Judicial Watch Might Own the Obama Legacy

"The public has a right to know precisely how Obama and his senior White House advisors Emanuel and Jarrett responded to Blagojevich's corrupt attempts sell Obama's Senate seat."

Hell, yes, I want to know.  More than this, I want to know President Obama's academic records.  I have been under the impression that the man is a dim-bulb from my first encounter with him back in 1997.  Subsequent person-to-person encounters, chats and directions through the ropes of a boxing ring ( 2004) upheld my impression.  My empirical experiences conflicted with the approved narrative that the young man from the Choom Gang was none other than Solon, Moses, Jack Marshall and Bill Moyers wrapped in flesh.  Could I have been wrong in my assessment?  It would not be the first, or the last time.

I believe that we would see a rather weak set of records for the efforts of  a lazy, callow, ambitious, but not overly energetic, disinterested and less than bright student.  Poor attendence, sloppy work, more excuses than pregnant nun will be noted in some columns.

However, I am pleased that Judicial Watch continues to shovel the heavy coal for skeptical old me.

Judicial Watch's lawsuit asks the court to order the interview reports' release, noting:

[U]nder the circumstances it cannot be said that release of the requested records could reasonably be expected to interfere with whatever is left of Blagojevich's criminal prosecution. The public should not be forced to wait any longer to review the FBI 302s of President Obama, former White House Chief of Staff and now City of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, or Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett while Blagojevich pursues his second, plainly futile appeal.

"The FBI interviewed Barack Obama eight years ago about the selling of his Senate seat. The American people should finally get to see these FBI interview reports," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The public has a right to know precisely how Obama and his senior White House advisors Emanuel and Jarrett responded to Blagojevich's corrupt attempts sell Obama's Senate seat."

Short of seeing the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Laurette's report cards, I will be satisfied to read Senate Seat baiting and Valerie Jarrett's negotiations with the incarcerated Great White Smelt of Patrick Fitzgerald, former Governor, WLS DJ, Elvis Impersonator and Mell Family public money Master Key, Rod Blagojevich.

The Obama Legacy, might, just might be found in the ink transcripts and notebooks of F.B.I. investigators.  This inquiry , subsequent to the release of documents, will be the first peel of the Valerie Jarrett Vidalia!  Madame Jarrett has been Obama's chief handler long before Rahm Emanuel, Dave Axelrod and Bill Daley acted as his Kevlar.

This should be interesting.  I getting big jar of Salted and Black Pepper Cashews when it happens.

Putin Pants-es Obama

A little-known alliance between the US and Tsarist Russia led to the Russian fleet showing up in force in New York and San Francisco. It arrived at a crucial time in 1863 when Britain and France were on the verge of intervening in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. An actual world war was on the horizon that would “wrap the world in flames” as Secretary of State William Seward put it. The mighty Russian presence deterred the Anglo-French from invading, and the Union was saved.  History

Who is driving the good ship Lollipop? That is one question all Americans should ask. Better question: Which direction is the country headed?  Pravda 10/18/2016


I was pants-ed by my students after football practice at La Lumiere School, along with the head coach and our school priest/coach Chaplain.  All in good fun - embarASSing fun..

Memories of  kids getting pants-ed ( the act of pantsing) from Kindergarten through high school stirred when I read about Putin's fleet taking the long way to incinerate what is left of Aleppo in Syria - through the English channel and into the American Lakes.  Why pantsing?

Yanking down one's britches in public was and is mostly it was good clean; sometimes it was hostile and cruel.  Only jerks would pants a shy, inoffensive, lonely, or special youngster and they would be dealt with by their betters in due course.

I remember a little guy who was so afraid getting pants-ed at school that he would actually make himself sick about it.  As a coach and teacher it was my job to speak to several of the school's more infamous Myrmidons and ne'er-do-wells and they kept a sober and loving watch out for jerks lurking to terrorize the boy. No one pantsed him in four years; nor did he deign to pants anyone.

The global jerks, the Russians, were at one time kept in check by kids that I taught at Bishop McNamara, La Lumiere and Leo who exchanged letterman jackets for Kevlar vests and helmets.  Pat Donnelly, Jim Buck, Marvin Carey. Mario Bullock and Mike Van Weigel went to sea as sailors and marines.  The Russkies behaved.

After eight years of President Obama's daffy foreign policies, the Global Bully Putin is yanking down the britches of President at this very moment.

Russia has begun its biggest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War as it aims to effectively end the war in Syria on the eve of the US election, Nato officials warned last night.
The Kremlin is sending the full might of its Northern Fleet and part of the Baltic Fleet to reinforce a final assault on the city of Aleppo in a fortnight, according to Western intelligence.
The final bombardment is designed to shore up the Assad regime by wiping out rebels – paving the way for a Russian exit from the civil war. . . .

Royal Navy warships are due to escort a group of eight Russian warships, including the country’s only aircraft carrier, as they sail past the UK on their way to the Mediterranean.

Senior Royal Navy officers expect the task force to sail past the UK as early as Thursday in a show of strength dismissed as “posturing” by defence sources. . . .

But a senior Nato diplomat said the deployment from the Northern Fleet’s base near Murmansk would herald a renewed attack in Aleppo.

“They are deploying all of the Northern Fleet and much of the Baltic Fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War,” the diplomat said.

“This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks, we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia’s strategy to declare victory there.”

President Obama has smirked, shrugged and bowed for eight years and today Valdimir Putin yanked down his pants in front of the whole world.

The whole world is watching this Obama Legacy moment.

Irony Spring 2012 - Chicago and World Anarchists to Welcome Nobel Laureates and the G-8/NATO Summits

Aunt Helen's Boys Aloysius (Taco) and Declan (Testy) are staying for a few weeks and can help with Eileen's 1st Communion Party.

Here is a study in Ironic Planning -

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today that Chicago will host the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates this spring.

The summit, the first to be held in North America, will at the University of Illinois at Chicago April 23-25.
. . .
The event is expected to attract high profile leaders from around the globe. All former Nobel Peace Laureates will be invited to attend. It will be co-chaired by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome. Emanuel will serve as an honorary co-chair.
The Nobel meeting will come a month before Chicago is in the international spotlight for the simultaneous G-8/NATO summits, which also are expected to attract throngs of protesters.

Mayor Holiday Tree is proving to be a master of Irony. Chicago, old Urbs in Horto is about to become Ciuitate Ironia and then, after the young bandanna and knit-hat bedecked anarchists get going, Quod LABO Urbs ( That Toddling Town) will become Urbis Incendio Piget (The City of Tire Fires).

Let's see, first of all President Obama is running to keep his job - check!

President Obama was honored as a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate - check!

Mayor Holiday Tree became the Mayor in order to steer the Obama 2012 Campaign -check!

In the time between that well-laid plan of mice-men (Mayor Holiday Tree's Election and the 2012 Election on November 2, 2012), there has been the Wisconsin Bongo Fest, the Arab Spring and our own Occupy America, God Bless Them! Occupy Wall Street has been a probe of police strategies and tactics. Ironically enough, the later day Lenins have been coached and schooled by University of Illinois Chicago Distinguished Professor Emeritus Billy Ayers.

Now, here is the pay-off . . .guess where the Nobel Dudes will gather?

At the University of Illinois Chicago - good old cement city!

Not only that, right here in Old Chi-town, Forrest Claypool has insulted every bus driver and L-engineer, Municipal Pensions were sucked dry by Stuart Levine, Tony Rezko and Blago with help from the usual Progressives, Mayor Holiday Tree has set the table for every Ward Organization to bow before the Garbage Grid, signalling massive City layoffs, and Chicago Water now costs a well metered lung.

Into this din and glare shall arrive the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of the World, including President Obama. Close on the heels of that gathering of worthies arrives the G-8 economics and banking wizards, followed by the stripped down nations of NATO. Splendid.

Imagine having your twin nephews (Taco and Testy Donnellan) of the Outlaws MC (AOA), recently released from our Medium Security Correctional Facility in Galesburg after serving a nickel for A/B but the drug charges were dismissed, staying in your living room, join neighbors and clergy for your daughter's 1st Communion Party when you can not afford a quart of Faygo, let alone a cake for fifty guests. " Yeah, thanks for coming. Give the envelopes to Taco and Testy, Aunt Helen's boys. They'll keep an eye on your Audi."

What could possibly go wrong?

Waiting for our guests will be the same trust-funded tire fire enthusiasts who have made such fine impression on one and all these past five months.

This spring might be just a great time to wander Indiana, discover Michigan, or hang right here in the Hood.

Irony is best appreciated from a distance.

The People of The Book and Genuine Muslims Can Go to Hell - President Obama

President Obama drove the last nail into his Presidency. President Obama took the advice of the "principled left" - the loud, obnoxious, privileged, affluent, and villainous people who demand legislation on everything and do nothing good for any human person - from the womb to grave.

70% of the American people believe that the Cordoba Initiative triumphalist thumb in the eye of America is unethical ( should not be considered) and blasphemous.

Toad-eaters like Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the legion of Journolist hack writers and editors who greased President Obama's election with smarm think this is good,as do the Communists, Socialists and Anarchists whom President Obama traditionally protests too much - "They are not the folks I know" - believe this to be a wonderful thing. Giving America a hot-foot and a kick in the nuts is always a very Progressive hug-able moment.

Seven out of ten Americans -People of the Book ( Jews and Christians) and genuine Muslims, atheists, agnostics and the odd Wiccan believe that American values are not tested by a Wahabist Imam, whom Obama made legit with a State Department portfolio, and his Saudi bankers.

“This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.” President Obama praising the Cordoba Initiative -the Mosque at Ground Zero.

Nonsequiturs abound!

Here is a balanced perspective from a Muslim -

I was born in pre-revolutionary Iran. My family led a largely secular existence -- I did not attend a religious school, I never wore a headscarf -- but for us, as for anyone there, Islam was part of our heritage, our culture, our entire lives. Though I have nothing but contempt for the fanaticism that propelled the terrorists to carry out their murderous attacks on Sept. 11, I still have great respect for the faith. Yet, I worry that the construction of the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site would not promote tolerance or understanding; I fear it would become a symbol of victory for militant Muslims around the world.

Neda Bolourchi whose mother was murdered by Islamist terrorists on 9/11.

President Obama, an Illinois back-bencher, is athe worst President in American History - white, black, Gay, Breeder, Male, Female, Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim or Mason. Barack Obama has nailed down the absolute last place in history as an American President, for history.

This is a good thing, Americans, because, when that Mayflower Van pulls up to the White House in 2013, not only will President Obama be packed up with the linens and knick-knacks, but the principled left as well.

As soon as GE and the other corporate weasels understand that American anger has wallet consequences, the tone will change. Again mean spirited, abortion-happy, Hegelian totalitarians will be ignored or least giggled upon once again. The batteries will be removed from the megahorns; Praise be to God.

May the principled left enjoy the quiet of the very, very, very private life.

Left Wing Guardian UK Implies Obama Lobbied for Release of Lockerbie Bomber

When the British Left have left an American President, . . .

Barack Obama is under growing pressure to release a letter that reveals the US grudgingly supported freeing the Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. ( emphasis my own)

The letter was sent to Scottish ministers by a senior diplomat at the US embassy in London last August, eight days before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from prison because he was dying from inoperable prostate cancer.

Obama's administration has refused to allow publication of the letter, in which the US says allowing Megrahi to live at home in Scotland would be "far preferable" to sending him back to Libya under the prisoner transfer deal brokered by former prime minister Tony Blair in 2007. ( emphasis my own)

Although Megrahi was allowed to go home to die in Tripoli, Scottish officials believe this undermines Obama's vigorous criticisms of the decision to free Megrahi earlier this month, when he said he was left "surprised, disappointed and angry" by the Libyan's release. David Cameron said he and Obama were in "violent agreement" that freeing Megrahi was a bad decision.

The American ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman, said the US was examining whether its correspondence on the issue could be released, but he refused to be drawn on the reported memo.

Senators in Washington are now pressing for the release of all correspondence between Obama's administration and the Scottish government in their investigation into allegations that BP directly influenced the decision to release Megrahi to help its $800m oil deal with Libya.

The allegations have been rejected by Alex Salmond, the first minister. He has offered to send dozens of official documents on the Megrahi affair to the US Senate's foreign relations committee after refusing to allow his justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, to appear at the committee's hearing on Lockerbie this Thursday.

Salmond insists the documents, released last year, prove that MacAskill released Megrahi solely on compassionate grounds and had completely ruled out using the prisoner transfer agreement brokered by Blair. But his aides have told the committee that Obama's government refused to allow some material to be published – including the US embassy correspondence.

Meanwhile, William Hague, the foreign secretary, came to Salmond's aid. In a seven-page letter to the committee he confirmed that BP had heavily lobbied the UK government about the prisoner transfer agreement with Libya.

Hague said BP met the former Labour government five times in October and November 2007 over its concerns that disputes about the treaty might damage its oil exploration contracts with Libya. But Hague said: "This was a perfectly normal and legitimate practice for a British company … There is no evidence that corroborates in any way the allegation of BP's involvement in the Scottish executive's entirely separate decision to release him on compassionate grounds."

The existence and content of the US embassy note was first disclosed by the Guardian last August, at the height of the controversy over Megrahi's release, and its full text has now been leaked to the Sunday Times.

In it, the deputy head of the US embassy in London, Frank LeBaron, said the US believed Megrahi should remain in Greenock jail because of the seriousness of his conviction for killing 270 passengers and crew, and 11 Lockerbie townspeople, by bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.

But he added: "Nevertheless, if Scottish authorities [conclude] that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, the US position is that conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose." (emphasis my own)

LeBaron said releasing Megrahi but making him live in Scotland "would mitigate a number of strong concerns we have expressed with regards to Megrahi's release."

Scottish officials took that to mean that the US had only "half-hearted" opposition to Megrahi's release: the embassy comes under the direct control of the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who became the most vigorous critic of Megrahi's release

Allowing Megrahi to live outside prison in Scotland was one of the options considered by MacAskill. Megrahi's wife and sons had a family home paid for by the Libyan government in the prosperous Glasgow suburb of Newton Mearns. But that option was rejected after police advice that this would cause immense security and logistical problems, and cost £100,000 a week to protect him. The house would need a 24-hour armed guard, while Megrahi would need heavy security for his regular trips for medical treatment.

To Salmond and MacAskill's embarrassment, Megrahi is still alive after being allowed home to Tripoli. MacAskill had stated the Libyan had less than three months to live when he was released. They now concede that his life has probably been prolonged from being at home with his family and receiving better medical care.

Jounolists?

SEIU's Andy Stern in The Shadows, of Blago's Smile? Watching the Silverfish Scatter

A “labor union official” close to the President (who may be SEIU President Andy Stern) is said to contradict public statements on the case by Obama directly.

Blago's subpoena for President Obama is like turning on a light and watching the silver fish scatter.

Hours before Judge Zagel releases the Santiago Proffer of the Federal Case against the antic former Guv, Andy Stern exited the National scene stage left.

The 'labor Official' should just about prove that Kingmaker Marxist Andy Stern might have exceeded his grasp.

I do not believe that there is any mess on the President's shoes, but those close to the President, like SEIU's Andy Stern, could create a wave of disgust unseen thus far among the President's cheerleaders in the corporate media.

Team Blago Subpoena's President - Stern, Andy Stern, Times Ahead!

King Maker Andy Stern and King Imitator Rod Blago!
Andy left the building only hours before Judge Zagel released the Blago Santiago Proffer, but Elvis is still in the Federal hotseat!

From the Folks Who Brought You (and Bought Others) - "Raise Our Taxes!" The SEIU! Andy Stern Presents Buy Your Senate Seat!

April 22, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Now he wants to butt heads with Barack Obama.


Rod Blagojevich today filed a motion in federal court to call President Barack Obama as a witness in the impeached governor's corruption case. The trial is due to begin on June 3.

Former Gov. Blagojevich's defense team issued a trial subpoena for the president to take the stand as a corroborating witness. "President Obama has direct knowledge to allegations made in the indictment. In addition, President Obama's public statements contradict other witness statements, specifically those made by labor union official and Senate Candidate B (Valerie Jarrett). It is anticipated that labor union official will be a witness for the government. His accounts of events directly related to the charges in the indictment are contradicted by President Obama's public statement," defense lawyers wrote.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=7400895

Likewise in today's Chicagoist

Lawyers for former governor Rod Blagojevich said last winter they hoped to call President Obama to the witness stand to testify at the ex-gov's trial. They made that hope official today as they moved in court today to issue President Obama with a trial subpoena to have him testify. The feds interviewed Obama before he was sworn in to get any information he might have on the alleged attempt to sale his vacated U.S. Senate seat. Natasha Korecki reports for the Sun-Times:Experts have told the Sun-Times that while presidents are subject to be called to trial -- President Bill Clinton gave a videotaped deposition in a civil case -- the White House can cite everything from national security to schedule conflicts to avoid the witness chair. Blagojevich's lawyers would have to persuade Judge James Zagel that written or video testimony was no substitute.

From Chicagoist and featuring my favorite Sun Times Repporter!


Avec!

On the afternoon of November 3, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official and another representative of SEIU. During the meeting, there was a discussion about a number of different candidates for the Senate seat. Both SEIU representatives expressed their view that Senate Candidate B would be a good choice for the Senate seat. Blagojevich stated that he assumed that if Obama was interested in Senate Candidate B being named to replace Obama, then Obama would be in touch with Blagojevich…



“On November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #255), Blagojevich informed Deputy Governor A that Labor Union Official, who was one of the officials who had met with Blagojevich on November 3, 2008 to discuss the Senate seat, was coming back to meet with Blagojevich to discuss the Senate seat. Labor Union Official was set to meet with Blagojevich the following day. Blagojevich talked through jobs he could request in exchange for naming a candidate to the Senate seat and noted that none of them would be attainable if it were not for the fact Blagojevich had the right to fill the Senate seat.



Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #261), Blagojevich talked to Harris. They discussed what Blagojevich should say to Labor Union Official regarding what Blagojevich wanted in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat… Harris stated that if Blagojevich’s goal was to trade the Senate seat for a job elsewhere, then Blagojevich needed to “put it on the table” with Labor Union Official…



Based on Harris’s prior conversations with Blagojevich, Harris informed Blagojevich that Harris had told Deputy Governor A that they were looking for a “reasonable ask” in exchange for the Senate seat that “takes care” of Blagojevich’s family and keeps Blagojevich’s future political ambitions open. Harris stated they were now looking at private foundations in which the president-elect might have influence and would not appear to look like a “deal” for the Senate seat. Harris suggested they look at private foundations that were “heavily dependent on federal aid.” … Blagojevich suggested to Harris and Deputy Governor A that it was difficult to see this kind of deal coming together, but told Deputy Governor A and Harris to find the foundations that SEIU funded. Deputy Governor A agreed that they should find the foundations SEIU funded because then SEIU could help broker the deal with Blagojevich. Again, Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A and Harris to “look into those ones that are funded by labor.”



Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #281), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor B about Blagojevich’s interest in getting a private foundation job. Blagojevich told Advisor B that SEIU and the president-elect could remove the head of a particular foundation and give the position to Blagojevich…



On the morning of November 6, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #317, 319, and 321), Blagojevich talked to Harris. Blagojevich had arranged a meeting with Labor Union Official for later that afternoon. Harris and Blagojevich discussed the meeting with Labor Union Official and how Blagojevich could ask for what Blagojevich wanted from Labor Union Official…



Later in the call, Harris suggested that Blagojevich request a position as the paid national coordinator for Change To Win, an organization partially funded by SEIU, in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Harris suggested to Blagojevich that the Change to Win idea might be better than a private foundation because the Change to Win job is controlled by SEIU and Blagojevich would not necessarily have to step down as governor to take it immediately, like he might have to do with a private foundation job. Blagojevich responded that the Change to Win idea was a “fucking great idea.” Later, Blagojevich stated he would like to be on some “corporate boards” in addition to taking the Change to Win job. Harris responded that Harris thought Change to Win would be a full-time job. Blagojevich asked “would I be able to get a little extra income though.” Harris responded that he did not think Blagojevich would want to sell himself to SEIU as a part-time employee. Blagojevich responded “No, but if I could sit on a couple a boards, that’s not much time, or teach a class.” Later Blagojevich asked how much the Change to Win job would pay. Harris suggested it probably paid at least what Labor Union Official made working for SEIU. Blagojevich responded “I betcha he makes, well he lives on the north shore, you gotta think he makes more than the governor, right?”



…Blagojevich informed his wife that Blagojevich was meeting with Labor Union Official that afternoon. Blagojevich talked to his wife about becoming the national director of Change to Win and that “hopefully you get paid decent.” Blagojevich also informed his wife that Change to Win would allow him to form a national network of low wage workers to help in his future political career. During the conversation, Blagojevich’s wife looked up information about Change to Win on the internet, in part to determine “what they paid their people in 2006.” Blagojevich’s wife had trouble finding the salary information on-line. Blagojevich responded “Don’t worry about it. Yeah, that’s, you negotiate that. I’d like a 4-year contract for a million a year or somethin’. . . . Or 750 or whatever. It’d have to be good. Obama’s got excess money, he just gives them more money.” Blagojevich told his wife he was not sure the Change to Win idea would happen, but it was one of several options.



On November 6, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official alone… Thereafter, Blagojevich made clear to Labor Union Official that he would name Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat in exchange for being named Secretary of HHS…



Later on November 7, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #403, 405, 406, and 408), Blagojevich spoke to Harris and Advisor A, a political advisor, about, among other things, Blagojevich’s request for the Secretary of HHS position and the possibility of obtaining a job with Change to Win… Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A liked the Change to Win idea. Blagojevich asked whether the Change to Win idea was better than trying to work out a deal to provide the Senate seat to Individual L. Advisor A indicated the Change to Win idea was better to help Blagojevich financially and his future politically. Blagojevich agreed…



Later on November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #533, 535, and 537), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor A. Blagojevich explained his 501(c)(4) idea to Advisor A and stated it would be a place for Blagojevich to get a job after he was governor, like Change to Win. Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A liked Change to Win better because it had “fewer fingerprints.” Blagojevich stated his concern with Change to Win was that it might not be there in two years while the 501(c)(4) was something Blagojevich could “control.” …

The Santiago Proffer!

Justice Lisa Madigan - Hell Yes!

Leo Man and Illinois Chief Justice Tom Fitzgerald and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan

Supreme Court Justice Lisa Madigan? Hell Yes!

On the only major abortion case her office has handled, Madigan gritted her teeth and took the anti-abortion side of the case, even though she favors abortion rights. Madigan argues that state law requires the courts to enforce a long-mothballed law requiring abortion clinics to notify a minor girl's parents before performing an abortion.

She argued the Illinois v. Caballes case before the U.S. Supreme Court and won. And she argued the pro-law enforcement side of the case, winning police the right to use drug-sniffing dogs on cars to go after drug smugglers. (Slate's article about that hearing assigned all lawyers and judges a breed; Madigan was a collie.) Madigan never faltered as she stood at the podium, seven months pregnant, confidently responding to the justices' questions and even joking with retiring Justice John Paul Stevens -- who Obama's next nominee would be replacing -- about how fast he drives on highways when he returns to his home state of Illinois.

Lisa Madigan is an ideal choice for the United States Supreme Court.

Once out of the election cycle, smart Chicago Democrats give Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry it promotes short shrift. Really smart Chicago Democrats give them the thumb over the shoulder - i.e. Illinois State Representative Kevin Joyce.

Lisa Madigan is really smart - not as smart as her Old Man, House Speaker Madigan, but very. very smart. More importantly, Lisa Madigan listens to common sense and is wildly skilled, personable and non-doctrinaire.

If President Obama is smarter than Jan Schakowsky, he will push for Lisa Madigan as his nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States
However, I think that the President is as smart as Jan Schakowsky.

Our Populist President: Lonesome Barry Joad in The Grapes (of) Waffles

In a diner/sits a miner
and our Presidential Whiner . . .(To Darling Clementine)

President Obama (sota voce) - to no one in partic'lar -just talkin' - just sayin'!

Takes no nerve to do something, ain't nothin' else you can do.

Sure don't look none too prosperous.

Seems like the government's got more interest in a dead man than a live one.

If there was a law, they was workin' with maybe we could take it, but it ain't the law. They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency.

That Rahm. He might have been a preacher but he seen things clear. He was like a lantern. He helped me to see things clear.

I been thinking about us, too, about our people living like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow. Or maybe one guy with a million acres and a hundred thousand farmers starvin'. And I been wonderin' if all our folks got together and yelled... Fox'd really get me then, I expect.

They'd drag me anyways. Sooner or later they'd get me for one thing if not for another. Until then...

That ain't it. It's just, well as long as I'm an outlaw anyways... maybe I can do somethin'... maybe I can just find out somethin', just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that's wrong and see if they ain't somethin' that can be done about it. I ain't thought it out all clear, I can't. I don't know enough.


Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build - I'll be there, too.

But - just somethin' I been thinkin' about. . . . Why can't I just eat my waffle?

Profound apologies to John Steinbeck, John Ford, Henry Fonda, Ma, and Mrs. Butterworth.

"Obama seemed like an avatar of modernity" -Crazy Aunt Maureen Dowd with Buyer's Remorse

Dang! A friend of mine bought a new Saturn several weeks ago and learned through an oafish associate - "Hey, you bought too soon! Saturn is knocking off Seven Grand to clear stock!"

Thanks so Mucking Fuch! In this case, who knew?

Had the buyer but known! The Saturn's a nice car. At least it runs. Sometimes we buy a shiny new flivver and it is a real pig. It is still your heap. Did you take it out for a spin? Read up on it? Kick the tires? Pop the hood? Those things you could have done and avoided some heart ache.

You buy it and you live with it. Thus, so with our elected officials. They come to us from the political showroom shiny and swell smelling and then whammo! They're pigs, dogs, lemons, less than we expected, not up to snuff and bum deals.

We all experience that. That is called life. Maureen Dowd, the Irish spinster who seems like the Crazy Aunt Mo that every family seems to own, is beefing today that President Obama is her Saturn, Yugo, Pinto, Opal Hatch-back. ( click me post title for Maureen Dowd's hissy fit!)

Citing the attempt of the Nigerian’s father to warn U.S. authorities six months ago, the president intoned: “It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.”

In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared.

Heck of a job, Barry.

Heck, Maureen! You never kicked the tires, let alone popped the hood on this one! President Obama is the same guy you and most of America embraced as the Avatar of Modernity! He is as new as he was when he announced his candidacy on that blustery day in Springfield - a back benching short term Illinois State Senator with an invisible resume.

Nothing shocking. Especially that sticker shock. President Obama has all the knocks and pings that keep his Administration in neutral, but he still has that swell showroom scent.

President Obama is Our President and we own him. Now, deal with it.

President Obama Takes the Nobel Prize

President Obama, not yet a year into his term of Office, takes home the Nobel Prize.

I heard his speech this morning - it was nice.

The President should order Air Force One over to where the American Kids are keeping the Peace -in Afghanistan and Iraq. That would would be the heroic act of a good a man.

It is one thing to accept the Prize and it is another make good on its worth.

Bad News;Good News: Afghan Folly & Desiree Rogers is Jolly!

Bad News:

America should pull out of Afghanistan immediately - if not sooner.

Were America to commit itself to victory that would be one thing, but to stall like a "fish" wrestler crawling to the edge the mat for three years, taking the penalty points and trying to avoid a pin might be considered disgraceful. Not to a Leftist, of course.

The Leftist takes the absolute frame of reference and chops, slices and dices any and all facts to agree with that absolute - America is racist, Imperialist, War-mongering George Bush Hill Billy Sexist - always and everywhere. If America commits Air Power to interdict terrorists on the ground, it is cowardly murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women and baby ducks. If America puts 'boots on the ground,' it is an Army of Occupation bent on Nation Building.'


President Obama owes his election - not to the millions of centrists Americans but the vastly wealthy Leftists who pumped millions into his Campaign for White House.

America can not have a military presence anywhere and still have the dough-ray-me to pump millions of tax-dollars into Government Health, Government Labor, Government Education, and eventually Government Law Enforcement to keep tabs on this Nation of Cowards.

President Obama gave the Taliban a heads-up that come 2011 they can return to power and chop heads, castrate women and serve Allah, like a Klansman serves Jesus.

In order to save American lives, bring the troops home now. In three years another election will take place in America and a new President can inherit Obama's War and win the damn thing. Until, then America will be coached to 'Fish Off' the mat.


The Good News - Desiree Rogers Divas Yet! She will be sure to provide all Americans weary of eight years of George W. Bush and War on Terror a cavalcade of laughs in the months to come!

President Does Not Want to Fight - Get The Troops Out.

"The economy is everything," said a liberal Democratic consultant closely allied with Obama. "If more people are back at work and feeling better about their future, he'll get some slack for Afghanistan. If the economy's still in the toilet, he won't get slack on anything."

That statement by Democrat wizard is why President Obama does not want to fight - but thousands of American Kids will and many will die.

I listened to President Obama's Speech at West Point. It is clear - his word - to me that this President does not want to fight. Rather, he does not want this theatre of war in the Global War on Terror - Afghanistan - tagged to his resume.

I've spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world -- one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict, and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity. And finally, we must draw on the strength of our values -- for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That's why we must promote our values by living them at home -- which is why I have prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom and justice and opportunity and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the source, the moral source, of America's authority.

The President did a nice job of parsing America's better Angels, but also needed to slip in his customary apology for America -

Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, and the service and sacrifice of our grandparents and great-grandparents, our country has borne a special burden in global affairs. We have spilled American blood in many countries on multiple continents. We have spent our revenue to help others rebuild from rubble and develop their own economies. We have joined with others to develop an architecture of institutions -- from the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank -- that provide for the common security and prosperity of human beings.

We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes.

Yep, America makes mistakes and most often at the ballot box.

To get elected, Barack Obama needed to seem tough on terror -at least somewhere - and Afghanistan was the place: nothing much going on there at the time.

President Obama got the war that he rhetorically supported.

Radical Progressive Democrats, like Howard Dean who said that Capitalism lost the debate to Socialism, control my Democratic Party at the National Level. In order to fund Government Run Health and Nationalize all American Labor under SEIU, they need to reduce America's military and arrest any and all foreign interventions.

Here is Obamas problem in a Nutshell -

"The economy is everything," said a liberal Democratic consultant closely allied with Obama. "If more people are back at work and feeling better about their future, he'll get some slack for Afghanistan. If the economy's still in the toilet, he won't get slack on anything."

The President does not want to fight. I never heard the word Victory in his speech. He quoted President Eisenhower about being cautious, but I recall an Ike quote about victory,

"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."

America had a smaller combined Armed Forces than Romania in 1941. Americans can fight. They are doing so every day.

These heroic women and men need a fighting Commander in Chief. I did not see any fight in this President.

The end of War is Victory. Pull out now and save these kids from the Fifth Column of Loudmouths ( MSNBC, CNN, GE, NBC) who are already bringing the war home.

Ah, So! President Obama -""I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people . . ."Uh, Huh.

"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead, I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testament to my patriotism." Barack H. Obama


Will President Obama please stay home until he learns some American history? Please.

Richard Heene - Time's Man of the Year!

Balloon Boy's Dad - Richard Heene - is a walking metaphor of our times - Nobel's for nothing and Chick's for Free!

As adrift as the Obama Amatuer Hour White House( Cap'N Trade; Unstimulus Package, Good Taliban, Copenhagen Snuff-outs, Katrina Junkets, GITMO Weeger Giveaways to Tropical Islands, ACORN in My Shoes and 'SEIU and Raise You,' Janet Napolitano, Van Jones, Anita Dunn, and Nobel's for Nuthin' as well as Blago whack a mole updates), young Falcon Heene and his balloon-flight in the rafters of a garage stand as a metphor for Hope and Change.

TIME Magazine ?

Colorado native and Chicago Legal Expert Tamara Holder notes this about Young Icarus in the Rafters and his Old Dad:

The balloon boy story must go down in history as one of the most bizarre events EVER: Six-year old boy detaches homemade hovercraft "vehicle" slash helium balloon from back yard...climbs inside...takes off through the Colorado sky...stops all news on Obama, health care, Rush Limbaugh and the war in Afghanistan...only to find out boy is not inside the "craft" but is really in the family's attic! Fox News article here.

I called my dad after the boy had been found alive but before it was reported just where exactly Falcon Heene was found. My dad said, "I am sure the boy said to himself, 'Oh s**t, my dad is going to kick my a** once he finds out I let the balloon loose. I better go hide.'" Well, my padre knows best; moments later it was revealed that is exactly what happened: the boy hid in the attic because he knew his father would yell at him!

But wait, the story gets better. The boy's father is a total wack job. He is a mad-scientist type...oh wait, I mean "psyientist" according to dad, Richard Heene, who has his own web page:

( click my post title for more from Tamara)

Never gets too weird for me.

Obama Learns Russian -"Nyet!'

Three weeks after giving the store away (Czechs, Poles, Lithuanians, Georgians - Europe) on the missile defense system, four days after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and swell Atta Boy from Vlad Putin, President Obama learned the meaning of Nyet.

“At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process,” he said. “Threats, sanctions, and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive.”

While Mr. Lavrov’s skepticism about sanctions is not new, his comments came just three weeks after President Obama canceled an antimissile defense system in Eastern Europe that Russia had strongly objected to, raising hopes of cooperation on Iran. Two weeks ago, President Dmitri A. Medvedev told President Obama that “in some cases, sanctions are inevitable.” Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who was in China on a trade mission Tuesday and missed Mrs. Clinton, has spoken out against using punitive measures against Tehran.

Jimmy the Two Headed Boy could see that one coming. President Obama is Jimmy Carter in Hart, Schaftner & Marx.

Nobel Speech by William Faulkner - Read it, Mr. President

At Stockholm in 1950, an American writer accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is one of the greatest speeches in human history. I taught this to my students. I hope one of President Obama's teachers presented this to him. William Faulkner -American.

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing.

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid: and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed--love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, and victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

Until he learns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

(emphases my own)

Rio Names President Obama 2016 Decathalon Winner

Nobel Prize tosser Thorbjørn Jagland* declared "You, sir, are the World's Greatest Athlete"

Mooching a Square! Gold!

The First Wright Pitch! Gold!

Pitch Too Mah Loo! Gold!

Toss Like a Girl in Moms Jeans! Gold!

Virtual Hoops! Gold!

The Hurdle Stretch! Gold!

Paw Shake! Gold!

The Hokey-Pokey! Gold!

The Oprah Carry! Gold!

The Sharpton Finger Poke! Gold!

* This guy Jagland - The President's Nobel Chinaman- headed up the Herring Choker ACORN back in the day - dig this:

Also in 1998, four leaders and treasurers of Oslo AUF were convicted of fraud and jailed as part of the Workers' Youth League membership scandal. They were found to have filed excessive membership numbers in order to receive increased municipal grants, and the court case revealed that most youth parties and their leaders had been engaging in this practice since the 1970s.[27] Jagland testified in the case and said it was not necessarily wrong to "advance" money for memberships, provided the members in question reimburse this fee later on. But he did testify that it was unacceptable to transfer money from AUF's main bank account to pay for membership fees. When pressed by the prosecutor, he also agreed that membership numbers were too high when he was the leader of AUF. In his defense, he said if AUF were to follow the law too rigidly, they would only have ended up with a quarter of the membership numbers that the Norwegian Young Conservatives operated with. Jagland has later said to the court that AUF should have received even more subsidies, referring to some of the other political youth parties that used similar methods for calculating membership numbers.[28]

Nobel! Dynamite! Mr. Jagland Attests the Strength of the Award!

Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a former prime minister of Norway, said the president had already contributed enough to world diplomacy and international understanding to earn the award.

"We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future, but for what he has done in the previous year,” Mr. Jagland said. “We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do.” The prize comes as Mr. Obama faces considerable challenges at home. On the domestic front, he is trying to press Congress to pass major legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system. On the foreign policy front, he is wrestling with declining support in his own party for the war in Afghanistan. The White House is engaged in an internal debate over whether to send more troops there, as Mr. Obama’s commanding general has requested.

NYT

Mr. Jagland - aptly named! That same rock-solid logic awarded $500,000 to Fenger High School for the honor of Derrion Alberts getting his head whacked in with a plank. You guys are on the same page and we all can expect more of the same.

Congratulations President Obama! That one was Easy! Copenhagen was tough, but Oslo was a Breeze! Eleven days into your Presidency and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!

Hat Tip to the scholarly Mark Rhoads:

206 people were nominated for the prize by the deadline of Feb. 1, 2009 when Mr. Obama had been in office just eleven days. But today it was announced in Oslo, Norway that President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his "outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation." The great man had done all these miracles in just eleven days?

Illinois Review

TR had to calm down Imperial Japan and Czarist Russia. Woodrow Wilson had to go out build a League of Nations - damn near killed . Jimmy Carter . . .what'd he do, exactly? Al Gore melted our Cold, Cold Hearts! Nobel Peace Prize in Eleven Days! Kids, pay attention!

Mmmm; Mmmm; Mmmm!


http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/10/president-wins-nobel-peace-prize-for-his-first-11-days-in-office.html?cid=6a00d834515c5469e20120a62871ea970c