“The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England: John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Former members included Pete Best (drums, vocals) and Stuart Sutcliffe (bass, vocals). Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and skiffle, the group worked with different musical genres, ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, style and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked upon solo careers.
The Beatles are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music, selling over one billion records internationally.[1] In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number one albums (15) than any other group in UK chart history. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries; their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion records worldwide.[2] According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles have sold more albums in the United States than any other band.[3] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles number one on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[4] According to that same magazine, The Beatles’ innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of top-selling Hot 100 artists to celebrate the chart’s fiftieth anniversary; The Beatles had topped it.[5] …”
Roy Orbison – “Ooby Dooby” from Black and White Night
I’m Hurtin’ by Roy Orbison 1960
Roy Orbison – Bridge over troubled water
Roy Orbison – In the Real World (with Lyrics)
Roy Orbison Preforms Without His sunglasses, In colour HD (Part One)
Roy Orbison – Crying (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – Running Scared (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – Only the Lonely (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – Sweet dreams baby
Roy Orbison – Mean Woman Blues (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – It’s Over (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – Goodnight (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – London Palladium performance, 1966
Roy Orbison – “Dream Baby” and “Running Scared” (TV SHOW 1972)
Roy Orbison – Goodnight
Roy Orbison – Blue Angel
Roy Orbison – Blue Bayou
Roy Orbison – “Blue Bayou” from Black and White Night
Roy Orbison – Mean Woman Blues
Roy Orbison – Land of 1000 Dances (Live)
Roy Orbison move on down the line
Roy Orbison – Crying (Monument Concert 1965)
Roy Orbison – Crying (The Johnny Cash Show – Sept 27, 1969)
Roy Orbison and The Everly Brothers – “What’d I Say” on “Shindig”
Roy Orbison – “Crying” from Black and White Night
CRYING (Music Video) Roy Orbison, K D Lang
KD Lang & Roy Orbison – Crying
Roy Orbison – In Dreams. a black and white night
Roy Orbison – Running Scared
Roy Orbison – Running Scared live
Roy Orbison Walk On 1968 Clip Color
ROY ORBISON – 01 – Only The Lonely – Live in Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 02 – Leah – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 04 – In Dreams – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 05 – Mean Woman Blues – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 07 – Candy Man – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 08 – Crying – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 10 – It’s Over – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 11 – Oh Pretty Woman – Live In Texas 1986
ROY ORBISON – 12 – Running Scared – Live In Texas 1986
Roy Orbison – “Candy Man” from Black and White Night
Roy Orbison Walk On
Roy Orbison – I Drove All Night
Roy Orbison – A Love so Beautiful
Pretty Woman
Roy Orbison – Oh, Pretty Woman (from Black & White Night)
Sweet Dreams Baby — Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison – Claudette
Everly Brothers & Roy Orbison~ Claudette~ 2 demos
Roy Orbison : California Blue
Roy Orbison – Lana
Roy Orbison-Yo Te Amo Maria
Roy Orbison- Danny Boy
Roy Orbison – Leah
Roy Orbison – Leah (with Encore – Rare Live 1972)
Roy Orbison – “Leah” from Black and White Night
Roy Orbison – Crying with k.d. lang
Roy Orbison : She’s A Mystery To Me
Traveling Wilburys – Not Alone anymore (Subtitulado español)
Roy Orbison : She’s A Mystery To Me
Roy Orbison “I Care”
Roy Orbison – Black & White Night Live (Full Album)
Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight.
~Roy Orbison
Background Articles and Videos
Roy Orbison
“…Roy Kelton Orbison (23 April, 1936 – 6 December, 1988), nicknamed “The Big O,” was an influential Grammy Award-winning Americansinger-songwriter, guitarist and a pioneer of rock and roll whose recording career spanned more than four decades. Orbison is best known for the songs, “Ooby Dooby,” “Only the Lonely,” “In Dreams,” “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Crying,” “Running Scared,” “You Got It“. He was known for his smooth high baritone voice, with a range of at least two and a half octaves. He was rarely seen on stage without his trademark black sunglasses. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1989, he was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. …”
Roy Orbison, 52, a Singer Famed For Plaintive Pop Anthems, Dies
By JON PARELES
Published: December 8, 1988
“…Roy Orbison, the singer and songwriter whose best work brought introspection and yearning to rock-and-roll, died of a heart attack Tuesday night while visiting his mother in Hendersonville, Tenn. He was 52 years old and lived in Malibu, Calif.
Roy Orbison, the singer and songwriter whose best work brought introspection and yearning to rock-and-roll, died of a heart attack Tuesday night while visiting his mother in Hendersonville, Tenn. He was 52 years old and lived in Malibu, Calif. …”
Majel Barrett Roddenberry, The First Lady of Star Trek
Rest In Peace and With The Stars Majel Barrett Roddenberry, The First Lady of Star Trek.
Majel Barrett Roddenberry Memorial. 1932-2008.
“The Cage” – Star Trek Original Pilot – G. Roddenberry Intro
Gene Roddenberry Fan Tribute
Majel Barrett Roddenberry Fan Tribute
Star Trek 40th Anniversary
Background Articles and Videos
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
“Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (born Majel Leigh Hudec, February 23, 1932 – December 18, 2008)[1] was an American actress and producer. She was also the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.[1]
As a result of her marriage to Gene Roddenberry and her ongoing relationship with Star Trek – participating in some way in every series to date – she is sometimes referred to as “the First Lady of Star Trek”. She and Gene Roddenberry were married in Japan on August 6, 1969, after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series.[1] …”
“…When Roddenberry sold his second Star Trek pilot to the network, he remembered Majel’s work in “The Cage” and hired her as Nurse Christine Chapel. Instead of the dark-haired M. Leigh Hudec that they had disliked in the other pilot, she now used the name Majel Barrett and wore a blond wig as Chapel. Majel remains the only actor to have contributed to every facet of the Star Trek phenomenon.
On August 6, 1969, Majel married Gene Roddenberry in Japan, in a traditional Buddhist-Shinto ceremony. They regarded this as their real wedding, but his divorce was not yet final and they made it legal with a civil ceremony on December 29, 1969. On February 5th, 1974, they welcomed the arrival of their newborn son, Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Jr., known affectionately as “Rod.”
Since Roddenberry’s death, Barrett produced the sci-fi series Andromeda with Kevin Sorbo and Earth: Final Conflict. In 1996, Barrett, often called “The First Lady of Star Trek,” guest starred on Babylon 5, the science fiction series that was widely considered to be Star Trek’s challenger and competitor. Farther outside the Star Trek universe, Barrett appeared in A Guide to the Married Man with Walter Matthau, Westworld with Yul Brynner, and The Domino Principle with Gene Hackman, but her roles in such films were always small. She also voiced the computer in an episode of Family Guy
Most recently, she reprised her role as the voice of the USS Enterprise for the new movie, Star Trek XI. …”
“…Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away this morning, December 18, 2008, at 12:27 AM in her Bel Air home. She died peacefully, in her sleep, and was surrounded by family and loved ones.
“My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away.” – Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, Jr.
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Has Passed Away at Age 76
By Matt Blum
“…There is very sad news today in the Star Trek world. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, widow of Gene and known to fans as Nurse Chapel, the original Number One, Lwaxana Troi, and of course the voice of just about every Federation computer in every show and movie, has passed away at age 76. She had been fighting leukemia for some years, evidently, and unfortunately died of complications from the disease early this morning in California.
Barrett-Roddenberry will be fondly remembered by Star Trek fans forever for her work, which will—fittingly, one might say—end with the upcoming reboot of the franchise, in which she one last time performed the voice of the Enterprise computer. She had reportedly just completed her voiceover work on the movie when she passed away. …”
The best of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry: video roundup
by Adam McDowell
“…Following Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s passage to the final frontier Thursday, our prime directive is to recognize that she didn’t just appear in every Star Trek series at one time or another, she served as a sort of Queen Mum of the franchise. Herewith, a roundup of four of the best Majel moments, as available on YouTube, demonstrating how she earned the title “the first lady of Star Trek.” …”
I hated singing. I wanted to be an actress. But I don’t think I’d have made it any other way.
Barbra Streisand People (1965)
Barbra Streisand Lover, come back to me (1965)
Barbra Streisand It had to be you
Streisand – When The Sun Comes Out
Barbra Streisand My Man
Barbra Streisand Happy days are here again (1967)
Barbra Streisand Cry me a river (1967)
Barbra Streisand He touched me (1968)
Memory- Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand & Burt Bacharach – Close to you (1971)
Barbra Streisand & Burt Bacharach–One Less Bell
Barbra Streisand – Don’t Rain On My Parade (1975)
Barbra Streisand – Somewhere
Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were (1975)
Ray Charles & Barbra Streisand – Cryin Time
Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond – You Don’t Bring Me Flowers
Barbra Streisand – EVERGREEN – The Concert 1994
Barbra Streisand – AS IF WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE – 1994
Barbra Streisand-Stranger In A Strange
Barbra Streisand – YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS – Concert 1994
The way we were
“The Way We Were” (as sung in the movie)
Barbra Streisand – Woman in Love
Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb “What Kind Of Fool”
Barbra Streisand – All of My Life
Barbra Streisand – One Day
Yentl- film trailer
Barry Gibb & Barbra Streisand – Above The Law
HIDEAWAY
Barbra Streisand – Letting Go
Barbra Streisand – 1971 “One Less Bell” medley
Barbra Streisand – For All We Know
Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb – Guilty (live)
Barbra Streisand & Frank Sinatra – I’ve got a crush on you
Barbra Streisand – The way we were (Live)
Barbra Streisand – HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN – Concert 1994
Barbra Streisand – People @ Millennium Concert (Timeless)
Barbra Streisand – People
A human being is only interesting if he’s in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.
“Barbra Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/STRY-sand; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an Americansinger and film and theatreactress. She has also achieved some note as a composer, political activist, film producer and director. She has won Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Golden Globe Awards.
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and one of the best selling solo recording artists in the US, with RIAA-certified shipments of over 71 million albums. She is the highest ranking female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America‘s (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list.[1]
Streisand is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. She has been named a Kennedy Center Honoree for 2008.[2] …”
From the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man – the function of his reasoning mind.
~Ayn Rand
Read Atlas Shrugged if you are having trouble understanding what is happening in the economy today.
The election of the first radical socialist as the President of the United States and the prospect of a severe recession in the economy should lead to a resurgence of interest in Ayn Rand’s ideas.
View the videos below to get a brief introduction to her ideas in her own words and those who followed her.
The Fountainhead
The Fountainhead – Howard Roark Speech (Ayn Rand)
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 1
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 2
Ayn Rand Mike Wallace Interview 1959 part 3
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 1 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 2 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 3 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 4 of 5
Ayn Rand Phil Donahue Interview Part 5 of 5
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (1 of 3)
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (2 of 3)
Ayn Rand Interview with Tom Snyder, (3 of 3)
Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
“Ayn Rand is a major intellectual of the twentieth century. Born in Russia in 1905 and educated there, she immigrated to the United States after graduating from university. Upon becoming proficient in English and establishing herself as a writer in the U.S., she became well-known as a passionate advocate of her philosophy, Objectivism. Rand’s philosophy is in the Aristotelian tradition, with that tradition’s emphasis upon metaphysical naturalism, empirical reason in epistemology, and self-realization in ethics. Her political philosophy is in the classical liberal tradition, with that tradition’s emphasis upon individualism, the constitutional protection of individual rights to life, liberty, and property, and limited government. She wrote both technical and popular works of philosophy, and she presented her philosophy in both fictional and non-fictional forms. Her philosophy has influenced several generations of academics and public intellectuals, as well as having had widespread popular appeal. …”
Corrupt Illinois Governor Blagojevich Connections to President Elect Obama
Connecting the Dots in the Corrupted Chicago Politics–Blagojevich, Rezko, Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod
Blagojevich 5 Senators Who are they? Arrested Governor
Jesse Jackson Jr. named as candidate 5#
Obama’s Rezko real estate deal
Neal Boortz on Obama Rezko Scam
The Video That Barack Obama DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE! pt. 1
MICHAEL SAVAGE on BLAGOJEVICH,OBAMA,RAHM EMANUEL CORRUPTION
Looks like Tony Rezko is ratting out his political fixers to get a shorter sentence or even a get out of jail card.
Somebody wore and planted a wire in this latest Chicago corruption cesspool erruption.
Both Jesse Jackson Jr. and Rahm Emanuel were recorded in living color.
Looks like both will be facing a grand jury in their future.
When you are facing years in prison, tongues are loosened.
Who can you give us Tony?
How about the President-elect of the United States and Governor of Illinois?
Who do you want first?
Mistakes were made.
Crimes were committed.
Time will tell.
The pump and dump drive-by mainstream media will be going into dump mode.
Dump them in the Chicago corruption cesspool.
Who will big media dump?
Background Articles and Videos
Blagojevich scandal: Rahm Emanuel and Jesse Jackson Jr face new revelations
“…Pressure grew on two of Barack Obama’s closest political aides yesterday as new details emerged of the “pay-for-play” allegations against the Governor of his home state.
Rahm Emanuel, the President-elect’s new Chief of Staff, and Jesse Jackson Jr, the co-chairman of his presidential campaign, both faced new revelations about their possible involvement in the scandal.
Fox News Chicago reported that Mr Emanuel, a Chicago politician who won the Illinois Governor’s former congressional seat, may have been captured on FBI wire-taps discussing the fate of Mr Obama’s vacated US Senate seat with Rod Blagojevich.
The TV station said Mr Emanuel had “multiple conversations” with the Governor, who is accused of trying to “sell” the open Senate seat for a Cabinet post or lucrative top foundation job. The report said the Governor was given a list of Senate candidates acceptable to Mr Obama. Because the FBI was secretly taping Mr Blagojevich in recent weeks, Mr Emanuel’s conversations may have been recorded, Fox News Chicago said.
Rahm-a-drama: “Beet red” and “pissed” with the MSM
By Michelle Malkin
“…Awwwww. Rahm Emanuel can’t stand the heat. So, he’s blaming the media. ABC News says he’s “beet red” and “pissed” that he can’t go anywhere without someone asking question about his role in Blago-gate.
It’s a hard-knock life:
The president-elect’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said today he won’t go to the Chicago presidential transition offices in order to avoid reporters trying to ask him whether he had contact with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama’s election.
Emanuel appeared “beet-red,” according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emanuel to use his bathroom this morning.
“I’m getting regular death threats. You’ve put my home address on national television. I’m pissed at the networks. You’ve intruded too much, ” Emanuel said, according to the cameraman.
A spokesman for Emanuel said he later showed up at the office, apparently able to sneak out of the house without being seen by reporters waiting to ask him questions. …”
Here’s the third punch: Obama accepted a bribe as a state senator when he arranged a grant for Yesse Yehudah so he could take a $10,000 cut
“…One of the greatest advantages Obama has is that he’s surrounded by so many crooked deals, kooks, loons, and criminals that it’s hard for the public to understand most of what’s going on. Here in Chicago, Team Hillary kept trying to bring up Obama’s connections to Tony Rezko and the land deal for Obama’s Mansion — but people couldn’t understand what the Rezko dealings were all about. They still don’t understand it. And they won’t read a long article like the one below about the rest of Obama’s dirty dealings.
In short, Obama had massive campaign debt coming off of his failed bid to challenge Bobby Rush for a seat in Congress. Smarting from that loss, Obama needed money, so he turned to Yesse Yehudah. What’s so strange about this is that Yehudah is a Republican — so why would he raise money for Obama? What the article below does not say is that, magically, 10 people who work for Yehudah and have never given money to any elected official before – AND WHO COULD NOT AFFORD TO MAKE $1,000 donations – all made $1,000 donations to Obama simultaneously. As if someone else made the donations for all of them, in their names, with money that came from somewhere else.
The quid pro quo on this is simple: Obama took a $10,000 bribe from Yehudah for using his position in the state senate to throw a $75,000 grant to Yehudah’s nonprofit organization. People here in Chicago say this was obvious politics in Illinois: where Obama agreed to get Yehudah a grant, but Obama’s fee for this transaction was $10,000 to pay off his campaign debt.
Yehudah’s nonproft later came under investigation, and Obama panicked: he dumped $5,000 of the bribe money he took over to Yehudah as fast as he could after that. …”
“A federal jury Wednesday convicted developer Antoin “Tony” Rezko of corruption charges for trading on his clout as a top adviser and fundraiser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Rezko’s guilty verdict on 16 of 24 corruption counts could have broad repercussions for Blagojevich, who made Rezko a central player in his kitchen cabinet. It could also prove a political liability for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who once counted Rezko as a friend and fundraiser, as the likely Democratic presidential nominee heads into the general election campaign against Republican John McCain.
“I’m saddened by today’s verdict,” Obama said Wednesday. “This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.”
“…The jury convicted Rezko of 12 counts of wire and mail fraud, two counts of money laundering and two counts of aiding and abetting bribery. He was acquitted of attempted extortion.
“I hope people step back and say, ‘When you do all that stuff, it’s going to come back and bite you in a serious way,’ ” U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald told reporters after the verdict. “If the morals don’t get to them, then I hope the fear of going to jail does.” …”
8 Things About Obama and Rezco You Must Know (Chicago Sun Times)
“…Having a hard time keeping track of the facts? Here are eight things to know:
1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down.
2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers — primarily not-for-profit groups — building low-income housing with government funds.
3. One of the firm’s not-for-profit clients — the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama’s then-boss Allison Davis — was partners with Rezko’s company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator’s time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko’s company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm’s clients in four later deals — none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar “made the decisions for the joint venture,” says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm.
4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 — representing a district that included 11 of Rezko’s 30 low-income housing projects.
5. Rezko’s low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building — which was in Obama’s Illinois Senate district.
6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko — a member of his campaign finance committee — held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.
7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko’s wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood — a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko’s wife paid full price for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko’s wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it “boneheaded” because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.
8. Eight months later — in October 2006 — Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama’s run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity. …”
“…That 1996 election put him in conflict with the incumbent, Alice Palmer. She planned to run for Congress and endorsed Obama as her successor. But when Palmer lost the congressional primary, Obama would not step aside so she could keep her state Senate seat.
Once he got to the state Senate, Obama was no radical. He became a political protege of current Senate President Emil Jones, a 35-year veteran of the legislature and one of the state’s most influential black lawmakers. …”
“…For his part, Obama has lined up with party leaders in some recent local races. He supported the party’s choice to become the new Cook County board president, despite allegations of political nepotism surrounding the man, who was the son of the previous board president.
Obama also endorsed Daley, saying he was still concerned about City Hall corruption but thought Daley had taken steps to clean it up. And he supported the November re-election of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration is under federal investigation for hiring fraud.
Attorney Gery Chico, the Daley former chief of staff who lost to Obama in the 2004 Senate primary, said Obama has been under increasing pressure to play a role in local races and it’s smart for him to get in the mix. …”
“…Look at Obama’s record coming up in Illinois politics. At every turn it represents the antithesis of the politics of change and hope. It is at its heart a story about old time, Chicago style political games and money backing from a man now under federal indictment for a “pay to play scheme on steroids.” That’s not to say Obama isn’t gifted or that political opportunism and old style hardball is wrong. It’s just not what he’s selling today.
No one is saying Obama did anything illegal. But teaming with a man like Rezko has nothing to do with the “politics of hope” or “change.” It’s business as usual in a package put together to seduce everyone that he’s the one. Just yesterday we learned that Obama’s campaign will be donating more Rezko money to charity, in the amount of $80,000. The Sun-Times reported last year that Obama’s contributions from Rezko is triple what he’s claiming. The LA Times reported a couple of days ago it’s $40,000 he’s donating. From the LA Times:
“It is a rule in politics: Early money is very important,” said Jay Stewart, head of the Better Government Assn., a nonprofit watchdog in Chicago. “Tony Rezko helped put Barack Obama on his political feet. Tony Rezko was consistently a significant contributor.”
In a review of Obama’s donations, the Los Angeles Times has identified as much as $185,000 from Rezko-related donors. Sources familiar with Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign said Rezko’s name was prominently displayed on a white board that totaled the amount his bundlers had raised in the Senate race.
“Rezko was there from the beginning,” said a source who had been close to Obama’s political operation and did not want to be identified for fear of alienating political associates in Illinois where Obama’s support is strong. “He is closer than Obama is putting on. The guy was always raising money.” …”
It’s the drip, drip, drip — deny, deny, deny that never seems to end, with people taking statements like “this individual” to mean Rezko was some guy Obama didn’t know. That is unmitigated political cover your posterior dishonest double talk, but many seem to be sucking it through the same straw. …”
of Obama’s campaign donations for the past month. Egregious abuse was immediately evident and I published the results of my ongoing investigation. Each subsequent post built a more damning case against Obama’s illegal contribution activity.
The media took little notice of what I was substantiating. I went so far as to upload the documents so that anyone could do their own research. I asked readers to download the documents and a number of folks pitched in.
Despite dropping the groundbreaking bombshell story of “Palestinian” brothers from the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza who donated $33,000 to Obama’s campaign, no big media picked up the story. Jihadis donating to Obama from Gaza? Could there be a bigger story? Foreign donations are illegal, but this story was all that and so much more. The “Palestinian” brothers were proud and vocal of their “love” for Obama. Their vocal support on behalf of “Palestinians” spoke volumes to Obama’s campaign.
And yet still no media.
But Obama pricked up his ears. He smelled trouble and while no media asked, he answered anyway. Sen. Obama’s campaign immediately scrambled and contended they had returned the $33,500 in illegal contributions from Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, despite the fact that records do not show that it was returned and the brothers said they have not received any money. Having gone through all of Obama’s refunds redesignations etc, no refund was made to Osama, Hossam, or Edwan Monir in the Rafah refugee camp. And still no media. …”
“…The four plus years (1995-1999) Barack Obama spent as founding chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) represent his track record as reformer, as someone who reached out in a public-private collaboration and had the audacity to believe his effort would make things better. At the time he became leader of this ambitious project to remake the public schools of Chicago, he was 33 years old and a third year associate at a small Chicago law firm, Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland.
This was a big test for him, his chance to cut his teeth on bringing hope and change to the mostly minority inner city school children trapped in Chicago schools. And he flopped big time, squandering lots of money and the time of many public employees in the process. …”
“…If Ayers were the sole point of interest in seeking the Annenberg Challenge files promised to Kurtz, all “132 boxes, containing 947 file folders, a total of about 70 linear feet of material”, then the Obama camp might claim it was merely guilt-by association and persuade at least some of its own partisans. But the fact that Obama was in charge of a massive expensive project makes it indisputably a matter of proper vetting to examine his track record at delivering on promises of hope and change.http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/08/obamas_lost_annenberg_years_co.html
Interesting Money Bundlers For Obama: Part One
“…Back to Mr. Clark, and in keeping with the small, politically incestuous world of Chicago, this successor to Mr. Thomas Ayer’s Commonwealth throne is also a Corporate Officer of Exelon. In case Exelon doesn’t ring a bell, they are also one of Barack Obama’s top 10 contributors.
Exelon is in the energy business, including the nuclear type. So you can imagine that Exelon makes neighboring residents a bit nervous sometimes, specifically when there’s a leak. It seems that hasn’t been in the habit of reporting leaks to surrounding living things. Not wishing to glow in the dark or succumb to cancer and other deadly diseases often associated with this kind of thing, Exelon’s neighbors begged Barack Obama to craft a bill that would force Exelon to stop this secretive habit that could be dangerous to people’s health. They wanted Barack Obama to ensure that Exelon was required by law to notify neighbors in the event of a nuclear incident. You can understand why this might be important to adults, children and other living things, right?
Loveable, honest Barack Obama promised he would take care of the unreported nuclear leak problem and sponsored a bill to make it mandatory for Exelon to notify living things around them if they ever had another incident. The problem is, by the time the bill got passed, “mandatory” became “voluntary“. The new bill removed all language mandating prompt reporting and simply offered guidance to regulators, whom it charged with addressing the issue of unreported leaks.
So now all of Obama’s consituents who live near Exelon can rest easily knowing that nothing has changed. But it has worked out really well for Barack Obama–to the tune of $200,000 in bundled contributions from Frank Clark.
It’s good to know that Barack Obama would never endanger the health and welfare of his constituents for money, isn’t it?
The Obama camp has already noted that it does not control the archives at UIC. All well and good, though it would be nice for the candidate to plead with the university and the mystery donor to let the sun shine on his track record. After all, he is a new kind of politician.But even if he doesn’t, the Annenberg Challenge is slowly entering the national consciousness, and that’s very bad news for Barack Obama. …”
The donations were modest by political standards, as was Obama’s relatively small assist to the nonprofit group of his ex-rival and new benefactor. But in Illinois, “government actions often occur around the time of campaign donations,” said Stewart of the Better Government Assn. “The answer is always the same: It’s always a coincidence.”
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said there was no connection between the campaign donations and the grant to Yehudah’s organization. “Of course not,” he said.
By 2002, Obama was preparing for his next challenge, a run for the U.S. Senate. Also that year, the Illinois attorney general sued Yehudah over allegations of kickbacks unrelated to the state grant. It was settled out of court.
Three days after the suit was filed, Obama returned one batch of donations totaling $5,000. …”
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell takes aim at Sarah Palin and the Republican party’s emphasis on small-town values during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakharia.
In an upcoming interview on CNN this Sunday, General Powell states that the Republican Party lost the election in November because it went further to the right with the selection of Govenor Palin as the Vice President candidate.
The reason the Republican Party has had significant losses in the last two elections is because the Party went left and abandoned conservative and libertarian principles of fiscal responsibility and smaller government.
If the Republican Party follows the General’s advice, it will continue to lose elections.
Without a conservative on the ticket such as Governor Sarah Palin, the Democratic Party would have won a landslide victory in 2008.
A conservative at the top of the ticket would have beat Senator Obama in 2008.
The Republican Party must move right, far right, if it is to again win elections as it did with the late President Ronald Reagan.
Otherwise, it runs the serious risk of being replaced by a new conservative party, call it the American Citizens Alliance Party or ACAP for short.
Movement conservatives are saying nuts to the liberal losers, phoney conservatives and neoconservatives in the Republican Party.
Move on General Powell to the Democratic Party, conservatives are no longer listening to your advice.
For the record, I would have voted for General Powell had he ran for President in 1996 or even 2000.
Now General Powell is history for me and many in the conservative movement.
The betrayal of both the Republican Party and Senator McCain last October by General Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama–a Radical Socialist–was the last straw.
General Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama! pt.1
Face it General you are an elitist and big government progressive.
General Powell you are now part of the problem not the solution.
President Reagan – Government is the Problem
Background Articles and Videos
Battle of the Bulge -Bastogne General McAuliffe says “Nuts”
Battle of the Bulge -includes rare film of captured Gi’s
Fortunes of War – How the 101st Airborne’s Good Luck helped win the Battle of Bastogne
“The Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front. The offensive was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Translated as Operation The Guard on the Rhine or Operation “Watch on the Rhine.”) by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht). This German offensive was officially named the Battle of the Ardennes[2] or the Ardennes-Alsace campaign[3] by the U.S. Army[4], but it is known to the general public simply as the Battle of the Bulge. The “bulge” was the initial incursion the Germans put into the Allies’ line of advance, as seen in maps presented in contemporary newspapers.
The German offensive was supported by subordinate operations known as Unternehmen Bodenplatte, Unternehmen Greif, and Unternehmen Währung. Germany’s planned goal for these operations was to split the British and American Allied line in half, capturing Antwerp, Belgium, and then proceeding to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis Powers’ favour.[5]
The Germans planned the offensive with utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and conducting the movement of troops and equipment under cover of darkness. Although ULTRA suggested a possible attack and the Third U.S. Army’s intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the Germans still achieved surprise. This was achieved by a combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with their own offensive plans, poor aerial reconnaissance, and the relative lack of combat contact by the First United States Army in an area considered a “quiet sector”. Almost complete surprise against a weak section of the Allies’ line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, when the Allies’ strong air forces would be grounded.
German objectives ultimately were unrealized. In the wake of the defeat, many experienced German units were left severely depleted of men and equipment, as survivors retreated to the defences of the Siegfried Line. The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest of the battles that U.S. forces experienced in World War II; the 19,000 American dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement[citation needed] …”
“The Siege of Bastogne was a smaller battle in and around the Belgian town of Bastogne, during the larger Battle of the Bulge. Success of the German offensive, seizure of the harbor at Antwerp with encirclement and destruction of Allied armies, required the German Army mechanized forces to use the roadways in order to maintain the speed of the offensive. All seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne. Control of the crossroads of Bastogne was vital to the Germans to speed up their advance and improve resupply of the German columns, as the poor weather conditions made cross country travel difficult. The battle lasted from mid-December 1944 to January 1945. …”
“
Governor Rod Blagojevich and President-elect Barack Obama
Governor Rod Blagojevich Was Arrested On Corruption Charges | Rezko – Obama Connection?
obama’s Chicago- Rod Blagojevich Invites People To Record Him
Exposing Blagojevich
Obama’s Chicago- Reports On The Arrest Charges Against Rod Blagojevich
Obama talks- Gov Blagojevich Political Scandal Dec 9th 2008
Axelrod says Obama talked with Blagojevich about who he wants to replace him
Obama speaks on Illinois Governor and Climate-Change 10 Dec 08
Connecting the Dots in the Corrupted Chicago Politics–Blagojevich, Rezko, Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod
Al Capone – The Untouchables
The Chicago Way
The french connection (1971) car chase
The climate in Chicago and Illinois politics just got very hot for the Chicago professional criminal class–Democratic politicians.
Instead of using the royal we, President-elect Barack Obama was quick to use the word I:
“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not — I was not aware of what was happening,”
So, who in the Obama family contacted Governor Blagojevich to make known BO’s pick to fill the Senate seat.
BO apparently wanted Valerie Jarrett and not Jessee Jackson Jr. to fill the Senate seat he resigned from recently.
Why did she suddenly backoff given the support of President-elect Barrack Obama?
Did she report back to Obama that the Governor was looking for some form of payoff for the appointment or “pay to play”?
If she did, then did President-elect report this to the FBI or US Attorney in Chicago?
Obama’s “Other Half”
Transition Update: Valerie Jarrett on Ethics Reform
Valerie Jarrett Obama’s secret campaign weapon
Valerie Jarrett’s Thoughts on Barack Obama
Looks like it is Jesse Jackson Jr. might be the French Connection and he is running scared.
Jesse Jackson Jr.’s Press Conference
Jesse Jackson Jr. Denies Offering Payment for U.S. Senate Seat
Jesse Jackson Jr on Cnn’s Larry King Live
Jackson is protesting too much.
The reporter should have asked Jackson when he said he was not a target of the investigation, whether he was a subject of the investigation?
I suspect he is a subject of the investigation and might be a future target if the scope of the investigation is expanded.
Did he speak with the Governor on a telephone in the same four years that he did not meet with him?
Observe that President-elect Obama was not as emphatic or forthcoming as Congressman Jackson as to what his “family” or staff said to Governor Blagojevich.
Both Barack Obama and Jessee Jackson Jr. did not take any questions at their press conferences.
Instead of being outraged and offended by the Governor’s behavior, Obama was “saddened” and “sobered”.
Who is the French Connection or the Obama family “we” that was in contact with Governor Blagojevich regarding the Senator apppointment?
Were their conservations also captured on tape?
Were crimes committed?
Was someone setup?
Who flipped on the Governor and wore the wire?
Did Rezko give up someone close to the Governor who in turn gave them the Governor by wearing a wire?
The timing of the announcement of the arrest is also suspect.
If there were crimes committed before the election, why were arrests not made then?
Why shut down the investigation and not let it run to see who pays for being appointed Senator?
Who is protecting who?
The irony and arrogance of the Gore Obama press conference is President-elect Barack Obama aids and abetts the tax and investment fraud of man-made global warming requires a new cap and trade tax to save the planet –the biggest rip-off of the American people in a century!
Obama Carbon Tax Will Destroy Economy, Based on Hoax
Shikha Dalmia on Cap and Trade
Cost of Cap & Trade
The climate of earth has been changing since the formation of the planet.
Man-made climate change caused by carbon dioxide emission from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline is a rounding error or immaterial in changing the climate of planet earth.
The junk science of climate computer models is being wrongly used to justify the biggest tax increase in US history, namely the cap and trade tax.
The professsional criminal class is trying to rip off the American people by increasing taxes on energy use and justifying it in terms of “saving the planet”.
Neither the American people nor reputable scientists are buying man-made global warming.
The climate of the planet has turned cool to cold as solar activity declines and temperatures fall.
Note the change in wording from man-made global warming to man-made climate change.
The sun or variation in solar activity is the primary driver of climate change!
Unstoppable Solar Cycles
This video sets aside doomsday alarmism and political axe-grinding to look at the science behind the history of climate change on earth. An examination of early Viking colonies on Greenland, wiped out by a period of global cooling, enables scientists to draw important conclusions about our current phase in the climate cycle. What we learn in this program is that earth’s climate is always changing – from The Middle Ages and the “Little Ice Age” to the modern warming that has been going on since 1850 (well before human-generated CO2 began increasing in our atmosphere).
Dr. Willie Soon, an Astrophysicist from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Dr. David Legates, a Climatologist from the Center from Climate Research at the University of Delaware provide an easy-to-follow review of current climate science, which suggests that the sun’s irregular patterns and other natural forces are the major sources of climate change.
Climate Change – Bob Carters 5 Tests of CO2 part 1
Professor Bob Carter makes an examination of whether Climate change is due to CO2 emissions with 5 straight forward tests
a must see video
Climate Change – Bob Carters 5 Tests of CO2 part 2
Professor Bob Carter makes an examination of whether Climate change is due to CO2 emissions with 5 straight forward tests
a must see video
Apparently the sun is not cooperating with the crime of the century.
Rumor has it that a new energy and climate change czarina will be appointed soon, namerly Carol M. Browner, an Al Gore global warming fanatic and his former Legislative Director.
Carol M. Browner
“…Browner also has taken action against one of the nation’s most serious threats: global warming. She believes the country, working together, can address this problem in ways that grow our economy and improve our competitiveness. For example, under her leadership, EPA has built partnerships with thousands of businesses and organizations to use energy more efficiently. Just in 1997, these partnerships prevented the release of nearly 60 million tons of carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to global warming. At the same time, these measures saved businesses and consumers more than $1 billion. …”
She will responsible for coordinating energy, climate and environmental issues and initiatives.
She appears to be just another lawyer that does not understand either economics or science but knows how to wreck the US economy and destroy jobs by advocating the carbon cap and trade tax.
Browner and Greener Needless to say, the nation’s energy crisis is no longer Barack Obama’s top priority.By Max Schulz“…Browner served eight ferocious years as Bill Clinton’s
EPA chief, after having been Senator Al Gore’s legislative director. At EPA, she worked hand-in-glove with the nation’s politically minded environmental organizations (and now, handily enough, sits on the boards of several of them), and became known for favoring a heavy-handed regulatory agenda. Browner was the driving force behind the federal government’s effort to force GE to spend $490 million to dredge New York’s Hudson River to rid it of PCBs that — because they were buried under layers of silt — posed no environmental harm.
Browner’s push for overly stringent clean-air regulations drew cries of alarm from across the political spectrum. Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Richard Daley, for instance, warned that Browner’s regs would quash economic development in inner cities. Fortunately, many of the Browner EPA’s more aggressive actions were reversed in the legislature or through the courts — in fact, some of her employees wound up facing criminal charges for falsifying evidence and manipulating lab results. Far-left environmentalists are more likely to be cheered than troubled by that fact, of course. What is generally missing from the Obama green team is a recognition of the critical need to increase the supplies of energy that power our economy. It’s one thing to pine for a day when everything runs on clean, green energy; it’s quite another to bravely acknowledge that fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal (along with nuclear power) do the heavy lifting in our energy economy, and will continue to do so for years to come. Energy issues gathered steam over the summer because consumers were fed up with skyrocketing prices. When the economy picks back up, and demand for oil with it, prices will likely soar once more. Nothing in Obama’s impending selections suggests a desire to address those fundamental supply questions. …”
Carol Browner – Embrace a Cap-and-Trade Requirement
Inside the Transition: Energy & Environment Policy Team
Carol Browner on Climate Matters Act
Energy & Environment, – America’s Role in the World
Browner likes to equate carbon dioxide emissions with sulfur dioxide emissions when advocating a cap and trade tax.
The problem is carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and sulfur dioxide is a pollutant.
Nor does carbon dioxide cause global warming or climate change.
The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a lagging result of climate change not the cause of climate change.
She will be a shill for proposing the largest tax increase in US history and say she is recommending this to “save the planet”.
George Carlin – Saving the Planet
The majority of the American people are not buying this junk science rubbish from the so called American elites.
20/20 Stossel- GMAB – Al Gore Global Warming Debate
Carbon Dioxide is Our Friend
Global Warming – Carbon Dioxide
The arrest of Governor Blagojevich for the crime of solicitation of bribery is chump change, a triffling sum of money.
Compare this crime to both former Vice-President Gore’s and President-elect Obama’s continuing efforts to rip off the American people and wreck the American economy by imposing a cap and trade tax to “save the planet” from climate change.
Give me a break!
The world is not running out of oil, just cheap oil.
ABC News : 20/20 : Myth : Is Oil Truly…
Build 500 nuclear plants over the next twenty-five years to produce over 95% of the United States’ electrical power requirements.
Gradually transition to electrical powered vehicles as the nuclear power plants come on line and technology and innovation make electrical vehicles affordable.
This would lead to real energy independence for the United States of America.
Go nuclear!
Background Articles and Videos
Obama reacts to Illinois governor’s arrest
Chicago Mob, JFK, & Cuba
Dirty Barack Obama
Obama and Rezko
Barack Obama – Tony Rezko Convicted – Political Fixer
Man vs. Mob
How to win an election (by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.)
Crooked Carol Browner: Obama’s ethically-challenged energy czar
By Michelle Malkin
“…On her last day in office, nearly eight years ago, Browner oversaw the destruction of agency computer files in brazen violation of a federal judge’s order requiring the agency to preserve its records. This from a public official who bragged about her tenure: “One of the things I’m the proudest of at EPA is the work we’ve done to expand the public’s right to know.”
Asked to explain her track-covering actions, the savvy career lawyer Browner played dumb. Figuratively batting her eyelashes, she claimed she had no clue about a court injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on the same day she commanded an underling to wipe her hard drives clean. Golly gee willikers, how could that have slipped by her? …”
“…Is this a gamble the Obama administration wants to take? Browner has crossed the line and violated public trust before in her capacity as eco-chief. Early in her first term as EPA head, Browner got caught by a congressional subcommittee using taxpayer funds to create and send out illegal lobbying material to over 100 grassroots environmental lobbying organizations. Browner exploited her office to orchestrate a political campaign by left-wing groups, who turned around and attacked Republican lawmakers for supporting regulatory reform. These are the very same groups – anti-business, anti-sound science, pro-eco-hysteria – that Browner would be working arm in arm with as Obama’s “energy czar.”
“…Well, well, well. It didn’t take long for Barack Obama to throw his former political ally Rod Blagojevich under the bus. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs announced just a few minutes ago that Obama wants Blagojevich to resign as governor of Illinois:
President-elect Barack Obama is calling for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president-elect agrees with other prominent politicians that “under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois.”
Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday, accused of scheming to enrich himself by selling Obama’s vacant Senate seat. The governor has authority to appoint the replacement. He denies any wrongdoing.
Obama had tried to avoid commenting on Blagojevich’s options yesterday, preferring to remain aloof and let the process work itself out. Within 24 hours, Obama apparently changed his mind. Why? Perhaps David Axelrod’s remarks from last month unnerved the President-elect, and he decided that he had to get significant distance from Blagojevich. …”
FULL CHARGES AGAINST ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH AND HIS CHIEF OF STAFF JOHN HARRIS ARRESTED ON FEDERAL CORRUPTION AT A STAGGERING LEVEL
“Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for official actions – both historically and now in a push before a new state ethics law takes effect January 1, 2009.
Blagojevich, 51, and Harris, 46, both of Chicago, were each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They were charged in a two-count criminal complaint that was sworn out on Sunday and unsealed today following their arrests, which occurred without incident, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Both men were expected to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:
A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;
Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;
Promises of campaign funds – including cash up front …”
“…U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called the breadth and depth of charges against Blagojevich and his Democratic Chief of Staff John Harris “staggering.” That’s an understatement. Anything that breathed was a potential shakedown target. It’s the Chicago way. Democrat Blago’s so dirty he’d hit up a children’s hospital for money. Oh, wait. He’s accused of doing that, too.
Democrat Blago allegedly conspired to use his power to appoint President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat as a bargaining chip for financial payment. He explored trading on that authority for an appointment as Health and Human Services secretary or as an ambassador or for installment in a cushy union position. (He discussed his trading scheme with an unnamed “SEIU (Service Employees International Union) official” and unnamed “various consultants” in Washington.)
According to the criminal complaint released yesterday, he also tried to leverage his influence over the sale of Wrigley Field (owned by Tribune media company) in an attempt to get Chicago Tribune editorial writers who called for his impeachment fired — which illustrates the very perils of media/government entanglements I warned about in my newspaper bailout column last week. His wife, Patricia Blagojevich, was apparently in on the thuggery, too. Taking a break from her first lady duties advocating “on behalf of women and children,” she is heard in taped discussions about the Chicago Tribune/Wrigley Field deal telling a governor’s aide “to hold up that f**king Cubs sh*t. … F**k them.” …”
Governor Accused in Scheme to Sell Obama’s Senate Seat
“…Mr. Obama, who Mr. Fitzgerald said was not implicated in the case, sought to put distance between himself and the governor during brief remarks on Tuesday afternoon and later in an interview with The Chicago Tribune, saying he did not discuss his Senate seat with Mr. Blagojevich.
“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so we were not — I was not aware of what was happening,” Mr. Obama said. “And as I said, it’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”
Throughout his career, Mr. Obama has adroitly straddled the state’s bruising politics, forming alliances with some old-style politicians even as he pressed for ethics reform. But Mr. Obama had long been estranged from the governor, even though some in his political circle have had relationships with both of them, including Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, and Emil Jones Jr., the retiring State Senate president and a longtime mentor.
The federal accusations against Mr. Blagojevich go beyond the Senate question into what the authorities here described as a “political corruption crime spree.”
The Blagojevich Case: Why Did Fitzgerald Act Now? A corruption investigation stopped short.
By Byron York
“There are a lot of questions stemming from the criminal complaint detailing Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama. Who are the various advisers and potential candidates named in the 76-page complaint? What, if any, contacts did Blagojevich or his emissaries have with representatives of the Obama transition? And did Obama ever speak to Blagojevich about the issue? (Obama says he didn’t, and top adviser David Axelrod now says he was “mistaken” when he said the two men had, in fact, talked.)
But of all those questions, perhaps the most intriguing is why prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office had been gathering astonishing evidence implicating Blagojevich and others, went public Tuesday with the criminal complaint and arrest of Blagojevich. Why not let the investigation go on, at least for a bit longer? At his news conference, Fitzgerald attributed his action to Blagojevich’s allegedly corrupt dealings involving a Chicago hospital, and corrupt dealings toward the Tribune company, and then added, “You take that, and what’s going on, and add it to the fact that we have a Senate seat that seemed to be as recently as days ago auctioned off to the highest bidder for campaign contributions and Gov. Blagojevich’s own words on the tape, on the bug, that set forth in the complaint talked about selling this like a sports agent. So we stepped in for a number of reasons.”
Later in his news conference, however, Fitzgerald suggested that the alleged Senate deal had come to drive the investigation — “When there’s a bunch of people scheming in private, and they think no one’s listening and no one’s aware of it, they can do a heck of a lot more than when someone goes and basically raids the crime in plot and airs what’s going on,” he said. And a reading of the criminal complaint suggests that events in the alleged Senate selloff might have been what tipped prosecutors toward action. As the investigation moved toward what appeared to be a climax, with perhaps a deal to be made for a Senate seat, a media report scared Blagojevich, who up to that point had displayed astonishingly brazen behavior. Blagojevich stopped the Senate-selling negotiations and began planning a legal defense — and Fitzgerald, his target now on the alert, went public a short time later. …”
Illinois Governor arrested for attempted sale of Obama’s Senate seat
Thomas Lifson
“…The political cesspool which gave birth to Barack Obama’s political career has served up yet another scandal , this time involving the alleged attempted sale of the Senate seat President-elect Obama will soon vacate. The Chicago Tribune reports:
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning.
Blagojevich and Harris were arrested simultaneously at their homes at about 6:15 a.m., according to Frank Bochte of the FBI. Both were awakened in their residences and transported to FBI headquarters in Chicago.
In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himseld as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.
Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.
Details of the complaint against the two men here. …”
Barack Obama & Chicago mob: next on Patrick Fitzgerald’s agenda?
“…Michael Sneed dropped a juicy hint in yesterday’s Chicago Sun Times. To wit:
Sneed hears rumbles political fund-raiser/fixer Tony Rezko, who is now singing sweetly to the feds from his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, has been talking about his “dealings” with a Chicago bank, which has political connections.
A Chicago bank with “political connections”? Hillbuzz makes the case that it’s Broadway Bank, formerly run by youngster Illinois State Treasurer and Obama banker Alexi Giannoulias who . . .
1. financed Chicago mobster Michael “Jaws” Giorango;
2. reportedly served as banker for Obama’s 2004 Illinois Senate campaign and made a subprime loan in 1996 to Barack Obama for the purchase of a Chicago townhouse; and
With such a cast of characters — including slumlord and key Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett — surrounding the current poll leader for the U.S. presidency, the White House, after four years, might just look like the dilapidated, federally subsidized Chicago tenements in this Boston Globe expose: …”
“…Chicago has had a Democratic Mayor since 1931,and today in 2008, 49 of 50 Chicago Aldermen are Democrats.This long post is about the Chicago Mob and the Democratic Party machine.
Former Alderman Dick Simpson, who’s now a professor at University of Illinois-Chicago, has some disturbing numbers on Chicago and Illinois politicians:
Since 1973, the U.S. attorney has indicted 30 aldermen and convicted 27 (one died before trial and two stand trial this spring).The Public Corruption and Accountability Project at UIC calculates that there have been more than 1,000 local and state governmental officials convicted since the 1970s. The “corruption tax,” or cost of government corruption for Cook County residents, is now more than $300 million a year, greater than the local government tax increases this year. We can’t really afford more local “Hired Truck” schemes, patronage hiring, or the state pension and driver license scandals of recent years.
Sounds like becoming an elected Alderman in Chicago has an unusual felony conviction rate,which certainly says something about the people who seek elected office in Chicago and the voters who put them in office.Yes,there have been many corrupt Aldermen in Chicago.But,one man stands above all other in terms of institutionalizing corruption in Chicago: Alderman Fred Roti.
Unless we understand the prolific criminal legacy of Alderman Roti,we can’t understand how today,in 2008,Alderman Roti along with his friends,relatives,and associates have turned Chicago’s city government into a racketeering enterprise.We must go back in time to a Chicago Tribune article on February 14,1982 titled BEST AND BRIGHTEST NO MATCH FOR OLD GUARD AT CITY HALL to understand the power of Alderman Roti:
Roti has placed nearly as many city employees on the payroll as the city personnel department,and many of them are his own family members.This is not a new trend under [Mayor] Byrne,however.Under former Mayors Richard Daley and Michael Bilandic,members of the Roti clan have always had spectacular success gaining public employment.Last fall it was disclosed that Roti family payrollers include his daughter,Rosemary,a press aide to Mayor Byrne at $25,992 a year;and Rosemary’s husband,Ronald Marasso,who had been promoted from city painter to $34,000 -a -year general manager of maintenance at O’Hare International Airport.Fourteen other Roti clan members were on various other city payrolls.Because of his ward number,Roti’s name is always called first during council roll calls,and he revels in that privilege.His initial response gives other administration alderman their cue as to what Roti-and,therefore,the mayor-wants.It’s often said that roll calls could stop after Roti votes-the outcome is already known.Roti,an affable fellow, controls the Chicago City Council with an iron fist.
Years later in May of 2006, The Chicago Sun-Times gave a more disturbing explanation of who Alderman Fred Roti really was:
Roti became 1st Ward alderman in 1968. He soon became one of the most powerful, well-liked and respected members of the City Council. Roti was also a “made member” of the mob, according to the FBI …”
“…By the second half of the twentieth century, Chicago’s Mafia, known as The Outfit, was the most powerful Mob in the history of organized crime. While Mafia families warred among themselves on the East Coast, in Chicago they united into one monolithic force, not only controlling all major criminal activity in the city, but eventually, everything west of the Mississippi. They skimmed cash from casinos in Las Vegas and looted pension funds from two national unions, the Teamsters and the Laborers. The key to the Mob’s power in Chicago was their unprecedented ability to corrupt the city’s political and judicial leadership. Crooked judges threw out cases against Hit Men. Mobsters and Mob associates took top jobs in city government, including, at one point, Chief of Detectives for the Chicago Police Department. …”
What Happens to Chicago’s Top Mob and Corruption Fighter After the Presidential Election?
“…Despite the national media’s childlike fantasy that Illinois is something like Camelot—where the knights rise to power without staining their shining armor—we’re still neck deep in corruption and sleazy pay-to-play politics.
The Chicago Outfit, though wounded, still reaches out to friendly pols. The bipartisan Illinois Combine that runs things isn’t finished, though a Republican boss was indicted last week. The Democratic half of the Combine, Chicago’s Daley machine, is now poised to leverage the awesome power of the White House. And what the machine wants is control of the federal hammer in its backyard.
Readers keep asking me the same question: Will the next president keep Patrick Fitzgerald as the U.S. attorney in Chicago?
I really can’t say. What are political promises worth from politicians with debts to pay? But here’s what I do know. There is no story more important to the people of Chicago and of Illinois than the future of Fitzgerald, who has systematically hunted down the corruption.
Corruption the Chicago Way doesn’t only waste money and burden taxpayers. This isn’t only about isolated instances of graft and amusing, earthy rapscallions. That is a cartoon. The reality is that Illinois political corruption is an infection that spreads. The people either are numbed and deny it, or they feel pressured to suck up to their overlords. That’s not American. That’s positively Medieval.
That’s how important this is. Both John McCain and Barack Obama have promised to keep Fitzgerald here.
“If we lose him, we lose everything,” said a Chicago FBI agent wise in the ways of Chicago politics and its symbiosis with the Chicago mob. “I can’t imagine it happening. He’s the guy who pulls the trigger on all these investigations. If it happens, if they get rid of him, forget it.” …”
“…Another Chicago connection, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak), is being rumored as a possible White House chief of staff. Emanuel would also look first to protect the mayor. Washington Beltway reporters won’t tell you this, because they must figure that what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago, but a few years ago, Emanuel was elected with the help of a massive patronage army of stooges on the City Hall payroll who pounded the precincts.
The fellow who directed this army for Emanuel is the corrupt former city water boss Donald Tomczak. He now sits in federal prison in Duluth, Minn., while Emanuel prepares to reform us all. It was Fitzgerald’s office that put Tomczak away.
Back in March, Obama visited the Tribune’s editorial board. He said that if elected president, he would keep Fitzgerald in place. …”
“…The United States attorney’s office in Chicago accused Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of having numerous schemes for profiting from his office. The affidavit contains details of a five-year investigation into public corruption and accusations of “pay to play” deals. This chart shows some of Mr. Blagojevich’s interactions with advisers, fund-raisers and other individuals, both named and unnamed. …”
Will Chicago’s Mob History and Clout Mentality Follow Obama to the White House?
“The city of Chicago is one of the few major metropolitan areas that runs away from its past at every opportunity. Yet, indeed, the very construction of the city led to the term “underworld.” And with rampant corruption controlled by infamous individuals like “Big Jim” Colosimo, Al Capone, Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, Murray “The Camel” Humphrey and Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo, Chicago can hardly bury its past — no pun intended.
Since the turn of the 20th century, what Carl Sandburg referred to as the “City of Big Shoulders” was perhaps the center of organized crime in the United States. Though New York had its Syndicate and Detroit had the Purple Gang, many believe true power in America’s underworld was concentrated in something called the Outfit.
With the election of Barack Obama will come a great deal of history-laden baggage, which will make the movie “The Godfather” seem like a Walt Disney cartoon.
From David Axelrod, who was nurtured on the Daley Machine, to the political organizing, which Barack Obama so proudly claims a lineage, Chicago’s brand of one Party politics may be a model for the Obama administration in Washington, D.C.
It is no mistake the president-elect joined Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s South Side Chicago church. Obama wanted to learn the ropes of power politics and how it was played in the Windy City. There were no better teachers than Mayor Daley and his cadre of obliging aldermen who responded to the cracking of the political whip. A failure to do so would quickly leave them on the outside looking in — without protection from the media, the law and any other threat which loomed on the horizon. …”
“…Browner received her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Florida in 1977 and 1979. In the early stage of her career, she worked for Citizen Action as its associate director and served as general counsel to the Florida House Committee on Government Operations.
Between 1986 and 1991, she served as a key aide to Senator Lawton Chiles and then-Senator Al Gore. Browner headed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from 1991 to 1993.[1] “
Carol Browner Set to Be Obama’s Energy Coordinator (Update1)
“…President-elect Barack Obama is in the final stages of putting together his energy team, with former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner as his likely pick for a newly created position overseeing energy, climate and environmental issues, Democratic aides said. …”
“In France, as of 2002[update], Électricité de France (EDF) — the country’s main electricity generation and distribution company — manages the country’s 59 nuclear power plants. As of 2008[update], these plants produce 87.5% of both EDF’s and France’s electrical power production (of which much is exported),[1] making EDF the world leader in production of nuclear power by percentage. In 2004, 425.8 TWh out of the country’s total production of 540.6 TWh was from nuclear power (78.8%).[1]
France is the world’s largest net exporter of electric power, exporting 18% of its total production (about 100 TWh) to Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, and Germany, and its electricity cost is among the lowest in Europe.[1][2]
In 2006, the French Government asked Areva and EDF to build a next generation nuclear reactor, the EPR (European Pressurized Reactor), at the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant. This was followed in 2008 by an Presidential announcement of another new EPR, spurred by high oil and gas prices.[3] A site for that unit should be selected in 2009, and construction should start in 2011. …”
“…As of 2007 in the United States, there are 104 (69 pressurized water reactors and 35 boiling water reactors) commercial nuclear generating units licensed to operate, producing a total of 97,400 megawatts (electric), which is approximately 20% of the nation’s total electric energy consumption. The United States is the world’s largest supplier of commercial nuclear power. …”
“…In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in nuclear power in the US. This has been facilitated in part by the federal government with the Nuclear Power 2010 Program, which coordinates efforts for building new nuclear power plants,[3] and the Energy Policy Act which makes provisions for nuclear and oil industries.[4][5]
As of April 2008, the NRC is expecting 23 COL applications for a total of 34 new plants.[6]
As of 2005[update], no nuclear plant had been ordered without subsequent cancellation for over twenty years. However, on September 22, 2005 it was announced that two sites had been selected to receive new power reactors (exclusive of the new power reactor scheduled for Idaho National Laboratory) and two other utilities have plans for new reactors.[7] There has also been an application for an early site permit at Exelon’s Clinton Nuclear in Clinton, Illinois to install another reactor as well as a reactor restart at the Tennessee Valley Authority Browns Ferry nuclear station.[8]
On September 25, 2007, South Texas Project filed the application for a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL). Two new GE-Hitachi ABWRs will be built adjacent to the existing PWRs.[9] This is the first application for a new nuclear plant in the US for nearly 30 years.[citation needed] This was followed in October, 2007 by TVA and NuStart filing for a COL for two Westinghouse AP1000s to be built at Bellefonte in Hollywood, Alabama.[10]
In April 2008 Southern Company signed an engineering and procurement contract with Westinghouse and Shaw Group for two AP1000s to be built at Vogtle in Georgia.[11] This is the first construction contract for a new nuclear power plant in the US to be signed since 1978.
However, MidAmerican Energy Company decided to “end its pursuit of a nuclear power plant in Payette County, Idaho.”[12] MidAmerican cited cost as the primary factor in their decision.
On August 26, 2008, it was reported that The Shaw Group and Westinghouse would construct a factory at the Port of Lake Charles at Lake Charles, Louisiana to build components for the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor. [13]
On October 23, 2008, it was reported that Northrop Grumman and Areva were planning to construct a factory in Newport News, Virginia to build nuclear reactors.[14]
Feb 2005 opinion poll regarding nuclear power in the USA.
Blue represents people in favor of nuclear power
Gray represents undecided
Yellow represents opposed to nuclear power
Electric Cars, Nuclear Power Seen as Top Non-Drilling Alternatives to Foreign Oil
“…With energy policy at the center of the current presidential campaign, voters believe electric or hybrid cars and nuclear power plants are more likely than solar or wind power to significantly reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Biofuels such as ethanol are seen as even less likely to help.
Still, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 37% believe electric or hybrid cars are Very Likely to have such a positive impact. Thirty-two percent (32%) say the same about nuclear power; 25% are that optimistic about solar power, and 22% say wind power can accomplish the goal.
While none of these alternative energy sources are seen as overwhelmingly likely to reduce dependence on foreign oil, roughly two-thirds or more say each is at least somewhat likely to reduce U.S. reliance on oil from afar. …”
“An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle with one or more electric motors for propulsion. This is also referred to as an electric drive vehicle. The motion may be provided either by wheels or propellers driven by rotary motors, or in the case of tracked vehicles, by linear motors.
Unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) that is tuned to specifically operate with a particular fuel such as gasoline or diesel, an electric drive vehicle needs electricity, which comes from sources such as batteries or a generator. This flexibility allows the drive train of the vehicle to remain the same, while the fuel source can be changed.
The energy used to propel the vehicle may be obtained from several sources, some of them more ecological than others:
It is also possible to have hybrid electric vehicles that derives energy from multiple sources. Such as:
on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS) and a direct continuous connection to land-based generation plants for purposes of on-highway recharging with unrestricted highway range
“A programmer is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to programming may also be known as a programmer analyst. A programmer’s primary computer language (Lisp, Java, Delphi, C++, etc.) is often prefixed to the above titles, and those who work in a web environment often prefix their titles with web. A programmer is not a software developer, software engineer, computer scientist, or software analyst. These professions typically refer to individuals possessing programming skills as well as other software engineering skills. For this reason, the term programmer is sometimes considered an insulting or derogatory oversimplification of these other professions. This has sparked much debate amongst developers, analysts, computer scientists, programmers, and outsiders who continue to be puzzled at the subtle differences in these occupations.[1][2][3][4][5]
Those proficient in computer programming skills may become famous, though this regard is normally limited to software engineering circles. Many of the most notable programmers are often labeled hackers. Programmers often have or project an image of individualistgeekdom, resistance to “suits” (referring to both business suits literally and figuratively to the “Establishment”), controls and conformity.
“A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century became a figure of special significance and legend.[1] A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. …”
“…The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy’s equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today. …”
“Cowboy Coding is a term used to describe software development where the developers have autonomy over the development process. This includes control of the project’s schedule, algorithms, tools, and coding style.
A Cowboy Coder can be a lone developer or part of a group of developers with either no external management or management that controls only non-development aspects of the project, such as its nature, scope, and feature set. (The “what”, but not the “how”).
Cowboy Coding can have positive or negative connotations, depending on one’s opinions on the role of management and formal process in software development; “Cowboy Coding” is often used as a pejorative term by supporters of software development methodologies, such as Agile. …”
“…I seem to mixing with a huge number of software engineers this week. I am at a software symposium after all, so it’s no big surprise. But my word, what an opinionated crowd you can run into sometimes. Actually, it’s more than just sometimes isn’t it? There’s very often a sense of the ‘prima donna’ attitude among developers where they feel that one or two individuals in a coding team or project are carrying along eight or nine other ‘cowboy coders’, who are simply there to make up the numbers. …”
Frank Sinatra – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Frank Sinatra – Christmas Memories
Frank Sinatra & Bing Cosby – Christmas TV special
Background Articles and Videos
Frank Sinatra
“Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor.
Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the “bobby soxers”. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice ‘n’ Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records (finding success with albums such as Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, and fraternized with the Rat Pack and President John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with “Strangers in the Night” and “My Way”.
Sinatra attempted to weather the changing tastes in popular music, but with dwindling album sales and after appearing in several poorly received films, he retired in 1971. Coming out of retirement in 1973, he recorded several albums, scoring a hit with “(Theme From) New York, New York” in 1980, and toured both within the United States and internationally until a few years before his death in 1998.
Sinatra also forged a career as a dramatic actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm. He also starred in such musicals as High Society, Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls and On the Town. Sinatra was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
James Taylor – Something In the Way She Moves – Live Concert
James Taylor – Sweet Baby James 1970
James Taylor – What Child is This
James Taylor – Riding on a Railroad
James Taylor – Close Your Eyes 71
James Taylor – Country Road ’71
James Taylor – Help From My Friends
James Taylor – Steam Roller Blues ’71
71
Mockingbird – Carly Simon and James Taylor
James Taylor & Carly Simon – Close Your Eyes
James Taylor – Copperline
Wandering by James Taylor
Everyday – James Taylor
James Taylor Our Town
Background Articles and Videos
James Taylor
“James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is a Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina.[1]
Taylor’s career began in the mid-1960s, but he found his audience in the early 1970s, singing sensitive and gentle songs. He was part of a wave of singer-songwriters of the time that also included Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, Cat Stevens, Carole King, John Denver, Jim Croce, Don McLean, Gordon Lightfoot, and Jackson Browne, as well as Carly Simon, whom Taylor later married (and divorced).
His 1976 album Greatest Hits was certified diamond and has sold more than 11 million copies.[2] He has retained a large audience well into the 1990s and early 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums were released. …”
President-elect BO better watch his back, the WALNUT community organizer Jason Mattera, aka Jay Rocker, is a natural with a sense of humor and he is PR!
BO better appoint him Whitehouse Commnunications Director before the Republicans hire him.
Background Articles and Videos
pro-abortion rally, DNC Convention 08
pro-abortion demonstration at DNC Convention ’08, part 2
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 2, Part 1
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 2, Part 2
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 3, Part 1
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 3, Part 2
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 4, Part 1
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 4, Part 2
2008 Democrat National Convention, Day 5
Finally: ACORN funding cut off…
By Michelle Malkin
“…not by the federal government, alas, but by the U.S. Catholic Bishops.
Good for them:
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has not yet been able to determine if grants made to ACORN were used for fraudulent voter registration, but has cut off all funding to the community organizing group, Bishop Robert Morin announced on Tuesday.
Shortly after addressing the full assembly of U.S. Catholic bishops, Bishop Morin spoke to reporters about what the bishops had learned concerning the use of grants from the CCHD to the group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which is currently under investigation in 13 states for voter fraud.
CCHD originally announced in July 2008 that it was suspending funding to ACORN because of the embezzlement of 1 million dollars by the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke. Today, however, the Bishop Morin went one step further and announced the cancelation of all funding to the group.
When Bishop Morin was asked by the press why CCHD didn’t cancel funding earlier, given the nearly decade-old accusations of voter fraud, he responded that “there are hundreds of local ACORN affiliates” and then made reference to his estimate that CCHD only had a relationship with 40 to 45 of them. …”
“As long as I have any choice, I will stay only in a country where political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule.”
~Albert Einstein
The most important political development of the second millennium was the firm establishment, first in one or two countries, then in many, of the rule of law. Its acceptance and enforcement in any society is far more vital to the happiness of the majority than is even democracy itself. For democracy, without the rule of law to uphold the wishes of the electorate, is worthless, as the history of the past half-century has shown again and again in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The Soviet Union had, in theory, a wonderfully democratic constitution, But it lacked the rule of law entirely, and as a result Stalin was able to murder 30 million of its citizens and die safely in his bed, unarraigned and unpunished.
“What do we mean by the rule of law? We mean a judicial regime in which everyone is equal before the law, and everyone–and every institution–is subject to it.”
~Paul Johnson, Laying Down the Law, The Wall St. Journal, March 10, 1999,
have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years.
Additionally, the Constitution disqualifies some people from the Presidency. Under Article One of the United States Constitution, the Senate has the option, upon conviction, of disqualifying impeached individuals from holding other federal offices, including the Presidency.[4] Under the Twenty-Second Amendment, no one can be elected President more than twice. The Twenty-Second Amendment also specifies that anyone who serves more than two years as President or Acting President, of a term for which someone else was elected President, can only be elected President once. Scholars disagree whether a person no longer eligible to be elected President could be elected Vice President, pursuant to the qualifications set out under the Twelfth Amendment.[5]
Foreign-born Americans at the time the Constitution was adopted were also eligible to become President, provided they met the age and residency requirements.
This Friday, December 5, 2008, the Supreme Court is apparently going to review whether Barack Obama meets the natural-born citizen requirement of the United States Constitution.
At first I did not believe anyone would run for President that did not at least meet these minimum requirements.
When I looked into the issue of Senator Barack Obama’s unwillness to submit a certified copy of his birth certificate to a Federal District court and now the Supreme Court, I got mad.
The Democratic Party should have required any candidate for President of the United States to submit a birth certificate for its review before placing his or her name in nomination and made copies available to the press.
If the United States Supreme Court fails to review and enforce the natural-born citizen Constitutional requirement, then I am forced to sadly conclude we are no longer a nation under law.
A dangerous precedent will have been established by ignoring a very clear Constitutional requirement of Presidents of the United States.
All President-elect Obama needs to do is to have the State of Hawaii send directly to the Supreme Court a copy of his birth certificate and the entire issue becomes moot.
If President-elect Obama refuses to submit his birth certificate to the court, he should be ordered to step aside and Vice-President elect Biden becomes President of the United States on January 20, 2009.
“When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.”
~Pope John Paul II
Background Articles and Videos
Suit contesting Barack Obama’s citizenship heads to U.S. Supreme Court Friday
Justices will decide whether to consider the case
By James Janega | Tribune reporter
December 4, 2008
“…The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama’s election. …”
“…A case that challenges President-elect Barack Obama’sname on the 2008 election ballot citing questions over hiscitizenshiphas been scheduled for a “conference” at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. This case is set for a conference Dec. 5, just 10 days before the Electoral College is scheduled to meet to make formal the election of Obama as the nation’s next president.
The Supreme Court’s website listed the date for the case brought by Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells, the secretary of state
in New Jersey, over not only Obama’s name on the 2008 election ballot but those of two others, Sen. John McCain and Roger Calero. …”
The Unending Saga of Barack Obama’s FAKE Birth Certificate Controversy
November 26th, 2008· Posted by Velvet Hammer
“…Given the circumstances, if Barack Obama respected this nation, he would prove it by the simplest and easiest of gestures – unless, of course, all this talk about change and hope was just a bunch of bull, and he’s just “another politician.” Here’s the outline:
1. Under Hawaiian law, it is possible (both legally and illegally) for a person to have been born out of state, yet have a birth certificate on file in the Department of Health.
A. From Hawaii’s official Department of Health, Vital Records webpage: “Amended certificates of birth may be prepared and filed with the Department of Health, as provided by law, for 1) a person born in Hawaii who already has a birth certificate filed with the Department of Health or 2) a person born in a foreign country” (applies to adopted children). …”
“…Jim Geraghty takes a look at longstanding blog buzz over Barack Obama’s birth certificate, which the campaign refused to release to the St. Petersburg Times in April:
We tried to obtain a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, but his campaign would not release it and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public.
Has anyone seen it? Why shouldn’t the record be in the public domain for presidential candidates?
Geraghty walks through various rumors now circulating in the wake of the Obama campaign’s birth certificate blackout, including this one: …”
The special term “Natural-Born Citizen” is used in particular as a requirement for eligibility to serve as President or Vice President of the United States. Section 1 of Article II of the Constitution contains the clause:
“
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
”
Additionally, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that: “[N]o person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides an additional source of constitutional doctrine stating that birth “in the United States” and subjection to U.S. jurisdiction at the time of birth, entitles one to citizenship:
“
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the Jurisdiction thereof, are Citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. . .
”
However, the full text of the fourteenth amendment does not mention the phrase “natural-born citizen,” nor does it address Presidential qualifications. The phrase “natural born Citizen” is not defined anywhere in the Constitution.
Section 8 of Article I confers on Congress the power “to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization…” This power has been construed to include defining the characteristics of a “natural born citizen”, as well as the conditions of “naturalization”.
The 1790 Congress, many of whose members had been members of the Constitutional Convention, provided in the Naturalization Act of 1790 that “And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens.” In addition George Washington was president of the Constitutional Convention and President of the United States when this bill became law. If Washington disagreed with this definition, he could have vetoed this bill. …”
U. S. SUPREME COURT AWAITS RESPONSE TO
BERG’S WRIT OF CERTIORARI
FROM OBAMA, DNC and Co-DEFENDANTS
(Contact information and PDF at end)
(Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania – 11/07/08) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States filed a Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on October 30, 2008, requesting review of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Surrick’s Dismissal of Philip J. Berg’s lawsuit against Barack H. Obama, Jr., the DNC and the other co-Defendants. Accordingly, the U. S. Supreme Court has set dates in which Barack Obama, the DNC and all co-Defendants are to respond to the Writ, which is on or before December 1, 2008.
Mr. Berg remarked today, “I look forward to receiving Defendant Obama’s response to the Writ and am hopeful the U. S. Supreme Court will review Berg v. Obama. I believe Mr. Obama is not a constitutionally-qualified natural-born citizen and is ineligible to assume the office of President of the United States.”
Mr. Berg’s case, Berg vs. Obamawas dismissed from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Docket # 08-cv-4083 for lack of standing. Mr. Berg filed a Writ of Certiorari for review of the case and an injunction to stay the election pending review. Justice Souter denied the injunction. It is expected that the Court will decide whether or not to review Berg v. Obama after the Defendants file their response, and Mr. Berg has replied to the Defendant’s response.
The Defendants’ response is due by December 1st and Mr. Berg’s reply will be submitted thereafter.
1/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
2/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
3/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
4/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
5/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
6/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
7/7 – Philip Berg News Conference at US Supreme Court – 10/30/08
Obama Crimes
U.S. Supreme Court Update Regarding The December 01, 2008 Deadline
“…We understand everyone is eager to learn what occurred on December 1, 2008, at the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a rumor claiming Mr. Obama was Court Ordered by Justice Souter to turn over his birth certificate by December 1, 2008. This is NOT true.
When a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari is filed the Defendants automatically are given thirty (30) days to respond. They are not required to respond. The end of thirty (30) Days in the Berg v. Obama case was December 1, 2008. Keep in mind, the Defendants could have mailed in a response to the Petition for Writ of Certiorari and the Court allows approximately a week for mail. If this is the case, the envelopes must be postmarked December 1, 2008.
In the afternoon, December 1, 2008, Lisa, Mr. Berg’s Assistant contacted the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke with the Clerk. The Clerk informed Lisa Mr. Berg’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari would be distributed to all nine (9) Justices and a conference should be set within ten (10) days. As I’m sure you are aware, during the conference the Justices will discuss Mr. Berg’s Petition for the Writ of Certiorari and decide whether or not to grant or deny the Petition. It only takes four (4) out of nine (9) Justices to agree to grant Mr. Berg’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari. The Justices can also make other Orders during the Conference.
Mr. Berg’s Office also learned the Solicitor General is only representing the Federal Election Commission.
Additional documents will be filed within the next couple of days. All Legal briefs will be posted on our website, so please continue checking back for updates. …”
I dont wanna talk
About the things weve gone through
Though its hurting me
Now its history
Ive played all my cards
And thats what youve done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play
The winner takes it all
The loser standing small
Beside the victory
Thats her destiny
I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence
Building me a home
Thinking Id be strong there
But I was a fool
Playing by the rules
The gods may throw a dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
Its simple and its plain
Why should I complain.
But tell me does she kiss
Like I used to kiss you?
Does it feel the same
When she calls your name?
Somewhere deep inside
You must know I miss you
But what can I say
Rules must be obeyed
The judges will decide
The likes of me abide
Spectators of the show
Always staying low
The game is on again
A lover or a friend
A big thing or a small
The winner takes it all
I dont wanna talk
If it makes you feel sad
And I understand
Youve come to shake my hand
I apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence
But you see
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all……
ABBA greatest hits full album
Best of ABBA HD/HQ Mp3 – ABBA greatest hits full album
“ABBA was a Swedishpop music group . The band comprised Benny Andersson (Sweden), Björn Ulvaeus (Sweden), Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Norway), Agnetha Fältskog (Sweden). They topped the charts worldwide from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The name “ABBA” is an acronym formed from the first letters of each of the group member’s given name (Agnetha, Björn, Benny, Anni-Frid)[1].
ABBA gained immense international popularity employing catchy song hooks, simple lyrics, and a Wall of Sound achieved by overdubbing the female singers’ voices in multiple harmonies. As their popularity grew, they were sought after to tour Europe, Australia, and North America, drawing crowds of near-hysterical fans (“ABBAholics”), notably in Australia. Touring became a contentious issue, being particularly unpopular with Agnetha, but they continued to release studio albums to great commercial success. At the height of their popularity, however, both marriages of the band members (Benny with Frida, and Björn with Agnetha) failed, and the relationship changes were reflected in their music, as they produced more thoughtful lyrics with different compositions.
In Frida the dvd, Lyngstad explains how she and Fältskog developed as singers, as Abba´s recordings got more and more complex over the years.
They remain a fixture of radio playlists and are one of the world’s best selling bands, having sold over 400 million records world wide;[2][3][4] they still sell two to four million records a year.[5] ABBA was also the first pop group from mainland Europe to enjoy consistent success in the charts of the English-speaking countries, mainly the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Their enormous popularity subsequently opened the doors for other Continental European acts.[6] The music of ABBA has been re-arranged into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that has toured worldwide and a movie version was released in July 2008. All four of the former members of ABBA were present at the Stockholm premieres of both the musical (2005) and the film (2008). The film première took place at the Benny Andersson-owned Rival theatre at Mariatorget, Stockholm on 4 July 2008.
A new museum devoted entirely to the pop supergroup was scheduled to open in Stockholm in 2009, but the project was postponed indefinitely as of September 2008. [7]
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
~James Bovard, Lost Rights. The Destruction of American Liberty (St. Martin’s Press: New York, 1994), p. 333.
Auto industry bailout – are we bailing out GM or UAW?
Reid/Pelosi Press Conference On Auto Bailout
FOX: DeMint Explains Opposition to Auto Bailout
Romney To Big 3: Fold
No More Bailouts!!!
Bankruptcy, Not a Bailout, Is a Better Option for Automakers
The Federal Government should not bailout or make billion dollar loans to any business, no matter how big.
No business is too big to fail or go bankrupt.
Bankruptcy is always an alternative.
Thousands of businesses go out of business or file for bankruptcy every day.
Thousands of new business start operations every day.
Congress has no Constitutional role to be lender of last resort to bailout or loan money to businesses that are losing money.
The primary reason the Democratic Party and Nancy Pelosi say that “bankruptcy is not an option” is that if the auto companies file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, than the auto companies will ask that all contracts, including labor contracts between the auto company and the union be cancelled or amended and new terms and conditions negotiated.
The IAW opposes this and is pressuring Congress, namely the Democratic Party, to bailout the auto companies to prevent General Motors, Ford and Chrysler from filing for bankruptcy.
The IAW has been a major contributor of money and labor to get out the vote for the Democratic Party for many years.
The auto companies bailout is a political payoff by the Democratic Party to save the IAW.
The American taxpayer is not a lender of last resort whereby Congress loans money to companies that have failed in the market for whatever reason including Federal government regulation and higher taxes.
I will vote against any Senator, Congressional Representative, and Presidential candidate that votes for any bailout of any company, state, or local government.
Ban Bailouts!
“It is interesting to observe that in the year 1935 the average individual’s incurious attitude towards the phenomenon of the State is precisely what his attitude was toward the phenomenon of the Church in the year, say, 1500. … it does not appear to have occurred to the Church-citizen of that day, any more than it occurs to the State-citizen of the present, to ask what sort of institution it was that claimed his allegiance.”
~Albert Jay Nock, Our Enemy, the State, c. 1935 (Delavan: Hallberg, 1983), p. 34.
“…Nearly half of U.S. voters (48%) say it is better for the economy to let companies like General Motors fail rather than providing government subsidies to keep them in business.
Thirty-five percent (35%) believe it’s better to subsidize their continued existence, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans and 60% of unaffiliated voters say it’s better to let troubled companies like GM fail, compared to 26% of Democrats. Fifty percent (50%) of Democrats think it’s better to subsidize them, but just one-quarter of GOP and unaffiliated voters agree.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of investors say it is better to let companies like GM fail, compared to 38% of non-investors.
In a survey last week, 46% of Americans opposed a government bailout for the Big Three automakers.
Pelosi Says Bankruptcy by Automakers ‘Not an Option’
“…U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she believes either Congress or the Bush administration will step in to aid domestic automakers because bankruptcy is “not an option.”
“I believe that an intervention will happen,” Pelosi said at a briefing in Washington. “Everybody is disadvantaged by bankruptcy, including our economy, so that’s not an option.”
Pelosi said Congress will either approve new loans for the auto industry or the Bush administration will provide funding through the $700 billion financial-markets rescue plan approved by Congress last month. …”
“Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to any business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most prominently used by corporate entities. In contrast, Chapter 7 governs the process of a liquidation bankruptcy, while Chapter 13 provides a reorganization process for the majority of private individuals with unsecured debts of less than $336,900.00 and secured debts of less than $1,010,650.00 as of April 1, 2007.
“…When a business is unable to service its debt or pay its creditors, the business or its creditors can file with a federal bankruptcy court for protection under either chapter 7 or chapter 11. In chapter 7, the business ceases operations and a trustee sells all of its assets and distributes the proceeds to its creditors. In chapter 11, in most instances the debtor remains in control of its business operations as a “debtor in possession”, and is subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the court.[1] The court can grant complete or partial relief from most of the company’s debts and its contracts. Sometimes, if the business’s debts exceed its assets, then at the completion of bankruptcy the company’s owners all end up without anything; all their rights and interests are ended and the company’s creditors are left with ownership of the newly reorganized company. …”
“…All creditors are entitled to be heard by the court which is responsible for determining whether the plan of reorganization complies with the purposes of the bankruptcy law and provides for fair and equitable treatment of all parties in interest.
Some contracts, known as executory contracts, may be rejected if canceling them would be financially favorable to the company and its creditors. Such contracts include labor union contracts, supply or operating contracts (with both vendors and customers) and real estate leases. The standard feature of executory contracts is that each party to the contract has duties remaining under the contract. In the event of a rejection, the remaining parties to the contract become unsecured creditors of the debtor.
Chapter 11 is reorganization, as opposed to liquidation. Debtors may “emerge” from a chapter 11 bankruptcy within a few months or within several years, depending on the size and complexity of the bankruptcy. Debtors in Chapter 11 have the exclusive right to propose a plan of reorganization for a period of time. After that time has elapsed, creditors may also propose plans. Plans must satisfy a number of criteria in order to be “confirmed” by the bankruptcy court. Among other things, creditors must vote to approve the plan of reorganization. If a plan cannot be confirmed, the court may either convert the case to a liquidation under Chapter 7 or, if in the best interests of the creditors and the estate, the case may be dismissed resulting in a return to the status quo before bankruptcy. If the case is dismissed, creditors will look to nonbankruptcy law in order to satisfy their claims. …”
The heads of struggling auto giants General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler reappeared on the Hill yesterday to make their case anew. This time, they came more prepared. The most ambitious business plan proposed was by General Motors, the world’s largest auto company, currently teetering on the verge of collapse. It set out a plan to recapture revenue through deep cuts—including slashing 20 percent of its jobs, shutting nine factories, and trying to reduce pay through talks with the United Automobile Workers union.
Along with a more structured plan, however, the Big 3 also had an even bigger request: $34 billion in loans, compared with the $25 billion they’d asked for two weeks ago.
If you weren’t already feeling Scrooge-y, here’s the White House refusing to rule any bailout in or out: …”
America is in Recession – That’s official…at last!
Money Minute: Recession, Paulson, Oil
The National Bureau of Economic Research has determined the U.S. economy entered a recession starting in January 2008 and is still in a recession.
The previous expansion of the economy lasted 73 months from November 2001 through December 2007.
Looks like the US economy is in for a recession lasting from 24 to 36 months.
The actual length of the recession will depend on what fiscal policies are employed to stimulate the economy in terms of both tax reductions and government spending.
Note that the NBER does not define a recession as two consecutive quarters of decline in Gross Domestic Product, that is usually regarded as the defintion of a recession by economists.
Instead the NBER defines a recession as “… a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.”
The US economy will most likely have a one quarter decline in real GDP for the fourth calendar quarter of 2008. Assuming this decline in real GDP continues into the first quarter of 2009, than the economy will be in a definite recession as defined as two consecutive quarters of decline in Gross Domestic Product.
Since Barack Obama ran on a platform of raising taxes by repealing President Bush’s tax rate reductions, Obama will only worsen the recession if he persists in his “vision” and implements his tax proposals that he ran on.
A cap and trade tax will only make matters much worse for it would raise prices of all goods and services across the board especially those that require electricity and/or transportation to produce and deliver, i.e. energy that produces CO2.
If Barack Obama postpones his planned tax increases, then the recession should not be as bad as it would with a tax increase. The problem is that uncertainty as to what the tax rates will be after 2010, will only be a drag on the economy.
Hopefully, Obama’s economic team will recommend a reduction in tax rates in particular a reduction in business income tax rate from 35% to 25% and capital gains tax from 15% to 10% or lower, ideally 0%.
More Federal government spending and a postponement of all tax increases until after the the elections in 2010 will most likely be the policy followed.
This will result in a recession of at least 18 months from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2010.
Obama remorse will set in as the unemployment rate increases above 8% and may even hit 10% before it starts to decline.
The American people will demand that the Open Borders with Mexico be closed, criminal aliens removal and deportation and stiff fines for any business or organization that employs illegal immigrants or criminal aliens.
Approximately 8 to 12 million illegal aliens are currently working in the United States.
The American people will insist that American citizens be hired to fill these jobs and will not tolerate the American elites of either political party proposing another amnesty bill and open borders with historical high unemployment rates in the 8% to 10% range.
An politician that proposes “comprehensive immigration reform” and a “path to citizenship” will be voted out of office.
A repeat of the Carter years appears to be the most likely scenario–stagflation will be back.
Today’s bailout increases in money and credit will result in inflation, most likely starting in early 2011 with the Federal Reserve restricting the growth in the money supply and higher interest rates.
Ron Paul got it right:
Ron Paul and the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle
Three cheers for Ron Paul, Friedrick Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises!
Background Articles and Videos
US Economic Recession Prediction 11/02/07
National Bureau of Economic Research
“…The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met by conference call on Friday, November 28. The committee maintains a chronology of the beginning and ending dates (months and quarters) of U.S. recessions. The committee determined that a peak in economic activity occurred in the U.S. economy in December 2007. The peak marks the end of the expansion that began in November 2001 and the beginning of a recession. The expansion lasted 73 months; the previous expansion of the 1990s lasted 120 months.
A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators. A recession begins when the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends when the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion.
Because a recession is a broad contraction of the economy, not confined to one sector, the committee emphasizes economy-wide measures of economic activity. The committee believes that domestic production and employment are the primary conceptual measures of economic activity.
The committee views the payroll employment measure, which is based on a large survey of employers, as the most reliable comprehensive estimate of employment. This series reached a peak in December 2007 and has declined every month since then.
The committee believes that the two most reliable comprehensive estimates of aggregate domestic production are normally the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Product and the quarterly estimate of real Gross Domestic Income, both produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In concept, the two should be the same, because sales of products generate income for producers and workers equal to the value of the sales. However, because the measurement on the product and income sides proceeds somewhat independently, the two actual measures differ by a statistical discrepancy. The product-side estimates fell slightly in 2007Q4, rose slightly in 2008Q1, rose again in 2008Q2, and fell slightly in 2008Q3. The income-side estimates reached their peak in 2007Q3, fell slightly in 2007Q4 and 2008Q1, rose slightly in 2008Q2 to a level below its peak in 2007Q3, and fell again in 2008Q3. Thus, the currently available estimates of quarterly aggregate real domestic production do not speak clearly about the date of a peak in activity.
Other series considered by the committee—including real personal income less transfer payments, real manufacturing and wholesale-retail trade sales, industrial production, and employment estimates based on the household survey—all reached peaks between November 2007 and June 2008.
The committee determined that the decline in economic activity in 2008 met the standard for a recession, as set forth in the second paragraph of this document. All evidence other than the ambiguous movements of the quarterly product-side measure of domestic production confirmed that conclusion. Many of these indicators, including monthly data on the largest component of GDP, consumption, have declined sharply in recent months.
The committee’s primary role is to maintain a monthly chronology of the business cycle. For this purpose, the committee mainly relies on monthly indicators. It also considers quarterly indicators and maintains a quarterly chronology. In its deliberations, the committee relied on a number of monthly and quarterly economic indicators published by government agencies. The Appendix to this announcement lists these indicators and their sources. The Appendix also describes the calculations required to reproduce the series that the NBER committee examined in its deliberations.
The NBER does not define a recession in terms of two consecutive quarters of decline in real GDP. Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. For more information, see the latest announcement from the NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, dated 12/01/08. <!–The NBER does not define a recession in terms of two consecutive quarters of decline in real GNP. Rather, a recession is a period of significant decline in total output, income, employment, and trade, usually lasting from six months to a year, and marked by widespread contractions in many sectors of the economy.
A growth recession is a recurring period of slow growth in total output, income, employment, and trade, usually lasting a year or more. A growth recession may encompass a recession, in which case the slowdown usually begins before the recession starts, but ends at about the same time. Slowdowns also may occur without recession, in which case the economy continues to grow, but at a pace significantly below its long-run growth
A depression is a recession that is major in both scale and duration. Further discussion of these concepts can be found in the NBER book, Business Cycles, Inflation and Forecasting, 2nd edition, by Geoffrey H. Moore, 1983, Ballinger Publishing Co., Cambridge, MA.
“In the United States, individuals and corporations pay income tax on the net total of all their capital gains just as they do on other sorts of income. Capital gains are generally taxed at a preferential rate in comparison to ordinary income. This is intended to provide incentives for investors to make capital investments and to fund entrepreneurial activity. The amount an investor is taxed depends on both his or her tax bracket, and the amount of time the investment was held before being sold. Short-term capital gains are taxed at the investor’s ordinary income tax rate, and are defined as investments held for a year or less before being sold. Long-term capital gains, which apply to assets held for more than one year, are taxed at a lower rate than short-term gains. In 2003, this rate was reduced to 15%, and to 5% for individuals in the lowest two income tax brackets. These reduced tax rates were passed with a sunset provision and are effective through 2011; if they are not extended before that time, they will expire and revert to the rates in effect before 2003, which were generally 20%.
The reduced 15% tax rate on eligible dividends and capital gains, previously scheduled to expire in 2008, was extended through 2010 as a result of the Tax Reconciliation Act signed into law by President George W. Bush on May 17, 2006. As a result:
In 2008, 2009, and 2010, the tax rate on eligible dividends and long term capital gains is 0% for those in the 10% and 15% income tax brackets.
After 2010, dividends will be taxed at the taxpayer’s ordinary income tax rate, regardless of his or her tax bracket.
After 2010, the long-term capital gains tax rate will be 20% (10% for taxpayers in the 15% tax bracket).
After 2010, the qualified five-year 18% capital gains rate (8% for taxpayers in the 15% tax bracket) will be reinstated.
Technically, a “cost basis” is used, rather than the simple purchase price, to determine the taxable amount of the gain. The cost basis is the original purchase price, adjusted for various things including additional improvements or investments, taxes paid on dividends, certain fees, and depreciation.
The United States is unlike other countries in that its citizens are subject to U.S. tax on their worldwide income no matter where in the world they reside. U.S. citizens therefore find it difficult to take advantage of personal tax havens. Although there are some offshore bank accounts that advertise as tax havens, U.S. law requires reporting of income from those accounts and failure to do so constitutes tax evasion. …”
Turned on the TV Sunday and there was Ted Turner on Meet The Press being interviewed by Tom Brokaw.
I was stunned by what he was saying and he was serious.
MR. BROKAW: You met Vladimir Putin when he was just an aide to the mayor of St. Petersburg. He picked up you and Jane Fonda, to whom you were married at the time. But as you have watched him since then, most people see not in his eyes a soulful person, but the eyes–three letters, as someone has put it: KGB. That he is…
MR. TURNER: Well, he had that background. But you know, we have an FBI and, and, and, and, and we’re not prejudice against somebody who’s worked at the FBI. It’s an honorable place to work. And the KGB, I think, was an honorable place to work. And it, it gave people in the former Soviet Union, a communist country, an opportunity to do something important and worthwhile.
MR. BROKAW: But in the meantime, it appears that he’s very much more interested in just causing difficulty for the United States, getting in our face in a manner of speaking.
MR. TURNER: Well, wait. We’re the ones–in my opinion, we’re the ones that started that. We’re the ones that started by putting the Star Wars system in Czechoslovakia and Poland when they wanted to be part of it. We’ve said that that system is only to protect us from Iran or protect Europe from Iranian missiles. So why didn’t we cooperate with the Russians? Why have we constantly been pushing–we’ve been pushing on the Russians all the time.
So, Ted, how many millions of American citizens has the FBI killed?
Not very funny Ted equating the FBI and KGB.
You should do the honorable thing and apologize to the people who have worked for the FBI and the millions in the former Soviet Union that had family and friends killed and imprisoned by the KGB.
Ted, keep on singing Home on the Range.
Background Artilces and Videos
“Meet The Press”: Times For Tom, Ted To Move On – Nothing “Left” To Say
“…November 30th’s “Meet The Press” with Tom Brokaw is evidence that it is time for Mr. Brokaw to get back to his worthy projects as this disjointed session revealed.
Brokaw began with an interview with First Lady Laura Bush on her advocacy for Afghanistan with women’s groups. Clearly Mr. Brokaw seemed more interested in putting her and the ambassador on the defensive and got to his real purpose at the end – to delight in hearing about the Obamas’ White House tour and how marvelous this all has been – ad nauseum.
Brokaw topped himself, however, with his interview of Ted Turner, thumping his new book “Call Me Ted” – and had some Red Ted’isms: …”
“KGB (transliteration of “КГБ”) is the Russian abbreviation of Committee for State Security (Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности?·i; Komitjet Gosudarstvjennoj Bjezopasnosti), which was the official name of the umbrella organization serving as the Soviet Union‘s premier security agency, secret police, and intelligence agency, from 1954 to 1991.
The name of the largest of the Russian successors to the KGB is the FSB (ФСБ, Федеральная служба безопасности; Fjedjeral’naja Sluzhba Bjezopasnosti; English: Federal Security Service).
The KGB’s function was illustrated by its official emblem: bearing both shield and sword, the KGB was an organization with a military hierarchy aimed at providing national defense, and the defence of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). It was similar in function to the United States‘ CIA, with additional tasks of counter-espionage and national defense of the FBI, or by the twin organizations MI5 and MI6 in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
On December 21, 1995, the President of RussiaBoris Yeltsin signed the decree that disbanded the KGB, which was then substituted by the FSB, the current domestic state security agency of the Russian Federation.
In Belarus, a former Soviet republic, the official Russian name of the State Security Agency remains “KGB”.
The term is also sometimes used figuratively in the Westernpress to refer to the current FSB committee after the 1991 renaming due to its recognition and public perception.[1]
Most of the information about the KGB remains secret, although there are two sources of documents of KGB available online.[2][3]
Pronk Palisades 
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