When Barack Hussein Obama moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from the backrooms of Chicago, Illinois, he brought The Windy City’s politics with him.

Judicialwatch.org relates a little tale of quid pro quo:

In its quest to promote taxpayer-funded entitlement programs, the Obama Administration has actually rewarded one state with a $5 million bonus for its efficiency in adding food-stamp recipients to already bulging rolls.

It’s part of the administration’s campaign to eradicate “food insecure households” by improving access and increasing participation in the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Incidentally, the program was recently changed to SNAP to eliminate the stigma that comes with a name like food stamps. Just a few months ago the federal agency that administers the program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), launched a multi-million-dollar initiative to recruit more food-stamp participants even though the number of recipients has skyrocketed in the last few years.

This week Oregon officials bragged that the USDA has given the state $5 million in “performance bonuses” for ensuring that people eligible for food benefits receive them and for its “swift processing of applications.” The money comes on the heels of a separate $1.5 million award from the feds for making “accurate payments of food stamp benefits to clients.” So welfare recipients are clients?

It marks the fifth consecutive year that Oregon has been “recognized” by the federal government for “exceptional administration” of the entitlement program, according to the announcement posted on the state’s Department of Human Services web site. The state official who runs SNAP assures that her staff will “continue working very hard to exceed expectations” so that Oregonians can “put healthy foods on their table quickly.”

So, this administration makes shady deals with state governments.  How about private business?

Can you say “Solyndra”?

Per bloomberg.com:

The FBI is investigating Solyndra LLC for possible accounting fraud and the accuracy of financial representations made to the government, according to an agency official.

The FBI is examining possible misrepresentations in financial statements, according to the FBI official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Solyndra, which made cylindrical-shaped solar panels, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 6 and fired about 1,100 workers with little notice, about two years after winning a $535 million U.S. loan guarantee from the Energy Department.The company’s offices in Fremont, California, were raided by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Sept. 8. The Justice Department hasn’t said why Solyndra is being probed.

“The company is not aware of any wrongdoing by Solyndra officers, directors or employees” related to the Energy Department loan guarantees or other actions and “is cooperating fully” with the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, according to a Sept. 20 statement from Solyndra.

But, hey, the corruption doesn’t stop there.  Per bizjournals.com:

Federal authorities are pressuring Nashville-based Gibson Guitar to hand over an additional 25 bundles of Indian wood that the company allegedly planned to use in its famous guitars.

The complaint was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and mirrors a 2010 action that sought official forfeiture of wood obtained in a 2009 raid of Gibson facilities. The latter of those cases has been stayed, pending the outcome of the most recent suit.

As has been the case in previous allegations, at issue is the classification of certain wood imported to the United States from India. Namely, a June shipment of 1,250 sawn logs was classified as “finished parts of musical instruments,” which is allowed under Indian law. In reality, according to the sworn affidavit of Fish and Wildlife Service agent Kevin Seiler, the wood was unfinished – a violation of the Lacey Act.

The Lacey Act, originally passed by Congress in 1900, was amended in 2008 as part of that year’s Farm Bill to include protection for certain wood and endangered animal species. At its core, the Lacey Act makes it illegal to import plants or wildlife into the U.S. if those goods are harvested in a way that violates the laws of another country.

In other words, because Indian workers didn’t create the final product, it’s not legally eligible to be exported.

The affidavit also outlines allegations that Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz understands the violations, as evidenced by the staunch defense of his company in a press conference and subsequent political fights around the Lacey Act.

Gosh, could all of this Federal scrutiny of Gibson Guitars be because of the fact that…

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of elections (though, to be fair, he did donate a whopping $750 to Republican Congressmen in the 90s.) [And] According to C.F. Martin’s catalog, several of their guitars contain “East Indian Rosewood.” In case you were wondering, that is the exact same wood in at least ten of Gibson’s guitars.

Nawww.  That couldn’t be the real reason for the Gibson raids, could it?

Why does this president and his administration seem to be so “ethically challenged”?

Cnsnews.com may have an explanation:

President Barack Obama told an audience of high school students in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday that he was “not always the very best student” and that ethics “would not have made it on the list” of his favorite subjects.

“I was not always the very best student that I could be when I was in high school, and certainly not when I was in middle school,” Obama said, speaking at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School.

“I did not love every class I took. I wasn’t always paying attention the way I should have,” Obama said. “I remember when I was in 8th grade I had to take a class called ethics. Now, ethics is about right and wrong, but if you’d ask me what my favorite subject was back in 8th grade, it was basketball. I don’t think ethics would have made it on the list.”

I’m shocked, I tell you.  Shocked.

At a Townhall Meeting, held in front of a little over 200 people on the campus of St. Anshelm College in New Hampshire yesterday, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney fired back at the widely-held opinion that he flip-flops on issues.  He told those in attendance that

…it’s not that every single issue I’ve looked at my entire life I’ve never changed my view on.

Why would any American ever think that Romney changes his position on hot button issues at the drop of a hat?

Well, gentle reader, the Washington Post published a very special list during the Republican Primary Campaign of 2008.  Here, according to them, are Romney’s Top 5 Flip-Flops:

1. Abortion. In October 2002, campaigning for governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney said he would “preserve and protect” a woman’s right to choose. He now describes himself as an abortion opponent.

2. Gay rights. In a 1994 letter to the Log Cabin Republicans, who advocate gay rights, he said he was in favor of “gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly” in the military. He now says it would be a mistake to interfere with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

3. Gun control. Campaigning for the Senate in 1994, he said he favored strong gun laws and did not “line up with the NRA.” He joined the National Rifle Association in 2006 while pondering a presidential run, and he praised the group for “doing good things” and “supporting the right to bear arms.”

4. Campaign finance. In 1994, he advocated a spending limit on congressional elections and the abolition of political action committees. In 2002, he supported public financing of campaigns from a 10 percent tax on private fundraising. This year, he said the McCain-Feingold law limiting campaign contributions is an attack on free speech.

5. Immigration. In a November 2005 interview with the Boston Globe, he described an immigration overhaul advanced by John McCain as “reasonable.” He now denounces it as an “amnesty plan.” In December 2006, he signed an agreement authorizing state troopers to round up illegal immigrants.

When asked by a fan during yesterday’s townhall how he should respond when someone questioned him about Romney’s candidacy, the former governor quipped:

Let me give you some brass knuckles, that should help.

Then, he turned serious, taking a few swipes at Texas Governor and fellow potential Republican Nominee Rick Perry:

The nature of politics is that you try and find some edge to characterize your opponent and beat him over the head, and that is if you don’t have a optimistic or positive message of your own.

That’s going to happen and I understand it. It’s pretty rough and tumble and I don’t whine about that I realized that when I got into [politics].

Alluding to Perry’s web-based attack ad, Romney said:

The nice thing about writing a book is that you can read it and see what I stand for.

In the private sector, if you don’t change your view when the facts change, you’ll get fired for being stupid.

Then “Mittens”, as he’s less-than-affectionally known to Conservatives across the country, questioned whether Obama flunky David Axlerod had ever seen the movie Titanic, since Axlerod was callous enough to attempt to compare the struggles of the Obama campaign to the ill-fated ship that sank and killed more than 1,500 people:

[David Axelrod] said that the Obama campaign was going to be a ‘titanic struggle. I’m not sure he knows what that word means, I’m not sure he saw the movie.

It’s true for a lot of reasons. The captain of the ship has been inattentive, otherwise occupied or asleep for most of the voyage.

[The ship] is going to sink.

Your’s may also, Governor.

Foxnews.com reports:

Three September debates have shaken-up the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Herman Cain has jumped into the top tier. Rick Perry’s stumbled. Mitt Romney’s holding steady.

And Michele Bachmann is hitting bottom. That’s according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.

The new poll found Cain’s support has nearly tripled among GOP primary voters to 17 percent.

That’s up from 6 percent before this month’s debates, and puts him in what is essentially a three-way tie with Perry and Romney.

Cain has benefited not only from his debate performances, but also significant media attention after winning the Florida Republican Party’s straw poll on Saturday.

Perry now garners 19 percent, a drop of 10 percentage points from a month ago. That puts Romney back in the top spot with the support of 23 percent. Last month Romney was at 22 percent.

Newt Gingrich recovered some ground and now stands at 11 percent. Ron Paul receives the backing of 6 percent now compared to 8 percent before the September debates.

Bachmann registers 3 percent support, down from 8 percent in late August and a high of 15 percent in July.

After perusing the web for the last couple of days, it seems that Herman Cain that is the “flavor of the month”.  After shocking the political pundits by winning the Florida Straw Poll, Cain stories are rage of the internet.  Tea Partiers and REagan Conservatives seem to be gravitating toward him as “so-called” Moderate Republicans/”fiscal” Conservatives/Liberals operating behind the “enemy lines” are pushing Romney.

Scott Rasmussen reports that

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that Obama earns 39% support while Cain attracts 34%. In that match-up, 14% prefer some other candidate, and 14% are undecided.

With Perry shooting himself in the foot (an apt metaphor for a Texas Governor) with his “heartless” remark in defense of giving college scholarships to children of illegal immigrants, and Romney’s slow fade, perhaps straight-shooter Herman Cain is the Conservative Leader Americans have been waiting for.

Then again, I think this rodeo is just getting started.  It’s not time for the Republican Candidate Cowboy to ride off into the sunset, in the direction of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, just yet.

There may be an Annie Oakley waiting in the wings.

In the aftermath of its sojourn through the Eastern Coast of the United States approximately one month ago, Hurricane Irene left behind an enormous amount of damage from North Carolina to Maine.  According to The New York Times, damage estimates range from $7 billion to $10 billion.

At the end of its journey, Hurricane Irene wound up ranking in the top 10 worst hurricanes in terms of insurance losses.

In North Carolina, losses topped $400 million. Gov. Beverly Perdue remarked as much as $320 million came from crop losses. As many as 43 counties have requested to be put on disaster status.

For days after the storm, as many as 580,000 people were still without power.

New Jersey had record rainfall along the Passaic River. In Little Falls, flooding made it two blocks away from the river when it crested at 14.19 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. It broke the previous record by over three feet. Per CNN as many as 1,700 people had to evacuate the area due to flooding. Over 300 roads were blocked.

In New York, parts of Staten Island were overrun by storm surges. The New York City Fire Department rescued 60 people from the flooded out portions of the island. New York’s suburbs were inundated with water.

140,000 acres in the state were lost among 13 counties.

According to the New York Times, 13 towns in Vermont were isolated by heavy rains. Roads and power lines were destroyed because of too much rain.

Per The Portland Press Herald, two bridges in Maine were washed away, 300 yards apart along Route 27 in Carrabassett Valley. Officials believe that the collapses were due to the extreme amounts of rain that pelted the area.

Did you see either Philadelphia or Pennsylvania mentioned anywhere in that list of major damage caused by Hurricane Irene?

No?  Well, evidently it doesn’t really matter.

Like vultures descending on the carcass of an antelope killed by a lion on the Serengeti, those who seek to profit from this natural disaster are descending on County Assistance Offices in Philadelphia.

The local CBS affiliate in Philadelphia reports:

Thousands of Philadelphia residents gathered in long lines, citywide, waiting hours outside of 12 County Assistance Offices, hoping to apply for relief following Hurricane Irene.

The residents, many confused and lacking official information, hoped to receive a month of food stamps for food ruined by floods and power problems caused by the hurricane.

The program, called Disaster SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program), was created by the federal government and is administered by the State Department of Public Welfare.

Because of unexpectedly large turnouts, the application process was moved from Disaster Recovery Centers in Philadelphia to the 12 state offices in neighborhoods citywide.

Residents, based on income, household size and proof of flood-damage can receive up to a month’s worth of food stamps.

Those already receiving food stamps are eligible for partial relief, to the extent that their prior month’s food supply was damaged.

Throughout the day Monday, and beginning early Tuesday morning, many state offices had lines stretching for blocks with confused residents, many alerted by other neighbors that relief was available.

Little if any guidance was available at offices in the early going, although later in the day, officials did permit applicants to fill out forms outside the building instead of waiting for hours in line.

Officials emphasized that anyone seeking relief would have to present proof that they lost food due to a power outage or flooding from Irene. They also have to present proper identification and their relief, if any, would be based on their income and household size.

The application period, which began last Tuesday, ended at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.  Applicants will be notified if they are eligible to receive the SNAP assistance within 24 to 48 hours.

This “Emergency Relief” comes in addition to the 1/6th of Americans currently on the SNAP (Food Stamps) Program, some of whom are 2nd and 3rd generation recipients.

Wait a minute, isn’t President Obamas’s American Jobs Act supposed to alieviate all of this “pain and suffering”?  That’s why he’s been ranting and raving all over the countryside to Pass the Bill Now!, isn’t it?

It looks like Scooter is just going to have to wait, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as reported at washingtontimes.com:

President Obama is still pressing Congress to pass his jobs-stimulus bill immediately, but Democratic Party leaders in the Senate once again have delayed taking a vote on the legislation and instead will take up a bill to punish China over its currency valuation.

Senators late Monday passed a bill to keep the government open into the next fiscal year and then adjourned for the rest of the week, but Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said when they return they’ll take up the China measure rather than Mr. Obama’s jobs plan.

“I don’t think there’s anything more important for a jobs measure than China trade,” said Mr. Reid, who is the chief Senate sponsor of Mr. Obama’s plan, but who said taking on China is a bigger priority right now.

For the Administration and its minions in the Democratic Party, it is is very apparent that it is more important to keep Entitlements flowing to their loyal voters, instead of working to ease the tax burden on Corporate America (those eeevil rich people), thereby creating jobs and getting America’s economic engine running on all cylinders again.

Karl Marx once said:

For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.

The Democrats are masters at it.

The crowning achievement of the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama and the Democratic Party, the National Health Care Law, known as Obamacare, is headed for a rendezvous with destiny.

 Politico.com reports that:

The Obama administration chose not to ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear a pivotal health reform case Monday, signaling that it’s going to ask the Supreme Court to decide whether President Barack Obama’s health reform law is constitutional.

The move puts the Supreme Court in the difficult position of having to decide whether to take the highly politically charged case in the middle of the presidential election.

The Justice Department is expected to ask the court to overturn an August decision by a panel of three judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the law’s requirement to buy insurance is unconstitutional. The suit was brought by 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business, and several individuals.

Since the ruling, the Justice Department had until Monday to ask the entire 11th Circuit to review the case. Administration lawyers didn’t file the paperwork by the 5 p.m. deadline, so the ruling would stand unless the Justice Department asks the Supreme Court to step in.

The petition isn’t due until November, and the administration could get an extension.

Opponents of the law had expected the government to ask for the so-called en banc hearing to delay a ruling by the Supreme Court.

America’s physicians, who know a lot more about America’s Health Care System than Obama ever will, have deserted the flagship association of their profession, due to its support of the Frankenstein Monster known as Obamacare.

Per Forbes.com:

According to a new survey, the majority of doctors do not believe that the AMA represents their views and interests. Much of that dissatisfaction stems from the organization’s support for President Obama’s contentious health care reform package.

That shouldn’t be surprising. The AMA declares that its core mission is to “help doctors help patients.” But ObamaCare undermines that pursuit by making life harder for physicians and driving down the quality of care available to patients.

The survey — conducted by physician recruitment firm Jackson & Coker — is a brutal indictment of both the AMA and ObamaCare. Just 13% of doctors agree with their trade association’s support of the health reform law.

Some doctors are even dissociating themselves from the AMA. Of those who have terminated their membership, 47% cited the organization’s continued backing of the health care law as the primary reason. Increasingly doctors are turning to associations like Docs4PatientCare and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons that actually do represent their interests.

The Jackson & Coker survey joins a large stack of research with similar findings. In February, the National Physicians Survey discovered that more than three times as many doctors believed that the quality of American health care would “deteriorate” rather than “improve” under ObamaCare. Nine of ten physicians think ObamaCare will have a negative impact on their profession.

There’s no doubt that it will.

To jog your memory as to what a monstrosity of governmental bureaucracy Obamacare is, here is a brief overview of the timeline for the implementation of Obamacare, from a pdf prepared by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees on April 2, 2010. 

Let’s pick up the timeline with this year:

2011

Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care Coverage.

Strengthening Community Health Centers and the Primary Care Workforce.

Increasing Reimbursement for Primary Care.

Increasing Training Support for Primary Care.

Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency. Establishes a new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce health care costs and enhance the quality of care provided to individuals.

Improving Preventive Health Coverage.

Improving Transitional Care for Medicare Beneficiaries.

Expanding Primary Care, Nursing, and Public Health Workforce.

Increasing Access to Home and Community Based Services.

Reporting Health Coverage Costs on Form W-2: Requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2.

Standardizing the Definition of Qualified Medical Expenses. Conforms the definition of qualified medical expenses for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs to the definition used for the itemized deduction. An exception to this rule is included so that amounts paid for over-the-counter medicine with a prescription still qualify as medical expenses.

Increased Additional Tax for Withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Account Funds for Non-Qualified Medical Expenses.

Cafeteria Plan Changes.

2012

Encouraging Integrated Health Systems.

Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes.

Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions. Directs CMS to track hospital readmission rates for certain high-volume or high-cost conditions and uses new financial incentives to encourage hospitals to undertake reforms needed to reduce preventable readmissions, which will improve care for beneficiaries and rein in unnecessary health care spending.

Can you say “here come the Death Panels”?

2013

Payments to Primary Care Physicians. Requires that Medicaid payment rates to primary care physicians for furnishing primary care services be no less than 100% of Medicare payment rates in 2013 and 2014.

Administrative Simplification. Health plans must adopt and implement uniform standards and business rules for the electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens and costs.

Encouraging Provider Collaboration. Establishes a national pilot program on payment bundling

Limiting Health Flexible Savings Account Contributions.

Increased Threshold for Claiming Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.

Medical device excise tax. Establishes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of a medical device by a manufacturer or importer.

Limiting Executive Compensation.

Fee for patient-centered outcomes research.

2014

Reforming Health Insurance Regulations.

Eliminating Annual Limits.

Ensuring Coverage for Individuals Participating in Clinical Trials.

Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Opens health insurance Exchanges in each State to individuals and small employers. This new venue will enable people to comparison shop for standardized health packages. Local hack politicians are lining up for jobs right now.

Providing Health Care Tax Credits.

Ensuring Choice through Free Choice Vouchers.

Promoting Individual Responsibility.

Small Business Tax Credit.

Quality Reporting for Certain Providers.

Health Insurance Provider Fee. Imposes an annual, non-deductible fee on the health insurance sector allocated across the industry according to market share.

2015

Continuing Innovation and Lower Health Costs. Establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit proposals to Congress and the private sector aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, lowering health care costs, improving health outcomes for patients, promoting quality and efficiency, and expanding access to evidence-based care.

Paying Physicians Based on Value Not Volume. Creates a physician value-based payment program to promote increased quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.

2018

Excise tax on high cost employer-provided health plans becomes effective. Tax is on the cost of coverage in excess of $27,500 (family coverage) and $10,200 (single coverage), increased to $30,950 (family) and $11,850 (single) for retirees and employees in high risk professions.

According to the “experts”, it appears very likely that the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case.

They’d better do it quickly….while America still has the finest health care system in the world.

There has never been a president and his administration more out of touch with the American people than Barack Hussein Obama and his minions.

Case in point, as reported at rollcall.com:

White House adviser David Plouffe made the rounds on the Sunday news talk shows in a major push for the president’s nearly $450 billion jobs plan.

“We expect to have a vote on the American Jobs Act in October,” Plouffe said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“We need action,” he added. “The American people know the economy is too weak; too many of them are suffering. So the question for Washington is are we going to continue to play political games, or are we going to say we can do something right now to create jobs, to put money in the pockets of the middle class, hire construction workers, teachers, veterans. The president’s plan would have a profound impact on the economy, and Congress ought to act right now.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has pledged to bring the president’s plan up for a vote in the Senate, but it is unlikely to come to the House floor.

Plouffe’s comments came after some Democrats raised concerns over some parts of the plan. In a floor speech Friday, Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) said he was concerned that the proposal includes “gimmicks” such as $1 trillion in savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Plouffe was undaunted. Asked about the provision on “Fox News Sunday,” he said that it was also included by House Republicans in their fiscal 2012 budget resolution.

Plouffe sought to make the case that House Republicans have been unwilling to work with Democrats because of a concern over losing their political base ahead of next year’s elections.

“Basically we are at a point now where roughly 30 tea party Members of Congress, the Republican leadership is putting their demands ahead of 300 million Americans, and that has to stop,” Plouffe said.

So, while yipping chihuahua David Plouffe was lobbying for Obama’s tax increase  this weekend, what was the Leader of the Regime himself  up to this weekend?

From yahoo.com:

In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and “put on your marching shoes” to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.

…Obama’s speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he’s been giving away too much in talks with Republicans — and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.

“It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y’all,” Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.

But he said blacks need to have faith in the future — and understand that the fight won’t be won if they don’t rally to his side.

“I need your help,” Obama said.

The president will need black turnout to match its historic 2008 levels if he’s to have a shot at winning a second term, and Saturday’s speech was a chance to speak directly to inner-city concerns.

He acknowledged blacks have suffered mightily because of the recession, and are frustrated that the downturn is taking so long to reverse. “So many people are still hurting. So many people are barely hanging on,” he said, then added: “And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way.”

But Obama said blacks know all too well from the civil rights struggle that the fight for what is right is never easy.

“Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. “Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”

Topping the to-do list, he said, is getting Congress to the pass jobs bill he sent to Capitol Hill two weeks ago.

But, wait. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.

The Washington Post reports that:

President Obama’s campaign is developing an aggressive new program to expand support from ethnic minority groups and other traditional Democratic voters as his team studies an increasingly narrow path to victory in next year’s reelection effort.

The program, called “Operation Vote,” underscores how the tide has turned for Obama, whose 2008 brand was built on calls to unite “red and blue America.” Then, he presented himself as a politician who could transcend traditional partisan divisions, and many white centrists were drawn to the coalition.

Today, the political realities of a sputtering economy, a more polarized Washington and fast-sinking presidential job approval ratings, particularly among white independents, are forcing the Obama campaign to adjust its tactics.

Operation Vote will function as a large, centralized department in the Chicago campaign office for reaching ethnic, religious and other voter groups. It will coordinate recruitment of an ethnic volunteer base and push out targeted messages online and through the media to groups such as blacks, Hispanics, Jews, women, seniors, young people, gays and Asian Americans.

The campaign this month hired a longtime Jewish political activist as a point person for that community, the first of many such hirings to come this fall as staffers are brought on from each of the target groups.

Gosh, you don’t suppose that was a response to the upset victory of the Republicans, who won Rep. Anthony Weiner’s old seat in New York’s heavily Jewish 9th District, do you?

By pushing for tax increases for the wealthy, he is following the old Democratic Playbook Lesson on Class Warfare, word for word.  And, by racially classifying people, he’s returning to his days of Community Organizing in Chicago.

Obama is exhibiting all of the ring savvy of a punch-drunk boxer, who telegraphs every punch.

And he’s setting himself up for a knockout on November 6, 2012.

I remember when I first saw Morgan Freeman. It was in the movie “Glory” about the heroic 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a regiment of black soldiers, headed by Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the son of a famous abolitionist, who were wiped out at Fort Wagner, SC in the Civil War.

He followed that up with “Lean on Me”, the movie about legendary Eastside High Principal “Crazy” Joe Clark, who took the worst school in New Jersey, and turned it around through leadership and discipline.

In those two movies, Mr. Freeman played men of integrity and conviction.  His presence on the movie screen was riveting.  It did not matter one iota what color he was. The man could act.

Friday Evening, in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, who took over Larry King’s time slot, and, by the way, is failing miserably, Morgan Freeman threw his personal integrity right out the window:

PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Has Obama helped the process of eradicating racism, or has it in a strange way made it worse.

MORGAN FREEMAN: Made it worse. Made it worse. Look at, look, the Tea Partiers, who are controlling the Republican Party, stated, and what’s this guy’s name, Mitch O’Connell. Is that his, O’Connell?

MORGAN: Yeah, Mitch McConnell, yeah.

FREEMAN: Mitch McConnell. Their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What’s, what does that, what underlines that? “Screw the country. We’re going to whatever we do to get this black man, we can, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here.”

MORGAN: But is that necessarily a racist thing?

FREEMAN: It is a racist thing.

MORGAN: Is it not Republicans, wouldn’t that say that about any Democrat president?

FREEMAN: No, they would have gotten rid of Bill Clinton if they could have.

MORGAN: They tried.

FREEMAN: They did try, but still. I don’t, they’re not going to get rid of Obama either. I think they’re shooting themselves in the head.

MORGAN: Does it unnerve you that the Tea Party are gaining such traction?

FREEMAN: Yes.

MORGAN: Why?

FREEMAN: Well, it just shows the weak, dark, underside of America. We’re supposed to be better than that. We really are. That’s, that’s why all those people were in tears when Obama was elected president. “Ah, look at what we are. Look at how, this is America.” You know? And then it just sort of started turning because these people surfaced like stirring up muddy water.

Disappointing, really.

Yesterday, something happened in the Sunshine State to refudiate Mr.  Freeman’s jaded opinion, concerning racial animus in these United States.

The Washington Times reports that:

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain [who happens to be a black Conservative] won the Presidency 5 straw poll here Saturday, delivering a blow to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s front-runner status and a victory for a candidate who has struggled to transform his grass-roots popularity into strong showings in national polls.

“Tonight’s winner is Herman Cain,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced. “It shows you something: The road to the White House comes through Florida, and it pays to spend time here.”

Mr. Cain received 37 percent of the more than 2,600 votes cast.

“Thank you to the Republican voters for this incredible honor of being named the winner of the Presidency 5 straw poll in Florida today,” Mr. Cain said. “This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored. I will continue to share my message of ‘common-sense solutions’ across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election.”

The two national front-runners — Mr. Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — placed second and third. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, meanwhile, landed in fourth place; Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was in fifth place; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, sixth. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann finished last.

Before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s, life was taken from him in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, he spoke these words on the Washington Mall, in our nation’s capital on August 28, 1963:

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Now, it’s no secret that I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and currently live in Northwest Mississippi. 

About an hour down I-55 from me, is the town of Clarksdale, Mr. Freeman’s hometown, where he happens to co-own a very popular nightspot, frequented by folks of all shades, shapes, and sizes.

You would have thought that he would have known better.

During the Fox News Channel/Google Debate last Thursday evening, featuring the Republican Candidates who are contending for the party’s Presidential Nomination, Governor Rick Perry of Texas said:

If you say that we should not educate children who come into our state for no other reason than that they’ve been brought their through no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.  We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society. I think that’s what Texans wanted to do. Out of 181 members of the Texas legislature when this issue came up [there were] only four dissenting votes. This was a state issue. Texas voted on it. And I still support it today.

What is he talking about?  The Senate voted down the Dream Act in December, 2010, didn’t they?

Well, in 2001, Governor Rick Perry signed Texas House Bill 1403 into law.  This law has become known as the Texas Dream Act:

This bill states that non-citizens (illegal immigrants) may be able to apply for state financial aid if they have:

Lived in Texas for three years, at least part of the time with a parent or court-appointed legal guardian

Graduated from a Texas high school (or received a GED)

Not attended an institution of higher education before fall 2001

Signed an affidavit stating they will apply for permanent residency as soon as they are eligible.

In other words, they promise to become citizens…cross their hearts.

All is not milk and honey for the children of illegal immigrants seeking a free college education in the Lone Star State.  According to Texas State Technical College, there’s a catch:

However, as with any type of state financial aid, funding is very limited and everyone that qualifies may not receive an award due to a lack of funding. You must complete the affidavit available on this [their] website and you should be prepared to provide any proof or documentation that may be requested by the college.

Can you say:  leaving yourself an out?

Even though Texas has their own version of the Dream Act, the state is still struggling with its citizens who remained opposed to illegal immigration, as the Austin-American Statesman reports:

Supporters of stricter immigration laws today said Gov. Rick Perry needs to leave the presidential campaign trail and call the Legislature back to tackle a ban on so-called sanctuary cities.

A sanctuary city prohibits law enforcement from asking about the immigration status of the people they detain. In January, Perry put a ban on sanctuary cities on his list of emergency items, meaning he wanted the Legislature to tackle them promptly. But the ban did not pass in the regular session, nor in a 30-day special session that followed.

“Governor Perry needs to clarify where he stands on illegal immigration and he needs to come back to Texas and finish the people’s unfinished business,” said JoAnn Fleming, who chairs the advisory committee for the Legislature’s Tea Party Caucus.

She added, “Governor Perry needs to take care of the issue. If it was an emergency item in January, if it was an emergency item in May for the special session, it is an emergency item today.”

Opposition from Democrats and key figures in the business community who lobbied the Legislature kept the ban from passing in either the regular or special session.

While I do believe that Governor Perry is a good man, and if it does come down to choosing between him and Governor Romney, I would choose him, I have a question to respectfully ask:

Governor Perry:

What part of the word “illegal” do you not understand? What makes the current influx of illegal immigrants exempt from the rules and regulations that every other generation of immigrants to this country had to abide by in order to become legal citizens of the greatest nation in the world? By being here illegally, they are not entitled to the same rights as natural born or naturalized American citizens. In fact, their entry into this sacred land is no better than that of someone who breaks into someone’s home, does their dishes, cuts their yard, cleans their house, and then helps themselves to their food and drives their car without asking. This is in no way a human rights issue. Freedom is God-given. And with freedom comes responsibility. With citizenship comes responsibility, like paying taxes and making your own way. Illegal immigration reminds me of the amorous boyfriend who wants everything a young woman will give him, but will leave her at the first mention of marriage.  This is not a civil rights issue. Illegals do not have the same rights as American citizens. With our rights, come the responsibilities of being an American citizen.

And, by the way, please tell the illegal students that the Mexican flag, by protocol, will always be flown in a subordinate position to the American Flag in this country. Also, please remind them that the American dialect of the English language is the language spoken in this country.

Thank you, Governor.

While the children of illegal immigrants should be given the opportunity to become contributing American citizens, it needs to be done without rewarding them for their parents’ crime.

Because, as the English found out in the Revolutionary War, when the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, Frederick II, made off like a bandit in his dealings with George III by selling the services of 12,000 Hessians to the English at [sterling]7 4s. a head…you can’t buy allegiance to a flag.

While surfing the internet last night during the Fox News/Google Republican President Campaign Debate, I noticed that, besides Romney and Perry, the one name Conservatives on the web kept bringing up was someone who has not even entered the race…yet.

During the debate, Romney refudiated Perry on Social Security,  Perry showed that he is clueless about Conservatives’ opinion on illegal immigration, by defending his pro-Dream Act stance:

If you say that we should not educate children who come into our state [ILLEGALLY] for no other reason than that they’ve been brought their through no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart. We need to be educating these children because they will become a drag on our society. I think that’s what Texans wanted to do. Out of 181 members of the Texas legislature when this issue came up [there were] only four dissenting votes. This was a state issue. Texas voted on it. And I still support it today.

However, after last night’s dog and pony show was over, there was still one voice that a lot of Conservative Americans were anxious to hear from.

By now you’re saying:

Oh, HER.  C’mon, KJ.  She can’t win.  She’s been savaged by everyone from Saturday Night Live to the Elite of the Republican Party.  Why, if she got in, she wouldn’t stand a chance and we would wind up with 4 more years of Obama.  She would probably hunt moose on the White House lawn.  Besides, she sounds funny.

Well, as someone born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and living in Northwest Mississippi, I resemble that remark.

More to the point:  If she’s as worthless as her detractors claim that she is, why is she the subject of so much heated conjecture and  phony, gut-wrenching concern?

By now, you’ve heard of Joe McGuiniss’ new book The Rogue:  Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, written by a talentless hack, who was so desperate to get dirt on Palin and her family, that he rented the house next door to her.  In his tawdry book, he claims, among other things,  that Palin had an affair with [now professional] basketball player Glenn Rice.

Well, yesterday, Andrew Breitbart, on his website, bigjournalism.com, told us the real story:

The awful launch week for the over-hyped, expected bestseller The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, by controversial author Joe McGinniss, just got worse. Much worse.

After a week of universally scathing pans from the reflexively anti-Palin establishment media, McGinniss now faces the fight of his literary life: the accusation that he seems to have knowingly submitted a book to his publisher, Crown/Random House, that was filled with unproved “tawdry gossip” and rumors that lacked “factual evidence.”

In the email below [featured here], sent in January of 2011, McGinniss reveals that his manuscript, then under legal review at Crown/Random House, could not prove its most headline-grabbing allegations. And yet, many of these “salacious stories” that lacked “proof” (in McGinniss’s own words) ended up in the book, and on televisions everywhere during the author’s current media tour … without proper sourcing, and without any apparent new evidence to support them.

McGinniss’s panicked state is evidenced by the identity of the recipient to whom he sent his email of distress. Jesse Griffin was the author of an obscure, low-rent, and now-defunct anti-Palin blog that obsessed over Trig Palin’s maternity–claiming, without any evidence, that Sarah Palin was not Trig’s mother.

Was Random House aware that its prized author was making a desperate overtime bid to save face? And if so, why did it allow him to come forth with most of those tawdry accusations without proof or proper sourcing?

This would not be the first time McGinniss has found himself in trouble over accusations of unethical journalism. In 1987, McGinniss agreed to pay $325,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the convicted murderer who was the subject of McGinniss’s book Fatal Vision. He has also admitted to having surreptitiously distributed a competitor’s manuscript about Palin that was handed to him by his own publisher. The leak allegedly damaged the commercial viability of that book.

In 2003, Random House released a larger-than-life, massive bestseller by James Frey entitled A Million Little Pieces. Later, it was revealed that the book was a fantastical literary hoax that made its way past some of the highest-paid and most respected editors and lawyers in the literary world. Doubleday/Random House felt compelled to offer full refunds to those who had bought the book.

Has history repeated itself?

Mr. McGinniss has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for him to call you back, Mr. Breitbart.

In  light of last night’s debate, let’s step back a moment and look at the two front runners among the declared Republican Presidential Candidates:

1.  Mitt Romney – Never saw an aisle he did not want to reach across.  Has flip-flipped on major issues so many times, fish out of water are embarrassed for him.  RINO extraordinaire, he showed up with four Secret Service agents at Corky’s Barbeque Restaurant in Memphis on Tuesday afternoon this week, after a Republican Fundraiser, so he could appear “down-home”.

2.  Texas Governor Rick Perry – Never saw the child of an illegal immigrant whom he did not want to reward.  Is more of a Conservative than Romney, but, then again, so is Joe Lieberman.

So, there you have it.  As of this moment, either Mitt Romney or Gov. Rick Perry will be the Republican Nominee.

Unfortunately, as Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) quipped in Master and Commander:  The Far Side of the World:

One must always choose between the lesser of two weevils.

It sure would be nice to have another choice.

Speaking to world leaders at the opening of the UN’s general assembly session yesterday, United States President Barack Hussein Obama proclaimed that a lasting solution to the long-running conflict would not be reached through “statements and resolutions at the United Nations”:

There is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace is hard work.

Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians – not us – who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security, on refugees and Jerusalem.

Peace depends upon compromise among peoples who must live together long after our speeches are over, and our votes have been counted. That is the lesson of Northern Ireland, where ancient antagonists bridged their differences. That is the lesson of Sudan, where a negotiated settlement led to an independent state, and that is the path to a Palestinian state.

Of course, this 180 degree turn by Obama is nothing but an attempt to win back Jewish American voters, who are deserting him en masse.  But, I digress…

Obama went on to laud the “extraordinary transformation” brought by the Arab spring.  According to him, at the same event a year ago Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were all represented by authoritarian leaders now rejected by their people.

About those wonderful results of the Arab Spring, Scooter:

The first elections since the Arab Spring uprisings will be more about holding back change than expanding political freedoms: voting in three Gulf nations that poses no threat to old guard rulers or their efforts to unite against calls for fast-track reforms.

None of the planned elections this month will even slightly loosen the hold of rulers — the central aim of the street protests that have toppled leaders from Tunisia to Egypt and threaten to do the same in Syria and Yemen.

Yet each of the voting rounds — a stopgap parliamentary election in violence-battered Bahrain and tightly controlled balloting in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — tells a different story about the upheavals and the chances for change among the region’s wealthiest and most entrenched royal houses and ruling families.

“Each one, in their own way, reflects the new environment that the entire region faces,” said Salman Shaikh, director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar.

All three elections are bit players in the wider drama across the region. But any movement toward the ballot box takes on greater significance with the election process still unclear in Egypt and Tunisia, and Libya’s new leaders locked in fights with the remnants of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.

And thanks to the wonderful aftermath of the Arab Spring, Netanyahu and Israel have more to worry about that just the Palestinians, per haaretz.com:

Shortly after the masses began crowding into Cairo’s Tahrir Square earlier this year, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to prepare for a dramatic change in the relations between Israel and Egypt.

The adviser estimated that the nascent Egyptian protest movement would not stop at regime change, and told his counterpart in Jerusalem that if the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories continued, the new Arab world would show the Israelis that solidarity with oppressed brothers is not exclusively a Jewish tradition.

The Palestinian adviser warned that the day after the United Nations vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood, waves of anti-Israel protests would wash over the capitals of Arab and Muslim states.

It is unclear whether Israeli official passed this message on to the prime minister, or if he kept it to himself.

So, let me get this straight.  Israel is surrounded by mortal enemies.  The UN wants them to give up half of their country to a nomadic people who have never had a country of their own, basically the Gypsies of the Middle East.  And when Israeli Prime Minister tries to take a stand,

UN leader Ban Ki-moon urged him yesterday

…to act with “restraint” and “wisdom” over the Palestinian bid for full state membership of the United Nations.

Israel has angrily rejected the Palestinian campaign, threatening unspecified diplomatic reprisals. “The secretary general urged the prime minister to act with responsibility, wisdom and restraint towards the Palestinian approach to the United Nations,” said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

The Palestinian Authority announced Wednesday that it won’t push for an immediate vote in the Security Council, because it doesn’t have enough support for its statehood bid…yet.

American diplomats will use the delay to lean on council members to change their vote and to stop the Palestinians.

According to Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath:

We will give some time to the Security Council to consider first our full membership request before heading to the General Assembly. If we fail, we will keep knocking on the door. We do not have a time limit.

The fact is, an admissions committee representing all 15 Security Council members can be set up to deliberate on the matter for days, weeks, or even months.

Next, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will speak at the UN General Assembly and then, will formally submit his letter of application to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.  Moon will then give it to Lebanon, the country which presides this month over the Security Council.

Lebanon? Oy vey!

It’s the only Arab country in the 15-member body and supports the Palestinian bid.

Can you say…stacked deck?

Have you ever heard of the Teapot Dome Scandal?

Three naval oil fields, Elk Hills and Buena Vista Hills in California and Teapot Dome in Wyoming, were tracts of public land that had been set aside as emergency underground supplies of oil to be used by the navy only when the regular oil supplies were running low. The Teapot Dome oil field received its name because of a rock resembling a teapot that was located above the oil-bearing land. Both politicians and private oil interests had opposed the restrictions placed on the oil fields, asserting that reserves were unnecessary and that the American oil companies could provide for the U.S. Navy.

When Senator Albert B. Fall became Warren Harding’s Secretary of the Interior in 1921, he convinced Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby to turn the control of the oil fields over to him. Fall then, in turn. leased the Teapot Dome to Harry Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company and the Elk Hills reserve to Edward Doheny’s Pan American Petroleum Company.  For his efforts, Fall received bribes from the oilmen totaling $400,000.  Fall then drew attention to himself with a new lavish lifestyle, causing the scandal to go public in 1924 after findings by a committee of the U. S. Senate.

A series of civil and criminal suits sprang forth from the scandal, lasting throughout the 1920s.

In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases had been obtained illegally, invalidating the Elk Hills lease in February of that year and the Teapot lease in October of the same year. The navy regained control of the Teapot Dome and Elk Hills reserves.  Albert Fall was found guilty of bribery in 1929, fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison. Harry Sinclair refused to cooperate with the government investigators and was charged with contempt, receiving a short sentence for tampering with the jury. Edward Doheny was found innocent in 1930 of attempting to bribe Fall.

Even though the Teapot Dome scandal was not a victory for either political party in the 1920’s, it still became a major issue in the presidential election of 1924. However, neither party could claim full credit for exposing the scandal.

Teapot Dome became synonymous with government corruption in America.

Yesterday, thehill.com broke the following story:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.

“I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn’t because there were large contributions given to them,” the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN.

Issa said the committee was looking at whether it was improper for members of Congress or White House staff to select companies eligible for subsidized government loans when those companies could give campaign donations. Loan programs have been a popular tool to provide funding for popular industries — like tech, green energy, and American auto companies — at more favorable terms than could be secured privately.

Per businessinsider.com, the administration may have something to worry about concerning Solyndra:

When Solyndra went bankrupt last month it blew the lid off a scandal that had been simmering for months — and now threatens to ensnare the administration in months of hearings and bad headlines going into the 2012 election.

There is no evidence, nor is it likely, that Obama had any ties to the controversial $535 million loan, but already senior advisors are under fire for their roles in assisting the struggling company — which had strong ties to a key Obama donor.

George Kaiser, whose Argonaut Private Equity was a major backer of Solyndra, raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama’s 2008 campaign, though the White House denies this was why it maintained close ties to the company.

ABC News reported that administration officials sat in on Solyndra board meetings as observers in the months leading up to the company’s bankruptcy.

Even before the loan was approved in September 2009, auditors raised serious doubts about the company’s finances, Bloomberg reported — enough to write that the “problems raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

But as they were conducting due diligence on the loan, officials from the Office of Management and Budget said they felt pressure from the White House to conduct their analysis quickly.

The Washington Post reported today that senior officials from OMB raised specific concerns about the company’s finances — and the consequences of it failing — as early as January 31, 2011.

“The optics of a Solyndra default will be bad,” one OMB staffer wrote to another. “If Solyndra defaults down the road, the optics will be arguably worse later than they would be today. . . . In addition, the timing will likely coincide with the 2012 campaign season heating up.”

As far as LightSquared is concerned, again, businessinsider.com gives us a concise summary of the situation:

LightSquared, a Virginia-based start-up, has received support from the Obama administration for its nationwide broadband initiative.

However, LightSquared’s business is still on hold because it has to receive Federal authorization.

That’s because the Pentagon has raised concerns about the LightSquared venture possibly interfering with the satellite GPS system that the U.S. military uses.

Four-star Air Force General William Shelton recently dropped a bit of bombshell on the Falcone-backed project, officials told The Daily Beast.

In a classified briefing, Shelton apparently revealed that the White House asked him to change two things in his testimony.

From The Daily Beast:

According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, officials said.

However the content of the general’s testimony is unknown.

There’s definitely smoke there.  But, is there fire?  Will this be this Administration’s Watergate or Teapot Dome?  Or will it be just a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing?

The jury’s still out.  Although… Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that the Administration still plans on closing Gitmo.

A preemptive strike, perhaps?