Musings From The Road...

Writing from the Gatwick Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse as I return from United Arab Emirates and South Africa... Looking at a 36 hour transit time given 3 flight legs and what looks to be at least a 4 hour mechanical delay on my final leg from London... Gotta love modern air travel!

First comment is how much more glib and useless the CNN International commentators are than their US counterparts! Campbell Brown and Wolf Blitzer seem almost like credible, hard-hitting journalists compared to this cheesy bunch who are simply agog at Obama's ability to purchase himself the US presidency...

Which brings me to my next thought: What will happen when Barry is able to buy himself the White House? Well, I guess he isn't really buying it with his own money, is he? So then can we assume that his campaign budget that exceeds McCain's by 2X or 3X has some strings attached?

Here are the top donors to the Obama campaign:

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

If you don't have time to click the link, then let me tell you the list includes organizations such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Time Warner, UBS, Morgan Stanley, etc.

What? Wasn't this campaign funded by a record number of $10 donations from the high school cafeteria ladies and college kids digging into their Popov Vodka budgets? Hmmmn...

So, okay, not a huge shocker... But makes you wonder when the euphoric hysteria wears off a few weeks from now when the corruption will resume... I'm guessing shortly after the inauguration in January.

Allow me to make this one prediction: The 44th president will be one of the worst in history. How can the next president be worse than Geo Bush? Easy... With a couple of giddy years of falsely inflated public opinion polls and deeper ties into corporate and PAC money than ever before, we will experience ineptitude and corruption like never before. Worse yet, if the House and Senate go Demo, they will run roughshod over this Harvard dilettante... Oh, the Joy!

More to come...

Best,

Mike

Stop Thief!!! Hands off our money!

Sure you and I just pumped $850B of our hard earned tax dollars (or now T-Bonds) to finance this massive corporate welfare bill two weeks ago...

But that's not enough for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi... She wants more! (sung to Billy Idol tune...)

"That One" wants $150 Billion more on yet another "economic stimulus plan" This from Newsweek:

"(The) Detailed Plan Will Wait, Democrats have been talking for months about the need to move a second economic stimulus or recovery bill. On Sept. 26, shortly before adjourning, the House passed a $60.8 billion package (HR 7110) that contained funding for many of the items Democrats say they want in a new package. President Bush threatened to veto the bill and Senate Republicans objected to moving a similar bill (S 3604).

But with the economy at the top of voters' concerns, Democrats are looking to keep their proposals front and center. Earlier this month, Pelosi mentioned $150 billion as the potential size of a new stimulus bill, but House Democrats now say they want to hold hearings before making any decisions on the size and scope of such a measure.

When asked why hearings are needed since the priorities for a stimulus package have not changed greatly since Democrats began advocating them months ago, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md. said, "Just to make sure we have the right levels and the right focus in what will work best in helping the economy to recover."

Pelosi said House Democrats have been working closely with Obama, the Illinois senator, on what should be included in the legislation, arguing that he is hearing Americans' concerns while campaigning across the country."

So some recurring themes here and certainly signs of the economic doomsday machine that lurks in the form of a Democratic President and Democratic Majority in House and Senate. Clearly, Barry Obama and Nancy Pelosi haven't met a piece of pork they can't swallow and there have been some huge Boston Butts coming down from capital Hill lately...

But now another loosely crafted bill that will give the middle-class and down another $600 bucks to head over to Wal-Mart to buy more Chinese DVD players and top off the tank of their Saudi-fueled, Mexican-Built Minivans... Is this the way to economic stability in the USA? I think not, Citizens...

This one is simple, but the Folks who would sit on the hill are determined to steer us away from the simple economic solution to our country's restoration: 1) Restore credibility in the US Dollar vis-a-vis a paydown of national debt and budget overruns, and 2) wholesale cuts in Federal Government spending, which now exceeds tax revenues, and 3) Decrease in Income and Corporate Taxes...

I continue to be amazed that people of any income level can support a presidential candidate whose platform includes increased Federal spending, Increased taxation for Corporations and Individuals, and no real plan to cut Congressional Spending. Leave it to a Harvard Attorney to try and legislate his way out of this mess... In this picture Barry thinks of a plan to redistribute Federal Tax Dollars to his PAC friends in Acorn, Fannie and Freddie, et al... Sure he said he would take care of the little guy, but did the little guys all send in their $2300 to boost his candidacy to collect over 2.5X the amount McCain has collected? No that money came from a variety of corporate sources: I-Banks, Hedge Funds, Retail Banks, etc.

When I think of where we are now as a voting constituency, I think of the metaphor of being trapped in a burning building and having the choice of jumping off the top or making a break for it down the burning staircase... Jumping off the top = certain death and the stairway leaves severe burns but a chance for survival...

Obama is the leap off the top... Quick, requires little thought or effort, and almost has a certain fun, giddy feeling attached to it... Nonetheless you are dead... Game Over!

McCain, represents the singed escape possibility... Some tough times, some sacrifice, but the bolstering possibility of beating sure Death...

I weep for the future if this pseudo-intellectual takes office...

Best,

Mike

The Power Grab Is On!

Short post here... Just saw this photo and it really brought it all home to me about this guy...

Smug smirk on his face that just says, "Stupid F*cks, I'm in this for the power... Pledge of Allegiance, are you kidding me?!? I didn't go to Harvard to do this crap..."

Pick your favorite BB-Q sauce!

Many like the the Carolina Sauce with its mustardy overtones... For some, it is the sweet tanginess of St. Louis style... Lately I've tended to go with the Dry Rub approach for my own BB-Q's and this will serve me well, because the US Congress is serving up the Mother of all pork-laden bills to me and you, good citizen!

Sure, this new tarted up Boston Butt included another $157 Billion negative budget impact ladled onto the original $700 Billion, to include the following components (from Bloomberg):

"The Senate sweetened the package -- and enlarged the legislation to 450 pages -- by linking the rescue plan to a temporary increase in the limit on federal deposit insurance to $250,000 from $100,000.

The Senate also tied the package to a two-year extension of tax breaks that will save individuals and corporations about $149 billion over the next decade, a move popular among House Republicans. The provisions include $17 billion in credits for the development of solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy."

Sounds good, right? Sure I love a Tax Cut for anyone, anytime... But how does that pair me the Anti-Tax maven with Barry Obama, who voted yes on this one? Well, Barry loves to take care of campaign donors just like the next beltway insider. (See my Blog from September 30th for more details)

Here's the piece of this new Bill I like the most, though... My old friend and workout buddy , Ahh-nuld Schwartzenegger (again, from Bloomberg):

"California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote Paulson last night, saying that his and other states may need emergency federal loans to maintain government operations if the credit crunch continues.

``This credit crisis has the power to grind the U.S. economy to a halt,'' Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter e-mailed to Paulson. "

Why the concern from this trapezoid-infused Teuton?

Well this from thinkprogress.org may give us a hint:

"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger “warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks.” Schwarzenegger’s plea comes as the state is “close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans”:

The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans that it typically relies on to remain solvent."

Wait a minute?!? Didn't this type of mismanagement cause Darrell Issa to launch an overthrow of Grey Davis??? How soon we forget...

You heard it here: California's highest income tax rate is 9.3% currently... You will soon see this rate swell to 12% to 15%, especially if Barry and "Combover Joe" take office, making their Tax-Driven, Micromanaged style even more popular - giving you achieving Californians an effective tax rate in the 70% percent range at the high end... Good luck keeping either Corporations or Hi-Income individual contributors in the State after that! Who will pay for the state-constitutionally mandated programs and education for all of the illegal aliens?!?

Anyway, you the taxpayer dodged the $700B version earlier in the week, but your reward is the new porked-up version! Congratulations and Bon Appetite!

Now, on to the Veep Debate!:

I cannot remember the last time I saw a candidate that lacked any real job experience, was unable to function without a teleprompter, and was unable to summon any real gravitas or charisma...

But enough about Obama!

So you think Palin is a "dummy" and don't like the winking and "you betcha's"??? Well, the real truth of the matter (and not the one that Wolf Blitzer or Campbell Brown want you to understand) is that of the four candidates she represents the only true populist of the bunch... sure she is not going to be voted Rocket Surgeon of the year, but then are you really going to make the case that Barry Obama has any more raw intellectual horsepower than she does? Harvard A/B curve aside, this guy stutters like Gomer Pyle as soon as the Poli/Sci intern accidentally hits "reboot" on the teleprompter...

Not to mention, his comprehension of Macroeconomics would make even Professor Steadman Graham blush redder than he does at his typical bi-weekly allowance disbursement at Oprah's Maui Plantation. (C'mon... Points for tieing in the Hawaii connection, right? Or is he from Illinois? Or Kenya?)

In any event, ask yourself who you'd rather spend time with alone on a dark, starry night in Denali National Forest: Barry, John, Combover Joe? Or Sarah?

This one's easy folks...

Best,

Mike