Mood:  irritated

Reading the criminal complaint against Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and his flunky John Harris, I was struck by something.

From "CRIMINAL COMPLAINT - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, and JOHN HARRIS"

"105. Later on November 11, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A.  Advisor A indicated that he will stay “on top” of getting the Senate Candidate 5 information leaked to the particular Sun Times columnist. ROD BLAGOJEVICH again raised the idea of the 501(c)(4) organization and asked whether “they” (believed be the President-elect and his associates) can get Warren Buffett and others to put $10, $12, or $15 million into the organization. Advisor A responded that “they” should be able to find a way to fund the organization. Later in the conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH returned to the issue of the 501(c)(4) organization and noted that he is looking for “$10, $15, $20 million in an organization like that.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that when he is “no longer Governor” he could go over to the organization. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that “[Senate Candidate 6]” (Senate Candidate 6, based on other intercepted conversations, is believed to be a wealthy person from Illinois) “could raise me money like that for a Senate seat.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked, “if I get [Senate Candidate 6] to do something like that, is it worth giving him the Senate seat?” Advisor A responded that it would be hard to put Senate Candidate 6 in the Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that it would be better than putting Senate Candidate 1 in the Senate and not getting anything back. Later in the conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Advisor A again discussed the possibility of a 501(c)(4) organization, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH again noted that “[Senate Candidate 6]” could “do it.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Advisor A discussed who might be close to Senate Candidate 6 to talk with him about the issue, because ROD BLAGOJEVICH did not “want to be the one to ask something like that.” Advisor A agreed to find out who is close to Senate Candidate 6.

106. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with JOHN HARRIS. ROD BLAGOJEVICH noted that CNN is reporting that Senate Candidate 1 does not want the open Senate seat. HARRIS said he thought that is just a tactic. ROD BLAGOJEVICH raised the issue of the 501(c)(4) organization and that contributors and others can put “10 to 15 million in it so I can advocate health care and other issues I care about and help them, while I stay as Governor, she’s (believed to be Senate Candidate 1) a Senator.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH noted that the President-elect can ask Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and others for money for the organization. ROD BLAGOJEVICH states he will ask “[Senate Candidate 6]” to help fund it as well. HARRIS said that funding the 501(c)(4) would be a lot easier for the President-elect than appointing ROD BLAGOJEVICH to a position. ROD BLAGOJEVICH said, “They could say ‘hey, we get [Senate Candidate 1]. Let’s help this guy have a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization. Let’s fund it to the level that he’s asked for and then we’ll get [Senate Candidate 1].’” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that he will control the 501(c)(4) organization through a board of directors while he is Governor, and then a position in the 501(c)(4) would be waiting for him when he was no longer Governor.

107. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B. ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed with Advisor B his idea for a 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor B stated that he likes the idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer “fingerprints” on the President-elect’s involvement with Change to Win because Change to Win already has an existing stream of revenue and, therefore, “you won’t have stories in four years that they bought you off.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that he likes the 501(c)(4) idea because he knows it will be there in two years when he is no longer Governor, whereas Change to Win might not be.

108. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with one of his Washington D.C.-based advisors. ROD BLAGOJEVICH explained the 501(c)(4) organization idea to the advisor, and that “[the President-elect] gets these Warren Buffett types to [fund it].” The advisor asked ROD BLAGOJEVICH if the 501(c)(4) is a real effort or just a vehicle to help ROD BLAGOJEVICH. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that it is a real effort but also a place for ROD BLAGOJEVICH to go when he is no longer Governor. The advisor said he likes the Change to Win idea better, and notes that it is more likely to happen because it is one step removed from the President-elect."

But the most interesting thing was this conversation between Blagejovich and the representative of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU):

109. On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with SEIU Official, who was in Washington, D.C. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate that approximately a week before this call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH met with SEIU Official to discuss the vacant Senate seat, and ROD BLAGOJEVICH understood that SEIU Official was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1’s interest in the Senate seat. During the conversation with SEIU Official on November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH informed SEIU Official that he had heard the President-elect wanted persons other than Senate Candidate 1 to be considered for the Senate seat. SEIU Official stated that he would find out if Senate Candidate 1 wanted SEIU Official to keep pushing her for Senator with ROD BLAGOJEVICH.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that “one thing I’d be interested in” is a 501(c)(4) organization. ROD BLAGOJEVICH explained the 501(c)(4) idea to SEIU Official and said that the 501(c)(4) could help “our new Senator [Senate Candidate 1].” SEIU Official agreed to “put that flag up and see where it goes.”

Just how did Governor Blagojevich understand that the "SEIU Official was an emissary to discuss Senate Candidate 1’s interest in the Senate seat?"

Remember, "Senate Candidate 1" was President-Elect Obama's choice for the seat he is vacating.  Was the SEIU providing that vital arm's length between Barack Obama and Rod Blagojevich? 

How many 501(c)(4) organizations out there are run as pay-me's to guys like Rod Blagojevich who can't live on a salary of $177,000 (of course, as liberal bloggers like to say about the fine people of the UAW, "that includes pension, Medicaid, Social Security withholding.... ")?

How big a sewer is Democratic Party issues advocacy, anyway?  I can't believe that a bozo like Rod Blagojevich had an original idea in his life - he has to have heard or known another guy who found a way not to actually work and still make several hundred thousand dollars a year.  I think we know where he got the idea of trading political favors for lucrative employment for his wife....

People, this is not "The West Wing."   Barack Obama has brought the politics of his father's homeland to us.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 11:51 PM MST

Updated: Wednesday, 10 December 2008 12:08 AM MST

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Mood:  incredulous

In his continuing quest to insult the intelligence of the American voter (and shaking in his boots because of the way his thugs over at ACORN were caught trying to register fake voters for him) Barack Obama has told another baldfaced, stinking lie.  (But that's the only way he knows...  )

This time, it's about the McCain Palin health plan.

Barack Obama has said that under the McCain health plan, health care benefits will be taxed. 

As a cancer patient, that pissed me right off when I saw the ad.  I was even more pissed off a minute later when I went to my computer, called up the McCain Web site to tell them what I thought of what I had heard... then learned I'd just been pwn'ed.  

Barack Obama Lies Again.

Let's set the Barack Obama health plan lies right NOW.

From the McCain/Palin Web site:

"The Facts about the McCain-Palin Health Care Plan

Barack Obama And Joe Biden Have Consistently Lied To Americans About John McCain's Plan. Their claims have failed every fact-check – from CBS to the Washington Post. John McCain is not going to raise taxes on middle class families. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the only ones in this race that plan to raise taxes.

Transforming The Tax Code To Create Greater Equity: The McCain plan transforms the current tax code to provide all American families – including the self-employed and the uninsured – the same tax benefit, a $5,000 refundable tax credit ($2,500 for individuals) that was previously only available to those with employer coverage. Families can use this credit to purchase insurance of their choice, including keeping their current coverage. This is an approach supported by Barack Obama's own Senior Economic Advisor Jason Furman who wrote that "we could scrap the current deduction altogether and replace it with progressive tax credits that, together with other changes, would ensure that every American has affordable health insurance."

Better Than "Members of Congress": Under the McCain Plan, your employer can provide you with health insurance as good as a "Member of Congress", and you would pay no more in taxes – regardless of your tax bracket. In fact, you would have some additional money left over from the McCain tax credit to put in a health savings account.

On The Issue Of Congressional Plan – There Are Options, But All Are Under The FEHB Program: A good example is the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan, which has combined monthly premiums for family coverage of $1027.95, for an annual cost of $12,335.40.

Income Tax Liability

McCain-Palin Tax Credit

Total Tax Savings

10% Bracket (Up to $15,000)	$1,200 ($12,000 x 10%)	$5,000	+$3,800
15% Bracket ($15,650 - $63,700)	$1,800 ($12,000 x 15%)	$5,000	+$3,200
25% Bracket ($63,700 - $128,500)	$3,000 ($12,000 x 25%)	$5,000	+$2,000
28% Bracket ($128,500 - $195,850)	$3,360 ($12,000 x 28%)	$5,000	+$1,640
33% Bracket ($195,850 - $349,700)	$3,960 ($12,000 x 33%)	$5,000	+$1,040
35% Bracket ($349,700 and Over)	$4,200 ($12,000 x 35%)	$5,000	+$800

Where Is The Middle-Class "Tax Increase"? If you or your family is in the 28% bracket, with an income of $180,000, you could receive employer provided health insurance even better than a Member of Congress, with a cost of almost $18,000, with no increase in taxes. Even the liberal leaning Tax Policy Center, agrees that the McCain proposals will result in a "net tax benefit" of more than $1,200 for an average tax payer.

Helping Those Without Employer Coverage: If you are a middle-class American today without employer provided health care, the McCain plan would give you a tax credit of $2,500 as an individual, or $5,000 for a family, to help you buy your own health insurance coverage, including across state lines. American families – not government bureaucrats or insurance companies – will choose the coverage that best meets their needs. Today, the government does nothing to help you. Why does Barack Obama oppose this?

McCain Health Plan Puts Families in Charge: In another desperate attack, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have said that McCain health care tax credits to help families buy coverage "will go straight to the insurance company." Here is what they fail to mention – the credit goes to the insurance company that the American family chooses to get coverage from, anywhere in the nation. The power of choice lies with the family – not government bureaucrats or insurance companies. Ridiculing this line of strange attack, The Associated Press stated, "Of course it would, because it's meant to pay for insurance. That's like saying money for a car loan will go straight to the car dealer." Furthermore, any additional money left over after purchasing coverage will be controlled by the family in a portable health savings account.

McCain Health Care Plan Protects Our Vulnerable Population: John McCain believes that no American should be denied access to quality and affordable coverage simply because of a pre-existing condition. As President, John McCain will work with governors to develop a best practice model that states can follow – a Guaranteed Access Plan or GAP – that would reflect the best experience of the states to ensure these patients have access to health coverage. There would be reasonable limits on premiums, and assistance would be available for Americans below a certain income level.

McCain Health Care Plan Gives American Families More Choices: John McCain believes that American families should be given more choices by allowing them to purchase policies across state lines. In a move derided by fact checking organizations including Fact Check, the Obama campaign used this as an opportunity to falsely accuse John McCain of deregulating health care markets akin to Wall Street. A recent study showed that simply allowing Americans to purchase across state lines would reduce the number of uninsured by almost 12 million.

McCain Health Care Plan Preserves Employer Coverage: The McCain health plan builds on the employer-based system. Employers will have the same incentive to provide health insurance as they do today since they will continue to deduct the cost of health insurance they provide to employees. Nothing will change. In addition, payroll taxes will be protected from taxes under the McCain plan. Millions of American families with employer sponsored coverage in all tax brackets with the same coverage as a "Members of Congress" will now come out ahead with additional funds going into a portable health savings account. Importantly, younger and healthier employees with the McCain health care tax credit will have a bigger incentive to stay with the employers. For example, a 25-year-old employee in the 25 percent tax bracket with a $2,500 tax credit could either purchase a policy in the individual market for the same amount or stay with his employer plan and receive a $5,000 policy with an additional $1,250 to invest in a portable health savings account. Why would people choose worse insurance and less money? Finally, the McCain plan through comprehensive cost-containment policies addresses the single biggest threat to employer coverage – rising costs.

The Truth about the Obama Health Care Plan:

Barack Obama's Plan Continues The Push Toward Government-Run Healthcare: The Obama plan will create a brand new government-run health plan at the cost of $243 billion a year – a financial burden of more than $3,000 a year on American families.

Barack Obama's Plan Will Harm Employer Coverage: The Obama plan includes a $179 billion a year employer mandate. The mandate requires employers to either provide "meaningful" coverage or pay a tax towards the government plan. Faced with tough economic conditions and rising health costs this creates a clear incentive for employers to drop coverage and move families into the new government plan. A Lewin Group study which examined a similar employer mandate combined with a national plan, like the Obama plan, concluded that almost 52 million individuals would lose their private employer coverage. To maintain their competitive edge, others employers will follow - spelling the demise of the employer coverage system.

Barack Obama's Plan Will Damage Private Coverage: The government-run plan will have a clear advantage over private insurance since it will be subsidized by American taxpayers. A recent analysis of both plans by the nonpartisan CATO Institute concluded that the Obama government-run plan will be able to "keep its premiums artificially low…since it can turn to the U.S. Treasury to cover any shortfalls" resulting in "undercutting the private market." According to Wall Street Journal, the goal of the Obama plan "…like HillaryCare in the 1990s, is to displace current private coverage and switch people to the default government option."

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 7:06 PM MDT

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Mood:  mischievious

The press has been repeating a memo mailed to them by the Eleison Group, an ad agency which specializes in getting religious people to vote for the Democratic party and "progressive" causes, that the McCain campaign has created a powerful Web ad/video, "the One," which supposedly uses imagery from the "Left Behind" books to make people believe Barack Obama is the Antichrist.

No, really.  The Antichrist.  The Father of Lies. 

Anyway, I watched the video many times, because it's pretty funny, and no urge to scour the Mark of the Beast from my skin overcame me, nor had I a feeling that Barack Obama was heading my way with four guys on horses behind him.

So I decided to take a poll to see whether anyone else felt that way after seeing this particular Web ad.

Please watch "the One," then take the poll.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 10:46 PM MDT

Updated: Saturday, 16 August 2008 4:21 PM MDT

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Just in case we need reminding why disarmament and "peace-oriented" defense policy don't work, the Russians decided to remind us two days ago.

But some people won't learn until it's too late. 

One of them is Barack Obama.

Hear him explain why in his own words:

This is your country on dope on January 20th 2009 if Obama wins. 

Any questions?

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 8:55 PM MDT

Updated: Tuesday, 12 August 2008 10:34 PM MDT

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A close reading of the Eleison Group's analysis of McCain's "The One" versus the ad itself shows that the Eleison Group brought all of the bad faith and deception of which they complain to their analysis.  They lied, and they lied and they lied.

For those of you who don't know, the Eleison Group is a political ad agency whose Web site www.eleisongroup.com advertises its services as getting strongly religious people to accept the Democratic Party's agenda. (Getting Catholics and Evangelicals to vote for Obama should be tough - his votes against requiring abortion clinics not to kill babies who survive abortion procedures in the Illinois State Senate are a matter of public record.)

According to co-founder Eric Sapp, "Eleison Group is going to be a group that works with Democrats and progressive non-profits to engage the faith community, help people communicate their values in an authentic way, and push forward on the notion that the best way to engage faith in the public square is from a place of religious humility instead of one of religious arrogance." 

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 10:34 PM MDT

Updated: Sunday, 10 August 2008 12:53 AM MDT

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While playing with Muckety.com (which specializes in interactive Java-based maps of personal and corporate relationships among the nation's powerful) I discovered a bit of news that got past me while I was having surgery and recuperating from it in late June and early July:

James A. Johnson, head of the Vice-Presidential Search Team for Barack Hussein Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign, resigned from that post in June 2008.

http://news.muckety.com/2008/06/11/johnson-resigns-from-obamas-vp-search-team/3361

According to the muckety.com article,

"Obama appointed Johnson last week to a three-member team to vet possible running mates. But the longtime Washington insider became a lightning rod for criticism after the Journal reported last weekend that he had been the recipient of at least five real-estate loans totaling $7 million from financially beleaguered Countrywide Financial, as a friend of chief executive Angelo R. Mozilo.

At least two of the mortgages were at rates below market averages, though the Journal wrote that is difficult to predict a market rate without access to nonpublic information about a borrower’s credit history.

Johnson, who vetted vice-presidential nominees for John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984, was the chief executive of Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998. The government-sponsored shareholder-owned company is the biggest buyer of Countrywide’s mortgages.

Johnson’s ties to Mozilo became a campaign issue after Republicans pointed out that Obama had been critical of the mortgage lender in campaign speeches.

During his years at Fannie Mae, Johnson reportedly worked closely with Mozilo - naming him chairman of Fannie Mae’s national advisory council in 1996. An American Banker article in 1999 said the two men had a “close friendship.’”

Criticism mounted after the New York Times reported today that Johnson was involved in several controversial executive compensation decisions, serving on the boards of five companies that granted lavish pay packages to their executives - and, in some cases playing a key role in approving them.

One of the better-known cases involved UnitedHealth Group, a Minnesota company, where Johnson was a board member and later headed the compensation committee, according to Times reporter Leslie Wayne. The company came under fire after chief executive William McGuire was granted more than $1.4 billion in stock options - some $618 million of which was returned as a result of settlements with federal regulators and shareholders.

McGuire resigned, but kept $800 million from the package.

That and cases like it led Obama to introduce legislation last year that would give shareholders an advisory role in executive compensation packages. The measure, called “Say on Pay,” passed the House and is still pending in the Senate.

Johnson was also criticized by oversight groups for the number of corporate boards on which he served while holding a full-time position at Fannie Mae. Besides United Health, he was a director of Goldman Sachs, KB Homes, the Gannett Corporation, Temple Inland and Target.

Johnson said in his statement today that he had done nothing wrong, saying “blatantly false statements and misrepresentations” were written about him.

“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept,” Obama said in an e-mailed statement.

Obama said he is “confident” his vice presidential search process will produce “a number of highly qualified candidates” in coming weeks.

The remaining members of the vetting team are Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy Jr., and former deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder."

The New York Times article which Muckety.com cited above led with a summary that seemed to dismiss the problem with Johnson as being a partisan smear, but the following paragraphs tell a different story.

I'll let you decide whether this is just politics as usual, or whether or not Obama is the shag toy of the big national banks:

"Republicans and their presumed presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, have criticized Mr. Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie Mae, accusing him of getting favorable rates on three home mortgages totaling $1.7 million as a friend of the chief executive of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, the troubled mortgage lender that has became a symbol of the excesses that led to the crisis in subprime mortgage."

That was the second paragraph from the top, and given what comes next, I wonder whether or not typical journalistic practice - the "inverted pyramid" style of reporting in which the facts are trotted out first, then the speculation and editorializing (if any) are presented - would have called for this paragraph to be placed dead last in the article.

Here's what came afterward:

"Mr. Johnson was also involved in some of the more controversial executive compensation decisions in recent years, serving on the board of five companies that granted lavish pay packages to their executives — and often playing a key role in approving them.

One of the more well-known cases involves UnitedHealth Group, a Minnesota company, where Mr. Johnson was a board member and later head of the compensation committee.

The company came under fire after the chief executive was granted more than $1.4 billion in stock options — some $618 million of which was returned as a result of settlements with federal regulators and shareholders.

The executive, William McGuire, resigned, but he kept $800 million from the package.

Because of cases like UnitedHealth Group, Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, introduced legislation in the Senate last year to restrict runaway compensation.

The measure, informally called “Say on Pay,” would give shareholders an advisory role in setting executive pay packages. It passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

In introducing the measure, Mr. Obama said it was intended to “force corporate boards to think twice before signing over millions of dollars to C.E.O.’s.”

He added that “the rate at which executive pay has grown, as compared to stagnating wages among American workers, is rightfully frustrating shareholders and employees alike, especially given the lackluster performance of many of the companies paying these high salaries.”

Now, shouldn't all of that have come first? 

This is the news - that Obama has been very cozy with the same investment bankers and executive board members who got us in the foreclosure crisis in the first place, and who have been giving each other multi-million dollar "golden parachutes" even when they screw up, while ordinary employees don't get raises for years and years, and sometimes have to take pay cuts.  These are the people who run his campaign, who tell him what to do and what to say.

And if you have to have political commentary, instead of blaming John McCain for Obama's cluelessness (or even Obama's collusion with the big banks), this is what the lead paragraph should have been:

“Jim Johnson is an unusual choice for Obama to have heading up his vice-presidential selection committee,” said Charles M. Elson, head of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

“Johnson found himself in the middle of the controversy that spurred the introduction of the Say on Pay bill,” Mr. Elson said. Given that Mr. Obama is leading the effort to rein in such excesses, “that makes it more strange,” he added.

Say on Pay is directed at the kind of decisions that led to enormous compensation packages at UnitedHealth Care and at four other companies where Mr. Johnson headed the compensation committees. One of them was Goldman Sachs, where Mr. Johnson defended a pay package granted to Henry Paulson, now the treasury secretary, that allowed Mr. Paulson to keep an extra $26 million in stock options.

At some of the companies where Mr. Johnson sat on the board, controversy erupted after packages were approved that included the backdating of options — or the practice of granting options to corporate executives on dates when the company’s share price was low, to guarantee the maximum profit when the options were exercised.

UnitedHealth Care reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and shareholders over the issue in December.

In return for his work on the UnitedHealth Care board, Mr. Johnson received more than 3.1 million stock options, with an underlying value of about $175 million. He also received a director’s fee of $400,000 a year.

Oversight groups have also raised questions about the number of boards on which Mr. Johnson served while holding a full-time position at Fannie Mae. Besides UnitedHealth and Goldman Sachs, he served on the boards and compensation committees of KB Homes, the Gannett Corporation and Temple Inland. He was also a board member at Target.

“He was on the boards of five companies at the time we had flagged him in our reports,” said Paul Hodgson, senior research analyst at the Corporate Library, a company that analyzes corporate governance issues. “Two of those were involved in the backdating of stock options, and the levels of executive compensation at four of them were considered excessive.”

In other words, Obama went out and got himself one of the biggest corporate robbers in history as chairman of his vice-presidential selection team.  He says one thing on the floor of the Senate and before the microphones and cameras, but does the exact opposite when no one's paying close attention.  The people who are paying for Obama's Presidential run are, mostly, the people who are profiting from the bind that so many American citizens are in these days.

If Obama and his team are as bright as they and their friends in the press tell us they are, how did this get past them?   If they care so much about the common man, couldn't they be bothered to pick up a newspaper or search the Internet for information about their new, rich friends?

Or am I missing the point here?  Will the Obama campaign will take ANYONE'S money?   Dirty or clean?

 -

And what does the Obama campaign have to say about all this?

"The Obama campaign did not directly respond to questions about Mr. Johnson, nor did it provide additional information about the terms of the mortgages that he received from Countrywide.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama responded by saying, “I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages.”

Because if you did, BO, you'd discover a fetid rat's nest of sweetheart loans, golden parachutes, and other ways of picking the pockets of corporate shareholders (a group which includes any citizen with an investment account, and any member of a mutual fund or IRA). 

These people are the real bank robbers of the 21st century - the real home invaders, and the real world-class thieves.  They suck money out  of private corporations in return for very, very little - business decisions which more often than not turn out very badly for the corporations involved - and walk away with MILLIONS in company shares and cash.

And Obama doesn't check up on their finances before he lets them run his campaign.  Could it be because his job is to cover up for them?

He's done it before, with the "Class Action Reform Act," a rapacious piece of legislation against which almost every other Democratic senator voted - but not Obama.  He anchored that bill in the Senate, made sure it passed through the Senate. 

So now, thanks in part to Senator Obama, corporate thieves and crooks must be sued through the already overburdened Federal court system, not at state or local levels.

And he'll do it again.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 1:37 PM MDT

Updated: Sunday, 3 August 2008 1:49 PM MDT

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The Teamsters Union officially announced their support for Barack Obama on February 20th, 2008.

http://www.teamster.org/08news/nr_080220_6.asp

According to the big boss Teamster, James Hoffa, Jr., 

“Senator Obama will stand with the Teamsters when it comes to fighting for working families,” Hoffa said. “This endorsement begins a partnership to change America. Together we will reinvent the political process and give a voice to those who have been ignored by the Bush administration for the past eight years.” Hoffa emphasized Obama’s commitment to rebuilding and strengthening the national transportation infrastructure, a key priority of the Teamsters Union.

“Senator Obama will fight to rebuild our transportation infrastructure,” Hoffa said. “He will work with us to address critical issues from our ports to our highways, rails and airports. We need a president who is focused on rebuilding America and Barack Obama will be that president.”

That was then.  This is now.

According to the Denver Post, August 3, 2008 Sunday edition, page 10K:

"Union objects to Frontier deal"

The Teamsters union is trying to block bankrupt Frontier Airlines' new $75 million financing agreement with private equity firm Perseus LLC, objecting to labor-cost cuts required by the deal.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 435 Frontier workers, including its mechanics, filed a motion Friday in bankruptcy court asking a judge to reject the agreement.

The Teamsters said Frontier is illegally trying to throw out existing labor contracts."

The Web site muckety.com is a wonderful tool for digging out information on who's connected with whom:

http://www.muckety.com/2008-Barack-Obama-VP-search-team/5030085.muckety

for example, shows the membership of Barack Obama campaign's Vice-presidential search team:

James A. Johnson, Eric A. Holder, and Caroline Kennedy.

As we can see from THIS muckety.com map,

http://www.muckety.com/Perseus-LLC/5001487.muckety

Mr. Johnson has many fingers in many pies, but his butt is firmly in the Vice-Chairman's swivel recliner at Perseus LLC.

However, James A. Johnson is no longer affiliated with the vice-presidential search team for Barack Obama's campaign, owing to a Wall Street Journal article that uncovered the possibility that Johnson got sweetheart loans (in other words, loans on much better terms than ordinary mortals can get) from Countrywide Financial Services.

You'd think that if Obama were all that concerned with making things better for Teamsters, he wouldn't take help or money from Perseus LLC after they just tried to invalidate Teamster contracts with Frontier Airlines - wouldn't you?

The result of support for Obama for the Teamsters at Frontier Airlines is that a huge investment bank which has Obama in their pocket has told Frontier that these particular Teamsters... well, that they lose. 

The Teamsters at Frontier Airlines lose money if the labor cost cuts in Perseus' financing agreement with Frontier survive court challenges, and they lose that wonderful influence that Obama promised the Teamsters before they decided to come down from the fence on his side instead of Hillary Clinton's.

BS walks, money talks.  Look at the results so far before you cast that vote in November, people.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 12:23 PM MDT

Updated: Sunday, 3 August 2008 2:00 PM MDT

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The Obama campaign has a Web site called "Fight the Smear," devoted to the premise that all the bad news about their candidate is smear campaigning.

Everything? 

Here is a list (not all-inclusive, by any means) of Barack Hussein Obama's accomplishments - things which are in the Congressional Record, mostly, and can easily be confirmed over the Internet:

* He voted against banning partial birth abortion.  In fact, in the Illinois State Senate, he went beyond the wishes of the abortion lobby by opposing a law they said they could live which would have required Illinois physicians to not kill babies which survived the abortion procedure.

* Obama voted "no" on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions.

* He supports affirmative action, long after this method of correcting injustices against minorities has outlived its usefulness - or even its legality, according to the Federal Civil Rights Acts (which flatly ban discrimination, period).

* Obama says he will deal with street level drug dealing as minimum-wage labor.  (So much for drugs being something Whitey invented to keep the black man down, eh?)

* He supports and has actually traveled to Africa to show his support for Raila Odinga, the man who ran on a radical Islamist platform for the presidency of Kenya, and whose supporters have murdered over 700 people after he lost that election - 70 of those lives were lost when Odinga supporters burned a church down while services were being held.  During his campaign Odinga had promised Muslim organizations that he would enforce sharia law on all Kenyans, make instruction in Islam mandatory for all school children, require all women in Kenya to wear Muslim dress... generally turning Kenya into Darfur.

Obama took time from his campaign tour in New Hampshire during the primaries to call Odinga on the phone and show support for him. 

Why hasn't the press called him on this?

* Obama has stated that he is willing to meet with left-wing despots Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

* Opposed renewal of the PATRIOT Act, despite its undeniable success in preventing a recurrence of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.

* The first bill Obama signed that passed was campaign finance reform - the same "reform" which allows foreigners to dump millions into American campaign finance while limiting donations by American citizens.  Obama has the foreign donors - George Soros among them - to take advantage of that "feature" of McCain-Feingold.

* Obama voted "no" on prohibiting nuisance law suits by city governments against gun manufacturers (a law which allows individuals to continue to bring lawsuits against gun makers for defective merchandise, and which also had a rider banning sale of armor-piercing ammunition to private citizens).

* Supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, many of whom do not take the trouble to learn how to operate motor vehicles safely or purchase liability insurance as required by law, and who have a disconcerting habit of fleeing the country after causing traffic accidents.

* Supports extending welfare to illegal immigrants.

* Voted "yes" on comprehensive immigration reform. (which is similar to "campaign reform" in that it would allow a massive influx of illegal immigrants, and once they're in country, they're IN - no getting rid of them under this kind of "reform.")

* Voted "yes" on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security.

* Wants to make the minimum wage a "living wage" (thus placing small businessmen who are already strapped by the welter of Federal, state and local labor laws closer to being out of business).

* Opposed to any efforts to privatize Social Security (thus increasing the money available to pay benefits) and instead supports increasing the amount of tax paid. (Gotta pay for the medical care and retirement of those illegal immigrants somehow, huh?)

* He voted "no" on repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax

* He voted "no" on repealing the "Death" Tax on money people inherit.

* He wants to raise the Capital Gains Tax (penalizing people who want to lower inflation and grow the nation's economy by making their savings available for investment by taxing these savings not once, but twice).

* Has repeatedly said the surge in Iraq has not succeeded, which is an outright lie (our forces have just turned Anbar province back to the Iraqi Army, after the "Sunni Awakening" has turned local sheikhs and clergy against Al-Qaeda, or as they now refer to them, "the accursed foreigners.")

Yeah, we NEED a President who does Al-Qaeda's public relations for them.

Of course, Osama, er, Obama took millions of dollars in a "home loan" from a shadowy Iraqi living in Great Britain. 

Could this be why Obama's bad-mouthing the job our troops have done in Iraq?

* He is ranked as the most liberal Senator in the Senate today and that takes real effort. 

This isn't some tag Rush Limbaugh put on Obama - it's a rating by the Americans for Democratic Action, a group of people who agree with Obama's stances on the issues.  They like him.  And they're welcome to him.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 4:35 PM MDT

Updated: Friday, 11 July 2008 7:22 PM MDT

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Mood:  mischievious

My wife just sent me this:

Senator Barack Obama was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nation two weeks ago in upstate New York.  He spoke for almost an hour on his future plans for increasing every Native American's present standard of living, should he one day become the President.  He referred to his career as a Senator, how he had signed 'YES' for every Indian issue that came to his desk for approval.  Although the Senator was vague on the details of his plan, he seemed most enthusiastic about his future ideas for helping his 'red sisters and brothers'.

At the conclusion of this speech, the Tribes presented the Senator with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle.  The proud Senator then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later inquired to the group of chiefs of how they came to select the new name they had given to the Senator.  They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of shit it can no longer fly.

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 3:37 PM MDT

Updated: Monday, 7 July 2008 3:48 PM MDT

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Mood:  incredulous

We hope not, but the fact remains that from January 5th (judging from the date on the Web page) to March 19th of this year, Barack Hussein Obama's Web site had this page:

For those who DON'T remember the Black Panthers (from Wikipedia.org):

New Black Panther Party

The New Black Panthers or New Black Panther Party (NBPP), whose formal name is the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, is a U.S.-based black supremacist organization founded in Dallas, Texas in 1989…

The NBPP attracted many breakaway members of the Nation of Islam when former NOI minister Khalid Abdul Muhammad became the national chairman of the group from the late 1990s until his death in 2001. The NBPP is currently led by Malik Zulu Shabazz, and still upholds Khalid Abdul Muhammad as the de facto father of their movement…

Although it says it sees capitalism as the fundamental problem with the world and “revolution” as the solution, the new party does not draw its influences from Marxism or Maoism as the original party did. Instead, in a carefully-worded, roundabout form of ethnic nationalism,  they say that Marx himself based his ideology and teachings on indigenous African cultures, and that the NBPP therefore need not look to Marxism or Maoism as a basis for their program, but can look to ideologies that stem directly from those African origins. The NBPP says it fights the oppression of black and brown people and that its members are on top of current issues facing black communities across the world. Also, it points to not all of its members being NOI, though the group acknowledges universal “spirituality” practices within the organization…

Members have referred to “bloodsucking Jews”, and Khalid Abdul Muhammad “has blamed slavery and even the Holocaust on the ‘hooked-nose, bagel-eating, lox-eating, perpetrating-a-fraud, so-called Jew’.”

Khalid Abdul Muhammad in his statement [said] that “there are no good crackers, and if you find one, kill him before he changes."

 ____

And once again, Obama's campaign accepted that endorsement until it was reprinted in conservative blogs and began to attract unfavorable attention.

Thanks to chacha and the "Sweetness and Light" blog for the above.

The graphic above and the Wikipedia quote were from:

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/new-black-panther-party-supports-obama

Posted by V.P. Frickey at 2:25 PM MDT

Updated: Wednesday, 2 July 2008 2:50 PM MDT

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