Americans: Taking It On The Chin

Who’s Going Down With Blagojevich?

by Don White

There have been three Democrat governors put in jail. Will Rod Blagojevech be number four? It’s almost a foregone conclusion.

In the present and past, a Chicago political machine has run things in Illinois. Under the jaundiced eye of Richard Daily, and now his namesake son, both Chicago mayors, the tone of this state is set by big city politics.

Ironically, in 1840 Chicago may have been the second largest city in the state. It was second to Nauvoo, Illinois, located on the Mississippi River, which was inhabited by Mormons who were viciously driven in the middle of winter out of the state by Illinois gunmen. The Mormons suffered greatly in Illinois and on the trail to the Great Basin which was marked with shallow graves of those who died of disease, starvation, icy cold weather, and other privations as they attempted to make it to Zion.

The perpetrators of the injustice done to Mormons were not your ordinary good people -- they were mobsters who murdered innocent people, looted their homes and burned their farms, but by no means do they represent the fine law-abiding people living in Illinois today or in that day.

Illinois has a spotted political history. Even the last Republican governor is in jail. What is it about this state, Illinois, the fighting Illini state?

People say it isn’t the people who live in the Illini state, it’s party poilitics and it's the same everywhere. Maybe the old mayor of Chicago, Richard Daily, started a corrupt party machine, ideas like "it's the Chicago way," from which the good people of Illinois can't escape.

But I beg to differ with people who say the "Chicago Way" is the way it works in every state. It simply is not that way in the other 49. They say their leaders aren’t any worse than citizens in any other state. But if not, why are they leading the “league” in in choosing governors who end up corrupt? And somebody had to become deceived enough to vote for these scum bags.

In a way, I side with Blagojevich. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was wrong. I don’t like the way he got the cart before the horse in this case. Why is it taking so long to bring formal charges against Blagojevich? Why didn’t Fitzgerald build his case before he created all of this hoopla to the media, which is the wrong way to bring criminal charges against anyone?

Wyoming Defense Attorney Gerry Spence agrees: Legal Blog Watch quoted the flamboyant and successful western-attired attorney in a story cited below. The blog said: “Has U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald absconded with Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich's presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial? If so, whose conduct -- that alleged of Blagojevich or that seen of Fitzgerald -- is more abominable? These are questions Carolyn Elefant asked here last month, and now trial lawyer Gerry Spence raises them on this blog in a post entitled, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent." Never one to mince words, Spence accuses Fitzgerald of acting more like a jury than a prosecutor.”

It would be a travesty of justice if Blagojevich got off because he couldn’t get a fair trial anywhere in America, wouldn’t it? Then you would hear the people howl. If Spence was his counsel, Blago would probably turn around and sue Fitzpatrick and the entire juris prudence system, the state of Illinois, and the Legislature for evicting him from the executive mansion. He may have a valid cause of action, how can we tell? Before you become critical of that statement, just think about it a while? What if the things people are saying about him are true but don't constitute enough evidence for a conviction? Only Fitzgerald knows. Only a duly constituted jury can decide.

If they convict the former governor, don’t believe for a moment that he will go down alone. He has the goods on a lot of people in Springfield, Illinois and Chicago and he is a vindictive man and a windmill, filibustering, blustering fool of a speaker. He will rat on his best friend if he can take ten years off his jail term.

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Limited Government Is The Best Government

America The Free – Or Nanny State?

Our country was founded on principles of selfreliance, states rights, and limited government. But in the last 220 years it has evolved from the “land of the free” into a nanny state no different than those in the European Union.

What happened? States were supposed to have had all the power not directly granted to the federal government. Such things as highways, aviation, welfare, and schools were under state purview. But in each case the feds have confiscated power from the people and the Constitution has been circumvented.

The problem begins where Democrats believe Federalism means strong central government while most Republicans say it is weak central government, almost confederation.

This article is part of the Politics series

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Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). Federalism is a system in which the power to govern is shared between national and state governments, creating what is often called a federation. Proponents are often called federalists.
In Europe, "federalist" is sometimes used to describe those who favor stronger federal government, at a national or supranational level, as is the case of the European Union. The term is also used to describe those who favor weaker provincial governments. In the federal nations of Europe (including Germany, Austria and Switzerland) or South America (including Argentina or Brazil), the term "strong federalism" labels situations where sub-national states may have more power than the national (federal) government; it does not imply a strong central government. Some nations with federal systems, such as Switzerland and Canada, are officially confederations, because membership in the federation is voluntary.
In Canada, federalism implies opposition sovereigntist movements (usually those of Quebec). The same is historically true in the United States. Advocates of a weaker federal government and stronger state governments are those that generally favor confederation, often related to early "anti-federalists" and later the Confederacy.
Australia, Brazil and India, among others, are also federal states.
Federalism may encompass as few as two or three internal divisions, as is the case in Belgium.

As Federalists, we conservatives want to keep decision making close to the people. We don’t like it when government establishes programs so that one rule applies for all local circumstances. Always keep powers and control as close to the people as possible. Is it possible that there are some issues that just aren’t Washington’s business? Yes, such as local highways, airports, poor people, and schoolchildren. The truth is, locals know more than the feds.

For example, Attorney General Janet Reno had no business going down to Wacco, Texas killing people because of their local religious practices. Just as Barak Obama has no business telling us (and China) how green our towns and state must be. We liken that to dictatorship.

States and cities can become dangerous bureaucracies, too. Bureaucracies seek to achieve uniformity by compelling people to conform to someone’s idea of what’s best. But have you noticed, private and local enterprises flourish by encouraging innovators, creative people, and self-starters with mind of their own? Then you get inventions, creative people and self-starters with minds of their own. The cookie cutter approach to life and government has been proven to fail because as the hack said of Professor Harold Hill in the movie Music Man, “he doesn’t know the territory.”

Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was heard to say prior to January 20^th, what an opportunity this (the collapse of the financial markets) presents us. He said: “You never want to let a crisis go to waste. . .This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before." That was Rahm Emanuel addressing leaders at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. He ticked off areas where he thought new doors were opening: energy, health, education, tax policy, regulatory reforms, just the things an opportunistic activist Obama administration could feed on. All except for taxes are areas best left to states.

What he implied was that for Democrats and other “control freaks”, it meant they could grab some more power from the people, circumvent the Constitution some more. But me (sic) with my simple mind wonders, if those guys from Illinois are so smart, why is it that Illinois is experiencing so much corruption and disarray with scandals like Rezko, Ayres, Blogojevich, et al?

I believe federal involvement in our lives should be minimal. States and cities should take care of their own emergencies and not always look to Washington, which should be the last resort where other alternatives can be found. Democrats differ. They’re like bums on the street, always looking for a government hand out. They aren’t self-starters, innovative, and independent thinkers. This is why they were so vocal in their disgust with President George W. Bush when he didn’t immediately respond to Katrina. The then Democrat governor Kathlene Blanco and the New Orleans mayor were incompetent. Their inaction was reprehensible -- they didn’t have a clue as to how to respond and protect lives of those in harms way. They had the resources – busses that should have transported people out of town were left parked in the city even after the storm ended. Contrast that with what a competent Republican governor did during Gustav, the last hurricane to hit New Orleans. Governor Bobby Jindal had it all planned out, ordered mandatory evacuation of the city and provided the busses and wherewithal to take his people to safe ground.

I believe that local solutions are the best solutions in all cases, but particularly in education, transportation, and welfare reform. Washington is no match for the speed, innovation, and creativity of private local people.

Latest World News

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Obama's Confusing Opposition to Abortion

Officials: Obama to reverse abortion policy

By LIZ SIDOTI and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writers Liz Sidoti And Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writers – 29 mins ago

Featured Topics:

• Barack Obama
• Presidential Transition

Play Video AP – Raw video: Obama's trip to WH Press Room

• Slideshow: President Barack Obama
• Play Video Video: Obama Signs Order to Shut Gitmo ABC News
• Play Video Video: Obama to pursue Middle East peace Reuters

The story by AP reporters Lee and Sidoti above is fuzzy. How I would have written this story, to make it understandable is found below. The story by writers Sidoti and Lee is poorly written. Because of this liberal piece of hashish, they have muddied the issues so much the reader may wonder if Obama is for or against abortion, except in the first graph which I would leave alone. Beyond that, it is all down hill for the writers who are supposed to be good interpretative reporters. They’re biased. Fire them. Reporters should not comment, just write the facts. Working interpretation into news assumes readers are idiots, which is not the case.

WASHINGTON – In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign (has now signed) an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president. The policy that Obama eliminated was known as the "Mexico City policy." This is truly one of the most partisan acts Obama will make. Democrats like abortion, but to Republicans abortion is repulsive and wrong and they believe that taxpayer money should not be used to help abortionists at home or abroad.

GOP President Ronald Reagan established the ban on abortion funding in 1984. President Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

The GOP-backed ban to be reversed by Obama prohibits U.S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of U.S. Agency for International Development funds, from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion.

The ban on U.S. money going for abortion was depicted by Democrats the "global gag rule," which on its face is confusing and deceitful. It merely prohibited taxpayer funding for groups that lobby to legalize abortion or promote it as a family planning method. I don’t see a corresponding and equal use of taxpayer money to advertising against abortion, do you? Using phrases like “gag rule” is sheer Madison Avenue propaganda. It is intended to help two-faced bureaucrats communicate a falsehood. Democrats like to shine up the tawdry to make it palatable. They are masters of deceit and obfuscation when they could have just plainly said they were against any rule that banned taxpayer money going to pro-abortion groups.

Democrats have had it their way so long – since there doesn’t exist funding to lobby against abortion – that when their guy isn’t president, they cheat by changing the name of what they’re cheating about so even their supporters will want to rise up in anger against this politically-charged phrase with them. They use the words “ban” and “gag rules”, which have negative contemptuous connotations to the American public, which language favors the Democrats. Republicans are not smart enough to have a similar but opposite funding for anti-abortion. This just proves one thing: Democrats are more deceitful, contemptuous and successful than Republicans.

Obama’s Signing of This Rule is bad for America, atrociously so. He and his donkey party cohorts have so far been successful in hoodwinking the populace into thinking it is a good thing to fund a partisan concept with taxpayer money – that is abortion – while funding for just the opposite would be a bad thing. We the people should not be funding groups for or against abortion any more than we should fund pro-National Rifle Association members or pro-shoot first and ask later people. But if we fund propaganda for abortion, logic and fairness says we must also fund anti-abortion propaganda. Tell me where we do this?

In fact, abortion advocates and their ilk have been successful in banning prayer, the Bible, the Pope, and any kind of religious activity at public schools where children might learn about the negative affects of abortion and the primacy of life and a baby’s right to live rather than be killed in full or partial abortion even if the mother doesn’t want the child. There are plenty of people who would adopt that child that under Obama is destined to die without ever experiencing what God intended, life on this earth and a chance for joy and happiness in this critical step of our eternal progression.

Obama was expected to sign the executive order without too many reporters present to avoid the derisive partisan criticism he expected and to put out a false show that he isn’t about partisan politics – though this proves he certainly is. He wants you to think that he is above partisan politics – but all about bringing factions and parties together, a fairy tale that this executive order disolves. Democrats and their press said it would be a low-key event, but then they timed its signing to the annual commemoration of a very high-key event for liberals, the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion. If this isn’t phony, two-faced politics this writer doesn’t know what is. It has the “duplicitous” written all over it.

The move was not a surprise as both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the “gag rule” during the presidential campaign. See, when Democrats use a pejorative adjective like “gag” with rule, it sounds like something we as blue-blooded Americans should do. Yes, get rid of that nasty “gag rule.” By all means. It’s just when you think about it you realize gag had nothing to do with anything except the negative perception Democrats wanted to convey so that their people, the poor and downtrodden, the illiterate, the less apt, could think they were doing a good thing.

Clinton is to visit the U.S. Agency for International Development, through which much U.S. foreign aid is disbursed, later on Friday.

The AP story said that “Obama has spent his first days in office systematically signing executive orders reversing Bush administration policies on issues ranging from foreign policy to government operations. But, save for ending the ban, Obama has largely refrained from wading into ideological issues, perhaps to avoid being tagged a traditional partisan from the outset after his campaign promises to change ‘business as usual’ in the often partisan-gridlocked capital.”

The AP story continues: “Rather, Obama has chosen to focus initially on issues in which there is consensus across the political spectrum and support from the public, such as closing the prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to making government documents more accessible.” I take issue with the word “concensus” when used to discuss Gitmo. Fifty-Seven million Americans, almost half of those voting, said they did not want the base and prison at Guantanamo, Cuba closed. There is no consensus, except in Obama’s mind.

In a move related to the lifting of the abortion ban, Obama also is expected to restore funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) at his earliest opportunity, probably in the next budget. Both he and Clinton made this a campaign issue.

The Bush administration had barred U.S. money from going to the fund, contending that work in China supported a Chinese family planning policy of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. UNFPA has vehemently denied that it does.

Organizations that had pressed Obama to make the abortion-ban change were jubilant.

Anti-abortion groups criticized the Obama move. "President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Obama: The Country's Greatest Gun Salesman

In a Deseret News story out of Salt Lake City, Utah by Lee Benson we learn that gun dealers out west are experiencing a booming gun business since November.

It comes because people are afraid Obama may do one of his famous executive orders -- this time banning gun sales. So people are buying guns and ammunition not only for their own protection, but as a hedge on the liberal in the White House.

Guns are a protected right, but this clever new president may find a way to circumvent the Constitution about bearing arms, defining what constitute a legal gun or limiting gun sales. Anyway, Obama turns out to be a blessing in disguise for the gun sellers. At least temporarily. Read the story

Washington -- A Strange World of Cliche

By Don White
I have written about an AP article describing Hillary Clinton’s appearance before a congressional hearing. The more I looked at the result, the more this became an article full of clichés – mine, Hillary Clinton’s and the AP writer’s -- and common phrases, which I have highlighted in red for your edification.

I hope the color isn’t distracting from the message. It’s about Clinton describing what she intends to do to save the world. While re-reading I discovered the article was full of those nasty clichés and one-liners and the commonly-used and smart-sounding phrases of a nominee trying to impress a dour and witless Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

After proofreading, I found Hillary wasn’t the only offender. I had also cracked off a few blunderous clichés that, if I were writing merely to assail the Democrats, I would have removed. I leave them for emphasis – to say everyone thinks and talks in thee crazy little sayings, so why not me? Perhaps everyone except Abraham Lincoln and …Barak Obama?

Can we take a leap of faith and buy into Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ability to bring positive results with her “smart power” strategy in the Middle East? If so, she may accomplish with absolutely no foreign policy field experience where distinguished and experienced leaders have failed miserably.

We can only hope that she is an anomaly and possesses the ability to quickly master what must be done in a terribly difficult assignment, given the parameters which America’s new president will thrust upon her.

Quick study or not, the many difficult Middle-East imbroglios Clinton will encounter seem all the more insoluble as the years fly by. We must hope she is not only well advised and “smart” as she goes about her work, but resilient. Her marathon campaign for the presidency proved she is tough. But Barak Obama outsmarted her at every turn, but at State it will be her ability to work out difficult outflanking maneuvers together with other Western countries to: contain Iran’s nuclear abilities; bring peace to Israel; destroy the Hamas; keep the oil flowing this year from a recalcitrant Russia; tame Vladimir Putin of his revanchist tendencies; unsnarl the Israeli-Palestinian mess; untangle the constant warring, mistrust, and enmity between two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan; stop terrorism; and clear away some of the political clutter left by both Bush and husband Bill.

Something bothering me is her use of generalities, when massive problems require specifics. What exactly does she mean by smart power strategy, or is it another term like “Obama change about which we’re not supposed to discover fully the meaning until it happens?” Isn’t advertising lingo, smart power conduct, precisely what all her predecessors intended?

It is intentionally broad – just like most of the “change” initiatives Obama promises -- leaving a clever Obama wiggle room to claim some political capitol without sharing in the failures that surely must come during Hillary’s service. Again, exactly what is meant by smart power strategy? When does America bomb, when does it negotiate?
Turns out, Bush had some of that right in his refusal to help Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bomb Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant.
The term “smart power strategy” is so broad that it could have been used any time in the last 70 years; so, basically, while it sounds good it means nothing.

One must hope Clinton is a quick study and that she will leap barriers former secretaries of state have been unable to master, especially considering that they had experience when she trots to the starting gate as an untested filly.

She offers no specific or new peace proposals, it’s OJT for both of them, but speaks confidently of President-elect Barack Obama's intentions to “renew” American leadership in the world and to strengthen U.S. diplomacy. One must wonder how Obama can lead differently without giving in to every proposal that would delimit Israel and America and make our country look weaker rather than stronger?

In view of Hillary’s desire to appear the new expert on the block, she comes off without anything new to add. Can you read into the following comment a ridiculous feeling that she has about how tough the job will be because Bill didn’t accomplish the task, but that she just has nothing except will power to offer?

"As intractable as the Middle East's problems may seem and many presidents, including my husband, have spent years trying to help work out a resolution, we cannot give up on peace," she told her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The President-elect and I understand and are deeply sympathetic to Israel's desire to defend itself under the current conditions, and to be free of shelling by Hamas rockets."

"However, we have also been reminded of the tragic humanitarian costs of conflict in the Middle East, and pained by the suffering of Palestinian and Israeli civilians," she said. "This must only increase our determination to seek a just and lasting peace agreement that brings real security to Israel; normal and positive relations with its neighbors; and independence, economic progress, and security to the Palestinians in their own state."

The panel's ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, praised Clinton, calling her "the epitome of a big leaguer" who is fully qualified for the job and whose presence at the State Department could open new opportunities for American diplomacy, including the possibility of improving the United States' image in the world.

But Lugar also raised questions about the issue of former President Bill Clinton's fundraising work and its relation to her wife's new post. Lugar said that the only way for Clinton to avoid a potential conflict of interest due to her husband's charity is to forswear any new foreign contributions. The Indiana senator said the situation poses a "unique complication" that requires "great care and transparency."
"The Clinton Foundation exists as a temptation for any foreign entity or government that believes it could curry favor through a donation," he said. "It also sets up potential perception problems with any action taken by the secretary of state in relation to foreign givers or their countries."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the new chairman of the committee, pressed Clinton on whether Obama sees a nuclear-armed Iran as unacceptable at any cost, or merely undesirable.

Clinton responded: "The president-elect has said repeatedly it is unacceptable. It is going to be United States policy to pursue diplomacy — with all of its (tools) — to do everything we can to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state. As I also said, no option is off the table."

She said the new administration would pursue a broader approach to the problem of Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What does that mean?

"We must also actively pursue a strategy of smart power in the Middle East that addresses the security needs of Israel and the legitimate political and economic aspirations of the Palestinians; that effectively challenges Iran to end its nuclear weapons program and sponsorship of terror, and persuades both Iran and Syria to abandon their dangerous behavior and become constructive regional actors; that strengthens our relationships with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, other Arab states, with Turkey, and with our partners in the Gulf to involve them in securing a lasting peace in the region. "

Clinton also promised to push for stronger U.S. alliances around the globe.

"America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own," Clinton said, "and the world cannot solve them without America."
She credited Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with stimulating debate about the role of diplomacy and other civilian institutions' role in fighting the global war on terror, endorsing his call for providing the State Department with more resources and a bigger budget.
She assured the committee that if confirmed, the State Department "will be firing on all cylinders" — applying pressure when needed and looking for opportunities to advancing U.S. interests.

"Today's security threats cannot be addressed in isolation," Clinton said. "Smart power requires reaching out to both friends and adversaries” – oh, now I get it. Like entering into discussions with terrorist-friendly Iran and Cuba? – “to bolster old alliances and to forge new ones. That means strengthening the alliances that have stood the test of time — especially with our NATO partners and our allies in Asia."

This is like a political talk, a lot of clichés or buzzwords Clinton did not use like “issues and challenges, faith-based, going forward, perfect storm, at the end of the day, proactive, input, prioritize, buzz, time will tell, bottom line, declined comment, we're not inviting people to tea parties here, we're asking questions... they didn't 'decline comment, they would not comment, closure, double talk, near misses, and double entendres.

There were more clichés in the AP article than in Clinton’s remarks. I’ll color them red for you:
The AP said Clinton spoke in a clear, unhurried voice and looked at ease as she read a long introductory statement. She sat alone at a small, black-draped desk, with daughter Chelsea and a retinue of advisers behind her. Her husband was not present. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the former president was watching the hearing elsewhere with his wife's mother.

"President Clinton wanted to make sure the attention was focused on Sen. Clinton," Vietor said. "They will be together as a family later today."

The Senate hearing room was packed with ambassadors, current and former diplomats, supporters and aides sitting cheek by jowl. Dozens of photographers ringed Clinton as she spoke.

Clinton appeared set to sail smoothly, aptly clothed in a world of cliché, toward confirmation, despite concerns among some lawmakers that the global fundraising of her husband could pose ethical conflicts for her as secretary of state.

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What If We Wake Up Some Morning And Find Out All Our Savings Are Gone?

Bailout Bombshell!

Just days ago, the Obama administration announced plans to spend another $775 billion to $1 trillion on bailing out the troubled U.S. economy.
According to a study conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle, that brings the total bailout package up to $8.5 trillion (including the $700 billion Wall Street bailout... $600 billion to Fannie and Freddie... $168 billion in stimulus checks... the list goes on).
To put this into perspective, that's more than this country spent on the New Deal ($500 billion)...
More than we spent on the invasion of Iraq ($597 billion)...
More than the entire lifetime budget of NASA ($851 billion)...
In fact, it's more than all of these combined... and that includes throwing in the $256 billion we spent on the S&L bailouts of the 1980s... the $217 billion we spent on the Louisiana Purchase... and the $454 billion we spent on the Korean War!
And while this unprecedented ocean of artificial liquidity will surely lessen the effects of the recession... the unintended consequences could finish off the savings of millions of Americans... and they're just days away.

We're talking about something called the "Bailout Bombshell." When this ticking time bomb explodes over the economy during the first quarter of 2009, it could destroy what wealth you have left.

For reasons that will become clear in a moment, almost no one will escape the next unexpected wave of the crisis.

Will Hepburn, president of Hepburn Capital Management in Prescott, AZ, assesses it this way: "Everyone is going to lose something. The winners will be those who end up losing the least."
Gary Hager, president of Integrated Wealth Management, calls this threat the "8,000-pound gorilla in the room." "We're sitting in the room with the coffee cups vibrating."
CNN Money reports that the coming shock is "right around the corner... even if actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury succeed at stabilizing the global financial system, and an economic recovery takes hold."

Indeed, the "Bailout Bombshell," as some experts are calling the coming catastrophe, could cause more damage to U.S. portfolios than anything the crisis has dished out yet!
In this report, America's leading bear-market analyst will reveal the details of this brewing development.
More importantly, he'll reveal an exact game plan for protecting your family - and even doubling your money - when the bombshell explodes just weeks from now. And it's yours, free...
A bit of background...

The Global "Rush to Safety"... Headed for Disaster

When the financial crisis exploded early last year, investors worldwide began rushing headlong for the exits. EVERYONE wanted to exchange their stocks, funds and commodities (including gold!) for cold, hard cash.
And it wasn't just individual investors. Hedge funds, hit by redemption demands from investors, were forced to liquidate their positions in exchange for cash (to the tune of $400 billion).
In a single 30-day span, investors yanked $127 billion from U.S. stock and bond mutual funds, seeking the "safety of Treasuries and cash," according to the Investment Company Institute.
But the rush to cash didn't stop there. Even with yields sinking below the S&P 500, the demand for Treasuries soared... all helping to drive the greenback up 21% in just five months.
All this has created what could be the biggest bubble in the financial world today... the bubble in the U.S. dollar! And now, that bubble is strained to the breaking point... even as investors the world over huddle in cash. It's a disaster just waiting to happen... waiting for that "tipping point" event to set off the fireworks.
Consider...

Governors Are Like Pigs At the Watering Trough

Pigs at the Trough
By Cal Thomas

Like pigs waiting in line to get their snouts in the feeding trough, come many of the nation's governors -- on the heels of the mayors -- asking Washington for bailout money.
Democratic governors from overspending states like New York , Wisconsin , New Jersey , Massachusetts and Ohio are among those seeking financial deliverance. The governors want Washington to pony up $1 trillion for their absolutely-essential-non-negotiable-if-we-don't-get-the-money-people-will-starve programs.
New York Governor David Paterson claims that, because tax revenues have plunged, 43 states now have budget deficits totaling around $100 billion. No, those states have deficits because when times were good and the money was rolling in they thought they could get away with endless new programs, while putting little or no money aside for the inevitable rainy day. Neither did they consider which programs were necessary and which ones were just politically beneficial. Or, maybe they did and they opted for politically beneficial, thus creating their problem, and ours.
Notice the sleight of hand about to be perpetrated on hardworking taxpayers. In the end, it is we who pay for the plans of politicians who are unable, or unwilling, to control themselves when it comes to other peoples' money. When Republicans cut taxes, Democrats scream about growing deficits. But Democrats never worry about the deficit when they spend more than what the government takes in. So it really isn't about the deficit at all. It is about how much of our hard-earned money the Democrats, mostly, will allow us to keep. When you understand this, you understand everything about politics and politicians.

To read the entire article click here.

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The latest from Blogger Buzz

Your blog, your data

December 10, 2008 — permalink

Today’s release features a brand new graduate from the Blogger in Draft testing ground: Import and Export for Blogger blogs.

The import/export feature opens up a whole new range of portability for your blogs, as well as allows for a few new options in the blog creation process. To get you started, we've rounded up a handful of ideas that can be done with importing and exporting:

• Merge two or more blogs into one. Have a few scattered blogs and want to get a fresh start? Now you can combine comments and posts from multiple blogs into a brand new blog.
  
  
• Move individual posts from blog to blog. Cross-publish your posts on multiple blogs, or transfer large batches of posts from one blog to another with a single click.
  
  
• Back up your blog to your own storage. It's never a bad idea to create backup copies of your own content, and now you can easily export an archival copy of your blog to your hard drive with a simple tool.
  
  
• Move your blog somewhere else. Our standard Atom XML export format will open up new blogging channels between providers, and let you take your content with you should you decide to move somewhere else. And of course, if you decide to come back to Blogger, importing your export file will get you back up and running in seconds.
  
  

You can access Import and Export from the Blog Tools section on the Settings | Basic tab.

We have also added new importing options to the blog creation process:

For some more detailed info on all of the things you can do with Import and Export, please check out our accompanying help article.

A couple caveats

• Currently we only support importing Blogger blogs. We don't yet support importing from WordPress, Typepad, LiveJournal or any other blogging platforms.
  
  
• Before importing a blog for the first time, we recommend that you create a new, throwaway blog to import into so you get a sense for how the process works. Once you’re comfortable, import into your public blog.
  
  
• If you have enabled a content warning for your blog, then you will have to remove it before your blog can be exported.
  
  

— JJ from the Data Liberation Front

iLike: Add a soundtrack to your blog

December 5, 2008 — permalink

Sometimes we stumble across gadgets that are just too cool to keep to ourselves. And such is the case with the slick iLike gadget, which should be a real treat for all of you Blogger audiophiles out there.

iLike brings music to your blog by letting you embed and share playlists that you make yourself. Using their simple interface, you can organize and arrange your tunes, then seamlessly integrate them into your blog's sidebar.


To get started, head on over to the playlist editor and build up your list of tunes from the iLike database. When you are finished, simply click the orange 'Done!' button at the bottom of the page, and you will be taken to a preview of what your playlist will look like on Blogger.

If everything looks good, click the orange 'Add to Blogger' button to go to Blogger's Import Page Element Page (if not already signed in you will be prompted to do so.) Then choose the blog which you want to have the playlist, and click 'Add Widget.'

The iLike gadget will now show up in your blog's page elements editor for you to arrange as you wish. Pretty cool, eh?

Keep in mind though that playlist editor feature of iLike is still technically in beta, so the usual caveats apply. However, if you are feeling extra entrepreneurial you could help out the iLike dev team by answering their quick survey.

— Brett

Reactions: easily engage your readers

November 6, 2008 — permalink

One of our goals at Blogger is to make it easy for authors to get feedback on their content; we believe that authors are driven in part by the reactions and criticisms offered by their readers, and that these interactions enhance the quality of blog content. In support of this effort, we're launching Reactions, simple annotations chosen by authors and given by readers.

With Reactions, readers can easily respond with one click, increasing feedback on posts.

Photo by Kevin Steele

To enable Reactions, log in to your dashboard, go to Layout > Page Elements and click the Edit link in the Blog Posts element to open the blog post configuration tool. Then, check the box next to Reactions, edit your reactions as a comma-separated list, and click Save.

Reactions works with Layouts templates, though if your template is heavily customized, you may have to reset your widget templates for Reactions to appear. If you have a Classic template you will need to switch to Layouts to use Reactions.

Of course, Reactions isn't the only way to gather great feedback from readers; we also recently launched the Embedded Comment Form. With both Reactions and better commenting, we aim to make it easier for you to get the response and adoration you deserve.

Try Reactions now! We hope your reaction is <3.

Updated, 2:30 PM: Corrected to say that Reactions is a Layouts-only feature.

— taj

Get more news from the Blogger team at the Blogger Buzz blog

The latest from Blogger in Draft

New feature: Geotagging

December 10, 2008 — permalink

We’ve just added geotagging to the new post editor on Blogger in draft. With geotagging, you can add a location to your each of your blog posts. Just as time stamps help readers find posts from a certain date or time, geotags give your readers a way to browse posts near a specific location.

Adding a geotag to your post is easy. Log into draft.blogger.com, open the post editor, and click the add location link below the main text field.

Use the location editor to search, drag, click and zoom on a map to choose and save a location. We’ll try to label the location you choose using our reverse geocoder, which looks up a name for a point on the map. You can also edit the location name by clicking the blue location name text below the search field.

When you publish your post, the geotag is displayed below your blog post as a link, which will open up Google Maps.

We also include each post’s location in your blog’s RSS and Atom feeds using GeoRSS, a standard for geotagging. This means that feed readers, map applications and search engines can associate your posts with their locations.

We’re still working on other ways to show geotag information on your blog. Brian, the Google engineer who created this feature in his 20% time, has written a gadget that will display your posts on a map. To add it to your blog, click “Add Your Own” on the “Add a Gadget” page and paste in this URL: http://blogmap-gadget.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/blogmap.xml

Geotagging has a few known issues. We'll be addressing them shortly, but here are some suggested workarounds for the near-term:

• The location editor is hidden behind the text field in the Edit HTML tab. Please switch to the Compose tab to view and edit locations.
  
  
• A geotag cannot be removed from a post once it has been saved. If you need to remove a geotag, please copy your post content into a new post and delete the geotagged post.
  
  
• Update 2:33pm: If you have a customized template and you don't see the "Location:" byline, you may need to reset your blog's widget template. Do this by going to the Layout > Edit HTML tab in your dashboard, and then clicking Revert widget templates to default below the main text field.
  
  
• Update 2:33 pm: Some users are having issues with the blog post map gadget. Brian is investigating.
  
  

What types of posts are you adding a location to? What other functionality would you like to see in this feature? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

— Brian

Learn more about upcoming features at Blogger in Draft

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posted by John Mahoney at Gizmodo - 31 seconds ago

On top of their Blu-ray-packing BD series, Sharp's E-series is new for CES. Sharp's big-panel LCD prowess lets them hit 65-inches for under 5 grand—a size (and price) we're not seeing a lot of. Price an...

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Mr. Burris Goes To Washington

I can't see how the Democratic-controlled Senate can say no to the Governor Blogojevich appointment, Roland Burris from Chicago. Eventually, after a show of disdain the two-faced Democrats will give in to political pressure.

Burris has stooped to the lowest level he can to pin down a Senate seat. He is now touting himself as "God Appointed," which bothers me and many others greatly. It is just the opposite, an apostle of evil, the errant governor, has appointed him and it saddens me to see so many blacks falling for this kind of blather.

Good governance has been thrown out the window and some blacks are so desparate that they now drag their religious feelings in the political mud of Chicago politics. What a shame!
Don White
************************************************************************
CHICAGO – Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris plans to have a high-stakes showdown on Capitol Hill this week with Democratic leaders who continue to say he won't be seated in Congress.
Dozens of black leaders and ministers organized by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (former Black Panther) gave Burris a rousing send-off Sunday at New Covenant Church on Chicago's South Side. Burris took the stage to a crescendo of drums, organ music and applause as hundreds of supporters cheered his appointment.
"We are hoping and praying that they will not be able to deny what the Lord has ordained," Burris said. "I am not hesitating. I am now the junior Senator from the state of Illinois. Some people may want to question that and that is their prerogative." Read on . . .

Obama Bought The White House

 

"Funny Money: How Barack Obama Bought the White House for $668 Million"

Barack Obama and his team smashed all fundraising records on the way to victory, raking in a staggering $668 million. But some of that all-important cash came from questionable — even make-believe — sources.
An intensive Newsmax investigation by investigative reporter Kenneth Timmerman — cited in a complaint by the Republican National Committee — uncovered numerous instances of questionable and even illegal donations.
The Newsmax special report uncovered evidence that that Obama campaign raked in millions by allowing donors to exceed legal limits. Millions more flowed into his coffers from unidentifiable sources, including prohibited financial support from foreign nationals.
And, astoundingly, nearly half of his total campaign contributions, over $300 million, came from donors under $200 — donor names Obama still won't release for public scrutiny.
Newsmax magazine's special report "Funny Money: How Barack Obama Bought the White House for $668 Million" offers an in-depth look at the questions surrounding the fundraising efforts that have forever changed American politics.