LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

As a fan of Bill O'Reilly's, I'm not shy about "letting him have it," when I disagree with him. In that spirit, I sent him the following email: Bill, you're a pinhead for calling Adam Lambert "this gay guy." There's much more to him, so stop defining him by one "over the top" performance. The fascinating thing about "this guy" is the thousands of older women who turn into screaming "teeny-boppers" when they see him perform! I think Ms. Walters is secretly a "Glambert," as they call themselves. I kept it pithy, and tried to avoid bloviating, as any fan of "the Factor" knows to do, when emailing the show. However, I've been wanting to write about Adam for some time, well before the current AMA "controversy." O'Reilly's disparaging comments about him, while interviewing Barbara Walters last Wednesday night, seems to have given me the final bit of motivation I needed to actually ...

Well, this is an interesting story. The Swiss people, the ones who reflexively think of Americans as "bigots" or "racists," have just voted to ban "minarets" from being constructed on Mosques in Switzerland. Quel surprise! The polls said it only had 37% support, but it appears that people lied to the pollsters. We've been here before, and to see Switzerland going through this is dismaying. In a free society, any religion can build any place of worship they like, subject to secular/cultural legal codes. The cultural aspect is the most chafing, because people are attached to the architecture of their habitat. Some may see minarets as a physical threat to that part of their culture. Here in the US, there is no law against minarets. Muslims are free to build Mosques in any way they want, and they have. They have also adapted other buildings to this use, as all religions have done in this country. I understand that the Swiss don't have as diverse a popu...

Did anyone else hear about the scientists caught planting Bobcat/Lynx fur, to fudge results determining it's range area? I doubt it, but it happened , a few years back. They said they were actually "testing" the lab that they sent the fur to, because "biologists were skeptical that the lab would produce accurate results; they were suspicious of test results, ironically enough, because another lab had found more lynx than the biologists thought was likely." Really . A similar problem is happening in the global warming community. Apparently, the evidence has indicated that temperatures aren't predictable by any of the "global warming" models. Perhaps they were doing an "unauthorized" data entry to check that other "scientists" weren't cheating on their results. "What is he talking about?" you might ask. I'm referring to the recently leaked emails between researchers from the University Of East Anglia’s Climat...

Some enterprising GOP media type ought to resurrect those commercials against Bush's Social Security reform. If you don't remember, they had a construction crew showing up at a woman's house, saying they were there to fix the sink. As she protests, they start tearing her house down, with big machines. All that has to be done is switch the tagline to "health care reform." Since " Harry and Louise " have "switched sides," in ads supporting the current health care bill, why can't it's opponents steal an idea from the people who opposed Bush's Soc Sec reforms? All's fair in the political ad wars, and in this case, the message fits perfectly. Maybe they can add a guy giving the woman the bill, at the end. Just a quick thought...

UPDATED 11/01: " Republican Endorses Democrat in NY 's 23rd CD Race " It looks like Dede Scozzafava took LEAVWORLD's advice , and dropped out of the special election in NY's 23rd Congressional District. She did the right thing, and deserves credit for doing so. I'm sure it was political pressure that did it, and not anything I wrote. Palin was the first "big name" to endorse the Conservative candidate, Hoffman, and several high-level GOP pols followed her lead. Now, it's a two-way race, with liberal against conservative policies. I can already hear the libs citing this as "the triumph of the Neanderthals" if Hoffman wins. Nothing could br further from the truth. Conservatives are often thoughtful, and principled. The problem all along is that the GOP has drifted away from conservative principles, though the drift could be described as "thoughtful." It looks as if the "tea party" movement has some legs. What does one ...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU : by Hans Bader Today, President Obama signed into law a bill that will dramatically expand the federal hate crimes law, enabling prosecutors to bring federal charges against people who were previously found innocent of hate crimes in state court . The hate-crimes provisions were added to a defense appropriations bill, which the President signed in a White House signing ceremony this afternoon at around 2:30 p.m. The new law dramatically expands the reach of the existing federal hate-crimes law that was already on the books, by getting rid of the requirement that a hate crime affect federally-protected activities to be prosecuted in federal court . It also adds sexual orientation, gender, disability, and transgender characteristics to a law that was originally designed to protect racial minorities. The hate-crimes bill was opposed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for allowing the reprosecution in federal court of people found innocent in state ...

Newt Gingrich should know better (l ink ), but it's not surprising that some national and NY State Republicans have chosen Dede Scozzafava as the GOP candidate in NY's 23rd Congressional District, forcing a three-way race with a strong showing from the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman. Ms.Scozzafava is an embarassment. She supports "card check" legislation, and was endorsed by the Working Families Party, the political arm of ACORN. Maybe this election could be decided by who can go out and get the most people to sign cards, instead of voting. Interestingly enough, ACORN's political partner, the Service Employees International Union, has endorsed the Democrat, Bill Owens. While it looks like the lefties are "hedging their bets," there's also this Politico story ( link ): "'Chairman Steele hasn’t put up a cent, not even the obligatory $5,000,' said a New York-based GOP operative. 'There’s been no support from the RNC. Democra...

This guy's going to destroy Obama's presidency, and tear our nation apart. Where is TIME magazine on this story?

White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said this on CNN: "If you were a Fox News viewer in the fall election, what you would have seen would have been that the biggest stories and biggest threats facing America were a guy named Bill Ayers and something called ACORN. I mean, the reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it's not ideological. I mean, obviously there are many commentators who are conservative, liberal centrist, and everybody understands that. What I think is fair to say about Fox and certainly the way we view it is really that it is more a wing of the Republican Party." Wow. I was a FNC viewer in the fall election, and I remember it a bit differently. McCain was routinely criticized, especially his actions during the financial collapse. Obama was covered as the untested "phenomenon." Of course he received a higher level of scrutiny, on Fox, at least...

Something has been bothering me about our situation in Afghanistan. It seems that Pakistan is actually engaging Al Queda and the Taliban, and we're debating a "surge" in troops on the Afghan side of the border. It's a very complicated situation, but in simple terms, here's what it looks like: Pakistan is actually "stepping up to the plate" in this front of the war, and perhaps driving some of the foreign fighters back into Waziristan.( link ) Pakistan has largely beaten back a Taliban insurgency in the northwestern Swat Valley in recent months and intelligence officials say the country is preparing a major offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban in South Waziristan. The military has been blockading the region and seeking to encourage other tribes to rise up against Hakimullah. So what's happening on the Afghan side of the Waziristan border? ( link ) "I don't foresee the return of the Taliban. Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falli...

The "Newshour" program on PBS had a segment on race in the debate about Pres. Obama's "health care reform" ( link to transcript ). It's worth a look, but one comment by the moderator, Gwen Ifill, prompted me to send them the following response: IFILL: "So whether it's Jeremiah Wright or Henry Louis Gates, Jr., or what Jimmy Carter said about this, the Tea Baggers or whoever, it's always going to be with us?" I found myself outraged at Ms. Ifill, during the round table about race in the health care debate, when she used the words "tea baggers" to describe the "tea party" movement. In what was otherwise a reasoned debate about the language used, and it's effect on people of African heritage, she chose to use a derogatory term for another group of Americans. "Tea Party" protesters come in all colors and political stripes, but from what I've seen, they're mostly Caucasian conservatives. After I stopped ...

I don't know how long I've been saying this, but it's been a while. Pres. Obama is not really fighting with the GOP over the health care bill, he's fighting with the "Blue Dog" Democrats, and using the GOP as a "straw man." His true problem is that he's energized a whole new bunch of opposition "community organizers," and he doesn't know how to deal with it. He seems passive-agressive, claiming to want to listen to "other ideas," then attacking those with other ideas. This is what political infighting looks like, in the Obama Administration. If it were just the conservative GOP he was fighting with, there would be no "reaching out." It would be like one big party, as the MSM cheered on, and laughed at the "partisan" opposition, who had no power. If this was is a "mainstream" Democrat bill, most liberal Republicans would support it, as well. The fact that even Sen. Snowe is reserving judgement ...

In 1987, I had recently moved into a run-down apartment building in Freeport, NY. I was starting a new job, which was walking distance from my apt. On my first day of work, I walked home during my lunch hour. On my way back to work, less than half a block from my building, three police cars converged on me. An officer got out of his car, drew his gun, an yelled "freeze!" Of course, I froze. The other officers came up to me, asked for my ID, and frisked me. Apparently, my building was a known drug spot, and these officers thought I went there to buy drugs. After explaining my situation, and proving that I didn't have any drugs, they let me go. I was rattled, but went back to work for the rest of the day. I mention this now because of the current debate about "racial profiling." Was I "racially profiled," because I was a White guy walking in a largely minority area? Or was it, as the police said, because I was leaving a "known drug location?" I...

President Obama did well in his latest national "prime time" press conference, according to Charles Krauthammer. Of course, that opinion was based on a comparison to a "Snake Oil" salesman, so it might not count as praise. I have to admit that, on some level, the president's "pitch" sounded good to me, as well. Then I thought of an old friend, who used the phrase "sellin' you a dream" often, when talking about politics, business, or any similar subject. I think this is a prime example of politicians' "selling a dream." "97 or 98 percent of people will be covered" is not possible, for many reasons, and the president knows it. For him to say that without challenge, or follow-up shows what a friendly environment he was in. Also, minutes after he singled out a Republican strategist and a Republican Senator for attacking him, he claimed not to be attacking them back, politically. Is this really the "new" polit...

My heart is with the Honduran people, who overwhelmingly know that what happened to Zelaya was the right thing to do. (All of those who are outraged at this "coup," just imagine it was Pres. Bush being taken out of the White House.) I only wish we had some similar mechanism to remove the NYS Senate (I'd throw in the Assembly, as well.) from power. ALL of these clowns should go! The other two branches, as well as the Assembly are against them, yet they insist on creating a real statewide crisis over who will be in power in the Senate. Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg haven't distinguished themselves, either. The NYS Senate isn't the only story that reminds me of Honduras. I think Zelaya got the idea from Bloomberg, who rewrote the NYC charter to get a third term; or maybe they both took the idea from the socialist game plan, as did Chavez. Term limits are a good thing, for no other reson than politicians hate them. Bloomy's been able to buy an attempt at a thi...

When I think back to just after 9/11, two images stand out in my memory of world reaction. First, I remember the Palestinian woman giving out candy in celebration of the atrocity. The other image I remember was of the Iranian people holding candlelight vigils in honor of the victims. Neither image was widely publicized in the US media, but I remember the rage, and awe that they inspired in me. I mention them today, as a preface to my analysis/opinion of current Middle Eastern events. The brutal Iranian Mullahs accuse the US of "intolerable" interference in their election, the day after Pres. Obama said that he didn't want to be accused of interfering. Meanwhile, their Hamas puppets are allied with Al Queda in Palestinian Gaza. ( link-Worldfocus.org ) Can we all get on the same page, now? I understand the President is trying to "extend an open hand" to the Mullahs, but they have clearly slapped it away. This isn't about international politics; it's about ...

The appointment of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is being hailed as a "political masterstroke" by many pundits, but the fact is that the Senate Republicans couldn't block her (technically, they could, today, but the vote is not today), if they wanted to. So what was considered so politically terrific about it? Her "compelling" life story is the conventional narrative. However, that doesn't quite wash, because many Republican Supreme Court appointees have had compelling life stories, but it didn't stop the media and Democrats from critcizing them. White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs gave us an idea of what the real political masterstroke was, when he said this: "I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they've decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation." ( link ) That's when the latent political strategy behind this appointment became visible. By...

I'm sorry to say it, but there seems to be a problem with the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker Pelosi has a serious credibility problem, which has been exposed by the recent "torture briefing" scandal. Her public appearances have had a bizarre quality to them, as if she were on a bad SNL skit. I'm no psychiatrist, but if she's not conciously lying, she's mentally "detached" from reality. By this, I mean she didn't hear what she didn't want to hear. Lots of people do this, or just "misremember" things. Perhaps it could be dismissed so easily, if she had not accused the intelligence community briefers of "misleading" her. Now, that will have to be investigated, because lying to Congress is a criminal offense. Her comparison of it to the intelligence on Iraq doesn't hold up, either: a briefing about our actions on captives is much different than one about a potential foe's strength and strategy. She...

Democrats in Congress refused to fund the President's proposed shutdown of the Guantanamo Bay prison. There is good reason for this: it's a bad idea, with no plan for where to relocate the detainees. Now that the Dems are on track to have a 60-vote majority in the Senate, look for more opposition to other promises that Obama made during the campaign. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but politically, it's realistic. Democrats are responsible for the direction our country goes, and will be held accountable, just as the GOP was over six of the last eight years. What Congressman wants to be blamed for bringing terrorists into our country, possibly to be set free on our streets? Other Obama initiatives are likely to face a similar fate. "Cap and trade" is almost certainly doomed to failure in the Congress, and his health care initiative also faces an uphill battle. These political battles will be waged on the Democrat side of the Congress, with Republicans united ...

There's an interesting development in the "culture war" that's been raging in the media for the last few decades. It seems as if the liberal side is losing public support faster than ever before. The NY Times is threatening to shut down the Boston Globe, and may bite the dust itself by the end of the year. It's not surprising that they have reached out to a failing cable channeL/website, MSNBC.com, to share their content. What's happening here is that News Corp is kicking their butts, soundly. The NY Post, a lowly "tabloid" paper, is weathering the winds of cultural (and financial) change much better than the NY Times, and the Fox News channel routinely dominates in the ratings over MSNBC's "prime time" lineup. In fact, Fox's top host, Bill O'Reilly, has been directly taking on the General Electric and NBC leadership. O'Reilly's latest stunt was to send the intrepid producer Jesse Waters into a GE shareholders' meeti...

Wasn't this the exact the kind of thing that Obama was railing against in his campaign? Chrysler has a month to complete the sale of their company to Fiat, an Italian car company. I've never been to Italy, but I know something about their cars, and roads, from friends. If President Obama thinks that Chrysler is going to actually sell anything like the cars driven in Europe, he's got another thing comin'. Fiat tried to crack the American market, but they're not "popular" cars here. Branding them "Chrysler" won't change that. Of course, Fiat may not look to change the models that sell well. Once they take ownership of the company, the government will have somewhat less leverage to pressure them. They will probably end up lobbying to keep the CAFE standards where they are. It's still a free market, and people will determine what sells, not the government. I'm sure the Fiat executives will try to earn a profit on their investment. On an e...

Charles Grassley suggested that AIG execs commit suicide, and then Rep. Barney Frank wanted to publicize their names and addresses. It's time for a revolution in this nation, and I'm not scared to say it! Hating people isn't the same as opposing their ideas, or philosophy. I posted this radical image to show the base hatred in our politics today. Why did I want to put Barney and Chris' heads on spikes? They're not Osama and Sadam (who they replaced, from my original drawing ). I'm mad as hell at these guys, and I have no other way to communicate it. I wonder if this is what drove the Bush and Clinton-haters, and how common it must be among us to hate this way. Luckily, I'm just examining it, with an eye towards avoiding the "hate" trap. It is almost funny, if it weren't such a serious subject.

President Obama lied to the American people when he said "95% of working Americans are going to get a tax cut." What he's done is lower the amount that the government witholds from working people's paychecks. In my case, this has resulted in $10.00 more per week in my take-home pay. What he hasn't done is cut the actual tax rate, which means that my "rebate" will be that much less, when I file my 2009 taxes. Now, I should be glad about this, because I always thought that it wasn't fair that I got no interest on the excess taxes that were witheld from my paychecks. However, I got used to getting my little $600.00 check (or direct deposit, for the last few years) every February or March. While I agree that it's a good idea in principle, it is not, and never will be a tax cut. For the President to call it that is the most insulting type of fabrication. He assumes that by the time people realize that they didn't really get a tax cut next year, th...

One thing about the AIG bonuses. They're only .01% of the money that AIG got from the government. I would take the feigned outrage about the bonuses in congress more seriously if they all hadn't used a similar excuse to support the "earmarks" in the budget they passed two weeks ago. Speaker Pelosi was caught on tape calling illegal immigrants "patriotic," and stating that raids to enforce immigration law were "un-American." Maybe she's really the Speaker of the Mexican legislature? The "deregulation" canard must end. US businesses are heavily regulated, at the federal and state level. Don't believe it? Try starting a business without filing any papers with the government. You can't.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is a shining example of the dirty relationship between the regulators and the regulated. When the president came out and defended him publicly, I heard the bell tolling in the distance. He could be the first Obama appointee to be hypovehiculated (thrown under the bus) after Senate confirmation. As the previous "bailouts" and other deals are examined, it seems that Sec. Geithner was deeply involved, as head of the NY Federal Reserve during the Bush administration. An excerpt from Newt Gingrich's latest dispatch explains it best: ( link ) As Americans' level of outraged has risen, so has the level of finger pointing by Geithner and others for the mess we're in. But Treasury Secretary Geithner is disingenuous at best and untruthful at worst when he says that he "inherited the worst fiscal situation in American history." The truth is that Secretary Geithner didn't inherit the policy of throwing billions of taxpayer dollar...

It's official: Attorney General Eric Holder has "ruled out the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique for terrorism suspects yesterday, calling it a form of torture that the Obama administration could never condone," according to this Reuters story in the NY Post ( link ). He is quoted: "Waterboarding is torture. My Justice Department will not justify it, will not rationalize it and will not condone it." That sounds fine and upstanding, but why doesn't he take exception to waterboarding being practiced on our own troops, for training purposes? As I watched a Fox News report on this story, they had video of one of their reporters being waterboarded. Why is that not a crime, but waterboarding terrorists is? I get it; "voluntary" submission to "torture" is legal, and doing it to someone against their will is a crime. Still, isn't that "justifying" torture, something the AG said his Justice Department would never do?...