A couple of items caught my eye last night as I was surfing the web.

During the Republican Debate, moderated by two Liberal Hacks and professional spastic Jim Cramer, last night on CNBC, Herman Cain responded to a question asked by Moderator Maria Bartiromo about the sexual harassment accusations levied against him this week, over incidents that supposedly happened 14 years ago:

The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations.

They don’t care about character assassination, they care about leadership and getting the country going.

The audience applauded, much to the chagrin of the moderators, who were booed and jeered when they asked the question.

Meanwhile, over at the Country Music Association’s Awards Show, the legendary Hank Williams, Jr scored a touchdown of his own.

In the show’s opening skit, Williams appeared with co-hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, after they mocked his controversy with ESPN and his “Monday Night Football” theme song.

In their skit, Paisley and Underwood sang, “You can get drunk and carry on but you can’t compare the president to Hitler.”

Williams’ tune – “All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight” – had opened “Monday Night Football” for more than two decades until early October when an uproar arose over remarks the songwriter had made about President Obama.

In an interview with Fox News, the 62-year-old musician used an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing the president. He later apologized and said his comments were taken out of context, but by then his song was no longer on ESPN. The broadcast said it had dropped Williams’ song, but Williams said he had pulled it from the broadcast.

Paisley began his own version of “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” but Underwood interrupted, saying he might make Williams mad.

The crowd roared as Williams walked on stage. Asked if he wanted to say something, Williams said, “No,” and the audience went wild.

What do these two events have in common?

It’s simple.  Both these men are examples of self-made Americans who, when faced with adversity, stood up on their hind legs and faced it.

Furthermore, the reaction to both Cain and Bocephus by their respective audiences speaks volumes.

It’s an expression of the Conservative re-awakening that began with the Conservative Landslide during the 2010 Midterm Elections.

Pollster and communications adviser Frank Luntz wrote the following in the article, “Republicans Won the Midterm Elections.  Now Can They Survive?”, published in the Washington Post on November 7, 2010:

The United States has just witnessed its third straight rubber band election. Once again, Americans had their patience stretched, fired a Washington run amok and now want their new leaders to snap back to attention. The government Americans seek is simpler, more efficient and more accountable; one that takes on less but does better; one that executes the essential and eschews the excessive.

For two election cycles, the winners overpromised and underdelivered. So, will a newly divided Washington finally learn how to govern effectively in dire times?

First, a warning to both sides. Republicans, for their part, must realize that the voters have given them a reprieve, not an endorsement. In my polling last week, GOP voters agreed with this statement by more than two to one: “I am willing to give the Republicans another chance, but if they mess up again, I’ll vote them out again, too.” That’s hardly a cause for GOP celebration.

Similarly, Democrats must grasp that their defeats were not about deficient personalities or insufficient communication, but about their philosophy and substance. Roughly two out of three voters agreed with the statements that President Obama “has failed to deliver hope and change” and that in the midst of an economic crisis, Democrats “had their priorities wrong.”

The post-midterm realities are simple: If the Republicans don’t deliver on their promises, they’re finished. If the Democrats continue doing what they’re doing, they’re finished.

Both sides are promising to fulfill the will of the people, but people aren’t asking for promises. They’re asking for new priorities – their priorities.

The proprietors of the Status Quo, on both sides of the aisle, have a problem:  The sheeple are not listening to them anymore.

The MSM, the propaganda arm of the Status Quo, is growing more and more ineffective.

Witness their attempts at discrediting Herman Cain during this anonymously-driven Sexual Harassment put-up job.

The curtain is slowly being pulled back, to reveal “the man” behind it.

Americans aren’t blindly swallowing the fish hook being dangled in front of them by the Beltway Insiders and the MSM anymore.

In the case of Hank Williams, Jr., the audience gave him an ovation last night because he’s a straight shooter.

Americans appreciate that.

They have witnessed the sorry spectacle of the country that they know and love, beginning to vanish before their eyes, as family members and friends are let go from jobs that they have had for years, while the man who is supposed to be their leader, has nothing but empty promises of fictional “green” jobs to offer in consolation, while Congresscritters on both sides of the aisle, seem to have forgotten who gave them their cushy government jobs in the first place.

As Frank Luntz said:  It’s time for priorities.  Not promises.

Yesterday, Presidential Hopeful Herman Cain held a press conference to address the barrage of accusations of sexual harassment against him going back to his tenure as President of the National Restaurant Association.

Cain denied all of the charges against him.  In fact, per abc.go.com:

Cain said that the first time he had seen accuser Sharon Bialek was during her press conference with attorney Gloria Allred yesterday, and that he didn’t remember either her or her name.

“As they got to the microphone, my first thought was, ‘I don’t even know who this woman is,’ ” said Cain. He said he could not remember Bialek from the National Restaurant Association, where he was president and CEO from 1996 to 1999, and “where she said she worked.” The NRA has confirmed that Bialek worked for the trade group from 1996 to 1997.

Asked about Karen Kraushaar, an accuser whose name was made public Tuesday, Cain called her allegations baseless. “To the best of my recollection that is the one that I recall that filed a complaint, but it was found to be baseless.” He said he doesn’t remember any of her accusations, except for making a gesture that she was the same height as his wife.

Cain said there was a “machine” trying to keep a businessman out of the White House, and said Sharon Bialek was a “troubled woman” put forward by “the Democrat machine.”

Cain said that the American people want a businessman to be president, and “a businessman by the name of Herman Cain has stepped forward. Here I am.

“As far as these accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdraw from this primary race, ain’t gonna happen, because I am doing this for the American people and for the children and the grandchildren.”

Two women filed sexual harassment complaints against Cain while he was president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association between 1996 and 1999 and received financial settlements. One of them was identified Tuesday as Karen Kraushaar, who know works as a spokesperson for the Treasury Department. Kraushaar told ABC News that she wants to do a press conference with the other accusers, though this is “not the way I wanted to get my 15 minutes of fame.”

A third woman told the Associated Press that she had considered filing a sexual harassment claim against Cain, but decided not to because a coworker had already done so.

There may just be something to Cain’s theory that the Dems are out to get him.

Karen Kraushaar, a 55-year-old former journalist who currently works for the Obama administration, was outed today [Tuesday] as one of the three women who had filed sexual harassment complaints against Cain.

Kraushaar now serves as a communications director at the Inspector General’s Office of the Treasury Department, a position she has held since 2010.

And dailymail.co.uk reports the following about the latest accuser, Gloria Allred’s client, Sharon Bielek:

A Fox News reporter confronted Ms Bialek during an interview today about living in the same building as Obama top aid David Axelrod.

She was asked: ‘One of the things is that you lived at a 505 North Lake Shore Drive apartment, right? This is the same building, it happens to be the same building David Axelrod lives in. Do you know David Axelrod? Ever have any interaction with him at all?’

David Axlerod? You mean Obama’s former Senior Adviser, who’s running his re-election campaign?

You betcha.

But, certainly Mr. Axlerod would not be involved in anything shady, would he?

Allow me to relate a little story to you (courtesy of information found at americanthinker.org):

In 2004, Illinois State Senator Barack Hussein Obama decided to run for The United States Senate.

As the campaigns entered their closing rounds, the news ”happened to be” leaked to media outlets that both Hull and Ryan [his opponents] had “personal scandals” in their past. The timely release of this news wiped out both of their campaigns, leading to an easy victory for Obama in the primary and then in the general election.

The New York Times Magazine revealed that David Axelrod, Obama’s chief political and media adviser, may well have been behind the leak of the story that doomed the Hull candidacy as the primary reached its home stretch.

As he has shown over the years, Axelrod was right at home operating in this gray area, part idealist, part hired muscle. One can not bring up Axelrod’s name in certain circles in Chicago without the matter of the Blair Hull divorce papers coming up. Approaching the 2004 Senate primary, it was clear that it was a two-man race: the millionaire liberal, Hull, leading in the polls, and Obama, who was the figurehead of an impressive grass-roots campaign. One month before the vote, The Chicago Tribune “just happened” to reveal, at the end of a long profile of Hull, that during a divorce proceeding, Hull’s second wife filed for an order of protection. This revelation proceeded to erupt into a full-fledged scandal. This scandal destroyed Hull’s campaign and handed Obama an easy primary victory.

The Tribune reporter who wrote the story later admitted in print that the Obama camp had “worked aggressively behind the scenes” to push the story. However, a lot of folks in Chicago believe that Axelrod leaked the initial story. They will tell you that before signing on with Obama, Axelrod interviewed with Hull. They also point out that Obama’s TV ad campaign just happened to start at almost the same time. Axelrod swears up and down that “we had nothing to do with it” and that the campaign’s television ad schedule was in the works for a long time.

Axlerod’s explanation?

An aura grows up around you, and people assume everything emanates from you.

Is anybody else getting a strange feeling of Deja Vu?  Or is it just me?

Herman Cain must truly have a lot of people worried.

Yesterday, high-profile camera-hogging attorney Gloria Allred introduced a 4th contestant in the brand new game show, “Herman Cain Sexually Harassed Me”.

According to Contestant #4, Sharon Bialek, who appeared in a joint Press Conference with Attorney Allred, Herman Cain reached under her skirt and pushed her head toward his lap in 1997, when she went to him, seeking his help in landing a job.

The alleged incident is supposed to have happened in a car as they were on their way to what she thought was an office building.  Cain was still president of the National Restaurant Association at the time.

According to Bialek, when she asked Cain what he was doing, he said:

You want a job, right?

Bailek says that she did not file a workplace complaint at the time because she was unemployed.

Bialek also said:

I want you, Mr Cain, to come clean… just admit what you did, admit you were inappropriate to people.

The Cain Camp replied that he never sexually harassed anyone.

Who is this woman?  Well, besides the fact that she looks like Stifler’s Mom in the American Pie Movies, per ABC’s Chicago affiliate, WLS-TV, Channel 7:

The Chicago-area woman has an extensive corporate and personal history in the area going back to the early 1990s.

It was her hope for a new job that Bialek says brought her to Herman Cain that day in 1997. Bialek’s resume and a trail of public records indicates that changing jobs has been a regular occurrence for the Chicagoan. She has worked for at least nine different employers over the past 17 years and appears to have struggled financially.

The public record on Bialek begins in 1991 when she filed personal bankruptcy for the first time while living in Des Plaines.

Between 1993 and 1996 Bialek worked for four different companies in promotion and marketing positions.

In 1996, and part of 1997, Bialek was at the National Restaurant Association. After being let go from that job in mid-1997, she says that she went to Washington, D.C., to meet with Cain, president of the association, because she needed a job.

In 1999, Bialek’s son Nicholas was born and a paternity lawsuit was filed by the father, a media executive.

In 2001 came Bialek’s second personal bankruptcy, filed after sizable legal bills. That year she was hired by WGN radio where she worked until 2004 when she took a marketing job and then a job at WCKG radio.

Along the way, according to her attorney, Bialek also held positions with Revlon and Easter Seals.

Bialek currently lives in Mundelein with fiance Mark Harwood.

“She’s of the same political persuasion as Herman Cain,” Harwood said. “There was no money on the table to go and have an interview. This is truly about an American girl who’s got a big heart and wants to do the right thing.”

Yeah.  14 years later…

Well…how about Gloria Allred?  I’m sure that this respected member of the legal profession has nothing but the warm glow of altruism guiding her…Yeah, right.

Per answers.com:

She has achieved notoriety and name recognition through staged press conferences and demonstrations publicizing and dramatizing the cause she is championing at the time. She also accepts controversial cases that naturally attract media attention. During her years in practice, she has successfully sued Los Angeles County to stop the practice of shackling and chaining pregnant inmates during labor and delivery; put a halt on the city of El Segundo’s quizzing job applicants about their sexual histories (Thorne v. City of El Segundo, 802 F.2d 1131 [9th Cir. 1986]); represented a client who was turned down for a job as a police officer after a six-hour lie detector exam that included questions about her sex life; and sued a dry cleaning establishment for discrimination because it charged more to launder women’s shirts than men’s. She also successfully sued on behalf of two lesbians who had been denied entrance to the “romance booth” at a Los Angeles restaurant (Rolon v. Kulwitsky, 153 Cal. App. 3d 289, 200 Cal. Rptr. 217 [Cal. App. 2 Dist. 1984]). The owner of the restaurant vowed to close the booth if Allred’s clients won. They did, and he made good on his promise.

Allred relishes confrontation, and her showy tactics have earned her both praise and criticism. Defending what many have called self-promoting publicity stunts, Allred says she is aware of the impression she makes, and contends that it is exactly the effect she wants.

…Asked whether she is an activist or a lawyer, Allred replied that she is an “activist lawyer.”

And she never met a camera she didn’t like.

The remarkable thing about this obviously staged “Bimbo Eruption” against Herman Cain, is that it’s not having the effect that whoever is pulling the strings wanted it to.  Gallup.com announced yesterday that:

Herman Cain now ties Mitt Romney as the leader for the GOP presidential nomination in USA Today/Gallup polling on Republican preferences conducted Nov. 2-6. Each receives 21% support from Republicans nationwide. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry follow, with 12% and 11% support, respectively.

Additionally…

Fifty-three percent of Republicans are inclined to believe that the charges are not true, with most of these hedging their bets by saying the charges are “probably not true” rather than “definitely not true.” A little more than a third (35%) say the charges are probably or definitely true — again, with most of these in the probable rather than the definite category.

Republicans with an opinion are inclined to say Cain has done a good job (45%) rather than a bad job (36%) of handing the charges, although almost one in five don’t have an opinion.

About half of Republicans are following the news stories about the sexual harassment allegations against Cain very or somewhat closely. This level of attention is lower than the average attention all Americans have paid to news stories Gallup has tracked over the last several decades. The group following the news very or somewhat closely is about as likely to believe the charges against Cain are true as are all Republicans more broadly. At the same time, this group is slightly more likely to be critical of Cain’s response, with 47% saying Cain is doing a good job and 48% a bad job of responding.

Perhaps Americans are smarter than whoever’s behind this thought that we were.

On January 21, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America.  He spoke these words concerning the state of the nation’s economy:

The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift. And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We’ll restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Today, one year away from the next Presidential Election,  after 3 years under the stewardship of President Obama, where does America’s economy stand?

The London Daily Mail reported on November 3rd, 2001 that:

Shocking figures revealed today that one in 15 people in America is now living in poverty.

The number – a record high – is spread widely across metropolitan areas as the country’s economic troubles continue to bite.

And almost 15 per cent of the population are also now on food stamps, it emerged yesterday.

The ranks of the poor applying for food stamps increased by a worrying 8.1 per cent over the past year to make a total of 45.8 million.

The increase in poverty is believed to have been caused due to the housing bust pushing many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.

‘There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners,’ said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University.

‘Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it’s over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn — which will end eventually — will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can’t recover.’

Well, Dr. Moffitt, until it ends, it’s average Americans who are suffering.  Unemployment is still high, despite the following “gains” which the Labor Department is bragging about:

The nation added 80,000 jobs. That was fewer than the 100,000 that economists expected, but it was the 13th consecutive month of job gains. Fears of a new recession that loomed over the economy this summer have all but receded.

The unemployment rate nudged down, to 9 percent from 9.1 in September.

“Those are pretty good signs,” said Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “We’re hanging in there.”

No one looking at Friday’s report from the Labor Department saw an end anytime soon to the high unemployment that has plagued the nation for three years. The jobless rate has been 9 percent or higher for all but two months since June 2009.

The problem is that newly-unemployed will continue to join the ranks of those who have been on the dole so long that they have run out of benefits.

Per foxnews.com:

The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America’s 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.

Congress is expected to decide by year’s end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states.

If the emergency benefits expire, the proportion of the unemployed receiving aid would fall further.

The ranks of the poor would also rise. The Census Bureau says unemployment benefits kept 3.2 million people from slipping into poverty last year. It defines poverty as annual income below $22,314 for a family of four.

Yet for a growing share of the unemployed, a vote in Congress to extend the benefits to 99 weeks is irrelevant. They’ve had no job for more than 99 weeks.

They’re no longer eligible for benefits.

Mr. President…you’re the CEO.  You’re being held to account.

The “books will be audited” on November 6, 2012.

As the made-for-the-internet National Soap Opera starring Republican Presidential Hopeful Herman Cain drags on, the latest development involves Cain’s former employers, the National Restaurant Association.

The Los Angeles Times reports that:

The National Restaurant Assn., the trade group at the center of the Herman Cain sexual harassment furor, said it has received a request to allow one of Cain’s accusers to release a public statement detailing her version of events and will respond Friday.

The group was contacted by Joel Bennett, a Washington lawyer who helped negotiate a settlement with the association on behalf of one of two women who complained about Cain’s conduct while he was its president and chief executive. Bennett has been seeking to lift a restriction in the deal that bars his client from talking.

“Our outside counsel was contacted by Mr. Bennett today and was asked to provide a response to a proposed statement by tomorrow afternoon. We are currently reviewing the document, and we plan to respond tomorrow,” said Sue Hensley, a spokeswoman for the association.

Bennett said his client is reluctant to speak publicly about events that occurred while she worked for Cain in the late 1990s, so he has asked the association to instead approve a statement by her for public release.

Cain is not a party to the agreement, Bennett said, meaning that he would only need the consent of the association in order for the statement to be released.

If the Association lifts the agreement, two things will happen.

a.) The woman will sell the rights to her story.

b.) She will be paraded around to every left-leaning television “news” program in existence.

You’ve heard the old saying, “politics makes strange bedfellows”, haven’t you?  Myway.com reports that:

Republican candidate Newt Gingrich is decrying media coverage of the sexual harassment claims against rival Herman Cain and says that Cain’s tax plans deserve more attention.

Gingrich has told WSB radio in Atlanta on Wednesday that he thinks it’s “disgusting” that the news media has started what Gingrich described as a “witch hunt” against Cain. It was revealed this week that Cain’s former employer, the National Restaurant Association, settled in the 1990s with two women who claimed that Cain had sexually harassed them.

A third woman has told The Associated Press that she considered filing a sexual harassment complaint but never did.

Gingrich says Cain is trying to help a country that’s in trouble and has gotten more coverage for what Gingrich termed gossip than for Cain’s tax policies.

Considering Newt’s romantic past, I would say that the man knows what he’s talking about, when he refers to the damage gossip can do.

Let’s assess the Cain boondoggle, shall we?

So far, the only thing we know, is that some women received some money from the National Restaurant Association, and years later, somebody snitched to Politico about it, who are now in the process of using the knowledge in an attempt to bring down the candidacy of a Black Conservative.

This whole,  ludicrous situation inspired me to write some new lyrics to a popular song.  I hope you enjoy it.

Ode to Herman Cain (with apologies to REO Speedwagon)

Politico heard it from a snitch who, heard it from a snitch who

Heard it from another that Cain was messin’ around.

They said there was a settlement,

A confidential agreement.

And the women walked away with some cash.

But I know Politico

And toward the Left is where their viewpoint goes,

And innuendo is definitely their stock and trade.

But I’m warning you, friend, that it may not be true, friend,

And even if it is, keep this in mind:

You take it with some salt, buddy

And if you want to believe it, buddy

You’re either a Lib or a Moderate.

I don’t believe it, not for a minute

Cain is the man and the Libs have a plan.

They’re coming up with more girls

The rumors are beginning to swirl

They say girls have been hurt, but they won’t say who.

But the stories keep on coming and the headlines keep on running

And they’re trying to put Cain down for the count.

You take it with some salt, buddy

And if you want to believe it, buddy

You’re either a Lib or a Moderate.

I don’t believe it, not for a minute

Cain is the man and the Libs have a plan.

You take it with some salt, buddy

And if you want to believe it, buddy

You’re either a Lib or a Moderate.

I don’t believe it, not for a minute

Cain is the man and the Libs have a plan.

Politico heard it from a snitch who, heard it from a snitch who

Heard it from another that Cain was messin’ around.

They said there was a settlement,

A confidential agreement.

And the women walked away with some cash.

The Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Boondoggle is beginning to resemble the chase scene at the end of the Benny Hill Show.

What’s got me puzzled is:

1.  If Politico did let the Cain Team know 10 days ahead of time, why didn’t they get out in front of this?

2.  Is this a case of “friendly fire” or a Democrat derailment scheme?

3.  Or is it, as a friend has suggested to me, a plan by Cain and his team to keep him in the headlines , and suck all the oxygen out of the room? After all, until yesterday, when Cain’s team accused them, have you read any stories in the MSM about Romney and Perry this week?

Regarding the question of who is really behind the Politico story, the suspect list is growing.

As of last night, washingtontimes.com reported that:

Herman Cain’s campaign is revealing suspicions about who is behind the story regarding the former unidentified employees who accused Mr. Cain of sexual harassment in the late 1990’s.

According to a source who is friends with the Cain campaign, not only is the Rick Perry campaign involved but also the Mayor of Chicago and former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is likely involved with the sexual harassment accuser attacks. A friend of the Cain campaign believes a National Restaurant Association (NRA) employee out of the Chicago office leaked the story to the Perry campaign via information and influence from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office.

According to Politico’s Jonathan Martin, Curt Anderson, the Perry advisor who the Cain campaign is accusing of leaking the damaging information, is denying the charges:

“I’ve known Herman Cain for about 7 years. I was one of several consultants on his Senate race in 2004 and was proud to help him. I’d never heard any of these allegations until I read them in Politico, nor does anything I read in the press change my opinion that Herman is an upstanding man and a gentleman. I have great respect for Herman and his character and I would never speak ill of him, on the record or off the record. That’s true today and it’s not going to change.”

The way these anonymous accusers have been coming out of the woodwork, one would think that Herman Cain is the second coming of Bubba Clinton.

Yesterday, abcnews.com wrote that:

A third woman considered filing a workplace complaint against Herman Cain at the National Restaurant Association over what was termed aggressive and unwanted behavior, with invitations to his corporate apartment, according to a report in the Associated Press. Meanwhile, a radio host in Iowa said that the candidate had made “awkward” and “inappropriate” comments to staffers at the station during a visit earlier this year.

Cain has already denounced the two previous allegations of sexual harassment against him as false, and suggested at least one of the women was a poor worker. But an ABC News investigation found that both women are highly respected professionals who have gone on to successful careers in and around government.

One woman in Maryland has worked for years as a public spokesperson for various agencies of the federal government.

Her case appears to be the one Cain has described in his round of interviews, saying she was a writer working in the trade group’s communications department.

Cain has said that all he could recall was making an innocuous gesture to this woman while she was in his office with the door open and his secretary just outside. “I referenced this lady’s height and I was standing near her, and I did this saying, you’re the same height of my wife, because my wife is five feet tall and she comes up to my chin,” Cain explained. “This lady’s five feet tall and she came up to my chin. So obviously she thought that that was too close for comfort. It showed up in the actual allegation.”

A lawyer for the woman, Joel Bennett, later called CNN to dispute Cain’s version of events. “To the extent he’s made statements that he never sexually harassed anyone,” said Bennett, “and there was no validity to these complaints, that’s certainly not true with respect to my client’s complaints.”

Bennett said his client was upset at how she was being characterized in Cain’s comments and might want to speak out. He contacted the National Restaurant Association on Wednesday morning to see if his client could be released from her confidentiality agreement. According to a statement from the NRA, the group referred Bennett to call its outside counsel. “Mr. Bennett indicated that he would do so tomorrow, after he met with his client,” said Sue Hensley, a senior vice president of public affairs for the NRA.

So the accusers are not just anonymous, they’re well-respected and anonymous.

Yeah, right.  And I’m a 22 year old  blonde Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader named Buffy.

If  Cain’s Team is staging all of this, it’s a brilliant scheme.  Not only are they keeping his name in the headlines, they managed to plant fish hooks in the mouths of the gullible Main Stream Media and damage their competitors campaigns and the opposition party all of the same time.

If the Cain Team is not responsible for all this, then Cain is being Thomasized…or as he said:  We are witnessing a high-tech lynching.

Either way…politics is a dirty business.

Asthma is a disease of the lungs in which the airways become blocked or narrowed causing breathing difficulty. This chronic disease affects 20 million Americans. Asthma is commonly divided into two types: allergic (extrinsic) asthma and non-allergic (intrinsic) asthma. There is still much research that needs to be done to fully understand how to prevent, treat and cure asthma. But, with proper management, people can live healthy and active lives.

-Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, aafa.org

Yesterday, the Senate placed appeasing environmental wackos in front of the welfare of American citizens with Asthma…again.

Fox News reports:

Sen. Jim DeMint blasted the federal government Tuesday after the Senate voted down a proposed amendment that would have protected a popular over-the-counter asthma inhaler from a Food and Drug Administration looming ban.

The FDA plans to take an epinephrine asthma inhaler known as Primatene Mist off the shelves. The product is currently the only FDA-approved over-the-counter inhaler and is being banned because it uses chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, as a propellant. The substance is considered harmful to the ozone layer.

DeMint’s proposed amendment — which would have cut off funding for the implementation of the ban — failed by a vote of 44-54.

“Fifty-four Senators voted to appease extreme environmentalists by banning inhalers that millions of Americans depend on to breathe,” DeMint, R-S.C., said. “This ban won’t do anything serious to help the environment but it will force asthma suffers to spend two to three times more on prescription inhalers, leading many low-income Americans to seek less effective remedies.”

He added: “Once again, Washington is willing to put Americans at risk in the hopes of appeasing special interests.”

In October, DeMint’s office noted that CFC emissions from U.S. inhalers make up just a tiny fraction of total CFC emissions.

The FDA push to regulate the chemical in inhalers has been under way since 2006. It stems from an international treaty signed under the Reagan administration.

In lieu of Primatene Mist, the FDA has suggested users of the product get a prescription for sanctioned inhalers, such as those that use an “environmentally friendly” propellant known as HFA.

But with the clock ticking, the phase-out has raised concerns. The FDA has acknowledged it’s been a challenge to get the word out about the looming change.

As I previously wrote, this is not the first time our government geniuses have done this.

From an article posted at pharmacist.com on April 1, 2005:

FDA has announced that albuterol metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellants must no longer be produced, marketed, or sold in the United States after December 31, 2008. The federal agency took the action through publication yesterday of a final rule in the Federal Register.

The agency said that sufficient supplies of two approved, environmentally friendly albuterol inhalers will exist by that time to allow the phasing out of similar less environmentally friendly versions.

The manufacturers of three environmentally friendly albuterol inhalers are implementing programs to help lower income patients obtain these albuterol MDIs. These programs include MDI giveaways, coupons for reducing the price paid, and patient-assistance programs based on financial need.

CFC-containing albuterol MDIs, as with other CFC-based MDIs for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis), were previously exempted from a general ban of CFC production and importation under an international agreement established through the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the U.S. Clean Air Act.

This little move did away with inhalers which cost $10-$20 a piece, replacing them with a brand costing $35-$45.

You haven’t seen anything, yet.  In February 2010, in my home state of Mississippi:

The governor of US state Mississippi, Haley Barbour, has signed a bill restricting the use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs containing pseudoephedrine.

Pseudoephedrine is a sympathomimetic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine chemical classes, which is used as a nasal/sinus decongestant and stimulant.

The drug is also, however, a important ingredient in methamphetamine, a highly addictive and dangerous street drug that increases levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain.

The statute, House Bill 512 received overwhelming support and passed through legislature within a week. The new rules will take effect from 1 July and will require a doctor’s prescription for products containing pseudoephedrine, including popular nasal decongestants such as Sudafed and Advil Cold and Sinus.

Basically, they punished Sinus sufferers in their attempt to try to make it harder for Meth Heads to kill themselves.

Every day in America:

40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma.

30,000 people have an asthma attack.

5,000 people visit the emergency room due to asthma.

1,000 people are admitted to the hospital due to asthma.

11 people die from asthma.

Suffering from Sinus problems is not exactly a picnic, either:

Sinus disease is a major health problem. It afflicts 31 million people in the United States. Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on over-the-counter medications to treat it. Sinus disease is responsible for 16 million doctor visits and $150 million spent on prescription medications. People who have allergies, asthma, structural blockages in the nose or sinuses, or people with weak immune systems are at greater risk.

Especially for Asthmatics, Sinus problems can lead to Asthmatic Bronchitis and a trip to the doctor, or worse, a stay in the hospital.

It’s a shame that the federal and local governments have made it so expensive and inconvenient for those Americans who suffer with these conditions to get relief.

It’s enough to take your breath away.