Obama's Spiritual Advisor's Film On Hold

Barack Obama's chief political advisor, David Axelrod, is making a film on one of Obama's spiritual advisors, Rev. Michael Pflegerm but that film is currently on hold.

Pfleger's crusades against guns, prostitution, porn and tobacco have made good copy for years for a fairly admiring local press corps hooked on cheering for the underdog, the poor and the powerless.

Pfleger is the subject of a documentary being made by Chicago-based David Axelrod, Obama's top strategist. On Friday, Axelrod told me in an e-mail that the film project has "been dormant for much of the last two years due to other commitments

When asked to comment, Mr. Obama said, "I did not know that".

So Long Montana?

Or should that be hello Republic of Montana? In response to the 2nd amendment case before the Supreme Court, if it does not come down on the side of an "individuals right to keep and bear arms", Montana, may take things into its own hands.

In a joint resolution, the Montana politicians argue that when Washington approved the state constitution, including a clause granting “any person” the right to bear arms, upon the Treasure State’s entry into the Union in 1889, the federal government recognized that clause as consistent with the Second Amendment. If the Court comes down on the side of a collective right, they argue, it would breach the compact for statehood between Montana and the federal government.

Bringing the United States down to 49... or 56 in Obama's world.

House Democrat Want To Socialize Big Oil

Maxine Waters, D-CA, who has some "ethic issues":

Waters was named in 2005[2] and 2006[3] as one of the "most corrupt" members of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They said, "Her ethics issues arise from her exercise of this power to financially benefit her daughter, husband and son."

Would like to socialize.... or is that nationalize big oil.

Link: sevenload.com

Hey, lets just call it National Socialize and be done with it.

A Solution To Many Of America's Problems

I am reposting something from May 2007, because I feel like it and it is a really good idea, no more so than before.

I am going to throw this out to the public but remember, it was my idea, you heard it here first.

One of America's biggest problems is energy independence. Another is the terrorist issue, Iraq, Afghanistan etc. What is one way we could solve both problems with one solution? Easy answer, become energy independent. No more need to buy oil from the Middle East, no more billions of dollars available to those who would like to see us dead.

So how do we do this? Being the capitalist society we are, monetary incentives and disincentives. Now stick with me for a second... we raise the tax on gas and other oil products that come from outside our borders. Call it the foreign oil tax. Not sure the proper amount per liter, quart, gallon or barrel but enough to cause at least some mild discomfort from the consumers and enough to raise some serious cash. Then we take that money, and I am talking multiple billions per year, and we have a national contest, make it a reality show. An American Idol type event called American Energy Independence. Anyone and everyone who is an American citizen, any individual, group, team, company, non profit, church, club, quilting circle whomever, whatever are eligible to submit a plan to a blue ribbon panel with the goal of making America energy independent. The ultimate goal would be a source of energy that is homegrown with bonus points for renewable, cheap and clean.

The foreign oil tax money would be used to fund the research and development of the top ideas deemed worthy of pursuit. There would be a limit to how many are currently being funded and every so often, say 6 months, each plans progress would be reviewed and ranked by probability of success. Any new plan, or even updated old plan, that has been submitted that looks more promising than the current list would replace any existing plan for funding.

The ultimate winner gets any money left over and all future foreign oil tax revenue in addition to a reasonable royalty fee on all future units of energy sold. And by reasonable I mean enough to make Bill Gates wish he had not wasted his time on software.

One condition. The name of the ultimate product has to be called VOOM! Because I really like reading Dr. Suess to Andrew and like I said, it was my idea.

The United States of America, According To Obama

Not sure which United States of America he is talking about... it is not the one I am familiar with.



H/T Ace

State closes "flawed" office to help black children in welfare system

5 years after the “Office of African-American Children's Services” opened, someone realized that it

appeared to use "racial classifications as the sole factor in determining" which kids are served

I wonder if anyone at DSHS has looked to see if they have an “Office of Cooking and Distributing Meth”. Nothing gets past these people.

The flaw of course is not that the office only serves African American kids, the flaw is nobody is willing to admit what any sane person knows, that the problem is in the African American culture, parents, and more specifically fathers, in the African American community tend to not take responsibility for their children.
Obviously not the case in all or even most situations but just look at Seattle Public school data and compare the breakout by race with the percentage of kids living in a single parent home. Then see if there is a relationship between single parent homes and test scores. Who would have thunk it? It appears dad is not there to make sure junior does his homework.

Enough diversity training of the welfare workers already, get dads to take responsibility for their kids. There is no other solution.

HOT Lanes, Government At Its Tax Spending Worst

New numbers on the HOT lanes and how financially inefficient they really are...

Here are the revenues...

Between 5 and 10 a.m. Monday, 339 solo drivers paid to enter the northbound lane, in fairly light traffic, said Craig Stone, urban-corridors administrator for the state Department of Transportation. Just 29 drivers used the southbound HOT lane.

The tolls, which increase as traffic gets heavier, reached $2.25 at 7:15 a.m. northbound at 277th Street, but Stone said no one paid that rate to use the HOT lanes. The most anyone paid, he said, was $2. The minimum toll was 50 cents, while the average paid was $1.04.

For the afternoon commute, between 2 and 7 p.m., 284 vehicles used the HOT lanes southbound and 60 used them northbound. They paid an average of 72 cents and had an average time saving of two minutes.

The highest the toll Monday afternoon was $1.25, and the highest time savings was 4 minutes.

That would be $557.04 for Monday. And now for the cost side of that financial ledger.

The federal government contributed $5 million toward the state's $18 million startup costs.

18 Million... that does not include the day to day ongoing cost which I am reasonably sure is way, way more than $557.04.

So at this rate, at $557 a day, the startup costs should be repaid in about 88.5 years. Someone may want to take another look at the cost benefit analysis for this project.

HOT Lanes, Another Bad Idea Only Government Could Come Up With

HOT (high occupancy transportation) lanes, AKA diamond lanes, are those where you need to be in a carpool or on public transportation to actually use. Highway 167 is now setup so that single drivers can use these lanes if they are willing to pay a fee. The fee varies depending on how bad the traffic is at the time.

Monday morning, in the first 5 hours of a weekday commute, 339 cars paid an average of $1.04 to use the lanes. Just a guess here but the cost to administer this program was more than the revenue generated and the benefit was minimal at best. $350 for 5 hours, that is about what it would cost to pay 9 people minimum wage over the same time period. This does not take into account any of the cost of the technology, signage etc. Reports this morning was 167 was backed up because of confusion over how the new system works.

Only government could come up with a plan this costly and ineffective. Do we need to do something about traffic congestion, sure. Spending $1000 to get $100 worth of benefit... only the government would do something like this.

McDermott Call U.S. Soldiers Mercenaries, Stupid and Felons

That is the claim by his opponent, Steve Beren.

McDermott said that “we’re losing in Afghanistan,” accused the President of planning to expand the war into Iran, and said “we’re running a gulag – one over in Guantanamo, and several in Iraq.” Yet, the congressman argued, “nobody cares” about the war because “as long as we can hire mercenaries to fight this war for us” the war would continue. McDermott said that the "mercenaries" were recruited from those who could not get jobs, or who could not get into school, or who were in jail due to having committed felonies.

And based on Representative McDermott's history, there is no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Reverend Wright's 9 Commandments

Seems Reverend Wright's version of the 10 commandments is missing the one about "you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife"

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's loose cannon of a spiritual adviser, stole the wife of a parishioner - after the man sought Wright's help in saving his troubled marriage, the former husband told friends.

Delmer Reed, 59, confided to pals that he believed the minister moved in on his wife while Wright was counseling the couple at his Chicago church in the early 1980s, The Post has learned.

"That's exactly how he said it," Reed's divorce lawyer, Roosevelt Thomas, told The Post.

H/T Hotair.

Gas Tax Holiday, A Dumb Idea

We do not need a gas tax holiday. When a patient is hemorrhaging from a gaping wound, a band aid is nothing more than a waste of time fixing the issue. What we need is a comprehensive energy plan that will eventually make us energy independent. This needs to include temporary steps such as drilling in ANWR and raising fuel mileage standards. Both side need to give on this issue because it is too important.

And no, Senator McCain, ANWR is not the Grand Canyon but even so, if there was significant oil in the Grand Canyon, we should drill there also, it is that important.