Media's Gas Price Crystal Ball is Murky

Dan Gainor at Townhall.com notes that the media was not only wrong about their gas price predictions, but they were wrong more often than if they had flipped a coin.

The predictions were consistently wrong. ABC, NBC and CBS, who can seldom get current events correct, are even worse guessing future news. In fact, for most of 2008, network news stories that predicted oil or gas prices were wrong nearly two-thirds of the time (63 percent).

Two-thirds? You’d be better off flipping a coin or even counting on an NFL referee. Not one network report had guessed that gas would drop to $1.66, the current national average.

As we approach Christmas, let us thank God that the networks are losing viewers and the newspapers are going broke. This is the kind of stupid and irresponsible “reporting” that leads people to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Right now, for example, the MSM is predicting the end of the financial world as we know it. My bet is that January will see one of the most explosive rallies in stock market history. Meanwhile the people who rely on the MSM for their predictions will have their money under the mattress or in CDs at 1%.

What Did Rahm Emanuel Know and When Did He Know It?

From the Chicago Sun Times

Emanuel talked directly to gov: source

President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned. Emanuel had direct discussions about the seat with Gov. Blagojevich, who is is accused of trying to auction it to the highest bidder.

Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however.

A source with the Obama camp strongly denied Emanuel spoke with the governor directly about the seat, saying Emanuel only spoke with Blagojevich once recently to say he was taking the chief of staff post.

But sources with knowledge of the investigation said Blagojevich told his aides about the calls with Emanuel and sometimes gave them directions afterward. Sources said that early on, Emanuel pushed for the appointment of Jarrett to the governor and his staff and asked that it be done by a certain date.

At least some of the conversations between Emanuel and Blagojevich were likely caught on tape, sources said.

I'm sort of curious how those conversations went. Emanuel is such a virgin when it comes to Chicago politics, right?

CNN Meteorologist: Manmade Global Warming Theory 'Arrogant'

From the Business and Media Institute:

Unprecedented snow in Las Vegas has some scratching their heads – how can there be global warming with this unusual cold and snowy weather?

CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers had never bought into the notion that man can alter the climate and the Vegas snowstorm didn’t impact his opinion. Myers, an American Meteorological Society certified meteorologist, explained on CNN’s Dec. 18 “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that the whole idea is arrogant and mankind was in danger of dying from other natural events more so than global warming.

“You know, to think that we could affect weather all that much is pretty arrogant,” Myers said. “Mother Nature is so big, the world is so big, the oceans are so big – I think we’re going to die from a lack of fresh water or we’re going to die from ocean acidification before we die from global warming, for sure.”

Myers is the second CNN meteorologist to challenge the global warming conventions common in the media. He also said trying to determine patterns occurring in the climate would be difficult based on such a short span.

“But this is like, you know you said – in your career – my career has been 22 years long,” Myers said. “That’s a good career in TV, but talking about climate – it’s like having a car for three days and saying, ‘This is a great car.’ Well, yeah – it was for three days, but maybe in days five, six and seven it won’t be so good. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

“We have 100 years worth of data, not millions of years that the world’s been around,” Myers continued.

Dr. Jay Lehr, an expert on environmental policy, told “Lou Dobbs Tonight” viewers you can detect subtle patterns over recorded history, but that dates back to the 13th Century.

“If we go back really, in recorded human history, in the 13th Century, we were probably 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than we are now and it was a very prosperous time for mankind,” Lehr said. “If go back to the Revolutionary War 300 years ago, it was very, very cold. We’ve been warming out of that cold spell from the Revolutionary War period and now we’re back into a cooling cycle.”

Lehr suggested the earth is presently entering a cooling cycle – a result of nature, not man.

“The last 10 years have been quite cool,” Lehr continued. “And right now, I think we’re going into cooling rather than warming and that should be a much greater concern for humankind. But, all we can do is adapt. It is the sun that does it, not man.”

Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Malkin Interview Joe the Plumber

Click on the link to watch.

If You Don't Believe in God, You May Believe in Aliens

Atheists consider themselves the supreme realists. They don’t believe in the “ghost in the machine” and ridicule those of us who believe that God exists and is the creator of the universe.

But they do have a metaphysical problems relating to the origin of things. Does the universe have a beginning or an end? How did life begin? What was there in the beginning of things?

The last question cannot be dismissed because the theory of evolution, which seeks to explain how we are what we are demands that there be a beginning. If life began an eternity ago, is the world as we see it and all the things in it the natural end result of … forever? That seems to be illogical.

So I read with interest an article Glenn Reynolds liked to in Popular Mechanics 5 Projects Ask if Life on Earth Began as Alien Life in Space.

To try to answer the question of the origin of life on earth and to answer critics who reason that life’s complexity is too great to have evolved spontaneously, theories have been created that life on earth began on some other planet.

That underscores the reasons that people like Ben Stein have given for Intelligent Design, and the reasons for allowing it a place at the table of science. If enough scientists are concerned that life may not have begun from non-life on earth, doesn’t that leave open the possibility that the explanation may not be entirely materialistic in the way we understand the term?

If reputable scientists are actually exploring the possibility that life arrived on the earth wholly formed and not just the building blocks of life, but

...organisms that were ready to rock and roll when they arrived,

Why demand that one possible explanation should be excluded from consideration? If some are ready, as Dawkins is, to attribute life on earth to alien races from another part of the universe, the dogmatic exclusion of intelligent design is prejudice, not science.

UPDATE: Commenter Bobxxx replies:

Scientists laugh at "intelligent design" because those are just code words that mean "the magic god fairy did it". Scientists don't invoke supernatural magic.

I want to thank him for this because it's the kind of response you will see from the militant atheists who ridicule belief in God. I wanted to bring this discussion to the fore because I think it's interesting. It highlights the "faith" that the "faithless" have. They are really not "faithless" at all, it's a different faith that exists in opposition to Christianity.

Here's my reply.

Bobxxx,

Thanks for your reply. Yours is the kind of witless response that I have seen other atheists give to the question being explored. First of all, “scientists” are not a monolithic group who all think alike and many who are classified as scientists believe in God. In fact, according to this article from Live Science, about two thirds of scientists believe in God.

Nearly 38 percent of natural scientists -- people in disciplines like physics, chemistry and biology -- said they do not believe in God. Only 31 percent of the social scientists do not believe.

In the new study, Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund surveyed 1,646 faculty members at elite research universities, asking 36 questions about belief and spiritual practices.

"Based on previous research, we thought that social scientists would be less likely to practice religion than natural scientists are, but our data showed just the opposite," Ecklund said.

Some stand-out stats: 41 percent of the biologists don't believe [ed: that means that over half either believe or don’t know], while that figure is just 27 percent among political scientists.

In separate work at the University of Chicago, released in June, 76 percent of doctors said they believed in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife.

So you see, Bobxxx, your belief system does not correspond with reality even regarding what scientist believe.

Second, your straw man of “the magic God fairy” is more than a little shopworn. People like you may find it clever in the same way that sophomores telling each other how smart they are snicker amongst themselves, but we don’t believe in fairies or magic. We do consider – and find curious – that some scientists and atheists are so closed minded that they would rather believe in little green men than in God.

Some, including Bobxxx, may find it interesting that Dr. Francis Collins, Director of th Human Genome Project believes not just in God but is a follower of Jesus.

From CNN:

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- I am a scientist and a believer, and I find no conflict between those world views.

As the director of the Human Genome Project, I have led a consortium of scientists to read out the 3.1 billion letters of the human genome, our own DNA instruction book. As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God's language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God's plan.

I did not always embrace these perspectives. As a graduate student in physical chemistry in the 1970s, I was an atheist, finding no reason to postulate the existence of any truths outside of mathematics, physics and chemistry. But then I went to medical school, and encountered life and death issues at the bedsides of my patients. Challenged by one of those patients, who asked "What do you believe, doctor?", I began searching for answers.

I had to admit that the science I loved so much was powerless to answer questions such as "What is the meaning of life?" "Why am I here?" "Why does mathematics work, anyway?" "If the universe had a beginning, who created it?" "Why are the physical constants in the universe so finely tuned to allow the possibility of complex life forms?" "Why do humans have a moral sense?" "What happens after we die?" (Watch Francis Collins discuss how he came to believe in God )

I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

Dr. Collins’ belief is not proof of God’s existence. That would be an “argument from authority,” and is a logical fallacy. But it refutes the common belief that scientists who study life are atheists. To insist that there is a conflict between trying to find out how the universe works and the belief that the universe was created by God is not rational. That belief requires dogmatism that is usually associated with uneducated yahoos who go in for snake handling … with my apologies to snake handlers.

What Democrat Scandal?

Brent Bozell comments on the media arm of the Democrat party.

In October 2006, the national media projected Rep. Mark Foley's online sex chats with House pages into a disaster that would swallow the Grand Old Party whole. CBS, for example, proclaimed it the "congressional equivalent of Katrina." In 2008, when federal investigators found Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich trying to put Barack Obama's Senate seat on the auction block, these same "news" gatherers found a storm, to be sure, but a storm they suggested would in short order be "pushed out to sea."

With the governor caught on tape unloading obscenity after obscenity about how he expected to reap a financial bonanza for handing out his gubernatorial perks, this story was so undeniably big, even the Obamaphile press couldn't ignore it. So instead these reporters tried to downplay its impact on the President-elect and the Democrats.

First, as with other Democratic scandals (Spitzer, Jefferson, McGreevey, etc.), anchors and editors again purposely dropped the "D" out of the equation, laboring not to tell viewers or readers that the offenders were Democrats. In a Republican scandal, the offending politician is usually described as a Republican in the very first sentence, and deservedly so. In a Democrat scandal, the party identification of the perpetrator can arrive in paragraph eight. Or not at all. ...

The Blagojevich Senate-for-sale scandal demonstrates how feverishly the media continue to portray Obama not as a Chicago machine manipulator, but as the black inheritor of the Abraham Lincoln legacy. Obama's been energetically linked to Lincoln far more than to any Chicago politician who's currently living and serving in office. Obama chose for himself a political career in the grubby precincts of the south side of Chicago, not some log cabin outside Springfield, but reporters seem more interested in building a grand and historic legend of a "new kind of politics," not a real-life politician's colossal ambitions to be president before he turned 50.

Anyone in politics knows it would be extremely normal, acceptable and even necessary for the governor and the president-elect (or their aides) to have a chat about who would fill this Senate seat. But the media have invested so much TV time and barrels of ink in putting the most idealistic sheen they can on Obama's New Politics that to find him anywhere within miles of corruption is too much for them to bear.

"Rod Who?" says the media. Obama never knew him, his aides never talked with him. That's the story and they are sticking with it.

Love the Sin; Love the Sinner?

“Liberal” Christianity has adopted a new approach to sin. It’s OK. In fact, if it’s necessary to get you into church, we celebrate your … well, we can’t any longer call it “sin.” Let’s call it “lifestyle.”

Professor Mike Adams has a thoughtful article on it at Townhall: St. Jude, Don't Make it Bad

Some excerpts:

St. Jude’s, the local gay church in Wilmington, NC, ... ran an advertisement that read “Whatever you believe, we embrace you.”

When I saw that “whatever you believe” ad, I was tempted to go to St. Jude’s one Sunday and tell them I thought the Holocaust was a good idea and that I liked cooking cats in a microwave oven. I just wanted to see whether they actually bought into moral relativism ...

Today, St. Jude’s seems to have softened its stance on wide-open “whatever you believe” moral relativism. Their website now actually lists several “core values,”
...
“St. Jude's is committed to expanding our Core Values into the community. We are: Christ-Centered - Holy Spirit Led, (We are) God's Love in Action, (We) Celebrate LGBTQ & Straight individuals and families.”

It’s a good thing the St. Jude gay church talks about certain “truths” or “core values” because that is what St. Jude himself talked about in verse three of his one-chapter epistle in the New Testament:

“Dearly loved friends, I had been planning to write you some thoughts about the salvation God has given us, but now I find I must write of something else instead, urging you to stoutly defend the truth which God gave, once for all, to his people to keep without change through the years.”

In other words, St. Jude was concerned that people were going to come along and start to change things that were clearly prohibited by the Bible. Maybe even celebrate them. ...

“And don’t forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, all full of lust of every kind including lust of men for other men. Those cities were destroyed by fire and continue to be a warning to us that there is a hell in which sinners are punished.”

So this is interesting. By actually celebrating homosexuality – as opposed to say, ignoring it – the St. Jude congregation is actually driving congregants towards damnation. ...

But, of course, the real St. Jude doesn’t think we should reach out to gays with anything like hate speech. In verse twenty-three he urges that we approach them with both kindness and caution ...

Maybe it’s time for liberal Christians to get their own set of epistles. Maybe they should get their own set of Saints as well.

Economic Thoughts on Slavery

In the last week I have published two posts that contained embarrassing errors for the world to see and I was about to do it for the third time when I bothered to check the following quote from The Garman letter, a very highly regarded (and expensive) financial newsletter published daily by Dennis Gartman.

It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights -- the "right" to education, the "right" to health care, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery -- hay and a barn for human cattle.

Gartman leans Libertarian and is definitely a free-marketer. He analyzes the markets worldwide and is always a good read if you understand things like “contango,” care about the “Yen/Euro cross,” and “the money multiplier.”

This quote he attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville in his book “Democracy in America.”

Having embarrassed myself so publicly recently I “Googled” the quote because it struck me as strangely modern. In America of the 1800s these “rights” had not yet been invented by Americans; European Socialists, maybe, but not Americans.

But the thought is profoundly true, nevertheless. Slaves are, after all, provided with food and housing and enough medical care to keep them alive and productive, all at no cost to them. But then, the same is provided to livestock.

But once you have given over to others the power to give these things to you - to make them a “right” that must be provided to you - you are soon in a position where you are unable to provide them for yourself. The taxes the government must have to provide them for you are no longer at your disposal. And being dependent on others for your food and shelter and medical care means your life is literally in their hands lest you be expelled from the “barn for human cattle.”

That is the nightmare of the welfare class: to be expelled from “public housing;” to have your food stamps taken away; to have Medicaid denied. Large segments of the Black underclass are as dependent on government bureaucrats as their ancestors were on the slave-owners of the old Confederacy.

In ancient times, people entered slavery primarily as a result of being defeated in battle, but sometimes people entered that state voluntarily. They found it too hard to make a living and were willing to give up their freedom for food and a place to stay. What is discouraging is that so many people today are unable to see that they are being seduced into becoming modern slaves, human cattle totally dependent on others for their existence.

And who is the actual author of these words? The very witty and smart P.J. O'Rourke who delivered them to the Cato Institute’s gala dinner celebrating the opening of its Washington headquarters in 1993.

For the entire speech, read The Liberty Manifesto.

Yale endowment drops 25 pct amid financial turmoil

Now I don't feel so bad.

Yale University said Tuesday its nearly $23 billion endowment has dropped 25 percent to about $17 billion in recent months due to the recession, [market decline]...

There, fixed that for the brain dead reporter.

There was no place to hide in this market; here in the US, overseas, not even in commodities. I'm surrpised that Yale did as badly as they did. I would expect them to have had a large portion of their endowment in cash equivalents.

Things my brother sent me, part 2. **** YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED

You Would Never Have Guessed


Captain Kangaroo passed away on January 23, 2004 as age 76 , which is odd, because he always looked to be 76. (DOB: 6/27/27 ) His death reminded me of the following story.

Some people have been a bit offended that the actor, Lee Marvin, is buried in a grave alongside 3- and 4-star generals at Arlington National Cemetery . His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here's a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys? Well, following is the amazing answer:

I always liked Lee Marvin, but didn't know the extent of his Corps experiences. In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces often in rear echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima . There is only one higher Naval award... The Medal Of Honor!

If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialog from 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson': His guest was Lee Marvin. Johnny said, 'Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima ..and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded.

'Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the bottom and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi. Bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting' shot hauling you down. But,Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison.

That dumb guy actually stood up on Red beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. Bullets flying by, with mortar rounds landing everywhere and he stood there as the main target of gunfire so that he could get his men to safety. He did this on more than one occasion because his men's safety was more important than his own life.

That Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends. When they brought me off Suribachi we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me, lying on my belly on the litter and said, 'Where'd they get you Lee?'

'Well Bob.. If you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse!' Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew.

The Sergeant's name is Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo.'

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat-proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long-sleeved sweater o n TV, to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat

After the war Mr. Rogers became an ordained Presbyterian minister and therefore a pacifist. Vowing to never harm another human and also dedicating the rest of his life to trying to help lead children on the right path in life.

He hid away the tattoos and his past life and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm.

America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did; they quietly go about their day-to-day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedoms that we all enjoy.

Look around and see if you can find one of those heroes in your midst. Often, they are the ones you'd least suspect, but would most like to have on your side if anything ever happened.

Take the time to thank anyone that has fought for our freedom. With encouragement they could be the next Captain Kangaroo or Mr.Rogers.

UPDATE: Sometimes stories are that too good to be true, are not true. While Lee Marvin was a Marine and wounded in WW2 it was not in Iwo Jima. Bob Keeshan enlisted too late to be in the war. And Fred Rogers was never in the military. Other than that, most of the rest is the gospel truth.

I blame it all on brother.

Hey, if Obama can shift the blame to his staff, can't I do the same?

Things my brother sent me. Merry Christmas!

In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.


Their father was gone.


The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.


Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.

He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.

If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.


I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.

The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.

Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in t hat had been converted to a truck stop.

It was called the Big Wheel.

An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.

She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.

She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.

I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep.

This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.

When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.

The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.

Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.

Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.

I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.

A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.

The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.


I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.

And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.

And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....

THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers
to prayer:

1. 'Yes!'
2. 'Not yet.'
3. 'I have something better in mind.'

God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.

You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine..

My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless, and I picked you. Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed
and a copy back to me.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....

Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.

Amen.

Keep those who are less fortunate in your thoughts and prayers this Christmas. I had lunch with my minister yesterday and he told me that despite the bleak economic times, and the losses people have experienced this year in the stock market, giving is UP!

Give for the love of God and in gratitude for the blessings that God has bestowed on you including the greatest gift of all: Jesus.

Cheburger!Cheburger!Cheburger!

Things my sister sent me - Blago & Obama

From the Wall Street Journal:

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team said it had completed an internal review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- but wouldn't release its findings until Christmas week, at the request of federal investigators.

The move comes as Mr. Obama tries to keep the news of his home state's disgraced governor from overshadowing his transition, and highlights the challenges of dispensing with the controversy in the face of a live investigation involving Mr. Obama's Senate seat.



Mr. Obama, in a press conference called to announce his energy and environment team, said the review's conclusions underscore his prior statement that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that no one in the Obama camp was involved in inappropriate deal making over a successor for the president-elect's Senate seat.

By delaying the release, Mr. Obama has virtually guaranteed another week of speculation about who in the Obama team discussed what with Blagojevich aides. "I would ask for your patience because I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation," Mr. Obama told reporters in Chicago.

In a written statement released by his office late Monday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald confirmed that he asked for the delay, saying he wanted more time to conduct interviews.

"After the President-elect announced an internal transition team investigation, the United States Attorney's Office requested a brief delay of the release of a report of that investigation to conduct certain interviews," Mr. Fitzgerald said.



Obama aides said Monday the transition team has tapped Gregory B. Craig, a prominent Washington lawyer and Mr. Obama's choice for White House counsel, to keep the U.S. attorney's office informed about internal deliberations during the transition.

Mr. Fitzgerald and other federal prosecutors often ask those affected by high-profile investigations to hold off on making public disclosures. Mr. Fitzgerald had suggested last week that his office was just beginning to interview people whose names might have come up in the secretly recorded conversations, or were also recorded.

But lawyers knowledgeable about such cases say Mr. Fitzgerald has no authority to compel the president-elect to stay silent on a matter that has clouded his transition and interfered with his policy messages.

"There is absolutely no legal impediment or injunction that Fitzgerald could put on them," said Stanley M. Brand, a Democratic lawyer with experience in such scandals. "They've decided not to talk."

Robert Luskin, a Washington white-collar defense lawyer who knows Mr. Fitzgerald well, said he doesn't doubt the prosecutor would have asked that Obama officials keep quiet until his investigation is further along. That is to prevent witnesses from tailoring their stories to what they learn others are saying. But, he said, Mr. Obama and his aides don't have to comply. They are using the prosecutor as a "fig leaf" to avoid answering questions just now, Mr. Luskin said. They could just as easily have decided that assuring the public about their actions is more important than acceding to the prosecutor's request.

And Christmas week is a good time to bury news, added Robert Bennett, another prominent Washington defense lawyer.

GoreT; Change You Can Believe In.

Who says Liberals don't believe in miracles?

What did the Obama team promise Blagojevich?

Obama defenders are claiming their guy is innocent of any wrongdoing and cite as proof that Blago called him an “expletive deleted” for failing to cooperate.

But suppose we viewed our President-elect not as a demi-God but as a typical Chicago politician with the usual assortment of shady characters that he has hung with; people who have been convicted of corruption, racists, terrorists, and the usual scum that floats to the surface in Chicago.

How could we then view the evidence that has been presented by the complaint? Here’s what we find beginning on on page 57: (all references are from the complaint filed by the FBI and read by Patrick Fitzgerald).

In particular, ROD BLAGOJEVICH has been intercepted conspiring to trade the senate seat for particular positions that the President-elect has the power to appoint (e.g. the Secretary of Health and Human Services). ROD BLAGOJEVICH has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for his wife’s placement on paid corporate boards or ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s placement at a private foundation in a significant position with a substantial salary. ROD BLAGOJEVICH has also been intercepted conspiring to sell the Senate seat in exchange for millions of dollars in funding for a non-profit organization that he would start and that would employ him at a substantial salary after he left the governorship.

Blago specifically stated that he knew that he could not simply demand a financial payment for his appointment of the next Senator from Illinois. It had to be “indirect.”

On November 4, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with JOHN HARRIS regarding the potential vacant Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the “trick . . . is how do you conduct indirectly . . . a negotiation” for the Senate seat.

So the “indirect” negotiation began with “Advisor A” now identified as Rahm Emanuel.

On November 5, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A [Emanuel] about the Senate seat. During the phone call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that the President-elect can remove somebody from a foundation and give the spot to ROD BLAGOJEVICH. In regards to the Senate seat, ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, and I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

So Blago tells the Obama team his opening position:

On November 7, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A about the Senate seat. ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he is willing to “trade” the Senate seat to Senate Candidate 1 in exchange for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the President-elect’s cabinet.

Why does Blago want to give up the governorship and move on? Because he needs the money. The Illinois governor’s salary is $155,600 per year, not a paltry amount but he states that he is “financially hurting.”

So how much does Blago want? Well to start, $250 - $300,000 plus the fees associated with being a member of some boards of directors which typically pay about $100,000 and up. So Blago is looking to move up to the high six figures.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 and being on some organization boards. Advisor B said they should leverage the Presidentelect’s desire to have Senate Candidate 1 appointed to the Senate seat in order to get a head position with Change to Win and a salary. Advisor B agreed that the three-way deal would be a better plan than ROD BLAGOJEVICH appointing Senate Candidate 2 to the Senate seat and getting more done as Governor.

The conversation Blago has with Obama’s advisors leave no room for doubt, he wants to be rewarded financially for appointing the “right” person to the Senate seat.

On November 10, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH, his wife, JOHN HARRIS, Governor General Counsel, and various Washington-D.C. based advisors, including Advisor B, discussed the open Senate seat during a conference call. (The Washington D.C.-based advisors to ROD BLAGOJEVICH are believed to have participated on this call from Washington D.C.). Various individuals participated at different times during the call. The call lasted for approximately two hours, and what follows are simply summaries of various portions of the two-hour call.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH expressed his interest in figuring out a way to make money and build some financial security, while at the same time potentially participating in the political arena again. ROD BLAGOJEVICH mentioned the Senate seat, the dynamics of a new Presidential administration with the strong contacts that ROD BLAGOJEVICH has in it, and asked what if anything he can do to make that work for him and his wife and his responsibilities as Governor of Illinois.

At this point, it seems that advisors to Obama are trying to delay Blago’s gratification by telling him that his payoff may have to be several years out.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give fucking [Senate Candidate 1] a fucking Senate seat and I don’t get anything.”

This is the part that Obama's supporters is the exculpatory evidence. It's not. The issue is not the payoff, it’s the timing. Blago wants the payoff up front; Obama’s advisors want to delay it for a couple of years, probably to avoid the appearance of a quid pro quo.

This is confirmed in further conversation. Blago, his team and his wife are leery of promises of money later; they want it now:

One of ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s advisors said he likes the idea, it sounds like a good idea, but advised ROD BLAGOJEVICH to be leery of promises for something two years from now. ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife said they would take the job now.

Blago makes no bones about his timeline: and Advisor A [Emanuel] tells Blago that there is no question that Obama can pay off:

Later on November 10, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH and Advisor A [Emanuel] discussed the open Senate seat. Among other things, ROD BLAGOJEVICH raised the issue of whether the President-elect could help get ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s wife on “paid corporate boards right now.” Advisor A responded that he “think[s] they could” and that a “President elect . . . can do almost anything he sets his mind to.”

Blago makes it clear that he does not want to be put off for several years if he stays in the Governor’s chair:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will appoint “[Senate Candidate 1] . . . but if they feel like they can do this and not fucking give me anything . . . then I’ll fucking go [Senate Candidate 5].” (Senate Candidate 5 is publicly reported to be interested in the open Senate seat). ROD BLAGOJEVICH state that if his wife could get on some corporate boards and “picks up another 150 grand a year or whatever” it would help ROD BLAGOJEVICH get through the next several years as Governor.

Other options are discussed including setting up a 501 (c) (4) organization with the help of rich Obama patrons. Advisor A [Emanuel] says that’s a possibility.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH again raised the idea of the 501(c)(4) organization and asked whether “they” (believed be the President-elect and his associates) can get Warren Buffett and others to put $10, $12, or $15 million into the organization. Advisor A [Emanuel] responded that “they” should be able to find a way to fund the organization.

So there is no question that Blago and the Obama team are negotiating for the cost of the Senate seat. The only question is the price, the timing, and hiding the Obama connection.

On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B. ROD BLAGOJEVICH discussed with Advisor B his idea for a 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor B stated that he likes the idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer “fingerprints” on the President-elect’s involvement

Blago likes the idea of the 501 (c) (4) organization because he’s sure that once it’s established it will be more permanent than Change to Win.

The negotiation continued.

Later on November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH spoke with Advisor A [Emanuel]. ROD BLAGOJEVICH asked Advisor A to call Individual A and have Individual A pitch the idea of the 501(c)(4) to “[President-elect Advisor].” Advisor A said that, “while it’s not said this is a play to put in play other things.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH responded, “correct.” Advisor A asked if this is “because we think there’s still some life in [Senate Candidate 1] potentially?” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said, “not so much her, but possibly her. But others.”

The bottom line is this: Blago was looking for the Obama team to come through with jobs or lucrative offers in return for appointing Obama’s chosen successor to the unexpired Senate term Obama left behind.

The positions Blago considered and the Obama team discussed included Cabinet appointments, union jobs, corporate boards and non-profit organizations. The cabinet appointment was quickly discarded, but all other options were seriously discussed and the door was left open to all. The timing of the positions was one of the points of contention between Blago and the Obama team.

When Blago was using naughty language about the Obama team it was not about the size of the payoff, but at the timeline involved. Blago did not trust the Obama team to honor its commitments and wanted cash on the barrel head. Probably something he learned in the Chicago school of politics.

The reason the bribe was never paid was because Fitzgerald decided to shortstop the negotiation between Blago and the Obama team by arresting Blago. He may have believed that allowing the bribe to be paid would have so compromised the Obama administration that it would have left the country leaderless at a time of crisis. And of course, he'll look like a hero.

Wheels within wheels.

UPDATE:
I TOTALLY BLEW THIS ONE.
ADVISOR A IS NOT EMANUEL.
I'M KEEPING IT ON LINE MUCH AS I WOULD LIKE TO ERASE THE WHOLE THING BECAUSE EATING CROW IS A GOOD THING EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE.

UPDATE 2: From the Chicago Sun Times

Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds -- dealing with his boss' vacant Senate seat!

Idle chit chat?

Pull the other one!

Emanuel may not be "Advisor A" but he was part of the conversation.

Young and Inexperienced?

Via Glenn Reynolds:

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “President-elect Barack Obama, relatively young and inexperienced, is facing a rapidly growing list of monumental challenges as he prepares to take the reins of a nation in turmoil.”

He’s young and inexperienced? Now they tell me. I thought he was fresh and dynamic!

From the AP story:

By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama, relatively young and inexperienced, is facing a rapidly growing list of monumental challenges as he prepares to take the reins of a nation in turmoil....

Obama sounds dire, particularly as he talks about the economy: "We're in an emergency."

...

At the same time, Obama may be drawn into an unfolding political scandal over Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged efforts to trade the president-elect's former Senate seat for personal gain. The ongoing federal investigation could ensnare some of his top advisers and taint the self-styled reformer who has tried to steer clear of notorious Chicago politics.

Self styled reformer? I thought he was the new Messiah?

His supporters still believe:

"There's a lot of ground giving under him. It's a terrific challenge," said Fred Greenstein, a Princeton University professor emeritus of politics and a presidential historian.

"From one perspective, it's as if he's about to take over the captain's job on a sinking ship. From the other perspective, he could be on a glide path to Mount Rushmore if he does a combination of morale building and energizing people while dealing with the economic distress by producing some constructive changes in the society and in the economy."

"The striking thing is he doesn't seem scared," Greenstein added.

All it will take is not fixing the problems but "morale building, energizing, and change. And "he doesn't seem scared"

Which has always been Barry's strongest suit. Because in the end, it's all about HIM. And he's achieved his objective, he's President. It's all that counts.

Palin's Church Severely Damaged by Arson

Palin hatred has not abated.

ANCHORAGE, Dec. 13 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize Saturday if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to James Steele, the Central Mat-Su fire chief.

But, let's not jump to conclusions. Perhaps there was another reason for the arson.

UPDATE: ATF: accelerant poured around Palin's church
Via Breibart:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal investigators in Alaska say an accelerant was poured around the exterior of Gov. Sarah Palin's home church before it was heavily damaged by a fire.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday that the accelerant was poured at several locations around the church, including entrances.

Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent Nick Starcevic says laboratory tests will determine what the accelerant was.

The blaze was set at the main entrance of the Wasilla Bible Church on Friday evening while a small group, including two children, were inside. No one was injured.

Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, was not at the church at the time of the fire but visited on Saturday.

Until I went on the Internet I never realized the hatred that so many people have for Christians. That hatred is usually expressed in words, but sometimes by pouring gasoline around a church and setting it ablaze.



For other coverage see MSNBC, and FOX.

CNN calls it A "suspicious" fire.

The Huffington Post has some disgusting comments,

The Denver Post's Comments section also shows the hate the Left has for Palin. Ditto the comments at the Daily News.

The Bulletin which bills itself as Philadelphia's family newspaper takes a pro-Christian stance.

Sarah Palin’s church was badly damaged by a fire the authorities are treating as an act of arson. The fire, which comes after a heated presidential campaign where Mrs. Palin’s church was ridiculed by major media outlets, has some Christian activists contending secular intolerance and bigotry directed toward Christians remains a serious problem in America.

"It’s a scare tactic,” proclaimed Bishop Janice Hollis, pastor of Progressive Believers Ministry. “It is a ploy to make Christians more docile and timid, less likely to fight for their rights.”

While it is unclear whether or not the fire at Mrs. Palin’s church was related to the Alaska governor’s unsuccessful run on the Republican ticket, some say the fire is just a reminder of permissive intolerance toward Christians that goes on with the tacit blessing of an increasingly secular American society.

During the presidential campaign, Mrs. Palin was repeatedly mocked by the media for her religious beliefs. The media ridiculed her church for participating in a “Love Won Out Conference” sponsored by the conservative Focus on the Family. The conference is held to “help men and women dissatisfied with living homosexually understand that same-sex attractions can be overcome.”

The media also mocked Mrs. Palin’s relationship with the Rev. Thomas Muthee. The Rev. Muthee claimed he waged a successful fight against a witch in Kenya and prayed over Mrs. Palin in 2005. He asked Jesus to protect Mrs. Palin and place her in the governor’s mansion.

But the Palin episode is one of many instances of permissible ridicule directed at Christianity.

From the LA Times Blog one commenter blamed Karl Rove, right wing dirty tricks and (wait for it)... Sarah Palin herself!

...more likely an angry Repub or NeoCon intrigue, I mean that would be something along the lines of Dick Nixon's "dirty tricks" and Karl Rove's (affectionally nicknamed "Turd Blossom" by Pres. GW Bush) mentor Donald Segretti (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rove for more details). Possibly the opening salvo in Palin's 2012 POS campaign?

Another connected it to the war in Iraq:

I'm sure it was perpetrated by a lib, and this is coming from a lib, but that's hardly more of a point then that the war in Iraq which has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians iraq was caused by a neocon. "libs" have committed crimes and neocons have, i don't condone arson, but i care much more about war then isolated arson that killed nobody.

From the Alaska Dispatch:

It is one thing to disagree with Sarah Palin's views or beliefs, but to tear her and her family apart to make you feel more superior, to make you feel good about your hatred, anger and lack of Christianity, that is appalling. I do hope Palin's church was not torched because of her beliefs. She and her family have never done anything to warrant the outlandish actions from her insensitive critics.

Rahm Emanuel, Blagojevich staff talked

Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be White House chief of staff, had conversations with Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration about who would replace Obama in the U.S. Senate, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

So how did those conversations go?

Good Stuff From IMAO

Be Wary of Obama and Guns

...if he comes over to your house and asks if he can see your guns, don’t show them to him. The other day he was at my house and was like, “Hey, can I see some of your guns? I bet they are neat!”

And I was like, “Okay.” So I got a couple and brought them to him. He just set them down in front of him and got out a notepad and started writing something. So I was like, “What are you writing?”

And he said, “Stuff.”

So I got closer to try and get a look, but he kept moving the notepad so I couldn’t see. So I snatched it from him. He was writing down my guns’ serial numbers! I was like, “Hey!”

And he said, “Can I see more guns?”

Saving the American Auto Industry

See, here’s the marketing strategy: People who buy these new American cars will run over and crush smaller dinky cars. Those people will be forced to buy new American cars so they don’t get crushed again. That’s basic economics right there.

No Screwing with My Stuff Without Representation

All this bailout crap has got me thinking: We need some way to vote out Representatives from other districts.

Illinois Governor Latest Victim of Senating Market Downturn

Former Illinois Senator turned President-Elect Barack Obama knows this as well as anyone. “I spent almost $10 million on my Senate seat in 2004, fully expecting the value to rise,” he said. “But since the Senating bubble burst last year, it’s not even worth 10% of that. It’s so bad, I didn’t even try to get anything for it. I just cut my losses and walked away. I hope I make more in the Presidenting market.”

The Obama Senate seat, now empty and abandoned, ended up in the hands of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who paid approximately squat for the controlling rights in the vacated position. A Senating market neophyte, he’d paid scant attention to pricing trends over the last year, simply assuming that a Senate seat must be “a @#$%ing valuable thing”, just as it always had been in the past.

Read all of them.

Freepers, check this for more.