Seriously, who wrote the stimulus bill?

Was it Obama? Pelosi? Members of Congress? Harry Reid? Lobbyists?

Who wrote the stimulus bill that was signed Tuesday?

Answer that question, and then click here:

(Editor’s Note: Late last night, Larry Johnson opined on the cartoon brouhaha in “More Sanctimonious Leftist Bullshit.” Little did we know that American Girl In Italy had also done her own RIFF on it. This is great! Read it too!)

This cartoon appeared in the New York Post. Al Sharpton is up in arms calling it racist. What say you?

Mr. Sharpton, who has been a subject in cartoons in The Post, said in a statement on his Web site:

The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual inference to this form of racism when, in the cartoon, the police say after shooting a chimpanzee, “now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.”

Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder whether the Post cartoonist was inferring that a monkey wrote it?

Yes, he is inferring a monkey wrote the bill. But, Obama didn’t write the bill. Pelosi did, with the help of members of Congress, and lobbyists. (He was mocking politicians in DC that wrote the bill, much like people called Bush a monkey for eight years!)

Al Sharpton is the one saying Obama is the monkey, not the cartoonist. I would never have put two and two together and assumed the monkey was supposed to be Obama. Obama didn’t write the stimulus bill.

“Gov. David A. Paterson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others expressed concern on Wednesday morning over an editorial cartoon in The New York Post that showed a police officer telling his colleague who just shot a chimpanzee, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Critics said the cartoon, drawn by Sean Delonas, implicitly compared President Obama with the primate and evoked a history of racist imagery of blacks. The chimpanzee was an apparent reference to the 200-pound pet chimpanzee that was shot dead by a police officer in Stamford, Conn., on Monday evening, after it mauled a friend of his owner.”

“What does shooting a chimpanzee have to do with a stimulus bill?” Mr. Sharpton said. “This raises all the racial stereotypes we are trying to get away from this in this country.” He added: “I’m not speaking on behalf of the president or the chimpanzee. I‘m speaking on behalf of the offended African-American community.”

Has Sharpton just been sitting on the edge of his seat, waiting for a reason to be relevant again? Had Obama written the bill, ok. It would totally be offensive! (even more offensive than comparing Bush to a monkey) But Obama didn’t write it.

In a statement, Col Allan, editor in chief of The Post, denied Mr. Sharpton’s assertion that the cartoon was “racially charged.” Mr. Allan said:

The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.

City Councilman Leroy G. Comrie Jr., a Queens Democrat, called for a boycott of the newspaper. “To run such a violent, racist cartoon is an insult to all New Yorkers,” he said in a statement. “This was an unfortunate incident in which a human being was seriously injured- not an opportunity to sling dangerous rhetoric. It is my belief that The New York Post owes an immediate apology to this city for demonstrating such terrible judgment and insensitivity.”

Now, I will agree that the monkey attack was a horrible incident, and perhaps it is much too soon to be making light of the situation. But, I think calling it racist is off the mark. I can’t imagine they would have been that blatantly stupid. The cartoon was calling Congress a bunch of monkeys. Just like people have done for as long as I can remember.

And like I said, Obama didn’t write the bill. Dumb cartoon? Sure. Racist? If Obama had written the bill, yes. But he didn’t.
What do you say?

Update: Since writing this post, on Wednesday morning, Al Sharpton has organized a protest to shut down the Post. I guess hundreds of people were there. I’m sorry, but to me, THEY are the ones comparing Obama to, and calling him an ape. Sharpton is the one who made this all about Obama and racism.

They want to shut down the New York Post, and throw hundreds of people out of work, because they don’t understand who rote the $800 Billion stimulus bill?

I think Obama needs to step forward and say that this was not about him. He needs to tell them that he did not write the bill. The cartoonist was mocking Congress for authoring what some are calling the greatest generational theft in history. And last time I checked, we can still mock our elected officials.

If Obama had written the bill, I would agree, it was horrible. I don’t like the cartoon anyway, because it is violent, and the poor lady is still in intensive care.

But I think Sharpton is totally wrong on this one.

NOW, BELOW, THAT POLL FOR THE 2nd and 3rd BESTEST PRESIDENTS of the 20th and 21st centuries EVAH! 

Here’s the one speech I wish we had on video. (Although I do remember a hot post that went ’round the Internet about five to six years ago. Someone claimed to have audio of Lincoln giving a speech. Some of us were very skeptical, and looked up the history. I forget now, but the very first audio recordings didn’t get made until at least 20+ years after his death [or thereabouts]. As I recall, this one ended up being officially debunked at Snopes.com.).

But at least this video shows drawings of that great day (and the speech is below):

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech

Fellow-Countrymen:

AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.

All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time,

He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Perhaps someday a president will emphasize women’s right.

What made it even worse was that their “hip” New York audiences would go stone cold silent, or even boo, if they made any jokes at Obama’s expense.  There was a classic moment when Jon Stewart made a small joke about Obama and the audience kind of moaned disapprovingly.  He raised his eyebrows and said, “It’s OK to laugh at him.”  The audience wasn’t so sure.

Stewart had learned, and demonstrated, the problem with Obama as regards humor.  His minions will not tolerate dissent.  And no satire!  And mocking is right out!!

Too late, these political funnymen realized they backed the wrong horse, to the detriment of their careers.  G.W. Bush was a mainstay of political humor.  He was a virtual fountain of funny.  Funny looking.  Funny talking.  Funny ideas.  Funny fuckups.  As Bugs Bunny would have said, “What a maroon!”

Here is a cursory comparison of the difficulty comedians face with the change in administrations.  You can see in the table below how the styles of the outgoing and incoming presidents differ, and the problem this presents to the gag guys.

And there are some things that are taboo purely because of racial sensitivities.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Bush called The Chimp, with pictorial side-by-sides and all, but any comparisons of Obama to any type of primate will be shouted down as racist.  Early in the primaries, for example, a bar owner in the South thought Obama’s ears looked like the children’s book character, Curious George, a monkey.  He had some T-shirts printed up comparing the two.  As a result, 70 million liberals had cardiac incidents.

Perhaps the fact that the above-mentioned programs are taped in New York City is a large part of the problem.  I think they would find jabs at Obama would get much bigger laughs if they moved their studios to some place like Atlantic City or Las Vegas.  Think about it… these are places where people like Jeff Foxworthy and Don Rickles draw huge cheering crowds.  Alcohol may play a role in that, but that may be what’s needed to get white people to overcome their fear of laughing at a black president.  I’m sure there’s a certain bar owner in the South who would agree. 

Another alternative location would be Chicago.  I’d bet good money that most of the folks there don’t have to overcome a sense of awe and reverence in order to get a good laugh at the expense of their hometown politico.  In fact, maybe these comics should send some talent scouts to Chicago to find some writers who aren’t intimidated by Obama’s worshippers.  They probably have a ton of gags about Obama and his Chicago connections.  They’re proud to say Chicago has the best politicians money can buy.

Saturday Night Live has had a white guy playing Obama, which upset some people, but that makes sense to me because Obama is just as much white as he is black.  So they’d have to have a “mutt” play him to make that right with the critics.  And SNL has been about the only show I have seen satirize Obama at all.  What comes to mind is the famous skit from the primaries in which Obama crowds Hillary during the debate and the moderators fawn over him.  Having done that bit, it can’t be done again because it wouldn’t be funny twice.  In fact, it kind of makes people uncomfortable with the truth in the concept of the media being “in the tank” for Obama from the start.  They should keep in mind it’s a very short distance from being in the tank to being under the bus.

Past presidents were openly satirized, no matter how popular they were.  Kennedy had imitators who got laughs just by doing his accent.  Accents have always played well in presidential satire.  There have been lots of presidents lately with Southern accents, and they were all roundly mocked. 

I remember back in April when Hillary was campaigning in the Rust Belt, and she let her twang come out, knocked back a beer and a shot, and spoke from the back of pickup trucks.  But hey, she’s from Arkansas, you know.  That got plenty of attention from the comics, but nobody pointed out that Obama was talking hip-hop slang with a “brutha” accent at plenty of rallies, and putting on a nasal “honky voice” at others.  Most of the time, to my ears, Obama sounds like Richard Pryor did when he put on his “white” voice in some of his stand-up routines.

 And how will it go over when comedians first make fun of Michelle Obama?  She’s the only person I know who’s “smile” looks like a Fu Manchu moustache.  When she was listening to Hillary’s speech at the Convention, the corners of her mouth touched her collarbone.  And if you’ve seen the old pictures of her before her cosmetic surgeries, she’s gone through more de-Africanization than Michael Jackson.  I know many women have snarked about her taste in clothes, and I’ve wondered myself whether her clothes were selected by a fashion consultant or an upholsterer.

I think what it’s going to come down to is that black comedians will be the only ones allowed to make jokes about the Obama family.  I think there will be a rise in prominence of black comedians who do Obama impressions and make fun of the Obama family in ways that only another black person could get away with. 

Jon Stewart has already been using a black surrogate-correspondent to make all the jokes that may involve Obama’s racial makeup.  Dave Letterman is such an old white honky, he doesn’t dare joke about Obama in any way that could be construed as racial; what’s he going to do, have a running joke about his “suit pants” to replace Hillary’s pant-suits?  Stephen Colbert is so hard to read, you never know when he’s serious or not anyway.  He can probably get away with more because he is pretending to be a Right Winger (See?  He’s not being a bigot, he’s mocking bigots!). 

I can’t help but think that these guys will be hard-pressed to stay on top of their games, and some may decide on early retirement.  Or others may make that decision for them.   Let’s see, we can have Eddie Murphy take over Letterman’s Late Show, Chris Rock can replace Jon Stewart, and Wanda Sykes would be perfect for the Tonight Show. 

So, all you folks in the mainstream political comedy business, you got what you wanted.  You helped get Obama elected.  Now let’s see what you can do when you don’t have George Dubya Bush to kick around anymore. 

Hey, great name for a country mock band: Dub and the NeoCons!  I need to file a copyright on that!

And they did a substantial amount of damage, over $1 million. What is more, people were actually inside the church at the time the fire was set. Thankfully, they were unharmed.

Now, this is not the first church (or other religious building) that has been targeted, not by a long shot, unfortunately. As many of you know, I am a retired UU minister, and a number of UU churches have been vandalized over the past few years, usually for two reasons: general support of the GLBT community, and for our open-mindedness regarding theology. One church in MD had its Peace Pole from its Meditation Garden ripped down and defecated upon by the vandals, other churches have had windows broken out, burning of leaves in the shape of a cross, and more. The worst was this year, the shooting in Knowxville, TNin which two Unitarian Universalists were killed, six injured, in the sanctuary during a service.

Many of you may recall that back in 1996, there was a rash of African American churches targeted by arsonists, primarily in Alabama, though 8 states in total were affected. By the time it was all over and done, over 30 churches were set on fire. It was a horrible time when racism reared its ugly, cowardly head. Sadly, a decade later, more churches were burned, some completely destroyed, in Alabama.

Synagogues in this country have also vandalized in the 21st century, one in Chicago on behalf of Palestine,two in North Miami had hateful speech written on the walls, and two in Boston had molotov cocktails thrown at them at the start of the Jewish New Year.

Even a Hindu temple in Minnesota was attacked, walls broken, windows shattered, statuary that took two years to receive destroyed. One of the trustees, Kumad Sane, said,

“We have had dreams to have this place for the past 30 years, we have worked so hard. Why would someone come here and do this type of action.”

Sadly, these are just a few examples of this kind of hate crime.

You know, it takes a particular kind of person to attack a religious institution. Check that – a particular kind of COWARD. Not for nothing, but it is missing the point just a bit from what it is SUPPOSED to mean to be a person of faith. Little things like, “Do unto others as you would have done to you,” or “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.” (Matthew,25:40). Or, when asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV) Regardless of the motivation, whether it be theological, social, or political, it is unacceptable. And cowardly.

The attack on Sarah Palin’s church was all of these things. With one big difference, though – it was also personal. There is not a doubt in my mind why THAT particular church was targeted for arson. It would seem that Palin is concerned this was a hate motivated action because of her, too, since she apologized to her church for this hate act, in the event she was the cause.

Now let me say, my theology is about as far apart from that of the Wasilla Bible Church as it can be. Heck, I’m not even a Christian. But, there are some places that should be off limits for political hate speech, and churches/synagogues/mosques are just such places. Regardless of one’s theology (and just to be clear, atheism is a belief system, too), to attack a building when there are people IN IT is reprehensible, to say the least.

But here’s the thing. If it is true this church was a target simply because Sarah Palin attends it, and it appears that is the case, this kind of behavior is an extension of the despicable behavior we saw by Obama supporters this entire election season. When The One fails, no, refuses to speak out against sexist, degrading speech, or tee-shirts; when He refuses to speak out against violent action (like burning American flags on top of a $70,000 car, urinating on it, burning it with cigarettes, and scratching “KKK” into it simply because it has a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on it), it gives tacit approval to these kinds of actions. We saw it during the Bush/Cheney years, especially in terms of GLBT people in this country. And those of us in the liberal sector of the country decried it. Now some of the same people who decried it under Bush/Cheney are engaging in that kind of behavior, and worse, under PEBO. They could have KILLED someone in that church. And for what, because Gov. Palin exposed some of Obama’s weaknesses? Because she was popular? What possible deluded reason could someone have for attacking her CHURCH? That is personal, and political (as things so often are), and sacrilegious. Whatever one’s faith, whatever one believes, attacking a place of worship is, simply, unacceptable.

The people who did this are cowards. And criminals. We can only hope that they are brought to justice.

One last thing – the human spirit is resilient. And when it is tested, the vast majority of the time, it comes out all the stronger for it. When targeted with hate speech, or destruction based on hate, yes, there is anxiety, or fear, or anger. But there is also resolve, a banding together of community, and hope. It is this for which I pray for the people of Wasilla Bible Church. I do not need to agree with their theology to stand with them as people of faith who did not deserve to have the place where they pray, where they bare their souls, where they engage in communion and fellowship with one another and their higher power, where they laugh, and cry, where they pass major life milestones, defiled.

I’ll let Rev. Chris Buice, the minister of the UU Church, Tennessee Valley, in Knoxville, someone who has lived through a hate crime perpetrated on his church, have the last word on this:

Next month in Atlanta, a federal court will hear the high-profile appeal of former Alabama governor Don E. Siegelman, whose conviction on corruption charges in 2006 became one of the most publicly debated cases to emerge from eight years of controversy at the Bush Justice Department. Now new documents highlight alleged misconduct by the Bush-appointed U.S. attorney and other prosecutors in the case, including what appears to be extensive and unusual contact between the prosecution and the jury.

2) A paper in NC wonders if Presidential power, which has metastasized over the last few years, will be curbed in an Obama administration. The author sees in Emanuel’s decision to leave Congress to be Obama’s Chief of Staff confirmation that no job in Congress would compare with power in the Executive branch.

Read the rest ->

Presidential power has only further increased since [Andrew] Jackson. The need for government to act quickly in times of crisis, the centering of the president as the icon of national identity in popular culture and the executive branch’s control of information, among other factors, have vested a power in the presidency that far surpasses that of the other branches.

Thus it becomes not surprising to see one of the most powerful members of Congress [Emanuel] agree to become a White House staffer.

THE MORE SERIOUS QUESTION IS WHETHER A TRUE BALANCE OF POWER can be reconstructed. It needs to be. The Framers believed that an imbalance of power among the branches would inevitably lead to abuse and incompetence. The last eight years have proved them right. The Bush administration made constant claims to unlimited power that Congress had neither the will nor the ability to turn back. The resulting morass is history.

Whether an Obama administration will work to restore the constitutional balance is only speculation. The challenge is considerable. Checks and balances are inefficient, and ceding power to a coordinate branch is not easy, particularly when there are so many dire challenges facing the nation. But Emanuel’s choice to accept the chief of staff position rather than continue in Congress vividly demonstrates how much the need to repair the constitutional structure is in order.

I see this question as a moral one in addition to a constitutional one. I wonder if Obama will return any presidential power “to the people.” Hmmmmm.

3) Realclearpolitics has a transcript of Michael Steele announcing his bid for RNC chair. Now THAT would be interesting.

STEELE: I want the gig. I’m ready, I’m ready to lead this party. I think we’ve been kind of wandering and doubting ourselves for far too long. And I think this past election was the culmination of that self-doubt which has to end.

We have a message, I think, of empowerment and ownership and opportunity that resonates United States with Americans. We just need to get back to.

So, we could have an AA RNC chief, and AA president and de facto head of the Democratic party and ???? as DNC chief? Now that should make for some very entertaining racial politics.

4) The WaPo has a piece today about the ever-not-changing work of K Street. Apparently lobbyists see an incoming Obama administration as a reason to re-arrange the deck chairs rather than change how they do business. Out with republican head lobbyists and in with the democratic. Sigh. Oh, yeah, don’t forget the nepotism. Gotta have nepotism.

“Barack Obama campaigned on change. Well, change is good for the lobbying business,” said Ed Rogers, who was an aide to President Ronald Reagan and whose firm has represented such clients as Citigroup, Pfizer and Raytheon. “People will need the expertise and guidance more in the next year than they have in the last five.”

Many of the issues Obama has expressed an interest in tackling early, such as health-care policy, energy and taxes, have broad implications for some of the lobbying world’s most free-spending corporate clients. Patrick Von Bargen, a former chief of staff to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and aide to William Donaldson, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he joined Quinn Gillespie this month with the expectation that his knowledge of clean energy issues would be a valued commodity.

“People who have labored in Democratic vineyards for years are familiar with the people involved, but also with the substantive issues, and how Democrats approach those issues,” he said.
——————
Ron Kaufman, a Republican lobbyist at Dutko Worldwide who served as a close adviser to President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said he cannot recall a better time to be a Democratic staff member looking for work. But he said his firm has always tried to keep both sides of the aisle covered so it does not have to panic during shifts in political control.

“The only change for us is that the Democrats are now the varsity squad, and I’ve been demoted to the junior varsity,” Kaufman joked.
——————-
Steve Elmendorf, a former top adviser to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), said that he understands why Obama took that approach, but that he does not believe lobbyists will be turned away. “I don’t think they’ve said ‘We’re not going to talk to lobbyists,’ ” Elmendorf said. “They are going to talk to stakeholders. The stakeholders are all going to be represented by lobbyists. It’s not going to be a black-and-white thing.”

Elmendorf is one of several who foresee a boon for the industry. A new Democratic administration and an increasing Democratic tilt in Congress means more activist government, he said. “That means businesses will have the potential for more things to happen to them. If they think that’s coming, they will be hiring people to figure out how to contend with that.”

BO has said he doesn’t want lobbyists to have unfettered access. But I think this stand is likely to quietly die a “death of 1000 cuts” as the collective power of all these lobbyists and their industries / interest groups do everything they can to preserve their influence. This could be very interesting to watch. Get out your hypocrisy-meters. And get out the hip-waders.

5) Newser has a story about the MLK family wanting its piece of the action from MLK / Obama merchandising. Now, as controllers of the MLK estate, etc, it is within the family’s rights to look after its interests. But scurrying after merchandising dollars strikes me as tacky. Of course, it is understandable that the family wants to protect its brand Of course, I don’t personally think of MLK as a BRAND, but I guess that’s a matter of perspective?

The family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters and other merchandise depicting the slain civil rights leader alongside Barack Obama.

Isaac Newton Farris Jr., King’s nephew and head of the nonprofit King Center in Atlanta, said the estate is entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees _ maybe even millions.

“Some of this is probably putting food on people’s plates. We’re not trying to stop anybody from legitimately supporting themselves,” he said, “but we cannot allow our brand to be abused.”

MLK Brand??

6) One of the justifications for “undocumented workers” has long been that those people do the jobs “American’s don’t want to do.” Does that include teaching? Perhaps so, because the Dallas public schools have been hiring people without SSNs and arbitrarily assigning one to them “until they receive a valid number.” Of course, there’s a chance those SSN numbers might be REAL to someone else. The Dallas News has the story:

Years after being advised by a state agency to stop, the Dallas Independent School District continued to provide foreign citizens with fake Social Security numbers to get them on the payroll quickly.

Some of the numbers were real Social Security numbers already assigned to people elsewhere. And in some cases, the state’s educator certification office unknowingly used the bogus numbers to run criminal background checks on the new hires, most of whom were brought in to teach bilingual classes.
—————
The investigative report, obtained by The News through a records request, found “that the inappropriate procedure of assigning false SSNs has been systemic for several years” within DISD’s alternative certification program, which prepares new teachers for state certification when they don’t have traditional credentials.

A call Thursday to DISD’s alternative certification office was not returned. In recent years, DISD has hired people from various countries, including Mexico and Spain, to deal with a shortage of bilingual teachers.
—————-
In July, the district discovered that 26 of the false numbers were in use after matching DISD employee Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration database. The numbers were already being used in Pennsylvania. DISD officials did not know Thursday whether the practice had caused problems for anyone holding the legitimate numbers.

Anyone out there having received an IRS notice of unpaid taxes on undeclared income might want to keep an eye on this story.

7) Still don’t see how the damaged economy will touch you? This article in the Christian Science Monitor should help clear THAT up somewhat.

If the states had their way, they would like Congress to give them help in four areas: help with the growing number of people applying for Medicaid, more funding for the rising unemployed, help with the growing number on food stamps, and an injection of funds to jump-start infrastructure projects that are ready to go.

In my area, the local schools have requested and gotten substantial increases each year. Since I live in a “progressive” area, increases are regularly sought for a variety of things: sidewalks (good), artwork around a remote public works building (?), community gardens (are you kidding me?), stormwater run-off infrastructure, another municipal pool (we only have 3) with glass pebbles inlaid on the floor, and more money for roads (well, . . . ) even as development in the form of housing continues unabated, with taller and taller and “greener and greener” condos going up

Oh, and we don’t allow “big box” stores in my community. They’re so, so, tacky and cheap, you know. So everyone drives over the county line to shop at Target and the brain trust here loses out on what remaining retail sales taxes are available. Even as more housing is built, property taxes increase because new housing does not pay for itself in terms of schools, sewer, water, and other city services – at least not here.
And the local university (isn’t there always one in a “progressive” town?) often buys up tracts of land, taking it off the tax rolls. So, as the university uses more services, it also cuts available tax funds to the town. And the university has a multi-billion dollar endowment. . .

Sigh.

He is a quintessential enigma wrapped in a conundrum (i.e., an inscrutable mystery having only a conjectural answer). He is an old style Chicago politician, complete with all of the corruption and unsavory relationships, but has a soothing voice and easy manner. He got away with a mythological presentation of his family history in part because the media was unwilling to ask him why he was known as Barry Soetoro until he was about 18 years old. He has still not explained his trip as a young man to Indonesia and Pakistan.

We know nothing about his academic achievements in college. If you have an honest, objective bone in your body you will admit that if he had high SAT or ACT scores we would have heard about it. His college performance as an undergraduate was mediocre and he certainly earned no accolades for getting a high GPA. Otherwise, we would have heard about it. I graduated Cum Laude and was Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Missouri. We know nothing about Obama’s record at Columbia University or Occidental College.

We do have a clear record of his clever politicking but meager accomplishments since 1995.

Barack is a savvy, tough politician. He figured out a way to shove an established politician, Alice Palmer out of the way. And he won election to the Senate of the United States. However, he was at best an undistinguished legislator and only got his name on a slew of bills in his last two years in the Illinois state legislature thanks to Emil Jones. Barack avoided many tough votes, often choosing to vote “present,” but did not champion any major legislation. He continued this record in the U.S. Senate. He did not chair any hearings and undertook no significant legislative initiatives.

Barack did prove to be adept at raising money. This was achieved, as we will discover in the coming year, through the efforts of two prominent Chicago families–Lester Crown and Penny Pritzker–who also bankrolled Rahm Emanuel.

In fact, I believe that Rahm Emanuel may have been the one to introduce Obama to the Crown and Pritzker network. It is a point worth pursuing. Barack also put together a very sophisticated, nationwide campaign organization that made phone calls to prospective voters and knocked on doors.

We have discussed in detail on this site the fraudulent fundraising that was part of his campaign. At the end of the day, Barack reneged on his promise to rely on public funding and outspent the McCain folks by at least a factor of 8. Let’s give Barack credit–he played hardball and won. He’s not the first politician to use political and financial shenanigans to beat an opponent–just ask Barry Goldwater and George McGovern about Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon).

I have watched and listened with a mixture of amazement and sadness at the celebrations of African Americans over Barack’s triumph. Let’s be clear. Barack is no Jackie Robinson (Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson). Back in the day when African Americans were banned from competing on an equal basis, there was no doubt that Jackie Robinson and host of other black baseball players deserved to play in the Major Leagues. The breaking of that color barrier was long overdue.

But Barack Obama has never, until now, had any significant experience managing a government enterprise. If he had been white, with his record and associations, he would never have been elected and certainly would not have ousted Hillary Clinton. So let’s admit that he is an Affirmative Action choice by a majority of Americans.

I welcome sending a clear signal to every person who is a minority in this country that they are accepted and loved. The legacy of racism in our country has left ugly wounds that unfortunately are still festering. It is odd that so many African Americans continue to insist there is blatant racism in the face of the commercial and professional achievements of black entertainers, athletes, and businessmen and women. America today is not the America of 1946 that still allowed segregation and kept talented individuals like Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson and Larry Doby from having the opportunity to compete.

The nice thing about the full integration of professional sports is that we no longer worry or think about a players color when discussing their performance. As a Washington Redskins fan I think cornerback Carlos Rogers is a bust. The man, who has dropped more sure-fire interceptions than any cornerback I can remember, could not catch the clap in a Thailand whorehouse. Shawn Springs, however, is a stud who delivers. When Washington played Pittsburgh last Monday Springs was out with an injury, which gave Rogers the chance to play. My point in this is to illustrate that in talking about the performance of these two men we don’t worry about their color. It is what they do on the field during a game that counts.

In watching Jesse Jackson, Juan Williams, and Oprah Winfrey weep over the news that Barack had won, I could only think of Sally Fields. Remember when she won the Academy Award for her work in Places in the Heart? She tearfully accepted the Oscar with this unforgettable line:

“The first time I didn’t feel it but this time I feel it and I can’t deny the fact you like me. Right now, you like me!”

So, America now has officially told black people, “we like you, we really, really like you.” Got it? From that standpoint I am happy that Obama’s election will inspire and reassure African Americans that they are accepted. Barack’s election does not completely erase the scars of segregation and Jim Crow, but it is a welcome step.

It is now Barack’s Martin Luther King moment. We are not going to judge you by the color of your skin but by the content of your character. We are going to judge you on what you do. So how is that going?

Barack’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff is alarming and troubling. It is a sign that he is catering to the Lester Crown family and his national finance chair, Penny Pritzker. He selected a man who served on the board of Fannie Mae when deliberate lies about the company’s performance were reported to shareholders. He selected a man who was a strong supporter of the October 2002 resolution to go to war in Iraq. The fact that Emanuel is closely tied to his money people tells me that this is more of the old style politics that rewards those who pay the most.

On the plus side, Barack has selected some solid people to advise him on what to do about the intelligence community. He and his advisors are showing good judgment on that front. I look forward to getting back to an intelligence community that is allowed to be a truth teller without being subjected to political pressure.

I do not hate Barack Obama. While I think he is unqualified to be a good President I stand ready to be proven wrong. Which reminds me of Robert Gates. I opposed Robert Gates as the replacement for Don Rumsfeld. Gates’ record at the CIA was not distinguished. He played politics with intelligence and pandered to the Reagan White House.

But let’s give Bob Gates his due. He has been an outstanding Secretary of Defense and has restored sanity and integrity to that entity. I was wrong about Bob Gates. I hope I am wrong about Barack Obama. If I am, then America will be better off.

Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown (Indianapolis) to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

“I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” yelled one former campaign worker.

A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.

The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.

“There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they’re trying to get it organized,” said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.

Well, golly gee willikers – what a surprise! People are having a hard time getting Obama to fulfill his obligations! You’d think with the gazillion dollars from illegal contributions he received, he would have plenty of green to spread among his people, maybe even some bonuses for jobs well done for the 375 workers who came to get paid. If you thought that, you’d be wrong!

Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.

“Still that’s not right. I’m disappointed. I’m glad for the president, but I’m disappointed in this system,” said Diane Jefferson, temporary campaign worker.

“It should have been $480. It’s $230,” said Imani Sankofa.

“They gave us $10 an hour. So we added it. I added up all the hours so it was supposed to be at least $120. All I get is $90,” said Charles Martin.

“I worked nine hours a day for 4 days and got paid half of what I should have earned,” said Randall Waldon.

Some people weren’t satisfied with filling out a claim form for money they felt was still due to them.

“They say that they gonna call you or they going to mail it to you, but I don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” said Antron Grose.

“Talking about they’ll mail it to us. I ain’t worried about that, man. They’re not going to mail nothin’,” said Martin.

Seems Johnny Mac was right about the Redistributor in Chief – he wants to redistribute YOUR funds, not his! So, you just keep sitting by that mailbox and phone – I am SURE they will be rushing to get you the money for which you worked. Ahem. (And given this, I wonder how well the Obama camp is going to do issuing those 1099s in January?)

And if I was the woman in this video below (from No Quarter Election Thread), I sure wouldn’t be holding my breath:

If Obama is having, um, difficulties actually paying his employees wages earned, I’m not sure why this woman thinks Obama is going to do ANYTHING for her, much less pay her mortgage and her gas. Wow – it is just hard to fathom the gullibility of some people…

And in more news in the “Welcome To The Real World” round-up, the passing of Proposition 8 in CA and Amendment 2 in FL were a rude awakening to many. Here’s the thing – while all those Hollywood types (talking to YOU, Ellen) were singing Obama’s praises, they, like so many others, ignored that the bottom line of his pandering message was that HE IS AGAINST SAME SEX MARRIAGE. He has said that time and time again including in his wishy-washy message that he doesn’t think Prop 8 should pass in CA, but that he is against same sex marriage all the same. So, guess what? It passed, because a lot of his constituents, especially African Americans and the evangelicals he courted, are against same sex marriage. Had any of those mindless people BOTHERED to actually look at his “words, just words,” they would have known that.

But no, Cher, and Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, and Wanda Sykes, and all of those people wanted to go with the cool guy, so they, along with the REST of Democrats, turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the shenanigans Obama was using in caucus states and that the DNC used to take votes away from Hillary, both in FL and MI, as well as the COnvention. I don’t think the constituents SHE courted would have voted FOR Proposition 8. Oh well – the GLBT community, and women, have all been thrown under the bus for the ascension of THE ONE. Hope you’re happy now because you helped to make it happen!

Oh, wait – those people in CA aren’t. But all those folks protesting there can just get over themselves – they have no one but themselves to blame for the passage of Proposition 8. Had any of the big wigs there stood up and cried foul over the RBC’s decision, or DEMANDED a fair, DEMOCRATIC Convention, I doubt Prop 8 would have passed. So, tough, all you Hollywood folks who oohed and ahed over The One in Denver and had no qualms with the DNP violating its own rules – you did it to yourselves. Hate it for ya, Ellen (and Portia),and the other 18,000 people affected by this, but hey – maybe you shouldn’t have been pushing Obama so much during your show. And maybe all you people should have actually done your freakin’ homework on what was happening in the election.

While I am at it, over 62% of Floridians voted FOR Amendment 2 voted FOR Amendment 2, to Constitutionalize discrimination in their state. In other words, a whole bunch of Democrats voted for that, too. Thanks so much, all you wonderful folks – in both states. What a healing uniter Obama is, isn’t he?? Hey, that’s what they keep claiming, so it HAS to be true – just not for women in general and GLBT people in particular. Whatever.

Anyway, who cares about social justice for GLBT and women now that we have the first biracial president-elect? Who cares about ACORN using TAXPAYING DOLLARS to commit massive amounts of voter fraud, and how they will surely get even more money from and ALL Democratic government (I mean, really – if they were already getting millions of dollars before, as well as new-mortgage kickbacks, and Chris Dodd wanting to give them BILLIONS of dollars from the bailout repayment, who the hell is going to stop them NOW?)? Who cares that their GOTV arms committed voter fraud for Obama and that his followers voted more than once? What’s the big deal, anyway?

Sadly, that is the real world we have now, where caucus fraud will be institutionalized, voter fraud will continue to be tolerated, even excused by people who should know better (that is, the people who, thanks to all of the “poor little ACORN” posts by the NY Times, think ACORN is being beset upon by Republicans and they aren’t doing anything wrong – even when Democrats admit they are. Bob Herbert is especially guilty of this tactic. Apparently, these readers have missed his *subtle* Obama bias…), and electronic voting machines will continue to flip ballots. That is our world today, because really – who is going to stand up against caucus fraud now? Not the Democrats, who KNEW it was occurring but said nothing, or the MSM, which ignored Clinton’s attempts to inform them about documented fraud. Who’s going to stand up against voter fraud? Not Democrats – that would cast aspersions on THE ONE. Who will stand up for us?

And who will stand up for women? Not the Democrats, that’s for sure. They made a sport of misogyny this election, and haven’t let up yet on Governor Palin, either. They not only stood by while Obama laid claim to Clinton’s ideas, but were in a wicked big hurry to shove her out of the race (once she created those policies, of course, because what would Obama have done if he had to create them on his own??). Oh, and they didn’t just shove her out, they treated her with contempt, as if she had no right to come to the party. They treated her in a way they have never treated ANY man, even one as inexperienced and unqualified as, well, Obama. No, they not only stood by, they engaged in, and encouraged, the misogyny we experienced this year (did anyone EVER hear Obama speak out against hanging Sarah Palin in effigy in West Hollywood? No. Ever hear him speak out against the misogyny directed at Clinton? No. No, he engaged in it, not fought against it.). I bet Obama wishes he had stolen Clinton’s economic proposal now that the Dow tanked the worst after his election of any time in history precisely because they DON’T know where he stands. That can’t be a good omen for things to come, and rubs a bit of the shine off of his “win.” I reckon he shouldn’t have been so dismissive when John McCain claimed her plan (and actually gave her credit, something Obama has NEVER done). Oh, well!

It’s going to be some four years here in the real world, with more rude awakenings, more expectations dashed, and more dreams broken. Heck, Obama’s workers are already experiencing that, as well as his anti-war supporters with the choice of Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff. Well, time to wake up, people, to what the rest of us have always known – Obama is a con man, and you fell for it. Don’t waste your time waiting by the phone or the mail-box for your wages, or hope of mortgages and gas paid (!!!). It ain’t gonna happen – but we could have told you that…Oh, wait – we did tell you that, and you didn’t believe us. How about now?? It hasn’t even been two days since the election, and look at the shine fade…

Our reluctant allies on the Right believe McCain was struck by the perfect storm. McCain’s loss was less about campaign strategy failures than an incredibly unpopular president of the same party and an economic October surprise which underscored his Party’s difficulties. It really was about Change. From the National Review:

1) 2008′S OUTCOME AND THE BANKING CRISIS AND STOCK MARKET CRASHES –
The media talk was wrong, the media talk that had gone on all year and reached its height in the summer and early September about an irresistable Democratic trend and unstoppable Obama. After a successful Republican convention and a week of campaigning by McCain-Palin capped by Obama`s “lipstick on a pig” gaffe, McCain had a nice national lead and one so strong in Ohio there were rumors Obama was pulling out. For purposes of perspective on last night’s results, it’s good to remember some of McCain’s numbers in various polls that second week in September:

Florida: +8

North Carolina: + 18

Georgia: + 18

Oklahoma: + 31

Idaho: + 39

New Jersey: – 3

New York: – 6

Michigan – dead heat

Wisc —dead heat

Minnesota — tied.

And the Gallup poll released September 11 showed a GOP five point lead in the generic question which could have translated into twenty to thirty seat pickup.

2) HARD TO CALL – This Fall’s political environment was unprecedented — an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression. So there was no prior experience to fall back on. Campaign Spot readers and loyal Jedi warriors wanted Obi to make his unapologetic predictions of the past. That prediction was impossible. What could be said was that McCain was still very much in it despite the burdens he faced, including everyone’s 401(k) turning to cinders.

3) MCCAIN CAME BACK – Striding into one of the worst political headwinds ever McCain actually staged a comeback. A week after his last debate performance, his “Joe the Plumber” initiative and excellent performance at the Al Smith dinner in New York, four good polls showed him one or two points away from a lead. Even Rasmussen, who still gave Obama a four point advantage, noted McCain was shaving
the Democrat’s national lead and had moved back into a slight lead in Florida and Ohio. Then came more days of market crash. Yet, even after that, the survey data showed undecided voters were inclined towards McCain but also wanted to vote their frustration and anger over the economy and were inclined, rightly or wrongly, to take it out on Bush and the GOP.

4) THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IS A BLUNT BUT ULTIMATELY BENEFICENT INSTRUMENT — One place your Obi worked for Barry in 1964 was the New Hampshire primary and he vividly remembers that loss and then the carnage in November. (Even Sooners Coach Bud Wilkinson, one of the state’s religious figures, lost a Senate bid in Oklahoma.) But two years later came a GOP blowout marked by Ronald Reagan’s first election to political office. And back in `76 some of us thought
nothing was more important than electing Jerry Ford. But defeat that year ultimately led to a new Republican party and the Reagan era.

So when you ask: How could the American people do this? Don’t they know what they are getting? Well, unfortunately the blunt instrument approach — shock therapy — is like that. Lots of collateral damage in the hope the GOP will get itself together and give America a better time, a newer era.

6) FIGHT HARD; FIGHT FROM THE START TO STOP THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE – So the problem with the blunt instrument is the unintended consequences. The 1964 results meant the social tragedy, especially for the poor, of the Great Society programs. The 1974 Democratic Congressional blowout cost 13 million South Vietnamese their freedom. The 1976 defeat meant Carter era malaise at home and one of the most perilous periods for U.S, national security.

The liberals in Congress will soon push to discourage entrepreneurship and economic growth, nationalize the medical system, weaken the military, use state power to coerce Americans into removing mentions of God from the public square, accepting abortion on demand and the altering the definition of marriage. And an early test for President Obama will be his reaction to pressure in two areas from his own party that may brand his administration early as decidedly leftist. He will be pushed to take various measures to stifle dissent through enacting the Fairness Doctrine and ending the secret ballot in union elections. And he will be pushed to make a decision that cost the newly elected President Clinton his honeymoon period — changing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy about gays in the military. On all of this, the congressional liberals and their media allies will be unrelenting. And yet all this represents opportunity for the GOP. The last Congress was the most unpopular in history because of its radical liberalism. Yet the GOP failed entirely to enumerate for voters that Congress’s transgressions. That opportunity is coming again.

Also, the liberals know that neither in 2006 nor 2008 did the American people vote for the left-wing agenda. They are hoping conservatives will again go along after some polite demurrals. So, if loud and noisy but enlightened opposition is offered at every turn, much of the collateral damage can be avoided. And the American people will see the real agenda of the liberal elites.

7) REJOICE — Electing an African American president closes a painful but proud chapter in American history. What a country.

8 ) TOUJOURS L’AUDACE —We gather our armies. We go forward.

Finally, Dick Morris chimes in that McCain did better than the media predicted:

For political historians, it’s worth noting that Obama hasn’t scored the knockout that many predicted. As I write, it seems clear that John McCain will lose by a few points in the popular vote, not by the double digits so confidently predicted in the media polls. The fact is that most of the undecided voters went to the Republicans.

What do you think? Is there anything McCain could have done differently? Or were the conditions too unfavorable for any Republican?

Turns out that Ayers was not just a guy in the neighborhood. Nor is Minister Louis Farrakhan. Obama has direct and indirect ties to Minister Farrakhan that date back over the past 20 years.

It is no surprise that Minister Farrakhan has spoken so highly of his friend Barack Obama:

First, the circle of friends and associates that Obama joined in Chicago since the early 1980s includes Minister Farrakhan. The staff on their organizations often overlap, their goals are often the same, and their techniques are as well. And, yes, they are neighbors.

Obama spent three weeks in Pakistan in the early 1980s around the same time that Minister Farrakhan and Reverend Wright were making their own trek to visit Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

Obama likely first met Minister Farrakhan in the mid-1980s after to Chicago. It’d be hard to imagine that he didn’t, considering their shared community interests, Obama’s past with communist and black nationalist Frank Marshall Davis, and his new friend Reverend Wright. Obama doesn’t say much except that he worked with all the local religious leaders because that was the focus of his community organizing. Reverend Jesse Jackson, PUSH, and Rainbow Coalition also fit into the picture. Reverend Jackson and Minister Farrakhan, themselves, made a trip to Syria together in 1986.

Barack Obama would go on to call Reverend Wright his spiritual advisor, mentor, and friend. He married Barack and Michelle Obama in late 1992 then baptized their children. Obama sat in the pews of Reverend Wright’s church, Trinity United Church of Christ, for nearly 20 years.

In scattered comments throughout the current presidential campaign and in past years, it is clear that Barack Obama also sought out Father Michael Pfleger and Reverend James Meeks as spiritual advisors, mentors, and colleagues on numerous projects. While little is mentioned of Minister Farrakhan, former Farrakhan deputy, Dr. Vibert White, Jr., once known as Brother Vibert L.X., and later as Minister V.L. Muhammad, says they “run deep, and that for many years the two men have had ‘an open line between them’ to discuss policy and strategy, either directly or through intermediaries.” (Obama-Farrakhan Ties Are Close, Ex-Farrakhan Aide Says).

“Remember that for years, if you were a politician in Chicago, you had to have some type of relationship with Louis Farrakhan. You had to. If you didn’t, you would be ostracized out of black Chicago,” said Dr. Vibert White Jr., who spent most of his adult life as a member and ultimately top officer of the Nation of Islam.

In 1995, Reverend Wright and Barack Obama helped their mutual friend, Minister Farrakhan, organize the Nation of Islam’s Million Man March that they all then attended together. In later talking about his black nationalism, Barack explained in a Chicago Reader interview:

“These are mean, cruel times, exemplified by a ‘lock ’em up, take no prisoners’ mentality that dominates the Republican-led Congress. Historically, African-Americans have turned inward and towards black nationalism whenever they have a sense, as we do now, that the mainstream has rebuffed us, and that white Americans couldn’t care less about the profound problems African-Americans are facing.”

Kenneth Timmerman writes, as have others, that Obama’s involvement with the black nationalism of Minister Farrakhan and Reverend Wright, among others, is a connection to Khalid al-Mansour, who helped pay for Barack’s tuition at Harvard Law School:

“Black nationalism” is a current of thought and political action in the African-American community that has been championed by the likes of Farrakhan, Wright, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and Khalid al-Mansour. Obama discussed his attraction to black nationalism at length in his 1995 memoir “Dreams of My Father.”

In interviews, Khalid al-Mansour, lawyer and friend of the Saudi ruling family, has refused to discuss his relationship with Obama and Obama’s law school funding. As he explains to Kenneth Timmerman:

“In respect to Mr. Obama, I have told him, because so many people are running after him, and when stories get printed they usually get distorted and then he has to spend a lot of time trying to unravel them – and then after the experience of Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright whom I’ve never met, but I’ve followed the media coverage – I was determined that I was never going to be in that situation. I never discuss Barack Obama,” al-Mansour said.

The media frenzy surrounding Barack Obama is quite justified in many respects and in others is a bit intrusive.

Dr. Vibert White, Jr., observes and explains in a recent interview that Barack has learned well from Minister Farrakhan:

“If you listen to the rhetoric and you take away Obama’s political jargon, you hear a religious tenor to it that is very much Nation of Islam-like. I don’t know if anyone has ever touched on it, but Obama’s speaking style is very Malcolm-like, very Farrakhan-like.”

….

“I don’t know who was training Obama. But that style is not a ministerial style like in the Christian church. It’s a Nation of Islam style.”

….

“If the Nation of Islam can’t do anything else, it can train people how to speak. And nobody can outspeak a Muslim minister,” he said.

Even Michelle Obama plays a role in this, and very likely an even bigger one than is currently publicly known. Back in June, Larry Johnson at NoQuarterUSA, noted the “role that Louis Farrakhan and his wife, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, have played in the POLITICAL RISE of Barack and Michelle Obama.”

One happy family: Minister Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Father Michael Pleger, Reverend James Meeks, and, yes, Barack Obama.

Prairie Fire, published in 1974, is described as Ayers’ communist manifesto.

Dedicating a book to Sirhan Sirhan isn’t radical chic or a youthful indulgence. Dedicating a book to Sirhan Sirhan is tantamount to denying the Holocaust, embracing the screeds of the Aryan Brotherhood, and joining the ranks of those whose celebrated the attacks against America on 9/11.

Equating Sirhan Sirhan with Harriet Tubman and John Brown is stupidity. Bobby Kennedy worked on behalf of the poor and the unrepresented; Sirhan is a killer.

Sirhan Sirhan is a Palestinian sympathizer who murdered Bobby Kennedy because of Kennedy’s pro-Israel position. On the 40th anniversary of the assassination, ABC News reported:

Sirhan claimed he killed Kennedy because he was angry over Kennedy’s support for Israel. Sirhan was born in Jerusalem to Arab Christian parents who had moved to America when Sirhan was 12. The assassination occurred on the first anniversary of the Six Day War in which Israel had humiliated the combined armies of its Arab neighbors.

Yet another red flag about Obama, and this one should send alarms to the Jewish supporters of Obama.

Obama and Ayers, friends and collaborators; Obama endorsed Ayers’ book, Ayers dedicated his book to Sirhan Sirhan, an anti-Israeli terrorist and murderer of Bobby Kennedy.

Rashid Khalidi: Obama’s friend, anti-Israeli pro-PLO activist. The LA Times allegedly has a video of a dinner party in which Obama is toasting Khalidi, with Bill Ayers in attendance.

Sirhan Sirhan, Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Barack Obama

Obama has surrounded himself with violent and hateful anti-American activists, and he lies about that fact. Obama knows Ayers is a liability, but he also knows that he can’t alienate the anti-American Left. Larry Johnson writes:

As we have noted repeatedly at NoQuarter, Barack Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers probably started when Barack was at Columbia University in the late 1980s. That’s why Bill Ayers then turns to Barack Obama and gets him named to head the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which Ayers established. That’s why Barack felt so comfortable kicking off his political campaign for the State legislature in Bill Ayers’ living room.

Obama’s friend dedicated his book to the murderer of Bobby Kennedy, his preacher claimed 9/11 was God’s retribution, Obama told Rick Warren that the U.S. could be evil, Ayers bombed the Pentagon, Pfleger said that Hillary Clinton believed she had “white entitlement,” Obama called his ailing grandmother a “typical white person,” and Wright said the U.S had manufactured AIDS to kill African Americans.

The Democratic Party has been infected by an alliance of radical demagogues, the corrupt Chicago machine and the anti-American Left.

Bobby Kennedy:

After funeral services in New York, RFK’s funeral train carried his body to Washington where he was to be buried near his brother. Along the way, on both sides of tracks, Americans of every color and background saluted this great man who brought the disenfranchised together.

See also American Girl in Italy’s post

Medusa contributed to this post.

WE HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOU IN THE MSM: This is OUR ELECTION and it’s time YOU remember it! It’s WE THE PEOPLE who pick presidents! FYI? For those in the MSM? YOU work for US. If we can give them the ratings, damn it, we can take them away! You can get on the bus with us and enjoy the ride, or you can get run over. But there is only ONE side in this election to be on and as of right now WE ARE ON IT!

The Battle May Seem like it’s Over but the War has Just Begun!!!

“Fear is a thief in the night that steals your hope.
Hopelessness is an enemy that kills your will.
I’ve been there once and I will not let them in again.
”I’m and American and I choose to fight.”
-Senator John McCain

No better words have been spoken than the ones that rally the American people to a cause. Words of strength throughout our nation’s history have been known to unite us during the darkest of times and even the best of times.  They will lift you up, motivate you and remind you that this country is worth fighting for.

Theodore Roosevelt stated, “Patriotism means to stand by your country. It does not mean to stand behind the president or any other public official.”

There is no greater disservice that can be given to the hardworking citizens of our great nation than attempting to silence them by having their rights taken away or dictated by a supporter, paid blogger, political party or those within the MSM. 

There is no greater disservice to the American people than to label them racist because they used their god-given right of choice.  We don’t stand behind a candidate based on the color of their skin. We stand behind our country. That is why we ignore every comment and remark telling us to stand down and fall in. We should always, and I mean always, side with choosing country before political party, truth before lies and the people over the words of any commentator or pundit even if our choices have us standing alone.
 
We don’t need the backing of the majority to do what’s right. As long as you know what’s important you will never go wrong. Sometimes the best choice may be a choice or decision that you do not want to make at all. But it is necessary. There will be times when what you may want will not be what you get. And what others in the Democratic majority may personally feel they need is not always what our nation and its people may need.

Sometimes the right choice is the one that is hardest to make. Nothing in life is easy, and not everything will be handed to you. Sometimes you may just have to dig down deep and work for it. Nothing in life comes freely. What we all love the most about our country is that here, anyone can have the chance to live out the American dream. They can be whatever they want to be, and choose whatever path they want to take.
 
We have all earned it. You have earned it.  I HAVE earned it. And I will always continue to push forward and fight, each and every day.  When I make the transition - with pre-determined medical issues – into the civilian world, I want to ensure I have every avenue available to me. Every opportunity for success and every chance to have a portion, no matter how small, of the American Dream.   

I found my way, chose my path and found my voice. I am one of many. “Quitting” is not a word I understand.  “Giving up” is not an option I will choose.  And remaining silent will never happen.  I will not and cannot take steps back. Now is about moving forward.  It is essential that we, as a whole, united, do what is right, no matter how many people will tell you that it’s wrong.

We only have one chance to make to make: the right decision and the best choice. The ability to choose – your right of choice – does not come color-coded. It doesn’t matter if you are black or white, man or woman, rich or poor. We all are entitled to make our own decisions based on our own judgment. 



The first mistake you made was not paying attention to the writing on the wall. Because if you did, you would know that there is a movement underway and it’s moving fast and it is moving strong.

It was born from watching the best candidate for president get destroyed daily by her own party, the Obama campaign and those in the MSM. It was born from knowing that somewhere, there are little girls with big dreams who could one day become the next Commander in Chief.  It came from the mothers who can barely make ends meet and do without just so their families can barely get by. It’s from the blue collar workers who just lost their jobs and are tired of empty rhetoric and false promises by candidates whose issues change from day to day.

It was born from the heroes and sheroes deploying to the same place year after year with no end in sight. It came from the ones who want to give up, but find a way to keep on going. It started from the ones who have been constantly knocked down, but keep getting back on their feet. It came from those moving forward who never look back.

We all have a dream of change. A change that will put our nation back on the right path. Where putting the safety of our country is the first and foremost priority. Where people would stand up and fight for what they believe in. Where cries of racism is not the way nor the means to achieve a goal. Where the media reports the news instead of their biased opinion. Where it’s OK to vote on who is best to lead our country based on a candidate’s experience.

This election is historic for many reasons. But as of right now, there are so many people who will no longer be affiliated with any group or group(s), person or person(s), that would allow a political party to play the race card every time something does not happen or go their way.

There are so many people who will not stand by silently as they watch people falsely accused of allegations that bear no relevance or have no relationship to the situation at hand. There are so many people who  will not be part of a political party that utilizes character assassination to achieve a goal.  There are too many people who will look the other way as a woman, despite party affiliation, get attacked daily by those in the MSM.

We will not quietly sit by and watch the destruction of our country.  We will not support, vote, or show any loyalty to those who sit quietly aside and allow this to be played out in the court of public opinion. The political party we once knew is a political party that exists no longer.

As for me? I choose to stand behind those who understand and represent all the fundamental values our country was founded on.

I will no longer listen, allow, or justify language or actions made by anyone – no matter what party they belong to – if their intent is to cause racial divide as a means to gain the upper hand. In plain terms for better understanding? If you want Senator Barack Obama to win in November, you might want to log off your computer and go out and put your feet to the pavement and fight for it. There will be NO blank checks written in November.

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Tonight on NQR: Our View with Patsy and Sugar

Tonight at 9pm ET: Our View with Patsy and Sugar!

The Dynamic Duo are back tonight with their take on the political news as well as the media who keep telling us that voter resistance to Obama is based on racism.

Tune in live tonight at 9pm on NQR. The call-in line for questions is (347) 677-0792, and the chat room will be open.

P.S. If you’re new to the radio show’s chat room, you’ll want to sign up at BlogTalkRadio before the show begins.

Like many Democrats, I fell hard for Bobby Kennedy. Although I wasn’t born when he was killed, his memory is woven into the fabric of the Democratic Party. You couldn’t be a Democrat through the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s without yearning for his voice of outrage.

Bobby was the last politician, except perhaps for Hillary this year, who consciously sought to unite the remaining factions of the New Deal coalition. He sought the votes of African Americans in Watts and conservative whites in Indiana. His funeral train famously symbolized the divided America he sought to unite; for many miles between New York and Washington, whites and blacks, young and old, saluting veterans, nuns, and Americans every stripe lined the train tracks to see the train which took Bobby to his final rest.

It’s been 40 years since he was taken from us. In many ways our country is a more tolerant and better place. Women and minorities are no longer legally treated as second-class citizens, environmental and health standards have been put in place, a massive safety net saves many from abject poverty. But we’re also a cruder and meaner country, a place where destroying your opponent is considered the sign of a smart politician. It’s now considered funny and acceptable to sexualize and degrade women who seek elective office. In contrast, Bobby refused to be interviewed by the very tame Playboy magazine for fear his children would one day see it.

Bobby Kennedy’s voice was direct and honest. Of course he was a politician, but he knew his strength was in his authenticity. Politicians today smooth the edges of their rhetoric. In a desire not to offend, they soften their approach and offer platitudes instead of policies. They sooth us, but they don’t challenge us. Bobby challenged.

A professor from my college, where Bobby visited in the mid-sixties, related to me that when students asked Bobby who would pay for health care for the poor, he simply told them “You will.” His fearless voice is sorely missed today.

On Monday night I’ll be speaking with Thurston Clark, author of the superb new book: The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America. I hope you’ll join us.

What are your memories of Bobby?

As an aside, a Jackson friend also said Al Sharpton would not speak. No offense, but ya think? AA speakers more likely to appear include Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and Congressman James Clyburn.

But apparently NOT House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. According to Politico, Rangel is on the naughty list for daring to support his fellow NY delegation member, Hillary.

The Obama campaign is denying House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel a speaking role at this month’s Democratic National Convention — a move those close to the powerhouse Harlem congressman view as a spiteful snub.

Rangel surrogates approached Obama staffers this week about the possibility of securing him a slot at the podium, making the case that it would showcase reconciliation between the nominee and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s African-American supporters.

But they were told that the 78-year-old congressman’s support for Clinton earned him a place at the end of the line behind Barack Obama’s loyalists — even if Rangel played a crucial part in prodding Clinton to abandon her presidential bid in June.

Definitely a changing of the guard in terms of AA political representation to the public.

Read the rest ->

2) TalkLeft (the Politics of Crime) has a new crime on Wednesday’s article. Big Tent Democrat objects to Mort Halperin’s pivot on FISA. Seems he was vehemently against it until he was suddenly for it – right after Obama flipped. BTD cites an interview between Glenn Greenwald and Halperin during which Halperin did the stammer of shame – “that’s not what I’m here to talk about.”

GG: One of the reasons why I think ended up surprising a lot of people – your ultimate support for the bill, aside from your background – is that there was a letter that was sent on June 9, 2008 — just a month before you ended up writing that op-ed in the New York Times — that was signed by a whole variety of organizations – the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Policy Center, with which you were at the time affiliated – that essentially said that the current version of the bill that was being circulated -

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GG: My question is, were you essentially indicating to them, that if he came out and supported the bill, you would essentially lend support for him?

MH: I was indicating to them what my view was as to whether or not the bill was one that people should vote for. And I provided that advice to anybody who was interested in my personal view on the subject.

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GG: Now, last question here, and that is, I had heard before we began our conversation that either you were about to depart from, or already departed from, the Open Society Policy Institute where you had been employed for quite some time as the president. Did the Open Society Institute end up opposing final passage of the bill, and did that have anything to do with your ultimate separation or departure from that organization?

MH: No, I have not departed from them. I have by mutual agreement become a consultant, to leave myself free to speak out more freely on the substance of these issues – which is what I thought you wanted to talk about, which is the only reason I agreed to this conversation.

GG: What do you mean by that? You thought I wanted to talk about what?

MH: The substance of the issues. Not these kinds of questions about process. But – I think I’ll leave it at that.

GG: Okay, well, I thank you very much for taking the time, I appreciate it.

MH: Okay.

BTD wonders if Halperin represents a “new” kind of progressive. You know, I really don’t think so. I think Halperin represents a much more amoral type of character – ready to go to whatever side he needs to. Anyone following the FISA story should read this interview. If you were adamantly against FISA, you got sold out.

3) WaPo has a story on another Obama friend – Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick. I won’t rehash THAT long story here. Just note the title of the article says it all.

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Hopes to be Untethered to Attend Dem Convention

Even though he’s currently wearing an electronic tether that prevents him from traveling outside the Detroit area, Kilpatrick hopes a judge will grant him permission to fulfill his superdelegate duty of nominating Barack Obama for president at his party’s convention, the start of which is just a week and-a-half away.

Think Kilpatrick will get help from Obama?

4) At the Althouse, Ann Althouse calls out our favorite Murrow never-will-be, Keith Olbermann. Seems KO jumped on yet more tasteless remarks (does he HAVE any other) Rush Limbaugh made about the Edwards “affair.” Althouse doesn’t agree with Rush, but she thinks KO took the wrong tack. Interesting. Maybe we’ll see a throw-down between Rush and KO. Just stay out the way. As you probably know, it’s never wise to wrestle a pig (and I’ll leave you to choose which one is the pig in THIS situation) because you get all muddy and the pig enjoys it.

Double ditto for getting in a wrestling match with TWO pigs.

5) At realclearpolitics is an article from the Boston Phoenix. The article says the press has gotten the presidential race wrong from the start, going so far to say the writer predicted Obama would do well back in early 2007. Although this article doesn’t offer much in the way of detail, it is the first “post-campaign” type of article I’ve seen.

6) EJ Dionne, also at realclearpolitics, talks some more about the Obama/Clinton “feud.” He says that during the primaries, it was a Clinton strategy to try and “de-legitimize” Obama victories – without including, of course, any Obama dirty dealing.

The more Obama’s victories were cast as less than real, the more passionate Clinton’s own supporters became about the injustice of her defeat. A minority of her supporters threatens trouble at the Denver convention unless Obama gives her a roll call vote in which never-say-die Clintonites could express their loyalty one last time.

Obama has already given the Clinton forces a night for Hillary and part of a night for Bill. In truth, he has little choice in a nearly 50-50 party, but the Obama people have to be frustrated with the Clintonites for not recognizing how far he is going to give them their due.

Yet some of the Clinton folks still think that Obama has not been respectful enough of the Clintons and their historical contributions. Bill Clinton is clearly put out. This perceptive politician has to be more aware than anyone of the mistakes he and his wife’s campaign made. That makes the whole thing harder, for him and for Obama.

Just more “Obama = healer = peacemaker” stuff. Blech

7) USAToday has an article today about the roll call question.

Some of Clinton’s supporters are circulating a petition to put her name in nomination. Democratic Party rules require the signatures of 300 delegates, with no more than 50 coming from a single state. The rules also require that the candidate sign the petition. Whether Clinton will do so is now under negotiation with Obama.

“She’s in a dicey position,” Hildebrand said. “She’s got a lot of people who worked incredibly hard for her, who dedicated their lives to her mission, her candidacy and who are very passionate about this.”

One of those supporters is Allida Black, a George Washington University historian who said she cashed in her retirement savings to finance travel to 14 states for Clinton. Black, a Clinton delegate from Virginia, is helping circulate the nominating petition.

“This is not a spite Obama effort,” she said. “This is for Hillary to get the respect her campaign merits.”

Another Clinton delegate, Rosina Rubin of New York, argued that in acknowledging Clinton’s supporters, the Democratic convention would also be paying tribute to an important constituency. “Her achievement this year is really a culmination of everything women in politics have done in this country since before we had the right to vote,” Rubin said.

8 ) This is from Tuesday at MSNBC. Homeland Security is looking to set up its own spy group.

WASHINGTON – Concerns about foreign spies and terrorists has prompted the Homeland Security Department to set up its own counterintelligence division and require strict reporting from employees about foreign travel, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The new directive comes as the federal government increases its counterspy efforts across all agencies and raises the awareness of intelligence vulnerabilities in the private industry as well as in protecting government secrets.

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Homeland Security is creating a counterintelligence system now, because there is currently no place for such a function in the department — which was formed by 22 disparate agencies — said a senior U.S. government official who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to publicly discuss intelligence.

I’m no expert at the DC agency game, the spy game or the DC power game. Still, this strikes me as significant.

9) This morning, therealbarackobama has a bit from Rev. Meeks, including video. Meeks calls for a school boycott until Chicago schools get more “white money.” I don’t disagree with Meeks’ concern about education although I think having students stay home is – well – counterintuitive. Meeks does say at about 1:40 into the video that he wants the “white schools” and, barring that, “white money.” I wonder if that “white money” is connected to the notion of “education debt” talked about by Obama.

Having been involved in education for over 20 years, I can tell Meeks that underfunded schools is a result of funding them by property taxes. Urban schools are not the only underfunded schools either; rural schools suffer from the same problems, and they are more likely to be majority white.

So, while I don’t disagree there’s a serious problem, I loathe the racial angle to this. Yet again, a broader and more complicated issue about funding education gets reduced to race. I call BS on that.

And where do BO’s children go to school????? University of Chicago Lab school. And how much help did he provide to the Senator Obama Kogelo Secondary School in Kenya, that lacks water, sanitation or electricity after promising to do so?

None. The Evening Standard covered this story some time ago.

And that project that Obama and Ayers worked on that was supposed to revolutionize Chicago public schools? Well, I don’t have time enough to go there. Let me just refer you to a previous post by Steve Diamond at therealbarackobama.

10) Need some redstateupdate? Here’s Jackie and Dunlap on John Edwards. Hold on tight. . . .

Senator Obama, on his Rockapalooza tour of the Middle East and Europe, is now taking time out from photo ops and playing hoops (you know, while Afghani women were being executed) in order to issue a ‘fatwa’ of his own: He is forbidding the press corps to wear green.

From Politico:

Mohamad Bazzi, a professor of journalism at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief for Newsday, called the instruction “very strange.”

“I guess green is the ‘Hamas color’ — but it’s also the color of Islam!” Bazzi said in an email from Beirut. “That’s one way for the Obama campaign to alienate 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide.”

Why stop now, Senator. You’ve already alienated ‘bitter’ voters, Asian voters, Italian voters, rural voters, women voters, gay voters, FL, MI, WV, KY, OH, to name a few… but wait, there’s more!

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said:

“I’ve never heard of that before,” he said, adding that nobody had ever suggested avoiding the color on his satellite television show, which airs weekly in the Arab world. “This is an overreach on somebody’s part,” he said. “It’s not going to insult anybody, nor is it going to offend them if somebody does wear green.”

“Our folks in Jerusalem and the USA have no idea what this is about,” said an official of one major American Jewish organization. “We have not ever suggested that people not wear the color green.

Is Obama afraid of being associated with being a Muslim? Why? He’s a Christian, no? Why the abundance of caution? Doesn’t he realize this could be construed as him protesting too much – again?

Just as he did with his faux “outrage” at the New Yorker cartoon of he and Michelle…

I mean, if there’s really no smoke, why make a fire? But this is not the only fire…

We recently had the Obama campaign ‘uninviting’ Senator Max Cleland from a campaign event. You remember Max – the man who lost three limbs in the Vietnam war and fights to help other veterans’ recovery; one of the icons of the Democratic Party. Well, the Obama campaign says he’s technically a “lobbyist” and they wouldn’t want to open themselves up to criticism. Uh-huh.

OK, now that he’s offended all veterans. What else do we have…

Throwing Jesse Jackson under the bus. Why worry? I mean, Jesse Jackson hasn’t earned his stripes in the civil rights movement or anything, has he?

Throwing – actually, hurling General Wesley Clark under the bus. By the way, at the Netroots Convention this weekend, I think the General got a little of his own back – but I’m not sure the crowd got the reference. In thanking the Netroots Nation for sticking up for him after being skewered for his comments about John McCain, Clark said:

I was at a Washington dinner with James Carville, … I said, “James, …how are we going to convince the American people that just because we’re in a time of war that they don’t have to vote Republican? How are we going to get them to understand that Democrats have a pretty good national security record?”

[Carville] said, “You’ll never get the American people to believe that Democrats will defend them until Democrats stand up and defend each other.”

The Netroots crowd cheered, not realizing General Clark was probably criticizing Obama for not defending him.

Obama also threw Hillary Clinton’s 18 million supporters under the bus and then told us to “get over it,” with his inimitable groupie, Nancy Pelosi echoing his every turn of phrase. You remember Nancy – the House Speaker with the 14% approval rating – once again unable to keep her foot out of her mouth insulting Hillary’s voters re the possibility of her being selected for the VP slot…tossing out Gov. Kathy Sebelius’ name in the same breath – cause you know, all us gals are interchangeable.

Then there’s his audacity at wanting to campaign in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Germany. No offense there.

I now understand Senator Obama thinks our military isn’t enough and wants to employ a civilian national security force? Can you say Blackwater? Does this scare anyone else?

And now he may be offending all Muslims, too?

This is odd considering none other than Senator John Kerry said that Senator Obama is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between us and the Muslim community. Not so much now, huh, John?

By the way, Senator Kerry, how did it feel to see your friend Max Cleland kicked to the curb by your favorite wunderkind, Obama? Are you going to make a public statement about that one and speak out for your dear old friend, Max? Or is your new friend, Barack, more important?

And then there is the good relationship Obama’s says he’s going to build up with Europe over the next eight to ten years. Ten years? Did the length of the presidential term just increase while I was out for dinner or something? How about eight years? Never mind, eight, ya gotta make it to the first four, Barack…or is that just a technicality?

Right now, considering how damaged the Republican brand is, with Obama’s enormous financial and press advantage, how is it that he’s in a dead heat with Senator McCain? I mean, he should be 20 points ahead, shouldn’t he?

Hank Sheinkopf, a respected political consultant, was interviewed on Lou Dobbs radio show last week, and said Obama ‘just needs to keep his head down and his mouth shut till the Conventioin and then he’ll get a bump.’ Wow. I thought we wanted to hear Senator Obama speak. I thought his strength was his communication skills. Maybe the first term is not such a sure thing after all.

Perhaps that is why Obama is terrified to face John McCain at a town hall meeting.

Hell, he won’t even meet with his own press corps. You know, the ones who aren’t allowed to wear green.

From Andrea Mitchell on Hardball, July 21st:

Let me just say something about the message management. He didn’t have reporters with him, he didn’t have a press pool, he didn’t do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you’re seeing is not reporters brought in. You’re seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they’re not interviews from a journalist. So, there’s a real press issue here. Politically it’s smart as can be. But we’ve not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.

Don’t complain Andrea – you vomited all over Hillary at every turn so you could help this guy get the nomination. Happy now?

Maybe if the press corps asks Senator Obama what his favorite color is and wears that, they’ll actually be granted a real press conference and get to ask, you know, like eight questions or something?

And now the ultimate insult. Senator Obama has put his logo on a plane that is flying overseas instead of the American flag. We have troops risking their lives every day. He is there representating our country and by America’s leave, with America’s protection. We fly our colors.

Does he think he is bigger than the United States of America?

I find this man and his campaign so deeply offensive, words fail at his latest act of hubris and disrespect. So I will simply end here.