NunoftheAbove

During the eight years of Bush-42, much was made about his frequent trips to his ranch in Crawford, TX, however most of the MSM press never actually understood the appeal of the place.  Yes, the most expensive hotel room goes for $139 a night and the cost of a meal at the Coffee Station, the only restaurant in Crawford, will run less than $10 with tip, but the 90 degree plus summer days seemed to turn off many of the press corps which travel with the president.  They even ponied up $26,000 to air condition the local school gym which became the press briefing area.  After the bean counters in the corporate news offices figured out how much they were saving on hotel and food for their reporters, the a/c tab probably seemed like a bargain.

For Bush vacations were about renewal of the spirit and he found his balance while cutting down mesquite trees and putting up fences.  Manual labor, hard, hot work for a man who was carrying the weight of a country under attack on his shoulders.

President Obama vacation this year has taken him back to a place that he is familiar with as well. He spent much of his youth in Hawaii and only last year returned their following the death of his grandmother.  This year, the time off doesn’t carry the same cloak of grief, but a time of family fun and recreational relaxing all at a price that would make some Americans a little uncomfortable. Although there are accomodations available for less than the rate of $750,000 daily rate for beachfront house that will house the Obama clan, there is still the issue of feeding the rest of the entourage.  The most parsimonious diner will find it hard to find anything on the menus of Honolulu for less than $22.  But the weather is beautiful allowing time for golf which will add $100 to the expense account.

It is certainly easy to see why the press would prefer Obama over Bush.  Of course it is always easy to choose Paradise over Inferno, especially if someone else is picking up the tab.  And with this president, all spending is considered an answer to the recession.

In Arizona, another Muslim man has killed a family member for “dishonoring” his family.

Prosecutors say Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, of Glendale, conducted an “honor killing” on his own daughter because he felt she had shamed the family by not following traditional Iraqi or Muslim values.

The elder Almaleki is accused of using his Jeep Grand Cherokee to run down his daughter and another woman in a parking lot outside a state agency’s office in Peoria.

Source

Almaleki believed Noor had become “too westernized” after she left her arranged marriage to an Iraqi man and moved back to Arizona to live with her American fiance.  The other victim was future mother-in-law, Amal Kalaf, 43, who lived with her Noor and her son.

Social experts say honor killings are an accepted practice in Iraqi tribal society, where family members believe they must kill a woman who has dishonored them by not living by traditional values.

After he ran down Noor and Kalaf, Almaleki fled to Mexico where he boarded a plane to London.  He was detained at Heathrow where he was extradited back to the United States.  He is currently in jail under a suicide watch.

Noor was remembered by her friends as being a strong, caring young woman who did not want to be disrespectful to her father but did want to be free to make her own choices about her life which included college and working to earn her own money.  Almaleki forced his daughter to quit her job at Applebee’s.

A Facebook page has been set up by her friends in order to honor her memory.

Noor’s murder reminds one of that the anniversary of the deaths of Sarah and Amina’s Said will soon be here.  Their father, Yasser Said remains at large.

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Honor Killing in America on Fox News

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FBI calls Said sisters’ murders an honor killing

Sarah and Amina Said – One year without justice

13 year-old girl stoned to death in Somalia

Sam Walton was known as a brilliant marketer, but he also recognized that all his plans would be useless without a workforce that was rewarded for their contribution to the profitability of the company.  A simple plan, yes, but one that continues to work within a financial downturn that has put some of America’s corporate giants on their deathbed and each looking to the federal government to keep them on life support.

Walmart, whose stock closed yesterday at $49.95, has announced a $933 billion bonus to be paid out to its hourly employees.  That bonus is up from last year’s bonus of $789 billion and not a single dime of it was sucked out of Washington, D.C.

Not only was the bonus funded by profits, hence the term profit-sharing, it was also paid to employees earning an average of $11 an hour, a far cry from $185 billion in “retention” bonus paid by the insurance giant whose assets were reduced to nothing because of speculative  flim flams that unraveled during the housing market meltdown.

In the most basic sense the Walmart employee, a middle-class working stiff,  is being rewarded for his contribution toward the productivity of his company,  while AIG seems to feel compelled to pay their employees to keep them there earning their six-figure incomes while producing negative profit for the company.  What employee needs to be given an incentive to stay in that job?  In the Sam Walton business model, employees were  “rewarded” evey week for doing their jobs — it is called a paycheck.  And if they were not doing their job, and therefore not adding to the bottomline, the were cut loose — not paid even more to stay and continue to be deadweight.  And, of course, to add insult to irony, the Walmart greeter, and other taxpayer like him, is the one paying the bonuses to keep the schmucks who drove AIG into the ground.

Now Congress is looking toward punitive tax measures to take back what they have so foolishly given away.  While they are in their mea culpa mood, how about providing some incentives to those who have continued to work and contribute the taxes that are paying now for the follies of those of the AIG mentality who peer down their noses at those lowly drudges who work at Walmart and the other invisbles such as the taxi driver, the waitress, and the cleaning crew.  How about rewarding those who actually do a good job and never ask for a bailout rather than those who who come to represent a new entitlement crowd — those on the dole for  corporate welfare.

Yes, Sam Walton may have been a simple man whose namesake’s parking lots may be filled with Fords rather than BEAMERS, but most Americans would rather be driving a paid-off Ford than hiding the BMW from the repo man.

After dismissing his formal cabinet, Andrew Jackson assembled an informal group of advisors which his detractors referred to as his “Kitchen Cabinet.”  Obama’s Cabinet might be seen as the “I’m Sorry” Cabinet for their penchant for having to apologize for past activities.  Case in point:

Tim Geitner, Treasury Secretary, apologizes to the Senate Committee during his nomination hearings for failing to pay $34,000 in taxes in what he referred to as a “careless mistake.”  Do the citizens of this country really deserve a man prone to such carelessness that evidently went on for several years.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told him, “You will be confirmed” although Roberts said his phones were “ringing off the hook” from constituents upset about the prospect of having a treasury secretary who was so careless in tending to his own taxes.

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General, had to apologizes for allowing the pardon of convincted embezzler Marc Rich’s pardon during the last days of the Clinton Administration.   He also expressed remorse for the pardon of sixteeen FAlN terrorists who were responsible over 100 bombings, the wonding of 80, and the deaths of 5.

“That was the most intense, searing experience . . . I’ve ever had,” Holder said. “This sounds perverse but I think I will be a better attorney general, if confirmed, having had the Marc Rich experience . . . It was not typical of the way I’ve conducted myself in a careful, thoughtful career.”

Mr. Holder appears to view the AG’s office is a learning experience and that is something that this country cannot afford.

Tom Daschle, Health and Human Service has had to apologize for his failure to pay $128,000  in taxes over the last three years.  Daschel has reportedly recently paid an additional $100,000 in back taxes most of which involve the non-reporting of services provided to him by supporters and unreported income that both he and his wife received.

“I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns…. I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them.”

This from a former member of the Senate who served on both the Finance and Ethics Committe.  It would seem that his past experience would have enlightened him on the need to be both ethical and truthful with his federal tax filing and some would say that the average citizen who was so careless would be facing tax prosecution rather than Cabinet vetting.

President Obama has the right to choose his own advisors but looking at the nominations he has made, one would might describe man of them as being deceitful, uninformed, and perhaps, just plain sorry.

With the stimulus package passing the House last week without benefit of a single Republican vote, President Obama has brushed aside the bipartisan concerns over the $900 billion bill.

“What we can’t do is let modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward swiftly,” Obama said.

Obama said today that governors from both parties are depending on “swift action” on the bill in order to help curb the economic downturn that is causing states to have to consider draconian cost cutting measures in order to maintain fiscally solvent.  Republican governor of Vermont Jim Douglas met with Obama today and expressed his approval of the measure.

“This is a serious matter,” Douglas said. “The only way we’re going to get the country moving again is a partnership between the states and the federal government.”

Senate opposition, however, is questioning whether the bill is a life saver or a federal budget buster.

In contrast, the Senate’s top Republican said most of his party supports a “dramatically different” stimulus plan and accused Democrats of being unwilling to negotiate even as Obama said he welcomes Republican ideas.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, pointing to an NBC interview yesterday in which Obama said he wanted to include Republican ideas, said Democratic lawmakers haven’t “gotten the memo.”

“Most of my members believe that we could have a very robust stimulus for less than the amount currently before us,” McConnell said.

Source

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, sees the bill coming to vote sooner rather than later.  After wading through a stack of amendments from both sides of the aisle, Reid is expected to bring the finalized piece of legislation to a full vote by Friday.

In order to do that, he will need to appease at least of his own party member and to pass the measure he will need to win over two Republicans.   House and Senate leaders have expressed hope in getting the package on the president’s desk by mid-February.

In the words of Jonathan Swift, the Irish satirist of all things political,

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

All of us who harbor prudent expectations from Washington are indeed blessed.

On the day of his coronation, the infamous Ides of March, Julius Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, had a dream about her husband that disturbed her so much that she begged him not to go to the forum that day.  Fearing that he would appear weak if he succumbed to his wife’s fears, he called for a chicken to be sacrificed and its entrails examined for future signs.  One interpretation forecast doom for Caesar; the other prosperity and thus satisfied with the latter, Caesar went forth to his doom.

There have been no reports of dissected chickens in Washington D.C., but certain events of the inauguration could portend both good and bad for the forty-fourth president.

Martin Luther King said in his famous speech at the Lincoln Monument that he envisioned a time when his children would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  There was a glimpse of the fulfillment of this dream today with the ascension of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land, and one of the most moving pictures today was of a young back man with tears streaming down his cheeks as he listened to the Inaugural Address.  This was truly a good sign, a hopeful sign, and a rewarding sign.  That along with the throngs of people that packed the parade route, standing in the cold for hours to become a part of history in which a dream of equality has hopefully erased a nightmare of racism and bigotry.

But at the same time, there are signs that not all would be well for this administration.  The exuberant crowds were overwhelming African America leaving to speculation that not all Americans see this Commander in Chief as the leader of all Americans.  It will be Obama’s job to convince at least 50 percent of his fellow citizens that he can and will bridge the racial divide.

One of the faces that President Obama will depend upon to close that gap is his wife, Michelle.  The new First Lady looked stunning today and smiled brilliantly to the crowds.  There was however some moments when her face turned frozen, perhaps caused by the biting wind, but certainly not reflected by other members of the first wives’ club that was present during the many activities.  Mrs. Obama can certainly be a great ally for her husband, but she should remember that she is always on camera and even small human flaws by someone in her position can bring substantial criticism to both her and the president.

Another troubling part of today’s ceremonies was the health concerns of both Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Robert Byrd.  The sad irony of two of the oldest and sometimes most contentious members of Congress being stricken down during this celebratory occasion has cast a shadow over the Democratic jubilation.  The old guard seems to have been overthrown by a coupe led by age and infirmity.

The treatment of the outgoing president was certainly not a highlight of the day.  From the boos and catcalls, to the chanting of “Na, Na, Na, Na,  Hey, Hey, Goodbye,” the high tone of this historic ceremony was taken to the level of school children taunting a rival.  President Obama must lead by example and should have taken better note of Mr. Bush’s graciousness and cooperation during this transition.

Another low point of in the effort to bring together a nation occurred during the benediction speech given by Reverend Joseph E. Lowrey.  The 87 year-old civil rights leader implored the Almighty for a time when “black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around … when yellow will be mellow … when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right.”   A man of renown for his remarkable eloquence, Lowrey did not serve Obama well by resorting to infantile and biased rhetoric.

And of course, even Obama’s rhetoric was flawed, as he flubbed, not once, but twice his oath of office.  Even such a challenged speaker as George Bush did not butcher what many would consider the most sacred, yet simple, words.  There will be many more speeches for this president and perhaps most will forget the small shadows that marked today’s events.  Presidents are, of course, only humans and subject to the unpredictability of life.  President Obama’s fate will not be made up dreams of yesterday but the reality of the decisions he makes from this day forward.

It comes as some consolation to conservatives who watched last year go to hell in a handbasket culminating on November 4th to watch the circus that has played out post election.  While many have watched the obstructionists of the Democratic Party hold George Bush, his appointees, and both house of Congress hostage, it now appears that those same fine folks are now turning not only on their own newly annoited leader but the other members of their party.

Roland Burris, the appointee for the vacated seat of the former junior Senator from Illinois, got no respect today when he showed up to be seated with the rest of the freshman class of 2009.  Without the proper documentation from the Illinois Secretary of State, he was cordially turned on his heel and asked to come back when a non-indicted persona sends him.  Harry Reid, Speaker of the House, has said that he would prefer to see Governor (for the moment) Blagojevich appoint Attorney General Lisa Madigan or state veterans affairs chief Tammy Duckworth over any of the three black men that had been considered.  For the interim, however, the state of Illinois will be short a senator.

And sharing that same distinction, it appears, will be the state of Minnesota in which the legal battle of the election results has kept Al Franken from finding a full time job.  Franken was the narrow loser following the original vote tallies, but the continual recounting has gone miraculously Franken’s way even to the point of receiving 171 more votes from Ramsey County than were actually case on election day.  Norm Coleman, the incumbent and currently loosing Senator, has filed a lawsuit challenging the recount.  Harry Reid, not unexpectedly, had hoped that Coleman would concede because the election cannot be certified until the litigation is settled, and foul-mouthed Franken, like Burris, could not join in with the other incoming Senators today.

While not a subject of election lawsuits or impeachment procedures, Bill Richardson has been the first  Obama appointee casualty.  Although Richardson was hoping for the Secretary of State nod which went to Hillary Clinton, he was chosen by Obama for the cabinet level post of Secretary of Commerce.  On Friday, he withdrew his name amid a flurry of controversy surrounding a federal investigation into how one of his major political contributor obtained contracts from the state of NewMexico.  Richardson denies any wrongdoing in the contract process with CDR and the CEO of the company, David Rubin who contributed $100,000 to a Richardson PAC and to a fund to help pay for Richardson’s expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention, insists that his company was fully vetted before being awarded over $1.48 million in state fees.

And the subject of vetting is just what Senator Dianne Feinstein is questioning in the most recent Obama team announcement — that of Leon Panetta as CIA Director.  Panetta, who served as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff,  was a surprise to many, and Feinstein, who heads the Intelligence Committee, was incredulous that Obama would nominate someone without previous intelligience experience.

“My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time,” the California senator said.

In the never ending merry-go-round of Washington alliances, however, Feinstein  has been one of the few supporters of the Richard Burris appointment.

All of this discord is running amok within the Democratic Party and without any visible help from the Republicans.  And the case of Caroline Kennedy, the most highly pedigreed yet under qualified Senate nomination has yet to play out.

So to all those who said being in the minority isn’t any fun, just stick around kids — you ain’t seen nothing yet!

3-year-old boy from Surrey who is being treated for leukemia in Fargo is giving out Christmas presents.

Hudson Francis has been making weekly 300-mile round trips to Fargo with his parents for the last eight months. Doctors say chemotherapy treatments have gone well and the cancer is in remission.

Hudson and his sister, 11-year-old Hannah, organized a hat drive to show their thanks to doctors and nurses and help lift the spirits of other patients and their families. The family has received about 500 new hats to give away

One hat came from as far away as New Zealand. Another donation included hats from both the MinnesotaVikings and Green Bay Packers.

Hudson says he has enjoyed giving out the hats in the MeritCare Children’s Hospital, but says his favorite thing to do is “Go bye-bye.”

Source

Axelrod: Obama has talked to Blagojevich about replacement

When asked about this comment, Axlerod said he was wrong when he said that Obama had discussed his replacement with Blagojevich.  When was Axlerod telling the truth???

Day of Infamy Speech