The-Asterisk

I am sitting at the breakfast table, contemplating Presidential politics, wondering who would end up being the nominees and knowing that NO ONE has a clue how this will all turn out. Then it hit me like a two ton heavy thing ... Donald J. Trump  is actually using Barack Obama's playbook with some heavy editing. Hear me out on this one. People complain that Trump has no experience in government. Obama had very little experience as well. Right after being sworn in as a US Senator and as soon as he could get the furniture set up in his new office, Obama began his purposed journey to the White House. People say that they don't know how Trump would vote or what he stands for. Obama, when he actually voted, pretty much toed the party line. I don't believe he authored any significant legislation during his short time in federal or state office. No paper trail there. Obama was a rock star. He had star power after that eloquent 2004 Democrat National Convention speech whe...

I will probably "step in it" on this one, but I wanted to comment on former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's recent, rather un-PC comment that President Barack Obama doesn't "love America". It was quite a dumb thing for a seasoned politician to say even if it was a private event (ask Mitt "47%" Romney about that) unless he really wanted to evoke comment and controversy. When Giuliani attempted to walk his comment back last week, he really didn't say what I think he really meant. Let me see if I can "help" him with that effort. President Obama loves America. He would just love it to be different and it is his love for the country he knows America could be that he twice ran for, and was elected as its President. Less than a week before his election in 2008, Barack Obama told the world, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Certainly, no one can argue that he has not been rathe...

Fifty three percent (53%) of my being wants to let this corrupt and incompetent administration and its acolytes in the Congress just go ahead and have their way with this country because that is what the 53% want. It is all about the majority, right? Even though the Republicans have a small majority in the House that can thwart some harmful legislation, there will be a white-hot push to get the Republicans to "compromise" with the Left so that we can "progress" as a nation. (Remember, Republicans who stick to their principles are called  obstructionists , while Democrats who stick to their beliefs are labeled  principled .) At this point in my life, I want to let go and give these brilliant thinkers and their tribal / herd / pack-animal followers the keys to the machine. I guess I am going all "Who is John Galt" in my old age. I am going to hunker down, grow my business to the extent possible during the expected economic decline and do what I can do ...

Sheesh. These guys are supposed to be the smartest people in the room, right? It is now an accepted part of the new normal that we are a 50.1% / 49.9% nation when it comes to left and right, right? Well, we didn't start out that way. As few as 30 years ago, presidential elections were competitive, but not super close. Now, armed with vast computing power and the methods by which they can slice and dice data, the cognoscenti know which 6 or 7 states are in play. They then hone their message to speak only to the demographic of the specific 'undecided' voter. (How ANYONE could be undecided in this election still boggles my mind...) It occurred to me today that we are in this razor-thin margin situation precisely because of the ads and the polling and the scientific manipulation, not the other way around. Like any scientific observation, sometimes the reason things are the way they are can actually be caused by the scientific observation, and not so much on the static env...

This is pure opinion on my part, but I believe that Obama is trekking happily on the political equivalent of the Bataan Death March because he has something to prove. You have seen people like the "crazy" preacher on the street corner in the tenderloin district, or others with a Quixotic air about themselves, who seem to revel in the fact that people don't like them and look down on them. It is almost a self-perceived badge of courage and honor. "If I piss off the right people, then I must be doing something meaningful" they seem to think as if that gets them a little bit closer to their promised land. I truly think that he is brushing up his Bona Fides, proving that he can put it out there saying "Damn, the torpedoes... Full speed ahead." But what is he aiming for? What is his goal? President of the World. That's right. Head of the UN. Bill Clinton wanted it, but never got it. If BHO got it, he would have bested a Clinton twice... Reme...

I just read this piece by Charles Krauthammer about how beholden the Democrats are to unions with their rabid support and how Obama is quietly putting up roadblocks to our trade deals with other countries to protect these unions, all the while touting the need for more jobs and more exports. It sickens me to imagine another four years of Barack Obama.The thought of his reelection makes me think of that religious group that would rather let their sick child die than allow professional medical help, since medicine violates their 'religious' sensitivities.Well, our dear President is allowing his 'religion' to stop him from doing what is right for our great nation. My hope to cure this 'problem' shifts to the November 2012 election which, while still early, is starting to heat up with competition between Republican challengers. I will withhold comment on the current field. Who knows if any of these people can cause Obama to be a one term President like Jimmy C...

After almost two long, excrutiating years, the election is here. Long lines, disenfranchisement, promises, lies, smears, counter-lies, hope, change, hope, change, hope and change. I am sick of it. McCain has run such a terrible campaign that the whole thing is an embarassment. If he were to win, I could understand how the other side would think that it was rigged. However, if he does win, there is going to be massive rioting by those that claim that they aren't racist. In my book (and most dictionaries), racism is defined as making a decision based solely on race. If you are a black person and you are going to vote for Obama because he is black, then that is a blatently racist decision. There can be no argument. They may justify it for any number of reasons, but it is still a racist decision. If a white guy votes for McCain because he isn't black and that is racist, then voting (many for the first time) for a guy because he is black is just as racist, no matter what color you...

Random notes from the big night at Invesco Field: -- Climate Crisis? What happened to Global Warming? I guess with the coolest August in many years, they had to 're-brand' the term. -- End a woman's right to choose? Time for a change! -- Younger voters ALWAYS vote liberal. Grownups vote conservative. Adult liberals just haven't grown up, yet. -- 100 years ago, Al Gore would probably have taken the place of P.T. Barnum. The parallel is astounding. Step right up! -- Hitler and Mussolini thought they were right, didn't they? Talk about moral authority! -- When does John Edwards speak? -- Take our county back? Take it back, or get it back? Back from what? Ever see a child have a visitor come over and the little visitor picks up a toy? Then the child whines and grabs the toy away from the visiting child, then puts it back down because she really didn't want it? She just didn't want the other kid to have it? That is what I think when I see the Dems go on and on a...

Refundable tax credits. Sounds nice. The words tax and refund in one sentence. Kind of rolls off the tongue doesn't it? And, who wouldn't want a tax refund? What about a tax credit? We have always known, since Congress passed the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, that taking people's money away from them and then giving it back in dribbles and drabs if they do certain things is an extremely powerful method of behavior modification and is the reason that Congress will NEVER pass the Fair Tax . How many of us installed new insulation in our homes back in the 80's when there was an "Energy Tax Credit" to do so? Yeah, we got to keep up to $800 as a credit . Never even sent it to the feds. And if we had already sent it to them (in the form of payroll deductions), we got it all back when we filed our tax return the next year. That is what a credit is... a credit against taxes that you owe. Well, what if you don't owe any taxes? That is not hard to imagine ...

Today, Drudge shows that VA Governor Tim Kaine is on the short, short list of VP candidates for Barack Obama. That would not greatly surprise me, that a two year US Senator with virtually no experience short of exuding hope, voting 'present' in a short stint as a state representative, and being a community organizer, then a professional board member of foundations would pick a sitting Governor of a swing state that has been Gov for only two years and before that was Mayor of Richmond. Talk about balance! If you ask my take on it (and I am glad you did...) I think Obama will pick Caroline Kennedy (notice how she is not referred to by her married name lately?) Ms. Kennedy is currently one of two people handling the vetting (no, no, not the Chevrolet kind) of potential VP picks. Remember eight years ago, a guy named Cheney was doing the same job for W and look where it got him. In today's case however, it would not bring gravitas, but it would evoke a whole industry of gauzy ...

When Barack Obama says that he did not vote to send troops into Iraq, he is correct. The asterisk is that he was not in a position to vote since he was serving in the Illinois State legislature in 2002. Given the nation's attitude at the time and the overwhelming evidence that Saddam had weapons of mass-destruction, it is hard to say what the non-Senator would have done. Of course, hindsight is 20-20, so he can boastfully say that he did not vote to attack Iraq. Well, he did not vote for the Civil Rights Act either! How did he become a US Senator? Few remember that he was about to face Jack Ryan (R) in the race for the seat of retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. Jack Ryan was the divorced husband of actress Jeri Ryan who played the ex-Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, among other roles. Their divorce proceedings were voluntarily made public, but their child custody proceedings were sealed by the court to protect the children . When several media outlets sued to open t...