politics

A pivotal spot in political history.

Don't we all feel dumb now?  Every talking head saying how every other talking head jumped the gun without doing the journalist's job of checking the facts.  The White House doing the worst in this mess by reacting to a clip on a blog post because it might have an effect on the evening Presidential ratings.

And not just talking heads.  Even this blog has a post showing the original short clip that Andrew Breitbart used to target the NAACP.  

This is the time for us all to have the conversation.  Not about race or immigration, rich or middle class, tax cuts or jobs programs, abortion or adoption.

No

This is the time for us to have a thoughtful conversation about how we as a nation wish to converse about our future as a nation.

Do we wish to continue the one minute news cycle that demands instantaneous responses thus feeding the one minute news cycle?  It has become a monster that feeds on itself.  It especially loves to feed on instant polls and un-verified writings by unknown self appointed journalists.

H/T ML

Yesterday, Mexico's President used a White House Press Conference to share his opinion of Arizona’s attempts to solve the rise in crime it’s experiencing, due to an open Southern border. Obama looked on as President Felipe Calderón criticized Arizona law in front of foreign and American reporters. The POTUS followed up with some comments of his own.  You can watch some of that event here:

The only thing red about Illinois politics is the debt, where crimson runs supreme; other than that the Democrats have control of both Chicago and Illinois politics. Since President Obama’s Inauguration, Americans have developed an interest in what happens politically in his home state, thinking it might help them understand him and his style of governance. So, what’s been happening in Illinois, which is also my home state, as it prepares for its November elections?

 The former Impeached Democratic Governor, Rod Blagojevich, awaits his trial, and sitting Democratic Governor Patrick Quinn may or may not win reelection. Thanks to the incompetence of Illinois politicians across the blue/red divide, the state faces a $13 billion budget deficit. Quinn wants to raise taxes, but he can’t get his mind around the notion that the big spenders have to mend their ways and cut bloated government expenses.

Paul Volcker (L), White House adviser and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve under both Carter and Reagan, spoke at a New York Historical Society event this week. During his remarks, Volcker said the US must consider a “European-style Value-Added Tax” to address the fiscal debt crisis facing the federal government, even though it was an unpopular idea. He said it succinctly: “If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes.”

Paul Volcker’s New York comment introduces the next phase of the Progressive’s indoctrination of our citizens. He is a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which he also chairs. Volcker knows the future the Obama administration has planned for us. We are following Europe’s path.

A VAT would tax purchases at 10-15% and generate the money needed to pay for the POTUS’ agenda. It would be imposed like a Federal Sales Tax and be paid along the chain of production by both wholesalers and retailers. It is a cumulative tax, because everyone in the chain of production, sale, and purchase of a product pays a tax. The added cost is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. A VAT would hit middle and lower earners harder than the rich, because they will pay a higher portion of their income to buy things than the rich will pay.

                Did you see the excerpt of John Heilemann & Mark Halperin's Game Change?  

(h/t: Count Us Out)

I could hardly believe what I was hearing as Lou Dobbs announced he is leaving CNN, effective tonight. The NYT reports that Dobbs met with Fox's Roger Ailes in September but a spokesperson said today, “We have not had any discussions with Lou Dobbs for Fox News or Fox Business.”

Update: Lou Dobbs to Quit CNN - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

They say Dobbs is anti-immigration but that's inaccurate. Dobbs, along with most of America, is anti-illegal immigration. CNN is way too in-the-tank with Obama and they have miserable ratings as a result. Fox News Channel is tops in the ratings by a very wide margin.

Let's hope we get to hear more from Lou Dobbs in the very near future. He'll still be on the radio.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27152.html

From By ERIKA LOVLEY | 9/15/09 at Politico

Are women more effective lawmakers than men?

That’s the preliminary conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Chicago, who say that on average, women in Congress introduce more bills, attract more co-sponsors and bring home more money for their districts than their male counterparts do.

 

The study, which examined the performance of House members between 1984 and 2004, found that women delivered roughly 9 percent more discretionary spending for their districts than men.

Yes, something is happening here and it ain't all exactly clear.   Damn

This place was intended to be a political blog and not a blog about blogging, ethics and how to treat your neighbor right.  Guess I was wrong but then maybe it was to be expected when I myself set the rule that all sides will be heard, none will be banned and gave folks an "ignore user" button.  Add to that my personal desire to elect women to positions of power, which I think has something to do with this place becoming me, ron and a bunch of caring women. 

I am not a woman.  Won't ever be.  Won't ever be a sister.  Won't ever feel how women react under pressure or pleasure.  All I can do for my chosen cause, is to provide a platform and some very often wrong male input.  I will never write a treatise on Women's rights but I damned sure will read everything Izarradar writes about women.  It is not my place to tell women how to be the women leaders we need.  Am I making sense?  Do you see the head games I go through with a blog somewhat for and about women?

So here we go again with a reset if you will.  I want eveybody to look at the header (those who haven't already left).  Ignore the cute hamster and the dancers and the puma you may not have even seen before.  What does the header say?

Dang.  I'm starting to think Politico may actually take the word Journalism seriously.  Then I come back to Earth when I get into the articles. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23510.html

Here Eamon Javers explores the fact that President Obama mentions Jesus or Christ much more often than Bush ever did.  He does discuss the political reasons but never comes out and says that maybe Bush never mentioned Christ because he did not need to convince himself of his faith. 

I know many born agains and "true believers", including some on the wife's side of the family.  Not one of them wears their religion on their sleeve.  They don't preach, at least not around me the fallen Jew.  I don't think they preach anywhere else other than church.  Those who feel a need to remind others of their faith are really reminding themselves.  You see, they don't really have faith or they wouldn't need the constant reminders.

Barack Obama has faith in only one thing.  Himself

It has been raining on and off here for three days, and hump day in Chicagoland is dreary and damp.   Some cartoons might make it better. The trouble is most political cartoons reflect the mood of the country, which is pretty pensive snd malancholic.  

Who can blame us? People have lost their jobs, their nest eggs, even their children’s college money. it’s not the best of times.

The MiserableStinkingMedia has focused national attention on the Blagojevich/Burris/Reid comedy routine.