Why do some public figures say such asinine things?

And get away with it?




Michael Moore




“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said, laughing. “To have it planned at the same time – that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”

"After that comment, Moore backed off a bit and did say he hoped nobody got hurt and he hoped everybody is taking cover. However, he failed to make note of the $43.625 billion in damage the last hurricane to strike New Orleans caused – Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – and the billions of dollars the storm cost taxpayers."     

"Moore also took the opportunity to take a dig at President George W. Bush and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain."     

“I can’t see what you showed,” Moore said to “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann about a video clip including Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. celebrating McCain’s birthday.“I don’t know if you showed the cake there that they had there, three years ago today – with McCain and Bush. When Marie Antoinette – when she said, ‘Let them eat cake,’ I think she was speaking figuratively. They literally were while New Orleans was drowning – eating cake. So, it’s, um, I don’t know – let’s hope things get better.”  
 

 

Read the entire article HERE

ABC News photo


Children are suffering.

Parents are suffering.

A school system in the United States is suffering.

Why?

Because the elected officials who were supposed to serve the public were self-serving instead.

Where?   Georgia…Clayton County.

Why?  Violating Open Meetings Act and State Ethics Code.

The state of Georgia has removed four School Board members.  The state of Georgia has stripped away the accreditation of the District.  Families will move away.  Property values will go down.  This place is destroyed.


"Clayton becomes the first U.S. school system since 1969 to have its accreditation fully stripped. Accreditation represents an important seal of approval in the education world. Its loss signals that a school system has not met standards, and, as a result, Clayton students may not qualify for certain scholarships or be welcomed by some selective colleges."

Elected officials may think that simple violations don’t matter…they may think they may go unnoticed.

Well, think again.

Elected Officials everywhere…jot down these four words on a Post-It note “New Clayton School Board.”  Stick it where you do most of your planning of your meetings and activities for your School Board or City  Government functions.  Take a look at it often and remember New Clayton.  Know that you will never do to your constituents what those School Board members did to theirs. 

New Clayton School Board Must Buckle Down, Pronto

Georgia School System Loses its Accreditiation

Clayton Schools' Fears Are Realized

How The Clayton Accreditiation Issue Will Impact Recruiting

Photo: engadget

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States may be renting PODS, then hauling the contents to warehouses after filling them with e-voting machines.

Why?

They once thought e-voting would be the next best way to vote…then states began banning their use….California, Ohio, Florida.

Their cost?  $3.5K to $5K each and that cost  would like to be recovered by the local election boards from those states.  Some are  trying to recycle them.

Ohio is in the middle of lawsuits and may be stuck with having to use the machines this November....

Another presidential election with voting machine problems....what else is new?

You just have to read this....

States throw out costly electronic voting machines

Click   HERE

What do they all have in common?

This....

Another new “logo” for Barack Obama….

This time originating in Pennsylvania and being released in select towns across the state today.

It stems from this...

Obama Wisconsin Radio Ad Attacks McCain Over Harley Quip

The Obama Team in Pennsylvania wants to have some fun with John McCain and his "I’d rather hear the roar of "50,000 Harleys" than the cheering of “200,000 Berliners.”


"As the Obama camp was quick to point out, McCain opposed legislation that would have forced the U.S. government to buy American-made motorcycles.

The Obama camp's push on the issue includes running [the recent ad], which was running in the York market and mocks McCain's Harley quote while pointing out McCain's position on American-made bikes, in two new markets in Pennsylvania beginning tomorrow -- the Pittsburgh and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre markets.

Obama's Pennsylvania campaign, the aide says, will be hitting the ground this weekend in around five towns around the state with stickers and flyers bearing the above "Buy American, Vote Obama" logo.

The events will feature a few dozen actual Harley riders for Obama that have been recruited for the weekend's events."Harley riders aren't typically supportive of Democratic candidates," the aide says.

"But we're making a play for them by saying that Obama's economic policies are the true patriotic ones."

If "Buy American, Vote Obama" catches on, it could conceivably be unveiled in other battlegrounds.

It's yet another sign of the Obama camp's efforts to turn the attacks on his patriotism on their head by arguing that McCain is the one who's anti-American-worker. Such arguments have had mixed success, but with the economy topping the list of voter concerns, it's possible that they will land on fertile ground in the struggling industrial battleground states."

Read the article HERE

I'm sure it won't be long before we see that sticker popping up in Wisconsin.

Obama is going to get his platform messed up.  He won't know if he's coming or going.

A man for all seasons...

Sticker shock.

Speaking of stickers...

Have you ever noticed how many Bush/Cheney stickers you still see on cars after all these years?

I think I see more of those than I do Obama stickers.

Promises, promises….

or should I say going back on them?

Does this make him the typical politician?

Barack Obama thinks he’s entitled . . .

Entitled to make American citizens look foolish.

Democratic Sen. Obama is going back on his promise to use public financing in his fall campaign.

"Obama's decision to skip an earlier pledge to forgo public financing for the general election if his opponent did so will probably allow the Illinois fundraising phenom to outspend John McCain 3-to-1. But it also raises questions about his keeping commitments, especially when commitments made earnestly and early on turn out to be inconvenient. This sounds like old-style political gamesmanship and calculation, not the message of change Obama had been preaching..."



Read Insights from the Kiplinger Report  í  here

 

A United States citizen.

And here is a copy of his birth certificate (thanks to Daily Kos) to prove it.

You see, there’s a reason for the display of this birth certificate.

There was discussion regarding rumors:

Rumors regarding where Obama was actually born

Rumors regarding what Obama’s middle name is

Rumors regarding his mother not wanting to name him after his father.

Read about it at NRO (National Review Online)    å  here

"Tony Rezko — the high-flying developer and fast-food magnate who was once a major campaign fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and one of the governor’s closest advisers — is now a convicted felon.A federal jury in Chicago convicted Rezko this afternoon on 16 of 24 charges he faced in a political corruption trial that cast a harsh light on the Blagojevich administration"

Read the article from the  Chicago Sun-Times  ç here

Also, Obama answers questions for the Chicago Tribune about his lapse of judgment:


"Obama's "bigger lapse of judgment," he said, came later when he bought a strip of the Rezko lot to expand his own yard. That embroiled the two men in negotiations over fencing and other issues at a time when Rezko was under increasing suspicion. That involvement with Rezko in the land deal, Obama said Friday, was the "boneheaded move" to which he's previously confessed. "In retrospect," he said Friday, "this was an error."

To be precise about that: Obama contends that all of his Rezko-related transactions were lawful and above reproach, but he didn't keep a prudent distance from Rezko."


Read the article  Obama's Rezko narrative   ç here

Boy, oh, boy....for all of you who are Obama backers.....

Isn't it a little bit scary that you have to ask so may questions about Barack Obama
and his relationships over the years?

He wants you to BELIEVE in him.

But you have to keep tacking on the word AGAIN .....

At least I know he has will power. 

It only took him two years.

"Following the release of a doctor’s comments last week about Barack Obama’s struggle to quit smoking, the Democratic presidential candidate told The Daily Republic Sunday that he has finally kicked the habit."


Read the story here à

Obama tells Daily Republic he's no longer a smoker

Liz Trotta, the former Washington Times - New York bureau chief, and a FOX News Channel contributor was criticizing Hillary Clinton over her Robert F. Kennedy comment and had this to say:

Trotta: …and now we have what some are reading—as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama … Obama, well both if we could…haha…


Nope….I’m a conservative, and I don’t like Obama, but I don’t find that funny.

Did you?



Obama supposedly makes a one-fingered gesture while speaking
of Hillary Clinton in Raleigh, N.C.

The crowd certainly seems to catch it.








Read about it in the Los Angeles Times    í here

John McCain says he thinks we are in a recession?

"While McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said he thinks the country is in a recession, he noted that he is more worried about helping people who are facing “enormous challenges,” rather than figuring out what the technical definition of a recession is."

Read The Hill  ç  here

Well, "technically," that would mean we had two quarters of negative growth, wouldn't it?  And I really would like to stick to the definition, because putting the "R" label on what is going on right now doesn't make me feel any better.

I don't think anyone will argue we are going through some very tough times.

Housing, fuel, now food prices.

But what's up?

Has the definition of a recession changed? 

You know, like when we had to change the definition of "man" when Jane Goodall discovered chimps were using tools?

In the story I'll link you to next, from the Boston Globe, it's almost comical.

 "The United States has already slipped into a deep recession that could be the most serious since World War II."

Well, that's news to me....it must have happened while I was in the shower or something.

I'm not saying it will not happen, or can't happen, but there is a chance we can get out of this mess.

And the comical reference I was making...well, we're in this deep recession, but all through this article references are made to the economy growing slightly in the 4th quarter of 2007 and in January of 2008, and there was an increase in jobs in January, etc.

Recession is here, economist declares  ç  here


Come on!


Before we declare a recession...let's make sure we are actually in a recession. 

Why make it any more painful than it has to be.


I'll tell you what's changed.

The definition of candidate for President of the United States of America....and I'm talking about all of them.









 

 

Ode to Obama

The Jeremiah Wright debacle has had a huge impact on the primary campaign, to the detriment of Barack Obama. Real Clear Politics looks at the damage done so far, although the polling was prior to Obama’s speech in defense of his relationship with Rev. Wright. The results may give Hillary Clinton something to use as ammunition for her argument to super delegates:

Ohio: For Obama, it’s a 17-point swing against him since the last SurveyUSA poll taken just three weeks ago, going up from up ten on McCain to down seven. Clinton has slipped four points over the same period but still leads McCain by six.

Missouri: Obama’s support dropped three points in Missouri while McCain’s rose five, giving McCain a substantial 14-point lead. Over the same period Clinton picked up four points on McCain according to the SUSA survey.

Kentucky: McCain’s support jumped 10 points and Obama’s dropped five in three weeks. Clinton’s support remained steady, though she trails McCain by 10.

Both McCain and Clinton have gained in the same period in which Obama dropped in these key states. Ohio’s results will make the strongest argument for Clinton.

These polls will set the question up for the super delegates. The next round of polling will show whether they need to make a decision to drop Obama on an electability argument. If the polling continues to slide for Obama in Ohio and Missouri, and if McCain continues to do well in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Democrats can't afford to nominate Obama. That is the purpose of the super delegates. 

There are rumors of Gore stepping back into the race if things get worse for  Obama.

Newt Gingrich dissects Barack Obama's speech....

No one says it better than Gingrich.

Obama "puts all of his judgment and credibility on the line."

Just where is she coming from?

From the way she talks, and she's speaking for Barack, too, she doesn't have a clue about the average American who is so gung-ho about hope and change.

Back in Zanesville, Ohio, before the primary, she told a group of women at a daycare center....

“I know we’re spending — I added it up for the first time — we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth,” Mrs. Obama tells the women. “And summer programs. That’s the other huge cost. Barack is saying, ‘Whyyyyyy are we spending that?’ And I’m saying, ‘Do you know what summer camp costs?’”


"With all those concerns, one might wonder whether the women should be comforting Mrs. Obama, but she assures them that she’s really O.K. “We don’t complain because we’ve got resources because of our education. We’ve got family structure,” she says. “So I tell people don’t cry for me.”

"But there are still problems. As she has many times in the past, Mrs. Obama complains about the lasting burden of student loans dating from her days at Princeton and Harvard Law School. She talks about people who end up taking years and years, until middle age, to pay off their debts. “The salaries don’t keep up with the cost of paying off the debt, so you’re in your 40s, still paying off your debt at a time when you have to save for your kids,” she says.

Oh, don't worry, Michelle....I'm certainly not crying for you.

Between Barack and Michelle, with her high paying job, his senate pay, his book sales, and her pay from serving on Boards, they make over half a million a year.

And she says America is so mean.

I think America has been pretty good to her....

$10,000 a year on piano, dance, sports, and camp?

And she's just adding it up now?

Read about Michelle's Struggle  É  here   in the National Review Online

AP photo


Looks like Nancy Pelosi has had to break apart the playground antics of Obama and Clinton and send each of them to a corner for a time-out.


"[Pelosi] said she believes that supporters for both Obama and Clinton, after a long and exciting race, have grown strongly attached to their candidate. She worries how those voters will react when - inevitably - one of the two candidates loses."

"So many new people are involved because of Barack Obama and we don't want them to be disenchanted," Pelosi said. "On the other hand, there is a chance that he might not win, and hopefully he will keep them in the fold. I think it will be about his leadership, too - whether he wins or not - to keep them in the fold and to attract others."

"She said the same is true if Clinton loses the fight for the nomination. Many of Clinton's supporters, especially women, are just as passionate about her candidacy, and those voters will be crucial in November, Pelosi said.""You have to have a thick skin in this business. You can win or you don't win, but it doesn't mean you pick up your marbles and go away," she said."

I don't think the "bickering" has been anything that unusual.

It's not any worse than we have seen in past elections.

And even with Pelosi's reprimand, I believe we will be seeing the war of words between Obama and Clinton reach higher levels as time goes on.

Especially with Obama pulling some of Clinton's old skeletons out from the back of the closet.

It will be interesting to see what Clinton can find to try to knock Obama off his pedestal.

In the meantime, McCain can just sit back and let those two just fight it out. 

The less bad mouthing he has to do, the better for him.


Read the full article from the San Francisco Chronicle


Pelosi asks Clinton, Obama to Stop Sniping   ç here

Monday, Barack Obama visited a veterans facility in San Antonio, Texas.

He came out all smiles, to a somewhat colder audience than usual.

Afterwards, he was geeeted by reporters who, finally, didn't let him get away with soft questions.

Obama stumbled....

"Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a questionabout the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote."

"Obama responded with the classic phrases of a politician in trouble. "That was the information that I had at the time. . . . Those charges are completely unrelated to me. . . . I have said that that was a mistake. . . . The fact pattern remains unchanged."

When those failed, Obama tried another approach. "We're running late," the candidate said, and then he disappeared behind a curtain.


Ouch!

That must have hurt!

Read the story at the Washington Post


Ask tough questions?  Yes, they can!    Ã  here

I've been hearing the term "Politics of Fear" repeated because I criticized Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats regarding FISA. 

You see, I think keeping terrorists at bay is critical.

And yes, I believe there is incompetent Democratic leadership by Pelosi....

Regarding national security on our soil and for our soldiers, her incompetence could cause the loss of lives and important intelligence.

Terrorism:

Acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal and by a member or members of a group (as opposed to being carried out in a lone attack), and which deliberately target, or else disregard the safety of, non-combatants (civilians).

__________________

Well you want to blame Bush and the Republican's for Politics of Fear...

How do you explain Hillary Clinton and her "Children" ad?

"It's 3:00 am and your children are asleep," a voice over says in the ad entitled "Children". "There's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing. Something is happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call."

"Whether someone knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead. It's 3 am and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?" the ad concludes.

What was that? 

Was that Politics of Fear?

Using "fear" to get votes?

Gee, and I was blogging about terrorism, and the protection of American citizens from it....

Republicans and some Democrats alike realize how important it is to protect our country from terrorists.

The National Security Agency’s terrorist surveillance program was successful in intercepting cell phone calls, e-mails and other electronic communications between terrorists and their sympathizers. 

Those of you who are against the FISA legislation...I'm sure you've noticed a huge difference now that we are back to old ways of gathering intelligence....you haven't had to worry about anyone listening in on your telephone conversations, have you?  Like they would really be coming after you.


Did you really worry about that?

Because if you really are worried about that....

I'm worried about what YOU are talking about....

A vote.

Is that too much to ask for?

Is it too much to ask for the Senate to do the right thing for the American people?

Just a vote.

No...instead, two weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi decided to let the Senate go into recess rather that take a vote on FISA legislation that would allow our spies to intercept foreign communications.


“Half of all the information we obtain on future attacks against our nation comes from electronic surveillance, according to National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who warned that failure to pass the Senate bill will degrade all intercepts by two-thirds. We can’t expect intelligence officials to connect the dots when they have one arm tied behind their back collecting them.”  This from Vito Fossella and Peter King, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.

Outrageous.....

They also say,

"Make no mistake — American is more vulnerable to attack today than it was just two weeks ago. In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans worked with the administration to pass a bipartisan bill. The question is, will the House stop playing politics and do the right thing for America?" 


The Democrats say they haven't had enough time to act on this legislation. 

But they have had since last April. 

This is serious.

Pelosi is reckless.

Pelosi and House Democrats do not care about protecting the citizens of the United States of America.

Read the entire article by Fossella and King in the Washington Times


A Big Bouquet for Al Qaeda   í  here

And remember...Pelosi can sleep tight...

If we have a national security risk, she is whisked off to a safe haven...

You on the other hand, should sleep with one eye open....





 

The Red Queen lecturing Alice, by John Tenniel

Red Queen's race

The Red Queen's race is an incident that appears in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and involves the Red Queen, a representation of a Queen in chess, and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot."Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I’ll only address the Red Queen’s Race this one time.  Amazingly, its example can be paralleled with countless life circumstances.  Among them….jobs, economic growth, and taxes. 

Here we are, well into the age of technology (yes, the information age – you must read this) finding that jobs here in the U.S. are disappearing and being outsourced to other countries.  At the same time, the cost of living is going up at a steady pace and we have less purchasing power.  The average citizen is running as fast as he can to stay in the same place he used to be.

Taxes….excessive government spending….tax the average citizen to near death….tax businesses until they leave the country.  Then, find cheap labor where those products are now being made.  Give us more to buy…then, we end up buying more.   So, we need to work more and we become multi-income families.  College students attend college longer and live home longer.  Marriage and family (if any) has been put off until the thirties or later. 

The government offers a multitude of social benefits, from our taxes, for those who are not as well off as those of us who are running as fast as we can to stay in the same place…. and most who are offered, take advantage of those benefits.  Most immigrants using benefits, who are working, make low wages.   This includes illegal immigrants.

There is talk of raising the minimum wage, which, in the end, will just cut jobs, raise prices, and make multi-income families have to work even harder when the cost of living goes up, yet again.  Increasing services to the public…increasing taxes…expanding our government….that’s what makes the race continue….

Currently, the pitch from Obama, Clinton and McCain is in support of virtual fencing to protect the border.  When, after the election, the dialogue reverts back to illegal immigrants being given amnesty, and if that becomes a reality, with more social services bestowed upon possibly 12 million illegal immigrants living in our country….

How much faster will we have to run to keep up then?

Chelsea Clinton     Image: Wenn


Last week MSNBC's David Shuster made a remark about Chelsea Clinton, "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"  when he was talking about her role in Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Isn't it obvious his meaning was to say she is being exploited? 

He picked the wrong slang to use.

He was unprofessional.

Let's get real...there's no way he was personally trying to attack Chelsea Clinton.

But hold it a minute, Hillary....

Remember this?




Bill Clinton, "I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, Miss Lewinsky."


Remember that, Hillary?

You sat right beside Bill.

You defended him. 


Remember this young woman?


Monica Lewinsky as she appeared
on her U.S. Government ID in 1995


And, Hillary, didn't you, instead of encouraging your husband to take responsibility for his lack of respect for this young woman, accuse others of a "vast right-wing conspiracy?"

You want to protect your 27-year old daughter. 

You say David Shuster's remark was "offensive."

Well, what do you call what went on in the Oval Office?