Category Archives: Political polemics

AMERICAN FLAGS TAKEN DOWN IN HAITI

President Obama bans display of the American flag in Haiti.

We, the people of this great nation, have reason to be proud of the manner and the extent to which the United States responds when a natural disaster strikes anywhere in the world. Soldier and civilian volunteer join the task of providing rescue, food, shelter and clothing for the victims. We act selflessly, asking nothing in return. Along with the flags of other noble nations, the American flag flies in the midst of a tragic scene to say you are not alone. We care. We are here and we are here to help.

But in Haiti, Obama will have none of it. The relief goes on, but the flag must not fly, not even over our relief headquarters. You see, to Obama that flag does not stand for a nation that is a force for good in the world. To Obama the banner we reverently call our Stars and Stripes stands for slavery, injustice and overbearing dominance in the world. To Barack Obama our flag represents the America he has come forth to change. Flying our flag at the scene of good works offends him because it conflicts with his perception of what America is and always has been. For America to claim good works, in Obama’s mind is hypocrisy.

If you consider my opinion to be extreme, consider this. A mosaic is a picture formed of bits and pieces, no one of which has significance in and of itself. However, by taking bits from here and pieces from there a clear picture begins to emerge. Here are some pieces.

Obama wept in the pew. Obama is a sincere man. Upon listening to a sermon on the subject “The white man’s greed is responsible for a world in need” Obama says he was so moved that he dedicated his life to righting injustice in this world.

Thomas Sowell, in his book A Conflict of Visions, explains there are two visions of social justice. One is of equal treatment and equal opportunity. This vision is a bedrock of American belief, the reason the United States is seen as the Land of Opportunity. The result however, is unequal outcome because people are not equal in terms of ability and application. The second vision of social justice calls for equal status, equal outcome. To achieve equal status you must take from the top and give to the bottom. This is unequal treatment. Sowell does not so state, but it is obvious this is the Marxist vision of social justice. It is also Obama’s vision.

Obama refused to wear an American flag pin during his campaign until political expediency led to pragmatism trumping principle.

Obama has made it a practice to denigrate, or at least apologize for America in speech after speech given abroad.

America’s heritage is British. Obama insulted the Queen with a gift of a tape of his own speeches and has deliberately slighted the Prime Minister more than once. The bust of Winston Churchill was banished from the White House and sent back to England prematurely. He has snubbed our best friend and staunch ally. He has flatly stated there is no special relationship between Great Britain and the United States.

Michelle, in what Barack must have seen as a political gaffe, has told us she never in her life had any pride in America, until her husband won the nomination. Michelle is also on record for telling young students that “America is a mean country”. I know, Michelle is not Barack. With no context her comments would be but stray pieces that do not fit. Place them in the mosaic or leave them out, as you wish, the picture remains the same.

Obama launched his political career with a fundraiser from the home of Weathermen bombers Bernadette Dorn and Bill Ayers who sponsored the event. Ayers is pictured standing on the American flag laid in the dirt of an alley.

There is much more, to much to list here. Pieces are everywhere: “spread the wealth”, “superpower, like it or not”, a racist Boston policeman is invited for a beer, “some form of reparations would be in order”, favoring a Marxist Chavez acolyte over the people of Honduras, abuse of power in the forced transfer of assets from bondholders to the auto workers union, America is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

As long as this man remains President my prayer will not be God Bless America. It will be the plea God Help America.

Bob B

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NOAM CHOMSKY QUOTED IN PRAVDA

Compares Tea Party to Weimar Germany

I thought Chomsky was dead, must have been confusing him with Howard Zinn. Noam is alive, but still not well. For if he were of sane mind he would not be expressing fear that a Hitleresque leader might emerge to lead the Tea Party and bring upon illegal immigrants and blacks what Hitler brought upon the Jews.

The article is here. It ends with Chomsky’s warning, “I do not believe that this is far from happening”. Chomsky has never sworn allegiance to the truth but in this case I believe he is sincere. Once you close your mind to objective truth you forfeit all connection to reality. Chomsky has allowed himself no knowledge of the motivation or goals of the Tea Party. He does not fear what they stand for because he does not know what they stand for. He fears the unknown, and trembles.

Bob B

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GOLDMAN SACHS INVESTIGATIVE HEARING

Random Observations
Drudge headline – Goldman would be enriched by Dodd bill
Increased regulation hampers primarily the smaller financial institutions thereby strengthening the relative position of the biggest firms like Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs gave just a tad less than a million dollars to Obama’s campaign fund.

The Democratic Party and its leader Obama are presuming Goldman guilty in the court of populist rhetoric and using the alleged offenses to justify new regulation.

The argument follows the line that it was fraudulent activity by Goldman Sachs executives that nearly brought financial ruin upon the United States and much of the rest of the world. Despite the severity of the alleged offense no criminal charges have been filed. Should they choose to do so, Goldman could seek settlement for a fine paid by the firm. Under the provisions of the Section 7 Fraud Statutes the fine would conclude the matter and effectively bar any follow-on lawsuits from injured parties.

Goldman’s customers are sellers for whom they structure and sell securities and investors who buy these same securities. Goldman’s statement that they “always put the customer first” is a snickerworthy pledge. Which customer? They represent both sides of the same transaction.

What is going on here is mostly politics. The inference that Goldman brought down the economy is absurd. That is not to declare Goldman innocent of wrongdoing. Nonetheless, it looks like Goldman is participating as a reluctant but willing scapegoat in order that regulation enacted might be favorable to them.

Bob B

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RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

God and the Soldier, we adore,
In time of danger, not before.
The danger passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the Soldier slighted.

~Rudyard Kipling

Warren Buffet, latest Democratic special interest.

Warren Buffet once said derivative are “financial weapons of mass destruction.” He is currently lobbying Congress to put a couple words in the financial reform bill that will enable him to hang on to his 63 billion dollar derivatives portfolio. The Wall St Journal points out,
“The battle over the provision shows how lobbying by businesses and lawmakers to insert just a few words into a complex bill can have a major impact on the country’s biggest companies.”

No More Beer Summits

Andrew Breitbart reminds us of the incident in Boston when a policeman temporarily detained an individual forcing entry into a house. Obama, knowing only that the policeman was white and the individual forcing entry was black assumed it was racial harassment. Obama held a beer summit of all involved by way of apology.

Breitbart suggests obliquely that another beer summit might be in order, one hosted by the spit and slur claimers. He has written a good summary of this incident that did not happen. Don’t miss it.

Bob B

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THE WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Week ending April 23, 2010

Monday
Obama misses Polish President’s funeral
Heads of state from the smaller European countries found ways around their ashes to attend the funeral, Sarkozy and Merkel stayed home. Biden and Clinton express their sympathies to the Polish Embassy. Obama played golf.

New York Times reports Muslim outreach
Obama is becoming less cautious about speaking out for Muslims

Tuesday
GOP goes on fishing expedition
Asks for investigation into White House connection to Goldman Sachs case.

Biden lays it on.
Blames greedy banks for financial collapse

Wednesday
Grounds trembling under SEC case against Goldman Sachs
SEC charge is Goldman defrauded ACA by failing to disclose Paulson’s intent to short the portfolio ACA was assembling. Paulson aide says he informed ACA of Paulson’s intent.

Thusday
Obama and Biden both go to the scene of the crime to pump up some resentment
In a speech at Cooper Union in NYC Obama lays it on the greedy banks for causing the country’s economic problem. Biden carries the same water elsewhere in the city.

Friday
Obama slams Arizona immigration law
Claims law violates civil rights

About Washington Week in Review
It is our intent to publish this feature on Saturday in the future. The goal is to provide a handy recap of interesting events that occurred during the week, including some that may not have been given much attention in the major media.

WHEN INCOME TAX IS INCOME, NOT TAX

The IRS provides a simple online income tax calculator. They call it an “Estimator”. You will find it here. One could enter the following hypothetical data:

Married with two children, adjusted gross income $50,000, child care expenses $1,500, claiming just 2 of the 3 child care credits offered.

Then enter $1,800 as income tax withheld and click the button to see the result.

The tax due is calculated to be $2,439 but the government pays it all, and more. The “refund” turns out to be $2,131 which is $331 more than was withheld in the first place. It all happens through the magic of “tax credits” in excess of tax due.

I will say one thing for this system. As a method to spread the wealth it is very efficient. An increment of money is taken from those who pay taxes and given directly to those who don’t. Administrative costs for this Robin Hood plan are minimal. It also qualifies as stealth welfare. Voters do not think of the IRS as a source of income and net income from the IRS does not show up in the welfare statistics. well, perhaps it’s not welfare, our citizen was earning $50,000 a year.

Bob B

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DID GOLDMAN DO IT?

It doesn’t matter.

Of course it matters civilly; if wrongs were committed the consequences should be applied. But guilt or innocence doesn’t matter politically because the allegation alone serves the purpose.

In Rules for Radicals Alinsky’s 13th Tactical Rule is “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Goldman has been picked. (If they are guilty, a cynic might say they volunteered.) “Freeze it” means stay on it. Obama is coming to New York Thursday to stay on it. To “personalize it” means getting the community to feel personally harmed by it. You lost your job because of a recession by which Goldman profited. To “polarize it” is to use the target to fan the flames, to agitate. Get the people angry. Get them behind legislation to reform the financial markets. The government needs more power over the financial industry, to keep the cats from getting fat while you are looking for work.

Mayor Bloomberg learned of the intended visit only upon seeing it in the news. He was not amused. But the goals of polarization and agitation were advanced in the process. A good community organizer makes it plain that he is not subservient to the man, not part of the establishment. There is no need to coordinate with the mayor.

Random Thots hopes to publish an analysis of Goldman’s guilt or innocence when more details become available. In the meantime we recommend today’s article in the New York Times. It appears to be a fair and well written analysis.

Bob B

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THE NEXT PROBLEM

“And if we don’t change what led to the crisis, we’ll doom ourselves to repeat it.” “Opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again,” With these words Barack Obama has introduced the next problem that requires increased government control in order to solve. He was referring, of course, to the mortgage meltdown that precipitated the economic recession.

Kudos Mr. President. You have chosen the next problem well. Government’s responsibility has already been transferred to the private sector. Dodd is done. Criticism of Barney Frank can be framed as homophobia. Voters don’t know what a GSE is and Franklin Raines is remembered as the Editor in Chief of the New York Times. The word “crisis” plays nicely with the current Problem as well.

Of course Franklin Raines is the should-have-been convicted former head of the Government Sponsored Entity (GSE) known as Fannie Mae. It is interesting to note that the F in the official name stands for Federal, not Fannie. It was Howell Raines at the New York Times, the one who was discredited and dismissed as a consequence of the Jason Blair scandal. The two Raines are related, but only by ideology.

Related links

New York Times articles about Franklin’s fraudulent financial finagling.

Obama is major recipient of  campaign contributions from FNM

Washington Post reports extensive fraud at Government Sponsored Entity

The Motley Fool publishes a summary of Fannie Mae culprits.

Bob B

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WASHINGTON BY THE WEEK

Week ending April 16 2010

Leftovers
Once upon a time I had a neighbor who insisted his wife never made an original meal, only leftovers. (Is it still OK to say “wife”? I am never sure these days.)

Leftovers from last week, Friday April 9
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens resigns
Stevens was leaning left, as they say, so the numeric balance will not change but the angle of the dangle, as they say, may increase.

Dawn Johnson withdraws
Most Americans are unfamiliar with the name. She was Obama’s pick to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The Leftside bloggers are very upset. The Rightside speculates that Dawn was too far left for Harry Reid to be able to garner enough votes for confirmation, even with his filibuster proof majority.

Originals for this week
Saturday
Obama breaks protocol
The Prez ducks the press and goes to a family function without them. I told you the man is not insane. Good for him!

Monday
Google CEO proposes screening your news
Eric Schmidt is a political activist supporting Obama. He is also CEO of Google. He says technology of the sort employed by Google should be used to determine what you are given to read. Joseph Goebbels would have loved the idea.

Obama bows again
President Barack Obama greets Chinese President Hu Jintao with a bow during the official arrivals for the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. It would be nice if he had shown the same respect to someone like the Dali Lama.

Tuesday
Rasmussen poll – 58% of likely voters favor repeal of Obamacare

White House asks the White House Correspondents’ Association to limit access of conservative newsgroup to the association’s annual banquet.

Wednesday
Rasmussen poll Surprises, Ron Paul vs. Barack Obama would be a dead heat if election were today, 41 to 42 percent. And 24% of voters consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement.

Neil Armstrong says Obama decision will make the U.S. a 2nd or 3rd rate player in space.

Thursday
Cap and Tax revived in Senate.
The House has already passed their own version.

Friday
White House complains about CBS report that potential Supreme Court Justice nominee may be a lesbian
So what?

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RANDOM MUSINGS

It’s unfair
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said [] it’s “deeply unfair” that some financial institutions that got taxpayer-paid bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions of ordinary Americans.

Of course it’s unfair. Big bucks should never should have been given to those financial institutions. No one ever said government is fair.

A truly sad farce
Democratic voters elected this man to replace Cynthia McKinney. That makes him one of the elites who determine what is best for the rest of us, for example Obamacare. Criticize not the man, for he has a genuine and sad mental illness. Criticize the populace who elected him nonetheless.

Health premiums could rise 17 pct for young adults after 2012
Benefits for young voters start before the election, assessments to cover the cost don’t start until after the election. I can see why Republicans were shut out of the deliberation room.

Bob B

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