments among those excluded from this lucrative trade. More important, however, the Tea Act revived American passions about the issue of taxation without representation."

Americans by nature do not like taxes. This is evidenced by our own politicians who seem to consider paying any taxes an inconvenience.  Yet, the average American who is burdened with tax doesn't respond well to having his load increased by politicians who can't seem to pay their share to begin with.  The corporate greed coupled with political corruption leads to today's outrage. What would our ancestors say? Plenty, you can bet.

So for those who participate, we having encouraging news from Glenn Reynolds at "The Christian Science Monitor" who covered this topic by re-producing the passage below:

some thoughts from human-rights blogger Robert Mayer:

I just want to offer you and the tea party protesters some words of encouragement. As someone who has studied (and blogged) protest as an act of democratic revolution and people power in the post-Soviet area, I know a lot about the dynamics of mass civil society unrest, government transition, etc…

What we are seeing now is truly huge POTENTIAL for massive civil unrest against the American government gone lunatic with spending. Realistically, 400-1000 people at a protest, even at a dozen protests across the country, will do nothing to change the minds of our idiot leaders.

However, it creates the POTENTIAL that each protest could have a million. The Orange Revolution in Ukraine did not start out with two million people camping in tents in downtown Kiev. It started with only a few hundred diehard activists.

Obama: Punch-Drunk or Hysterical Laughter?

I know exactly what Barack Obama is suffering from. It is just plain ole' nerves. The kind of nervous pressure that finds a relief spout with laughing (just a little too much).  It's often seen in public, and at serious occasions. An example would be when my sisters and I would be in Church waiting for Mass to begin. It wouldn't take too much provocation to get either of us giggling...to the point we might have to excuse ourselves. I remember a case where one of my friends went to the doctor for a gynecological exam. She was a normal young lady. Yet when the doctor began to examine her, she started laughing uncontrollably. Was she mortified? Yes, but that didn't stop her from laughing like a hyena.

Why didn't Steve Croft help Obama out?  Even Croft asked the President if he was punch-drunk.  Perhaps CBS 60 Mins. should have edited the silly chuckling. If you just got laid-off, you don't want to see the President slapping his knee with laughter as he talks about the March numbers.

Obama should take a break from speeches and interviews until he regains control. This way, if Obama needs a good guffaw, he can do it in the privacy of his oval office. He can even ask his photographer to leave so there is no evidence of him leaning back in his chair,laughing his head off as new unemployment numbers come in.

Vanessa Redgrave and the Irony of "The Year of Magical Thinking"

Just a Year ago, Joan Didion fans were reading the glad tidings from David Finkle's news in "Theater Mania" ...Vanessa Redgrave lovers, rejoice. She brings The Year of Magical Thinking to the National's Lyttelton (April 25-May 20) after playing the solo show to her usual acclaim on the New York stage. The play, directed by David Hare, is Joan Didion's adaptation of her book about what pangs of grief followed the deaths of her husband and daughter.

Before then,if not already a Didion fan,Susan Stamberg of NPR had an interview with Joan Didion that made many of us aware of her new book "The Year of Magical Thinking". If you were not a fan before,you became one as she takes you from the moment she suddenly lost her husband, and through  the long yearsof watching her daughter,Quintana, suffering. The book ends with Quintana still living, but the sad news of her daughter's death is discussed on NPR in 2005, just a few months after the publishing, The Year of Magical Thinking.

So with the news of Vanessa Redgrave doing this solo show of Didion's book was perfect!   Many thought only a Redgrave could do this story  with the talent it would entail in portraying the story of a wife and mother's grief.  It is a dark tale, and the one univeral tale we all eventually participate in, as the great Vanessa Redgrave did so this week with the loss of her daughter, Natasha Richardson.

Chicago Politics In Place at the White House

The scandal and intrigue already oozing from the White House is  symptomatic of Chigago-Style Politics.  How bad is it, and to what degree would it be known if there were not a sympathetic media in place for the Obama administration?  If pay to play, and reward to political allies, and friends finds its way into policy and is then rationalized away as "saving grace" for the betterment of society, we have Chicago-Style-Politics according to Frank Salvato, Editor of The New Media Journal.

Salvato has attempted to refrain from pre-judging Obama, but has now summed up his thoughts with this:

From Mr. Obama’s campaign staff and tactics to his initial executive actions, from his White House cabinet appointments to the administration’s protection of AIG, each and every action has been textbook Chicago politics, and why not. Barack Obama cut his teeth and “rolled his bones” within the caldron of Chicago’s political arena. end quote.

As the scandal of the AIG bonuses (retention pay) plays itself out, and the Bureau of the Census starts to grab Americas attention, perhaps many will begin to see the rapid expansion of presidential powers for poltical control of the electoral college...plain Chicago politics...rammed down the throats of those "who lost".

Swirsky: The Reasons For Attacks on Bristol Palin

Another great column is out from Joan Swirsky,the brilliant,conservative, New York based author who can take on The Kos, and Huffington Post with such gifted skill. Swirsky can take these news rags to task by making it seems like duck soup to those of us who love to read her work. We get the enjoyment of reading along as she is breaking down the motives of these sleazy Palin-Pounders. 

In Swirsky's column, which can be read in its entirety on The Right Side, she examines the motives of the vicious left-wing bashers of Bristol Palin.  The principal reason, says Swirsky, is the sizable fear the left has of Bristol's mother...that lovely,charming,Governor of Alaska that just won't go away!  

The hypocrisy of the left is so blatant that when Swirsky points it out step by step it is almost laughable.

For instance, consider how Sarah Palin arrives on the national scene last August. Palin is beautiful, intelligent, and simply successful. The things we would think that women were fighting for all these years were finally represented in a self-made woman! A real woman-not fabricated, but the real thing. Palin, with a handsome husband,a son in the military,three beautiful daughters,and a child with Down Syndrome, and the guts to take on "the boys".

Yet to far-left wingers such as Katie Couric, there are some things very wrong-such as Palin being a Republican and a Christian...of all things! Those two things disqualify Palin with the Left. Palin doesn't fit the traditional mold of how all this was suppose to work out for women.

The popularity of Palin is stressing to the Left. How in creation,they must think,could an independant women choose to be a republican and a christian on top of everything else? How could this sort of woman beat the bad boys up, end up the governor of Alaska, and be nominated as the republican vice-president, and do all these spectacular things without being endorsed by the Left in America? Swirsky calls it "selective outrage".

Yet, as Swirsky points out...Palin is here, and as even the Governor said herself: 'She isn't going anywhere'!

For the best read on Palin go to Swirsky's column: Bristol Bashing Reflects The Left's Ongoing Fear of Her Mother

ACORN: Uses Mob-Style Tactics Says "Whistleblower"

Whistleblower says ACORN provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from demonstration targets using a gangland-style "protection" racket.

Shriver: Hire One of Our Athletes to Work in White House

Seems Timothy Shriver has a great idea for Obama : 'Hire one of our athletes.'  CNN quotes Shriver saying “In so doing, he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities, and demonstrate their dignity and value to the world," Timothy Shriver, the chairman of the Special Olympics, said in a statement released Friday morning.

With all the misconceptions and prejudices against people with intellectual challenges, we don't need comments such as the cute, but hurtful remarks Obama made on Jay Leno.  Shriver understands Obama's apology was sincere, but the damage has been done ...more or less.

Obama needs to get off the campaign trail and back to business. We all know how bad Obama is at bowling, and he shouldn't insult any athletic team by comparing himself to them. 

Obama gets into trouble when he trys to act cute, and in this particular case he was absolutely embarrassing. Obama supporters,mostly democrats, began to rush the blogs with outcries of the rediculousness of being politically correct. Politically correct?  How about just downright insulting to this large minority of American citizens?

Like anyone else, and Obama is no different.  Our words are an audio play of our thoughts. The President just got caught...that's all.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

American Wages Increase After Immigration Raids

UPI reports how wages significantly increased on six Swift & Co. meat packing plants. With the departure of the illegal aliens, wages increased at least 8%. 

Jerry Kamer,of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the plant got their new workers by allowing sign-on bonuses and increasing the pay to attract legal workers.

This news comes on the heels of the recent news of Nancy Pelosi telling a crowd of legal and illegal workers and their familes that these sort of raids were un-American.

Is Pelosi simply playing to the crowd at the moment?  Who is she serving anyways?

Pelosi Wants Bail Out for Newspapers

We knew this one was coming. Since newspapers and "freedom of the press" have been so closely aligned from the beginning of our nation, it is important that newspapers are never beholding to the government. Newpapers were the traditional watchdogs of our government, and it would be a perfect case of putting "the fox in charge of the hen house".

Considering the media bias that exists today, a bail out would only reinforce the liberal allegiance of most papers to the far left side of the democratic party.

According to MSNBC, Hearst said the Chronicle has not made money since 2001. Like so many other papers, The Seattle Post Intelligencer, quit printing its hardline copy and is now to only be found online.

So now we have Nancy Pelosi petitioning Atty.General, Eric Holder, to consider the failing "San Francisco Chronicle" when reviewing requests for mergers and takeovers.

Let the free market rally the newspapers.  If a quality paper writes real news, and leaves it biased slant in its opinion section, then readers may respond by buying them again.  This of course is based on the idea that people will still read a hard copy of anything if it is of quality.

According to WOW the Justice Department said 'it would consider her plea in due time', but it looks like time is running out.

Taxpayers: Politicians, Pay Back AIG "Bonuses and Contributions"

ABC News gives this list for the amounts paid to the following politicians:

Here's the list of top AIG recipients for the 2008 campaign:

1. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., $103,100 
2. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., $101,332 
3. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., $59,499 
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., $35,965 
5. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., $24,750 
6. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, (R) Pres $20,850 
7. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., $19,975 
8. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, $19,750 
9. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., $18,500 
10. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) Pres $13,200 
11. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., $12,000 
12. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., $11,000

While these same politicians spurt words of outrage, let them be the first to payback taxpayers through the U.S. Treasury.

 

Another Bail Out? Much Tougher Sale

Nancy Pelosi is beginning to talk more and more about another bail out.  Pelosi will keep mentioning this possibility so that by the time it becomes a palpable reality, the American public will be conditioned to accept a new package. Why? As it is most of us can not get our minds around trillions of dollars to start with.

CNN reports that the next go around with bail outs won't be so easily accepted simply because of the bonus fiasco at AIG. News of the bonuses had been leaked weeks ago, so with all the public outcry congress and finally the president say something. Too late? Congress screwed this one up. With all the pledges by democrats to get the money back, Mitch McConnell,R-Kentucky said "I appreciate their efforts. However, it would have been better if this pledge included action two weeks ago when the Treasury agreed to give AIG another $30 billion in taxpayer money,".

Kristi Keck at CNN had this to add: The Bush administration came under criticism for a lack of transparency and accountability in spending the first half of the TARP funds. Obama has promised to do a better job with the second half of the funds, but analysts say he'll be hard pressed the get the public behind him.

Steve Watson at Info Wars has this to say on the entire financial mess:  A so called “bailout backlash”, a huge rise in public antagonism toward banks and Wall Street, is set to provide the Obama administration and the governments of the G20 nations a pretext to usher in a new era of international centralization and control over financial practices and institutions.

The last paragraph states a worry-a big worry for capitalism.

Meghan McCain Strikes Back: "kiss my fat ass"

Meghan McCain has a point in her blasting attack against Laura Ingraham. Laura referred to young McCain as  “a Valley Girl gone awry” and a “plus-sized model.”

McCain was not in the mood for non-sense and had some very sensible words to reply back with as she visited The View on Monday:  “What do young women think when I speak my mind about politics and I want to have a political discussion about the ideological future of the Republican Party, and the answer is, ‘She’s fat, she shouldn’t have an opinion.’ What kind of message are we sending young women?” she asked.

“It infuriates me,” she said. “I’m a political writer on a blog, and all of a sudden I’m too fat to write?

”Meghan McCain writes whatever is on her mind, but I have always found her very thoughtful and fair. She doesn't attack someone personally. She seems to have her Dad's temper, but I won't fault her for that when she makes a valid point.

Laura Ingraham should apologize for the nasty lowblow remark. 

Cheney Says Obama's Policies Put America at Risk

Cheney told CN that "the harsh interrogations of suspects and the use of warrantless electronic surveillance were "absolutely essential" to get information to prevent more attacks like the 2001 suicide hijackings that targeted New York and Washington".

Many experts agree that the "proof is in the pudding' due to the fact that America has not been attacked since 2001. 

Cheney also said that the Obama administration is returning to the pre-9-11 strategy of treating terrorism as a policing job rather than as a military need.

Rep.Joe Sestak (D) Pa. said that the move of the Obama administration was due to a matter of principles and how the U.S. is viewed.

The New York Times reported Cheney as saying “When you go back to the law enforcement mode, which I sense is what they’re doing, closing Guantánamo and so forth, that they are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that’s required, and that concept of military threat that is essential if you’re going to successfully defend the nation against further attacks.”

The first job of the government is to protect the people. That was the purpose of forming a union to begin with, and putting the people at risk after the hard lesson of September 11, could become Obama's biggest folly.

Charlotte Tax Day Tea Party,and it is Country-Wide! April 15th

Good thing there are enough concerned citizens in Charlotte,N.C. to get the word out! Thanks, to Matthew for spreading the word.  We all have been reading with excitement about the Tea Party Revolution! Go to this site Tea party,and pick out your state and city so you can participate in this patriotic revolution. It looks like our ancestral blood runs deep in our veins!

The Tax Day Tea Parties are scheduled April 15,2009. Mark your calendars and check the website for times and locations in your area.

No Taxation Without  Representation

Nancy Pelosi: The Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

Fox reports that Nancy Pelosi is astonished that anyone (especially the GOP) describes her as playing "partisan politics".

You could have fooled me. I thought Pelosi was the queen of partisanship,the duchess of democrat spending,and the Obama cheerleader of big fatty pork.

Pelosi was on "Charlie Rose" and said:"There seems to be a market for saying that I am very partisan, and that I don't give the Republicans their opportunity. That simply is not true," Pelosi said in an interview with PBS' Charlie Rose. "They know in this recovery package that we had, we ask them what they wanted."

There's a market alright. It is called the American public watching how their taxes of tomorrow are being spent today. Why is the public listening so closely to Pelosi? She said it herself: "We won." when a politician wants to blame every single issue on a party in general, well you get partisanship which is evidenced by Pelosi's own words to Rose:  "If you can't win on policy, then you go to process," she said. "If you can't win on process, then you go to personality. And that's how they have decided they would make up stories about me and the rest."

If you didn't know who was talking and someone told you these were the words of a high school student complaining to a principal,you would probably believe it..."making up stories about me and the rest..."

Rumblings from the GOP point out that Pelosi is over-reaching and will begin to lose party seats just because of her far-left wing partisan antics. It is only a matter of time some say.

Pelosi went on to say to Rose that she is only interested in 'getting the job done".  The concern for many is, what exactly does she consider in getting this job done? Many fear the answer is more spending in a new stimulus bill. We have no choice but to hide and watch.

Obama Info Czar and the FBI Investigation

Can you imagine taking a job and one week later you go on leave of absence? That's what a White House official told CNN that Vivek Kundra is taking a leave of absence from his position at the Office of Budget Management until a search of his former office is completed by the FBI.

The Economic Times reports: Kundra went on leave after federal agents arrested an Indian-American businessman and a Washington DC government official on corruption charges Thursday and searched the offices of the capital city's chief technology officer as part of a corruption probe. 

The raid came a week after Kundra, former director of the agency responsible for overseeing the city's telecommunications infrastructure, was named as the White House chief information officer. But CNN cited a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation as saying that Kundra is not involved in the case. end quote.

Yusuf Acar, a contracting officer for Washington's city government, and Sushil Bansal, a former city employee, are accused of swindling the city out of several million dollars by inflating purchase orders and billing the city for work by 'ghost' employees of Bansal's companies. They made initial appearances in federal court Thursday.

Acar, a 40-year-old native of Turkey, worked under Kundra. But Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether the White House knew the investigation was under way when it named Kundra, but called the case 'a serious matter.'

Earlier last week when Obama appointed Kundra he said "As Chief Information Officer, he will play a key role in making sure our government is running in the most secure, open, and efficient way possible.”

for more read: "Obama Info Czar Takes Leave During FBI Investigation".

Now you wonder if this guy paid his taxes.

We Should have Googled the Bishop, says Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI has learned the value of news research. The Pope has been upset over the world-wide reaction he caused when he withdrew the excommunication of Bishop Williamson of England. The Pope had this to say in a letter to the clergy:  "I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on "I have learned the lesson that in the future the Holy See will have to pay greater attention to that source of news."

No doubt the Vatican will have to become more tech savvy. The Pope was only trying to unify the Church by lifting the excommunication of members of the "Society of St.Pius X", an ultra-conservative group of clergy that objected to the changes of Vatican II.  The Pope claims he had no knowledge of Bishop Williamson's remarks on a Swedish television station where he said 'he did not believe that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler deliberately set out to murder Jews or that there were gas chambers at the Auschwitz death camp'.

The Pope was very upset by the attacks he received from Catholics, Jews, and other groups when he lifted the excommunication of Williamson. 

Just recently, the news of the Pope traveling to Israel has brought the incident back into the spotlight. The Pope was especially "thankful" to his Jewish friends for being so helpful in resolving this crisis. The Popes visit to Israel will go a long ways in mending this latest incident as long as the Pope remembers to use a good search engine in the future.

U.S. and Taliban: What About Humane Treatment of Women?

Obama is reaching out to "moderate Taliban elements"? Does Obama realize "moderate Taliban" is an oxymoron?  The horrific treatment of women in Taliban society should give pause to our dealing with these savages, much less "reaching-out"!

Taliban beating women in public

CNN reported: When the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, Pakzad's Voice of Women Organization emerged from secrecy to expand its efforts to give women rights in the home, schools, the workplace, and the legislature.

She was recognized for her efforts last year when she was awarded the 2008 International Women of Courage Award.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will bestow the honor on eight other women on Wednesday, including Wazhma Frogh, an Afghan woman who heads Global Rights, which fights against domestic violence, marital and child rape, and sexual abuse in Afghanistan. end quote

The AFP reported that women's issues needed to be included in the talks. They report Advocates for women's rights in Afghanistan urged world leaders to move forward with talks with the Taliban and insisted that women have a place at the negotiating table.

"We need to talk with the Taliban," Najia Zewari, the Gender and Justice Unit Manager for the Afghanistan branch of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) told scores of US lawmakers, rights workers and reporters at a briefing in Washington.

"Our worry is that so far we have not received any message if women would be part of the discussions or if women's issues are part of the agenda of the Taliban," she added.

The U.S. has usually insists on pre-conditions to talks. For this to not even be considered by the Obama administration before even "reaching out" to these thugs is unconscionable. 

Let this be noted in future stories during Women's History Month!

Charles Freeman is Out as One of Obama's High Level Appointees

Charles Freeman withdrew his name as an appointee for Chairman of The National Intelligence Council.Freeman, formerly an ambassador to Saudi Arabia, is widely known to be critical of Israel and Israeli policy. This is important because in this Intelligence job, Freeman would have to sum up information from all intelligence reports. With Freeman's insensitivity to Israel and his suspected ties to foreign governments this would pose a jeopardy for Freeman making sound non-prejudicial decisions. The reports from this council have to be apolitical because all U.S. government decisions are based on its findings.

Freeman is not only known for his outspoken criticism of Israel, but also has spoken out against the war in Iraq, and the war on terror in general. Freeman's lack of objectivity is obvious and he is facing an uphill battle for senate approval.

Dennis Blair defended Freeman saying his outspoken remarks would be valuable. But many in congress don't see it that way. Senator Lieberman objected saying the controversy would not go away anytime soon.

Due to the fact that Charles Freeman has been such an aggressive critic of Israel, and that he has ties to China and Saudi Arabia should have made his selection an obvious error in judgment by Obama. 

Pope to Skip Holocaust Museum on Trip to Israel

There have been critics over the years accusing Pope Pius XII of having not done enough to help the Jews during the WWII Holocaust. Current understanding is that Pope Pius XII remained neutral between the Axis and Allied counries. 

Vatican defenders of the Pope during WWII are slowly opening up archives to prove how the Pope operated behind the scenes and why he did so.  With the way things appear, and the perception of the role played by the Pope to the Jewish people, one would hope the Vatican breaks through some of their own red-tape and hasten to speed up the process. The world as well wants the definite and conclusive answers to Pope Pius XII's role.

Until that time all records are released, Pope Benedict feels compelled to not visit the museum because of a caption in the museum that points out Pope Pius was "neutral". This is a delicate issue for Pope Benedict, who was forced as a young boy to serve in the "Hitler Youth". The Pope has spoken out vehemently against the Holocaust atrocities, and that most recently occured at Auschwitz.  The Pope will attend the memorial section of Yad Vashem when visiting Israel.

It will only help relations between Catholics and Jews that an accepted account of Pope Pius' role with European Jews is publicly stated and documented by the Roman Catholic Church...TRedwine

Obama: Smooth Talking the Taliban?

No one can say Obama doesn't take bold action or America wouldn't even be considering talking to the "Taliban".  The thought of engaging these thugs is enough to make the bravest cringe in reaction. This past weekend Obama told "The New York Times" America might outreach to moderate elements of the Taliban. What really is an element?  Where is there a moderate group of Taliban?  Obama bases this thought process on the fact that we were able to communicate with Sunni enemies in western Iraq with great success-but let's thank the U.S. Marines for this, and their outreach was first backed up by military might.

Fox news reported that David Rittgers said,..."negotiating with moderates at the local level, some of whom might fall under the multifaceted umbrella of the Taliban, could be possible and worthwhile. But he said any attempt to divide and conquer the Taliban would probably fail, and he said Obama had given the Taliban leadership "propaganda strength" in publicly suggesting that outreach is possible. "

Apparently Rittgers has already made his point with the theory of giving the Taliban "propaganda strength".

Soon after the Obama interview, a spokesperson for the Taliban said that Obama's outreach to them must mean that the Americans are "tired and worried".

President Obama will soon learn that it takes two to tango, and I hope it isn't at our service men and womens expense.