Reply to Scott Brown

I received a thank you from Scott Brown for my contribution to his campaign, but have been seething since he dissed the TeaParty movement’s impact on his winning election.  So I have sent back his thank you note with a note of my own.

Texas General Election Certifications

I have asked the Texas’  Election Division for copies of all relevent correspondence related to the Official Certifications of the Nominees for President in the 2008 General Election.  As you can see below, the Republicans went out of thier way to Certify that John McCain met the constitutional requirements for the Office of President of the Unted States. 

 The Domocratic Party merely certified that Barack Obama was the Nominee of the Party.

Presidential? or Cry Baby?

President Obama was so concerned that he had appeared to dismiss a question from New York Times reporters about whether he was a socialist that he called the newspaper from the Oval Office to clarify his policies.

“It was hard for me to believe that you were entirely serious about that socialist question,” he told reporters, who had interviewed the president aboard Air Force One on Friday.

Opening the unusual presidential call to reporters by saying that there was “just one thing I was thinking about as I was getting on the copter,” he said it wasn’t he who started the federal government’s intervention into the nation’s financial system.

“I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement -– the prescription drug plan — without a source of funding. And so I think it’s important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we’ve actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word ‘socialist’ around can’t say the same.”

The New York Times asked, “So whose watch are we talking about here?” but Obama wouldn’t name names.

“Well, I just think it’s clear by the time we got here, there already had been an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. And the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me to stay out of it. I have more than enough to do without having to worry the financial system. The fact that we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures and intervene is not an indication of my ideological preference, but an indication of the degree to which lax regulation and extravagant risk taking has precipitated a crisis.”

He concluded the brief call by saying, “I think that covers it.”

In Defense of “The Hair”

Supreme Letdown…Donofrio Writ Denied

Byrd Replaced by Inouye

Same ole’ same ole’ “yea ma’an!”

Obama Weekly Radio Address

“And yet, as we act in concert with other nations, we must also act immediately here at home to address America’s own economic crisis. This week, amid continued volatility in our markets, we learned that unemployment insurance claims rose to their highest levels since September 11, 2001. We’ve lost jobs for ten straight months — nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, many of them in our struggling auto industry (nothing to do with an unsustainable business model). And millions of our fellow citizens lie awake each night wondering how they’re going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, and save for retirement. …Ok, we could have got this from Katie Couric…uh…maybe not…

Make no mistake: this is the greatest economic challenge of our time. And while the road ahead will be long, and the work will be hard, I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis — because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard. And I am more hopeful than ever before that America will rise once again.    Yes….But how…ready to work hard…but how???

But we must act right now. Yes we are with you… Next week, Congress will meet to address the spreading impact of the economic crisis. I urge them to pass at least a down-payment ($700 billion is not enough) on a rescue plan that will create jobs (I’ve already paid back the big money donors (Wall Street)…now I need to take care of the grassroots guys…UNIONS), relieve the squeeze on families, and help get the economy growing again. OK..that sounds good…but how…? In particular, we cannot afford to delay providing help for the more than one million Americans who will have exhausted their unemployment insurance by the end of this year. Ok…relieves the immediate squeeze on families, but doesn’t create jobs… If Congress does not pass an immediate plan that gives the economy the boost it needs, I will make it my first order of business as President.  Well glad to see you have your priorities right…

Even as we dig ourselves out of this recession, we must also recognize that out of this economic crisis comes an opportunity to create new jobs, strengthen our middle class (If Bill Ayers can come out now, can we now have the real definition of MIDDLE CLASS now?) , and keep our economy competitive in the 21st century. This sounds ok…and we know how sometimes victory comes from defeat, but how?

That starts with the kinds of long-term investments that we’ve neglected for too long. That means putting two million Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. (Well at what wage…if we use UAW/Detroit 3 wages that means $72 an hour if we use them….well you know how hard that will be) It means investing $150 billion (Why that number?) to build an American green energy economy that will create five million new jobs (at what pay scale….doing what job…,) while freeing our nation from the tyranny of foreign oil, and saving our planet for our children. How???? It means making health care affordable for anyone who has it, accessible for anyone who wants it, and reducing costs for small businesses. How???? And it also means giving every child the world-class education they need to compete with any worker, anywhere in the world. How…teachers already make on average (approx. $50) more than private sector management (approx. $47)…Maybe we should bump up their salaries to what the auto workers unions make…that worked out really well for Detroit…Any other real, practical ideas????

Doing all this will require not just new policies, but a new spirit of service and sacrifice, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other (Ok…is this mandatory service…is this SOCIALISM???). If this financial crisis has taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers (ok…but Main Street flourished while Wall Street thrived…for many years…There was a good book by Woodward on how exactly Bill Clinton and Robert Rubin worked this out)  — in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people. And that is how we will meet the challenges of our time — together. Thank you.

 

 

 

63 Questions for an O job…Obama’s Application to a Post in His Administration

Thanks to the NYTimes (that was hard to get out…), we now have an idea of the criteria by which President-Elect Obama will judge applicants for posts in his Administration. Just for fun we took a stab at how he might answer…His answers are still developing…so bear with me here…

 

 

 

 

 

Hypocrite Bruce…Far from the swamps of Jersey

Far from the swamps of Jersey…Bruce Springsteen has lived in Rumson, NJ since the mid eighties and for the first time in all those years a Democrat ran this year against Republicans in the election for the town council.

…in the history of this upper-crust borough, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, no Democrat has ever been elected mayor. And if any have made it to the council, historian George Moss is unaware of them.  “I don’t think there were any,” says Moss, who served on the governing body from 1944 to 1984.   

Mayor John Ekdahl acknowledged that Steinhorn’s challenge was a noteworthy variation from the recent past, as Republicans have generally had the ballot all to themselves.

“Our party hasn’t been opposed in about 20 years,” Ekdahl says.

From redbankgreen.com

 

 NYTimes July 20, 1907

So while Springsteen supports the most left wing candidate ever to be elected President, he lives in a town which has been governed (and by many accounts and personal experience – very well governed) by Republicans for its entire 100 year history.   Not only has the town been governed by Republicans, but until this year, for the last 20-25yrs they ran unopposed.  I lived in Rumson from 1997 until a year ago January and not having a choice on the ballot really bothered me…and I was a Republican.  It bothered me so much that even though I voted straight ticket Republican most of the time, when I got to the Mayor and Council portion of the ballot, I left it blank (a weak useless protest, I know).

Perhaps, Bruce feels comfortable in an environment of one-party rule…a situation I fear we may confront in an Obama presidency. (Yes I am afraid we will no longer have free or otherwise elections)  However, I would suggest that while Bruce wants to help the masses rise, racial equality, blah blah blah, he chooses to live in a capitalist oriented (it’s a wall street bedroom community),  sequestered enclave that requires some serious coin as a ticket to entrée.  And by the way, is far from racially integrated to boot:

The racial makeup of the borough (of Rumson) was 97.77% White, 0.24% African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.06% Asian, 0.36% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.39% of the population.                                                                                                                                              Wikipedia  2000 census

I have been a fan for most of my life, but I can no longer bear to listen to Bruce.

Obama Disses Nancy Reagan

 

Today, with a superscilious smile, President-elect Barack Obama demonstrated the kind of (K)lass we will have to learn to live with over the next 4 yrs. 

Q: Thank you for asking. Here’s my question. I’m wondering what you’re doing to get ready. Have you spoken to any living ex-presidents, what books you might be reading?

Everyone wants to know, what kind of dog are you going to buy for your girls? Have you decided on a private or public school for your daughters?

OBAMA: Let … let me list those off.

In terms of speaking to former presidents, I’ve spoken to all of them that are living. Obviously, President Clinton _ I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances.

In his first press conference as President-elect, Obama took the opportunity to tastelessly insult Nancy Reagan.  Particularly callous, as she recently endured and is still recovering from a severe bone injury similar to that which his beloved Grandmother recently suffered. 

While we expect Mrs. Reagan may have a very thick skin after all these years, we wonder if Ron Reagan Jr will be rethinking his definition of mean-spiritedness as the treatment Sarah Palin has received hits a little closer to home.

Watch here:

Michelle Obama’s Curious Party Dress

The Dress

The Manifesto

The dress bears a striking resemblance to the cover of the Weather Underground’s Communist Manifesto Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism, which was written and published in 1974 by William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and other members of the Weather Underground.  Bill Ayers on April 12, 2002:

“I considered myself partly an anarchist then and consider myself partly an anarchist now. I mean I’m as much an anarchist as I am a Marxist…. I’m very open about what I think and nobody here is surprised by what I think.
…
Is one of those regrets that I took extreme measures against the United States at a time of tremendous crisis? No it is not. I don’t regret that. The people of the world are being exploited and oppressed and militarized by the great imperialist powers, led by the United States. That is the situation today in my view.
…
And I’m not sorry about anything that I participated to try to end that war or against that government that was waging that war.”  Bill Ayers

 

Anarcho-Syndicalist Flag

Anarcho-syndicalism

 

…according to the Syndicalist view, the trade union, the syndicate, is the unified organisation of labour and has for its purpose the defence of the interests of the producers within existing society and the preparing for and the practical carrying out of the reconstruction of social life after the pattern of Socialism.

Rudolf Rocker