Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is living up to his surname. The straight-talking governor has charged that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made use of Missouri law enforcement officials to, “threaten and intimidate his critics.”
In a press release, Gov. Blunt said:
“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.
“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.
“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.
“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.”
Yup, you’re reading that right. If you can’t see the truth about Barack Obama after this, you may need to update your Lasik procedure.
Speaking on This Week with George Stephanopolous, former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
“You have the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs asking for 700 billion dollars, and in his initial request, asking for it in such an un-American way that I think he should have resigned. I think Paulson has terminally misunderstood the nature of the American system. Not just no review, no judicial review, no congressional accountability. Give me 700 billion dollars, 700 BILLION dollars! ‘I’ll be glad to spend it for you.’ That’s a centralization of power that is totally un-American.”
Perhaps Paulson could be let back into the community if he wore a magnetic bracelet that tracks his whereabouts.
House Democrats didn’t need a single Republican vote to pass the bailout package on Monday, but by 1 PM Central time, the controversial bill, being sold to the public as a panic measure to stave off a “second Great Depression.”
However, the vote unexpectedly went awry on Monday and was headed toward defeat at 227 against to 206 in favor, when Speaker Pelosi suspended the vote to twist the arms of straying Democrats and try to swing the vote back in favor of passage.
With everything from promises of committee memberships to threats of DNA testing on the table for Pelosi, the failure of the measure with her party in the majority is only the latest humiliation for the Speaker, who has lead the House of Representatives to the lowest-ever approval rating in modern US history, and failed to achieve any accomplishments of note in her two years in power.
It’s a bit premature to forget that electric car and start looking into an old bus for sale; however, oil did fall below $100 per barrel on Monday for the second time in less than 30 days. By midday trading, oil had fallen more than eight dollars off Friday’s closing price, averaging around $98.65 per barrel.
This is despite US Gulf Coast crude production still ramping up following Hurricanes Ike and Gustav; presently, 57 percent of oil and 53 percent of natural gas production from the Gulf Coast region remains shut down; as these facilities ramp back up, a further tumble of gas prices is expected, which could bring oil as low as around $80 per barrel over the next 30 to 45 days, which could be low enough to see US pump prices dip below $3.00 per gallon for the first time since early 2008.
In other words, things are looking up; however, in the long term they will only stay stable at these lower levels if offshore, shale and ANWAR remain on the table to increase US production in the near term, and the push toward fuel and energy alternatives remains at the forefront of US priorities.
While much talk has been bandied about regarding the troubled US stock market and economy, we have not yet experienced a 2008 Black Friday; in fact, there are some encouraging signs in the marketplace, believe it or not.
According to a Times UK article, the British pound, which peaked earlier this year at over $2.00 in value compared to the US dollar, fell to $1.7962 against the dollar, a 10-day low and a sharp decline from the earlier high this year.
The Euro also fell against the US dollar, closing at $1.4340 today (Monday).
While it’s far too early to declare the US dollar out of trouble, it is showing signs of a potential resurgence. This should be an encouraging signs, if the trend continues, in the months ahead; not that the mainstream liberal US media will mention it until after the election is over.
Saturday Night Live is a comedy show, and their job is making people laugh. Trouble is, comedy either works well or makes you look like an ass, and a skit on SNL last Saturday was more of the donkey variety than the guffaw variety.
In the skit, apparently meant to poke fun at liberal media bias, guest star James Franco plays a New York Times assignment editor who approves baseless stories against the Palin family. The trouble is the subject matter that SNL chose as a plot device for the skit: they “baseless story” was that Gov. Palin’s husband, Todd Palin, was having incestuous affairs with all of the Palin daughters.
Swing and a miss, SNL: incest isn’t funny. But since it’s off your radar due to the target being a Republican, ask your self this: would you have ran with the sketch if it had alleged Barry Obama had been sleeping with his daughters?
Thought not.
But then, this is what you get when you staff a comedy sketch show with Al Franken and a bunch of liberals with Atlanta resumes and New York addresses.
Is California buying Minnesota’s Senate seat? If Al Franken wins the race, that could very well end up being the case. According to a recent article on the Politico Web site, Franken has raised over a half-million dollars from his Hollywood friends alone, and has raised more money from California than from any other state, including Minnesota.
Last I checked, Minnesota’s Senate sear was supposed to be selected by Minnesotans, not Californians. But then, Franken’s about as much of a Minnesotan as Al Gore, and has spent less time living here than Jessica Lange.
Keep this in mind: a vote for Franken is a vote bought and paid for by Californians when they’re not off on European cruises, not Minnesotans. Can’t we do better than that?
While talking at voters yesterday, Michelle Obama - wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack “Barry” Obama - warned voters not to vote for someone because “I like that guy” or, “she’s cute.”
When asked whether she was targeting Alaska governor and GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin with that comment, Michelle replied that she had meant to reference herself with that comment.
One problem there: Michelle’s not on any ticket herself, so her rationalization doesn’t hold water. It was a Palin swipe, like it or not, and you don’t need cell phone amplifiers to hear that signal clearly.
US Senate candidate Al Franken, the angry, partisan liberal Democrat, needs to put his mouth on diet pills. The man who once thought it witty to entitle a book “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat Idiot” is proving to be a better fit to such charges.
After avoiding his own tax burden in 17 states - something he might never have corrected had he not run for office - Franken has been admitting his desire to raise taxes all over the place. In fact, speaking of an increase in the gas tax, Franken recently said, “I don’t think people would notice it much.”
Just like you didn’t notice that you hadn’t paid your taxes in 17 different states, Al? Please. I guess if you’re not paying taxes to begin with, it really is painless when the rate is raised.
While the corruption charges drove Olmert from power and put Livni in charge of the current coalition government in Israel, at least one former prime minister of Israel - who may run again - is calling for new general elections in Israel, and soon: Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud Party.
“This is the most decent and democratic thing to do. We need to go to the people of Israel and let them choose,” Netanyahu told Livni by phone Thursday, according to a piece in the Jerusalem Post Online.
“We need to let the people of Israel decide who should be the country’s prime minister and not to leave this decision exclusively to the members of Kadima. He who fears the people’s choice, should not lead.”
Look for leaders like Netanyahu to throw everything, including kitchen sinks, at Livni before too long, here.
It’s like finding a high-quality antique at a fraction of its true value at a discount furniture store: conservatives, who couldn’t find anyone they were really behind in the entire primary season, are now so over the moon for Sarah Palin that you’d think she was at the top of the ticket.
Palin resonates with blue-collar voters - “hockey moms” and the like - far more effectively and any Republican leader since Ronald Reagan. As a person who matured and came of voting age during Reagan’s run, Palin has done well modeling herself after the Reagan ethos.
So far, it appears Reagan would find a lot to be proud of in Palin become the successor to his mantle.
Call her Israel’s Hillary Clinton; call her Israel’s Sarah Palin; but whatever you call her, remember that the title is now Ms Prime Minister. Israel foreign minister Tzipi Livni survived a primary battle to become the new head of the moderate Kadima Party and will spend the next few weeks forming a coalition government, or face the threat of early national elections.
With a bottle of Leptovox nowhere in sight, the Israeli centrist will be pressed hard to move a bit to the right by the Ultra-Orthodox Shas party and its leader, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, who has made it clear he wants no compromising on ceding territory in Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
Former prime minister and current conservative Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu has already called for Livni to order a new round of general elections, which makes an alliance with the Likud Party unlikely in the formation of a coalition government.
Livni is not the first female prime minister of Israel; that honor belongs to Golda Meier.
