Is he even an American?

I've hesitated posting on this because often these claims are ridiculous but if you've followed this Obama birth certificate issue you have to wonder why in the hell the Obama campaign is fronting a fake birth certificate on its "smears" site.

NRO has some information on the issue and a blog Israeli Insider.

In a rambling interview with the Daily Kos -- the blog site that published the supposedly authentic Barack Hussein Obama birth certificate and his own birth certificate manipulations in the same June 12 post, Jay McKinnon, aka opendna, says he manipulated the Obama birth certificate to create a blank Hawaii birth certificate as a "template," supposedly for a John McCain birth certificate. But he says it was not an attempt at deception but a "lame joke" that he now regrets.

But in trying to avoid legal trouble by diminished the significance of manipulating electronic images, he further undermines the explicit claims of the Barack Obama campaign and the Daily Kos itself that the posted images of his purported birth certificate prove that the candidate was Hawaii-born. McKinnon, who says he was trained in document analysis by the Department of Homeland Security, says it's impossible to assess the authenticity of a birth certificate from image files rather than paper documents. "It should be self-evident that a JPEG [image file] of a scanned official document cannot be valid."

While that conclusion echoes and strengthens the calls of those who have been demanding that Obama provide paper proof, McKinnon undermines his own credibility from the get-go when he claims that he first encountered the Obama birth certificate issue "around June 12, 2008" when "As I recall, someone sent me an email containing two images. One of the Decosta birth certificate and the other from Fight The Smears. The subject line was 'Birth Certificate Appears to be "Invalid."

The only trouble with that statement is that McKinnon had already created the blank Hawaii birth certificate template for John McCain and the "Ahphorgerie" joke on June 12 before Fight the Smears had even published the birth certificate. Kos had published it that morning, about four hours earlier. Patricia DeCosta's birth certificate surfaced in the blogosphere only a week later, on June 19. So how did he compare the documents? And why would he say it was the first he'd heard of the birth certificate controversy when he had already posted his own patently fake certificates.

Judge for yourself.

They used to call that Slavery

From NRO

Obama:

So when I'm President, I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you'll have done 17 weeks of service.

We'll reach this goal in several ways. At the middle and high school level, we'll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities. At the community level, we'll develop public-private partnerships so students can serve more outside the classroom.

So you are required to perform services for your community, without compensation, and if you do not the government will penalize you somehow.

In the early, 1800's they called that slavery. In today's world we call it being called by the Messiah Obama.

A few week ago, Walter Williams had a column titled Are Americans Pro Slavery?

Let's do a thought experiment asking whether Americans are for or against slavery. You might say, "What are you talking about, Williams? We fought a war that cost over 600,000 lives to end slavery!" To get started, we might find a description that captures the essence of slavery. A good working description is: slavery is a set of circumstances whereby one person is forcibly used to serve the purposes of another person and has no legal claim to the fruits of his labor.

The average American worker toils from January 1st to the end of April, and has no legal claim to the fruits of his labor for that period. Federal, state and local governments, through the tax code, take what he produces. A small portion of the fruits of his labor is used to provide for the constitutional functions of government. Most of what's taken, up to two-thirds, is given to some other American in the forms of farm and business subsidies, Social Security, Medicare, welfare and hundreds of other government handout programs. As in slavery, one person is being forcibly used to serve the purposes of another person.

The fact of the matter is this. When you are forced to work for another's benefit, it's slavery but somehow we've manipulated the language enough so that the slave rulers (aka senators) can call it "doing for the common good".

Iraq's Yellowcake

But them democrats told us they didn't have yellowcake....

Here's a story you may have missed over the long holiday weekend: 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium worth tens of millions of dollars were shipped out of Iraq to Canada. The material was transported in 37 military flights in 3,500 secure barrels, according to the Associated Press.

That just continues the democrat's streak of being on the wrong side of history 100% of the time.

No special interests

So Obamamania is going to win this campaign with no contributions from special interests.

What's this?

So, whom do lobbyists represent? Special interests—various industries and associations wanting something from government. Here, from the Center's OpenSecrets.org, are some of the industries that have given Obama money: lawyers, $17.8 million; securities and investments, $7.9 million; education, $7 million; real estate, business services, miscellaneous businesses, health professionals and TV/movies/music, more than $4 million each. Computers/Internet, finance, civil servants and public officials, printing and publishing, commercial banks, hospitals and nursing homes, construction services, all ranging from almost $1 million to more than $3 million.

Biggest donors? Goldman, Sachs & Co., UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, National Amusements, Lehman Brothers, Google, Sidley Austin, Skadden Arps, Time Warner, Morgan Stanley, Exelon, Latham & Watkins, Microsoft and GE are among the biggest corporate contributors.

How can this be? Didn't Obama say he doesn't accept money from lobbyists and PACs? Well, that means he still can accept money from "spouses of lobbyists, non-lobbying partners who work for lobbying firms or for law firms that do lobbying, ex-lobbyists and state lobbyists," said the Center. "Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees [and their families]."

I guess their interests aren't special.....

Congratulations

Congratulations to David Payne and Mary Wineberg, former University of Cincinnati Track & Field athletes on their qualifying for the US Olympic team in Beijing.

Payne made the team with a third place finish in the 110 hurdles making the team by .02 of a second.

Wineberg qualified with a second place in the women's 400 meters.

To give this some perspective. I ran track at UC in the early '80's. The track was in such bad condition, we never had a home meet, let alone an Olympic hopeful. Bill Schnier has been the coach since those days and he's built the program up to where Olympic qualifiers is no longer just a dream for athletes going to school there.

So congrats to Wineberg, Payne and Schnier for a job well done. You made us old track alums proud.

Obamamania - Catch It

Obama's sub prime mortgage part 3

Not only would Obama not qualify for a mortgage with the income he was earning at the time (see this post).

Apparently, the savior, also got a nice juicy interest rate....

Another Democrat gets caught taking a sweetheart mortgage, and the Democrat, his bank and the left again insist: Nothing to see here. Only this time, the Democrat is presidential nominee Barack Obama, who scant months after his election to the Senate secured with his wife a $1.32 million mortgage, discounted by three-eighths of a point, from Northern Trust Bank of Illinois.

The cut-rate mortgage on their $1.65 million mansion in Chicago will save them at least $108,000, which is more than just chump change they can believe in. As first-time Northern Trust customers, they paid no fees or points as people without "U.S. Sen." before their names must. (A one-point fee would have cost them $13,200.) Northern Trust, which the Center for Responsive Politics reports donated $71,000 to Sen. Obama's campaigns, says it has no formal loan-discount program for public officials, but it ordinarily doesn't do business with people who don't have at least $1 million in investable assets, reports The Chicago Tribune. In 2006, however, the Obamas reported investments of just $715,000, according to Money Magazine.

An Obama spokesman said the couple got the lower rate via hard bargaining and comparison shopping. Not very original. That's the same flimsy explanation Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, an Obama supporter, offered last month before admitting he got VIP treatment from Countrywide Financial in 2003 when he and his wife refinanced their mortgages, saving $75,000. Also implicated in that scandal was James Johnson, who got $1.7 million in VIP loans from Countrywide and was head of the Obama vice-presidential search committee when the scandal broke. Yeah, nothing to see here.

Riiiiight.

I'm back

The Gekko's just got back from a brief vacation in Hocking Hills and a weekend in Marietta for a wedding.

My new brother in law is a sculptor and a art professor at WVU Parkersburg. You can see his stuff at this website.

The Gekko's welcome Zac to the family.

I was hoping to have some internet access while I was gone but we didn't even have a cell signal in Hocking Hills. I think I needed a break as it was.

I'll be back up, full throttle tomorrow.

Thanks to Midas for filling in. That post on one Ms. Renee started quite a discussion.

By the way the best part of being in South Eastern Ohio? People have common sense.

The bumper sticker says it all.

Joey Wins Again

Takeru Kobayashi, of Japan, and Joey Chestnut battle to eat the most hot dogs in under ten minutes in the annual hot dog eating contest in New York.

Word on the street is Gordon will participate in next year's giant soft pretzel eating contest (with cheese on the side).

4th of July

Faceless Faces

Word has it the faceless peeps showing up around London are actually Mr and Mrs Gekko. No word yet on how Gordon scarfs down giant soft pretzels with no mouth available.

More...

Gas Prices

Rene Marie

A jazz singer shocked some Denver residents after replacing the words to the national anthem with those of the "Black National Anthem" during the annual State of the City address this week.

Rene Marie was asked to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper delivered the annual address on Tuesday. Instead, she sang the lyrics of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" — a hymn commonly referred to as the "Black National Anthem" — to the tune of the national anthem, MyFOXColorado.com reported.

More...

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Hymns are being replaced at funerals in one Australian city by popular rock classics like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," a cemetery manager said Wednesday.

At Centennial Park, the largest cemetery and crematorium in the southern city of Adelaide, only two hymns still rank among its top 10 most popular funeral songs: "Amazing Grace" and "Abide With Me."

Leading the funeral chart is crooner Frank Sinatra's classic hit "My Way," followed by Louis Armstrong's version of "Wonderful World," a statement said.

The Led Zeppelin and AC/DC rock anthems rank outside the top 10, but have gained ground in recent years as more Australians give up traditional Christian hymns.

"Some of the more unusual songs we hear actually work very well within the service because they represent the person's character," Centennial Park chief executive Bryan Elliott said.
Among other less conventional choices were "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by the Monty Python comedy team, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," "Hit the Road Jack," "Another One Bites the Dust" and "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead."

Who Will He Vote For? #18

A Bellevue man will spend six months behind bars after police say he was caught on tape having sex with a picnic table.

Art Price, Jr., 40, has now pleaded no contest last week to several misdemeanor charges.

Police in Huron County say a neighbor secretly taped price on four different days this year.

They say the tape shows him walking out onto his back deck in broad daylight, at times completely naked, standing at a round, metal table on its side and having sex with it.

Police say it was all out in the open and within eyesight of Ridge Elementary School and its playground.

I guess these jobs don't count

For you "progressive" types, I have a question for you. What do you say to the people who once worked in this pay day loan operation that boarded up shop after the guv signed the payday loan bill?

When it's all said and done you really don't give a shit, do you?

No, you and your "progressive" buddies will sit around and pat each others back and refill your glasses of pinot noir because you helped shut down this business that exploits the poor. And after all, you help the poor.

And the things that's most nauseating about you douche bags, not one of you ever went into this store, you never knew a customer, you never knew an employee or owner but somehow you found it necessary "in your own holier than thou world" to make sure these relationships ceased.

Congratulations. You can go back to your arugula quiche and merlot now.

More Rush

Gordon's pretzel.

Our Supreme Majesty Kennedy

Rich Lowery on the self appointed King of the US, Justice Kennedy.

Why did the Founders bother toiling in the summer heat of Philadelphia in 1787 writing a Constitution when they could have relied on the consciences of Supreme Court justices like Anthony Kennedy instead?

Kennedy is the Supreme Court's most important swing vote and its worst justice. Whatever else you think of them, a Justice Scalia or Ginsburg has a consistent judicial philosophy, while Kennedy expects the nation to bend to his moral whimsy. With apologies to Louis XIV, Kennedy might as well declare "la constitution, c'est moi!"

In a 2005 interview, Kennedy said of the Court, "You know, in any given year, we may make more important decisions than the legislative branch does -- precluding foreign affairs, perhaps." (He was wise to include the "perhaps," in light of the recent Guantanamo Bay decision.) He went on to note how judges need "an understanding that you have an opportunity to shape the destiny of the country."

So much for the country's destiny being shaped by a free people acting through their representative institutions, within certain constraints it enshrines in the Constitution. That wouldn't allow nearly enough room for what Jeffrey Rosen, in a devastating profile of the justice in The New Republic, calls Kennedy's "self-dramatizing moralism."

On any politically charged case, we are supposed to wait with bated breath while the famously agonizing Kennedy decides which side he is going to bless with his coveted fifth vote. In so doing, Kennedy believes he is, in Rosen's description, creating "a national consensus about American values that will usher in what he calls 'the golden age of peace.'" Observers less besotted with Justice Kennedy than Justice Kennedy might put it differently: making it up as he goes along.

The US Supremes..... "We make it up as we go along".

Bluer than Blue

How are things in Blue Country?

Sales taxes in Chicago are now the highest in the nation, and business leaders are furious.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, a 1 percent sales tax increase is in effect Tuesday, hiking the sales tax in the city of Chicago to 10.25 percent. By comparison, the sales tax in Lake and Will counties is 7 percent, and in DuPage County, it's 7.25 percent.

A sales tax of 10.25 percent is also significantly higher than the sales tax in other major cities. The next highest rate in the country is in Memphis at 9.25 percent. New York, Los Angeles and Dallas all have a sales tax of under 8.3 percent, Phoenix has a tax of 6.3 percent, and Denver's sales tax is only 3.6 percent.

The Cook County Board voted to raise the sales tax at the end of February, after a five-month stalemate on the 2008 budget. Board President Todd Stroger and his supporters ultimately prevailed, saying the tax hike was necessary to provide health care and other services.

The tax hike applies to everything but groceries, medicine, cars and boats. For larger purchases like furniture or appliances, the taxes can add up.

It will definitely be cheaper to shop in the suburbs. Buy a $500 TV in DuPage County where the taxes are 6.75 percent and you'll pay $534, in Chicago where the taxes are 9 percent, you'll pay $545 for that same television, and when taxes increase to 10.25 percent, you'll pay $551.

For that reason, businesses are concerned that consumers will leave Cook County to make purchases.

And people wonder why guys like me give up on the city and move to the 'burbs. It's the taxes dumbass.

Free Will (Live)

From an older concert tour as you can tell from the clothes dryers instead of the chicken ovens.

What a Rush

The guys from taxmanblog invaded the Rush show last night.

I've seen probably well over 100 concerts over my years and I have to say Rush puts on the best total show I've seen, over Springsteen, KISS, AC/DC, etc.

They're one of the few bands who emphasize video & lighting as part of the show. It's three hours of big time rock and roll; no power ballads here.

The only downside to a Rush show.... a lot of their songs are epics so you're going to be waiting a while for the next tune or you can run to the john and get another beer.

Concert notes....

1) The videos with Jerry Stiller, Jeffrey Tambor, South Park & Bob and Doug McKenzie were awesome.
2) Those lights that hover over the band eerily remind me of the battle scenes in Terminator. Just don't bring any clowns on stage, I might get really freaked out.
3) Ladies, if you want to meet a man, a Rush show is the place to be; about 90-10 men over women.
4) This was my second show and they finally played something off of 2112. And why no Working Man?
5) They still have the rotisserie chickens on stage (look behind Geddy Lee in the photo.). What's up with that? The whole night I was looking to do a road trip to Boston Market.
6) They're the best thing to come out of Canada. Actually, the only other good thing to come out of Canada is Canadian Bacon.
7) Madonna's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and these guys aren't? Huh?

Obamamania - Catch it

What are beliefs for?

The Terminator on California's gay marriage issue.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says it's a "waste of time" to try to get an anti-gay marriage measure on the November ballot.

Schwarzenegger has told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he personally feels marriage should be between a man and a woman, but he doesn't want to force his belief on anyone.

Out of curiosity Ahnauld, when you tax Californians more than they want to be taxed is that "forcing your beliefs on anyone"?

How about when you refuse to drill off the coast is that "forcing your beliefs on anyone"?

Maybe when you increase CAFE standards on CA automobiles, is that "forcing your beliefs on anyone"?

When you veto a budget bill is that "forcing your beliefs on anyone"?

Someone needs to tell the Guv that his whole job is about forcing his beliefs on everyone.

More "progressive" hypocrisy

On equal pay for women....

While Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has vowed to make pay equity for women a top priority if elected president, an analysis of his Senate staff shows that women are outnumbered and out-paid by men.

That is in contrast to Republican presidential candidate John McCain's Senate office, where women, for the most part, out-rank and are paid more than men.

Obama spoke in Albuquerque, N.M. last week about his commitment to the issue and his support of a Senate bill to make it easier to sue an employer for pay discrimination.

"Mr. McCain is an honorable man, we respect his service. But when you look at our records and our plans on issues that matter to working women, the choice could not be clearer," Obama told the audience in New Mexico, a voter-swing state. "It starts with equal pay. Sixty-two percent of working women in America earn half or more than of their family's income. But women still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2008. You'd think that Washington would be united it its determination to fight for equal pay."

snip

On average, women working in Obama's Senate office were paid at least $6,000 below the average man working for the Illinois senator. That's according to data calculated from the Report of the Secretary of the Senate, which covered the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2007. Of the five people in Obama's Senate office who were paid $100,000 or more on an annual basis, only one -- Obama's administrative manager -- was a woman.

The average pay for the 33 men on Obama's staff (who earned more than $23,000, the lowest annual salary paid for non-intern employees) was $59,207. The average pay for the 31 women on Obama's staff who earned more than $23,000 per year was $48,729.91. (The average pay for all 36 male employees on Obama's staff was $55,962; and the average pay for all 31 female employees was $48,729. The report indicated that Obama had only one paid intern during the period, who was a male.)

So he's going to force the public to do what he's not willing to do? That's kind of Messiah like.

A Friday Funny

It's not Friday but I thought this was hilarious none the less.

Read the captions on the video.

Blog of the week

Here's a great blog about all things Lancaster, Ohio; Crabby Fat Guy.

Since Mrs. Gekko and I will be spending some time this week up near my home town, this one seems appropriate.

You gotta love a blog that references Leo's Bier Haus; the place Gordon drank his first legal beer.

Anti science "progressives"

In a Pot Kettle Black article by a liberal, apparently he's concerned that conservatives are "anti science".

Conservatives put on a spectacular display of scientific ignorance this month in the U.S. Senate. During the debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would regulate carbon dioxide by setting a cap on emissions and allowing emitters to trade carbon allowances, most Republican senators questioned the reality of human-caused climate change or ignored the climate threat entirely and repeated the talking point that the bill would raise gasoline and electricity prices. It was as if they had been locked in an isolation booth for the past decade. Let's go to the highlights.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.: "The vast majority of scientists do not believe that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are a major contributor to climate change."

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.: This bill means "people must turn off air-conditioning in the summer."

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.: "This bill will attack citizens at the pump" and "increase job losses."

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.: This bill will "leave us less competitive in the world marketplace."

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.: This bill "could bankrupt U.S. air carriers."

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.: "Nobody in their right mind" believes we can get half our power from wind and solar or drive a "fleet of golf carts."

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.: "It's unclear as to what the long-range trend is as far as the temperature of the Earth is concerned."

Conservatives sure are good at staying on message, even one that has no basis in fact. None of their scientific or technological claims is true and most of the economic claims are a wild exaggeration based on studies funded by fossil fuel companies. This may be a defining moment for humanity according to the world's increasingly desperate climate scientists, but to many conservatives it's apparently just another moment to score political points at the expense of future generations.

A couple of things for Mr. Science.

First, conservatives are still waiting for the "science" on global warming. Maybe the priest of global warming, Al Gore, will allow some critical questions as to this "science" some day.

Second, I think you'll find liberals are the ones most likely to ignore science; like the law of supply and demand, law of diminishing marginal utility etc. When it comes to the economic policies, they like to think they can over rule the law of gravity.

By the way, the score of the global warming challenge through 6/29.

Warm 180
Cool 193

We are now half way through the global warming challenge and I'm more than willing to extend the challenge to any liberal willing to take a $100 bucks from me.

See, in my very unscientific mind, the challenge is a 50-50 proposition. But if you are a global warming believer, what could be better than taking $100.00 from a conservative heretic; it's a slam dunk. You can even use the money to buy some carbon offsets somewhere near the Al Gore estate.

Well, except for the first six months of this year. I guess that was just some sort of variance that actually proves global warming.

Obamamania - Catch it

Meet Midas & Gordon

In a rare joint appearance together, Midas and Gordon will be at the Rush show tonight singing our praises for the Ayn Rand inspired tunes from 2112.

Since both of us are happily married, we won't sign any autographs on body parts that need a covering; that includes the guys.

Supreme majesty

Jonah Goldberg on the self appointed "rulers of America" aka the US Supreme Court.

Have you ever had a boss who treated you like a child, second-guessed you, reworked whatever you did so that you felt no ownership of the final product? As a result, did you take your job less and less seriously precisely because you knew that whatever you produced wouldn’t really be yours anyway?

Well, the Supreme Court is the boss, and Congress is the Dilbert. There was a time when the U.S. Congress took the Constitution very seriously. Even after Marbury v. Madison, the 1803 case that established the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review, Congress and the president were still the chief guardians of the Constitution. Indeed, before the Civil War, only two acts of Congress were found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

These days, the Court seems to find duly enacted laws unconstitutional six days a week and twice on Sunday.

Lawmakers rarely bother their pretty little heads with the Constitution. Rather, they just load as much spit, tar, Vaseline, and whatever else they can think of on a legislative fastball and try to get it over SCOTUS’ plate. If those imperial umpires don’t call a constitutional strike, well, then — voilá — it must be constitutional.

Presidents are no better. George W. Bush, in his one act that does approach an impeachable offense, signed campaign finance “reform” in 2002, even though he made it clear he thought the law was unconstitutional. At the ceremony, he expressed his “concerns” over the fact that the law — which he signed! — “restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election.”

But, have no fear, the super Court is here. “I expect,” he explained, “that the courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions as appropriate under the law.”

No sale. Congressmen, senators, and presidents alike swear to protect and defend the same constitution as the Supremes do. In the 19th century, Congress actually debated constitutionality with passion, and if it found a proposed law falling short of that standard, it was fixed or killed, not outsourced to the Supreme Court for retrofitting.

The Court, by assuming that responsibility, and the other branches of government, by surrendering it, have permanently damaged the constitutional order. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson believed that a judiciary with final jurisdiction over the constitutionality of presidential and legislative actions “would make the judiciary a despotic branch” of government.

A long time ago, SCOTUS kept its powers confined to adherence of cases to the law and the law's adherence to the Constitution.

In the last 40 years, the Supremes have turned our legal system into a bazaar of venue shopping. Constitutional protections like freedom of speech are now at the whim of a bunch of legal hacks in robes choosing decisions on the prevailing winds or their existing prejudices.

I never thought it was possible for me to have less respect for a profession than a US senator. But thanks to clowns in robes like Justice Kennedy, I found one.

Where's the Daddy?

Kathleen Parker on the Gloucester Girls....

Pregnant Lindsey Oliver, 17, who appeared on Good Morning America with her baby’s father, Andrew Psalidas, 20, said the girls became pregnant by coincidence, after which they agreed to help each other out.

The couple said they hadn’t intended to have a child and were simply unlucky. Now, they’re just trying to do the right thing. Why all the fuss?

Teenagers getting pregnant is, indeed, less interesting without a conspiracy. How the pact story got started is unclear. The principal is taking a timely vacation and has offered no further comment. Confirming the pregnancies, meanwhile, has proved problematic owing to privacy concerns.

Without the pact, we’re merely left with the crude banality of several babies about to be born to children and a few dozen dangling questions unanswered.

Here’s one: Where’s Dad? Not the “fathers” of these unfortunate pre-borns, but the fathers of these pregnant girls. Where, in other words, is the shotgun?

The conventional wisdom among the liberal elite is that without welfare and abortion, pregnant teenagers will be oppressed in a lifetime of poverty.

Do these girls look like they're going to have a better future than pregnant girls from the fifties?

The fact of life is this; women will always pay the price for illegitimate births. Call it the curse of nature.

But who bears the ultimate price by not having a father around? The bastard children from these relationships and cycle of poverty continues and continues.

After years of public policy proclaiming that men don't matter, guess what? Men in this country finally said "OK, works for us". Who's better off now?

Obamamania - Catch it

Tonight's DUI checkpoint

Tonight's ineffective use of police resources will be.....

The checkpoint will be held in both directions on Ohio 741, also known as Kings Mill Road, at the intersection of Courseview Drive. This area is just west of Interstate 71 and is in Deerfield Township.

The checkpoint will be conducted by the state patrol and the Mason Police Department.

Tonight's checkpoint is one of three occurring this weekend statewide. There likely will be more next weekend, over the Fourth of July holiday, although officials haven't confirmed any yet.

So just how effective are these check points?

Let's go straight to the horse's mouth....

In 2006, there were 88 DUI checkpoints statewide, including four over the Fourth of July weekend and the weekend before, said Sgt. Anne Ralston, a highway patrol spokeswoman. The Fourth of July checkpoints resulted in eight DUI arrests.

In 2007, 112 checkpoints were held statewide, including two over the Fourth of July weekends - one in Hamilton County - that resulted in 15 DUI arrests.

So far this year, 22 checkpoints have been held statewide, resulting in 68 DUI arrests.

So you mean to tell me that on 22 Friday or Saturday nights from the hours of 11 pm - 3 am you have been able to snatch up 68 DUI's? Wow!!!! That's about three per event? So you're going to tie up how many officers on a Friday or Saturday night to round up three of these scofflaws?

It's a good thing we have these check points because the 10 plus officers that have to man these things would never be able to round up three DUI's on a normal Friday night patrol.

Another Terrible Ted

Only this time, it's Strickland.....

So I need to make sure I'm on the same wave length with Ohio's top ranked "progressive".

He's against pay day loan operations because they take advantage of the poor people who use the service.

He's against casino gambling because it takes money away from the poor.

But he's all about video Keno?

Huh?

Gov. Ted Strickland betrayed fellow Methodists and reneged on a campaign promise not to expand gambling when he lent his support to a new lottery game, a prominent church leader said Thursday.

"Having talked to now-Gov. Strickland while he was campaigning for election, with my bishop present, I believe that Gov. Strickland has betrayed what he knows he communicated to the United Methodist community when he is now supporting keno gambling," said the Rev. John Edgar, chairman of the United Methodist Anti-Gambling Task Force.

Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister, said through his spokesman that he does not consider his support for keno - a video game that resembles bingo - to be a violation of his pledge.

Strickland backed the game to raise money to close an expected budget gap. The game is scheduled to begin statewide Aug. 1.

The Ohio Lottery Commission is controlled and regulated by the state, sanctioned by voters, and has a long history of offering new games, said governor's spokesman Keith Dailey. The Democratic governor believes that's all keno is: a new game.

So I guess the logic is this; it's not OK for private enterprise to steal from the poor. But if you are the state of Ohio government, it's more than welcome.....

Welcome to the Socialist Republic of Ohio.

Terrible Ted

Terrible Ted Nugent on the US court of supremacy rulings.

As I swab down one of my hundreds of privately owned, individually possessed firearms again this fine morning, I snicker and shake my head in disbelief that there are four "justices" on the "supreme" court that do not believe Americans have individual rights. Sure, I am somewhat pleased that we now have a SCOTUS confirmation of the self-evident truth and God given individual right to keep and bear arms, but the 5-4 ruling is another painful example, like Guantanamo and the decree against the death penalty for child rapist decisions that indicate a divisive culture war raging on, and four supreme justices frighteningly disconnected from the heart and soul of America.

Certain that God gave each of us the individual gift of life, and so very relieved that our founding fathers were prudent enough to write these self-evident truths down on paper for future reference, everybody I know needs no confirmation whatsoever that self defense, individual self defense is not only a God given right, but a moral imperative in the hearts and souls of good people everywhere.

Just as we wouldn't need confirmation that our choice of religion is indeed an individual right, or that we could possibly need a government permit to express our individual thoughts in speech, good Americans will continue to fight for the return of our sacred 2nd Amendment rights where someday soon we will not need a government issued license to keep and bear arms. After all, from the supreme court of common sense on the not so mean streets of America, everybody I know understands clearly that "keep" means one thing and one thing only: "It's mine and you can't have it". We know without question that "bear" can only mean, "Yes, I have it right here in my hands or within instant grasp", nothing more and nothing less. And dare I explain “shall not be infringed?" I hope not.

That these self-evident truths have been bastardized to the point of "gun free zones" is nothing less than heart breaking in America today. Everybody knows that it is in these anti-American, anti-Constitutional "gun free zones" where innocent people are forced into unarmed helplessness and where the highest body count of innocents are stacked up by evil perpetrators celebrating the condition of helpless sheep to slaughter. Since the insane gun ban, Washington, D.C. has been a violent criminal's dream environment where they are assured no resistance. That is a bizarre, immoral condition and a direct result of the cult of feel good liberals who could care less about dead good people as they wring their hands worrying about the rights of the most evil amongst us. For shame.

Amen brother

Fund on election

John Fund with a take on the election.

There is evidence that fall campaigns, which tend to focus voters on big-picture issues, usually help Republicans. In 1976, Gerald Ford was seen as a goner during the summer but rallied to finish only two points behind Jimmy Carter. A dozen years later, Michael Dukakis led George H.W. Bush in June and July. He lost by eight points in the fall. In 1992, Bill Clinton had a 10-point lead around Labor Day. He won by only five and a half points. Even Bob Dole closed a 12-point Labor Day gap to only eight points by November 1996. If that history is a guide, a focused McCain campaign that clearly contrasts conservative and liberal approaches to the issues should have a good chance of winning.

After all, it isn't easy for Democrats to win in a two-person race for president. Since FDR's last victory in 1944, only one Democrat – Lyndon Johnson in 1964 – has won 50.1% or more of the popular vote. Both of Bill Clinton's victories were aided by Ross Perot's presence on the ballot.

Obamamania - Catch it

Friday Funny

Hat Tip to Justin for this video from the Onion on how to pretend you care about politics.



Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

Blog of the week

A new feature here at taxmanblog.

Each week I'll note a blog out there somewhere in the blogosphere that I find interesting.

This week, that blog is Stuff White People Like.

One of the posts.....

Menus with no decimal points

You can always spot the chic white person as they sit in the padded seats of a nice quaint, posh restaurant staring at the menus. When the other person asks, “What are you having tonight, James?” the reply can often be found to be, “I’m having the Lobster Pillows with Crab Demi-Glaze. It’s only 12.″ That’s right, white people have grown to love restaurants with such advanced math calculations as getting rid of those pesky decimals and something that is more aesthetically pleasing to our eyes and pocketbooks.

Menu prices with decimals seem to confuse the white person in recent times, making one wonder, “Where should I round up or down to get an accurate price?!” With the invention of dropping decimals from menus, white people have solved the problem for themselves. Tax? No problem. Jane, who works in auditing, sitting across the table, has long had all applicable taxes calculated for you upon entering through the door.

Knee high by the 4th of July

A nice field of corn near my palatial estate or, as a "progressive" would call, it 200 gallons of fuel.

It looks good. Now if we can just get another 100 million of these fields, all of our energy woes will be solved.

Throw mama under the bus

Gateway Pundit with the latest Obamanite to bite the dust.

Oops!... There goes another one!
Wright- Pfleger- His white grandmother- Trinity Church- Muslim girls at a rally...

Now it's the Maoist hardliner's turn to be airbrushed.

Mike Klonsky, the Maoist Hardliner, Obama supporter and former best friend of the Weatherman terrorist group founders William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, received a $175,000 grant from the William Ayers/Barack Obama-led Annenberg Challenge to run the Small Schools Workshop.

Klonsky belonged to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and was best friends with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who later became famous for their acts of terrorism when the SDS broke up and the Weathermen terror group was formed.

Between 1979 and 1981, Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (CPML) chairman and Obama supporter Mike Klonsky was repeatedly feted with state-dinner-level visits to Beijing.

Yesterday, Klonsky was posting a blog on the Obama website:

But, that was yesterday.

Today his blog was removed from the Obama website.
Comrade Klonsky is no longer with us.

Confederate Yankee with a running scoreboard on all the people with tread marks on them.

DUI checkpoint

A drunk driving checkpoint will take place Friday night somewhere in Mason, the Ohio State Highway Patrol announced this morning.

more...

As soon as we have confirmation as to the location of our latest waste of police resources, we'll post it right here.

“Evolving standards of decency..."

NRO on the Louisiana death penalty case.

Kennedy’s 36 pages of insufferable blather amount to little more than a declaration that the majority doesn’t think that capital punishment is ever a fair penalty for the rape of a child—“no matter,” as Justice Alito puts it in his dissent, “how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted, and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be.”

I'm no attorney, but I seem to know the constitution better than Kennedy does.

The quote in the opinion that most frustrates me is Kennedy's assertion of “Evolving standards of decency....".

First, the constitution has a remedy for “Evolving standards of decency...", it's called an amendment. For instance, the citizenry's decided it was indecent to ask 18 year olds to die for their country yet not to be allowed to vote; hence, the 26th amendment.

Second, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the jury that voted 12-0 for a death sentence and the trial judge who agreed with it have an understanding of “Evolving standards of decency..." ie they probably would not have voted for a death sentence for someone stealing a horse.

But Kennedy, decided to ignore the jurors and judge who heard the testimony and decided that his “Evolving standards of decency..." usurped the people closest to the case.

Apparently, no one sent the memo to the 13 people who decided on a death sentence that “Evolving standards of decency" had changed as soon as Kennedy was appointed to the bench. I'm also guessing that none of those folks get a say on those “Evolving standards of decency".

The United States Supreme Court.... Yep, we're the same douche bags who brought you Dred Scott, Plessy v Ferguson, Kelo v. City of New London and Roe v. Wade.

DC had a gun ban?

In a what should have been a slam dunk unanimous decision (it ended up 5-4), the court of judicial supremacy today ruled the DC gun ban unconstitutional.

Frankly, I had no idea DC had a gun ban. I guess none of the murderers there got the memo.

Obamamania - Catch it

Excuse me. Did you hear that?

We're still waiting for the sound of Bronson Arroyo getting someone out.

Lawsuit of the Day

HT Publius on this legal argument between the University of Louisville and Duke University at Above the Law

U of L sued Duke for $450,000 -- or a series with another Atlantic Coast Conference opponent -- after the Blue Devils backed out of a four-game football contract with three dates remaining.

The contract called for a penalty of $150,000 per game if a date with a "team of similar stature" could not be arranged.

Duke's lawyers argued the Blue Devils, which have a record of 6-45 over the past five seasons, were so bad that any team would be a suitable replacement.

IRS mileage increase.

Since I am an accountant by trade, I actually have a blog related to my day job. It concentrates on tips for business, personal finance and taxes.

If you want to check it out, click here.

I have a post today regarding the IRS increase in the standard business mileage rate.

Obamamania - Catch it

Obama's magic energy beans

This is hilarious.

Who will win the world's despot vote?

When I vote on issues, I often see who's lining up on which side and and make a decision. Which group do I most align myself with?

Now, we have an election for president between two socialists and I can't decide which guy to choose from, so I'll go with who's endorsing who.

Yesterday, I posted on the endorsement from McCain's jailer in Vietnam.

Investor's Business Daily has a round up of some of the candidates prominent endorsements.

All of which contrasts with Barack Obama's campaign, which has become a magnet for dictators.

Real democracies don't tell other nations' citizens how to vote. But nations under one-man rule are another matter. Dictators' preferences are all personal and usually frankly stated. And this year they're all lining up behind Obama.

On Sunday, bloggers at One Free Korea noted that a North Korean mouthpiece, Chosun Sinbo, reported that dictator Kim Jong Il was adding his name to the list of those who support the Democratic standard-bearer.

"We will see a better relationship between the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula with Obama, who sternly criticizes Bush and who would meet the leader of Chosun without preconditions," Sinbo said.

North Korea, of course, is an odious nuclear dictatorship that starves its people and threatens its neighbors.

Obama also has been endorsed by Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. In a rambling speech last week, he advised Obama to "be proud of himself as a black and feel that all Africa is behind him."

Gadhafi has kept Libya a backward petro-dictatorship since 1969 — when McCain was in the Hanoi Hilton.

Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega also chimed in praise for Obama as "laying the foundations for a revolutionary change" in America. Ortega shot his way to power in 1979, was thrown out in 1990, and recently returned to power in an election split three ways that has seen the dismantling of Nicaragua's democracy.

Fidel Castro also has thrown his support to Obama, "the man who is doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency."

Congratulations Obama. You've pretty much locked up the world's despot vote and none of them even live in the 51-57 states you've campaigned in.

Imitating ding dongs, er, progressives

If you've read this blog enough, you've read many a post criticizing "progressives" who want to turn our country into Europe.

Now, I have a great mind in Thomas Sowell to back me up.

If anyone suggested that Tiger Woods should try to be more like other golfers, people would question the sanity of whoever made that suggestion.

Why should Tiger Woods try to be more like Phil Mickelson? If Tiger turned around and tried to golf left-handed, like Mickelson, he probably wouldn't be as good as Mickelson, much less as good as he is golfing the way he does right-handed.

Yet there are those who think that the United States should follow policies more like those in Europe, often with no stronger reason than the fact that Europeans follow such policies. For some Americans, it is considered chic to be like Europeans.

snip

Before we start imitating someone, we should first find out whether the results that they get are better than the results that we get. Across a very wide spectrum, the United States has been doing better than Europe for a very long time.

By comparison with most of the rest of the world, Europe is doing fine. But they are like Phil Mickelson, not Tiger Woods.

Minimum wage laws have the same effects in Europe as they have had in other places around the world. They price many low-skilled and inexperienced workers out of a job.

Wait until Ohio gets all that paid time off this fall, Ohioans will be envious of that 10 percent unemployment.

A thought provoking endorsement

John McCain received an unlikely endorsement today...

Tran Trong Duyet - a sprightly retiree and amateur ballroom dancer - must rank as one of John McCain's more unlikely supporters.

Four decades ago, during the Vietnam war, Mr Duyet was in charge of the notorious Hoa Lo prison - the place where Mr McCain says he was brutally beaten and tortured during five-and-a-half years as an American prisoner of war.

"McCain is my friend," said 75-year-old Mr Duyet as he feeds the caged birds he now keeps in his garden in this coastal city.

"If I was American, I would vote for him."

Is that Freudian?

Talk about a misread. I had to do a double take since this is what my mind first picked up on this headline.

Clinton to Join Obama As
He Courts Females

What? Are these guys on a booty hunt?

Article

It's all about Obama

Originally, I didn't want to get all in a huff about Obamamania's presidential seal. After all, every candidacy loves to abuse imagery to send some kind of subliminal message to the masses.

But after reading Matt Hurley's piece on the seal, I think there is a larger context to this whole seal deal. Namely, this "every thing Obama" has taken on cult like status. It's not the faking of his seal to look like the presidential seal that's the issue but the message that his seal (and his presidency) somehow transcends our established political institutions.

From Matt

And now, we examine the...uh...changes:

• The most noticeable change is the replacement of the shield with the Obama logo. Does this mean that the logo's creator believed that Obama was more important than America, which the shield represents?
• Behind the eagle head, is a rising sun - which in this context is supposed to evoke the idea that america's best days are ahead not behind (a noble thought), but does the logo's creator actually think that the only way America gets to see those better days is through Obama?
• The Latin phrase "E pluribus unum" which means "out of many, one" suggesting that out of many states emerge a single nation or out of many people have a single people and nation emerged is replaced with the Bob, the Builder classic line in Latin, "Vero Possumus" or "Yes, we can!" Again, the logo creator has chosen style over substance by ignoring America's history. On purpose?

If Obamamania is elected, what's next? Giant statues of him on all our public squares? Offices required to frame pictures of him?

I know it borders on the absurd but if you listen to clowns like Will Smith talk about this guy, you start to wonder.

If you've never heard the song Cult of Personality by Living Colour, you need to.

Here's a shocker!

Celebrities and intellectuals who backed the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s have accused President Daniel Ortega's government of stifling dissent.

Noam Chomsky, Salman Rushdie, Bianca Jagger and other high-profile former sympathisers have joined a chorus of alarm at recent actions.

The Sandinistas returned to power in Nicaragua last year after winning an election against a divided opposition, ending 17 years in the political wilderness and raising hopes of progress in central America's poorest nation. Much of that goodwill has evaporated after controversial decisions that have revived 80s-era suspicions over Ortega's commitment to democracy.

International donors, including Britain, have threatened to cut funding over what they say is an authoritarian and reckless style of government which is compounding economic woes. One of the most serious rows flared over the electoral agency barring two opposition parties from November municipal elections, claiming they missed a deadline for naming party representatives in all electoral districts.

Wow, who saw that one coming? Oh, that's right, conservatives did, 25 years ago.

I've always been amazed that the people most likely to support communist regimes are the first people the communists get rid of when they take over; intellectuals, homosexuals, writers, entertainers, etc. You'd think those intellectual types might know better.

By the way, to lump Bianca Jagger in as an "intellectual" might be a stretch, even for them.

Concerns about Obamamania

Bill Bennett with ten concerns about Obamamania.

Bill buddy, you didn't mention that's he's black (see previous post). How are we going to scare people without letting them know that he's black?

Surely, the fact that he's black, should make your top ten.

You mean, there are ten reasons to be concerned about Obamamania in addition to his being black?

Of course, all of us white people know that this column is all code to point out that Obamamania's black since there's no pictures of him being black in the article.

Progressive/Projection

I guess I had it wrong all these years, liberals aren't "progressives" they're "projectionists".

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said on Friday he expects Republicans to highlight the fact that he is black as part of an effort to make voters afraid of him.

"It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid.

Now it seems to me that the only people who have brought race into this election have been "projectionists" like The Billary. I can't think of an incident where a GOP candidate has brought up race into this election. Oh, by the way, if no one has noticed by now that Obama is black, I don't think the GOP is going to be able to point it out for them.

For what it's worth Mr. Obama, I won't be voting for you because you're black but because you've surrounded yourself with hordes of American hating, marxist, groupies. I'd do the same for a white guy.

Obamamania - Catch it

Paid Sick Days

A good piece at the Toledo Blade on the next "move your business out of Ohio" bill (HT Thurber's Thoughts).

The act would require employers with more than 25 employees to give full-time workers seven paid sick days a year and to allow part-time workers to earn sick days on a pro-rated basis.

It is being pushed by a union group and others who are gathering signatures to get the issue on the November general election ballot. Local experts predict they will succeed.

Proponents of the proposal praise it for giving Ohio workers proper time off to address health issues. Critics say it unfairly burdens small businesses.

Said Joan Pisanti, a spokesman for the Employers' Association of Toledo, "It looks good for employees on paper, but you might not have a job anymore" if employers suffer financially.

I have a question for the brain trust at Progress Ohio...

If this bill is so damn good for everyone, why are we exempting small businesses with fewer than 25 employees?

Seriously, why should Jane Doe get 7 paid sick days because her employer has 27 employees when her husband, who works just as hard, gets -0- because his employer only has 24 employees? Where's the fairness in that?

What is the deal with the labor unions in this state? Are they looking at Michigan and deciding that not having to work for no pay is better than actually having a job and receiving a paycheck? Do they have a secret love affair for states like North Carolina and Georgia who can't build businesses fast enough? Maybe the unions are run by Mexicans and they can't wait to return to Mexico, where all the great jobs will be soon!

If you don't think that Honda didn't see this one on the horizon when they decided to put that new plant in Greensburg IN, just outside of Ohio, you're smoking crack and/or just an imbecile.

An imbecile that would vote for this law.

George Carlin RIP

The seven dirty words. At least we have the internet now.

Food for Fuel

So Obamamania is not beholden to PACs and special interest. Talk to the NY Times....

When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon — and so did Senator Barack Obama.

Then running far behind Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in name recognition and in the polls, Mr. Obama was in the midst of a campaign swing through the state where he would eventually register his first caucus victory. And as befits a senator from Illinois, the country’s second largest corn-producing state, he delivered a ringing endorsement of ethanol as an alternative fuel.

Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that help shape his views. And when it comes to domestic ethanol, almost all of which is made from corn, he also has advisers and prominent supporters with close ties to the industry at a time when energy policy is a point of sharp contrast between the parties and their presidential candidates.

Obamamania - Catch it

B.O. Footware

Happy Birthday Ray Davies.

The Powerline with a tribute and a video of Lola.

For me they'll go down as one of the most underrated rock bands in music history.

Slick's available?

The endgame of Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination took an unexpected turn today as her husband, former President Bill Clinton, updated his status on a popular social networking site.

Visitors to Mr. Clinton's profile page at Facebook noticed that minutes after Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign, President Clinton updated his status from "Married" to "It's Complicated." .

The former president also added several items under the category of "looking for" on his profile page.

Previously, Mr. Clinton had indicated that he was on Facebook primarily for "networking," but today he added "friendship," "dating," and "a relationship" to the list. .

I understand that his "turn-offs" include pant suits.

More....

Obamamania - Catch it