Obama Takes Shot At Nancy Reagan At Press Conference

In his first press conference since his election, President-elect Barack Obama made a snarky remark at the expense of former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Obama was asked if he had spoken with all living former presidents — Carter, Bush, Clinton, along with President Bush and made the remark at Mrs. Reagan's expense.

"I have spoken to all of them who are living," he says. "I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any séances," he said.

Former President Ronald Reagan died in June 2004 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.

The remark by Obama was unnecessary, tactless, classless and totally uncalled for. He owes Mrs. Reagan an apology. Also, it was off the mark as Mrs. Reagan consulted with an astrologer following the assassination attempt on President Reagan in March 1981. Sen. Hillary Clinton admitted to trying to contact Eleanor Roosevelt in a seance.

Perhaps Obama should leave the jokes to the professionals.

UPDATE: Obama has since called Nancy Reagan and apologized.

Biden's Prediction Correct, Timing A Little Off

A few weeks ago in the campaign trail, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden warned that ("mark my words") within six months Barack Obama "would be tested" by an international crisis.

Well, not even six days passed since Obama's election and those challenges have already surfaced.

From the Daily Mail (U.K.):

The first of the challenges thrown at the President-elect, who received his first national security intelligence briefing yesterday, came from the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

He threatened to base warheads along the Polish border if Obama goes ahead with a Bush administration plan to create a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

Then Israel warned Obama last night that his claim that he was ready to open talks with Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness.

Furthermore, Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai demanded that Obama 'put an end to civilian casualties' by changing U.S. military tactics to avoid airstrikes in the war on the Taliban. He spoke out after seven wedding party guests were accidentally killed by an American airstrike.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was the first to lay down a challenge to America's new leader - by increasing tension in a stand-off reminiscent of the Cold War.
In a provocative speech from the Kremlin, he threatened to base warheads along the Polish border if Mr Obama goes forward with a Bush administration plan to create a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

Then Israel warned last night that the new U.S. Commander-in-Chief's campaign claim that he was ready to open talks with Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness.

After eight years of staunch support from President Bush, the Israelis are now watching Mr Obama closely - even though he does not take power until January - looking for indicators as to how he will handle the nuclear threat from Tehran.
'We live in a neighbourhood in which dialogue - in a situation where you have brought sanctions and you then shift to dialogue - is liable to be interpreted as weakness,' said Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Asked if she supported any U.S. talks with Iran, she quickly said: 'The answer is no.'

Meanwhile, Obama was meeting with his advisors at his Chicago home on cabinet selections. Some pundits are already calling these meetings as "What do we do now?" meetings.

It appears that Biden was correct on Obama being challenged, but the timing was a little off.

Palin Attacks By McCain Hacks

As frequently happens after a losing campaign, blame finger-pointing by campaign staff has begun by McCain campaign aides. The target of their ire is Gov. Sarah Palin.

The Guardian (U.K.) posted this article:

Sarah Palin has returned to Alaska following her whirlwind 68-day exposure to the national political scene, but the controversy over her vice-presidential candidacy shows no sign of abating.

As the governor of Alaska stepped off a plane onto icy tarmac in Anchorage on Wednesday night, she faced fresh allegations over her behaviour on the campaign trail and renewed attacks about her lack of readiness for the White House. Much of the attacks were clearly emerging from disgruntled aides within the campaign of the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain.

The most piercing allegations concerned Palin's ignorance of foreign affairs, which were depicted to be even more extreme than already thought; and her spend-thrift actions in kitting herself and her family out with a wardrobe fit to appear before television cameras.

Fox News, a broadcast channel that until election day had been generally flattering in its coverage of the "Palin phenomenon", reported that aides were astonished when they learned she was unaware that Africa was not a country but a whole continent. She was also said to be unable to name the three states that belong to the North American Free Trade Agreement: the US, Mexico and Canada.

Unnamed McCain advisers, their ire no longer constrained by campaign discipline, complained that the Alaskan governor had been unco-operative. The New York Times reported the McCain circle was angry about her independent decision to talk directly to the French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, which then turned out to be a prank from a Canadian radio station.

She was also said to have resisted offers of help preparing for interviews with Katie Couric, which also proved to be highly damaging.

The most colourful new information concerned Palin's spending spree on the campaign trail. Newsweek reported that she ended up splurging far more than the $150,000 that was already known about; with up to $40,000 being lavished on her husband Todd.

A wealthy donor who had offered to foot the bill was shocked when he got the bill from such top-notch addresses as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, according to Newsweek. In a phrase that is likely to go down in US electoral folklore, one McCain aide characterized the episode to the magazine as: "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

Palin refused to address the bombardment of accusations directed at her. She said: "If they're an unnamed source, that says it all. I won't comment on anyone's gossip based on anonymous sources. That's kind of a small of a bitter type of person who anonymously would charge that I didn't know an answer to a question. So until I know who's talking about it, I won't have a comment on a false allegation."

She now faces a difficult few months rebuilding relations in Alaska, and fending off investigations against her over the so-called Troopergate affair in which she has been found guilty of breaching ethics guidelines in a dispute over the employment by the state of her former brother-in-law.

The Guardian apparently hasn't heard that Gov. Palin was already cleared days ago of any wrongdoing involving "Tasergate" (that they refer to as "Troopergate").

These hacks making the attacks (hey, that rhymes!) are nothing more than some moderates who are out trying to save their own skins so they can get future campaign work. The talk shows will dig further into this and if their names are found out, they will be outed. Once outed, their efforts in future campaign work will be more difficult. Nobody wants to hire liars and turncoats.

John McCain needs to speak out and denounce these attacks. Thus far, he hasn't.

UPDATE:

From Fox News:

Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapleton released a written statement Friday calling the charges "unfortunate and, quite honestly, sickening."

"The accusations we are hearing and reading are not true and since we deny all these anonymous allegations, there is nothing specific to which we will respond," she wrote. "We have the highest regards for Senator John McCain. Governor Palin was honored to be chosen as McCain's running mate."

Newsweek also reported that Palin may have spent "tens of thousands" of dollars more on wardrobe expenses than the $150,000 that was reported in the days before Election Day. The money allegedly went toward clothes for her and her family from high-end stores, even though she was originally told to buy just three suits and hire a stylist for the Republican National Convention.

One aide called the spree "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," according to the magazine. Palin also reportedly asked to speak at McCain's concession speech Tuesday, and was denied.

McCain adviser Nicole Wallace defended Palin on NBC's "Today Show" Friday morning, saying the Alaska governor "did nothing wrong."

"She is, perhaps, the most un-diva politician I've ever seen," she said. "The only thing I've ever seen her ask for is a diet soda."

Palin said right after the election that she's sorry if she cost McCain even "one vote."

But some are tired of what they say looks like scapegoating.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told FOX News that McCain himself needs to come out and put a stop to the Palin criticism.

"She's the one that energized the base, she's the one that got the crowds out. ... She's the one that comes out of this without any scars and now they're trying to give her some," Santorum said. "John McCain should come out and say, 'This is ridiculous,' and set the record straight."

As of this writing, John McCain has not come out to refute the allegations.

Obama Rally At White House Displays Communist Flag

Stuckon-stupid.com posted this photo and caption:

An adoring crowd raises and wave a Communist Flag during a Obama victory rally in front of the White House on election day, Nov. 4, 2008.

Obama Choses Thug Emanuel As Chief of Staff

President-elect Barack Obama selected Chicago Thug/Congressman Rahm Emanuel to be his White House Chief of Staff. The COS is in charge of the overall operation of the White House and sets the tone for the administration's legislative and political operations.

Obama said during his victory speech that he will listen to and work with opponents, but Emanuel has a reputation as a political gut fighter who takes no prisoners. When asked about dealing with the GOP, Emanuel said, "F*ck the Republicans!"

House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio called Emanuel "an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil, and govern from the center."

From CNN:

Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Congressman who will be President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, is "dangerous, absolutely relentless when he's got a political kill in sight," according to an admiring Republican colleague, Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole. Emanuel is also, President Clinton once told Fortune, "one of the top political minds in Washington," a former ballet dancer who "favors the counterattack over the attack."

From his years at Clinton's side, Emanuel knows his way around the West Wing - and was a critical figure behind the passage of NAFTA. From his years in the U.S. House of Representatives, he knows his way around Capitol Hill - and was the chief architect of the Democrats' 2006 recapture of Congress.

Some "change." It does make sense to. Emanuel will be the "Darth Vader" enforcer to Obama's role as "Sith Lord."

To Governor Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin was the one big shining spot in John McCain's campaign. She galvanized the Republican base and garnered great enthusiasm for the GOP ticket.

If she wants a future in national politics, I would make the following suggestions:

1. Continue to be an excellent governor of Alaska. Build up your record of accomplishment and reform.

2. Travel. When possible, keep connected to the Republicans around the country. Visit foreign countries and meet with foreign leaders. Build up your foreign policy credentials.

3. Follow the Reagan Model: Start a political action commmittee similar to Reagan's Citizens For The Republic to express your views and as a platform for supporting mid-term candidates. Start a weekly radio commentary program. Raise funds.

It is too early to say what 2012 holds or what condition the country will be in. Obama could be a successful president who governs from the center. He could also be a disaster. But if Gov. Palin wants a future in national politics, the time to lay the groundwork for that future is now.

Memo To "Conservative" Pundits

Matt Lewis posted an excellent memo to "conservative" pundits:

Nov. 5, 2008

FROM: Matt Lewis, Toownhall.com

TO: Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, David Frum, and Christopher Buckley

CC: Gov. Sarah Palin

Re: We Miss You

_____________________________________________________

Dear Colleagues (Okay, you're waaay more important than me)...,

I wanted to congratulate you on your contributions to the recent presidential election. Without your help, this might have been a closer race.

You gave the media an excuse to assert that “conservatives” hated Sarah Palin so much that they were jumping off the McCain campaign like rats off a sinking ship. Despite the fact that Palin was reinvigorating the conservative movement and drew huge crowds, you felt the irrational need to ignore the evidence and insist that Sarah was a walking blonde joke.

Great job!

Of course, you probably lost you any credibility you had with real conservatives…you know, the rank-and-file voters. But, hey, I’m sure it was more than worth it considering that you became overnight sensations on the Georgetown cocktail circuit (where people wouldn't’t have given you the time of day had you actually stuck by your beliefs).

Even if you didn’t get into those parties, you at least got your 15 minutes of fame. It must be wonderful to suddenly be catapulted from “syndicated columnist” to “leading conservative” (that would be you, Ms. Parker), or to finally emerge from your father’s shadow (Mr. Buckley), or to finally be able to cast yourself as an “outsider” (Mr. Frum).

I suppose that I can’t really begrudge you for trying to hitch your wagon to Barack Obama’s star. Everybody loves him, it seemed like a foregone conclusion (it was), and you saw your opening.

You’d never met Gov. Palin, you had no personal connection to her, so why not throw her under the bus? A little intellectual dishonesty never hurt anyone, and being good pseudo-conservative intellectual, you understood the benefit of behaving as a self-interested individual. Ayn Rand would be so proud of you.

Unfortunately, you goofed up on just one little issue. You forgot about the long-term impacts of your decisions; you turned a blind eye to the out-and-out ideology of Barack Obama.

... High taxes, the fairness doctrine, universal healthcare, more regulation in all aspects of your life….that’s all going to be at least partially your fault. And frankly, I lied about Ayn Rand being proud of you -- she’d probably smack you in the face for allowing such a dramatic erosion of your personal freedoms.

That said, all is not necessarily lost. After four years of Obama, I’m sure that you will have realized the error in your ways (or at least that you weren’t actually behaving in your own self-interest). Hence, would like to take this opportunity to extend an olive branch.

... As far as I'm concerned, you are welcome back in the conservative movement at any time you wish. We really do miss your contributions, and to be honest, we’re a little worried about you being out in the world all alone.

We are waiting with open arms, and we can only hope that you find your way home before we elect President Palin in 2012. After that, we can’t really guarantee that we’ll be able to rehabilitate you.

Again, we miss you terribly and hope that you will come home soon.

Love,

Matt Lewis

The Disgraceful Treatment of George W. Bush

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the "The Treatment of Bush Has Been A Disgrace."

Part of it reads:

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

I don't agree with everything Bush has done, but he did keep this country safe as we've had no attacks since 9/11/01.

To read the article, go here.

Black Panther Thuggery For Obama

A poll observer in Philadelphia notified the police after witnessing what appeared to be voter intimidation by two members of the Black Panthers.

The two Black Panthers stood in the doorway of a polling location where the observer attempted to enter. One Panther was brandishing a nightstick, Fox News reported.

One of the panthers said “the black man was going to win the White House no matter what.”

The Black Panther with the nightstick apparently was taken into custody by the police. The other one argued with a reporter from Fox News.

More Obama thuggery you can believe in!

Election Day...Finally!

Win or lose, today marks the end of the longest presidential campaign in history. Regardless of the outcome, it will be a relief to see it end.

There are reports that police departments in different cities are "girding their loins" (thanks, Sen. Biden) for possible voter unrest. This could mean that sore losers or jubilant winners may take things to extremes. It could also mean an uprising over voter fraud. It could mean all the above.

No matter who wins, both sides need to keep cool heads. There will be plenty of time to digest the outcome.

I just hope the voters choose wisely.

Obama Gives McCain The Bird

There he goes again! Brack Obama gave his opponent the bird, this time to John McCain.

Back in the primaries, Obama was caught giving Hillary Clinton the bird or, as we used to say, "The Rockefeller Salute."

Obama's Communistic Posters

Zomblog strikes again! They've found some curious Obama posters that are copies or near copies of communist posters of years past.

Here is an example. This “Bark for Barack” poster is based on a famous graphic design by Soviet artist Alexander Rodchenko, who “used photo montage to enhance his images to create more powerful images that would be used for propaganda for the USSR.”



And here's Rodchenko's USSR poster:



Do you wonder why people fear Obama?

Obama Tells SF Chronicle He'd Bankrupt Coal Industry

Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was willing to see the coal industry go bankrupt in a January 17, 2008 interview. An audio tape of Obama's comments was found by Newsbusters.org. This is the transcript of Obama's statement about bankrupting the coal industry:

Let me sort of describe my overall policy.

What I've said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

Let's see, the race in Ohio is still neck-and-neck. The coal industry is big there. I wonder how this is going to play there? Hmmmm?

UPDATE: Gov. Sarah Palin hits Obama hard on coal production.

Sith Lord Obama

It might do us well to re-watch Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith before voting Tuesday to see how democracy is lost to an evil empire.

For some reason, Barack Obama is reminding me of the Sith Emperor.



Will the capitalists have to go into exile as did the Jedi Knights?

May The Force be with us on Tuesday!

New Bond Shatters Box Office Records

The newest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, broke opening day box office records in the United Kingdom.

Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily reports:

MGM/Sony's Quantum Of Solace, the 22nd James Bond motion picture, made box office history on its opening day in the UK, taking a staggering £4.94 million and making it the biggest Friday opening of all time. This shatters the previous record held by Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, which took £4.025m. The latest 007 installment from the longest running franchise in film history also beat the opening day figure of £2.9m for Casino Royale, the first to star Daniel Craig. Quantum Of Solace opened in 542 cinemas in the UK and Ireland on Friday and will release in the U.S. on November 14th.

However, some fans are disappointed that Miss Moneypenny, Q and "Bond, James Bond" trademarks are not in this movie. (Did they bring back the gunbarrel opening?)

Quantum of Solace opens in the U.S. November 14.

Obama and Osawatomie, the Weather Underground Newspaper

Zomblog managed to obtain a copy of the very first issue of Osawatomie newspaper that was published by the Weather Underground Organization of Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn in 1975. This is the cover of the paper:



There's a lot of striking catchwords and rhetoric that the WUO used then and what Barack Obama uses now.

From Zomblog:

Zomblog has obtained an extremely rare copy of the first issue of Osawatomie, a newspaper published by the Weather Underground in 1975. Noteworthy passages are reproduced below, along with exact transcriptions. The full pages, with each passage in context in high resolution, are found at the bottom of this post.

Much of Osawatomie, which was written at a time when the Dohrn-Ayers wing of the Weather Underground was transitioning from terrorism to “working from the inside” for revolution, concerns itself with the need to encourage “organizers” who will work in “communities” and use “audacity” to bring about “socialism” in America.

Sound familiar?

It is thought that the Obama logo is similar to the logo of the Weather Underground logo. Here's a side-by-side comparison:



Several pages of Osawatomie have been posted at the Zomblog page.

To read the full article, go here.

Japan Expo In Los Angeles

Above, a performer at 2007 Japan Expo.

Japan Expo will be held in Los Angeles on December 13 and 14 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90015

URL : http://www.lacclink.com

The Japan Expo has Japanese antiques, arts, crafts, gifts, anime, manga, food, entertainment, clothing, cookware, eating ware and toys.

Also, in the past, the Expo has had travel companies and airlines.

For more information, go to Japan Expo.

"Obama In 2-D"

Mark Steyn wrote an excellent piece on Barack Obama, "Obama In 2-D" in which he compares the 2-D Obama the cartoon with the 3-D Obama the man.

Part of what Steyn wrote:

The problem is we’re not electing a symbol, a logo, a two-dimensional image. Long before he emerged on the national stage as Barack the Hope-Giver and Bringer of Change, there was a three-dimensional Barack Obama, a real man who lives in the real world. And that’s where the problem lies.

The Senator and his doting Obots in the media have gone to great lengths to obscure what Barack Obama does when he’s not being a symbol: his voting record, his friends, his patrons, his life outside the soft-focus memoirs is deemed non-relevant to the general hopey-changey vibe. But occasionally we get a glimpse. The offhand aside to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around” was revealing because it suggests a crude redistributive view of “social justice.” Yet the nimble Hope-a-Dope sidestepper brushed it aside, telling a crowd in Raleigh that next John McCain will be “accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.”

The communist line falls flat as there is a difference between sharing toys voluntarily and having the government come in and force someone to share their toys (or, the wealth).

This is informative as it separates the media image Obama with the real Obama.

To read Steyn's article, go here.

Obama's "Incredible Shrinking Tax Cut"

Barack Obama's promise of a tax cut and the threshold of when additional taxes kick in seems to be shrinking like a cube of ice in a swimming pool.

As Deroy Murdock at the Seattle Post Intelligencer points out:

Obama would stuff a pillow over the face of America's bedridden economy by boosting capital gains and dividend taxes by a third, from 15 percent to 20 percent. He would hike top income tax rates from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. He also would maintain the 35 percent corporate tax and a 45 percent inheritance tax on estates above $3.5 million.

Obama promises "tax cuts" to 95 percent of Americans, even though 44 percent of filers pay $0 in income taxes. A shifting target of taxpayers would finance these transfer payments.

"If you make $250,000 a year or less, we will not raise your taxes," Obama declared last July 8. "We will cut your taxes."

On Oct. 25, Obama's threshold slipped. "If you have a job, pay taxes and make less than $200,000 a year, you'll get a tax cut," he said in a commercial.

VP nominee Joe Biden told Scranton's WNEP Monday that tax cuts "should go to middle class people -- people making under $150,000 a year."

"It's interesting how their definition of rich has a way of creeping down," McCain said Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

Today, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and an Obama backer, said the ceiling is now $120,000 in a phone-in radio interview with KOA in Denver!

What's it going to be by Election Day? $40,000?

UPDATE: Fox News quoted Richardson:

The latest hiccup in the campaign message came Friday morning on KOA-AM, when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pegged the middle class as those making $120,000 and under.

"What Obama wants to do is he is basically looking at $120,000 and under among those that are in the middle class, and there is a tax cut for those," Richardson said in the interview, according to a clip posted on YouTube.

Obama: Further Left Than LBJ

Charles Krauthammer has a new article, "Further Left Than LBJ." In it, Krauthammer tells us what to expect out of an Obama Administration with allies in the Congress.

What will you get?

Card check — meaning the abolition of the secret ballot in the certification of unions in the workplace. Large men will come to your house at night and ask you to sign a card supporting a union. You will sign.

The so-called Fairness Doctrine — a project of Nancy Pelosi and leading Democratic senators — which is a Hugo Chavez-style travesty designed to abolish conservative talk radio.

Judges who go beyond even the constitutional creativity we expect from Democratic appointees. Judges chosen according to Obama’s publicly declared criterion: “empathy” for the “poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old” — in a legal system historically predicated on the idea of justice entirely blind to one’s station in life.

An unprecedented expansion of government power. Yes, I know. It has already happened. A conservative government has already partially nationalized the mortgage industry, the insurance industry, and nine of the largest U.S. banks. This is all generally swallowed because everyone understands that the current crisis demands extraordinary measures. The difference is that conservatives are instinctively inclined to make such measures temporary. Whereas an Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Barney Frank administration will find irresistible the temptation to use the tools inherited — $700 billion of largely uncontrolled spending — as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to radically remake the American economy and social compact.

To read the full article, go here.

Obama Bans Three Newspapers: They Endorsed McCain!

The Drudge Report is reporting today that three newspapers who endorsed John McCain for President have been banned from the Obama campaign plane:

NY POST, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, WASHINGTON TIMES TOLD TO GET OUT... ALL 3 ENDORSED MCCAIN

**Exclusive** Obama Bans Three Newspapers: They Endorsed McCain!

The Obama campaign has decided to heave out three newspapers from its plane for the final days of its blitz across battleground states -- and all three endorsed Sen. John McCain for president!

The NY POST, WASHINGTON TIMES and DALLAS MORNING NEWS have all been told to move out by Sunday to make room for network bigwigs -- and possibly for the inclusion of reporters from two black magazines, ESSENCE and JET, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

To read the full article, go here.

Dear Mr. Obama: 11.3 million hits!

An Iraq veteran posted his endorsement of John McCain on YouTube. If the election were up to the number of hits a YouTube, McCain would be the big winner. To date, the video has had over 11.3 million hits! It is called, "Dear Mr. Obama."

You can watch it here:

"Dear Mr. Obama"

Obama's Goons Go After Joe Wurzelbacher's Records

When "Joe the Plumber" asked Barack Obama his question on Obama's tax policy, little did he know that the Stalinist Democrats were going to pounce. And pounce they did.

Randy Ludlow at the Columbus Dispatch writes:

A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged.

Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system.

The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote.

Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, who demanded answers on why state officials checked out Wurzelbacher.

Harris called the multiple records checks "questionable" and said he awaits more answers. "It's kind of like Big Brother is looking in your pocket," he said.

If state employees run checks on every person listed in newspaper stories as buying a business, "it must take a lot of people a lot of time to run these checks," he said. "Where do you draw the line?"

This is a chilling development and one that should give pause to people thinking of voting for Obama. If Obama and his gang of goons can go after a regular citizen with police state tactics, then what can we all expect if Obama is elected and his goons are in control of federal agencies?

This episode may be a good preview on what critics of King Barack the Spreader can expect.

Never a dumb Democrat?

Guest Editorial: Never a dumb Democrat?

by J. D. Lees

The massive media bias against U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is disgusting but predictable. Much has been made of Palin's inexperience, given that she'll be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s far thinner resume has been virtually ignored as he prepares to assume the world’s top job.

Then there are Obama's other "qualifications": rogues gallery of crooked former associates (political and otherwise), friendly connections with unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayres, racist pastor and mentor for 20 years, most left-wing voting record in the U.S. Senate, socialist/collectivist plans to confiscate wealth and redistribute it... all forming merely the tip of a largely unexamined iceberg.

The mainstream media have failed to shine much light on Obama's unsavory aspects, having been intensely preoccupied with portraying Sarah Palin as an unqualified redneck airhead. It's a familiar refrain, one that the media never stops recycling. Strange, too, that it's always Republicans that are said to lack the requisite brainpower for public office.

Gerald Ford had a solid 25-year congressional career (including eight years as minority leader) before becoming vice president and then president. Nonetheless, the media made him out to be a clumsy "doofus" who, in Lyndon Johnson's well-publicized estimation, couldn't "walk and chew gum at the same time."

Ford was narrowly defeated by the reportedly brilliant Jimmy Carter, who swiftly regulated the U.S. into an energy crisis that generated filling station line-ups, at least when gas was even available. Carter's policies were so intelligent that inflation and unemployment skyrocketed simultaneously.

Carter was challenged by Republican Ronald Reagan, another "amiable dunce" according to the media. But after Carter's diplomacy produced 52 American hostages in Iran and his personally planned rescue mission failed disastrously, the allegedly dumb Reagan restored the U.S. economy and won the Cold War, freeing the peoples of Western Europe, in Margaret Thatcher's words, "without firing a shot."

Bill Clinton was another brainy Democrat. He wound up impeached by the House of Representatives and resigned from the Supreme Court bar to avoid certain disbarment, all because he allowed the wrong piece of anatomy do his thinking.

According to conventional wisdom, George W. Bush is the dumbest Republican yet. But to the dismay of his defeatist critics, Bush’s "surge" seems to have turned the tide in the Iraq War. Furthermore, for the past four years Bush warned all those "smart" Democrats in Congress that their sub-prime interest pyramid scheme was headed for collapse.

The media gleefully pounces on every Palin mistake, but her Democrat counterpart Joe Biden’s frequent gaffs go mostly unreported. For example, he stated that FDR used TV to reassure Americans after the 1929 stock market crash. FDR was first elected in 1932, and TV hadn’t yet been invented.

We don't really know much about Sarah Palin, but the people of Alaska do. As their governor, she has the highest approval ratings in the nation. This she shares with Bush and Reagan; both were successful governors, both were re-elected by record margins. Simple common sense says that stupid people don't become highly effective state governors.

Palin may be a novice on the national stage, but she’s plenty smart. Equally important, she exhibits a sense of life that is upbeat, forward-looking, and grounded in solid American values.

In private, Obama sneers at those who “cling to guns or religion” because they're “bitter.” Palin, a gun and Bible-totin' “frontier” woman refutes Obama’s cynicism because she is the exact opposite of bitter. Her spirit is the spirit of America, a can-do attitude of optimism, grit and inspiring self-reliance, all excellent qualities for a potential leader of the free world.

J. D. Lees is a high school teacher in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada and is editor and publisher of G-FAN magazine and writes a weekly column for his local newspaper.

L.A. Times Suppresses Video of Obama

The Los Angeles Times is suppressing a 2003 video of Barack Obama toasting Rashid Khalidi at a dinner. The Times endorsed Obama and is possibly trying to protect him from having damaging comments exposed.

FoxNews reports:

The Los Angeles Times is refusing to release a videotape that it says shows Barack Obama praising a Chicago professor who was an alleged mouthpiece for the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was a designated terrorist group in the 1970s and '80s.

According an LA Times article written by Peter Wallsten in April, Obama was a "friend and frequent dinner companion" of Rashid Khalidi, who from 1976 to 1982 was reportedly a director of the official Palestinian press agency, WAFA, which was operating in exile from Beirut with the PLO.

In the article -- based on the videotape obtained by the Times -- Wallsten said Obama addressed an audience during a 2003 farewell dinner for Khalidi, who was Obama's colleague at the University of Chicago, before his departure for Columbia University in New York. Obama said his many talks with Khalidi and his wife Mona stood as "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases."

On Wednesday, John McCain's campaign accused the newspaper of deliberately suppressing information that could establish the link between the Democratic presidential candidate and the former PLO spokesman.

"Khalidi was a frequent dinner guest at the Obama's home and at his farewell dinner in 2003 Obama joined the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers in giving testimonials on Khalidi's role in the community," McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb said in a written statement. "The election is one week away, and it's unfortunate that the press so obviously favors Barack Obama that this campaign must publicly request that the Los Angeles Times do its job -- make information public."

Khalidi is currently the Edward Said professor of Arab Studies at Columbia. A pro-Palestinian activist, he has been a fierce critic of American foreign policy and of Israel, which he has accused of establishing an "apartheid system" of government. The PLO advocate helped facilitate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in the early '90s, but he has denied he was ever an employee of the group, contradicting accounts in the New York Times and Washington Times.

If you want to see this video released, here's an email address to the Letters to the Editor for the Los Angeles Times: letters@latimes.com

If you want your letter to the Times published, include your address and phone number.

An Election View From Asia

An American friend working in Tokyo, Japan sent out his annual holiday message and has a perspective on the election from there. I asked him if I may share it here and he agreed.

This is a mass mailing, intended for a good number of family members, relatives and friends, far and wide. If you get caught up in it for some reason, I hope you will let it slide as I promise I will not "spam" again. It is just that due to the time sensitive nature of the information, I went to my address book and just sent out the messages in bulk. I do invite you to look over the content of the message, however, because I believe it to be of vital interest to all who are concerned about the future.

Most end-of-the-year seasonal letters and e-mails start with something like this: "Frank just finished his third year of college", or "we had a great week at Disney World in the spring, here are some pics", or "the littlest one is now on the drill team" or "George finally got around to fixing our pool this month". That kind of stuff. So it may come as a bit of a surprise to get one like this, which is anything but typical. I hope you will read it through to the end and take appropriate action.

I am here in the Tokyo-area in Japan as you know. As I speak, there are several thousands of short, intermediate and long-range missiles including dreaded "Scuds" and "Taepodong" pointed in my direction and at thousands of US military in bases thronged around where I write at this moment in the Tokyo/Yokohama area. In these scuds are weapons of mass destruction--agreed by all observers and claimed by the North Koreans themselves--not the least being terrible chemical agents, biological nightmares, and of course, possibly nuclear explosives. Not much of a fun Christmas message, you will say. Well, read on. It gets worse.



These weapons are at the control of every whim of Kim Jong-il, the Dictator of North Korea - as demented, cruel and delusional a tyrant as the world has ever known. As you know, North Korea is just next to Japan and considers Japan, outside of the United States, as "Enemy Number One". That is why I write.

You see, just the other day, Senator Joseph Biden, Senator Obama's running mate, made an incredible statement now widely recognized as a major slip of the tongue. It just about knocked me out of my chair. It was actually brutally honest and chilling and showed what he was really thinking. I am convinced that Biden, who is a senior foreign policy figure, who has access to high-level government briefings as to what are the current or near future threats to the United States, knows that if Barack Obama is elected President, we can expect a serious, "generated" provocation against the United States within six months, because of his youth and perceived inexperience. Now people are trying to spin it that he said any new President will be tested. But if you read closely, he clearly said--before getting caught and revising himself--this will happen only if Mr. Obama is elected, comparing Obama to John Kennedy and back during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviets tested him due to age and inexperience. This "generated crisis", this test, could come from Iran. It could come from al-Qaeda. It could come from Russia. It could come from North Korea. From wherever. It could come from more than one of them. The fact is, sitting from my perspective here in Japan, I do not dismiss this as pessimism or paranoia - Senator Biden must know something I do not know. He even buttressed his dire prediction several times by saying "mark...my....words".

If you have not made up your mind regarding this 2008 Presidential election, I ask you and I plead you to a) vote next month; and b) take this threat seriously to heart. You may have many other reasons to vote the way you will. Economy, pensions, job loss, taxes, whatever - I am sure they are all legitimate. For example, everyone is on edge over the economy.

But would you do me one favor and at least think of this situation out here for me? And for the over 47,000 of our American troops stationed in Japan (and 48,000 of our American private citizens like me also over here--not to mention the Japanese people themselves) whom are currently targeted by North Korea's irrational and aggressive leadership which could in fact make any kind of Cuban Missile Crisis- style miscalculation to test an untested Senator-turned-President? I just have read a chilling Japanese news analysis article by Yoshihisa Komori this past weekend which shows clearly that Kim Jong-il and his successors strongly prefer Obama to be elected over McCain. With one, they think they can get away with something; and with the other one, they have respect for his having endured and overcome torture in Asia (something they themselves are experts in) and his overall military grasp, policies and professional staff.

Consider also, if you would, the broader implications to the United States and the free world should such an attack occur. The economic destiny of America and Japan are interwoven to such a degree that a devastating attack on Japan could have shock-waves that we cannot begin to comprehend. This is a National Security issue every bit if not more serious than if Great Britain were to be threatened with mass destruction.

If this e-mail has convinced you that a vote for Obama could invite the most serious consequences and in fact WILL INVITE A "TEST" OF HIM--just as Sen. Biden predicts, please act and also please forward this message to three other family or friends whom you have heard in the last few days might be still "undecided". Don't just do it for me, do it for your country. I and many thousands of Americans here in Japan will thank you - for sure.

I hope next Christmas/Holiday season I will be able to write you a little more upbeat of a letter, but right now, these are the facts and this is how things stand out here in Asia.

Overseas, Stationed in Japan

Democrats Plan To Steal Your 401k

The Democrat Party is plotting to take your 401k retirement plan, nationalize it and have the Social Security Administration administrate it.

US News.com reports:

I hate to use the "S" word, but the American government would never do something as, well, socialist as seize private pension funds, right? This is exactly what cash-strapped Argentina just did in the name of protecting workers' retirement accounts (Efharisto, Fausta's Blog). Now, even Uncle Sam isn't that stupid, but some Democrats might try something almost as loopy: kill 401(k) plans.

House Democrats recently invited Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School of Social Research, to testify before a subcommittee on her idea to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of the popular retirement plans. In place of 401(k) plans, she would have workers transfer their dough into government-created "guaranteed retirement accounts" for every worker. The government would deposit $600 (inflation indexed) every year into the GRAs. Each worker would also have to save 5 percent of pay into the accounts, to which the government would pay a measly 3 percent return. Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, said that since "the savings rate isn't going up for the investment of $80 billion [in 401(k) tax breaks], we have to start to think about whether or not we want to continue to invest that $80 billion for a policy that's not generating what we now say it should."

The Democrats are complaining that the tax-deferred income people are depositing into their 401k retirement accounts is costing the government revenue. They are scheming to enact this plan to take control of your retirement savings.

We know how well the social security deductions (from our paychecks) is currently being used to pay current retirees with the balance going into the general fund to pay for current government programs. Do we want them to take our 401k monies and do the same?

The D.C Examiner has this opinion piece by Bret Jacobsen:

A mailer went out this week 500,000 retirees in swing states this week from the AFL-CIO warning that John McCain wants to “privatize” Social Security. Mysteriously absent will be any notice that organized labor and congressional Democrats held a hearing yesterday in San Francisco that could be a quiet step toward socializing your 401(k).

The hearing was pitched as a way to “ensure retirement security” in the face of financial crisis. But that’s not accurate. The event was part of a poorly disguised power-grab, exploiting panic over financial turmoil in the housing and credit markets.

All working Americans should be concerned about retirement proceedings under the watch of House Education and Labor Committee chairman Rep. George Miller, D-CA. According to recent reports, Miller and other Democrats are considering portions of a plan that would take away nearly $80 billion in tax incentives for 401(k) plans.

It’s possible the policy would force workers to pay an additional five percent of their paychecks into government-controlled accounts, from which they would earn only a three percent return. In other words, proponents of private Social Security accounts would see their grandest dreams, and worst nightmares, realized in one fell swoop.

Democratic leaders and their labor allies can kill two birds with one stone. First, they will effectively neuter private, defined-contribution plans, which have replaced union-controlled defined-benefit pension plans for millions of Americans (after all, why would workers lock money away if there were no tax incentive?). At the same time, they can force those resources into a bigger, bloated government bureaucracy.

While some may be surprised at the brazen attack on a pillar of retirement security, it is merely the natural extension of organized labor’s world vision, which says we are better off putting resources and decisions anywhere but in the domain of markets and individuals. It is simple socialism: Democrats hope to push more retirement resources under the purview of the government, and away from the people who actually created the wealth.

If Democrats indeed move ahead with the plan they are pondering, the bulk of a person’s nest egg could soon be scrambled in a government program earning less-than-market returns. Without this fresh injection of employees’ paychecks, Social Security solvency still remains in doubt and hardly seems a superior option over equity markets.

Meanwhile, if union officials have their way, more employees will be driven back to old-style defined-benefit pensions that have been crippling America’s employers and sometimes short-changing America’s employees.

Union pension funds covering private sector employees already controlled more than $800 billion in retirement assets as of 2005, according to figures compiled by Heritage Foundation scholar James Sherk.

The results are not always impressive. UPS, for one, was forced this year to escape the Teamsters’ “Central States” plan at great cost before just so it wouldn’t be on the hook for obligations of other employers that may be failing.

This is high-stakes, high-cynicism politics at its worst. Not only are politicians exploiting fears driven by a once-in-a-lifetime market meltdown, they are repeating the very same thinking that led to the current housing crisis. As Ronald Reagan said, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.”

Yet, it is very likely that following yesterday’s San Francisco hearing, Democrats will push a “solution” that is about bigger government, bigger unions, and smaller economic growth. They may well succeed in enlarging the social safety net. But it will be just big enough to strangle our economy.

This is what we can expect if the Democrats increase their numbers in Congress to filibuster-proof levels with Barack Obama in the White House. This is definitely not change we need!

Rush Limbaugh discusses Democrats' 401k Nationalization Plan

UPDATE: Author of 401k seizure plan says intent to "spread the wealth."

Obama Redistribution of Wealth Audio Revealed

A recording from 2001 reveals more of Barack Obama's "redistribution of wealth" ideology.

This was while he was a state legislator and law professor.



National Review Online has more on the transcript.

FoxNews.com writes:

A 7-year-old radio interview in which Barack Obama discussed the failure of the Supreme Court to rule on redistributing wealth in its Civil Rights rulings has given fresh ammunition to critics who say the Democratic presidential candidate has a socialist agenda.

The interview -- conducted by Chicago Public Radio in 2001, while Obama was an Illinois state senator and a law professor at the University of Chicago -- delves into whether the civil rights movement should have gone further than it did, so that when "dispossessed peoples" appealed to the high court on the right to sit at the lunch counter, they should have also appealed for the right to have someone else pay for the meal.

In the interview, Obama said the civil rights movement was victorious in some regards, but failed to create a "redistributive change" in its appeals to the Supreme Court, led at the time by Chief Justice Earl Warren. He suggested that such change should occur at the state legislature level, since the courts did not interpret the U.S. Constitution to permit such change.

"The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of basic issues of political and economic justice in this society, and to that extent as radical as people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical," Obama said in the interview, a recording of which surfaced on the Internet over the weekend.

"It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it has been interpreted.

"And the Warren court interpreted it generally in the same way -- that the Constitution is a document of negative liberties, says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf, and that hasn't shifted.

"And I think one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change, and in some ways we still suffer from that," Obama said.

Someone asked at National Review Online a very good question:

"How can Obama take the oath of office to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution' when he clearly does not believe in it and thinks it’s a flawed document, too focused on "negative liberties," instead of positive ones, and wishes to see the Supreme Court "break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution?"