Bio Brief - Nancy Pelosi - Part 2

Nancy Pelosi is a hypocrite and the worst kind of tax and spend liberal. The Speaker of the House has never worked a day in her life, she has never had to punch a clock, meet a payroll, manage a team or produce a product. She has never had to worry about her household money as she has a net worth (thanks to her husband) of at least $15 million and some put it as high as $95 million, she sent her children to private schools, and in addition to her home in the eighth district she also owns a million dollar house in DC, a vacation home in Napa Valley, and a condo in Lake Tahoe. Oh yes, she is just like one of us. And yet this extremely wealthy, non-working, insulated woman is the leader of the arm of government responsible for the budget, including funding the economic stimulus package! As Speaker of the House, which is in charge of creating the bills to tax and spend, she is in position to now enact her goal of redistributing everybody’s wealth (but her own of course!).

Pelosi’s far left stands are in lockstep with her extremely liberal district; San Francisco's eighth district, which is geographically the smallest district outside of New York City. How is it that a Representative from the second smallest district became the leader of all of us in the “people’s house”? Even more outrageous, Pelosi represents the same district which is infamous for being a sanctuary city for illegal immigration, providing free needles to drug addicts, allowing gay marriages and if Obama was not in this district then he was nearby when he made his “bitter” speech. Yet all of this pales in comparison to what I have found after digging a bit further into Nancy Pelosi’s past.

I discovered something very scary about this woman who is in control of the House. The Speaker of the House belonged to the Progressive Caucus and only stepped down as it is custom to not belong to any caucus or committee upon becoming Minority Whip and then Speaker of the House. According to a number of sources; “Until 1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America. Following an expose of the link between the two organizations in WorldNetDaily, the Progressive Caucus established its own website under the auspices of Congress. Another officer of the Progressive Caucus, and one of its guiding lights, is avowed socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent.” Another website, therealbarackobama.wordpress.com, included a similar quote but attributed to Wekipedia. It is interesting to note that any mention of the Democratic Socialists of America has now been scrubbed from Wekipedia’s page on the Progressive Caucus.

Wekipedia does, however, print the Progressive Caucus’s postions stating that they believe in: “universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare," fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in strike actions and collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on free trade and corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in social welfare spending by the federal government.”

In reviewing Nancy Pelosi’s official site and reading various interviews I could not find a single issue in which she deviated from the Progressive Caucus/Democratic Socialists of America stands. She even has a section in her official website called “Economic Justice” (http://www.speaker.gov/issues?id=0069) in which she discusses various issues which basically are calls to redistribute wealth. And this woman is now third in line for the Presidency. (Considering that Biden is second in line and you almost start to pray that Obama gets through the next four years…. )

Understanding her past with the Progressive Caucus also provides insight into a quote on Politico (http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=17650&cat=topnews) regarding Pelosi’s relationship with Obama: “She trusts him greatly because they share the same agenda and vision, but she always keeps the interests of the caucus in mind,” said a top House Democratic aide. "She has to move the process forward and is extremely strategic.” Does anyone doubt that this aide is referring to the Progressive Caucus?

At least when Bush was president he could keep this self-described progressive Speaker of the House in check. But now, with President Obama, who knows how far to the left the two of them, along with Harry Reid, will move our country?

(I had initially planned on just two parts but I am going to add a final Part 3 which will conclude with an overview of Pelosi’s hypocrisy within Congress and her own family.)

Bio Brief - Nancy Pelosi - Part 1

Nancy Pelosi needs to be slapped down hard (figuratively not literally). I have not seen any man or woman, other than the Obamas, quite so power hungry or so arrogant in a long time. A week ago she went on the air to basically tell President Obama to beware, she will not tolerate him trying to usurp any of her powers as Speaker of the House. This weekend she defended the addition of birth control funding in the stimulus package by saying that “contraceptions will reduce costs to the states and federal government”. In other words, this mother of five wants everyone else to stop having children as they would be a burden on our economy. So who exactly is this woman who is now third in line for the Presidency and how did she get into this very powerful position?

Nancy Pelosi was born in 1940 into a political family. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. was a Roosevelt Democrat serving in the Congress from 1939 to 1947 and was the mayor of Baltimore from 1947 to 1950. (Her brother also became the mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971.) After attending a Catholic all girls’ high school, Nancy went to Trinity College in Washington DC where she majored in political science and graduated in 1962. While at Trinity she met Paul Pelosi, a San Francisco native, and they married upon graduation.

OK I am getting extremely frustrated in writing this piece. Finding any information about Nancy’s early life is like pulling teeth and forget trying to get data about her husband, Paul Pelosi. I can understand that he wants to stay in the background as one article stated, but this is ridiculous. The few tidbits I can find make me want to learn more. For example, an article from the San Francisco Chronicle two years ago stated “The family money, along with the many business and social connections Paul Pelosi has brought to their 43-year marriage, gave Nancy Pelosi the financial independence she needed to spend long hours doing unpaid Democratic Party business in the 1970s and 1980s. Since she was elected to Congress in 1987, it has also added a degree of comfort to her life in Washington, where she has a $1 million-plus residence and a lifestyle that doesn't depend on the $212,100 annual salary she will receive as speaker.”

Further on in the article it stated that during Nancy’s first Democrat primary for the district, her husband was investigated by her competition. While little was found that could be used against her, since then her husband has been careful about his investments. But that’s it. I can not find anything else to explain how she became the ninth wealthiest Congressperson. And I am not the only one hitting a brick wall. Ironically, one of the hits from my google on Paul Pelosi returned a blog from someone asking if anyone knows anything about him as she couldn’t find any information! It is also interesting to note that if you google Paul Pelosi you are more likely to get hits on her son by the same name than on her husband, but more on the children later.

Anyway, all I could find from Wekipedia was that after Nancy and Paul were married they first lived in New York City then moved to San Francisco where Paul’s brother Ronald Pelosi was a member of the City and County of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. The same San Francisco Chronicle article that talked about his wealth also mentioned that Paul Pelosi “was willing to uproot their five children from their home in Presidio Terrace in 1987 and move into a rented place in Pacific Heights, firmly inside the congressional district Nancy Pelosi was set to run for”.

The district Nancy moved her family into had been dominated by the Burton’s. First Phil Burton was the Democratic Congressman from 1964 until his death in 1983. His wife was then elected in 1983 and was Congresswoman until her death in 1987. Both had been political mentors of Nancy and made it known that they wanted Nancy to be next in line for their Congressional seat. With her husband’s money and having been anointed by the Burton’s, Nancy’s win was pretty much a given in this heavily Democratic district. In fact, according to Wekipedia “Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country. Democrats have held the seat since 1949, and Republicans, who currently make up only 13 percent of registered voters in the district, have not made a serious bid for the seat since the early 1960s. Pelosi has kept this tradition going. Since her initial victory in 1987, she has been re-elected 10 times, receiving at least 75% of the vote. She has never participated in candidates' debates.”

So Nancy Pelosi, through her husband’s money, strong democratic support and her own ambition has been reelected 10 times with at least 75% of the votes. Knowing that her seat was secure allowed her to next concentrate on securing power within the House. During the past 20 years, she served on two of the most sought after committees, Appropriations and Intelligence and was the ranking Democrat in the latter committee. She became House Minority Whip in 2001 and in 2002 was elected as the Minority Leader and is the first woman to hold either position. When the Democrats regained control of the House in November 2006, Nancy Pelosi was unanomously elected as the first woman Speaker of the House, a position she still holds today.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is currently one of the most powerful people in the United States. Now that all branches of government are dominated by Democrats, Pelosi’s influence is greater than ever. However, this 68 year old woman’s far left views are already clashing with the new President and with a country which is not nearly as liberal as her San Francisco base. The second part of this Bio Brief will discuss her extreme liberal beliefs and how she could impact the country and you.

Short Retort

I have written more than enough for the whole week but when I heard this line I knew I had to mention it. On CNN's Situation Room Wolf Blitzer was interviewing New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin who was saying that the new President had promised "to get us the resources to rebuild New Orleans." Wolf reminded him that basically all cities are hurting and that there isn't enough money to give out to everyone. Mayor Nagin's reply when told of the budgetary crisis? "Oh I don't know about that. We seem to be printing money as we need it. " And doesn't that just sum up a liberals point of view! Overspend? No problem just print up more money!

Short Retort

Go ahead President Obama, move the terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to Fort Leavenworth or some other prison on US soil. Then you won't need to worry about tribunal courts or what else to do with them for odds are they won't last very long when mixed in with our own prisoners. For I have feeling that our prisoners despise these terrorists as much as the rest of use and just might take the law into their own hands...

Inaugaration Day

Today I am going to act like a typical blogger by constantly updating throughout the day. I realized that most of you will be working and thus not free to watch the historic events today. So for all of you at work, I will be your eyes and ears and as the day progresses I will add to this posting with my thoughts on what I am seeing and hearing.

9:00 am This morning I saw the sun rising above the Capital, bathing the area in bright yellow hues. It was absolutely breathtaking (made more so by new HDTV of course) and I couldn’t help but want to think about the dawning of a brand new day.

The crowds, dear God, the crowds were already unimaginable at just 8 am. Even the hard core journalists are overwhelmed by the masses gathering, especially realizing that most of the “spectators” will not see anything but the backs and heads of the people around them. The potential, though, for disaster hits you for as they closely pack in the people you worry as to how they could leave the area if they had to. And you realize they couldn’t so you pray that there are no disasters, no problems and that it all goes smoothly.

I am flipping between CNN and Fox to get varying points of view. I was surprised, then, when everyone seems to be in agreement. They both talk of Obama being a “blank slate” on which people projected what they wanted him to be. The pundits believed that Obama’s winning campaign of “hope and change” was free from specifics so voters believed that his changes were the ones they wanted. No one quite put it this way but he basically bluffed his way into office without ever showing his hand. Now that he has to show his cards it is starting to seem as if he is more centrist than anyone, left or right, realized. There is much talk of potential problems he might have down the road with the far left Pelosi and Reid. But everyone also agrees that today is not the day to talk of that.

Today is a day to celebrate America. Yes you get tired of hearing about it but still…. This country elected an African American when less than 50 years ago blacks couldn’t eat in a restaurant with whites or drink from the same water fountain or sit in the same theater seats as whites. And yet today we peacefully elected a black to be our 44th President of the United States. Huh. Only 44 men have lived in the White House. That truly is not very many and now this next one is half black. And his name is Barack Hussein Obama. The enormity of what is happening perhaps explains why hundreds of thousands are willing to stand for hours in the cold without seeing much of anything. They simply want to be a part of history.

There will be a lot of talk of unity and coming together as one. The cynic in me wants to ask why was diversity good during a Republican Presidency but now we are told we have to be one people; that we are even un-American for disagreeing when the country has so many problems. Although that whole concept scares me, perhaps just for one day maybe even I can put aside partisan politics. And it is almost impossible not to be affected by the optimistic mood seen by the crowds who apparently don’t mind standing and waiting in the cold.

Oh, I just saw my first glimpse of Obama as he goes to church (and running 15 minutes behind). As he gets into that fancy new presidential car you could see him and no surprise that Obama has a huge grin on his face. And that says it all for now.

Swearing In – Power. That’s my first thought as the dignitaries are being seated. There are the current powerful men and women in the form of the Supreme Court Justices plus Senate and House leaders and members. There are faces which are just starting to be familiar such as Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Chief of Staff. Then there are the men who use to rule this country, former Vice Presidents and Presidents; Carter, Bush 41 who is looking very frail, Clinton, and soon one more man is about to join the ranks of former Presidents, Bush 43. You can’t help but be proud of America and wonder in what other country could there be a peaceful gathering of so many powerful men and women? Some were bitter rivals, other are friends but all were savvy political operatives who at one point were elected to our highest office and know what it is like to be President of the United States. Shortly one more will join their ranks. For most of all, there is the man himself, Barack Obama, the President Elect who is about to be sworn in as our 44th President.

Joe Biden was sworn in. As I watched him I just realized that I have not seen an inauguration before as I was always at work. The actual swearing in was quite short and simple and over in a moment. I doubt if it will be much different for Obama. Yet I think there should also be a swearing out ceremony; a brief thank you and goodbye to the outgoing President and VP. But I guess not although I wonder at the relief he must feel as the burden of the office is lifted off of his shoulders now. By the way I love the musical interlude between Biden’s swearing in and Obama’s.

Barack Obama is officially our President. His nerves are getting to him as he messed up one of the lines. But he got through it and is President Obama now. As the crowds are cheering I can’t help but wonder what have we done?

Now his speech… The crowds are quiet. In fact I just realized that they rarely applaud for most of the speech. This speech is not what they were expecting. There was no gloating or even quiet exultation. No promising of easy things or immediate relief. Instead Obama is lecturing us on how bad things are, how we are in the dark winter of time. He speaks of us having to work to meet the challenges with hope and virtue. He reminded us of old values of hard work and we need to do this to remake America. Remake America, that line scares me. He said we shouldn’t argue if government is too big or too small but rather if it works. And if it didn’t work then we should end that program. He said we need to watch over the market and mentioned being accountable for what is spent. As for other nations, he said he will help them but we will still protect our way of life. He clearly alluded to obeying the laws and not allowing torture. But he wraps up his speech by again lecturing us to go back to the old values of “honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism” and who can argue with that?

I think President Obama’s speech surprised the hundreds of thousands listening to him. I’m sure they remember his more sweeping, dramatic speeches such as the first major one he did four years ago at the Democratic National Convention. Instead they got a more stringent, almost harsh speech. I heard a pundit describe this speech as being hard edged. Another said it was masculine. That’s a good way to put it for there was nothing soft, comforting or maternal about this speech. Instead it was more of a tough, roll up your sleeve and get to work kind of speech.

George W. Bush is getting on the helicopter to leave. Like the man, it is done quietly, with no pomp and circumstance. Much will be written over the years about this man and his presidency. But I think all will agree that he is a nice guy. His common courtesy, a trait which is rapidly disappearing in our nation today, was most evident in the recent transition. Bush went out of his way to help Obama and his team step into their new roles and begin to lead the nation today. Compare that to the abominable treatment of Clinton’s team who literally wrecked offices in the White House when they left. But most of all we should thank President Bush for keeping us safe. Let us hope Obama will now.

The Parades – After the luncheon there was the parade. It seemed as if President Obama’s limo was creeping down the parade route for hours leaving the poor announcers trying to fill the time by wondering when the President was going to get out of the limo and walk. At some point during this titillating discussion I fell asleep. Oops. Then I had to scramble to get ready and leave for a 6:00pm meeting. By now the actual parade was happening and unlike the fake parades on Thanksgiving Day this was an honest to God old fashioned parade. I was sorry to miss it. But my last look showed poor Obama glancing at his watch and wondering how much longer would he be stuck standing in the cold and sure to be even colder as the sun sets. Michelle probably wasn’t too happy either as I am sure she would much rather have a few minutes rest before donning her evening ball gown and attending God knows how many balls tonight. They may now be the first couple but I bet they envy me my nap!

All in all it has been a good day. No problems other than a slight misspeaking of the oath and Teddy Kennedy's episode at the luncheon but he is supposedly during better. Amazing that all those people gathering on the mall were orderly and peaceful. Hopefully they will be so again tonight although the bitter cold is probably keeping people indoors.

So now we have our new President, our first African American President, the man with the funny name, President Barack Obama. I wish him luck. I truly do. And I may not always agree with him but I think he will try to govern responsibly. With a few exceptions, his speech gives me hope that maybe he will. For he is not a stupid man. It may be absurd to think of this now but he probably is already thinking of a second term. And if he wants his eight years then he must appeal to more than just the far left if he wishes to be re-elected. Plus if he has a disasterous presidency then he knows we will not elect another African American for a long long time. A lot has fallen on his shoulders tonight. At some point after the last dance has been danced, when he is at his new home, the White House, perhaps the first time he sits alone in the Oval Office, it will hit him - he is our new President. And that is when his Presidency will truly begin.

Short Retort

I watched a clip of Obama’s train ride to DC and he said something which I honestly didn’t understand. At one of the whistle stops (I love that phrase and all it evokes!) President Elect Obama promised that “We will continue fighting for you every day.” In fact he repeated this line at additional whistle stops.

Uhm, excuse me? He won. He will be President and his party will control both the Senate and the House. So who exactly will he be fighting? Who is this enemy for “to fight” is to suppose that there is an opponent that needs to be fought. And yes, my greatest fear is that as Pogo said back in the 60’s “I have met the enemy and he is us.”

Why It Is Freezing Outside

I know why it is so cold tonight. It’s because hell has actually frozen. Truly. For what else could occur other than hell freezing over after my realizing that I agreed with Reverend Al Sharpton not once but throughout most of his interview? I was watching a program on CNN called DL Hughley Breaks the News. I had seen DL Hughley, a young black comedian before and found him to be quite funny and even fair in his political humor. He now has this show on CNN during which he interviewed Sharpton.

I had to rewind the show a couple of times because I was completely shocked at what I heard and didn’t believe it until I listened to it again and again. My first shock was to hear Sharpton argue for school choice and charter schools. And not only was he in favor of it but he also said he thought teachers should be held accountable and the best ones should be given incentives if they do a good job. Oh my. But it became even better as he talked about personal responsibility and parenting.

During his interview he touched on a number of valid points which I found to be surprisingly thoughtful and even bordering on conservative! Basically he said the time was past for blacks to be blaming the system for their failures. He stated that they needed to stop making excuses. Things may not be perfect but they are better than they ever have been. And even when they weren’t great, people were still succeeding. But the first step is for parents to understand the value of education and then to get involved. They can’t lay the entire burden on the teachers. They need to take responsibility for their children and to be there making sure their kids do their homework and even get to school.

He said that a parent’s lack of education is no excuse either. In fact it should be just the opposite – they should be encouraging their children to do better than themselves. More importantly they need to stop denigrating themselves and especially stop telling the kids things like their fathers were no good SOBs and the kids were no good too and weren’t ever going to succeed. Instead they need to encourage their children and to set the bar of expectations higher than ever, to CEO, even President. For with Barack and Michelle Obama before us there is no excuse that blacks can’t go far.

Wow. Now can you see why it is so cold because hell has frozen over? Obama is not even in office yet, but maybe, just maybe if liberal African Americans like Sharpton are already talking about things like school choice and personal responsibility in the affirmative then perhaps some good just might come from Obama’s presidency after all.

Update

After writing about the Azalea Trail Maid's controversy I thought I should see if they will be marching in the Inaugaration Day Parade or not. I found an article by the Mobile Press Register which first explained that the group is made up of 50 high school seniors who are chosen to be Trail Maids. It's not my cup of tea but I have known young women like these who will have been dreaming of being a Trial Maid since they were little girls. So this makes the controversy that much worse than if it had been a group of middle aged women.

But Alabama NAACP leader Edward Vaughn was not backing down from his earlier criticisms of the Trail Maids and was quoted in the Mobile Press Register as stating:

Vaughn said Monday that he stands by his comments. "I don't know what I would apologize for," Vaughn said. "I'm not going to apologize for saying truth. That is that the Azalea Trail Maids invoke an image of slavery."

He certainly had a change of heart over the next two days because I next found an article on the WSFA12 News website which stated that:

On Wednesday Vaughn apologized for saying the group would make Alabama a "laughing-stock" and said he never suggested excluding the group from the parade.

Well, that is one for the good guys, or girls as the case may be. And not only are they marching but to make sure the young women get to DC I further read that the county is giving the group $10,000 to help pay for their expenses. So there! You just don't mess with our Southern Belles!

Southern Rebels

Amidst all the major news of the day is a very small story about a group of women who are to march in the Inauguration Day Parade next week. I am sure the ladies of the Mobile Azalea Trail Maids are excitedly packing their antebellum costumes which they will proudly wear as they stroll down the parade route next week. Except there are some who want to stop them. Apparently the Alabama NAACP now feels that even the dresses worn during the mid 1800s will remind people of slavery and therefore should not be allowed. (Duh, the theme of the Inauguration is Lincoln…)

I would have laughed off this story if it wasn’t for a book I had requested, and received, for Christmas: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South. A year or so ago I discovered this bestselling series of books titled The Politically Incorrect Guide To…. ranging from The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History to The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism. I had already read and thoroughly enjoyed their books on Islam, Capitalism and Global Warming and wanted to see what they said about my beloved South.

A major theme of the Politically Incorrect Guide to the South is that liberals, northerners and even some fellow southerners are all trying to eradicate Southern history, Southern pride and everything that differentiates us from the rest of the country. As the author stated “The South is all about memory, heritage, and pride of place," writes Clint Johnson. "I refuse to go along with the expunging of that memory, heritage, and pride, and I hope the readers of this book, Northern and Southern, will rise up and join me in protesting those who are trying to do it."

Before trying to ban antebellum dresses there first was the complete eradication of the Confederate flag. This used to be flown everywhere in the South but now is as rare as a manger scene outside City Hall at Christmas time. What the North never understood is that to Southerners, or white Southerners I should say, the Confederate flag represented rebellion not slavery. During the War Between the States, most of the Confederate soldiers were not plantation owners with hundreds of slaves. They fought not to keep slavery but because they didn’t want the North to tell them what to do. They were proud of their home, town, state and nation but only in that order so for most Confederates it was all about state’s rights vs. federalism not slavery.

For more than 150 years Northerners have tried to tell Southerners how to live. After the war, the South was occupied by the hated Northern militia, citizens were stripped of the right to vote and when they could vote, Congress refused to seat their elected Senators and Congressmen, and Northern carpetbaggers took advantage of the defeated and financially ruined South. And yet the South still kept alive that small flame of pride and rebellion that pushed them to secede in the first place.

The attack on the South continues through today. Crimes are perpetuated on the South that would be called hate crimes if on any other group. Our churches are frequently attacked. Anyone with a Southern accent is considered stupid and uneducated. Our politeness is sneered at. Our colleges are ridiculed. Our conservatism is construed as being out of touch and backwards. And our Southern citizens are considered to be uncultured at best and hicks at worst. In this age of “diversity”, how ironic that the South is denigrated because of its uniqueness and attacked for not conforming!

Yet no matter what the rest of the country has put us through I suppose some might say that we still cling to “our guns and our religion”. Damn right. The North has tried to squash us under its thumb but somehow we have still retained our proud heritage which does indeed include our guns and religion. But there is a lot more to us than that. We do have a lot to be proud about as the South has produced more Presidents and more soldiers than any other region, and this is still the fastest growing region in the country. And it is our Southern rebellion which created our best music (Rock ‘n Roll, Soul, Blues, Jazz and of course Country), our best drinks (Coke and Tennessee Whiskey, to name just a few) and some of our tastiest foods (Southern, Cajun, Bar-B-Q, TexMex et al.).

So you can take away our symbols but we don’t need our flags or even our dresses to still be proud of our heritage or our rebelliousness. In fact, all of your attacks on our home, our beliefs and on our heritage will only feed that Southern bad boy or girl in each of us. For we rebels love nothing better than to fight for a good cause, especially if it is a lost one… Yet win or lose we will always have that famous Southern rebel yell which we will cry out until the last Southerner is standing.

Now go ahead and try to stop those lovely antebellum ladies of the south from walking in the Inauguration Day Parade. They may look dainty and sweet, or even silly in those frilly outfits but beneath their petticoats beat Southern hearts, rebel hearts. They may still lose this battle but I hope they stamp their little high heeled feet, channel their inner Scarlet and politely but firmly tell the NAACP to go to hell!

Sunday Talks

I’ve just spent the morning watching all the Sunday talking head shows. I have to admit that there have been Sunday mornings when they all bored me to death. But that wasn’t the case today nor do I think I will be bored for many Sundays to come. There is just too much news, both national and foreign occurring in the world today.

This Sunday, most of the pundits talked about Obama’s upcoming economic stimulus package. As I watched the shows, one thought occurred to me that I don’t think anyone has addressed. Before we implement this package shouldn’t we first resolve the immigrant issue? Otherwise, what is to prevent illegal immigrants from filling the blue collar jobs created by the stimulus package? One of the pundits also said that jobs should be created which will produce something that either will benefit everyone (road and bridge repairs, for example) or can be sold, especially overseas which will then increase revenue. The package should not include jobs created for make believe projects that won’t return revenue for decades, if ever, such as questionable green projects. On the other hand, I wouldn’t object to Obama throwing a lot of money at NASA who in turn would hire more scientist, engineers and mathematicians to work on developing alternative energy. As it stands, most of the new jobs are for low level positions but there are also a lot of white collar workers out of job and we need to provide employment for them, too.

As I write this I am also listening to Wolf Blitzer interview Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. That woman smiles too much (although her face never moves) and I neither like nor trust her. Anyway, she seems to be adamant about taking away some of the tax cuts and she dismisses any indication that Obama will not immediately repeal them. She also keeps mentioning that Obama is “new to the job” insinuating that he will need not just support but advice from old-timers, such as herself and Majority Leader Harry Reid. (By the way, note that in this interview Pelosi swore that there will be no earmarks in the economic package.)

Anyway, the far left, headed by Pelosi, are unhappy with Obama’s more centrist positions and have started to go public with their dissatisfaction. But Obama has already slapped them down a bit. He recently said he doesn’t care who comes up with an idea, if it is a good one he will use it. This did not sit well with Pelosi who can’t say more than two sentences without denigrating the Republican party. A definite power struggle is occurring between the two government branches but Obama has one major weapon – his popularity, something that Reid and Pelosi are lacking. If there weren’t so many extreme problems it would almost be fun to watch how Obama handles Congress and the far left segment of his party over the next year.

It was also pointed out this morning that Obama has offended some of the men and women who helped get him into office by not rewarding them with jobs in his new administration. I don’t know why these folks are surprised or hurt. Obama had already shown that he uses people and after they have served their usefulness or become liabilities he will easily drop them and even disavow them; think Reverend Wright. I’ve said before that this is a man who has a public persona of warm congeniality but in reality is a cold, calculating pragmatist. That may be hard on his party and far left supporters but it just might be what the country needs right now.

Bio Brief - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

On Sunday, Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, emphatically stated that Gov. Blagojevich’s choice for Obama’s open Senate seat, Roland Burris would not be accepted by the Senate. Just three days later Reid changed his tune and will now accept Burris. So who is this man, Harry Reid, who is blundering his way into the new year as Senate Majority Leader?

Reid was born in a rural mining town in Nevada in 1939 making him 70 years old this year. I read in Wikipedia that he has held a number of positions in his home state, including serving as Nevada Gaming Commissioner from 1977 to 1981 a post that subjected him with death threats. After next serving two terms in Congress he was elected to the Senate in 1986. He was voted as Senate Minority Leader in 2005 and when the Democrats took control of the Senate became Senate Majority Leader in 2006.

I was very surprised to learn that the Democrats chose him as Senate Majority Leader considering his stance on some very sensitive issues. For instance, according to Wikipedia he is pro life and supported the ban on late term abortions. As an avid sportsman he is also pro gun voting against the ban on semi-automatic weapons. He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act saying that “marriage should be between a man and a woman”. And he supports a constitutional amendment to protect our flag. Not exactly the opinions one would expect from the leader of the Democrats in the Senate!

Reid, however, holds some very liberal views on other issues. Instead of describing them, I will let him speak for himself:

- On the Iraqi War: "This war is a serious situation. It involves the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of this country." February 18, 2007

- On the Surge: “I believe, myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday." April 19, 2007

- On Global Warming: “One reason we have fires in California is global warming.” October 2007

- On the Economy: “The urgency of this, everyone knows about. But I'm not going to have some false deadline, whether it's February 1 or whatever it is. I want to make sure that all senators have some input in what goes on here and do it as quickly as we can.” January 4, 2009

- On the new Capital Visitors Center: “In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive but it's true. ”December 2, 2008

- On Blagojevich: “"We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House (of Representatives) determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations." January 4, 2009

- On working with the White House: “We are constitutionally empowered by the Constitution to have certain powers that are inherent in this body, and we want to work with the president. But they can't jam things down our throats.” Meet the Press December 5, 2004

Ok so I think that taken all together you get a pretty good picture of this man. I love the last quotes where he outright states that the Senate can do whatever they want as long as they are separated from the smelly tourists. What hubris! And as I read many articles written about him over the past five years there also appears to be a darker side to this man. There are numerous stories of corruption and hushed up scandals. Rumors have it that his family has made millions of dollars from bills Reid has endorsed, or earmarked including a very questionable $1.1 million land deal by the Senator, plus he was linked to the indited Jack Abramoff. There has also been a taint of racism throughout the years. This has resurfaced when he supposedly asked Blagojevich not to nominate three men for the Illinois Senate seat, all of whom are black.

And yes, he is a Mormon, which explains some of his conservative views. Although interestingly, he wasn’t born into a Morman family but rather he and his wife converted when they were in college. Hmmm. Here’s an interesting question. How is it that everyone knew that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a Mormon yet this high level Democrat's affiliation with the Latter Day Saints is kept hush hush? And now that I think of it, how can the radical left, who are bitterly opposing Mormons due to their supposed influence in defeating Prop 8 in California, continue to support Reid and his leadership role as Senate Majority Leader?

After researching Harry Reid I am coming to the conclusion that he is the worst kind of politician – a self righteous, power driven, ethically challenged liberal. It is only a few days into the new year and already Reid’s ego and self powertrip has hurt him with this Burris situation. I wonder just how long he will be able to hold on to his leadership position, and who would win if he does go toe to toe with the new White House, which some of his previous statements indicated will happen. Only time will tell but it sure could be fun to watch!

So that wraps up my first Bio Brief. I hope you found it helpful in understanding one of the most powerful men in our country.

Let's Do Lunch

Wouldn’t you just love to be in the White House today? Our four living presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George Bush, and President elect Barack Obama are meeting today for a luncheon at the White House. How fascinating will that be?

The dynamics between our past, current and future Presidents would be very interesting to watch. Obviously the father and son Bush’s get along, or you would suppose they would. A few years ago Bush 43 tapped Bill Clinton to work closely with Bush 41 and apparently they all became friends in spite of their political differences. And as the new kid on the block I assume that everyone wants to talk to Obama or give him advice and he should be listening to the experiences of his predecessors. So that leaves Jimmy Carter. Neither of the Bush’s have reason to like him nor could I see Carter and Clinton having much in common other than being the two past Democrat Presidents. Besides, Jimmy should be feeling a bit embarrassed again about that Nobel Peace Prize for the Middle East and his Habitat for Humanity houses falling apart.

I sure would like to be a fly on the wall to listen in to these men who are in the most exclusive club in the world; United States Presidents. Then again, instead of discussing current events they could simply be telling Obama about hidden rooms in the White House or comparing golf tips. (Isn’t it interesting that all last year the MSM touted Obama as being a basketball player, a very hip urban sport, but waited until after he was elected to mention that he was also an avid golfer, a country club sport associated with Republicans!)

Anyway, I wonder how many other countries could have all of their past living leaders meet with the upcoming leader without bloodshed? In spite of everything that is wrong with this country we still must be doing something right!

Bio Brief - Introduction

This is an exciting time in Washington as the 111th Congress tries to get started amongst the chaos regarding the Illinois, Minnesota and New York Senate seats, the new 44th President starts in a few weeks and soon we will be inundated with Senate hearings as they approve Obama’s Cabinet selections. The news will be filled with the names of a lot of new people, some old people and some recycled people.

How much do you know about these men and women who will be charting the course of America for years to come? As much as I watch the news even I have to admit to a great deal of ignorance about many of these Senators, Congressmen and other key political figures. But who has the time to do any research about these men and women even though our futures are being determined by them? Well, actually, I have that time. So I thought I would introduce a new segment in my PC Fugitive blog: Bio Brief.

Every now and then I will do a very broad overview of somebody who has been in the news. I plan for my Bio Briefs to be the equivalent of Cliff Notes providing key facts for people who are too busy to google or wade through all the information on the internet or even in Wikipedia. By no means will I provide a complete biography. In fact I will probably tend to give information that I find interesting rather than an in depth analysis of somebody’s education or a detailed resume of past accomplishments.

I came up with the idea of Bio Briefs while watching the news this morning when I realized that I knew very little about Harry Reid other than that he is the Majority Leader of the Senate and is from Nevada. Among other things, I wondered if he was a Mormon, as they are a large part of the population in Nevada, in spite of this gambling state’s reputation. As I investigated Reid’s background it occurred to me that perhaps y’all might also like a quick overview of these key national and even international figures.

In the next day or two I will kick off my first Bio Brief on Harry Reid. Some of the names I am thinking of including in future Bio Briefs are Leon Panetta, the Clintonite now tapped to head up the CIA; Timothy Geithner, Obama’s pick for the crucial Secretary of the Treasury position; Mitch McConnell, the Republican Minority Leader of the House; Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister of Israel and Sayyed Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council of Iraq and the leader of the SIIC, the largest religious group in Iraq. I am also open to any requests or suggestions of people who you would like to know more about but don’t have the time to find out for yourself. So send me a comment or email whenever you want me to review somebody.

I hope you will enjoy this new addition to my blog. And don’t worry, I’ll still be giving my opinions on everything else, too!

No Habitat for Humanity

There are so many big news stories on TV and the internet; the fighting on the Gaza Strip, the upcoming inauguration, Bill Richardson stepping down as Obama’s choice for Secretary of Commerce, the mess in Illinois and if the senate will seat Burris, the sickening prospect that Al Franken just might be the next Senator from MN and I can go on and on. But I have decided to kick off the New Year with a smaller story that you probably haven’t heard about.

The Drudge Report has a link to a very politically incorrect headline which caught my attention: “Charity homes built by Jimmy Carter start to crumble”. As in everything that Carter has done, he means well but it somehow is always the wrong thing to do in the long run. (Remember that this is the same man who won a Nobel Peace Prize for the Middle East – and see how well that has turned out?!) And it now appears that his Habitat for Humanity may be heading for disaster, too.

Carter and a contingency of volunteers built an entire community of homes in northern Florida eight years ago. Today there is a lawsuit representing many of the 85 homeowners who are now claiming that their homes were built on a rubbish dump. The Timesonline article goes on to say “One man pulled up his floorboards to find rubbish 5ft deep under his kitchen. Other complaints include cracking walls and rotting door frames that let in rats and ants. Many residents have complained of mildew and mysterious skin rashes”.

It shouldn’t really be a big surprise that there are problems with these homes, considering how quickly they were built. Added to this is the, lets say, “inexperience” of the new homeowners. So it is almost to be expected that between the hasty constructions of the homes within a few days then followed by years of less than optimum care that these homes are in disrepair. The same problems are also occurring with the homes built for that TV show, Extreme Makeover. Plus I wouldn’t be surprised if half the folks after the first year can’t even afford to pay the taxes on their expensive new homes, much less the utilities and other monthly bills.

But no one ever hears what happens to these homes and homeowners after the cameras are turned off and the celebrities leave. As I said in the beginning, criticizing Jimmy Carter or even Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover is one of the biggest politically incorrect statements you could make. The liberals love this kind of charity for it shows that they are helping the little people and it makes them feel good about themselves. They just don’t seem to understand that it would be kinder in the long run to pay for people to go to college or a trade school so that they can eventually afford to buy their own houses, or at the very least to spend time teaching them how to care for their families and new homes.

So now it seems as if some of the houses are falling down partly due to shoddy quick work combined with the fact that some of these new homeowners neglect the upkeep of their homes. Yet no one ever does a follow up to point this out. I guess that would be too much reality for the liberals in New York and LA who live in their insulated world.

Unfortunately I think we are in for a lot more of this kind of thinking. It is a lot easier to shove money at a problem then it is to figure out the cause of the problem and fix that. Democrat governors are requesting $1 trillion in bailout money to cover state shortfalls. Congress has already handed out a $700 billion bank bailout. And now Obama is pushing a massive new $700+ billion “stimulus package”.

Where is all this money going to come from? And how exactly will it be spent? Once again, nobody really knows. In a way the story of these Habitat for Humanity homes is a reflection of what is happening throughout our government. Washington and Hollywood stand hand in hand and make a lot of noise about helping the “little people”. So they will take billions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to build shaky structures, which only help a chosen few, and then eventually it all falls apart through neglect, greed and ill usage while they somehow end up making millions from it. Sound about right? And with the incoming Congress it will only get worse. But don’t get me started on that….

A New Year’s Resolution for the GOP

The Republican Party seems to me to have the same problems as the car industry. Both have products that people don’t want. Both have top executives who have turned off the public with their behaviors and now have credibility problems. Both need to figure out who they want to be, what products they have that the country wants and how to repackage their image and save their tarnished brand names.

The equivalent to the “bailout” for the GOP will be the next six months when the country is preoccupied with Obama and the rest of the Democrats who will now be in charge. Instead of spending all their energy attacking the new leaders, the Republicans need to get their act together and figure out who we are. We know who we are not. The GOP has renounced the policies of Bush, Cheney and Rove or rather these three have turned their backs on the tenets of the GOP. Neither is McCain our leader for in spite of being the supposed party banner bearer last year, he never seemed to have connected with most Republicans.

Republicans historically has been the party of big business so for once they need to start treating this party as a business. Every major company must be able to answer three questions: What are our most profitable products? How do they differentiate us from our competition? How do they portray the image we want to project?

What are our products? The Democrats and Main Stream Media (MSM) have tried to define us by our most controversial “products”; the social issues which divides everyone: abortion, religion, gay marriages. Additionally, for the last eight years, President Bush has made it nearly impossible to claim our most fundamental stance but luckily he will be gone. So now is the time to take back the primary tenet of the Republican Party: small government.

The next few years will be tailor made for a comeback of the Republican’s doctrine of small government and individual’s rights. This belief is why most people become Republican’s in the first place. They are tired of high taxes, government intrusions, and too much of their money going to people who don’t deserve it. This is exactly what Obama, Nancy and Harry will be doing as they take over later this month. Or rather more government spending is the plan of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I’m not so sure about Obama. He is a very canny politician who may be more to the center than the far left will like. Whether or not Nancy and Harry can force him to the left remains to be seen. (And I must admit this potential power struggle will be fun to watch from the side lines!)

Nonetheless, the GOP needs to focus itself on the issue of small government, lower taxes and giving power to the people. For the few left in Congress, instead of sniping at Nancy and Henry they need to start meeting with Newt Gingrich, the architect of the last Republican revival. By the time of the mid term elections in 2010 they should have their own platform to present to the public. One that will show a consolidated party offering a product that people will want as an antidote to the past two years of Democratic spending. If done correctly, the GOP image of small government and people’s rights will be reborn and ready to grow stronger during the last two years of Obama’s reign.

So the New Year’s Resolution for the Republican Party should be to spend the time needed to regroup. Let Limbaugh, Hannity and the like go after the new Democratic leaders. And while people are preoccupied by these loud voices the GOP politicians can be quietly mapping out a new manifesto for the party. A party that will define itself and not let the Democrats or MSM define us. This means having a 24/7 rapid response team who is always ready to respond to any derogatory attack on the party, party leaders and party ideas. This concept was perfected by those running for President last year but it needs to be in place all the time, and not just during elections.

The new manifesto should also describe a party that ignores what divides Republicans from other Republicans and yet clearly shows what differentiates us from the Democrats. Since social issues can be toxic, although this will not make anyone happy, a policy of “agreeing to disagree” should be followed for now while we concentrate on the bigger issues, such as government spending and the economy. As Obama tries to fix the economy by throwing more money at it, accountability will become a key word next year. Republicans need to claim it for their own; to be the party of small government and accountability. This will then allow Republicans to spend money where needed to help the public but at the same time show that we want to do it prudently by demanding accountability of how that money is spent.

I could go on but that is enough for now. So while the world is watching Obama, the Republicans should be quietly determining who they are, what they stand for and how to win back the heart’s of the people. Personally, I can’t think of any other New Year’s Resolution that would be as challenging, as important or as fun than to rebuild the GOP. For all our sakes, I just hope that this is one New Year’s Resolution that is kept.