Bad VeePee But Great Cabinet Choice

Barack Obama demonstrated wonderful good sense for his own security by whom he chose and didn't choose for Vice President.

Similarly, let us presume that Obama has been informed about Hillary by Lyndon Johnson's rationale for keeping J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI: "Better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in."

Public Corporations Inquiry

Posted as submitted on 10-17-08 by Ombudsman

Establish a special prosecutor to investigate if there was collusion between and among different Boards of Directors to give each other bonuses. "You vote for mine and I will vote for yours."

This report shall be available within 15 months.

Public Corporations

Posted as submitted on 10-17-08 by Ombudsman

The days when the CEO built up the corporation so that he could hand over a larger and more prosperous one to his children are over.

The CEOs of today are trained to worry over this year's bottom line, not future ones, because the current one affects his bonus and ability to skim the corporate coffers. His contract won't cover following years.

Thanks to a variation of what Mario Puzo said in The Godfather; Wall Street has a new program:

• Steal $50 -- petty larceny.
• Steal $50, 000 -- grand larceny.
• Steal $500, 000,000 -- an astute financial manipulation.

Now that the background has been established we can proceed to changes. No commission is needed for this problem: unbridled greed and avarice.

The total compensation for the top person at any public corporation shall be limited to 30 times¹ the average compensation of salaried non-management personnel.

Under our system, the feds cannot dictate to the Board of Directors what to pay the top dog. However, the feds do have the authority to tax. Any compensation above the threshold shall be taxed at the rate of 95%. For computing total compensation, anything of value shall be included. This includes, but is not limited to event tickets, vacations, bonuses, golden parachutes, private use of corporate jets at charged cost of jet, not cost for public ticket for the same flight, etc.

It is the intent of this proposal to force the Board of Directors to say to themselves, "we will not pay these taxes to the feds. We will take these funds and:

• Modernize the plant.
• Establish sinking funds to pay for future modernizations.
• Reduce the price of the product.
• Increase the pay and/or benefits for the employees.
• Or -- horror of horrors -- increase the dividends to the stockholder.

The 95% tax rate is no doubt onerous. This is not unprecedented as they have been this high before. However, this time there is a difference. This time there is a way out. When the corporation pays these taxes -- shareholders take note -- it is because The Board of Directors chose to pay them.
______________________________________________________________
¹ 30 is subject to review and study; used here to demonstrate philosophy being suggested

Wall Street Inquiry III

Posted as submitted on 10-17-08 by Ombudsman

Appoint a special prosecutor to determine if criminal activity was taking place during the collapse of the financial markets. This inquiry shall include mortgage, stocks, bonds and any other financial instruments used.

This is a parallel activity and the report shall be returned within two years.

Wall Street Inquiry II

Posted as submitted on 10-17-08 by Ombudsman

The commission of Wall Street Inquiry I shall continue its work to return a report, in 15 months, of recommendations for new rules and regulations to prevent a recurrence.

It should be abundantly clear by now that Wall Street, CEOs and Congress, by themselves, will not do the "right thing." It is very difficult for Congress to do the "right thing" because they do not know what it is! This is obviously not 100% across the board. Not even Ivory soap is 100% pure.

Wall Street Inquiry I

Posted as submitted on 10-17-08 by Ombudsman

Appoint a commission of highly qualified individuals to highlight those practices that led to the current disaster. The group shall consist of lawyers, CPAs, economists, CEOs and money managers.

The requirements for selection shall include, but not be limited to:

• No previous or present conection to Wall Street or Washington politics.
• Never having been a lobbyist or affiliated with one.
• No conflict of interest, either real or apparent, through family or friends.

Task:
Report back in four months what in their opinion caused and/or facilitated the disaster. The causes specified may include anything that, in their opinion, facilitated the collapse. They may include, for example, philosophies, rates, regulations, memos of understanding or any other instrument, procedure or instruction that was used.

The intent of this report is to identify only, not to suggest changes.

Fighting Slogan

We didn't leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left us.

This variation on the cool old quip by Ronald Reagan was suggested to me by Belmont Clubber Karen. It captures the situation that traditional conservatives find themselves in as McCain and cohorts have moved left.

If conservatives want to take back control of the GOP they need to rally locally, and this slogan could provide them with a very good focus.

I've more about how and why this intraparty revolt is absolutely necessary, but I will elaborate only when somebody asks.

Early Call Redux; "Oooh! Gimme More!"

The Mainstream Media (MSM, or very much MisInfo in this instance) is in love with an idea. Their one time cavort with the idea left them so pumped up and impressed by themselves that they are giddy for more. A kind of adolescent self-love gone public.

What idea is this? Calling the election early for their favored candidate so that it suppresses the vote for the other.

In 2000, based upon exit polling, MisInfo called Florida for Al Gore an hour before polls closed in the later time zone of the Western part of Florida. That stoked an "oh, what's the use of voting then) in the anti-Gore voters in the overwhelmingly conservative Florida panhandle.

MisInfo was and remains delighted and rewarded by that early call. Their meddling damaged the electoral process directly. The hated George W Bush has had a cloud over him for the last eight years. They see the cloud was placed there indirectly by the electoral difficulty they engineered, and they have concluded that they have the power to control the weather. What demigods do you know who can do that?

So now they're bursting with eagerness to do more; wild-eyed with the prospect of seducing us of the Anti-Left into giving them what they want. They want so very much to revisit that moment of their greatest thrill.

And they want it not just with one region, they want it nationally. The "Oooh, Oooh, Ooooooh!" popping from their eyes will become impossible for most of the talking heads to suppress. It's gonna be so disgusting. Wait! It already is disgusting. They either falsify polls or selectively report portions of legitimate polls in wild-eyed hope of suppressing voters who oppose Obama. Oh how they expect to succeed this time. Not like the last time on behalf of Gore when the wretched souls fell short of full climax.

I know that many Right get angry with MSM being in the Left's hip pocket. Frankly, these little jerks are not worth getting mad over. It's much better and satisfying to rally voters to thwart the creeps' raving grasp for this momentary thrill. Success (or near success as in 2000) would only encourage them to try again in another four years.

No, no. Far better come November 4th to disappoint them. Deny them badly. Throw cold water on them and let them sulk off to their circles to supplicate to each other. As MisInfo gets more animated in the next few weeks -- laughing at you, depressing you, lying to you, desperate to convince you "oh what's the use!" -- go out and vote and convince everyone dear and near to you to do so too.

And laugh. Laugh all the way to the polls. Laugh as you come out. Let them see you laughing.

I personally want to see MisInfo die by the excesses of its own hand. I know a majority of writers and commentators at places I visit around the web want MSM to go away too. So, if you count yourself in that crowd, and you personally would like to contribute a nail to the coffin of Mainstream Media, GO OUT AND VOTE.

Rebel

Have children. It will piss off those who aim to manage the human herd and its size.

Have as many kids as you and your spouse are blessed with conceiving. That will really piss off your shepherds.

Time was that refusing to settle down and raise a family was the rebellious thing to do. Hah! Boy how times change!

Let's be frank. Engaging in this bit of rebellion will not be easy due to very many consequences. Among the trying elements will be expenses, time, limited mobility, added responsibility, schooling, increased vulnerability to public scrutiny, and of course, risk of incurring wrath for your resisting propaganda to relinquish your physical contribution to posterity.

Unless you are already wealthy, you won't live very high on the hog. So you should try to space out the new arrivals in ways you find governable. Nobody needs engage in coitus to the level our hedonistic society claims is wise and healthy. Moderation in all things was once the kind of wisdom one would hear regularly. (If you would be so kind -- send me a note, or answer in the comments below -- how long ago did you last hear that proverb?)

The task of raising kids provides a unique non-material happiness that you pay for by forgoing material excess. The masters of public opinion are counting on their almost total monopoly of popular media to have convinced you to forgo that experience so that you can and will pay for everything they are selling. The best way to tell them to fuck off is to raise your own family. And unlike the zombies in and made by the media, the bigger your family, the greater the chances that it is not they but you are the future.

To be continued....

Turnabout

Starring: Barack Obama
Produced by: Mainstream Media
Initial director: Democratic Party
Working Title: The Bothersome Middle Class
Final director: American Voters

Obey Obama?

This sure looks like an official poster.



It is located on a freeway entrance within half a mile of Los Angeles City Hall. I'm not sure what was to be gained by such an Orwellian suggestion.

I guess one could say our future rulers want to say "we gave you clear warnings."

I did a search on Google. Nearly every image that I could find under "Obama Obey" tended to show the official "Progress" poster, including the one at that Fairey guy's site. The few I could find that still had the Obey label on them in some way were all clearly unofficial. Not a single other one, after looking through seven pages, showed this one.

I'm now curious to see what may happen now that I've made this entry.

***Update***
I discovered that Sheppard Fairey's studio is located only one street over and two streets up from my home. Seeing that he's long been a self-promoter who plastered walls in the neighborhood with his posters (I didn't then know who he was) it makes sense that this "obey" sign would be on a nearby freeway counter box.

I've since found out that "Obey" is a Fairey trademark.  It is not without irony that he would lend use of  that trademark to highlight his famous idealized portrait of Barack Obama (proven in court to have been an act of plagiarism). It certainly does suggest that an Obama presidency is Fascism in the making. This guy, a major Obama publicist, can openly boast to us later

"You can't say I didn't warn you."

Ignore the Poison; Give Me the Bandaid and Shut Up

After the bailout passed I remained concerned about the role of envy and its exploitation by politicians and business in building the blocks that led to this crisis.

So I did a search to find any stories or editorials that dealt with it. I found NOTHING recent.

But I did stumble upon Henry Hazlitt's On Appeasing Envy first published in 1972.

Tocqueville went on to quote at length from the mutual recriminations of the king, the nobles, and the parliament in blaming each other for the miseries of the people. To read them now is to get the uncanny feeling that they are plagiarizing the rhetoric of the limousine liberals of our own day.

All this does not mean that we should hesitate to take any measure truly calculated to relieve hardship and reduce poverty. What it does mean is that we should never take governmental measures merely for the purpose of trying to assuage the envious or appease the agitators, or to buy off a revolution. Such measures, betraying weakness and a guilty conscience, only lead to more far-reaching and even ruinous demands. A government that pays social blackmail will precipitate the very consequences that it fears.

I hesitate to add my own poorly worded insights in order to update this clear thinking. Maybe later. Meanwhile, read the whole thing and pray that others (or you) can build a strong following who will demand an end to such madness.

Starting a new discussion might flush out the role played in all this by the exploiters of envy, jealousy, and covetousness all the while increasing their own powers and paying no personal price for their misdeeds.

Should we fail to shed light on this poison and bleed it out, but only accept the current palliative to get us past the pain of the current wound, it will remain in our system. Its ill effects are certain to return and then much worse.

Disappointing Rhetoric

I just heard (ca. 10:40 AM PST) Dennis Prager say "I am not among the panicking types as you well know" and conservatives must allow the bailout because "the last depression brought us gentlemen named Hitler and Mussolini -- remember? -- and so would this."

Aside from the alarming tone that makes it sound like Mr. Prager aims to infect conservatives with his own fears, he is factually wrong.

Mussolini was in power long before the crash of 1929 that itself preceded the Great Depression by a few years. And I am not even gonna bother with his simplistic cause for the depression (among the causes being governmental intrusions made in a panic). This is Prager's Joe Biden moment, and he hasn't a clue how panicked he is.

RepublicRats™

Dirty hands in both the Democratic and Republican Parties brought about the current financial crisis. I feel this cartoon demonstrates what happens when leaders in both parties agree so well that any lesser voices are simply ignored.

"Bipartisan" agreement is too often another way of announcing that differing interests have been silenced.

Madness of the Political Class -- E.G. 1

In my prior post, Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers, I observed that you are not insane for concluding the political parties and MSM are all behaving madly.

However accurate my observation and conclusion may be, I intentionally left out examples. I simply wanted to state what I think many of us relatively quiet observers are all taking for granted.

Today I begin a series of posts wherein I give examples of the madness.

Democratic Party activists and pundits started questioning the experience of Sarah Palin from the start. In another time it would have been thought the height of madness to question the experience of the opposition party's VeePee when the experience of your own Presidential candidate was so open to question. And, in fact, the Dems daring to bring it up actually highlights how many ways Barack Obama not only has less experience than that of the opposition Veepee, he has less experience than a very large number of ordinary Americans. All Dems who decided it was a good idea to make an issue of experience were mad.

In fact I'd like to nominate whatever Democrats chose not to do so as eligible to form the core of a New Democrat Party right after the elections when the current nuts can be properly eased into long term treatment.

And as for the Republicans. How is it possible, given the opportunity Barack Obama has given them, that they do not pummel Senator Obama with the same questions he raises about Governor Palin? Using his own words and that of his closest allies. Daily. In ads. On TV. And in panel discussions everywhere.

Each time the Dems prove they're nuts and the GOP then chooses not to make an issue of it simply amplifies the fact the Pubbies are in their own way every bit as mad as the Dems.

***Update***09/29/08

Well, I am delighted to say that the following video responds well to my concerns about the GOP's sanity for failing to take advantage of the opening provided when the Obamaniacs made an issue of experience. (h/t Macsmind by way of Ace.)

Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers

If all seems mad to you, rest assured you are not. You'd only be mad were you to think the current political news is normal election cycle inanity. It's well past that.

It's not just that the Left becomes more unhinged on a daily basis. It's apparent to me that the Right believes their best chances for winning is to keep the Left looking like the raving mad threat they really are. For only in contrast to the Democrats do the Republicans appear comparatively sane. That's not saying much.

I keep getting requests for money, two or three a day, from the RNC and the McCain/Palin campaign. But I know I cannot countenance sending them a dime. Why?

Because they'll take the major portion of any money they have and give it to blatantly Leftist MSM -- what I fondly call by its Orwellian cognomen: The Ministry of Information. Thus, with help from the money of the unwitting Republican faithful, the Republican hating misinformation media survives another day.

And need I remind you that the MSM is the only "independent" that McCain-Feingold gives a free hand in the last days of an election to say what it wishes about any candidates?

Oh, by the way: what's the name of the Right-most candidate again?

In the old Soviet Union, those who questioned the sanity of the leaders wound up being treated for insanity. Damn. Kinda.

Looking at the denizens atop our major parties, insanity is neither red nor blue alone. They're the In crowd, and they're mates, and they ARE controlling the institution.

I will follow up this commentary with examples. Please feel free to offer up examples of your own.

Who's the Stuck Pig?

Tarnsman, in this thread at Belmont Club, joked:

I have to say give it a rest as far as the Lipstick on a Pig comment goes. That is a old saying with a well defined meaning. Obambi is many things but stupid isn’t one of them. Oh wait, he is clueless, so I take it back.

I responded to the clueless portion with a skeptical "As demonstrated [between .40 and .43 seconds] in the video by how most of his audience laughed when he said lipstick, and he didn’t bat an eye."



Well, an Obama supporter, "Watchman," complained next.

“and he didn’t bat an eye.”

What a bunch of hypocrites! You bitch about Obama smearing Palin then go on to tie him to Jeremiah Wright all over again.

Here is what I replied.

“and he didn’t bat an eye.”

For crying out loud! That’s an ages old metaphor for one who takes no notice or feels no pain.

What a bunch of hypocrites!

First of all you can’t legitimately blame the rest of the Belmont Clubbers for what you imagined *I* intended. Certainly none of them cheered and hooted and applauded as did Barry’s friends. I’d say I’m safe in saying that you saw the speck in the eyes of most clubbers but not the beam in your own.

Secondly, were Barry as smart and diplomatic as he wants you to believe, he’d have heard the crowd’s response, made an uneasy chuckle and said “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant” and then finished the line. He didn’t. So he was either clueless (as Tarnsman said) or he bathed in the joy of his crowd after he fed it raw meat.

Thirdly. Obama clearly paused for the applause. The normal line has no long pause in it.

You bitch about Obama smearing Palin then go on to tie him to Jeremiah Wright all over again.

Fourthly. Had I wanted to make the connection to Rev. Wright I would have written my comment a bit differently. Here is what you should look for:

“You can put lipstick on a pig [pauses for applause] but it’s still a pig.” and he Never batteddd an ayyyye.

And fifthly. Were Obama as clever as he was in the primaries, and not unwinding so badly now, his campaign would have replied to the McCain campaign’s complaints with “We took the lady at her word that she was tough as a pit bull. Sorry to have upset the vision of herself that she has been selling.”

PDS

So you think that Bush Derangement Syndrome has been bad?

I think Palin Derangement Syndrome is gonna top it.

(This is not my promised expounding upon the reactions to Sarah Palin. Stay tuned.)

---------------updated with related posts:

• A Palin' Reactions
• The Emmanuel Goldsteining of Sarah P

A Palin' Reactions

I know there are those who want to know what I think about the most recent political developments. Well, I'm still biden' my time about what pascal fervor has to say about the reactions.

On a human note: I worry for Sarah almost as much as I worry for our republic. Both should be able to take care of themselves except, well, except for the imminent presence of those who are not as they appear. Come back soon and I'll expound.

Balking Horse

The performance of Barack Obama of late has become bizarrely lame. Early on in the primaries there was talk of him being a far-left stalking horse for Hillary so as to make her look moderate by comparison. But new-left Democrats such as backed Bill and openly dreamed of a 3rd Bill Clinton term found themselves outflanked by the radical left-wing. The nutters' candidate locked in enough votes to clinch the Dem ticket months before the June date when Obama actually accumulated the requisite delegates.

Politics is about gaining power; even losers maneuver after losses and even before impending losses to hold onto advantages so that their minority is still a force that must be reckoned with.

Hillary has not ended her campaign. The Dem convention has not ended. The fat-legged lady has not swan-songed.

That Barack Obama is one balky politician is more evident every day. Many in the GOP can hardly wait to broadcast with the help of talk radio to tell us all of the next false-step or tone-deaf comment even before the noise from the last incident has died down.

In baseball, where when the pitcher makes a motion that is against the rules, the pitcher is charged with a balk. The penalty is that opposition base runners advance a base.

Given how many delegates Hillary has accumulated and not relinquished yet, she is clearly still on the third base of the Democratic party. She awaits some inevitable errant move by Obama — some faux pas that will penalize Obama some number of delegates or other obscure party rule — that will advance Hillary to home plate. It may already have been committed and she is simply biding her time.

Such a late advance by her would put her at a distinct advantage against McCain. In part because so many voters are so put off by the unprecedentedly long campaign that they've tired of the two current faces. But more importantly, it will be because of some yet unrecognized comments that McCain politically uttered to advance himself against Obama but would hurt him against Hillary.

That is what the term stalking horse has always implied politically — some one to be the focal point, the target, to take the hits. But never the real one the party intends to put up. In that way the real candidate can take advantage of the opposition's revealed strategy and especially the political mistakes. The real candidate is then fresher and not as fatigued nor battle scarred as his opposition when election day arrives.

However, is it likely that all that Obama has done up to now was just so he could be a stalking horse for Hillary? Is he blowing it deliberately?

No! That is too bizarre a possibility. People who are this close to garnering power are not inclined to throw it away intentionally. That may be especially true of someone who has good reason to suspect he had been encouraged to run precisely to be a stalking horse. Such a man would find the position he'd achieved in June — one that was against the odds in December — to be particularly sweet.

No, I'm recognizing that he's in danger of fumbling it all away simply because he's a much smoother reader of prepared scripts than he is a man of wider strengths. If he blows his nomination, he will effectively have been a stalking horse of a different variety.

Should Obama screw himself by stumbling, fumbling, bumbling once too much in the short time between now and the end of the convention, he will achieve an American first.

He will be America's first balking horse.