Timeline of a Cover Up

April 10, 2008: LA Times publishes Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama. This story goes over the going away party of Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian scholar (and dinner companion of Barack Obama) whose comments critical comments on Israel over the years have stirred various contreversies.

During this going away party, according to the LA Times story, poetry was read accusing Israel of terrorism, while others compared "Zionist settlers" to Osama Bin Laden. To put it plainly, there was plenty of Jew bashing going on that night.

On the second page of this story, the LA Times writes "The Event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times". No mention of a confidential source.

From October 24 to 28, there are multiple stories of various news agencies requesting a copy of this tape. All requests were denied without any mention of a confidential source.

On October 28, Ben Smith of Politico, gave the times the benefit of the doubt as he wrote:

Critics have suggested that the Times is witholding the video for political reasons, but there are other possibilities: competitive reasons, or simply out of tradition. In the mechanics of reporting, there's another possibility as well. The video may have been given to the paper on the condition it not be released, or releasing it could compromise its source.

This is the first mention of a confidential source, speculated by a reporter from a different news agency.

October 29: The Times makes a first mention that the tape was obtained from a confidential source on the condition it would not be released. The story actually says this was originally mentioned on the 28th, but after a thorough search I did not find any mention of this prior to the 29th. Hopefully The Times will send Mr. Smith a thank you card for inadvertently providing the idea of a confidential source.

Calling this BS is an understatement. Let's see the tape, because I'm sure if this had John McCain (or Sarah Palin) on it, it would have been out on the front pages back in April.

The Next 18 Days for Joe the Plumber

Earlier this week Joe Six Pack from Main Street transformed from a mythical symbol into Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Ohio. The only “surprise” is that Joe didn’t have a man-crush on Obama like the media does, and certainly wasn’t chanting change and hope.

“Your new tax plan is going to tax me more isn’t it?”

Those twelve words, followed by Obama’s response of spreading the wealth may have a greater impact on this election as the Ponytail Guy did in 1992 (GHW Bush vs. BJ Clinton) when he asked the presidential candidates to “treat us as your children” and to promise to “meet our needs.”

Rather than try to argue ideology and attempt to explain why Obama feels that taxing certain economic levels is necessary, the media and the Obama Campaign is going to go after this guy. Until Election Day (and who knows how much longer) Joe is going to be called a Republic plant. They’re going to question his plumbing licenses and tax returns. If they can, they’ll bring out unhappy ex-girlfriends from high school or anything else they can do to turn Joe the Plumber into some monster who us peasants on Main Street can’t relate to.

But behind all of this vilifying, the truth is still there. Obama wants to take money from those who earned it, and give it to those who haven’t. He’s using this fictitious number of $250,000 as a point of envy, so those of us making 30k, 50k, or 100k look up to those mean rich people making 250,000 and say “yeah, they should pay up more”.

Let’s not fall for it. No one is going to prosper by punishing those with wealth. Economies grow when jobs are created, not when money is transferred from one party to another without the exchange goods or services in return. Economies grow when the government gets out of the way of people trying to succeed.

Thanks Joe, I hope I’m wrong about their plans for you.

The Other 630 Billion

News Flash!

Today the Federal Reserve injected a total of 630 billion dollars in the financial system in an effort to alleviate the lack of liquidity.

So while Congress is fighting back and forth over this bail out plan (or rescue plan, depending on which spinster you talk to), two miles away the Federal Reserve found 630 billion dollars and threw it into the market.

Odd how this story is being so widely ignored while the crash and burn of the 700 billion bailout makes the headlines. Is this 630 billion not as important as the other 700 billion? The 630 billion wasn’t here this morning – it’s being printed on high powered color printers as we speak.

No vote, no debate. Now we know who’s really running the Country.

Rome is not burning

At some point in our lives we've found ourselves being forced to make a decision out of fear. When we take a step back and look at the issue with a more rational lens, we see things quite differently. On the other hand, when we let fear motivate our decision we often find out later on just how bad of a decision we made.

This is where we stand today, with our esteemed leaders irresponsibly running around crying the sky will fall on Monday if we don't take 700 billion tax payer dollars and throw it at a problem. I don't buy it, and I'm far from alone.

While Congress, Paulson and the President plot to spend our money, take away whatever is left of capitalism, and still not have an inkling of a real solution, JP Morgan buys out Washington Mutual. Like Bear Sterns, JP Morgan got a great deal - this is the free market in action. This buyout did not cost taxpayers a dime.

So where's this 700 billion coming from? Two sources - our taxes or they're going to print more money. Is a massive tax hike or long term inflation in order to bail out companies that only deserve bankruptcy a better alternative than a recession that will likely occur anyway?

This 700 billion will be one of the largest government expansions ever, and we don't want our financial markets turning into the DMV. I'm not saying stand back and let Rome burn. But with buyouts like Merrill Lynch and WAMU happening on their own, let's not rush to interrupt the free market from correcting itself when there's still companies out there who can recognize an opportunity in the face of adversity.

If you agree, contact your congressman or congresswoman and let them know to slow down their 700 billion shopping spree.

The end of Free Market Capitalism

If you're watching CNBC, Fox Business or any other financial channel you're hearing the same mantras every day.

"We had to bail them out, otherwise there would have been a major financial meltdown."

"This is the purpose of the government, when the free market loses control."

WRONG AND WRONG.

The essential purpose of the free market is you have good times, and you have bad times. The mortgage and financial companies make irresponsible decisions. If you and I operated like they did we'd be in debt up to our ears with no lifeline. All because we're not "too big to fail".

So what's the moral of this? If you're going to make irresponsible decisions, just make sure you do it at a magnitude that can hurt the maximum amount of people possible. If you do it any less, nobody cares to help you. Just make sure you're too big to fail.

So, now that the government comes in and buys up all the debt. No big deal, they'll just print some more money. All the financial institutions face no punishment for their decisions, and get to do it all over again. You and I get to pay this for the rest of our lives.

Welcome to the United Socialist Republic of America.

Citigroup to Cut Costs

It’s clear as day that companies should be putting themselves under the microscope to see how and where they cut and costs. But some of these larger companies have no idea just how fat they really are. I love this article:

Citigroup Limits Meetings, Pares Color Photocopies

On first glance, it seems like a minor but prudent step being taken. Color copies cost upwards of 10 times the amount of black and white copies, and I know from experience that many copiers are simply set to color even if they don’t need to be. On further scrutiny, what types of policies (or lack thereof) were in place prior to these changes that allowed such wild spending?

Under the new policy, employee meetings must be held within Citigroup offices and client events will require approval, the memo said.

Oh well, I guess that means no more spontaneous sales meetings held at Scores.

Color photocopiers will be removed from some locations and their use will be limited to client presentations.

As opposed to printing of family photos and NCAA office pools.

Citigroup is also scaling back external training, which will be limited to that which is ``strictly necessary,''

Well, there goes advanced dinner party etiquette. Hopefully “introduction to Microsoft Excel” is strictly necessary.

Purchases of computer hardware and software must also be pre-approved under the new rules,

Seriously – were they really buying hardware and software without approval? I should have asked someone from Citibank to expense a new server for me – or an Xbox 360.

We will be conducting a review of our Blackberry usage,'' Citigroup said. ``In the interim, all new Blackberries will require pre-approval.'

Nice. So no one approved Crackberries previously, nor did anyone ever review usage.

I’m glad Citi’s making such responsible steps in limiting what seemed to be complete out of control unchecked spending. Too bad they didn’t do that before whacking 14,000+ employees.

Prince George County Police Murder 2 Family Dogs

Let me start by saying I'm not in line with PETA. I also happen to have great respect and admiration for law enforcement anywhere. They put their life on the line every day they don a uniform and hit the streets to protect us. I also happen to think that dogs are the most wonderful creatures on this planet. Needless to say, this story angers me to no end.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayor0807,0,4563211.story

Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo had his home invaded last week by a Prince George County SWAT Team because the Mayor was being set up with drug possession charges - the police even acknowledge there was no wrongdoing on his part. That didn't stop them from bursting into his home, tying him and his family up for 2 hours, and shooting down both of his labrodor retrievers.

Berwyn Heights is an incorporated town within Prince George County. So where was the Town's police force? Normally municipalities will cooperate with each other in these type of investigations. Instead, these guys rush in with guns blazing.

Sadly enough, this isn't an isolated incident. These thugs shot and killed an innocent family's dog back in November of 2007 in this story.

The Calvo family has my most sincere condolences for the loss of their two dogs. I hope this travesty of justice does not go unpunished.