Monthly Archives: November 2010

WIKILEAKS, THE LIGHTER SIDE

If Julian Assange, the perpetrator behind Wikileaks, were an American citizen he could likely be found guilty at some level for treason and should be punished accordingly. We recognize the seriousness of his offense but we see a lighter side as well. Take for instance the revelations of “What America Really Thinks of World Leaders”.

To the outer world, diplomats appear to live in a nether land of obscuration, speaking a stilted language of hints and innuendo trying all the while to say something and nothing at the same time. It is refreshing indeed to see what diplomats have to say when even the bald among them let their hair down and speak their minds free from the perceived need for political correctness and diplotalk.

We hear Kim Jong Il described as “a flabby old chap suffering from physical and psychological trauma.” We knew that. But somehow we weren’t sure the State Department knew it because we never heard them say it before.

We are told Omar Gadaffi is strange and learn he travels accompanied by a voluptuous Ukrainian “nurse”. We always knew he was mentally mad. But now we know he must not be totally mad.

Our diplomats tell our other diplomats that Italian President Silvio Berlusconi parties so hard he can’t get enough sleep to function well at his daytime government job. Berlusconi laughs. Germany’s foreign minister is criticized. Merkel doesn’t laugh. The German sense of humor has been missing for as long as that first sock that never came back from the dryer.

So…  Hillary ordered her diplomats to spy on some other diplomats at the UN. That revelation nearly put us to sleep. We have wondered at times if the UN was founded as a cost saving measure. Having all the spies and all the diplomats in one place all the time, cuts down on a lot of travel expense. And as anyone who has seen a James Bond movie knows, spies can rack up some huge expense accounts.

And then we learned things some of us really didn’t know. Hamid Karzai is “delusional” and “paranoid” when “off his meds.” But Nancy Pelosi comes out very well. She had the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) “scared to death” on the eve of her visit in 2009. Nancy has been an outspoken supporter of the Chinese freedom activists and of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Well done, Nancy!

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S DEPLORABLE THANKSGIVING MESSAGE

The First Thanksgiving Feast was a three day celebration in 1621; life was harsh but the harvest was bountiful. Pilgrims and Native American Indians joined together to give thanks for that which was good and forget for a time that which was not.

Thanksgiving lived on as a tradition until 1863 when President Lincoln declared the tradition to be a National Holiday. The Civil War was in progress and Lincoln added a prayer for peace between the two factions that were dividing the Union. To that end he concluded the proclamation with theses words:

[We the people] implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

No holiday is more dedicated to the expression of mutual gratitude, harmony and togetherness than Thanksgiving. It is a day to put aside what divides us and reflect on all that unites us, as families and as a nation.

Who among us could possibly think of the Thanksgiving table as a place to promote hostility between family members and as a time to introduce argument over the philosophical gap that threatens our national unity? The Democratic Party, that’s who. Here is the message published by the DCCC on Thanksgiving eve.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010
@Stake: Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet
DCCC @Stake

Friend —

Picture this. You’re settling in at the table on Thursday and in between shouts of “please pass the mashed potatoes,” one of your relatives starts repeating one of Sarah Palin’s lies, or some ludicrous accusation about President Obama that he heard at a tea party rally or on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.

To make sure that you’re ready to talk politics with all of your obnoxious Republican relatives this Thanksgiving, we’re proud to bring you [our special] Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet.

You just know it’s bound to happen, especially after an election season as heated as this one was. That Republican relative we all have is going to show up at Thanksgiving and start parroting lies about Democrats that he heard on Fox News or from one of those shadow group attack ads he saw on TV during the campaign.

The Cheat Sheet will arm you with the real facts so you can answer back with the truth as soon as your Republican relatives start sounding like Sarah Palin.

Download the DCCC’s 2010 Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet to make sure you’re ready to do political battle with any Republicans who show up at your Turkey Day feast.

Voice Your Outrage against Republican Health Care Hypocrisy.

And speaking of outrageous things Republicans say, thanks to you we are holding all of those Republican hypocrites accountable for wanting to accept taxpayer-funded health care even as they promise to repeal health insurance reform for hardworking Americans.

Already, more than 30,000 of you have signed our petition, calling for House Republicans to forgo taxpayer-funded health care benefits before trying to repeal health care reform.

If you haven’t done so already, sign our petition to help us expose all of the Republican Health Care Hypocrites.

Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

The Democratic Campaign Contribution Committee (DCCC) is the fund raising arm of the Democratic Party. The memo’s language is what one might expect from the crudest of political pundits but this is an official statement from the Democratic Party written by the Director of the DCCC, John Vogel. We expect you may find it hard to believe, so here is a link to the DCCC’s official website called @Stake. You will note some minor editing to simplify reading but the tone and context is retained.

JUSTAPHOTO

The second in a coming series of Justaphotos

NORTH KOREA, PALIN AND OUR POLICY

­­­It appears Kim Jong Il wants another reward from the United States for stopping an aggression he started. Obama says we should talk. Ramirez captures the spirit of  U.S. policy. If they bomb us, we will not stand by idle. We will prepare some tea and insist on a chat with them about it.

Sarah Palin was expressing some better ideas on the Glenn Beck Show when she referred to “our North Korean ally”. It was an obvious slip of the lip, immediately corrected. When Barack Obama makes such a gaffe, and there have been many, they go largely unreported. Not so, with Palin of course. Here’s Sarah’s humorous response:

A Thanksgiving Message to All 57 States
by Sarah Palin on Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 5:46pm

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…

The gibberish above is based, of course, on a series of misstatements and verbal gaffes made by Barack Obama. Links are included to confirm the series of misstatements.

ANOTHER MOZART?

He may not be able to play the violin, but I gotta tell ya, on the drums he’s sumpin else!!

TURKEY IN THE STRAW

Happy Thanksgiving Day! How about a little Turkey in the Straw?

Or perhaps you will like this version.

SOROS WANTS TO BACK A NEW HORSE

“George Soros Tells Progressive Donors Obama Might Not Be The Best Investment” Huffington Post Nov 17, 2020

Could there be a new machine in the making? In professional sports it’s the man with the money that owns the team. He picks the players and decides who will be the coach. He controls the team but may never play in the game. In baseball it’s called Steinbrenner (R.I.P.) at work. In governance it’s called a political machine. The ‘head of the machine is called the “boss.”

We have in our family an old coin bank sitting on the mantel over the fireplace. In antique circles it is known as the “Tammany bank.” It is a cast iron sculpture of Boss Tweed sitting high on a throne-like chair with an upraised arm. If you put a coin in his hand, the arm drops down, the coin falls into his jacket pocket and his head nods to say thanks.

The little bank is named after Tammany Hall which was the name given to the New York political machine circa 1880. Best known among other political machines are Huey Long who controlled Louisiana from New Orleans for decades and the Daley machine which has controlled Chicago and Cook County since 1955. All are of the Democratic Party.

There has never been a Washington machine. George Soros has the money and the opportunity to be the first “Boss” of a Federal machine. He clearly wants to see a Socialist in the White House.

JUST A PHOTO, Nov 2010

The LINEUP

This is just a photo. No story and no implications intended. We hope to bring you more Justaphotos from time to time. Some with implications, some not. Click the image for a better view.

NAKED SCANNER COMPANY IS EXPOSED

Those Naked Body Scanners the TSA is using are made by a company named OSI Systems, Inc. The company spends millions on lobbying for government business. Their Chairman and CEO was invited to join Obama on his India trip. Here is the press release.

OSI Systems Press Release, November 12, 2010:
OSI Systems Chief Executive Officer Joins US Presidential Visit to India

HAWTHORNE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS), a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the Security and Healthcare industries, today announced that Deepak Chopra, Chairman and CEO, was selected to accompany US President, Barack Obama, to Mumbai and attended the US India Business Entrepreneurship meeting, which was held by the US India Business Council (US IBC). The goal of the meeting was to promote further trade between US and India.

TAXES HAVE CONSEQUENCES

People react to taxes. That is why a 10% increase in a tax rate does not produce a 10% increase in revenue. Two of the fastest growing states in the Union are Florida and New Hampshire, neither of which levies an income tax. California has the greatest financial shortfall and the highest income tax rate in the nation. These are not coincidences. They are the result of personal and business reaction to relative tax rates.

Ireland is considering raising the Corporate tax rate from 10 to 12.5 percent. Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Merrill Lynch, Intel and Google have all made public announcements that they may locate processing operations elsewhere if such a proposal becomes law. Should just one of them carry through with a move, Ireland could lose more by loss of that taxpayer than it gains from the increase in rates. You can expect not only the companies that expressed their objections, but all international corporations to reconsider any expansion plans they had for within the Emerald Isle.

The loss of manufacturing in the U.S. is not just cheap labor elsewhere; it is also the corporate tax rate. At 35% it is the second highest in the developed world. Those who complain that jobs are being exported overseas should be arguing for reducing the corporate tax rate. More often than not, they are doing just the opposite.