NYT Foreign Policy Experts Print Fake Letter From Paris Mayor

December 23, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On the ball. That’s what the experts at The New York Times are, alright. They are the arbiters of all that’s fit to print, remember? The ones that know all and see all, dontcha know? They are the ones with all sorts of advice on foreign policy, we must point out. So, it’s a bit hard to fathom how The New York Times printed a hoax letter, supposedly from Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, France, taking the State of New York to task for turning to the ditzy Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary’s Senate Seat.

That’s right, The New York Times got scammed by a fake letter. Worse, they didn’t even follow up to confirm the authenticity of the letter that arrived in their inbox via email. Someone at the Times just read the email then published the letter. And now they are apologizing for the negligence.

Obama Appointment That Has Rules for Herself, Then Rules for Everyone Else

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Jobs, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Unions, Vote Fraud, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have to start this posting with some questions to each of you dear readers out there. Do you like your vote to be secret? Free of coercion? Known only to you? Well, so does Obama’s new appointment for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis (D-El Monte, CA). She agrees with you and every other democracy-loving citizen that when it comes to her ballot, she wants it to be a secret one. She’s 100% for her own votes remaining secret from prying eyes.

Unfortunately, she also wants to take away that same democratic right from every working American faced with unionization. Solis, you see, has told everyone that will listen that once she becomes Secretary of Labor she will push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and the EFCA will do just that; take away the secret ballot from potential union members. In this she is in tune with Barack Obama because he wants the EFCA passed to pay back the millions that unions pumped into his campaign.

But, in January of last year, Solis, then a Congressman from California, signed a letter criticizing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for not having a secret vote during their proceedings. Bret Jacobson has the scoop in the L.A.Times:

Is CNN Pushing Kids to Ask For a Salary for First Lady Michelle?

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

**VIDEO below fold**

CNN has a segment that they call “CNN Student News” that is supposed to highlight the news of the day for the kiddie set. Pursuant to that, in a December 15 segment, CNN floats a question asking if Michelle Obama (or any First Lady) should get a government salary just for being First Lady?

But, what we really ended up with is a slight to those same students to whom CNN was ostensibly relating the news. No where in the report was there any talk of the Constitution in particular nor the law in general as the CNN anchor cajoled the kids into viewing with awe the “work” of the First Lady and in fostering in them a feeling that First Ladies should be paid for this “work.”

In fact, one interview during the segment even made happy talk of the fact that, during the Clinton administration, Hillary Clinton’s travel and causes forced a “moving public works project” wherever she went. There was no hint of the burden this posed on the places she visited and no sense that these expenditures were unfunded nor that such expenditures were never voted on by the people of the states she visited. The kids are left uninformed that this “moving public works” burden was forced upon taxpayers unawares.

UAW Runs Whining to Obama

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

- By Warner Todd Huston

In a day when their industry is cratering, in large part because of their own actions, the United Auto Workers (UAW) is whining to president to be Barack Obama that “unfair labor rules” need to be retracted once he takes office.

The UAW is asking Obama to revisit the conditions that the recent Bailout is dependent upon whereby the union is forced to revisit its practices to look for cutbacks and concessions. In essence, the UAW is trying to convince Obama that the union should not be held accountable for its actions of dragging the US auto makers down the tubes.

“We are disappointed that,” President Bush, “has added unfair conditions singling out workers,” Gettelfinger said. “We will work with the Obama administration and the new Congress to ensure that these unfair conditions are removed, as we join in the coming months with all stakeholders to create a viable future for the U.S. auto industry.”

No, Mr. Gettelfinger, Bush is saying nothing at all about “the workers.” He is pointing at YOU, Mr. Gettlefinger, you and your union thugs. It is YOUR fault that the auto industry is falling apart, not “the workers.”

Our Bailout Culture and the Beauty of Bankruptcy

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Media Bias, News, President, Selwyn Duke, Socialism, Society/Culture | Comments Off

By Selwyn Duke

The story of the Prodigal Son teaches a beautiful lesson about repentance and forgiveness. As you may know, it involves a lazy, irresponsible young man who insists upon taking his share of the family inheritance immediately and striking out on his own. He then proceeds to squander it on a dissolute lifestyle and ends up destitute, living like an animal. Duly chastened and humbled and purged of his spirit of entitlement, he approaches his father in contrition and asks for aid, saying that he would be satisfied to just be treated as a servant. The father, overwhelmed with joy, forgives his son, proclaims him “found” and holds a celebration commemorating his return. Of course, the idea is that he was “found” spiritually; he had developed wisdom, the capacity to not just manage money, but life.

Now, after 2000 years, we have gone from Prodigal Son to prodigal sin, and I imagine that today the story might unfold quite differently. The son’s problem would probably be related via cell phone, be chalked up to a matter of money, and remedied not with character formation but cash flow.
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Net Neutrality’s Chill on a Free Market Internet — Google’s OpenEdge Caching in Context

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Google, Inernet, Media Bias, News, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Technology | Comments Off

-By Scott Cleland

Calls for preemptive sweeping regulation can have a way of backfiring, impeding common sense, and discouraging sound market outcomes. Take Net neutrality.

Today’s Wall Street Journal front page story “Google wants its own fast track on the web” reports on:

Google’s secret “OpenEdge” request to ISPs to colocate Google servers on ISP premises in order to speed up Google’s network and reduce Google’s traffic burden on the Internet; and also How the special request appears to signal waning support by Google of net neutrality legislation/regulation.
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BANNED!

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Censorship, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

Old Media: Now Featuring Palin-Smears From Actions of In-Laws Not Yet Even In-Laws

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, Sarah Palin, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The national news has found its newest way to slam Governor Sarah Palin and that is to report heavily on any untoward actions made by her relatives by marriage — or even soon to be marriage, for that matter. Next the Old Media will be strenuously looking for Palin neighbors that are unruly, Palin hairdressers that have parking tickets, Palin dog groomers that steal pens from work, and Palin fans that talk too loudly on cell phones while in a theater.

Now, it is beyond me why a person who is not yet even an official in-law by marriage of a public official is a major news story for a low-level drug bust. I can see where it might interest local media for a brief minute, but for this story to have spread all across the wires and the Old Media with nearly 1,000 stories on the national scene… well, it is rather silly, really. Evidence of the worst in tabloid maneuvers.

It’s silly, of course, until one realizes that it is just another lame attempt by the Old Media to slime Governor Palin, even if it does have to be guilt by association. And it isn’t even association by color of official government business, either. It is family business. In its zeal to slam Sarah Palin, Reuters even initially misreported the story to be Palin’s daughter getting arrested for drugs instead of the soon to be Mother-in-Law. (my bold)

Huffington Post Stealing Others’ Writing?

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The humor site The Onion, the offbeat weekly The Chicago Reader, and Time Out Chicago have discovered that some of their articles have appeared in total on Arianna Huffington’s mega web outlet The Huffington Post. And they are none too happy about the wholesale lifting of their material, either.

Wired.com has the full story about the Huffington Post’s unwelcome lifting saying that Huffington Post is “being accused of slimy business practices by a handful of smaller publications who say the site is unfairly copying and publishing their content.” And this wholesale stealing of others’ work seems strange when the latest news about Huff Post is that it was graced with a $25 million capital infusion by investors. With that kind of cash flow, you’d think they could hire a few out of work MSMers and give them a job, wouldn’t you?

Illinois Politics, Chicago Corruption… I Told You So

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

Prior to the November General Election I wrote an article called This Is What a Vote for Obama Gets You. It highlighted the state of affairs here in Democrat controlled Illinois. Beyond that it introduced the reality that most Democrat politicians (and some Republicans for that matter) who emanate from Illinois – and especially Chicago – have a problem with ethics, demonstrating, almost on a daily basis, an inherent penchant for corruption. The recent influence peddling and profiteering scandal involving Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich demonstrates the Chicago/Illinois Democrat Machine in action.

By now, those who pay attention to the news are well aware that Illinois’ governor was caught on FBI wiretaps attempting to sell President-Elect Barack Obama’s vacated US Senate seat to the highest bidder. That – in and of itself – should produce a noticeable shade of embarrassment on the faces of everyone from Illinois, especially those who voted for Blagojevich.
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Come Back to 1600, Johnny Dean, Johnny Dean

December 21, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Crime, GOP, Government, Corruption, History, John Armor, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By John Armor

I’m certain that all of you, being well-read folks, recognized the reference to the play that Robert Altman directed and then turned into a movie, “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” That quirky play and movie involved a group of women reaching back to what their lives were like a generation before, when Jimmy Dean was alive and they created a fan club for him.

Today, we need a return to Johnny Dean, not Jimmy. Remember Johnny? He was in all the papers. He even wrote a new book a few years ago to make a few bucks and to remind the world that he wasn’t dead yet. Careerwise, he’s dead. But we’re talking biologically.

John Dean was Counsel to President Richard Nixon. He was asked to write a report on the Watergate situation. It was supposed to be a whitewash, concluding that the President had nothing to do with the break-in or the cover-up. Not much was said about the Dean Report. However, all Hell broke loose when John Dean grew a conscience, or just adjusted to the winning side politically. and told the Senate Watergate Committee that there was “a cancer on the Presidency.”
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The GOP Cannot Win Until…

December 20, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Communism, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, History, Judges, News, Republicans, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Of course we are all roaming around trying to figure out what will work, what hasn’t worked and whose fault it all is. Powell blasts Limbaugh, Limbaugh replies, voters blast McCain, the moderate Republican illiterati try to blame it all on Palin and the social conservatives, the conservatives say the country club set has destroyed us, and EVERYONE knows that the GOP acted like drunken sailors on the spending side… there is enough finger pointing all around, for sure.

But, how are we going to get it all back? How are we going to win at the ballot box? That is the question, naturally. There is a model of how to achieve that victory, though, if we have the good sense to utilize it.

David Frum appeared on the Hugh Hewitt show on December 16 and said that, in his opinion, the “base” of the GOP is no longer enough to get a president elected. He defined the base as comprising white males that make over $30,000 a year and are not college graduates. He said that the more college a voter has the more likely that they will vote Democrat.

Now, Frum is 100% wrong on a lot of things — like Sarah Palin, for instance — but he is dead on with his assessment about what a college “education” does to an American. A college education turns an American into a Democrat for the simple reason that there isn’t anything truly American taught in the largest number of our colleges and universities. They are taught to be Euro-like, non-traditional Americans and the main outlet for that ideology is the Democratic Party.

Roddy, We Hardly Knew Ye

December 20, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Our president-elect said in 2002: “. . . right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as governor. . .” Obama’s White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has bragged that he, Obama, and two another party loyalists “were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory.” Like other major Democratic politicians, Obama had absolutely no doubts about the character of the man they made governor. That’s their story and they’re sticking with it.

What they had to have known back then was that their candidate, who ironically campaigned against Republican dishonesty, was himself a product of the Chicago Machine, hardly a prototype for good government. Roddy didn’t wed just any foul-mouthed gal; tactically, he aimed for the stars. His wife is the daughter of a powerful alderman.

In endorsing Rod’s opponent in 2002, the Chicago Tribune reported everything voters needed to know:
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In Case You Forgot, AP Still Reminding Palin’s a ‘Failed Republican Vice Presidential Candidate’

December 19, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Media Bias, News, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

I don’t know. Maybe the Associated Press thinks that no one is aware that John McCain lost his race for the White House? Maybe the AP thinks no one is aware that his choice for VP, Governor Sarah Palin, lost right along with him? Maybe the AP thinks that hardly any American has gotten the word that Obama and slow Joe Biden won on November 4th? The AP sure acts as if they think people still need it pointed out that Governor Sarah Palin is “the failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” At least if its current report on the latest doings in Alaska is concerned, anyway. After all, right in the middle of a report on Alaska state workers having sent around some race tinged joke emails, the AP helpfully reminds us that Palin is that aforementioned “failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” I mean, who knew she lost?

The AP is reporting on some race-y emails that were reported to them by a state worker, using it to needlessly jab the governor. At one point the AP sternly tells us all that, “State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP,” as if something untoward was going on in the Administration itself. But, even the AP’s own report seems to show that a mountain is being made of a mole hill.

Naturally, the AP found Reverend Alonzo Patterson, Alaska’s own homegrown race baiter, to scold the Governor for not yet having said anything about an issue that is neither much investigated at this point, nor even in her initial purview in the first place.

I was Going to Say the Snow Kept me from the Blog, But…

December 19, 2008 | Filed Under Humor, News | 1 Comment

-by Warner Todd Huston

Up to 6 inches of snow and ice in Chicago, today. My son is off school because of the junk. So, I thought I’d call in “sick” to the blog today. But then I realized that my Internet connection is right in my den, so travel conditions from the bedroom happen to be less treacherous than I had thought. So, I guess the blogging continues… (do I hear moaning out there!? Now STOP that!)

The Ignoramus Americus

December 19, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, History, Media Bias, News, Selwyn Duke, Society/Culture | Comments Off

By Selwyn Duke

There is often a profound difference between morality and legality, and, if this were a just world, a good percentage of the American left would be tried for treason. If that seems a radical statement, I ask you: What price should be paid for sowing the seeds of your nation’s destruction? What should be the punishment for creating millions of people so ignorant, so effete, so corrupted in judgment that they are unable to sustain a free republic, resist enemies foreign and domestic, and perpetuate their culture? I’ll leave that to you to decide and just talk a bit about the state of the electorate.

I have often written about the ignorance that has resulted from decades of pathetic, dumbed-down parenting and schooling, and, sadly, there’s no shortage of material on this subject. In fact, you could probably read three large volumes on it and not know all Americans don’t know about what they should know. However, one short article recently written by economics professor and columnist Dr. Walter Williams perhaps tells us all we need to know. It is called “Ignorance reigns supreme” and relates the findings of a national survey measuring people’s knowledge of civics titled “Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions.” Its findings are staggering, although not at all surprising to me. For starters, 71 percent of Americans surveyed failed the test, and the average score on it was 49 percent. As for some details, Williams tells us (some of the following information he gleaned from sources other than the survey):
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The New Deal Would Have Worked, If…

December 19, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, History, Media Bias, News, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Thomas Brewton | Comments Off

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberal-progressive-socialists again eagerly anticipate returning to the disastrously failed economic policies of Franklin Roosevelt. Apparently religious faith in socialism outweighs rational consideration of evidence.

The standard liberal-progressive-socialist litany is that socialism, in the New Deal and subsequent years, would have succeeded, if only the government had spent more money for a longer time.

Many liberals lament that the New Deal didn’t go far enough in socializing the economy. That was a major reason for the savage antagonism between the liberal establishment of the 1960s and the New Left student radicals like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the spiritual parents of president-elect Obama’s educational policies.
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Urging a Special Election for Senate in Illinois

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, News, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Can the Ill. GOP FINALLY Find a Winning Issue?

As for me, I stand against voting for a Senator in the first place. I think the 17th Amendment was wrong to recreate the Constitution to have the people vote for Senators. Originally, the state legislature was to appoint a Senator from their state. There was no election as the position of Senator was supposed to be one that represented the state governments, not “the people.” The people were to be represented by the House of Reps and the President on the Federal level.

Nurse Chapel, Troi’s Mother, et al, Majel Barrett Roddenberry Passes

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under Entertainment, News | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, another fixture of Star Trek — and my childhood — is gone from us. The woman that played Nurse Chapel, Troi’s Mother, Lwaxana, and the voice of the Star Trek Computer passed away from the effects of lukemia today. She was 76.

Here is where, being middle aged, mortality begins to strike you. All your favorite pop icons from childhood are passing, so are all your older relatives. Mortality at my age is just beginning to make itself known.

Majel joins in the great beyond Scotty (James Doohan), McCoy (Deforrest Kelly) and Spock’s Father (Mark Leonard) as well as several of the show’s lesser known characters.

Safe journey, Majel.

The MOM Song!

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under Family, News | Comments Off

Thanks to Paul Young… and Moms everywhere.

RIP Conservative Leader Paul Weyrich

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under News | Comments Off

Paul was 66 when he passed this morning. His work is well-known in conservative circles as he was the first president of the Heritage Foundation.

Mr. Weyrich is credited with being at the forefront of conservative thinkers that helped create and guide the Reagan revolution.

Weyrich had suffered a spinal cord injury in 1996 and had been dealing with complications from that injury ever since. 66 is much too young, still. His expertise and intelligence will be missed.

After Attacking McCain for Them, Suddenly Newsweek Finds Lobbyists Are Just Fine After All

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

During the recently completed presidential campaign, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff was all excited over his “web exclusive” piece on staffers with the McCain campaign that had connections with past lobbying efforts. Back in those days Newsweek was all about the evils of those darn lobbyists. For their part, Obama supporters at the time ballyhooed the pledges that Barack Obama had made stating that his was going to be a kinder, gentler campaign, one that chased those evil lobbyists away. Phooey on those lobbyists, became the popular mantra. But, now that The One has made a successful and historic run for the Oval Office, Newsweek has suddenly discovered a newfound respect for that most venerable and important institution of lobbying.

That’s right, folks. Now lobbyists are “democracy in action” and as American as apple pie, dashikis and bailouts. According to Newsweek’s Robert J. Samuelson, if you are down on lobbyists, why, heck, you’re down on America itself!

This is, of course, quite a different attitude than Newsweek took when using its pages to beat down John McCain. In September, connections with lobbyists were enough to bring down a presidential candidate, yet by December they are the epitome of “democracy in action.” That is quite a head-spinning turn around, wouldn’t you say?

Unions to Organize for Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist?

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Technology, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent AP piece lauded the fact that the envirosocialist movement and American labor unions are at long last beginning to walk hand in hand. At the “climate talks” in Poland, several American union groups sent representatives to announce common cause on going green.

The AP report noted that the Sierra Club, a longtime environmentalist group, announced support for the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that features the undemocratic card check provision.

A Preacher for the Gnostic Religion of Socialism

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Communism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Family, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Religion, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Thomas Brewton | Comments Off

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Naomi Klein, a Canadian and the new rock-star evangelist of secular socialism, is representative of the New Left activists who populate the Democrat/Socialist Party.

Radical-left activist doctrine ignores the historical fact that every cohesive and enduring political society must be ordered by a commonly held understanding of human nature and human morality.

The profile in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine is a long and revealing one. Outside Agitator: Naomi Klein and the new new left gives the reader a sympathetic view of the anti-everything orientation of the present-day progeny of early 20th century families who were thoroughly imbued with gnostic expectations of a socialist heaven on earth. Families who passionately believed in remaking human society and human nature to achieve blissful, benevolent social conditions by purely materialistic means.
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Obama’s “Natural Born” Problem

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Constitution, David Huntwork, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Society/Culture, The Law | Comments Off

-By David Huntwork

By now you are probably aware that there have been a multitude of lawsuits filed in regards to the question of whether or not President-elect Barack Obama is in fact eligible under the “natural born” provision of the Constitution of the United States of America to be the President of the United States (POTUS).

The Constitutional provisions are very specific when it comes to the minimal qualifications for President. One is to be over thirty-five. He is. Two, is being in the country fourteen years. He has been. Three, is to be a natural-born citizen. The latter remains unproven, a matter of contention, and appears to be increasingly unlikely to be true.
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Sun-Times: Obama’s Senate Seat is a ‘Black Senate Seat’

December 17, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, President, Race, Society/Culture, Vote Fraud, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Betcha didn’t know that the elected office of Senator of the United States of America was a color coded position? Apparently, Laura Washington of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks it is, anyway, because she is warning that Obama’s “black Senate seat” will be lost because of this mess with Governor Rod Blagojevich getting arrested for trying to sell that “black seat” to the highest bidder.

In hers headlined “Black leaders see Senate seat being hijacked,” Washington is ostensibly reporting on what black community leaders and politicos in Chicago are saying about who should be appointed to fill Obama’s vacant seat. Still, Washington injected quite a lot of her own feelings into the tale of this gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth over the fate of that same seat to the effect that she endorses the idea that Obama’s position in the Senate is officially a “black seat” and should stay that way.

No Isolated Incident: Why Was the Boston Massacre so Shocking?

December 17, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Constitution, Founders, History, News, Rights, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

You may heave heard of the saying “nature abhors a vacuum”? In essence, it means that once something disappears nature quickly fills the hole left behind. Well, in history there is another axiom about “vacuums.” It is that nothing occurs in one. In this short piece, we’ll take a moment to find out why the Boston Massacre was one of the final straws that severed the bonds of affection between the American Colonists and the British Crown and we’ll see that it didn’t occur in a proverbial vacuum. Far from being a sudden action or one that happened without precedent, the Boston Massacre was the culmination, at least philosophically so, of actions of a similar nature that had been happening in both England and the Colonies for months beforehand.

Any student of the American Revolutionary era knows of the Boston Massacre. It was that incident that occurred on March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts during which five colonists were killed by a contingent of skittish British Infantry. It was an incident inextricably linked to the beginning of the Revolution that founded the United States of America.

The row began when British Infantry private Hugh White was confronted by a townsman claiming that the soldier hadn’t paid a debt. The argument went on for some time during which more colonists gathered. At one point, Private White struck a young man with his musket butt angering the crowd further. Eventually, several hundred Bostonians gathered and began hurling insults at the beleaguered soldier causing several more British troops to come to White’s aid. Momentarily, one of the British troops was struck with a club and, once he regained his feet, the angered private fired his musket into the crowd. This startled the rest of the soldiers causing them to follow suit. It became clear later that the officer among them did not order his troops to open fire, but five colonists were killed in the incident nonetheless.

SEIU Again Accused of Fixing Vote

December 17, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Jobs, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture, Unions, Vote Fraud, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A pattern has emerged concerning the expansion of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and that is one of rushed contracts that supposedly “give too much away” to the employers. Of course, I won’t comment of the supposed “giving too much away” aspect, but one thing that I will comment on is the propensity of the SEIU to get their contracts by hook or by crook.

This plan is of a piece with SEIU President Andy Stern’s quest to make the SEIU the biggest union in the nation. His has been a plan to simply glom onto as many new contracts and new members as possible no matter what else is going on. His avarice to gain new members and for adding locals by gobbling up lesser unions is so strong that he hasn’t paid much attention to the specifics of the contracts being signed. This sort of slipshod, barreling forward despite the specifics of the actual contracts has angered many of his membership.

Figurehead Of the United States

December 17, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Congress, Constitution, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, News, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Dan Scott

It seems the American people have had a bait and switch played upon them. Everyone thought they were electing a president, but according to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party leadership we elected a figurehead.

In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.

Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say…
…
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are signaling that they won’t tolerate a repeat with a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

According to Pelosi’s dictum, America didn’t elect a President/leader, they elected a figurehead who will rubberstamp Democrat Party policy. I would characterize Obama as a puppet on a string doing the bidding of his political masters in the Democrat Party. A perfect example of Plantation Politics where the individual claims to be his own man, but displays no independent action apart from the group. Obama make his own decisions? It will be Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid with the rest of the Democrat leadership directing from the shadows. Barack Obama is an order taker, not a leader. As a narcissistic opportunist he will gladly take credit for all liberal ideas because he has become the face of liberalism, he has no need for depth, an empty suit is all that is necessary. The Democrat leadership will be allowed to pull Obama’s strings as it is a mutual pact between them.
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Obama’s New School Chief Supported Creating Gay High School in Chicago

December 16, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Media Bias, News, President, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, how often do you think that the Old Media will mention that Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, supported to be opened in Chicago a gay, lesbian and transgender high school? Any takers?

I have looked over many of the stories on Obama’s pick for Sec of Ed, but seen mention of his support of the gay high school only a few times. Only three stories mentioned it out of the first 20 I checked. Even the Wall Street Journal didn’t mention it in their announcement of the Obama pick.

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