I DIDN’T MEAN TO LISTEN TO RUSH, I REALLY DIDN’T

I was in the middle of a Chinese fire drill, scrambling from one town to another to put together last-minute details for a business trip, and I happened to turn on the radio; lo and behold, Rush Limbaugh was on the air. Now, Rush is not my favorite show, by far. He’s right about many things, I will admit, but he’s just too bombastic for me, too narcissistic, if you know what I mean. In those respects, he’s much like Obama. Rush fancies himself as being the God of conservatism in this country and Obama believes that his is the Omnipotent One. I guess they have forgotten about the Unknown Scribbler?

In any event, Rush got onto something. No, it wasn’t a rant. But, he started talking about Obama and his belief that Obama is deliberately sabotaging efforts to stop the oil leak and clean up the Gulf. Don’t know if you know this or not, but they have halted the building of sand bars to keep the oil away from the beaches because some government ninny doesn’t like the source of the sand. Cleanup barges have continuously been prevented from going out to skim oil and someone mentioned that there were other skimming rigs located elsewhere in the country that could come to help and the Administration prevented that move because there “might” be another oil accident somewhere else and those skimmers would be needed there.

Rush went on to suggest that Obama is doing these things deliberately to detract us from the economy, unemployment and the immigration issue, and I agree; never let a good crisis go to waste. In fact, if the crisis gets bad enough, Obama could declare a state of national emergency and glom onto all kinds of power…even suspending the Constitution. In fact, he could manage to get the leak plugged around a month before the election, and then hire 300,000 people to come and clean up the mess. Unemployment would decline, there might be some improvement in the economy and Obama could ride the favorable wave of his "decisive leadership" to rescue his Democrats in Congress.

Would he do such a dastardly thing? Look at some of the many dirty tricks he has pulled so far, including the Health Care debacle; of COURSE he would! In a heartbeat! In fact, he’s already put the word out that he wants to pull the Gulf workers off the job because of the tropical storm. “They could be out two weeks or more,” comes official word from the White House. 

Floating out of the White House gas machine Friday was the word that the Administration is working on a plan to have the President issue an Executive Order declaring amnesty for all illegal aliens. Have you ever noticed how Obama, taking a cue from Clinton, always lets these gaseous bombs waft out on Fridays after everyone has gone home for the weekend?

We really need to start paying closer attention to what this guy is doing. I agree with Rush in this case that Obama has committed far too many bad acts for them to be chalked up to mistakes, stupidity, or anything but the actions of a very shrewd man. Start asking yourself “Why?”

OBAMA'S DYNASTY IS CRUMBLING

General Stanley McChrystal is on his way out after criticizing President Obama in a ROLLING STONES interview. McChrystal was summoned to appear in the White House today to explain his remarks to the effect that he has been left “on the outside” in his dealings with the White House and stated that he had been in the untenable predicament of having to sell “an unsellable position” with respect to troops and the conduct of the war in Afghanistan. Against mounting public pressure, Obama had delayed for months the decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan while McChrystal had said the United States was in a “no win” situation unless the troops were provided.

McChrystal has apologized to Obama, but has undoubtedly burned his bridges. "I have enormous respect and admiration for President Obama and his national security team, and for the civilian leaders and troops fighting this war and I remain committed to ensuring its successful outcome."

In the meanwhile, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has announced his resignation effective in July. Orszag has been a key part of Obama's economic team during the passage of the economic stimulus bill and this year's health care reform legislation. He was formerly in charge of the Congressional Budget Office before the CBO provided figures that did not suit Obama’s agenda in getting the stimulus and health care packages passed against the public will.

Rumors are also circulating in Washington that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will be resigning after the November elections due to “frustration” with Obama’s inner circle of key advisers. Emanuel has denied the rumors, but word is that he has been set up to be the “fall guy” if Democrats get slaughtered in the elections.

Obama has apparently become disengaged with the many major problems facing the nation at this juncture. He has failed miserably in his handling of the Gulf Oil crisis. He seems insensitive to the growing national immigration issue and to Arizona’s plight in dealing with the crisis. He has given weak response to Iran’s flagrant violations of international pressures against that country’s nuclear ambitions and has been less than effective in dealing with North Korea’s similar programs.

The insurance industry has confirmed that it is increasing health care premiums. New benefits of the health care program kick in now and the companies are seeking to cover the increased costs. Obama summoned key company officials to the White House for an ass-chewing session and threats of industry takeover by the government, a move essentially turning the industry into government run health care. This move is being made amidst revelations that the costs associated with the program are much higher than revealed as it was being shoved down Americans throats and as doctors across the country are refusing to see Medicare patients due to declining Medicare reimbursements.

The economy is not cooperating. On the one hand, Vice-President Biden is claiming that the stimulus plan has worked, but Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac remain buried in a sea of red ink, unemployment is not improving, and the national debt is on the verge of dragging the company into anarchy.

With these problems and more facing the Presidency, there appears to be rampant indecision in the Oval Office and Obama has earned a reputation of being calloused and ambivalent. His polls and the polls of his Congressional lapdogs are sinking so fast that one can only hope and pray that they will land at the bottom of the Gulf and plug the damned hole.

OBAMA BLASTS EUROPEAN UNION

SPECIAL POST

Faced with the reality that his economic stimulus plans have not worked and that his ERA programs have not lessened unemployment, President Barrack Hussein Obama reacted as anyone could easily predict to the news that the members of the European Union are drastically cutting back spending in an effort to avoid financial calamity… by saying that their actions could hurt the U.S. economy. In other words, he’s not accepting responsibility and blame for his own mismanagement; instead, he’s transferring blame to the European Union when, in fact, we should be following their lead and cutting back on spending here at home.

Obama continues to plow ahead speaking, as Native Americans would say, “with forked tongue.” On the one hand, he tells us that the country needs to quit spending and on the other hand he continues to spend our money hand over fist. His administration has refused to account for the TARP money and ERA money that has been allocated and, “let me be clear,” the Republicans have not pursued that question, either. He’s forging ahead with pressure to pass his Cap and Trade legislation and to shove tens of billions of dollars into another economic stimulus.

The Mohegan Sun, a Native American Casino in Connecticut, has received over $54 million in stimulus money at the behest of Senator Charles Dodd. That casino made $1.3 billion in 2009. The Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to this type of blatant misappropriation of taxpayer funds. This is but one example of misspending of ERA and stimulus funds over the past 18 months.

With all of this spending going on, unemployment hangs on at 10.0%, the first-time filings for unemployment benefits soared last week to 472,000, retail sales are down and other ominous signs point to the fact that Obama’s tax and spend agenda has failed the nation in a time of desperate need. Still, instead of listening to the growing clamor of economists who are calling for reduced spending and reduced taxes in order to get small business back into the hiring mode, he blindly continues to go forward to where no successful man has gone before.

He’s not akin to a drunken sailor; rather, he’s like a drunken gambler in a casino, out of money to play with and begging the credit manager for a higher credit limit. And, he’s gambling with the taxpayer’s money and the well-being of our grand children.

Only Congress can rein this drunk in, but Congress has been party to his drunken antics. Even the Republicans, now trying to retreat into a false sense of conservatism, were there at the spending trough in late 2008 to hand over $850 billion to Geithner and Bernanke without restriction. It is apparent that, in order for us to force Congress into cutting Obama’s spending, we need to remove every Member of Congress who is up for re-election.

Obama suggests that the damned European Union is just trying to make him look bad. This is all their fault. It’s time to quit blaming Bush and pick on someone else, and God forbid Obama should ever own up to his own pathological shortcomings.

This is just one more compelling reason for us to stand together, shoulder-to-shoulder and arm-to-arm as we move forward to take back our country.

POSTAGE STAMP UPSIDE DOWN

I begin this post with an ominous thought. Back in the early days of our country, when people were coerced into writing things they did not wish to write but wanted to convey a situation of distress, the practice was to paste the stamp on the envelope upside down. So it is that today, I began pasting my American flag stamps on my mail upside down because we are, most assuredly, a nation in distress. I urge you, too, to follow the practice until we get our country turned back to the correct direction.

Now, as to the President’s speech last night…. It was too little, too late. You get the feeling that they only reason he made it was because the Democrats in Congress are sick and tired of hearing about the oil spill from their constituents. There was nothing new in it. There were no alternatives offered to either fix the problem or clean up the mess; rather, he indicated to me that he wants more money for some other commission to be formed to look into it and resolve it. AND, of course, he wants his Cap & Trade Energy Bill passed and he doesn’t care if we can afford it or not.

That’s basically what I heard. There was nothing new, just the same old shoulder shrugging and finger wagging that I have seen for the last 18 months. His reactions are to point blame and seize assets. Frankly, if I was Tony Hayward with BP, I’d be inclined to tell the President to “buzz off.”

BP is solidly to blame here, and I agree with that. I was one of the first, if not THE first, to wag MY finger and proclaim BP/ARCO as being the villain.  They have misled everyone involved from minute one. As I have said since two or three days after the rig blew, BP’s traditional cost cutting and lack of safety was the direct cause of the disaster. Mark my words, BP will be dragged, kicking and screaming, into many Courts of law before this story is over and people get paid.

One has to wonder why this President didn’t arrange to meet up with Hayward and tour the rig site and Gulf by chopper together, to then sit down with top government and BP officials to have an eyeball-to-eyeball discussion. The "hide behind your Oval Office desk and teleprompters, spewing forth confrontational ass kicking comments routine" is no more likely to draw cooperation and a spirit of urgency than does lying through your teeth and cramming a health care plan down people’s throats that they do not want. 

This was just another day of audacious Presidential pomposity, as far as I’m concerned.

I believe that our President came into office with an agenda to firmly place in action a series of events that would centralize every last drop of power in the White House before the November elections, and he has been distracted from his objective several times. He just can’t bear to turn his back on those objectives and to deal with the more pressing issues of the nation. Every day that goes by where his events don’t kick in as he planned gets him one day closer to November, and that seems to be relentlessly gnawing at him.

The momentum that carried him into office is now eroding. The polls reflect that the pendulum is starting to swing against him. His political capital is now confined to just a handful of Congress; the rest are doing their best to distance themselves from him in such a manner that it doesn’t amount to outright rebellion.

The fact that Obama didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to an offer from Royal Dutch Petroleum, (Shell), made in the beginning days of this disaster to send help speaks volumes about his in ability to function when he is not in control of his own diabolical agenda. 

Don't blame me; I'm just the messenger.  

OBAMA LOSING HIS GRIP; Long, Hot Summer in Washington Begins

OBAMA LAUNCHES WHITE HOUSE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE HEALTH CARE PLAN;

Unemployment, Economy, Oil Spill, Immigration Take Back Seat

PELOSI GETS HAMMERED AT HEALTH PLAN CONFERENCE;

Protesters Don’t Like the Plan, Shout Her Down and Throw Objects


SECOND OIL LEAK DISCOVERED; 
Two Additional Plumes Found Floating 3,400 Under Water

Yes, a second oil leak has been hiding from Americans since at least April 30 and, as this post is being written, those involved are still stonewalling the news. Recent satellite photos show oil around the Ocean Saratoga Rig, operated by Diamond Offshore for Taylor Energy. Taylor has reportedly instructed Diamond Offshore to “plug and abandon” the well. The rig was damaged by a hurricane in 2004 and Diamond Offshore was told in 2009 to plug the well according to “sources.” This would seem to indicate that the well could have been leaking for over a year and Taylor Energy is not talking.

In the meanwhile, it has been discovered that pools of oil are gathering underseas at about 3,400 feet and this discovery leads to the probability that marine life will ultimately be extensively damaged. It appears that BP has known of this for “some time” but did not disclose the fact until they were recently asked in a press conference about the possibility.

President Obama, now faced with a multitude of festering problems which include Middle East tensions in and around Israel as well as belligerent rhetoric from North Korea and Iran, has decided to take to the road and try to gain support for his cram down health care bill.

Don’t you just wonder who in the hell is running this country while Obama ignores these issues?

BP/ARCO HAS NO ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

SPECIAL POST

Anyone who thinks that BP is getting unfairly criticized for the Gulf Oil disaster has not done their homework. Anyone who thinks that BP is the shining star of environmental and safety track records needs to take an hour or two and start digging around on the internet. Anyone who wants to come to the defense of BP/ARCO is either insane or an attorney looking to get rich. Eric Holder is definitely not the first government official to threaten a criminal investigation into BP/ARCO’s activities. 

So, why doesn’t BP straighten up its insolent corporate act? Because, historically speaking, BP has made more money by operating the way it does. With the hundreds of billions of dollars of operations they have around the world, they have figured it out that they can shave corners and cuts costs in all of them and, should anything bad happen in one of them they will have saved far more than enough to cover the costs, fines and legal fees involved. 

In Yerington, Nevada, its shuttered Yerington Anaconda Copper Mine is an environmental disaster that is polluting ground water with uranium and chemicals. For almost ten years, BP has stalled, stalled and stalled on the cleanup of the site. Many unilateral orders of consent have been issued by the EPA to prod BP into accomplishing what little it has accomplished so far. But, the magnitude of the problem continues to grow day by day. 

If you want a one-stop source of information about BP’s past misdeeds around the world and how it has handled that Yerington Mine disaster, check out www.yamsite.info. 

I heard the argument that, if we boycott BP/ARCO at the pumps, we could drive them out of business and then we, the taxpayers, would be left holding the bag for the cleanup costs in the Gulf. That’s very naïve. The plain simple fact of the matter is that BP/ARCO is not going to go bankrupt. It has dozens of operating divisions and can sever any one of them at any time, including U.S. operations, and never look back. They have associations and operations all over the world including Iran. 

We’re going to end up paying through the nose for this disaster anyway. They will fight in court every step of the way, and we’ll be stuck with the legal fees. Historically, you will see them fighting until some Court hits them with $500 million here and there and then they’ll threaten to appeal and offer to settle out of court for $100 million and they’ll get away with it. If they’ve spent $1 billion in the Gulf already on this cleanup, that is 1/25th of the money they make every year. That $1 billion will get written off against tax liabilities and we are going to therefore be stuck for it anyway. 

We would like to proclaim that we are not to blame for the way BP does business, but we are. We allow their cavalier attitude toward safety and the environment to continue; our courts and agencies let them off the hook much too easily, and we continue to buy their gas although they have been in trouble in several states for their pricing strategies.

As for me, I’ll be damned if I’ll buy one ounce of their gas; I’ll walk first.

ARE OBAMA, HOLDER & NAPOLITANO LIARS, OR NOT?

YOU DECIDE

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf