Super Power, Super Committee and the ‘Whoops’ Factor

December 1, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michael M. Bates, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

America’s lonely prophets and prognosticators are standing on the side saying we must stop sinning while her politicians are putting together super committees to show us how to stop spending. So far the only ones stuck with an embarrassing ‘whoops’ on their hands, are the politicians. Harold Camping may have gotten the date for the ‘end of the world’ wrong but Washington hasn’t gotten anything right yet.

We don’t always hear the ‘whoops’ but the picture of president, politician, attorney general and super committee standing with a dumbfounded look on their faces, and hands in the air, creates no strain for the imagination.

The President realizes that he can’t keep using the Bush administration to cover his whoops but now he has the GOP controlled Congress to blame, so the re-election campaign is just like the 2008 bid , no need to own up to his own miserable failures. He has saddled up the unsuspecting with a 100 pound knapsack full of Obamacare and trillions in debt and has sent them off to the school of cultural change they really cannot believe in, with a kiss and a promise. Pep talks of future rewards notwithstanding, the little citizen students are bent and falling, just three years out of the gate.
Read more

Fifty Years Ago, Kennedy and Nixon Changed our Politics Forever

October 4, 2010 | Filed Under Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Michael M. Bates, President, Richard Nixon | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

On September 26, 1960, Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon appeared in the first of what came to be called the Great Debates. How great they truly were is subject to dispute. But there’s no doubt they altered American politics permanently.

Kennedy looked tanned and rested, while Nixon had been ill and appeared fatigued. The Republican turned down an offer of stage makeup. That may have determined the future of the Nation.

Out of about 180 million citizens, 70 million watched that debate. Many believed Kennedy won decisively. It didn’t matter that sometimes JFK’s words made little sense:
Read more

Barack Obama: GOP Man of the Year

September 28, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michael M. Bates, President | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

It wasn’t so long ago that the Grand Old Party was rapidly headed toward becoming the Grand Dead Party. Democratic victories in the House, the Senate, state capitols and, of course, the White House made it disheartening for those who subscribe to archaic concepts like limited government, a modicum of fiscal prudence and the Constitution.

But those Democratic victories, ironically, also brought new hope for Republicans. From humble and shadowy beginnings came a community organizer with the thinnest résumé this side of Paris Hilton’s. Yes, Barack Hussein Obama may well prove to be the GOP’s savior.

Look at all he’s accomplished thus far. When a Democratic congressman expressed his trepidation that 2010 could be a big Republican year like 1994 was, in his customary, diffidently humble way Obama said, “Well, the big difference here and in ‘94 was you’ve got me.”
Read more

The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Guilty

September 21, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michael M. Bates, President, Stimulus, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

These days, Barack Obama would rather talk about his birth certificate than use the word “stimulus.” At the press conference that wouldn’t end last week, Obama was asked if his latest and greatest spending proposal amounted to a second stimulus. He answered, “There is no doubt that everything we’ve been trying to do is designed to stimulate growth and additional jobs in the economy,” but adamantly avoided the dreaded s-word.

That’s understandable. The roughly trillion-dollar stimulus enacted by Obama and his large Democratic majority in Congress has become nearly as big a national joke as Obama himself.

It was an ACORN-sized scam from the beginning. When success is to be substantially measured in “jobs saved,” a criterion that’s unprovable, you know that they know how preposterous their scheme is.
Read more

Where Are the Apologies?

September 14, 2010 | Filed Under 9/11, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Jews, Michael M. Bates, Religion, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Glancing at a newspaper in the Age of Obama can be hazardous to your mental – if not physical – health.

Unemployment is rising. For 18 straight months (not that it has anything to do with The Anointed One’s time in office) food stamp participation has set records. We’re up to 40.8 million recipients. More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid, a program intended for the poor. One in six of our fellow citizens are in government anti-poverty programs.

Then there’s that marvelous Obama stimulus. Tax dollars putting people back to work with important, meaningful projects like developing a computerized choreography program, analyzing exotic ants, and studying if a soda tax will improve health. Shovel ready is indeed an apt description.
Read more

If ObamaCare Wins, Obama Loses

August 24, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, Welfare | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” noted philosopher Yogi Berra is credited with saying. And so it is.

A liberal Democratic president has his heart set on pushing through a proposal strongly unpopular with most Americans. Enjoying substantial Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate, he intends to win.

So it was in September, 1977 when Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal treaties to relinquish United States control. An Associated Press opinion poll conducted that month found that only 29 percent of Americans favored the pact. A solid 50 percent opposed it and 21 percent expressed no opinion.

Just as Barack Obama is determined to shove a government health care program down the throats of his protesting countrymen, Carter did what was necessary to get the Senate to ratify the Panama Canal treaties. He cajoled, he promised, he threatened. It worked.
Read more

The “most trusted man in America” reconsidered

July 21, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Just as the media – with the exception of Larry King – were finally getting over the passing of Michael Jackson came the news that former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite died. Cronkite was an iconic figure amongst his brethren and media encomia were suitably lavish.

Cronkite was recognized, we’ve been told over and over again, as the most trusted man in America. According to USA Today:

“How did he become ‘the most trusted man in America?’ It was a Roper survey for U.S. News & World Report, Cronkite once said, and he won ‘because they didn’t poll my wife.’”

Ever the skeptic, I tried to find that poll. The Roper Center’s Web site includes a link to data gathered for a 1974 “Virginia Slims American Women’s Opinion Poll.” Cronkite did indeed do better than any other male in that sampling. But note how the question was worded:
Read more

Why I Quit The Reporter

February 2, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Socialism, Society/Culture | 2 Comments

-By Michael M. Bates

The Reporter, a suburban Chicago newspaper, included on its commentary page last week this editorial announcement:

“The Reporter newspaper regrets to inform our loyal readers that columnist Michael Bates has chosen to discontinue his services after nearly 20 years writing for our commentary page.

“Mr. Bates is a polarizing commentator beloved by some readers and detested by others. . . We know some readers won’t be upset by his departure, but we also understand those members of the unofficial Michael Bates fan club will be extremely disappointed. One or two readers have actually told us over the years that Mr. Bates’ column is the reason they read The Reporter.” The notice went on to say something complimentary about my writing and to wish my family and me well.

The statement was wrong about how long I’ve taken up space in The Reporter. It’s been well over 20 years. Then again, since the editor was in elementary school when I began cranking – the emphasis here is on crank – out a weekly column, his error is understandable.
Read more

Include Me Out

January 25, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Liberals, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Patriotism, President, Society/Culture | 1 Comment

-By Michael M. Bates

It’s numbing. The adulation, the elation, the mirth, the idolatry, the reveling in every possible facet of Obamaness. And that’s just the response of the mainstream media.

There was too much riveting coverage to fully absorb. You were no doubt stunned to learn, about every three minutes, that this year’s inauguration was historic. Stop the presses.

Unhappily, some stories didn’t receive as much attention as that revelation. One was Jill Biden confiding to Oprah Winfrey’s national audience that “Joe had the choice to be secretary of state or vice president.” Plugs quickly hollered “Shhh!” to his charming missus, but obviously she has as much trouble keeping her mouth shut as her husband. “OK,” she continued, “he did.”
Read more

President Kennedy and the Mob

January 17, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, History, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Society/Culture, Vote Fraud | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Plans are moving forward to complete the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Known also as the Mob Museum, it will be an interactive attraction “dedicated to the history of organized crime and law enforcement.” One of the displays, in the organized crime section of the museum rather than the law enforcement area, should feature President John F. Kennedy.

That’s because the Outfit helped put him in the White House. Academics still captivated with the myth of Camelot may not buy that contention, but the evidence is pretty persuasive.

Tina Sinatra authored “My Father’s Daughter,” a book about her father Frank, in 2000. In it, she details how Frank served as an intermediary between Chicago crime chief Sam “Momo” Giancana and JFK’s father, Joseph Kennedy, in 1960.
Read more

Roland will fit right in

January 10, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Race, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Senate majority leader Harry Reid can be such a tease. On Sunday, the Nevada Democrat suggested that Illinois Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to replace The One in what is facetiously called the world’s greatest deliberative body might not be welcomed with open arms.

In his trademark high-pitched voice that thrills Canine-Americans everywhere, Reid said of Burris’s becoming a senator: “It’s going to be very difficult for that to occur.” Then, realizing that his statement could possibly offend felons or other core Democratic constituencies, he backed off slightly with “I’ve learned, being a senator for the time I have, that anything can happen.”

That someone like Reid is the Senate majority leader is corroboration of how right he is.
Read more

Requiescat in pace, Uncle Sam

January 4, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Jobs, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

2008 will be known as the year the United States set aside any pretense of free enterprise. A nation that had flourished with the concept of limited government economic intervention turned to the seductive allure of massive federal intrusion. Washington will now more than ever redistribute wealth in the name of compassion, pick winners and losers, and decide how the fruits of your labor will be spent.

Admittedly, we’ve been heading in that direction, sometimes gradually but inexorably, for decades. James Madison, often identified as the father of the Constitution, would have been astonished by the shift. He’d written: “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. . . ”

When the ostensible crisis hit last fall, everyone from President Bush to Barack Obama insisted that Congress needed to take immediate action to bail out the financial industry. Sounding like used car salesmen, they argued it couldn’t wait for a month or even for a week; a $700 billion deal had to be cut now. The details could all be sorted out later.
Read more

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:
Read more

Bring back test patterns

December 14, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Entertainment, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

The head of NBC told an investor conference Monday that his network may have to cut back on its programming. “Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime-time? Three of our competitors don’t. Can we afford to program seven nights a week? One of our competitors doesn’t,” he said.

His candid admission put me to dreaming of an appetizing if improbable prospect: That some television stations might actually go off the air, at least for the night.

Many baby boomers grew up before network and cable stations operated 24 hours a day. Not only that; most of us actually survived.

Much of today’s late night/early morning programming may be slightly less than scintillating (ever catch Bobby Vinton peddling the “Lifetime of Romance” oldies collection?), but most TV outlets refuse to go off the air, even for a few hours.
Read more

Fun and Game Boys at Guantanamo

December 7, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Raul Castro is, at 77, Fidel’s kid brother. When Fidel’s health forced him to take a break from full-time dictator duties, he installed baby brother as president.

Raul swiftly demonstrated his leadership skills by consulting with some of the wisest people available. You know, deep thinkers like Hollywood millionaires. Recently he met with actor and activist Sean Penn.

The performer wrote in The Nation magazine of his meetings with Raul. According to Penn, Castro the younger is open to getting together with Obama. The Cuban said the setting would have to be a neutral one, perhaps Guantanamo Bay.
Read more

Slummin’ with Barry

November 23, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Society/Culture, The Law, Vote Fraud | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Mrs. Clinton assumed full taunting mode in a January Democratic presidential candidate debate. She aggressively battled “bad” Republican ideas, she told Obama, “when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slumlord business in inner-city Chicago.”

Obama feebly replied he was merely an associate at a law firm that represented a church group working with “this individual” and had done a few hours legal work. Hillary could have attacked Obama for accepting political contributions from Tony Rezko at the same time the real estate wheeler-dealer victimized African-Americans struggling for survival in his properties’ squalid living conditions.

It’s a persistent situation. Barry’s a millionaire, yet seems unable or unwilling to shake his connection with slums.
Read more

A nation of Peter Pans

November 15, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Family, Government, Corruption, Health, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Author J. M. Barrie gave literature Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up. Government, by encouraging people to not assume the responsibilities of adulthood, is fashioning a nation of Peter Pans.

Many health insurance policies allow parents to carry their children as covered dependents until they turn 19 or, if a full-time student, around 23. That’s changing. Two years ago, New Jersey required health insurance companies to extend coverage to qualifying children up to age 30.

Tony Rezko’s favorite Democratic governor, Illinois’ Milorad Blagojevich, used his amendatory veto authority this year to do the same. The covered “children” need not be students nor even live with their parents.
Read more

Why the race was lost

November 7, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Race, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

Castro this week described Obama as “more intelligent, cultured and levelheaded than his Republican adversary.” The American people agreed. So let the finger pointing commence. In no special order of consequence, here are a few probable reasons for the GOP loss:

The candidate. John McCain wasn’t conservatives’ first, or even fourth, choice for nominee. Infinitely preferable to Obama, he nonetheless carried too much baggage for many in the party’s base. Legislative liaisons with Teddy Kennedy and Russ Feingold on matters like immigration and campaign finance didn’t inspire confidence. Neither did McCain’s late conversion to tax cuts. Not discussing the Jeremiah Wright connection, a sensible basis to question his opponent’s judgment, was unwise. Bringing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the ticket did help a lot. People who dislike her would never have voted for the GOP anyway and she was a huge asset to the campaign. McCain’s estrangement with the rank and file never fully healed. When the Republican Party stops serving as a vehicle for conservatism, it falters.

The young will pay for a President Obama

November 1, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Budget, Business, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

It’s lamentable that Obama and Biden only tell the truth when people give them money. It was at a San Francisco fundraiser that Obama voiced his belief that residents of small towns in Pennsylvania and elsewhere “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

More recently Biden told contributors at a Seattle fundraiser:

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
Read more

Birds of a feather Barack together

October 26, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows more than half the respondents don’t think Barack Obama’s association with unrepentant 60s terrorist William Ayers is a legitimate issue. It’s old news. Such reasoning suggests that in about 30 years Obama can serve on boards with bin Laden, visit Osama’s home and take political contributions from him, just as he’s done with Ayers. After all, that 9/11 stuff will be old news by then.

Offering no basis for his assumption, Obama says he “assumed that (Ayers) had been rehabilitated.” Yet in Ayers’s 2001 book he wrote that he can’t quite imagine bombing a building today, “but I can’t imagine entirely dismissing the possibility either.”

Then there’s the lovely Mrs. Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn. It was, let it not be overlooked, also in her living room that candidate Obama had his political coming out in 1995. Dohrn saluted Charles Manson after a 1969 killing spree in which pregnant actress Sharon Tate was stabbed with a fork:
Read more

Another Great Depression?

October 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Business, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

It looks as though John McCain is respectfully campaigning himself into the footnotes of history. Polls with Barack Obama winning by double digits are an indicator. So are predictions of a Democratic landslide by longtime GOP operatives such as Ed Rollins. McCain backers stand up at rallies to voice their exasperation that he’s not doing enough to win. Obama presents a clear, though hackneyed, message; McCain appears tentative and inconsistent.

Thus far, McCain fears that highlighting Obama’s relationships with ACORN and Jeremiah Wright – matters that directly reflect on Obama’s judgment – will lead to additional scathing attacks like the one from a black congressman comparing McCain to the segregationist Democrat George Wallace. So the Republican nominee, after reaching across the aisle to bail out Wall Street and people who made bad decisions, emphasizes how adroitly he reaches across the aisle. That’s a real crowd pleaser among Republicans cautioning that Obama, Pelosi and the other hooligans are bent on imposing socialism. The candidate is starting to make the listless Bob Dole look driven.
Read more

Cubs carry a devilish burden

October 12, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Media Bias, Michael M. Bates, News, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | Comments Off

-By Michael M. Bates

This begins with an apology. Last June a column from your humble servant focused on Barack Obama’s refusal, after initially approving the idea, to hold frequent town hall meetings with John McCain. I wrote: “When it comes to confronting McCain, however, Barack folds like the Cubs in September.”

I was wrong. Not about the pusillanimous Obama, but about the Cubs folding in September. They made it all the way to October this year before folding like a cheap and, as in Barry’s case, empty suit.

In spring training, pitcher Ryan Dempster predicted the Cubs would win the World Series this year. That sounded familiar. A year earlier, pitcher Carlos Zambrano ventured the same prophecy. That was about the time manager Lou Piniella spoke of instilling a “Cubbie swagger” in the team. Bet he’d love to have that line back.
Read more