It's A Wrap

It’s a wrap.

2008 is over and 2009 is upon us. I’m feeling a little more confident about emptying my root cellar of all the Millennium Bug survival supplies. Who knew bottled water had an expiration date? I’m guessing I may need to take these bottles to a hazardous material dump as I have no idea what drinking water turns into after 8 years. Then again, maybe if I keep it long enough it will turn into biodiesel.

2008 has been quite a year. And if it taught us anything it taught us that all the high powered brain trusts, financial advisors and psychic soothsayers don’t actually have any better chance of predicting the future than Punxsutawney Phil.

Oh sure, there were those that predicted a hurricane would hit the U.S. coast and that there would be unrest in the Middle East but those predictions could have been made by a monkey with a dart board.

Where were the predictions about the complete collapse of the worldwide credit markets? Where were the predictions about the galactic rise in oil prices followed by a precipitous fall equal to Orson Wells on ice skates? Where was the prediction that the Chicago Cubs would have the best record in the National League only to break their fans hearts in the first round of the playoffs? Well okay, maybe that one could have been predicted by that dart throwing monkey.

2008 was an historic year financially on too many levels to count and nobody saw it coming. With all the computer modeling, chart plotting and algorithm tracking it all came as a surprise. For all the 24 hour news and financial news stations with an army of expert talking heads equal to the population of China, nobody sounded the alarm until the fire was already burning out of control. It took Charlie Small Potatoes and turned his 401K into a 201K and morphed Joey Big Potatoes from a billionaire to a millionaire. It turned an army of day traders into a crew of night janitors and sent thousands of starched shirts from Wall Street to Wal-Mart.

But for all its downside, 2008 confirmed some very important points. First that there is nothing wrong with making money, but when we allow the opiate of quick profits to become so overwhelming that we lose sight of the fundamentals of sound business practices and risk management we stand a very good chance of racing past the sign posts that warn that the bridge is out ahead.

It also confirmed that no matter how hard the rest of the world’s economies try to act as if they are totally independent, if the U.S. economy gets the sniffles the rest of the world will end up with pneumonia.

And finally 2008 once again proved that regardless of their stated intent, when politicians get involved in the inner workings of private businesses no good will come of it. The bulk of the problems we face today can be directly traced back to the U.S. Congresses installation of a welfare system into the housing credit markets. Many bright and highly paid financial gurus thought they could make money ad infinitum on this folly. They were wrong and now are unfortunately looking to the problem for the solution.

As we open the door to 2009 many of the same prognosticators that missed not only the mark but the whole damn target in 2008 will be back with a whole new set of predictions. I do not claim to be smarter than anybody else when it comes to looking into the future, but I do have a few predictions of my own.

I predict that unfortunately more and more businesses will attempt to carry the “Too Big To Fail” banner in hopes of getting their turn to feed at the government trough.

I predict that the House and Senate Democrats will begin to buckle under the weight of the responsibility that comes with absolute power.

I predict that House and Senate Republicans will miss every opportunity afforded them to make any significant advances for the midterm elections.

I predict that a thoughtful self-biographer will begin to feel like the dog that finally caught the car.

But take each of these and my predictions yet to come with a grain of salt as I also predict the Cubs will shine in 2009.

A Disproportionate Myth

Violence never solved anything.

At least that’s how the saying goes. It’s an expression that has been used by pacifists for years. “Make Love Not War” they cry. But have you ever noticed that the ones chanting these tired slogans are usually hundreds or thousands of miles away from the actual conflict?

Random acts of violence usually solve nothing, but random acts of violence are rarely if ever meant to solve anything. Strategically planned and executed violence often does bring about a solution. Anybody who says otherwise hasn’t paid attention very well in history class.

The current headlines scream that the ongoing military action being undertaken by Israel against Hamas in the Gaza strip is overkill (no pun intended). “Israel’s Attack Disproportionate” they say and use pictures of poor civilians and children killed or wounded in the airstrikes as proof of their claim.

To be sure, the sight of bleeding and dead children with their parents weeping at their side is horrific. But war is horrific business. There are no clean wars. By its very nature the purpose of a trained military is to kill people and break things and the purpose of military action is to kill enough of the enemy and break enough of their equipment to vanquish their will if not their physical ability to fight. It is not the military’s job to teach anybody a lesson, although the lesson is usually learned by the time the military is done.

The U.S. dropping nuclear bombs on Japan has long been viewed as disproportionate in its targeting of civilians but to anybody paying attention it ended the war with Japan in a matter of days. The ghastly pictures of human devastation and the years of radioactive health issues have prevented further use of these weapons of mass destruction. But the reality is that it was an extreme act of violence that did indeed bring resolution.

I am neither Jewish, nor do I feel any particular special support for Israel. But I am a supporter of any free democratic country that finds its very existence threatened by Islamic sects whose sole purpose in life is to kill its citizens. Israel has been warning these Islamic fascists for months that if they did not stop the daily mortar attacks on Israeli towns and citizens it would retaliate. Their warnings were ignored. They are not being ignored now.

As the death toll climbs toward 500 the news media is quick to report the number of civilian deaths. The deaths of the innocent are always tragic and even though civilian deaths account for only about 20% of the total it is no less heartbreaking. The reason the civilian deaths are even that high is that these Islamic warmongers set up their mortar launchers in civilian neighborhoods and around schools. The “civilian” adults are guilty of complicity with the uniformed Hamas fighters. There is no military and non-military zone. It’s all military zone.

As the major concern in the news media and with other Muslim countries seems to be a disproportionate response by Israel, let me ask the million dollar question: What exactly is an appropriate response to daily mortar attacks on Israeli civilians? What is an appropriate response to suicide bombers trained and equipped by Hamas to blow up civilian buses and marketplace shoppers? What is an appropriate response to a terrorist organization that has repeatedly stated their sole mission in life is to destroy Israel?

This extreme level of Muslim terror is not limited to Gaza or the Palestinian held territories. It exists and is growing in Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Somalia, Uganda and Jordan to name only a few. Muslim terror cells are expanding in just about every country on every continent. The news media continues to misidentify the threat by stating that actions like the one taken by Israel will embolden these terrorists. Make no mistake; they are already bold enough to attack the United States. And that is as bold as it gets. Ask Japan how that worked out for them.

And then ask them about violence solving nothing.

Another Note From The CDPR

Another note from the Center for the Development of Personal Responsibility (aka – the Loneliest Place on Earth): Exactly what is the going price for America’s soul?

It’s a great time to be a liberal in America today. A liberal Democrat controlled House and Senate is in place and in just a few days the most liberal President the United States has had in decades or perhaps ever, will be inaugurated into office. There will be dancing in the gold paved streets and America will once again be brought to greatness in the eyes of the United Nations and the diplomatic hacks that grace its halls.

The mantra of “Change” will become the reality of new legislation relieving weary American citizens and businesses of their burdensome personal responsibility. No longer will we need to worry about people either individually or as corporate directors making poor decisions or more importantly suffering the consequences of poor decisions. Wealth will be redistributed, taking from those who have worked for it and giving to those who have not. All those who have not succeeded in taking advantage of the opportunities already in place to advance themselves out of poverty will be given their free shares of milk and honey ration stamps further tightening the shackles of welfare slavery and dependence on government for their very existence.

New stimulus packages are already being drafted so that once the President is officially installed he can make the redistribution of free money his first priority. New and even broader bail outs of failing union controlled businesses are in the works to protect the promised quid pro quo. And new construction projects of roads and bridges will provide a plethora of new dues paying members.

I hate to be a party pooper in the midst of this liberal love fest but I do have a few questions. First off, have we learned nothing from the crisis caused by the government inflicted infection of welfare into credit markets? And secondly, how much of our economic freedom are we willing to cede to government controls in order to avoid taking personal responsibility?

In his 1986 book “Free Enterprise Economics” author Tom Rose makes the following remarkably prophetic statement:

“If Americans value liberty, if they value individual freedom and self-responsibility before God as a desirable and moral state of affairs, then civil government will play a minor role in their lives. Its role will be limited to that of protector of property and a punisher of those who rob, steal and cheat others.

If on the other hand, Americans come to fear self-responsibility, if they attempt to escape the self-responsibility which is inherent in the free market system, then civil government will play an ever increasing role in their lives. Instead of servant and protector of property, civil government will become a regulator and master of the people as well as a redistributor of wealth.”

To the glee of Kremlin officials and the Russian state run media Russian academic Igor Panarin has come out with a prediction that the U.S. will implode by the year 2010 under the debt load proposed by the incoming administration coupled with the backlash of all those who will come to the realization that this new President is not a Messiah but rather just a charming liberal politician who is retrying the same failed economic hocus pocus that didn’t work every other time it was tried.

Comrade Panarin is a former KGB analyst and is now the dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He admits that his calculations show only a 55% chance of the U.S. collapse which he points out “One could rejoice in that process, but if we are talking reasonably it’s not the best scenario for Russia.”

It would be easy to pass off Panarin as a crack pot looking for some Russian TV face time. But considering the additional $1 trillion debt load to be incurred if the new president does what he says he’s going to do as well as the reduction in tax revenues from the increase in income taxes he may not be that cracked a pot after all.

No foreign government has the power to strip Americans of their freedom. But if Americans choose to surrender that freedom to their own government in exchange for a bag of silver and a release of their own personal responsibility we will all lose an important piece of our collective freedom.

Freedom and personal responsibility are like conjoined twins where trying to separate one from the other will mean certain death to both.

And that is too high a price to pay.

Hard Times in Afghanistan

My oh my, how times have changed.

In the old days men in black trench coats with wide brimmed hats and attaché cases would stop off at some out of the way dark and dingy bar where an even dingier bartender with a foreign sounding name, usually displaying a big scar that ran down his cheek, would pour him a stiff one. This bartender typically walked with a limp and always knew enough to be dangerous but was savvy enough to be useful. Such was the life of a covert intelligence agent, at least in most of the old black and white spy movies that popularized their myth.

Nowadays, in the vernacular of these intelligence agents the terms “limp” and “stiff one” have a whole new meaning. The CIA recently admitted to supplying Viagra to elderly tribal warlords in Afghanistan in exchange for useful information.

Agents have always looked for a way to endear themselves to those who they deemed could be useful. They look for weaknesses or habits that could be exploited as a means to get what they want. The Russian KGB was famous for using beautiful female agents and after a tryst or two blackmailing the target into supplying information or providing services. I’m guessing the CIA has probably done the same thing on more than one occasion, which also brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Taking one for the team”.

In the past CIA agents have enticed the Afghan warlord chieftains with trinkets and tools, as well as medical procedures for them and their family, school equipment and travel visas. They have also paid thousands of dollars in cash money for some of the information. Jamie Smith a retired CIA covert operations veteran in Afghanistan said the problem with giving the elders money was that they would go from covert to overt in no time at all. "If you give an asset $1,000, he'll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone" he said. Once folks in the area knew the chief was cooperating with the U.S. he was no longer of any value from a spy standpoint.

My question is wouldn’t the sight of an old tribal chief walking around with a suddenly ill fitting tunic let the rest of the village know that something was up, in more ways than one?

I think passing out the little blue pills is a great idea. It gets the informants in a good mood and aside from some possible strained muscles and a few scared goats has very few side effects. But will the American news media allow this practice to continue unchallenged? That’s the real question.

I can see the news stories now as breathless reporters question their in house medical experts about possible side effects and bemoan the fact that these prescription drugs are being dispensed without the benefit of a complete medical exam. And what of the dreaded priapism, which as every TV watching 6 year old can tell you is an erection lasting longer than 4 hours? Where is a poor Afghan elder going to go to get immediate medical attention?

In an effort to help get the ball rolling, so to speak, I have come up with some eye catching headlines for the sensationalist news media stories:

U.S. TARGETING THE TALIBONE

AFGHAN ELDERS HARDENED BY U.S.

CIA MEETS WITH STIFFENING AFGHAN WARLORDS

AFGHAN WARLORDS RISING UP

AFGHAN CHIEFTAINS ON THE PILL

PAST AFGHAN ENEMIES BECOMING FIRM FRIENDS

PETA CLAIMS CIA ENDANGERING AFGHAN LIVESTOCK

How fitting would it be if Osama bin Laden and his brood were finally caught thanks to $5 in little blue pills and an old Afghan that just wanted to feel like a young Afghan for a few more nights?

As the old DuPont slogan says “Better living through chemistry”.

Maybe better intelligence too.

The Reason

Lest we forget; Christmas has a purpose and a meaning. It is not about the presents, or the lights, or the cookies, or even Santa Claus. It’s about a promise fulfilled, a love that defines love and a path provided which no human power could pave.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

''She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:''BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, ''GOD WITH US."

And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

But the angel said to them, ''Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ''Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, ''Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."

So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ''Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

They said to him, ''In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:“AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'"Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ''Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him."

After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

Nobody's Laughing

This just in from the poor misunderstood Muslim desk:

On December 22nd in Camden NJ a jury convicted 5 Muslim men of conspiring to kill military personnel at New Jersey’s Fort Dix. Naturally their friends and family are in an uproar about how these poor Muslim boys were railroaded by the FBI and their paid informants. Oh, what a tragedy. Oh, what shame. Oh, what a crock of crap.

Once again the good people at the Council on American Islamic Relations are getting involved. The executive director of the New Jersey chapter Mr. Jim Sues (how appropriate is that last name) said: "Many people in the Muslim community will see this as a case of entrapment. From what I saw, there was a significant role played by the government informant."

Under normal circumstances I would suggest to Captain Obvious that the role of a government informant is usually significant. But in this case what Mr. Sues and the Muslim community are saying is that these poor boys were the victim of an overzealous government looking to entrap them. Never mind the fact that these government informants were installed into this terrorist cell after the original plot to kill servicemen was in place.

According to the court testimony these fine young Muslim men went to a Circuit City looking to get a video transferred to DVD. Not much suspicious there. Except that the video they were looking to transfer was of them shooting weapons and shouting about jihad. It was then that an alert clerk contacted the FBI and an investigation was begun and informants installed in the group. The information garnered by the informants was that these Muslims were looking to “kill as many American soldiers as possible”.

But no, pay no attention to the video that started the whole thing. "I don't think they actually mean to do anything," said Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union. "I think they were acting stupid, like they thought the whole thing was a joke."

Hey guess what Mohamed; we don’t have the luxury to just think they are only playing around. If somebody were to call the American Muslim Union with a bomb threat should the authorities respond by saying they “think” the call is just a prank? I have no problem accepting the fact that these young Muslim men were acting stupid. But if it was a joke I fail to see the humor.

This operation was no different than when police set up a sting using undercover officers as hookers or drug dealers. Are the fine folks from the American Muslim Union and the Council for American Muslim Relations suggesting that the young white kids that go to the black neighborhoods would not actually buy any drugs if the undercover cop wasn’t there?

While Mr. Younes said he believed this was joke the reality is that these young Muslim terrorists bought assault rifles and went to the Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains to practice shooting. I repeat, Mr. Younes, I’m not laughing. If the Council for American Muslim Relations and the American Muslim Union want to be taken seriously outside of the Muslim community they had better start condemning these acts of terrorism instead of justifying them.

These 5 guys were indeed stupid. The next group of young Muslim terrorists may not be.

And that’s no joke.

Shopping 101

The first thing you should know is that BigFrick does not shop. He buys.

OK, so maybe I am not an experienced professional shopper, but I am able to discern between good service and crappy service. With all the doom and gloom out there right now for the retailers one would think they would be especially service oriented. One would be wrong.

I read in the papers that retailers have cut back on their holiday staffing due to poor sales. My thought whilst traversing the only moderately crowded stores was that they must have cut the wrong ones. I can’t believe that the folks I encountered were the best the stores could find. And if they were, we are in more trouble then we realized.

When I do my Christmas shopping I know what I want and when I find it I buy it. I am not one to go to ten different stores to try to save 3% while wasting double that amount in fuel and valium. If the product I want is on sale, great. If it’s not, oh well, I buy it anyway. I am truly an easy sale. But I’ll be damned if I buy something from a store that doesn’t have the decency to staff its sales floor with competent people. I’m not looking for experts. I understand that most of these sales clerks are young and are not highly paid. But if I have a question I expect the clerk to be able to answer that question, not read the side of the box to me aloud.

My first stop was to a big box store that shall remain nameless, but whose initials are BB as in Best Buy. The store honestly appeared to have almost as many blue shirted sales clerks as they did harried shoppers. There were at least 6 young men in blue shirts in the department I was in and two young blue shirted women. The volume on the speakers for the wall of flat panel TV’s was set just slightly under that which would cause your eyes to bleed. I felt fairly secure that if I had a heart attack while looking for someone to help me the base tones pumping out of the sub woofer would in fact be sufficient to do the necessary chest compressions to save my life.

The products I was looking to purchase are not cheap, and that’s OK. As I said, I do not shop, I buy. But the choices are so many and the specifications are such that you need to be an electrical engineer just to read the cards explaining the products. I attempted to grab the attention of one of the young sales associates but the boys in blue shirts were far too busy trying to observe what was under the girl blue shirts to pay any attention to me. So being savvy in the way of the mating ritual I attempted to persuade one of the young females to help. I figured if I could get her to walk the aisle with me I would likely have the gaggle of her devoted followers as well.

I approached cautiously so as not to spook the herd and with a gun battle blazing on the wall of TV’s and through the tower of speakers I was able to communicate in sign language that I needed some help in aisle 3. As we approached the products I was interested in I had the great good fortune of having a respite in the gun battle and was able to ask for the differences and advantages between four different brand name models. To my amazement the young clerk looked right at me and said “I think they’re pretty much all the same” to which I replied “Then why are they priced between $169 and $450?” She then began reading aloud the product cards for each unit. I stopped her and said “I have read the cards, but what does that mean?” A puzzled look covered her young face as if I had just asked her to located China on a globe. “Let me get my manager” she said and hurried away before I could ask her another product related question.

The department manager was a young fellow who appeared to be about 12 years old. He was talking into a walkie talkie cell phone in one hand and was text messaging someone on a cell phone in his other hand. I could see my young sales clerk asking him for assistance just as World War III began again in earnest on the wall of TV’s. So there she stood while he shouted into his walkie talkie in what could only have been inaudible garble with the nuclear audio attack in the background and feverishly texting his little thumb off with the other hand.

Finally after peace had been declared in video land and I was still unattended I decided that I would just find myself another store to throw my money at. I left the BB and headed for my next stop, the Verizon store.

If I get the chance I will detail that visit at a later date, but suffice it to say my visit ended without a purchase and the young sales clerk saying “I really don’t know anything about that phone. Let me get my manager.”

Christmas is indeed a time for giving…………………………………………………………gift cards.

Freedom Secured

The Bill of Rights is not a suicide pact.

It appears that once again our pesky security measures are getting in the way of a Muslim’s freedom. The Muslim in question is a young woman named Lisa Valentine and the freedom she was deprived of was wearing a head scarf in an Atlanta courthouse.

According to reports, Ms. Valentine was accompanying a family member to traffic court and was stopped at the courthouse security checkpoint. She was informed that no head gear of any kind was allowed in the court and instructed that if she wished to proceed she would need to remove her full headscarf. But Ms. Valentine, being the devout religious follower she is, decided that the rules don’t apply to her. She informed the security team that she had previously been allowed in court with a head scarf when she lived in Connecticut. She then directed several very non-religious curse words at the guard and attempted to proceed with her scarf still in place. It was at that moment that Ms. Valentine discovered the difference between being in a New Haven, Connecticut courthouse and an Atlanta, Georgia courthouse. She was handcuffed by county sheriffs and taken before a judge who sentenced this devout follower to 10 days of meditation time in the county lock up for contempt. Somehow the Council for Islamic-American Relations was notified (surprise) and arranged for her release. They went on to urge the federal government to investigate this incident and others involving Muslims in Georgia.

We have been down this religious freedom road before. It was about 2 years ago in Florida when a Muslim woman sued the state, once again for denying her the ability to practice her religious freedom, by not allowing her to wear a full head scarf and face veil while posing for her driver’s license photo. That case was heard in several courts each saying the state was within its rights, making its way all the way to the Florida Supreme Court which ruled that the state does indeed have the right to refuse to take a photo ID picture when the only ID is your eyebrows.

In both of these cases the Muslims being oppressed were American born citizens that knew the rules. But even that doesn’t matter. Nobody was denying Ms. Valentine her right to worship God as she chooses. These security measures are in place for everybody to protect everybody. But Ms. Valentine is adamant that her civil and human rights were violated. The excess of her claims and the speed with which the Council for Islamic-American Relations was brought in might make one suspect that the whole thing was contrived and set up to ring the legal cash register.

It is important for us to put this in perspective. Nobody in Georgia is putting Muslims in internment camps even though it is Muslims that have declared a holy war on America. Secondly, if anyone of any religion is told to do something at a security checkpoint anywhere in the country and they choose to ignore the instructions, curse at the security personnel and attempt to proceed, it will not end well for that person. Did you hear the one about the priest, the rabbi and the minister who all refused to take their shoes off at the airport? Needless to say they missed their plane.

The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are in place to protect all people’s rights to practice their freedom of religion as well as their freedom to practice no religion at all. However, while the minority view is always given equal consideration, it does not allow anybody the freedom to use their religion to put anybody else at risk.

If Ms. Valentine thinks her civil and human rights were violated because she is a Muslim I suggest she make a visit to a "Muslim" country like Iran. I doubt cursing at security personnel there and ignoring their instructions would have gotten her ten days in a Tehran pokey. But it probably would have been a beautiful funeral.

I think it is commendable that Muslims wear headscarves to pay honor to God. Unfortunately some of them blow people up to do the same thing.

District of Clueless

Although there are plenty of them there, not all the clueless in Washington DC are on the federal payroll.

Only Washington DC could have their mayor busted by the feds, on videotape smoking crack cocaine with a hooker, and then re-elect the guy after he gets out of prison. That says a lot about how some minds work, or more appropriately, don’t work. So while remarkably unfortunate, it is only natural that the same type of skewed mentality and lack of reality that elects D.C.’s officials is commonly celebrated within the officials elected. Take for example the latest and greatest in D.C.’s attempt at hand gun control.

For 32 years our nation’s capital, the city where laws are written and Supreme Court justices are supposed to protect our constitutional rights, has had in place a constitutionally illegal ban on handgun ownership preventing law abiding citizens from owning a handgun. From the stratospheric murder rate in DC it was apparent that only the law abiding citizens were without a pistol. As the aforementioned Mayor Marion Barry put it “Outside of the killings, Washington DC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.”

After numerous challenges this law finally made its way to the Supreme Court which rightfully ruled it unconstitutional. The ruling was clear; cities cannot override the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment and prevent law abiding citizens from owning a gun. Sounds simple, should be simple. But even the reality of simplicity can escape a simple mind.

Washington DC was forced to rescind their ban on handgun ownership. But in what can only be interpreted as an exerted effort on the part of the DC city council to keep their attorneys employed they have enacted what council members admit are the strictest gun ownership control measures available to them. Among these measures are the requirements that gun owners re-register their firearms every 3 years, owners must take classes on gun ownership and must spend time at a firing range.

Regarding this transparent attempt to disregard the Supreme Court’s ruling city councilwoman Mary Cheh stated that “No constitutional right is absolute, nor is this right to possess a gun in the home for self defense". Not surprisingly Ms. Cheh is also a law professor. And while what she said is technically true, when it comes to law abiding legal citizens of this country it is not. If the good and learned councilwoman/professor bothered to read the Supreme Court decision she would see that it is in fact an absolute right and no city council has the ability to enforce additional requirements.

The city council can join the NRA if they want to promote gun safety, but they do not have the legal authority to impose their idea of suitable safety beyond the Constitution. Their feeble attempts aside, these requirements will do absolutely nothing to protect the citizens of DC from the bad guys using guns.

Handgun laws have multiplied like rabbits on Viagra. They have done nothing to prevent or even reduce murders. All they do is put an unnecessary burden on people who obey the law in the first place and make it appear that the lawmakers are actually doing something. Does anybody believe that gang bangers are going to make sure the shooter has his 4 hours of classroom training prior to shooting out of a moving car window? Furthermore these restrictions are discriminatory in that they put an undue financial burden on poor people.

It is far easier for do nothing officials to demonize the tool than it is to address the hand that holds it. It’s like blaming the car manufacturer for the drunk driver. Gang violence continues to grow unabated because lawmakers have developed the ability to place the burden of responsibility on an inanimate object and have chosen to accept a complete absence of it in people. It’s easy to say that handgun deaths are on the rise, but look at who is being killed and who is doing the killing. All the laws in the world imposed on the law abiding will do nothing to reduce crime.

Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life. Then give that same man a gun and he won’t have to worry about the guy you gave the fish to when he gets hungry tomorrow.

Chicago Style

This is the true story... of a thoughtful self-biographer... picked to live in a house...as he works and has his life taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...

Welcome to this week’s episode of “The Real World – Pennsylvania Avenue/Chicago Style”

I’ve never actually seen an episode of MTV’s Real World. The clips I have seen of the young, out of control misfits who make up the changing cast of characters make me hope that MTV will replay the episodes so I can not watch it a second time. But the premise of the show seems to fit perfectly with what is currently happening with the President-Elect and his inner group of Chicago style political veterans.

It’s Pennsylvania Avenue Chicago style. When you think “Chicago style” your first thought may be pizza. But Chicago is famous for two Chicago style delights, pizza and politics. There are actually some similarities between the two.

The key to a good Chicago style pizza is that they have more dough. The same is true for Chicago style politicians. Where the pizza is given it’s dough by the pizza maker, the politician is given his dough by the pizza maker if he wants to continue making pizza. A Chicago style pizza has a thick crust, once again true for the Chicago style politicians. But where the pizza has a crust that is cooked to a golden brown and easy to cut the politician has a thick crust that even the most ardent investigations can’t cut into. A Chicago style pizza will burn you if you’re not careful. A Chicago style politician will burn you even if you are careful. A Chicago style pizza lies on your table. A Chicago style politician lies just about anywhere.

The President-Elect has chosen to surround himself with some of the thickest crusted veterans of good old fashioned Chicago style politics. His campaign manager David Axelrod proved how quickly you can get burned during the campaign just by the mere mentioning of his candidates middle name. And now even before the President becomes the President, his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is baking up a pan full of flat out lies. All thanks to their involvement with Illinois Governor Big Rod Blagojevich. The Governor is also a veteran of Chicago style politics having been long time friends with Emanuel and Axelrod and having been schooled in some of the finer points by his father-in-law Chicago Alderman Dick Mel.

One of the keys to the MTV show “The Real World” is that everything the cast says and does is recorded on tape. Like the tape of Axelrod stating that the President-Elect had been in contact with the Illinois Governor to discuss candidates for his now vacant Senate seat. Or the tape in which BHO claimed that neither he nor anybody on his staff had conducted any conversations with the soon to be indicted Governor. Or the most recent tape of the Chosen One stating that nobody on his staff had any “inappropriate” conversations with Big Rod.

Having no conversations and having no inappropriate conversations are two completely different things. Plus “appropriate” is a relative term and open to interpretation. It’s kind of like not having sex with that woman because you didn’t consider what she was doing to you constituted sex. Unfortunately for the soon to be President it will be as tough a sell on the “inappropriate” part as it was for Bill to convince the new Secretary of State on the “sex” part.

It can be rather disconcerting for a thoughtful self-biographer, who is used to having his words edited and reading off the script to suddenly be in the Real World where people pay attention to your exact verbiage and have your comments on tape to review.

It actually appears from the covert tapes of the Governor that the BHO team was not looking to get involved with the Senate seat selling scheme. So why was their first public reaction to the scandal to deny everything, even appropriate contact? That is as typical of a Chicago style politician as the Governor was looking to get some dough out of the Senate seat.

The key will be to find out how much the Presidents men knew and when they knew it. Stay tuned to the next episode of The Real World to see if Prosecutor Fitzgerald is allowed to find out. My guess is that he will find the BHO Chicago team has set up more roadblocks than an Israeli – Palestine border crossing. And it will be twice as hostile.

Chicago style pizza and Chicago style politics. Both are classics.

Extraordinary Timing

“Extraordinary and unprecedented”.

Those were the words used by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to explain why she was petitioning the Illinois Supreme Court to remove Governor Big Rod Blagojevich from his authority. The question was; why take this action now before the Governor is proven guilty. The answer from Illinois top legal representative is that in matters that are extraordinary and unprecedented one must take actions that are also extraordinary and unprecedented.

I agree with the premise that this is indeed a situation where inaction could cause undue harm to the state of Illinois in any number of ways. The Governors ability to effectively govern has been seriously compromised. Any action he would take at this point would be viewed in the tainted light of the actions for which he is being investigated. He needs to be relieved of his duties either by his acquiescence or by legal force even though he hasn’t been convicted of anything. But I disagree with AG Madigan’s assertion that the Governors actions were either extraordinary or unprecedented.

First of all, under the table contributions and kickbacks in Illinois for favors and business contracts is as common as failed ethics legislation proposals. The Democratically connected politico’s in Chicago alone have raked in more in illegal tribute than some developing nations GDP’s. Secondly, the most the Governor will likely be charged with on any of these counts of “Pay for Play” is conspiracy to commit. He was not successful at actually completing any of the crimes. This was not for a lack of trying, but rather for a lack of time.

The Chicago Tribune learned of the covert taping of the Gov and his attempt at auctioning off the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the President Elect. They contacted the prosecutor who beseeched them for time to further the investigation. In a rare showing of good judgment and because the Tribune editorial board had also been a target of the Governors shake down they agreed. But before anybody had the opportunity to take the Governor up on his scheme the Tribune informed Prosecutor Fitzgerald’s office that they were going forward with the story.

We have the possibility of at least five wannabe Senators vying for the Governors paid-in-full nod of approval and the Tribune decides to go to print before the deal is done. We have the President Elect’s top political advisor, Chicago political veteran David Axelrod, stating to the news media that the new President had been in contact with the Governor regarding who would be a suitable candidate. A claim which was quickly withdrawn when BHO emphatically stated that he had never had such a conversation. This ardent denial is now being questioned as cell phone records of the incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (also a long time Chicago political veteran) prove that conversations did indeed take place. Add to this the possible implication of Jesse Jackson Jr. who has been identified as someone who may have been interested in playing the game by the Governors rules and you have a real blockbuster of a story.

What is extraordinary and unprecedented is the Tribune’s decision to break the story just when the story was about to get really interesting. What is extraordinary and unprecedented is that the guy who ran on the platform of change is already changing his story before he even gets into office. What is extraordinary and unprecedented is that the administration of change has these two long time Chicago political hacks, who were thick as thieves with the now discredited Governor, in top positions within the administration. What is extraordinary and unprecedented is that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (a.k.a. Candidate 5) was saved the embarrassment and possible criminal prosecution of actually coughing up a political contribution to pay his way to the U.S. Senate. What is extraordinary and unprecedented is the Tribune learning of this top secret covert operation just as it was about to begin.

Remove the Governor by any means necessary, not because what he did was so extraordinary but because what he did was so stupid. If you want to see extraordinary and unprecedented you need look no farther than the Chicago Tribune Tower.

Feeding The Kitty

Poor management is like feeding chili to your pet cat. No matter how novel the idea seems to be at the onset, there is an overwhelming chance that it will not end well. And it will take a long time to find all the places where the catastrophic results need to be cleaned up.

Such is the case we find ourselves in today with the Detroit automakers, the union leadership that emboldened workers by imperiling the companies they worked for and the investment bankers on Wall Street. Each of these parties made some remarkably poor management decisions based on their own short term interests.

Wall Street lost all historical perspective and began gambling instead of investing. They went double down on a real estate bubble attempting to cash in on the high yields of high risk, forgetting the disastrous results of hitting on 19 during the tech revolution just a decade ago. The Detroit automakers signed contracts assuring their non-competitiveness against global competitors in order to avoid work stoppages and tried to make up for the additional labor cost by marketing boring, cookie cutter, plastic laden cars that were neither attractive nor worth the price. The unions took every opportunity to advance their standing amongst the rank and file by focusing their attention on what they could squeeze out of the manufacturers, forgetting that it is ultimately the car buying public that decides the value of their member’s labor and that the consumer is not obliged to act within the confines of any union contract.

All three of these entities forgot the simple principle that if you want to be successful in the long term you have to think and act in the long term. They are now looking to abate the consequences of their short sightedness by appealing to the only board of directors left in the country with worse financial management skills than they themselves have.

While the credit crisis we are now enduring is far too complex to pin on just one suspect, the shortsighted actions of the extraordinarily poor financial managers in the U.S. Congress certainly contributed greatly to its sudden impact and far-reaching scope. Through Fannie May and Freddie Mac the Congress infected credit markets with a new government backed welfare program, insisting that unqualified home buyers be given mortgages with little or no possibility of repayment. They furthered the sense of entitlement by insinuating that the happiness of home ownership was a right rather than the pursuit of that happiness through prudent financial management.

Regardless of how novel the idea was at the onset there was an overwhelming chance that it would not end well. Wall Street suffered unprecedented declines by not picking up their chips and analyzing risk a little farther down the road than the next few quarters. The prevailing thought was that the home loans would be secure as the home values continued to appreciate. Few considered the impact that an ever growing number of foreclosed homes would have on home prices, driving the overall market down, creating an abundance of upside down mortgages and releasing a chili filled cat into the bond market.

The government’s plan to free up the credit markets by injecting $700 billion has so far proven to be less than successful at doing anything other than deflecting attention from who fed the cat.

Giving taxpayer guaranteed loans to automakers that have no plan in place to pay them back doesn’t make any more sense than the mortgages did. Unlike Congress, companies must make money in order to pay off debt. Increasing their debt load does nothing to increase their earning ability. The reason the Big Three cannot give an accurate accounting of their true financial state is that they do not know everywhere the cat has been.

Once the process has started there is very little that can be done other than to minimize the damage, clean up the mess and move on, hopefully a little wiser. Congress is cooking up a new batch of chili and feeding it to three cats with a bigger spoon.

And for the taxpayers, who are ultimately responsible for cleaning up the mess, this does not look like it will end well.

Nuts

“What are you, nuts?”

I have been asked that question on more than one occasion. My usual answer is that I have papers from board certified professionals unequivocally stating that I am not. But the reality is that I probably am to some degree and that’s OK because it allows me to live in a pretty nutty world.

The question regarding mental stability, or actually the lack thereof, is currently on the lips and minds of almost every pundit in the Midwest and nationally regarding Illinois Governor Throbbing Rod Blagojevich. Poor Rod has followed in the footsteps of four of the last eight Illinois Governors as he will soon become an alumnus of a federal gray bar hotel.

He was caught by the Feds on audio tape trying to swing a sweet deal for himself and his wife in the auctioning off of the Illinois U.S. Senate seat vacated by He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken. According to the transcripts he had five or six potential candidates vying for his appointment. At least some of them must have been less appalled than others when considering the possibility of donating large sums of untraceable cash to the Governor and his wife or there would have been no need for the investigation. It was a pretty stupid thing to do but I don’t see any way that this greedy self-centered desire makes him completely crazy or even a little unbalanced.

The Chicago and national news media are bursting at the seams with mental health professionals that are all too willing to make a snap diagnosis of some psychological or emotional disorder from which the Governor is most assuredly suffering. The only problem with these drive thru docs is that any professional willing to make a diagnosis without ever actually speaking to the patient is, well, nuts.

I recall a couple of decades ago I had an encounter with a psychiatrist regarding some depression issues I was dealing with. After spending about an hour together in discussion this doctor told me that I was indeed depressed, but that it could be explained as I had a number of very depressing things going in my life. He said that it would be something to worry about if I hadn’t been depressed. Questions answered, quandary solved. I was acting depressed because I was depressed and I was depressed because I had depressing things happening.

While the mental stability of the discredited Governor may come into play in the future court proceedings he is in fact no more psychologically unsound than the rest of the world. He was acting exactly as his personal nature dictated he should act. If you elect a greedy ego maniac you can’t be surprised when he is caught acting avaricious and self-centered.

Big Rod was merely acting like a crook would act. He knew what he had was valuable and he tried to find the one person who would give him the most money for it. What he did was illegal not crazy. The reason he did it was not due to some delusional fit of grandeur but rather a remarkable display of just how stupid he thinks the rest of us are. His stated intent was to set himself and his wife up with a package that would pay the bills for the next few years while he reinvented himself. He honestly thought that with the right PR he could put himself into a position to run for president.

He was elected as the CEO of Illinois having run his campaign on a mantra of change. He was going to create jobs, build infrastructure, increase services and balance the budget. He said he could pay for it all by cutting out the government waste. He claimed the Republicans led by the now convicted George Ryan were corrupt and he would bring the necessary change and high moral standards needed to Springfield. People in Illinois are questioning his mental state in thinking he could actually become a serious candidate for president of the United States. I say all he had to do was use his old speeches and just change Springfield to Washington and Illinois to the United States.

It looks like the Feds have a pretty big case file assembled with which they plan to go to court. This could get the Gov a fairly lengthy prison term. Perhaps he could use that time to write a few autobiographies. Then he might actually be ready for higher office. It seems to be all it takes anymore.

Now that’s nuts!

All I Want For Christmas Is Some Sodium

Well, it looks like our elected brain trust will finally roll over and give the Detroit Disasters $14 billion of our tax dollars. It comes as no surprise as anyone who was paying attention knew this was a done deal before all the public posturing started. The bailout package calls this hand out a loan and has some ridiculous riders that demand internal changes at the automakers or else the loan will be recalled forcing the nonconforming companies to file for bankruptcy. If there are too many union votes to allow a Chapter 11 to happen now there is no chance that a bought and paid for Democrat Congress will develop the orbs to force bankruptcy protection in 6 months.

Wall Street and the financial community are still looking for their piece of their $700 billion bailout. This money will continue to be doled out slowly as the political advantage dictates and used as it was recently in Illinois as a instrument of blackmail.

In Illinois union members want the government to step in and force banks to give loans to companies that don’t have any possible way of paying it back. In California the state government is looking to Washington to keep them solvent. And all over the country faithful Democrat voters are looking for everything from mortgage assistance to a car loan subsidies. My wants and desires are somewhat simple compared to these history altering cash infusions. I want some salt.

Actually I don’t want some salt, I need some salt. As happens every 12 months in the greater Northern Midwest we are gripped in the early stages of winter. Al Gore and the other global warming kooks aside, it looks like it will be another normal bone chilling, water freezing winter. The bone chilling part I can deal with because thankfully I do not have to make my living outside in the elements. It’s the water freezing part that has me in a state of mild, though ever increasing, panic.

Because of the latest “shortage” the price of ice melting sodium chloride has skyrocketed. Much like the freezing rain and snow this should come as no surprise as it also happens every year. But with budget the constraints most of the suburban Chicago area is facing most of the suburban city counsels find themselves now short of the only commodity that allows for death spin free driving.

The current justification for not using salt on frozen roadways is that it may be needed for later in the water freezing season. This makes about as much sense as not washing the dishes because somebody is just going to eat off them again. Suburban towns and villages are rationing the ice melter like a World War 2 sack of sugar. Major intersections are being treated enough to avoid anything over an eight car pileup. Side streets are completely sans salt and most other roadways are hit and miss at best, with the emphasis on trying to miss that which is sliding to hit you.

I am completely unable to accept any of the myriad of excuses being proposed by the incompetent elected politico’s. Most towns are left at this early stage of winter with just enough salt to coat the rim of three margarita glasses. Did these folks in whom we invest our trust and tax dollars think that global warming was real? All the jobs programs in the world to help get unemployed people working will make no difference if these new employees are unable to traverse the frozen tundra which used to be Main Street.

The federal government has instituted subsidies for peanuts, wooden arrows and fish oil. There are programs for sugar beets, soybeans, ethanol and left handed crab claws, but nothing for salt. Now don’t get me wrong, I like me a good PBJ, take fish oil daily, use sweetener from sugar beets, drive my car with a gas ethanol mixture and love shooting left handed crabs with wooden arrows, but I would gladly self-impose complete abstinence of all these things if I could be assured of driving my car over the next four months on something other than the Ice Capades main stage.

How is it possible that the town where I live spent copious capital on flowers and landscaping this past spring and summer, $50,000 on a report explaining why most residents hate the police department, hired lawyers and consultants to investigate creating a homeless shelter and then importing some homeless to be sheltered, but have no money to salt the damn streets?

Regardless of what the feds are spending on union autoworkers jobs or Wall Street investment bankers all politics is local. Not having any salt to allow for a fatal free driving experience is certainly a “change” from years past. I wonder if He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken will send us poor saps in his home state a shaker or two of peace of mind. Or maybe Jesse Jackson Junior would chip in the $500,000 he was going to give to Governor Throbbing Rob Blagojevich to buy the “Chosen One’s” senate seat?

Or Santa, if your listening………………………………………

Phoning It In

“The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes” – Henry Kissinger

On Wednesday December 10th the world as we know it is scheduled come to a grinding halt. At least that is the hope of some folks who have organized the “Call In Gay” day. A plan had been drawn up by some more radical gay activists to have all gay folks stay home from work and not spend any money, an economic boycott if you will, similar to the one held by Latino immigrants last summer. The date was chosen to coincide with the “International Human Rights” day. But a new less radical plan was presented to have gays stay away from work and volunteer their time at various community service organizations. This remarkable idea is the brainchild of a West Hollywood comedian/ personal trainer named Sean Hetherington and his boyfriend. I have to be honest, from this point the story almost writes itself.

The intended purpose is to show all the mean spirited straight folks just how important gay folks and the gay community are to society and the economy at large. It is also meant to convince the hate filled heterosexual community to reconsider their support of the recently voter enacted bans on gay marriage. Both the old boycott plan and the new volunteer plan are meant to have the same effect. Either way gays don’t show up for work.

It seems pretty simple on the surface. Show the world how important the gay community, their job performance and spending dollars are and people will be more likely to support their lifestyle and marital choice. Simple, but not based in reality.

I remember the non-stop news coverage of the Latino boycott. Picture after picture in the newspapers of protesting Hispanics carrying signs and waving the Mexican flag. Here’s what else I remember, the only reaction was anger shown by many Americans at the immigrants waving a foreign flag. What I don’t remember is any impact on the economy. Maybe some businesses had a blip in their operations, but I don’t recall there being any long term impact. Not because these Latino immigrants are not valuable, but rather because everybody knew they would be back. Most businesses did not go through the additional expense of looking to fill the vacant positions. The Latino’s took a day off, the news media went nuts and the rest of the country yawned. To believe that the gay community will have a greater impact and therefore impose greater public sympathy is simply not based in reality.

A few nonprofit agencies have posted opportunities for any volunteer minded gay person to spend a day collecting food or working at a homeless shelter. The nonprofits will be glad to accept the help but overall the impact will be minimal, and possibly have the exact opposite effect of what the organizers are looking for.

Volunteers are an extraordinary breed. They give of themselves for the betterment of others. Their only recompense is the good feeling they get by having done something for someone less fortunate. That will not be the case here. These volunteers are only doing it to gain something for themselves. It will not be done in the spirit of giving but rather in the self-serving spirit of getting. The important question to ask these single day volunteers is will the needy be any less needy the day after "Call In Gay day?

Economically there may be some heads that don’t get coiffed, some interiors that won’t get designed, some Congressional seats that may remain unsat upon or some Catholic masses that don’t get said. There may even be some trucks that don’t get driven as I’m guessing some lesbians will call off work too. But I have a sneaking suspicion that overall the economy will survive pretty much unscathed. And as for gay marriage, how in the hell is staying home from work supposed to change people’s minds about whether or not marriage should be between a man and a woman?

If you want to effect my opinion maybe these activists could start with the abundance of “Gay Pride” parades held all of the country. I have been to hundreds of what would be considered heterosexual parades and not one of them had floats where sex acts were being simulated. Maybe they could start with the gay community where 99% of the community members do not live a lifestyle conducive to monogamy much less marriage. The reality is that most gays don’t want to be married. This has just become a rallying call not a reality.

My guess is that “Call In Gay’ day will be far more a media event than a real event. It might turn out to be interesting though to those folks who work with somebody that they’re just not sure about. I can assure you, on Wednesday December 10th I could have double pneumonia, a migraine headache and a broken leg, but I ain’t calling in sick.

Political Blackmail

Let the games begin.

There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the taxpaying public regarding the recent $700 billion bailout of financial institutions and even more for the proposed automakers funding. Still whole market sectors and their lobbyists are lined up at Congresses doors like kids waiting to ride the tea cups at Disney. Everybody wants a piece if the tax payer pie. But if they pay close attention to what is beginning to transpire with those institutions foolish enough to sell their soul to for a bag of silver they may chose to reconsider their free money financing strategy.

In Illinois it began simply enough as a union organized sit in directed against a window and door company that informed its workers that they were closing. A company involved in the housing market closing up shop is not much of a surprise to anybody that has read a newspaper over the last 12 months. But now embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has entered the fray with an old tried and true method of getting money from folks who would rather not shell it out. It’s called blackmail.

While explaining why he was not concerned about the recent discovery that he was secretly taped recorded by a long time advisor for a federal corruption probe, the Governor announced he had instructed all Illinois governmental agencies to suspend doing business with Bank of America. It was Bank of America’s decision to not extend a line of credit that was the final nail in this coffin for the Republic Window and Door Company and its 200 union employees. Republic gave no advanced notice of the closing and further offered no severance packages claiming that they had simply run out of money and could not convince the bank to extend them anymore. The company had already enjoyed tax breaks and incentives from the state, county and city of Chicago.

The Governor said "We're going to do everything possible here in Illinois to side with these workers". He further stated that he was willing to go to federal court to help get these workers the money they claim they are owed. Officials from Illinois’s Cook County are now also threatening to cut off Bank of America business dealings. The only person that loves a camera more than that little boy Paris Hilton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson got his mug on the news. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin showed up and said of the federal financial bailout "It was money to be invested back in America. Cutting off the loans to Republic and losing hundreds of jobs as a result of it is exactly the opposite of what we need to have in this economy". Durbin said he plans to begin discussions to see if banks are properly using the money given them. U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez has now installed himself in the process as a non-impartial mediator between the bank, the union and the company. That’s an awful lot of attention for one little window and door company. But we need to keep in mind that it’s not just 200 jobs, it’s 200 union jobs.

Democrats are beholding to their union voters and will not pass an opportunity to make a scene on their behalf, even if it’s not in the greater public’s best interest. Bank of America’s decision seems rather simple. They evaluated the risk of extending credit to an already incentivized company that is losing money and market share as a unionized manufacturer in the housing market and decided it is not in their best business interest to do so. They are particularly disinterested in extending money to pay for severance packages to a company that is going out of business. Anybody with any common economic sense would likely reach the same decision. But nobody is talking common sense here.

As politicians begin roiling against banks claiming they are misusing the federal bailout money, a clear pattern of blackmail and intimidation is beginning to take shape. Never mind the fact that in large part the genesis for the credit collapse was due to government insistence on extending credit to recipients that couldn’t pay it back. Politicians, like Rod Blagojevich who has directed the state of Illinois to near bankruptcy, are going to be instructing financial institutions on how they should run their businesses, and having sold their souls the banks are now forced to listen. Even if it means the new loans will put them in worse financial positions as then the old loans did.

The Democrats will go to any length to use this bailout money to their own political advantage. It could make this bailout the costliest free money any business has ever received.

Where are you NOW?

What bespectacled young lady can strike fear into the hearts of mortal liberal men? Can draw attention long after any attention is necessary? Can have the Chicago Tribune’s Washington Bureau breathlessly tracking her every move, both past and present? Has absolutely no national political platform but is still being denigrated long after any such slander will prove beneficial to the “Chosen One”?

It’s a Governor. It’s a mother. It’s Super Palin.

Weeks after failing to secure the loneliest job in Washington D.C. Sarah Palin is still scaring the living laxative out of the alleged news media. In a recent “news story” covered by the aptly named The Swamp section of Chicago Tribune writer Frank James (probably not Jesse’s brother) was granted column space to alert readers to the fact that Governor Palin wears ladies underpants. Stop the freaking presses!!!

The breaking news of Pantygate was brought to the public’s attention by Jeanne Cummings of Politico.com. and regurgitated by Mr. James. Old Frank had better work on getting better stealth sources if he wasn’t able to crack this blockbuster himself. Ms. Cummings is credited as being the first to write about the $150,000 spent by the Republican National Committee on Governor Palin’s campaign wardrobe. Ms. Cummings is now reporting that an additional $30,000 was spent at such stores as Dicks Sporting Goods and Victoria’s Secret.

To be fair to Mr. James and his crack group of covert sources it appears that there was no “Deep Thong” disseminating this most privileged inside information. Ms. Cummings has apparently gotten a copy of the RNC’s expense report and was given ample time to review it line by line. She gleefully reports that $350 was spent at a New York Skin Care and Day Spa. $350? In New York? I’ve never been to a day spa in New York, or anywhere else for that matter, but I’m guessing $350 didn’t get Governor Palin much more than a new coat of nail polish and a shoulder rub.

Along with Dick’s and Vickie’s her “report” goes on to list purchases at The Limited, Foot Locker, Wal-Mart and Toy’s R Us. This is the type of cutting edge reporting the country has been yearning for. No longer will we be kept in the dark about where an unsuccessful Vice Presidential candidate buys her underpants and crew socks. It further goes on to detail money spent on hairdressers and a fashion consultant. So I guess what they are reporting is that the Alaska Governor did not have a traveling hair team and may have needed some fashion guidance so as to prevent her from showing up at the United Nations to meet world leaders wearing a florescent orange hunting coat and an Elmer Fudd hat.

I would expect this level of hard hitting news coverage from the National Enquirer rather than the Chicago Tribune. Except that the National Enquirer may have standards that are a bit higher when it comes to reporting that is so blatantly sexist. All throughout the campaign Sarah Palin’s wardrobe was compared to the other candidate’s wives. The Governor of Alaska and Vice Presidential candidate was being judged on what she wore compared to other women not other candidates. She was scrutinized, analyzed and evaluated on every stereotypical level, from her clothes to her ability to be a caring mother. In comparison, the racially stereotypical overtones were blatantly obvious by their omission in that nobody said a word regarding the fact that He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken was playing basketball more often than he was debating John McCain. Nor do I recall anyone asking him why he removed the price tag from his baseball cap, or if he smoked menthols, drank malt liquor, or was going to have custom rims put on the presidential limo. But yet at every turn what Sarah Palin was wearing, how her hair was done, what kind of jewelry she was wearing, the height of the heel’s on her shoes, how she carried her baby and dealt with her children was covered at great length. Through it all the nationally recognized stalwarts of gender equality, both individually and as a group, remained as quiet as the women in the kitchen while the men are having their brandy in the study. Even now in this rehashing of the same old same old there is no mention of where Joe Biden buys his boxers or if he himself has ever been to a day spa.

The information contained in this alleged news story does nothing but reaffirm everything there is to admire about Sarah Palin. It confirms that she does indeed have small town home spun values in that she needed assistance in preparing her look for the big stage. It confirms that she is personally fiscally responsible and did not own the necessary wardrobe or bejeweled accessories so as to be prepared to have her picture snapped millions of times and printed in every newspaper around the world. It confirms that she is not a self-biographing millionaire and needed some assistance paying for all this high priced costuming. None of these things are news, she admitted to all of them early on. More importantly none of these things are negatives unless you twist it by reporting only the price tags and not the story behind it, which is exactly what the Tribune has done.

Frank James and Jeanne Cummings covered everything from what was spent on hairdressers to where Sarah got her underclothes. Not a word was said about any of the custom tailored suits, silk ties or starched shirts for either of the Democrat candidates. Or even where any of the now one billion dollars of campaign contributions came from for the Democrat ticket. Imagine that, one billion with a B in donations to the Democrats and nobody questions where it came from much less how that is even possible, but let Sarah Palin buy a pair of Victoria’s Secret fancy pants and the Tribune has their Washington Bureau news hounds sniffing around for a story.

This constant muck raking and lambasting make it apparent that many in the liberal leaning media are still pretty worried about the future of one Sarah Palin. They remain offensively offensive in their sexist attacks of her, rehammering and reshaping old news in an effort to damage her politically. Not for the here and now as the Governor of Alaska but for the future and what she might become.

This piece of news drivel by Mr. James ended with the line “That’s one expensive hockey mom. You betcha.” Perhaps the “expensive” he was referring to was that Sarah Palin is causing some additional expense in the shorts cleaning of these liberal hacks.

Are they scared?

You betcha.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa (a.k.a. U.S. Congress)

How are you? We are fine. We hope you don’t think we are being greedy and we really are sorry that we have to ask, but our list is kinda big this year.

We have been very good this past year. We followed most of…. well OK some of the rules and made sure we supported all our union friends so they could stay organized and available to vote. As you are already aware of who has been naughty and who has been nice I’m sure you know who they voted for. It would be a shame if they didn’t vote like that for the mid-term election, wouldn’t it? We know they all like you Santa which is a good thing because some of those guys can hold a grudge for a very, very, very long time. If you know what we mean.

Anyway, even though we have been good it has been some tough sledding here lately. Some mean guys have been taking our market share and coming out with products that people seem to prefer over ours. I mean, come on Santa, how were we supposed to know that the days of low gas mileage and oversized vehicles was going to come to an end. We know you’re going to say that anybody who has been paying attention would have known that but we have always been able to tell people what it was they wanted and they used to listen. So you see Santa it’s not our fault, it’s just that the darn customers quit listening.

The mean guys have moved into places where there isn’t a lot of snow and also where there are not a lot of our union friends. We know you like the snow being from up north and we know you really like our union friends because they help keep you rolling in it. Snow wise and otherwise. These mean guys and their non-union friends have made it a very bleak Christmas this year. That’s why we are counting on you.

We are very sorry that we didn’t have much to say when we saw you last time. We were just not sure what to say. We had hoped we could sit on your lap like the old days and you would make suggestions. We would just nod our head, wide eyed and grinning, and then get a candy cane. We thought after all we have been through together that you would already know what it was we wanted. We didn’t know you were going to make us come right out and say it. But if that’s the way you want it, we can play along.

Santa we want billions and billions of dollars. Seeing as this isn’t really your money we figure you shouldn’t have such a tough time shelling it out. We know your helpers worked very hard to make this money in their little workshops all over the country. But we think if you play your cards right you can convince them that giving their money to us is actually in their best interest.

First you can blame that mean old Grinch George Bush. Most of your helpers will believe anything negative you say about him. Just say he’s trying to steal Christmas. Or better yet, try to tie the story somehow to the money that was spent in Iraq. Believe us Santa. Your little helpers have believed the bologna we have been feeding them about safety, economy, reliability and style for years. As soon as you mention Iraq your little helpers seem to lose the ability for cognitive thought and their eyes will roll up into their head. Just talk about government waste and corruption in Iraq and that way nobody will look at the waste and corruption at our little workshops in Detroit. It won’t make any difference that the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Just say Iraq as many times as you can and people will believe you.

We can call the money you give us a loan. It doesn’t matter if we are ever actually able to pay the loan back. We know you know how that works having been the leader in creating home loans that nobody could ever pay back. We can just keep renegotiating the terms of this loan until we are able to figure out a way to convince your helpers that it would be better for them to just forgive the debt. We know you can do it. We have seen you do it before. You can just explain that we are people who can afford to stay in business but can’t afford to pay their debts. It worked when you said it about home owners, and like a good football play, you just keep running it until somebody stops you.

Santa we need the money really, really badly, and we need it quick. But we are also including a second request on our wish list. We need you to recreate reality. We need you to make it so that we can continue to stay in business without having to actually compete in our marketplace. Along with the mean guys down south there are other mean guys from outside the country. They are all looking to take away our customers. They didn’t make the same promises we have made in the past so they don’t have the legacy costs, hourly wage structure or benefits cost that we do. We don’t want to have to file for bankruptcy to eliminate these costs so we were hoping you could make them go away. We promise that we will make a bunch of changes internally and we can talk at great lengths about the shared sacrifices we are willing to make. None of these changes will actually put us on a par with the mean guys as far as quality, value, style or dependability but it will look like we are trying and that should satisfy your helpers. At least until we come back and ask for some more money, which you will no doubt be inclined to give us to protect your helper’s initial investment.

How can you reinvent reality, you ask? It’s easy.

Just call it “Change”. Santa and Change seem to go well together in the world of reality.

Your Pals,

GM, Ford & Chrysler
a.k.a. The Detroit Disasters

A Really Bad Plan

Clip, clop, clip, clop. The first horseman rides a white horse and brings pestilence. The second horseman rides a fiery red horse and brings war. The third horseman rides a black horse and brings famine. The fourth horseman rides a pale green horse and brings death. So it is written. But when John wrote of this apocalyptic vision in Revelations he must not have paid close enough attention or he would have noticed the fifth horseman of the apocalypse. He rides a purple horse and arrives just in time for the thoughtful Christmas shopper. He brings $25.00 gift certificates for abortions. Now there’s a new one for the old letter to Santa.

Planned Parenthood in Indiana has been selling the certificates since November 25th both online and at their 35 clinics statewide. Planned Parenthood in Illinois plans to begin sales of similar certificates on December 8th. Betty Cockrum the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Indiana said sales have been pretty robust although as is the case with most of the things said by Planned Parenthood that description is open to interpretation. In actuality they have sold less then a dozen and in my own mind I wonder how many of those were purchased as bad gag gifts.

I am certain however that sales will increase with the recent publicity. The news story that I read opened with the line “What do you get the person that has everything – except adequate health insurance?” Yes, what do you get them indeed?

Aside from the obvious fact that a person who indeed has everything likely also has adequate health insurance, I find the whole idea of giving a gift certificate for an abortion as a Christmas present to be bone chillingly disgusting. As they explained in their statement, Planned Parenthood would have you believe that they “see 92,000 patients each year at Planned Parenthood of Indiana, and 5,000 of them opt for an abortion”. What they fail to mention in their statement is how many of the patients are actually pregnant, how many are looking for morning after medical miscarriage pills, or how many chose to seek an abortion elsewhere after they discover they are pregnant. Cockrum says that “95 percent of what we do is provide basic health care.” I was unaware that a Planned Parenthood clinic would treat a sore throat or stomach flu. In their mission statement Planned Parenthood states that their mission is “to provide comprehensive reproductive health care – confidentially, compassionately, affordably”, proving my point for the necessity to interpret anything they say as that complete description was left out of the press release.

What Planned Parenthood provides is abortions and abortion counseling and contraceptives to whoever walks in the door regardless of age. A grade school or high school student can’t walk into their school with a Tylenol tablet but they can get birth control pills at the Planned Parenthood clinic with absolutely no parental notification. Parents can be criminally prosecuted for not properly caring for their children, but when it comes to their involvement with an abortion clinic the parents have no rights at all. Speaking as somebody familiar with parenthood that is something I certainly had not planned.

Planned Parenthood’s intent in selling these death certificates at Christmas is beyond obvious. It is their attempt to infect every aspect of the Christian community including involving their insidious practice into one of the most joyous Christian holidays. If it was their intent, as they claimed, to provide health services rather than abortions they could have made these certificates limited to that alone. They intentionally chose not to do so. Trying to switch the focus now is just a ruse. These certificates are only available at Christmas time so, once again, spare me the sanctimonious explanations.

Besides somebody with a warped sense of humor, who would give this as a Christmas gift? And who would be grateful to receive it? Is this something Grandma’s going to buy and include with the new pair of socks she knitted?

Planned Parenthood proudly proclaims that they are fighting the good fight to protect a woman’s right to chose whether and when she will be a mother. In reality women have always had the right to chose if and when they would have children. But that choice was based on taking responsibility for one’s actions and accepting the possible ramifications of one’s actions. Men also had this right of choice based on responsibility and ramifications. A man can however, head for the hills afterward if he wants to escape his responsibility. A woman can head for the hills too but she will be bringing the baby with her. Planned Parenthood doesn’t give women the right to chose whether or not they will have a baby, it gives women the right to chose if they will accept personal responsibility for their actions or not. Please don’t try to confuse this fact by arguing about the poor unfortunates that are the victim of rape or incest. They make up less than one percent of those considering abortion. I will be happy to focus on the 99 percent for the time being.

I consider this Christmas offering of gift certificates by Planned Parenthood as an intentional affront to my beliefs of what this holiday is actually all about. I can see no other reason for them to do this but to incite a reaction.

My reaction will be to make sure that my children, my grandchildren and anybody else who will listen, know the truth about what Christmas is really all about. If they know and understand that they will never have to know what the inside of a Planned Parenthood clinic looks like.

I Don't Need No Doctor

Well it’s official. The youth of America are nuttier than a jar of Jif. At least according to the “experts” that just published their long awaited report.

According to this most recent study of 5000 young people ages 19 to 25 almost one in five has some sort of treatable mental malady. If you include substance abuse it’s a full 50 percent that have some sort of psychiatric condition. That’s not surprising when you take into account that the report was written by folks that make their living treating patients with mental disorders. It’s also not surprising that the report found that less than 25% of college aged Americans with mental problems get the necessary treatment.

Now don’t get me wrong. I know there are some unfortunate young people out there that truly need some sort of mental health treatment, but 50 percent? That means that half the college students out there are either stoned or cuckoo. Or it means that they all are and half of them are just better liars.

According to this survey, which was conducted in 2001 and 2002, substance abuse was the most common problem followed by personality disorders which include anti-social behavior, obsessive compulsive disorders, phobias, depression, paranoia and bi-polar disorders.

Let’s step back and look at this with a little reality involved. When it comes to substance abuse, what substances are we talking about and what is considered abuse? If you’re looking at alcohol consumption you are talking about young people who have waited their entire teen aged life to be able to go to the bars. They either are carrying fake ID’s so they can drink or have turned 21 and are loaning their ID’s out to their underage friends. Do these “experts” think this is some sort of new phenomenon? Beer was supposedly invented in ancient Egypt. I’m guessing the boy King Tutankhamen had his scribes fake him up a piece of papyrus so he could go to the local Pyramid Pub or at least pick up a sixer for when he got back to the throne room. Having over- imbibed once or twice in my younger days I can tell you that no matter where you start it always ends in the throne room anyway.

Drinking has been part of the college lifestyle since William & Mary were in diapers. It’s not right and it’s certainly not healthy, but it’s not new. It may be garnering more attention than it did years ago because the students are doing dumber things than they did back then. Students used to get drunk and tip a cow, now they get drunk and tip a police car. Most college towns have more bar stools than students. Do you think that is just by coincidence? I’m not condoning it and do not drink any alcohol at all, but waking up on the bathroom floor with a screaming headache and a new tattoo that says “Party Til Ya Puke” is a learning experience as well. It’s when you turn 45 and still drink like a 19 year old that you have problems. Smoking pot just makes you slow and hungry and doing cocaine can make you mayor of Washington DC.

As for anti-social behavior, I thought that was part of the young adult territory. Being in your late teens and early twenties means there is always something to keep you from joining society at large. There is always some evil just waiting for you and your generation to fix. Being an anti-social makes you an individualist just like all the other anti-socials

I am both obsessive and compulsive but I am not obsessively compulsive or compulsively obsessive. At least I don’t think so. I have met some poor unfortunates that do suffer at some level of obsessive compulsive behavior. It is not a pretty thing to see, but it is fairly obvious, even to a casual observer. Either these newly diagnosed OCD folks are obsessive about keeping their obsessions a secret or the people doing the testing have lowered the standards. I am just compulsive enough to believe it’s the latter.

I’m guessing the same holds true for most of the other so called treatable disorders. If you lower the standard for what is and is not a mental disorder you can probably diagnose and treat a lot more people. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that didn’t have some sort of phobia about something. If I had met somebody that had absolutely no fear of anything they would probably scare the crap out of me. Being afraid to go into the bathroom because there is a big honking spider on the wall doesn’t mean you need treatment. It means you need a brave friend with a big slipper.

I am not making light of people that need help. There are plenty of them out there and I would be the first to say let’s take the money away from a NASA mission to explore the moons of Venus and spend it on the homeless folks that can’t escape the voices in their head. But I can’t help but think that the incredibly high number of young people with some sort of mental disorder shown in the findings of this report were pretty much a done deal before the study was conducted.

This study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide and the New York Psychiatric Institute. I highly doubt that a study funded by these organizations would have findings showing they were unnecessary.

The study found the need for increased spending on psychiatric facilities and expanding mental health services on college campuses. They suggested that these mental health services be housed along with the other medical facilities on campus to avoid any stigma of seeking help. I guess folks are more likely to seek mental help if they can tell their friends they are just going to get treatment for a case of the clap.

I can’t say the numbers are flat out erroneous, but I have never seen a study funded by the American Beef Council that didn’t say we would be healthier if we ate more beef.

I wonder if cynicism is a treatable mental disorder.

CDPR Note

A note from the Center for the Development of Personal Responsibility (aka – the Loneliest Place on Earth): Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

I was going to pass on writing about the horrible scene that played out at a Long Island, NY Wal-Mart this past Black Friday. I’ve seen the pictures taken on peoples cell phones just prior to this crowd of maniacs breaking through the store doors and trampling to death a 34 year old stock clerk. I read the story about how at least four shoppers were also trampled including a woman eight months pregnant. The story was all over the internet and in newspapers complete with pictures and quotes. It was a human tragedy of epic proportions with a definite inhuman component.

But my decision to just let it go changed when I heard that New York City Councilman James Gennaro a Democrat from Fresh Meadows announce at a news conference, conveniently held on the steps of City Hall for the photo op that it was, his plans to craft a "Doorbuster Bill" that would require retailers to enact greater security measures during major sales.

A few hours later Nassau Executive Thomas Suozzi said he and the legislature's Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro will meet to "discuss possible legislation to prevent something so tragic from happening again." Then a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said officials will research the need for a similar local law there.

Let me get this straight. You’re telling me we need to enact a new law to prevent people from breaking through the closed doors of a retail store and trampling other human beings to death, just so they can save a few bucks on a DVD player? We need a new law for that, huh?

Councilman Gennaro has taken the lead in what will certainly be used as the main defense of the indefensible by insinuating that the store is somehow culpable because they did not have adequate security? How about passing a law that says if you are a person so completely devoid of human consideration that you would actually trample a man to death just to be the first to buy discounted merchandise you are not allowed to congregate in the general public with normal human beings? Not one that says you can do whatever remarkable act of cruelty and indifference you want and we will find a way to relieve you of the responsibility.

You can take it to the bank, there is going to be some sort of discussion regarding calling this a “Doorbuster Sale”. There will be those who will insist that the wording sends the wrong message and that the retailers need to be more sensitive. We will once again enter the realm of “New Speak” when identifying what a particular sale should be called. I can hear it now “If you call it a Doorbuster Sale then people will naturally think they can bust the door.”

Black Friday is named as such to indicate that it will allow the retailer to move their bottom line into the black and show a profit for the entire year. Of course it’s going to be a major event. What are we going to expect retailers to do when they hold a sale? Should we limit the amount of discount retailers are allowed to offer so as not to get the community too excited? If the learned council wants the retailers to increase security should that increase be on a sliding scale dependent on the amount of discount offered? Are they going to pass this law city, county or state wide? Or are they going to focus it on neighborhoods where the possibility exists that people would actually step on the dying body of another human being to be first in line.

Once again in the immediate aftermath of human failing the politico’s are lining up to blame a faceless and non-feeling business. Or more importantly a faceless and non-voting business. Rather than looking at the fact that these were human beings acting without any regard for the well being or even the very life of any other human being they place the blame on an outside source. Rather than looking at the fact that these Black Friday Doorbuster Sales happen at every mall in every state of the union without people being stomped to death, they look at this incident and say new laws need to be enacted to protect the unwary public from the uncaring businesses.

Politicians are eager to appear that they are actually doing something so they are quick to point a finger. But usually that finger misses the target completely because the one doing the pointing has no intention of identifying what the real target is. Such is the case here.

It’s not like Wal-Mart did nothing to prepare for this event. They had extra security on site and placed barricades to try to channel the crowd. This was all meant to stop people from rushing the door. But what measures can be taken when the people in the front of the line are pushed and shoved by the people behind them to the point where the door breaks open and all hell breaks loose? What good would it do having an extra 100 unarmed security guards on site? These people trampled a man to death and just kept coming. Do you think they would be afraid of getting a stern warning from the security guard? If the city wants to protect the citizens from themselves than they need to provide the police force whose job it is to do so. SWAT teams in full riot gear can assemble to make sure people act like people and not like a stampeding herd of buffalo. A security guard may be appropriate at the bakery if somebody cuts into line without a number, but not at this melee.

Let’s see how serious the city is about protecting its citizens. We will find out by how many people are identified by the security tapes and prosecuted for reckless homicide at the very least.

Or should Wal-Mart do that too?