Simple Man Politics

Hello my friends and welcome to the Friday edition of Simple Man Politics. This will probably be my last post before we enter the new year of 2009. However I do plan to post before then if anything earth shattering should happen between now and then. But as my holiday officially starts at 3:45pm MST this afternoon I really hope this will be my last for the year. Since this is my intention today’s blog post is going to be on Christmas, but first lets get some of the current events political news out of the way.

It appears that the Bush administration has come through on the automaker bailout with a total of 17.4 billion dollars for GM and Chrysler. Ford will not be taking any money at this time, which makes them my favorite US auto maker for now. The Bush administration has said that this bailout is contingent upon all those involved coming to the table with serious concessions to make GM and Chrysler viable by March 31st, 2009. All I have to say is good luck with that, because I think they will be back begging for more before then.

There is still no decision made in the Franken and Coleman senate race in Minnesota. It seems they will still be counting challenged ballots in that thing until December 31st, 2008. Unfortunately for the first time since this mess started the WEENIE challenger Franken has pulled ahead by two votes. Of course he has a lot of help up there with a Democrat in charge of the state board of elections and liberal state Supreme Court making rulings favorable to him. Somehow I don’t think the incumbent Norm Coleman is going to get a fair shake in this deal.

Now let’s get on to the subject of Christmas in this country. First off Christmas is a holiday that came over here on the Mayflower before we were even a country, in fact we were still an English colony. The French who were here also celebrated the holiday. The reason we celebrated it then and now is to commemorate the birth of Christ. This makes Christmas a very important holiday to people of the Christian faith here and around the world.

Saint Nicholas also known as Santa Claus is actually a saint and there are many celebrations in his honor all over the world from Europe to Greece to Lebanon and the West Bank. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of the city of Bari in Italy where he is buried. He is the patron saint of the town of Beit Jala in the West Bank where it is said he spent four years of his life during his pilgrimage to the holy land. This one individual is responsible for helping to create the spirit of Christmas around the world even to those of other faiths such as Muslims.

What I am trying to say is this and that is that Christmas is a Christian holiday. We celebrate it here because the founders of this nation were Christians. Our country was founded on the Christian belief that we are one nation under GOD. Our currency, which is spent to purchase the gifts we give each and every Christmas, says IN GOD WE TRUST. The three wise men came on Christmas day to deliver their gift’s to the SON OF GOD. God is the very foundation of this country and this holiday.

As a result I don’t think I’m going to be politically correct and say Happy Holidays. I am going to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I am just glad that no one complains about Easter, which is a Christian holiday, although I have yet to figure out what a rabbit and loads of chocolate have to do with it, but I digress. As far as any other holiday is concerned you can say Happy Thanksgiving, which is a Christian holiday. You can say Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, yet another Christian holiday. You can say Happy Halloween, which is a pagan holiday. You can say Happy Kwanza and Happy Hanukkah. You can basically call any other holiday by its rightful name but Christmas.

If you do not like people saying Merry Christmas, or you are not a Christian or member of a religion or faith that celebrates Christmas, or you do not wish to celebrate the Christmas season then by all means please don’t. I would not want to offend or have your delicate sensibilities offended. Besides I know it is very hard for employers to find any employees who want to work over this holiday. And since you don’t believe in or wish to celebrate Christmas, at least make yourself useful by servicing those of us who do. Know this though that if you meet me and say Happy Holiday’s I will promptly respond back with a very hearty and boisterous MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS my friends and I look forward to seeing all of you in the New Year. I also hope you enjoy the video I am including with this post a friend of mine sent it to me and I thought it appropriate for this post. Have a great weekend and a MERRY CHRISTMAS, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Have you all heard the latest news from the gay rights people? The anointed one, the one who is going to save the world, the very person they think so highly of and voted for and in the Presidential election has abandoned them. That’s right President elect Barack Obama has asked the good reverend Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration.

The alternative lifestyle folks out there are screaming that it is a slap in their faces, and are beseeching the great one to pick someone else who didn’t support prop 8. My god don’t those screaming idiots out there realize that most of the people who voted for Obama also voted to support prop 8 and other legislation like it all across the country on November 4th. I also supported Arizona’s similar legislation on November 4th.

While I didn’t vote to allow same sex marriage in my state I do however agree that things such as civil unions or some sort of law recognizing same sex couples as being in a permanent relationship is necessary. I have a family relative who lives on the left coast and is living in a relationship of the alternative lifestyle and he voted in support of prop 8 also. He said that a marriage should be between a man and a woman just like his mom and dad. I also spoke to him today and he thought reverend Rick was a very good choice for Obama to make with regard to the invocation at his inauguration. By the way my cousin is also a conservative. Don’t tell his parents though because they are total liberal Democrats and would go nuts if they found out he wasn’t one to.

I think it is time for those whiny little cry babies to get over it and move on. I don’t see how having a religious figure deliver the invocation at Obama’s inauguration is inappropriate. After all who else would deliver the darn thing? Besides they would be unhappy with any pastor or reverend that Obama picked because the probably all supported prop 8 or something like it in their own states. The only reason the gay rights are screaming so loud at this pick is because the reverend Warren is such a public figure.

All I can say is that this is one more pick of Obama’s that I happen to agree with and before the election I thought I would not have agreed with Obama on anything. Have a great day all of you, and I will be back tomorrow for the TGIF post, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

While Obama has taken a few prominent Democrats from the Senate to fill his cabinet, the junior senator from the state of New York Hillary Rodham Clinton may prove to be the hardest senator for a governor to replace. The reason for this is the fact that two political dynasties in the Democratic Party are apparently interested in her now vacant senate seat.

The Kennedy’s and the Cuomo’s both have an eye on filling Hillary’s seat, specifically Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo. The person appointed to fill that seat will be chosen by New York Governor David Paterson a lifelong Democrat. The reason that this appointment will be so important to Governor Paterson is that it could well determine his political future. This means that person best suited for the position may not actually get it.

Andrew Cuomo, the son of former N.Y. Governor Mario Cuomo has been mentioned as a possible appointee to fill Mrs. Clintons N.Y. senate seat. He has served under Bill Clinton as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1997 to 2001. He also served under N.Y. city mayor David Dinkins as the chairman of the New York City Homeless Commission. Although he lost his bid for Governor of the state of New York in 2002, he was elected the Attorney General for the state of New York in 2006. While there is reportedly some scandal concerning Andrew Cuomo and the current credit crisis he has a solid resume of experience in New York state politics and service to its residents.

Caroline Kennedy the daughter and only surviving child of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been rumored to want the senate seat vacated by Mrs. Clinton to. Caroline Kennedy is a member of the New York and D.C. bar associations. She is a member of the Commission of Presidential Debates, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was an early supporter of Obama for the Democratic Party Nomination and in the general election as well. While she does come from one of the greatest political dynasties in the political arena she really has virtually no experience in public service.

As I said the appointment to fill the Clinton senate seat will most likely come down to can or will further Governor Paterson’s political future beyond his Governorship. While this is indeed unfortunate that it would be decided along that line it may well work out in favor of the citizens of New York anyway. The Cuomo’s have a history of serving the people of the great state of New York and Andrew Cuomo does have experience in public service. That coupled with the fact the Cuomo dynasty is firmly entrenched in New York and its politics, while the Kennedy Dynasty is more firmly rooted in Massachusetts and its politics. With any luck the seat will fall to Andrew Cuomo as I believe they can do more for Paterson in his home state of New York.

That is all for now, but I will be back again tomorrow. Have a good day my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

It appears that on Monday the US Supreme Court dismissed another suit alleging that Barack Obama is ineligible to serve as President based on his citizenship status. There are still a couple of more suits pending before the SCOTUS that deal with the same subject.

Unless there is any concrete fool proof physical evidence to contradict Obama’s claim that he is in fact a natural born citizen of the United States I hope the Supremes dismiss those cases as well. This country has enough to deal with, without some contrived scandal created by some sore losers on Election Day. In any event the Electoral College has just elected Barack Hussein Obama as the President Elect so lets move on to more3 important things.

While I will admit that I was not at all thrilled at the thought of having Barack Obama as President for the next four years, I think all of this noise being made about him not being a natural born citizen of the United States is a bunch of horse hockey. I will also admit that I would love for it to be true, but then we would be stuck with President Joe Biden, which wouldn’t thrill me much either. I also think that it is a good thing that McCain lost even though I voted for the guy. He is after all the Democrats favorite Republican Senator and his White House probably wouldn’t be that great anyway.

I also hope that Obama and his staff didn’t have anything to do with the Blagojevich pay to play scandal currently being investigated in Illinois. I’m sure that his transition team and maybe even Rahm Emmanuel had some contact with the Illinois Governor with regard to Obama’s replacement in the US Senate, but I would find it hard to believe that Obama would be stupid enough to get caught up in that sort of thing. As for Emmanuel I think he is a loud mouth blowhard, but not an idiot either.

For better or worse the United States is married to Barack Obama for the next four years, and we all have to live with and get used to that fact. As a natural born American citizen it is my fervent desire to see Obama’s Presidency succeed. I think a lot of his cabinet choices have been spot on. He has been able to find some very talented, creative, and knowledgeable people to fill those positions to.

I personally don’t think that he will solve all of the problems that we face or be able to implement a lot of his plans, the latter part being a good thing for the American people, I believe that he will do what he thinks is right to get us out of all of this financial trouble our country is facing even though two of the people who contributed to our current economic crisis chair the committee’s responsible for making sure that the trouble didn’t happen.

That’s all I have for today my friends. I will be back again very soon with another post for you. I hope you all have a great day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

It appears that today’s blog is going to be a conglomeration of political information today. As you know I do this sort of thing once or twice a month. The reason I usually do so is that there is more than one topic that needs addressing at the time, so I do so. Also I do them because this is my blog and I can do what I want when I want. Anyways lets get started shall we?

Item #1
Thanks to all of you who have voted in my poll over the last week. It appears that 81% of you thought that Sarah Palin was an effective and intelligent VP candidate compared to just 18% of you who thought otherwise. Unfortunately only 11 of you voted so I am not sure if this is an accurate account of the views of my readers on this topic.

Item #2
Since the auto industry bail out bill was stalled in the US Senate it now appears that the White House will step in and throw the Big Three in Detroit a lifeline. Now instead of costing the taxpayer a mere 14 billion dollars it may cost us as much as 40 billion dollars. A portion of that money will also go to the UAW, so I guess we are bailing out labor unions now to. This sounds very socialist to me, but then again anyone with an ounce of common sense saw us moving in that direction anyway.

Item #3
On Friday Democratic Senatorial Candidate Al Franken of Minnesota won two important concessions in the state regarding his campaign. One win for him was the state canvassing boards ruling to include as many as 1500 incorrectly rejected absentee ballots. The other win for him was the boards ruling to use election night results instead of recount results in a Franken leaning Minneapolis precinct. However Franken communications director Andy Barr has said that when the board meets on Tuesday it will have fewer than 500 challenged ballots to review from the Franken campaign.

Item #4
It seems that Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois may support a special run off election to fill Barack Obama’s senate seat in that state. At this time Blagojevich still refuses to resign in the wake of the pay and play politics scandal that is rocking his administration. The Illinois state legislature is convening a special session today and calls for Blagojevich’s impeachment are ringing in the halls in Springfield Illinois.

Item #5
I think SNL did cross the line with their live skit portraying New York Governor David Paterson as disoriented and befuddled due to his blindness. It is a cheap and vindictive attack against an American who has made something of his life in spite of his handicap. I believe that the head of SNL and his staff should issue an apology to the Governor immediately. As a parent of a handicapped person I will not watch SNL again until they issue an apology and retract the skit.

Well that is all I have for today’s post. I hope you all enjoy it. I also hope that the next time I do a poll more of you vote in it. I would also appreciate some suggestions as to what to write about on Friday’s, as it has always been my plan to leave that day open for what you want to know about. I will be back again soon so have a wonderful day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well so much for negotiations with the UAW. It appears that they won’t revisit the subject of labor wages again. Senator Bob Corker told the union that the bailout would pass if they agreed to bring labor costs into line with those of foreign auto makers based here in the US. The failure of the UAW to agree to set a date to lower wages is one of the reasons that derailed the bill yesterday.

It appears that UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger will not even consider re-entering those conversations because he believes that the White House will dig into the 700 billion dollar T.A.R.P. fund to bail out the Big Three. Another thing that helped to stall the bill in the Senate was the unwillingness of the UAW to make or discuss concessions about labor retirement packages. Although the UAW did concede that the job bank would have to go.

The only thing I have to left to say on this subject today is “way to go President Bush”. It now appears that our fearless leader and member of the Republican Party. He is now no different than the tax and spend liberals who will be running two of the three branches of government in January. The only difference being is that while he is spending like crazy he isn’t taxing like crazy. But why should he worry about creating a bigger deficit he’s just going to dump it on Obama anyway.

I will see you all next week, and I hope you all have an awesome weekend, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. Please don’t forget to vote in my poll on the left side of this page.

Well would you believe that the Senate Republicans finally found their backbone when it came to a bail out? It is too bad that they couldn’t have had a backbone when it came to bailing out the mortgage industry but it is still a start.

The auto industry bailout bill was stalled in the senate today by Senator Mitch McConnell and other Republicans. The GOP is seeking sweeping UAW concessions up front to the Big Three before they would support any bill to bail out the auto industry.

Yesterday the White House sent one of their own people down to the capitol in an attempt to persuade the Senate Republicans to come on board with the White House. Apparently the minority party in the Senate led by Mitch McConnell gave the poor guy an earful. Richard Shelby of Alabama who is another very vocal opponent of the bail out was also in the meeting.

The truth is, is that the Republicans in the Senate do not want the Big Three to fail. However they do not want to throw good money into an enterprise that is doomed to fail. As long as the Big Three continue to have to pay the exorbitant costs of labor that the UAW demands, things in Detroit will not get any better.

Like these Senators who have stalled the bill and demanded UAW concessions I am all for the American working man getting paid a decent wage, paying his bills, and giving his family a decent life. I just don’t think that the UAW is any longer a viable entity. Like all dinosaurs it should fall into extinction and disappear.

Many of the foreign auto makers who have taken up residence in the southern states where there are right to work laws have been very profitable. A large part of their success is due to the fact that they don’t have to deal with things like the UAW. Their workers make decent wages, enjoy benefits, and help to keep the economies in those towns lucky enough to have one of their facilities in the black.

That’s it for today my friends, I am sorry this post is late. I hope you all have a fantastic evening, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. Don't forget to vote in the poll to the left of the page. Sunday is the last day before the poll closes.

Well my friends I’m back with another installment of Simple man Politics for you, and today’s topic is the 15 billion dollar bailout of the auto industry. I know I have blogged about all of this before, but it just won’t go away. Anyway it’s time to get started so let’s get it done.

Today congressional Democrats sent the White House their 15 billion dollar bailout bill. This bill even has a provision in it for a car czar to oversee the auto industry. Basically this will put the tax payer into business with the auto industry even though they are calling this a bridge loan for the auto industry. If it is a bridge loan then why do they need government oversight? Loans get paid back right?

The car czar will have to be notified of any major business decisions, transactions over 25 million dollars, and any change in the auto makers financial condition. What this means is that DC will have the first and last say in any business decisions made by the Big Three. We own it but the politicians will run it for us.

What’s next congress gets to design the autos? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want those in the picture at the top of this blog designing the car I drive. What do they know about automobile manufacturing anyway? If they run the businesses they are bailing out like they run the government, every facet of industry and business from the financials to the auto industry will be suffering trillion dollar deficits before the 2010 mid term elections.

Maybe I am just stupid, but I really don’t understand why chapter 11 bankruptcy is not an option for the auto industry, or the mortgage, and financial institutions we have bailed out for that matter. It allows them to restructure their business by doing away with excess waste. It would also allow them to renegotiate bad labor, vendor, and supplier contracts. It would also make them economically viable and a good credit risk for lending institutions. As a result government intervention in the market place would not be necessary.

As far as the CEO’S of the Big Three stepping down from their positions as Chris Dodd has mentioned to get these loans, maybe Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank should step down as the chairmen of their respective committee’s for allowing the mortgage crisis, and the resulting banking crisis that ensued. Failure to regulate and oversee the mortgage, and banking industry is what led to the Big Three not being able to secure the loans they needed to stay in business, which led to their crisis, well that and ungodly labor contracts with the UAW. Maybe Ron Gettlefinger should step down also, and then there would be one less organized crime figure associated with the unions.

That’s it for today my friends; I will be back again soon. Have a terrific day, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. Don’t forget the poll on the left side of the page, please vote

Here we go again, another corrupt politician from the Chicago political scene, who would have believed it? It really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that one more of these gangster politicians from the windy city got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Corruption in Chicago politics goes way back to the days of Al Capone.

Now we can add the name of Ill Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the long, historic, and infamous list of crooked politicians that includes one of my personal favorites Mayor of Chicago Richard J, Daly. This man is the OG politician from Chicago. He was such a thug that he strong armed over 30,000 deceased people to vote in an election season.

I do believe that Rod Blagojevich may have the good mayor beat though, because he actually believed that he could sell a US senate seat. As if the dark underworld of Chicago politics and politics in Illinois as it usually is would be able to sell one of its own into the senate. Sounds like a criminal enterprise to me.

Today the FBI arrested Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were each charged with two counts each of federal corruption charges based on information that they were attempting to sell Barack Obama’s senate seat. The feds even have a recorded conversation were Blagojevich says that the senate seat is a valuable thing and you don’t give it away for nothing.

Then there is the charge of attempting to strong arm the Chicago Tribune newspaper into getting the editorial staff to back off of the bad press he has been getting there by using state aid to the company as a club. The charges also deal with Blagojevich’s desire to pull 8 million dollars in funding back from the Children’s Memorial Hospital because he did not receive a personal contribution from the hospital in the amount of 50, 000 dollars.


The charges also include Blagojevich and Harris in schemes involving already convicted defendants Antonin Rezco, Stuart Levine, and Ali Alta. The US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald who is assigned to the case stated that the government is making no allegations that Obama was aware of Blagojevich’s scheming. I guess Obama was the last honest politician in Chicago when he was an Illinois senator.

That’s all I have to talk about for today, but I will be back again tomorrow with another post for all of you. Don’t forget to vote in the poll I put up yesterday it runs to the end of this week. Have a terrific Tuesday, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello all my friends and loyal readers out there, once again it’s time for some more Simple Man Politics. As you know there are a lot of serious things going on in our country right now, and almost all of them have something to do with or are directly involved in politics. However I am not going to write about anything that is currently going on or has been in the 24 hour news cycle for the last few days. Instead I’m going to write about a conversation I had with a friend of mine yesterday.

Now to say that this gentleman is a friend of mine is a gross understatement. He and I go way back, and I mean back in the day ya know. He’s a real bro of mine and one of the few and I mean very few that I will say is the same to me as a brother, maybe even more so. He is a very well educated man. He is an anesthesiologist with a very prominent hospital in south Florida. He is a family man with a great wife and two beautiful children. His political views are a little more liberal than my own also, but I value his friendship, intelligence, and opinion above 99.998% of the entire population of the known world.

With all of that said lets talk about the conversation him and I had. This conversation started like most of them do between us. Hey dude what’s up, how’s the kids, how’s the wife, how’s work, are your ready for Christmas. You know the normal stuff friends always ask each other when the pick up the phone and call, especially around the holidays. Then he got around to talking to me about my blog, and that’s when things got interesting.

We started out by talking about a recent blog that I did concerning Obama’s legitimacy to hold the office of President with regard to the question of his citizenship. As you know the SCOTUS is due to hear a couple of cases involving this subject that question his citizenship. One of these cases was before the Supreme Court on the 5th of this month or last Friday. I told him that there is some evidence and legitimate concern about his citizenship, but that I didn’t think Obama was dumb enough to run for President and not be a natural born citizen of the United States.

Now we both agreed that it is time for a change in this country. We also agreed that a lot of the problems had to do directly with the politicians including the very same ones who claim to be riding to our rescue now. We even agreed that not all of the problems we are experiencing can be laid at George W, Bush’s feet. Some of the Dem’s are just as much at fault. People like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd just to name a couple of them.

All of what we had discussed up till this point is not why I’m writing this today. What prompted this particular post was the subject of the VP candidate on the Republican ticket Sarah Palin. In his opinion he felt that Sarah Palin was not an effective VP candidate and that she came off less than as intelligent as she needed to be. He also told me that that was the opinion of some of his conservative friends in south Florida as well.

He also said that he believed that her choosing to have her Downs Syndrome child was not really a choice as she doesn’t believe in a woman’s right choose, which I had claimed was a choice. It was her choice to have the belief that abortion is the wrong answer. I also informed him that her policy on abortion was no except in cases of rape, incest, or health of the birth mother, and no to partial birth abortion. He stated that he had not heard that. However that is her policy unless she has changed it since the election.

What I want you all to do is to consider the question of Sarah Palin’s effectiveness and intelligence in the 08 national election. I’m putting up a poll on this post and I would like you all to participate please. I am really very curious about how my readers viewed her performance, and the poll will run for a whole week. Also feel free to leave a comment if you so desire. I always post any comment that is directly connected to the blog/subject and is serious.

Have an awesome day and I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello my friends and welcome to the TGIF post. A quick note before I get on with today’s topic. It would appear that the Minnesota Senate Race between Republican Norm Coleman and Numb Nuts Deluxe Al Franken may not be decided by the end of the day today. It seems that December 16th 2008 is the magic date, now for today’s topic.

The big three automakers CEO’s were in DC today with their hands out looking for the taxpayer to bail them out. Instead of flying in their corporate jets they all caravanned into DC in the hybrid cars that their companies manufacture, and looking a little more humble than they did the last time. Along with their new found sense of self they also raised the amount they are seeking another nine billion dollars collectively, from twenty five billion dollars, to thirty four billion dollars.

To say the least it is important for something to be done to help get these companies back on their feet and producing automobiles. Cars like the Chevy Malibu and the Ford Focus compete very well against foreign auto makers who build here. They get better gas mileage and are considered safer to drive. Even some of the full size SUV’s and pickup trucks get mileage comparable or better than some of the top import sedans such as the Toyota Camry.

The problem that the big three has is not with manufacturing quality auto’s that perform well, their problem is with labor and vendor costs. These problems exist because of the way they have been doing business for decades. Paying out crazy money for materials for the autos they build, as well as for every day things needed to run the companies. It reminds me of the five hundred dollar hammers and thousand dollar toilet seats the military was getting, that our senate and congress were paying for just a few years ago.

It doesn’t help them any when the UAW (United Auto Workers) has a virtual stranglehold on them and squeezes them till it hurts. UAW President Ron Gettlefinger is all for the bailout of course, because that means that the union won’t face real renegotiations with the Big Three like they would under a chapter 11 bankruptcy. Ron figures why not let the taxpayer foot the bill.

To be honest the Big Three and the UAW have agreed to look at making some concessions in negotiations for new labor contracts, but I don’t think the unions will just give up everything without a fight. However they both agreed that they could do away with the job bank. The job bank is a place where laid off UAW workers still draw ninety percent of their wages while not working. I still can’t believe that any corporation would agree to an arrangement like that.

Now I personally believe that we should not bail out the Big Three automakers. I believe that they should be required to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, restructure, and force the unions into negotiations that give them what they need to keep the union workers employed. As you all know I wasn’t for bailing any companies out in the financial markets either. In my opinion in business the strong survive and the weak get gobbled up. That’s the way it should be in a free market economy, instead of the Government subsidizing them and becomes the majority stockholder and partner.

Well my friends that is all I have for you today. I hope you all have an awesome weekend, TGIF, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. One more thought. If we are upset because the Big Three executives used private jets their first time going to DC because they are broke, then why are we the taxpayer still paying for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plane when we the taxpayer’s are going broke?

I can’t believe that I have to write about this again folks. Today I have to get back to the subject of Barack Obama’s right to be President again. This is not something that I personally care to discuss. However it continues to be a topic of conversation amongst my peers in the political blogosphere, and with some of my more politically motivated friends and associates.

The basic premise of all of their arguments is that Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen, and therefore cannot hold the office of the President of the Untied States. Now we have to reexamine this all one more time so let’s get it over with shall we?

The big argument I hear the most when it comes to Barack Obama’s eligibility or ineligibility is that he was not born in the United States and as a result of this fact he cannot hold the office of President of the United States. If he truly was not born in the US then he does not meet the qualifications required to be President.

Another argument that I have heard for Obama’s ineligibility is the fact that his father was a citizen of the United Kingdom. This would apply to his lack of qualifications because a natural born citizen’s parentage would both be born in the US. At one time on Obama’s own website it was stated that Barack Obama considered himself a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Yet another argument against Obama’s eligibility is the time he spent in Indonesia as a youth. At the time f Obama’s residency in that country which was roughly from 1967 to 1972 Indonesia did not recognize dual citizenships. To attend school in that country you had to be a citizen of Indonesia. Obama’s school records clearly indicate that he was a citizen of Indonesia as well as a Muslim. If what I have just said is true then the best that Barack Obama can hope for is to be a naturalized US citizen.

Now I will tell you that all of this could be cleared up simply by Barack Obama presenting his supposed original Hawaiian Birth Certificate for authentication. Obama himself even stated that he hoped all of this controversy could be cleared up by presenting the document, which Obama has said that he did, but some people say otherwise.

Now some will say that he presented a Certificate of Live Birth from the State of Hawaii and not a Birth Certificate. Obama says that it is his birth certificate. I even have friends in Hawaii who agree with Obama and they are conservative Republicans not liberal Democrats. According to sources under Hawaiian law if your parents reside in Hawaii for a period of one year they can apply for and receive a Certificate of Live Birth from the state. All this means is that you were born live but it does not mean that you were born in Hawaii or in the US.

According to the US Constitution Article two clause 5 (Qualifications for Office) reads as follows. “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.” Article two clause 5 states these further requirements also:
By the time of their inauguration, the President and Vice President must be:
• natural born citizens (or citizens at the time of the Constitution's adoption)
• at least thirty-five years old
• Inhabitants for at least fourteen years of the United States.
Now it appears that the Supreme Court of the United States is scheduled to hear the case Leo C, Donofrio v. Nina Mitchell Wells, Secretary of the State of New Jersey-US Supreme Court Docket No. 08A407. The date for this hearing is December 5th, 2008. The case was originally sought pre election to have the names of Barack Obama, John McCain, and Roger Calero New Jersey ballots, and for a stay of the national election pending a review by The US Supreme Court of the candidate’s eligibility as pertains to being Natural Born Citizens under Article Two of the constitution. Incidentally this case is being heard just ten days before the Electoral College meets.

I hope that when the US Supreme Court hears this case and rules on it that they get it right. If Obama can legally prove that he has the right to be on New Jerseys ballot, and the right to be our President then the sore losers need to shut up, let it go, and soldier on. If it is legally proven that Obama cannot be on New Jerseys ballots, or President of the United States then he needs to shut up, let it go, and soldier on out of the way. He should also face federal charges for attempting to defraud and deprive the nation and its people of a legitimate President.

I also hope that this is the last time I have to discuss this topic with you. It is a very business attempting to steal a presidency. I for one don’t think that this is the case; however it isn’t up to me to decide. It is up to those nine Supreme Court Justices sitting on the bench of the US Supreme Court to decide if there was any wrong doing. I hope you all have a good day and I will see you all soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well its official Republican senator Saxby Chandliss from the great state of Georgia has won his run off election against Democratic challenger Jim Martin. It has been a hard fought campaign for both of these gentlemen. Now the elections officials in Georgia can go home and take a well deserved rest before the start of the 2010 mid term elections, where another Senatorial seat will be up for grabs.

While I applaud Jim Martin for a well fought and well thought out campaign I must tell you that I am happy that Chandliss won this one. There are a couple of reasons why I am happy but the main reason is that now the Democrats do not have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate.

This is important because with out the ability for a party to filibuster the opposing party could ram home their agendas at will. This win in Georgia will provide the checks and balances necessary to keep the Democratic Party majority at least a little honest and make them work more with the minority party in the Senate. It is also good because the Republicans can put forth some of their ideas they will just have to work a little more with the Democrats on the other side of the aisle.

The only Senate race still running now is the Norm Coleman/Al Franken race in Minnesota. Republican Norm Coleman is the incumbent Senator there and Liberal windbag moron Democrat Al Franken is the challenger. I really hope that Norm Coleman wins this one and it appears he might. As of tonight’s tally Coleman leads idiot Franken by more than 300 votes with the recount scheduled to end Friday evening. Everything I can legally cross is crossed with the hope that Coleman wins. I may post a blog on this race when it is over if I feel the winner is worth the recognition. That would be one of my rare weekend blog posts.

Have a great day and I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Let’s talk about Supreme Court Justices today. This could be a very big, contentious, and hard fought over issue politically over the next four years. The reasons that this subject is so important are very diverse. This body of Justices can decide matters such as Roe V Wade, gun rights, and gay marriage. As a result both the left and the right are continually jockeying for a majority of Justices on their side in the US Supreme Court.

President George W Bush appointed two Justices to the bench over his eight years in the White House and gave the US Supreme Court a narrow conservative majority in the high court. Bush announced Federal Appellate Judge John Roberts as Sandra Day O’Connor’s replacement on July 19th, 2005. On September 5th, 2005 Bush renominated John Roberts as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States. Roberts was confirmed by the Senate on September 29th, 2005. On October 31st, 2005 Bush nominated another Federal Appellate Judge Sam Alito to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. Alito was confirmed as the 110th Justice of the Supreme Court on January 31st, 2006.

President elect Barack Obama may have at least one Supreme Court Justice Appointment during his Presidency. The rumor has it that his appointment may be replacing Justice John Paul Stevens appointed to his post as Justice in 1975. The Democrats feel it is in their best interest to secure this seat during Obama’s administration, so that if they should lose the next national election, they will not lose the Supreme Court seat to a conservative appointment. If that were to happen it could be disastrous for the left, because a clear conservative majority could in all likelihood overturn Roe V Wade.

However it appears as of right now that Justice Stevens is in no hurry to depart the high court. While he is currently the longest serving justice and the oldest one as well he is in remarkable physical and mental condition. It also seems that Justice Stevens will be serving at least until 2010 as he has already hired his law clerks who would begin their work in October 2009. Fortunately for the left his political views are in line with left so the seat is already theirs. I will say this about Justice Stevens though. He is a remarkable and fair jurist. He has never attempted to legislate from the bench, and has interpreted the constitution correctly. He is an asset to the high court.

Before I go I have just one more point to add with regard to Supreme Court Justices and that is that those seats are lifetime appointments. This means that the Justices do not have to vacate their seats until they are ready to do so. Justice William Rehnquist exercised his right to remain on the court until his death, at which time Justice John Roberts became Chief Justice.

I hope you all have a terrific day. I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well it’s Monday and once again we all become a slave to the grind. As usual I am also here on Monday to grind out another political and informative blog just for you. Before I get started though I would like to send out my condolences to those who have lost loved ones in Mumbai, from both here and abroad.

Such tragedy is proof why we need to be vicious and tough in the world’s war on terror. That is also why I am writing about President elect Barack Obama’s decision to keep Bush appointee Bob Gates as secretary of Defense, and his decision to appoint retired General Jim Jones who supported McCain for President as his National Security Advisor. I personally think that these are both wise and sound decisions on the part of the President elect.

Let’s discuss the Current and future Secretary of Defense Robert Gates first. This gentleman has been involved in this country’s defense establishment for better than thirty years. He served twenty six years in the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the NSC (National Security Council). Under Bush 41 he was appointed the Director of Central Intelligence. Prior to his service in the CIA Robert Gates was an Air Force Officer. Gates also served as a member of the Iraq Study Group. He was also the first pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security but declined the position to remain President of Texas A&M. Gates accepted the Bush 43 nomination as Secretary of Defense and replaced Donald Rumsfeld in November 2006.

Forget the fact that Robert Gates would be one of the few people to hold a cabinet position under two different Presidents and different parties, which is not what is important here. What is important here is that this extremely talented, educated, and intelligent man has been asked to stay on and do a job that he is uniquely qualified to do. He has been very successful with General David Petraeus and the surge strategy in Iraq as well as in his time as the DCI. I believe he can finish the job if he is given the latitude to do so.

There are very few if any people out there with his depth of experience and understanding who could be asked to take on this task. There are certainly not any among the President elects own party. Even liberal blogger Chris Bowers of the open left says “Even Democrats agree that Democrats can’t run the military.” I can only assume that considering this choice by Barack Obama that the Chris Bowers statement is absolutely correct.

My favorite choice in this tandem of talents has to be Retired General James Logan Jones Jr. This individual has had a long and distinguished career in the Marines. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps in 1967 and went to Vietnam as a platoon and later a company commander. In between his commissioning and his appointment as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps he has held a variety of commands in the Corps including 3rd battalion 9th Marines, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the 2nd Marine Division. He also served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander United States European Command.

Since his retirement from the Marine Corps Jim Jones has served as Chairman of the Congressional Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, and was appointed Special Envoy for Middle East Security by Condoleezza Rice. He currently serves as Chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States.

This man has more than enough experience and knowledge to serve as any Presidents National Security Advisor. You need only look at the seven rows of ribbons on his Marine Corps dress greens to see that he has been there and done that. I think that Barack Obama will be very lucky to get him if he accepts the appointment as National Security Advisor.

While I am sure that most of the lefties are going crazy with these particular picks because of their stand on the war in Iraq as well as Obama’s, I can only say that these seem to be two very well thought out choices for the President elect. I also think it tells you something about where our nation is heading with regard to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think Obama realizes that we can’t just pull out of Iraq arbitrarily and Afghanistan is still a tough fight for us before it’s all over. So I think they are great choices even if they are unpopular with the incoming administrations party.

That’s all for now my friends. I hope you all have a great day and I will see you all again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Before I get started I would like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Since this is officially Thanksgiving Day and a national holiday as declared by the US congress in 1941 I feel that it is appropriate for me to day a post on Thanksgiving and it’s origins. This will not be an intensely political post, but more of an FYI kind of post. Are you all ready to get started? Okay then lets begin.

The people who celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day feast were called separatists, but we call them pilgrims. They originally fled England for Holland to escape religious persecution and a volatile political environment in the east Midlands of England. In the Netherlands they achieved the freedom to practice their religion without fear from the Church of England or its government. However due to what many of them considered an immoral environment in the Netherlands and idea of losing their cultural identity the group arranged to establish a new colony in North America.

The colonist faced many obstacles in order to start their new colony. They faced problems from Bureaucracy and the investors themselves. They were also challenged by things like sabotage, storms, and sickness. They also had no relationships with the native peoples of the region they were to colonize and worried about the possibility of hostilities. In 1620 they landed at Plymouth Rock and established the second successful English colony in North America. Both the Plymouth and Jamestown colonies became the cornerstone of what is now The United States Of America.

The first winter for the colony was very severe. The colony suffered 47 percent fatalities that winter. Their first harvest in the fall of 1621 was very successful though thanks in large part to the aid and comfort of the indigenous people they had encountered. They chose to celebrate their bountiful harvest with the Indians who had helped them and the feast lasted for three days.

If it were not for the hardships and successes that these people experienced it is very likely that our nation would not exist. Their heirs went on to fight against the French, and later the English to avoid taxation without representation and to throw off the caste system being imposed upon them by the royal family and the ruling class. It seems that our forefathers had developed a streak of independence in the new world.

Now a days Thanksgiving doesn’t mean much more to us than a paid holiday if you work for Uncle Sam or a bank. You can sit around all day watching Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and football on TV. You can also stuff your face with all kinds of good food and then pass out from the exhaustion that occurs from such unhindered consumption. You get to renew old friendships and relearn all the idiosyncrasies of your family members. With any luck you might even get to hear the Arlo Guthrie classic Alice’s Restaurant. Many radio stations will still play it on Thanksgiving.

Whatever you do on Thanksgiving though it is good to remember its history, where those people came from, and why. The sacrifices they made and the hardships that they endured to reach the new world are what makes this day and our nation so special and precious. Thanks to their need to have the freedom to practice their religion without persecution all of this came into being.

So thank god for their strength when you give thanks for all that you have and enjoy today. Have a little tolerance for those who wish to practice their religion and allow me the freedom to practice mine, because freedom of religion is really the core belief behind this great nation we call The United States Of America.

I will not be posting anything before next week, but I will be back on Monday with another one. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend. It’s time for me to go get ready for my family and friends, watch some football, and prepare myself for my day of excess, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well my friends the subject of Presidential pardons has recently come up. The reason for this sudden interest in the Presidential pardon is due to the fact the President George W, Bush has used this absolute power to pardon fourteen people and to commute prison sentences for two others so far.

The fear by the Democrats is that President Bush will use this power to pardon someone like Scooter Libby, or someone else they might consider controversial. I do believe that he should pardon the two Border Patrol agents Compean and Ramos. Those were the two who were convicted for shooting a drug smuggler in his butt as he was attempting to escape back into Mexico from the US.

Their other big fear is that he may even issue pardons to people who have not been charged with anything yet, such as cabinet members or even VP Dick Cheney. Believe me they have wanted to get Dick Cheney for years. If President Bush were to do these types of pardons they could not be overturned and the Democrats would lose their shot at some Republican red meat.

The constitution was written to make sure that Presidential pardons were absolute and could not be overturned. Let us not forget that previous Presidents have used the Presidential pardon controversially since we became a country. Let’s take a look at some of these great leaders who have used the pardon to their advantage.

Some of the Clinton pardons were notorious. Perhaps the one most everyone remembers is the pardon of Marc Rich the billionaire fugitive. It was rumored that he received his pardon due to some aggressive lobbying by his surrogates, and the fact that his estranged wife was a major Clinton contributor. Bill Clinton actually granted three hundred and ninety five pardons. However a total of one hundred and forty were issued on the last day of his Presidency including the Rich pardon. Similar charges regarding other final day pardons prompted calls for congressional hearings and action by federal prosecutors.

A couple of other Presidents who have had controversial pardons are Jimmy Carter and George H W Bush. Jimmy Carter pardoned all those who had evaded service during the Vietnam War. George H W Bush pardoned six Reagan administration officials including Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger who were involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Below is a brief description of the pardon power.

The Pardon Power:
Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the president "Power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." A reprieve reduces the severity of a punishment without removing the guilt of the person reprieved. A pardon removes both punishment and guilt.

As judicially interpreted, the president's power to grant reprieves and pardons is absolute. Individual reprieves and pardons cannot be blocked by Congress or the courts. The Framers of the Constitution envisioned the pardon power has having a narrow purpose in times of war and rebellion. The president might offer pardons to rebellious factions as an inducement for a laying down of arms and national reconciliation. Alexander Hamilton argued in the Federalist Papers (No. 74) that "in seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquility of the common wealth; and which, if suffered to pass unimproved, it may never be possible afterward to recall."

So you can see that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about who a President pardons, because once he does a pardon that’s that. I personally hope that President Bush does do blanket pardons for himself and his cabinet including Dick Cheney. They should not have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their lives for defending our country and fighting two wars. We are luck that President Bush didn’t institute the War Powers Act, or suspend Posse Commitatus. Then there might not have even been an election in 2004 or 2008.

That is all I have for today, but I will have a special one for Thanksgiving Day. I t won’t be very political but it will be true. Have a wonderful Wednesday CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well it seems that President elect Barack Obama is in a hurry to get his cabinet members selected, appointed, and confirmed. Hillary is apparently his first cabinet pick and his choice for Secretary of State. I don’t really think he will have a problem getting Mrs. Clinton confirmed, but it might be a different story for some of his other picks.

Three of these people stand out as possible problems with regard to the confirmation process, Governor Bill Richardson, Governor Janet Napolitano, and Eric Holder. All three of these individuals are familiar players on the national political stage. They will also come to the confirmation process with their own baggage, as each has made some politically disastrous decisions.

Bill Richardson has been a very good Governor for the state of New Mexico; however he has two potential problems that may plague him. One of these problems is his involvement in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It seems that he had offered Miss Lewinsky a position at the UN in an effort to guarantee her silence for then President Bill Clinton.

The other problem he may have is for failing to safeguard nuclear secrets after departing the UN to become Energy Secretary. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia declared he would never again receive Senate support for any office he sought. This would appear to be very problematic since Senate confirmation would be required for him to become Commerce Secretary.

The apparent appointee for Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is another appointee who may have trouble with the Senate confirmation process. In addition to being a lousy Governor for the state I live in, which is Arizona. She was also directly involved in the Anita Hill sexual harassment case against then US Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas. Her part in that failed attempt to smear the reputation of an honorable man was as part of the legal team representing Anita Hill when she was a private attorney. It was said that she may have coached a witness for Hill into changing testimony.

The only real obstacle that Attorney General Appointee Eric Holder will have to confront was his choice to pardon Marc Rich when he was Deputy Attorney General under the Clinton administration. Marc Rich was the billionaire on the run who was given a pardon by Bill Clinton on his last day in office. He may have received his pardon because of his estranged wife’s activities as a high paying Clinton donor.

I don’t really believe that if Barack Obama appoints these people to his cabinet that they would fail to get through the confirmation hearings, but I do think that they might get held up there. However Obama’s two picks for Secretary of the Treasury in Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director in Lawrence Summers appear on the surface to be strong picks, but I guess time will tell.

Have a terrific Tuesday my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Today we are going to talk about President Elect Obama’s potential pick of the Democratic Senator from New York Hillary Rodham Clinton, for Secretary of State. This pick has the ability to be extremely advantageous for the incoming administration for a variety of reasons, but could be a hindrance also. This could be true for Senator Clinton as well.

One of the benefits for the incoming administration is the celebrity that Mrs. Clinton will bring to the post. Included in that benefit, is Bill Clintons star status on the world stage. Both of the Clintons are very well received around the world by most governments. Hillary also has established some personal relationships with world leaders as a former first lady that would give her a stable platform from which to negotiate with other nations.

Another benefit for the incoming Obama administration is that by having Hillary Clinton in the cabinet is that it may thwart Hillary’s potential run for the White House in 2012. It would be very hard for Hillary to mount a campaign, because you usually start one about two years prior to the election. It would require Hillary to resign her post after only two years, run against the incumbent President from her own party, as a former member of his own cabinet. That would probably not be a wise move for Hillary.

Yet another benefit will be the fact that the Democratic Party would not lose the Hillary’s senate seat to the Republican Party. In all likelihood the seat would go to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. This means that the Democrats and Obama would maintain the same majority in the upper house of congress that they won on November 4th.

A hindrance for the Obama administration is the fact that Hillary really has very little foreign policy experience. Although Hillary hit Obama pretty hard on foreign policy during her campaign her experience is not much more than that of her potential boss. This would be offset by the fact that the White House would control all major foreign policy decisions and VP elect Joe Biden is a foreign policy heavyweight. The downside for Hillary is that she will not be dictating foreign policy.

Another potential hindrance for the incoming administration could be whether or not Bill Clinton can be reined in by Hillary and Obama. Bill Clinton does a lot of his work overseas and makes a large amount of his money from this. Bill Clinton’s foreign policy may not be in sync with the Obama administration and this may lead Hillary to question where her loyalties lie. It would be a first for a Secretary of State to be married to a former US President. However I personally do not think she would be disloyal to the people or government of the United States.

I personally think there are more pluses than minuses for Obama to have Hillary as Secretary of State. I think in time she might grow into the position and be quite good at the job. I believe that if Hillary is planning a run for the party Presidential nomination for the 2012 election she should not accept the appointment to the post. She might be more of a positive party player in the senate until then also.

Have a great day my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Since I haven’t discussed the subject of gay marriage on its own I thought I might do so today. The idea of gay marriage sparks a lot of emotion on both sides of the issue especially on the left coast in California with the passing of Prop 8. Similar measures were also passed this Nov 4th in other states such as Arizona and Florida. Gay marriage is legal in a couple of states such as Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In California Gay marriage was initially banned by voters up until about six months ago. At that time the California State Supreme Court decided to legislate from the bench, which some other State Supreme Courts have done in the past, and they overturned the wishes of the majority of voters in California and legalized gay marriage. On November 4th, 2008 of this year the amendment to the California constitution to ban gay marriage passed by an overwhelming majority of voters in that state.

The catalyst for passing of this amendment was a large influx of money, the Black American, and Evangelical vote. For the record the majority of Black Americans who voted for Obama voted for the passage of Prop 8 as well. On the evangelical side the Mormons and Catholics mounted a massive campaign in support of the proposition also.

Opponents of Prop 8 freaked out when the amendment passed. They had initially believed that they would face no or at least little opposition in their efforts to stop Prop 8 dead in its tracks. When they lost their battle they became no better than mad dogs in the streets in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. There were riots in those cities as well as violent protests and confrontations with supporters of Prop 8.

Now it appears that the California State Supreme Court is about to rejoin the battle of same sex marriage again. The court has granted requests by both sides of Prop 8 to review lawsuits challenging the November 4th passage of the initiative. The court did however refuse to allow same sex marriages to resume while it considers the constitutionality of Prop 8.

Personally I don’t believe in same sex marriage but I do believe in civil unions for same sex couples. However in this case the people have spoken and usually the majority vote rules. That is what I was taught to believe and I still do. If the State Supreme Court of California should overturn Prop 8 and legalize same sex marriage again I think the United States Supreme Court should step in and reinstate Prop 8 as the law of the state of California. I am really interested to hear all of your thoughts on this subject so please feel free to comment.

Have a wonderful weekend CIAO$NOW!!!!!

Well I got some good news today. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens as officially lost his reelection bid for his seat in his home state. This man who has been in the senate since 1968 and has a reputation for getting earmarked federal funds for his state and his conviction on seven felony conspiracy counts gave his last speech on the senate floor today.

In his speech he spoke much about his time in Washington DC. He acknowledged leaving the senate a wounded man, but said he did not have a rear view mirror and was looking ahead. He stated that he believed that god still had something for him to do. After the speech he was spoken fondly of by several notable senators such as Harry Reid, Robert Byrd who turned 91 today, Daniel Inouye, and Larry Craig who recounted his story of how he started referring to Ted Stevens as Uncle Ted.

His motto which is "to hell with politics, just do what is right for Alaska" slipped up and did what he thought was right for himself instead. His conviction in federal court on seven counts of felony conspiracy helped to mark the end of his long running career in the senate. Whether he will or will not be missed in the senate is up to the individual his violation of the trust of his constituents in Alaska should not go unpunished. I hope that this result serves as a notice to all those other corrupt politicians in DC who are committing or are thinking of committing a crime against the American people by violating our trust.

Have an excellent day my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Today I want to talk about a few things going on in the political arena like unresolved races and some potential cabinet appointments for Barack Obama’s cabinet. I don’t really want to write about the auto industry bailout I’ve written about that enough already.

I do have one thing to say about it though. How can they say they are burning through money like crazy and need help when the CEO’s of the big three each fly to Washington to testify before congress in their own private corporate jets, which cost an average of 36 million dollars a piece and 30 thousand dollars to fuel. No wonder they are going through cash so fast haven’t they heard of flying commercial? Even a first class seat would be cheaper. It’s really just basic economics in case you didn’t know. Now on to other things.

I want to talk about the Minnesota senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken first. The reason is that while I don’t really want the democrats to have a super majority filibuster proof control of the senate I would expect a Democrat to win this race. Unfortunately that Democrat might be Al Franken, and Al Franken is such a weenie to. This idiot is a former comedian who was never really funny and a former radio personality for the liberal talk radio company known as Air America.

A broadcast company that failed I might add because of people like him and Garafalo who spouted far left hate filled rhetoric and radical nonsense. The only reason it survived as long as it did was because Billionaire George Souros poured millions of dollars into the doomed enterprise. Now Al Franken is looking for a platform in the US Senate to spout more of his ignorant views. If the Democrats are going to have a super majority in the senate they should at least have people in control who know how to take care of business. What a waste of the people of Minnesota’s votes.

Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens is still holding on by a hair there against Democrat Mark Begich the Mayor of Anchorage Alaska. I really hope that Stevens loses this race because he is corrupt as well as a federally convicted felon as of a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think there should be people like Uncle Ted in our government. Fortunately I am very confident that when all the votes are counted he will be gone and congratulations Mark Begich.

The Georgia senate race is also very important. I really hope that Republican Senator Saxby Chandliss defeats the Democrat challenger Jim Martin in the run off election down there. I know the left is really hoping that he gets defeated. They say he is a lazy bigoted coward and that why he deserves to lose. If that were true then why would they support someone like WV Senator Robert Byrd? That guy is a former klingon or what ever you call them of the Knights of Klu Klux Klan. If he isn’t a bigoted coward I don’t know who is. He did all of his hate and bigotry behind a mask.

A potential cabinet appointment for Obama I want to talk about is Hillary Clinton as a possible Secretary of State. I personally believe that she would be a great choice for the position. I have to wonder if she can work for Barack though considering what she said about is foreign policy experience during her campaign as well as his remarks about hers during his campaign.

I would also have to wonder how her husbands own brand of foreign policy will affect her appointment. The man does a lot of business over seas with some people and governments that we might find unseemly. His financial disclosure may reveal this during the vetting process. So I wonder if Hillary can rein him in so that is policies don’t clash with the administrations.

Well that is about all I want to talk about for today. I hope you all have an excellent hump day and I will see you all again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hi all I am sorry this one is a little late today, but when you are building your own computer there is much to do to get it ready, and it still isn’t ready. Anyway it looks like one more from the back up machine.

Today I am going to talk a little more about the proposed bailout of the big three auto makers in that winter wonderland known as Detroit. This has definitely been a very hot topic of conversation over the weekend. With everybody from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Republicans on one side of the issue to fair and balanced Fox News in the middle, and Nancy Pelosi, and Barney Frank salivating over the idea on the other side of the issue I have heard a lot of different opinions.

It seems we are in the holiday mood when it comes to bailing out failing business, whether it be lending institutions or credit card companies so why not the auto industry as well. I will tell you why we shouldn’t bail out the auto industry and it won’t make me sound like a nice person. I am going to tell you why they want us to bail them out first though.

The big three believe that the taxpayers should bail them out because of projected job losses if they go out of business or into bankruptcy. Because of this they say they are a special case so they deserve a bailout. They say that if they go out of business then there will be a loss of at least 400,000 jobs and up to 3,000,000 jobs lost total including business that survive because of them, such as supplying parts, repair, or materials for manufacturing. They also say if that were to happen unemployment could reach double digits. I must admit if that were to happen it would be very devastating economically.

Here is why I don’t think we should bail them out though. One of the reasons is because every time someone buys an automobile from them the first $1600.00 goes to pay employee wages and retirement for an employee, and they pay this for every employee they have.

Another reason is that UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has said that union workers will make no more concessions to the auto industry no matte what. What these people make both laborers and the unions are a major drain on the big three.

Yet another reason I think we shouldn’t bail them out is card scan legislation giving unions control with a 51% majority of support cards signed and no secret ballot by workers to vote for against unionization. This is a gift from Democrats who have enjoyed union support in their election campaigns.

There is such a thing as chapter 11 bankruptcy. What this would do either force the unions, venders and others who are doing business to renegotiate their deals with the big three or allow them to start firing employees if there is no cooperation. The big three do not have to go out of business. They can fix there own problems very easily. With any luck they might even be able to get rid of the unions as they are obviously a major drain on capitol. None of the foreign auto makers who manufacture here have even discussed needing financial help from the government and their sales are down also.

That is all I have to say for today. I have told you both sides of the issue, but it is up to you to decide where you stand on it. Whether you support the bailout of the big three or not we all know its going to cost someone a bunch of money. Better them than us I say. Have a great day CIAO4NOW!!!!!

First they come up with a 700 BILLION DOLLAR bailout for the lending institutions involved in the sub prime mortgage crisis that some in DC had helped to perpetuate. This has since turned into a TRILLION DOLLAR bailout. The worst part is that all of the money hasn’t been paid out yet and the price keeps going up.

Not to mention the BILLIONS they are pouring into AIG an insurance company that can’t stop spending taxpayer DOLLARS on lavish resort get a ways. Does this sound like the right business model for AIG? They are almost in bankruptcy.

Oh I forgot there is also the 300 BILLION DOLLARS that was earmarked for buying up mortgages at full price that people couldn’t afford to pay and then renegotiating to a lower price so that the same deadbeats could default on the new mortgage they get. This sounds like a great investment if the taxpayer expects to lose money on investments.

Well now they are at it again in DC. Now they want to bailout the US auto industry to the tune of about 25 BILLION DOLLARS and that may wind up the low end figure when they are all done. Is it’s the governments fault, because they can’t compete in the same market with foreign automakers. Maybe they should learn something from these foreign companies, like making cars that consumers want to drive, that would be a good idea. Maybe they should get rid of the unions to, because they don’t seem to be making things any better for the big three in Detroit.

Of course the folks that are pushing this new bailout plan are the ones currently in power in both houses of congress, and now in the White House as well. This latest idea is the brain child of that horrid had from San Francisco Nancy Pelosi who is speaker of the house, and she is being backed up by Barney Frank the little fat F----R who helped create the mortgage crisis that we are experiencing now.

They are also talking about some sort of bailout for credit card companies to. I guess the taxpayer might as well absorb all the bad credit card debt for those deadbeats living way beyond their means. It is not our fault that they can’t say no to a credit card offer when they can’t pay off the ones they have.

What I would like to know is where Uncle Sam is going to get all the money for these bailouts. Actually I know where they will get the money. First they will print off what they need, then they will borrow it from China, then they will tax the H—L out of us. Then again we shouldn’t be surprised, because that is what the Democrats do. They tax and spend their way through life at the expense of everyone else’s pocketbook but their own.

Personally my friends I think we should not have bailed out the mortgage companies. If they can’t do business right, that isn’t our fault. They also should have learned to say no to the DC slime that told them to make the loans anyway when they new they were a bad risk. As far as AIG is concerned how many insurance companies do we really need? They should not get tax dollars either. Our government should not be in the business of buying mortgages either there is no Bank of Tim the Blogger. I don’t want to be in the mortgage business. As far as the US auto industry is concerned, they always try to screw me when I want to buy a car, so I’m buying a Volkswagen next time go around. They don’t need my money either. Don’t even get me started on the credit card companies. All I will say is that I don’t have any credit card debt, so don’t ask me to pay yours because yours is maxed out and your credit rating is in the toilet. I guess what I am trying to say is let them fend for themselves, because the taxpayer isn’t going to get anything out of all of this except screwed.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Before we get started with today’s post I thought I would help to spread a rumor I heard yesterday on AM talk radio. I heard a rumor that Barack Obama may be considering offering John McCain a cabinet post as Secretary of Defense. I personally don’t believe it, but if it were true I think we all would know what the price is for selling out your supporters and intentionally losing your own election. It would explain some of the mistakes of McCain’s campaign though, although I reiterate I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!!!! I wonder how these rumors get started. Now for today’s post.

What I want to talk about today is some of the challenges in foreign policy that our President Elect will face when he takes office in January, particularly with regard to Russia and Iran. These two nations can and do pose serious threats to stability in the regions they inhabit and as a result they represent very negative influences in those places with their saber rattling. I am sure that most of you are aware that they are acting the way they are in an attempt to intimidate and influence the courses of action that Barack Obama may be considering within their sphere of influence.

Take Russia as the first example. They have not been very happy since the breakup of the Soviet Union. They have seen their dominance over large parts of Eastern Europe dwindle, since the fall of the Berlin wall. They have also seen many former communist countries that were part of the Soviet Union move steadily towards democracy. Most notably in the news cycle has been the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

I personally believe that Georgia’s move towards democracy is what prompted Russia’s attack against the fledgling democracy rather than any support for the two supposed break away provinces there. They almost certainly don’t want Georgia or any of its other former territories in NATO. Now you have the Russians threatening some sort of retaliation against Poland if the missile defense shield negotiated between the US and Poland is put in place. They supposedly feel that their own sovereignty is being threatened, which is not at all true.

As far as everyone’s favorite little Islamic extremist resort in the Middle East Iran is concerned. They are doing everything within their power to destabilize that region. They support the insurgents in Iraq and more than likely in Afghanistan. They are constantly sending arms and munitions as well as funds to militant groups operating in Iraq.

On top of which they just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile and Russia wonders why a missile defense shield in Europe is important to us. Not to mention the fact that Israel is very happy about this new missile either. This new missile that Iran just tested operates on solid fuel and is a potential nuclear delivery system.

The master of the political gaff VP elect Joe Biden actually got it right for once. Barack Obama will be tested and tested very early in his Presidency. Fortunately for Obama there are some very good people already working on these very serious threats to our national security. Russia and Iran are just two of the threats our nation faces, other countries such as North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, and China to worry about as well.

I fervently hope that Barack Obama does not entirely dismantle the infrastructure that supports our intelligence and defense organizations. Now I know he might want to put his own people in charge at places like CIA as well as in the office of the DNI (Director of National Intelligence), but I don’t think he will be stupid enough to try to tear it all down and do it his way. I also hope that he will try to do more to make our national defense stronger. The last thing we or he can afford is another 9/11 on his watch.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Wednesday CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Before I get started on today's entry I would like to give a shout out to Uncle Sams Misguided Children for celebrating their birthday November 10th, 2008, which I forgot to mention so here ya go OORAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday Leathernecks!!!!!

I'm not going to do anything political today because that is not what Veterans Day should be about, but tomorrow is a different story though. today is the day that we remember all of those who have fought as well as died for our country in her defense. They served so that we may be free to have the first black President. They served so that we may be able to speak freely. They served so that we may be able to travel unrestricted within our borders. They served so that we may have the right to bear arms. They served so that we may sleep peacefully at night without worry. There is nothing political behind the reason why these brave men and women serve and have served in our armed forces, although it is unfortunate that politics sometimes determines their use.

I hope you all have a fantastic Veterans Day and thank these fine people for their service when you meet one today. I am putting a couple of videos on here today for your viewing pleasure. The first one is by Americas favorite 101st Airborne member and the second is one of my personal favorites as well. I will see you all tomorrow CIAO4NOW!!!!!