The Pajama Press

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

2009-12-07T05:56:00.001-06:00

This one is a little different... . Two Different Versions....

.... Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.
CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.
Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.
The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Paul Rahe: Can Obama save his presidency?

2009-12-01T10:25:00.001-06:00

Another great post from PowerLine

By Scott

Hillsdale College Professor Paul Rahe writes:

On the face of it, the question I pose is absurd -- not, of course, because Jacob Weisberg is right in supposing 2009 "Obama's Brilliant First Year." For the piece in which Weisberg argues this implausible case, he should be given the Steven Clemons Award, which is reserved each month for the author of a deadly serious post that is most likely to be misread as a parody.

No, as I tried to show in my post this past Sunday, Obama is in deep trouble, as is his party, and virtually everyone in our political class, apart from Weisberg, senses.

If the question I pose is absurd, it is because Barack Obama has three years left in which to rescue his Presidency, and a lot can and will happen in those three years.

None of it will help President Obama one iota, however, if he does not dramatically reposition himself. Tonight, in some measure, he may do so -- by the simple expedient of putting some distance between himself and those in his party (Joe Biden included) who think it possible for the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan with its tail between its legs and nonetheless prosper.

Next week, President Obama will have another, even more important opportunity to reposition himself. He will be once again in Copenhagen -- where some weeks back he made a colossal fool out of himself (and us) while seeking to persuade the International Olympic Committee to hold the next Olympics in Chicago.

This time, however, if our President wanted to, he could present himself as a paragon of principle and strength.

In his inaugural address, President Obama pledged to "roll back the specter of a warming planet" and "restore science to its rightful place," implying -- graceless as always -- that the administration of George W. Bush has suppressed scientific truth in the interests of ideology.

In Copenhagen, President Obama can show us that -- however unjust he may have been to his predecessor -- he is as good as his word, and then he can regain in some measure the trust that he has lost by his involvement in the lying, the wholesale bribery, and the other shenanigans associated with the "stimulus" scam and the proposed health care reform.

In the last few days, we have learned that what has long been suspected is all too true: that the work done by the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, which formed the basis for the four reports issued by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is a sham -- that the data were doctored, that the computer simulation was a fraud, and that systematic efforts were made by the most prominent climate scientists to corrupt the peer-review process and suppress legitimate criticism: all for the purpose of imposing a straitjacket on the world economy.

As radical climate alarmist George Monbiot has acknowledged on his blog, "Pretending that this isn't a real crisis isn't going to make it go away . . . I know that opaqueness and secrecy are the enemies of science. There is a word for the apparent repeated attempts to prevent disclosure revealed in these emails: unscientific . . . No one has been as badly let down by the revelations in these emails as those of us who have championed the science. We should be the first to demand that" climate research be "unimpeachable, not the last."

This is precisely what President Obama could say in Copenhagen -- that some of the most prominent climate scientists have betrayed their calling, that the global-warming hypothesis remains, in fact, unproven, and that the reports issued by the IPCC provide no basis for the making of public policy.

In this fashion -- mindful that a specter is "an apparition inspiring dread" and that one of the principal functions of science is to dispel illusions of this very sort -- he really could "roll back the specter of a warming planet" and "restore science to its rightful place."

In such a situation, it would be appropriate that President Obama recommend that there be further study, that the raw data collected and the computer code written be available for inspection by all, and that research funds be apportioned equally between those who assert and those who deny that we are threatened by anthropogenic global warming.

In short, he could rise above the fray, as presidents are supposed to do. And, at the same time, he could get out from under the economically destructive and politically suicidal cap-and-trade bill that Nancy Pelosi jammed through the House and that he endorsed.

He would infuriate the true believers that make up much of his party's base, to be sure. His science czar John Holdren -- a radical socialist who was an alarmist regarding global cooling back in the early 1970s before he became an alarmist regarding global warming -- might resign. Al Gore, who has made something like $100 million in the course of peddling junk science, would rise up in high dudgeon.

But the President of the United States would win the hearts of his countrymen. Climategate could be for Barack Obama what Sister Souljah was for William Jefferson Clinton.

Alternatively, of course, President Obama could hunker down, embrace "the specter of a warming planet," and disgrace himself by telling us what anyone who pays the slightest attention to developments knows to be untrue, as he has done so often in the health care debates. If he does so, however -- if he really is, as I suspect, a one-trick pony, an empty suit with a golden tongue -- he will only accelerate his precipitous decline and that of his party in the polls.

Paul Rahe: Is Obama a one-trick pony?

2009-11-30T06:41:00.001-06:00

(From PowerLine – 2009/11/29)

By Scott

Hillsdale College Professor Paul Rahe writes:

I am not a great admirer of Peggy Noonan as a journalist. Most of the time, she aims at capturing a mood, and I generally find the lack of analysis and the sentimentalism so visible in her work offputting. There are, however, moments when she hits the ball out of the park, and she did so just a few days ago in The Wall Street Journal.

Noonan began by drawing attention to two articles published by establishment Democrats. In the first of these, which appeared on Politico, veteran commentator Elizabeth Drew reported,

While [Barack Obama] was abroad, there was a palpable sense at home of something gone wrong. A critical mass of influential people who once held big hopes for his presidency began to wonder whether they had misjudged the man. Most significant, these doubters now find themselves with a new reluctance to defend Obama at a phase of his presidency when he needs defenders more urgently than ever.

This is the price Obama has paid with his complicity and most likely his active participation, in the shabbiest episode of his presidency: The firing by leaks of White House counsel Gregory Craig, a well-respected Washington veteran and influential early supporter of Obama.

The people who are most aghast by the handling of the Craig departure can't be dismissed by the White House as Republican partisans, or still-embittered Hillary Clinton supporters. They are not naïve activists who don't understand that the exercise of power can be a rough business and that trade-offs and personal disappointments are inevitable. Instead, they are people, either in politics or close observers, who once held an unromantically high opinion of Obama. They were important to his rise, and are likely more important to the success or failure of his presidency than Obama or his distressingly insular and small-minded West Wing team appreciate.

The Craig embarrassment gives these people a new reason - not the first or only reason - to conclude that he wasn't the person of integrity and even classiness they had thought, and, more fundamentally, that his ability to move people and actually lead a fractured and troubled country (the reason many preferred him over Hillary Clinton) is not what had been promised in the campaign.

This may seem like a lot to hang on a Washington personnel move. After all, intramural back-stabbing or making people fall guys when things go wrong (think Bill Clinton's Defense Secretary Les Aspin after the disaster in Somalia) are not new to Washingtonians.

But Craig's ouster did not occur in a vacuum. It served as a focal point to concerns that have been building for months that Obama wasn't pressing for all that might be possible within the existing political constraints (all that one could ask of a president); that his presidential voice hadn't fulfilled the hopes raised by his campaign voice (which had also taken him a while to find); that he hadn't created a movement, as he had raised expectations that he would; that would be there to back him up and help him fulfill his promises.

Drew's contention was not that Craig should have been kept. She acknowledged that, if Obama was unhappy with his performance, he should have been dropped. Her point was that it should not have been done in a shabby fashion by a series of leaks orchestrated by Obama's enforcer Rahm Emanuel. As an Obama loyalist, Craig deserved a dignified departure.

Symptomatic of her larger worries is the following:

The incident underscored worries that several had held about the Obama White House for some time: that it was too tightly controlled and narrowly focused by the Chicago crowd; that it seemed from the outset to need an older, wiser head, someone with a bit more detachment.

The current crowd displays a certain impulsiveness and vindictiveness that do it no good - as in the silly war-let on Fox News that it is now trying to back out of. Even if Craig was making a hash of his job - and there's no independent evidence of this - it just wasn't smart to treat someone widely held in such high respect in this manner; once again, the impulsiveness backfired.

The replacing of Craig with Washington attorney Robert Bauer, Obama's own attorney for years as well as counsel for the Democratic National Committee and the Obama campaign, further narrowed the White House circle just when it needed broadening, lowered the stature of the office, and choosing the president's personal attorney for a position that calls for dispassionate judgment is hazardous. (Does anyone remember Alberto Gonzalez?)

The Obamas themselves hang tight with a small Chicago crowd. Yes, he talks to others, and yes, a president's time is very limited, but the Obamas themselves seem as closed-off and unto themselves as does his inner White House circle. (Is this a coincidence? What is all this wariness about?) When the Obamas go to someone's house for dinner, almost invariably it's to that of Valerie Jarrett, the old friend from Chicago who serves as a counselor and whom they see all day. Old Chicago friends fly in for weekends frequently.

To this Noonan responded:

As I read Ms. Drew's piece, I was reminded of something I began noticing a few months ago in bipartisan crowds. I would ask Democrats how they thought the president was doing. In the past they would extol, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, his virtues. Increasingly, they would preface their answer with, "Well, I was for Hillary."

This in turn reminded me of a surprising thing I observe among loyal Democrats in informal settings and conversations: No one loves Barack Obama. Half the American people say they support him, and Democrats are still with him. But there were Bill Clinton supporters who really loved him. George W. Bush had people who loved him. A lot of people loved Jack Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. But no one seems to love Mr. Obama now; they're not dazzled and head over heels. That's gone away. He himself seems a fairly chilly customer; perhaps in turn he inspires chilly support. But presidents need that rock--bottom 20 percent who, no matter what's happening--war, unemployment--adore their guy, have complete faith him, and insist that you love him, too.

There is another sign -- which Noonan duly noted -- that the honeymoon is over. Leslie Gelb, a pillar of the Democratic foreign policy establishment, posted a piece entitled "Amateur Hour at the White House" on The Daily Beast, criticizing the Obama administration not only for its "inexcusably clumsy review of Afghan policy and the fumbling of Mideast negotiations" but also for the President's embarrassing Asian tour.

"Most presidents," he rightly observed, "wouldn't even commit to trips abroad without knowing that key deals would be finally agreed on and announced during the visit itself. The prospective visit is the power jackhammer to nail down the deals. Just take a gander at trips planned for Richard Nixon by Henry Kissinger or for George H. W. Bush by James Baker." Obama would have done better to take a vacation in Hawaii than to have undertaken a trip from which he would return empty-handed.

Matters were made worse on the scene. It was not good optics for Obama to bow to Japan's emperor. He seems to do this stuff spontaneously and inexplicably, as with his bow to the Saudi King some months ago. And it was truly unfortunate that Obama and his aides didn't flatly insist that he be allowed to address the Chinese people directly on television and meet with non-stacked Chinese groups--as has been the case during previous presidential visits. Beijing's leaders obviously didn't feel confident enough of their own standing at home to give the popular Mr. Obama such access. But he and his team should have made it a precondition of the visit. Its absence left an unhappy taste.

In his view, "the message for Mr. Obama should be clear: He should stare hard at the skills of his foreign-policy team and, more so, at his own dominant role in decision-making. Something is awry somewhere, and he's got to fix it."

After taking all of this in, Noonan observes,

Mr Obama is in a hard place. Health care hangs over him, and if he is lucky he will lose a close vote in the Senate. The common wisdom that he can't afford to lose is exactly wrong--he can't afford to win with such a poor piece of legislation. He needs to get the issue behind him, vow to fight another day, and move on. Afghanistan hangs over him, threatening the unity of his own Democratic congressional base. There is the growing perception of incompetence, of the inability to run the machine of government. This, with Americans, is worse than Obama's rebranding as a leader who governs from the left. Americans demands baseline competence. If he comes to be seen as Jimmy Carter was, that the job was bigger than the man, that will be the end.

Which gets us back to the bow.

In a presidency, a picture or photograph becomes iconic only when it seems to express something people already think. When Gerald Ford was spoofed for being physically clumsy, it took off. The picture of Ford losing his footing and tumbling as he came down the steps of Air Force One became a symbol. There was a reason, and it wasn't that he was physically clumsy. He was not only coordinated but graceful. He'd been a football star at the University of Michigan and was offered contracts by the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.

But the picture took off because it expressed the growing public view that Ford's policies were bumbling and stumbling. The picture was iconic of a growing political perception.

The Obama bowing pictures are becoming iconic, and they would not be if they weren't playing off a growing perception. If the pictures had been accompanied by headlines from Asia saying "Tough Talks Yield Big Progress" or "Obama Shows Muscle in China," the bowing pictures might be understood this way: "He Stoops to Conquer: Canny Obama shows elaborate deference while he subtly, toughly, quietly advances his nation's interests."

But that's not how the pictures were received or will be remembered.

To Noonan's remarks -- apt, I think, in every respect -- I will add but one observation. The Democrats are getting what they asked for.

In 2004, they tried a trick. If we nominate a man who won the Purple Heart in Vietnam, they thought, we will win. Never mind that John Kerry disgraced himself in the aftermath of his service in Vietnam, making unjust charges against his brothers-in-arms and resolutely thereafter refusing to apologize to those whom he had slandered. Never mind that he had no executive experience. Never mind that, as a US Senator, he was -- to say the least -- undistinguished. They wanted to win; and they gave not a thought to what sort of President he might be.

In 2008, the Democrats did the same thing. They had on their hands an inexperienced, recently minted US Senator from Illinois who was -- as Joe Biden put it in a candid remark that typifies his propensity for speaking his mind without first thinking about the consequences -- "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Never mind, they thought, Obama's long-standing connections with William Ayers, the unrepentant mastermind of a domestic terrorist bombing campaign in the 1970s. Never mind Obama's close association with the racist demagogue Jeremiah Wright. Never mind his lack of executive experience, his unfamiliarity with the private sector, and his ignorance of the ways of Washington. With the help of the pliable press, he could be sold -- and Americans would congratulate themselves on their lack of racial prejudice if they voted for him.

Now comes the reckoning. For Barack Obama seems to be a one-trick pony. He is very good at delivering a speech if he has a teleprompter at hand, and the first and even the second time that you hear him, you will be impressed. If you bother later to read and re-read the speech you will perceive its emptiness. But few will do that, and by the time that they do, it will be too late.

That is one problem. The other is that Obama's one trick cannot often be played. As we have seen over the last few months, as he has tried to play this trick over and over and over again, the more we see of him, the less we are impressed. Franklin Delano Roosevelt never held his fireside chats more than three times a year. How many times has Obama demanded airtime from the networks in the last ten months? I shudder to think.

There is a third problem. Once in office, presidents are judged more by what they do than by what they say and how well they say it, and Barack Obama is in the process of doing a great deal of harm. His "stimulus" bill was a transparent act of grand larceny, stealing from the future in order to enrich Democratic Party constituencies now. His unlawful handling of GM and Chrysler defrauded the bondholders, rewarded the intransigents in the UAW who were largely responsible for the auto-makers' decline, and made it harder for American corporations to borrow money.

And every version of the health care reform that he backs threatens to bankrupt the country and force us to raise taxes on a grand scale. If investors remain on the sidelines, if employers are reluctant to hire, and if, in consequence, the economic recover is anemic and virtually jobless, it is to a considerable extent Obama's fault.

The simple fact that he has done nothing to rein in a patronage-mad Democratic congress is a sign of his fecklessness as President. As David Ignatius points out in today's Washington Post, in 2010, there is going to be hell to pay -- especially in Democratic strongholds with especially high unemployment, such as Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island, and California.

There is in this a lesson. In 2012, the Republicans should nominate for the presidency an individual with executive experience -- who has negotiated with legislators, and who has had to make decisions and take responsibility for the consequences. Among those available, they should choose a principled defender of constitutional government and a skilled manager who recognizes the ultimate dependence of the public sector on growth in the private sector of the economy and who thinks of himself in the international arena as the guardian of American interests.

Option B

2009-11-02T11:37:00.003-06:00

Video compilation supporting Augustine Commission Report Option 4B from Direct Launcher on Vimeo.

The thrill is gone for Obama and the media

2009-08-24T11:31:00.001-05:00

By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
August 24, 2009

There’s nothing like a summer vacation to rekindle a romance. So maybe a week on Martha’s Vineyard can bring back some of the magic between the Obama administration and the media.

Before White House press secretary Robert Gibbs left town, he tried to clarify President Barack Obama’s comment that “everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up.” Gibbs explained to reporters that what the president meant was that they were a bunch of bed wetters who made too much out of the implosion of the White House health care strategy.

Gibbs has grown more sardonic and patronizing as the summer wears on and Obama’s poll numbers wilt.

The press secretary has lectured reporters on the nature of their jobs — apparently to defend the administration against “misinformation” rather than asking impertinent questions like “How will you pay for it?”

When asked recently about the administration’s endless evasions on the public option, Gibbs instead opted to define a monopoly.
“If you had one place to eat lunch before you came to the briefing, do you think it would be cheap?” Gibbs demanded of CNN’s Ed Henry.

Henry should have asked Gibbs to define monopsony: a market in which one buyer is so large that it can control suppliers and ruin competitors. Henry could then explain he’d rather pay too much for the sandwich he wanted than have to eat at a government chow line opened across the street to encourage “competition.”

Gibbs is so crabby because, incredibly, the administration blames the media for the president’s problems.

It tried blaming Republicans, but the GOP is too far out of power. When the leader of the free world is complaining about a posting on the former governor of Alaska’s Facebook page, he’s got problems.

Team Obama tried blaming special interests, but that was a bust too. The president’s deal with the pharmaceutical industry gets him $150 million worth of ads to boost his plan, whatever it is.

The same people who bombard us with ads for products that promise to prevent hardened arteries or encourage hardening elsewhere will soon be selling you Obamacare.

“If you experience doubts about the plan lasting more than four hours, seek immediate help from Organizing for America.”

Democrats tried blaming the “mobs” of “un-American” protesters and “evil mongers” who were giving raspberries to members of Congress at town halls.

That flopped too, leaving the administration to blame the messenger.

And one can understand why Gibbs would be a bit shocked by the slightly less accommodating tone of the media.

Reporters who traveled with the Obama campaign tell horror stories about the organization — dishonesty, rudeness and abysmal access. But those reporters still served up the glowing coverage.

Obama was the hottest news story of their generation. Rather than covering the long-shot freshman senator who would be crushed in February, Obama campaign reporters experienced the reflected glory of being along for a historic journey. There was plenty of motivation to keep that journey going.

Conversely, Obama making a hash out of health care provides plenty of good copy for the White House press corps. And because Obama fatigue has set in with the reading and viewing public, skeptical stories match the national mood.

Some are still in the tank for Obama. But many liberal reporters think the president is blowing the Left’s big chance.

In talking about how everything got so “wee-weed up,” Obama observed that in August of 2008 the media predicted doom because John McCain began to close the gap after picking Sarah Palin.

In trying to explain that the president was talking about media incontinence, Gibbs referred to August and September of 2007, when most predicted Hillary Clinton would roll to victory in Iowa.

So not only are Obama and his people still reliving the campaign, they’re drawing the wrong lessons from it.

At this point in 2007, Obama was coming up in the polls, making Iowa a three-way race with Clinton and John Edwards. Now, the president’s numbers are sinking.

And if the trend line in the late summer of 2008 had held, Obama would have lost. It took a tsunami of bad economic news and the McCain campaign’s mishandling of it to put Obama back on top.

But there is no opponent here other than public opinion and no finish line other than the end of his term.

With only the steady breeze of favorable coverage of a typical Democratic president instead of the gale of positive press that once helped drive Obama to victory, it’s going to be a very long journey.

Chris Stirewalt, The Examiner’s political editor, can be contacted at cstirewalt@washington examiner.com. His column appears on Monday and Thursday, and his blog posts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com.

Dems Take Stand Against Mob Rule

2009-08-06T06:49:00.001-05:00

By John (...from PowerLine)

Earlier today, the Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee sent out one of the most bizarre emails I've ever seen. The email was titled "5 facts about the anti-reform mobs." The "anti-reform mobs" are Americans who are invited to town halls by Congressmen and have the temerity to show up--not only that, but to oppose Obamacare!

Here are the "five facts:"

1. These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies who fear that health insurance reform could help Americans, but hurt their bottom line. A group run by the same folks who made the "Swiftboat" ads against John Kerry is compiling a list of congressional events in August to disrupt. An insurance company coalition has stationed employees in 30 states to track where local lawmakers hold town-hall meetings.
2. People are scared because they are being fed frightening lies. These crowds are being riled up by anti-reform lies being spread by industry front groups that invent smears to tarnish the President's plan and scare voters. But as the President has repeatedly said, health insurance reform will create more health care choices for the American people, not reduce them. If you like your insurance or your doctor, you can keep them, and there is no "government takeover" in any part of any plan supported by the President or Congress.

3. Their actions are getting more extreme. Texas protesters brought signs displaying a tombstone for Rep. Lloyd Doggett and using the "SS" symbol to compare President Obama's policies to Nazism. Maryland Rep. Frank Kratovil was hanged in effigy outside his district office. Rep. Tim Bishop of New York had to be escorted to his car by police after an angry few disrupted his town hall meeting -- and more examples like this come in every day. And they have gone beyond just trying to derail the President's health insurance reform plans, they are trying to "break" the President himself and ruin his Presidency.

4. Their goal is to disrupt and shut down legitimate conversation. Protesters have routinely shouted down representatives trying to engage in constructive dialogue with voters, and done everything they can to intimidate and silence regular people who just want more information. One attack group has even published a manual instructing protesters to "stand up and shout" and try to "rattle" lawmakers to prevent them from talking peacefully with their constituents.

5. Republican leadership is irresponsibly cheering on the thuggish crowds. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner issued a statement applauding and promoting a video of the disruptions and looking forward to "a long, hot August for Democrats in Congress."

You could paraphrase the Democrats' complaints, "democracy's a bitch!" They are in a panic, obviously, because most Americans don't believe the falsehoods the Democrats have used to promote their health care takeover--like Obama's absurd claim that "If you like your insurance or your doctor, you can keep them." That is not what any version of the Democrats' plan says. The Democrats need to learn that repeating a lie over and over won't always snow a majority of voters.

What scares the Democrats is poll data showing that a plurality of voters oppose their proposed health care takeover because they believe it will make their own health care worse and drive up the federal deficit. What a country! We are evidently, according to the Democrats, a nation of agents provocateur.

Obama - "Behind the Mask"

2009-06-30T06:11:00.001-05:00

June 15, 2009 - Subject: Dr. Charles Krauthammer

Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment.

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a ‘cool customer’ who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s ‘behind the mask.’ Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect
place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can’t be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to ‘level the playing field’ with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of
society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program,
because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type, single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid.

5. He’s surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But, they’re going to try and run the auto, financial, banking, and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama’s not a socialist; rather, he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does; not what he says.

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate and coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made
errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

7. He’s now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not ‘come due’ until after he’s reelected in 2012. He’d like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We’re ‘pining’ for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong
national defense, and states’ rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We’re spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyper-inflation, depression, or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media are giving Obama, Reid, and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But, eventually, the bill will come due, and people will realize that the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These
were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions, and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4, above.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed. Fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of ‘change’ caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it’s under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it’s between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will be about the economy.

Obama's Ultimate Agenda

2009-06-29T06:52:00.001-05:00

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, April 3, 2009

Five minutes of explanation to James Madison, and he'll have a pretty good idea what a motorcar is (basically a steamboat on wheels; the internal combustion engine might take a few minutes more). Then try to explain to Madison how the Constitution he fathered allows the president to unilaterally guarantee the repair or replacement of every component of millions of such contraptions sold in the several states, and you will leave him slack-jawed.

In fact, we are now so deep into government intervention that constitutional objections are summarily swept aside. The last Treasury secretary brought the nine largest banks into his office and informed them that henceforth he was their partner. His successor is seeking the power to seize any financial institution at his own discretion.

Despite these astonishments, I remain more amused than alarmed. First, the notion of presidential car warranties strikes me as simply too bizarre, too comical, to mark the beginning of Yankee Peronism.

Second, there is every political incentive to make these interventions in the banks and autos temporary and circumscribed. For President Obama, autos and banks are sideshows. Enormous sideshows, to be sure, but had the financial meltdown and the looming auto bankruptcies not been handed to him, he would hardly have gone seeking to be the nation's credit and car czar.

Obama has far different ambitions. His goal is to rewrite the American social compact, to recast the relationship between government and citizen. He wants government to narrow the nation's income and anxiety gaps. Soak the rich for reasons of revenue and justice. Nationalize health care and federalize education to grant all citizens of all classes the freedom from anxiety about health care and college that the rich enjoy. And fund this vast new social safety net through the cash cow of a disguised carbon tax.

Obama is a leveler. He has come to narrow the divide between rich and poor. For him the ultimate social value is fairness. Imposing it upon the American social order is his mission.

Fairness through leveling is the essence of Obamaism. (Asked by Charlie Gibson during a campaign debate about his support for raising capital gains taxes -- even if they caused a net revenue loss to the government -- Obama stuck to the tax hike "for purposes of fairness.") The elements are highly progressive taxation, federalized health care and higher education, and revenue-producing energy controls. But first he must deal with the sideshows. They could sink the economy and poison his public support before he gets to enact his real agenda.

The big sideshows, of course, are the credit crisis, which Obama has contracted out to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and the collapse of the U.S. automakers, which Obama seems to have taken on for himself.

That was a tactical mistake. Better to have let the car companies go directly to Chapter 11 and have a judge mete out the bitter medicine to the workers and bondholders.

By sacking GM's CEO, packing the new board, and giving direction as to which brands to drop and what kind of cars to make, Obama takes ownership of General Motors. He may soon come to regret it. He has now gotten himself so entangled in the car business that he is personally guaranteeing your muffler. (Upon reflection, a job best left to the congenitally unmuffled Joe Biden.)

Some find in this descent into large-scale industrial policy a whiff of 1930s-style fascist corporatism. I have my doubts. These interventions are rather targeted. They involve global financial institutions that even the Bush administration decided had to be nationalized and auto companies that themselves came begging to the government for money.

Bizarre and constitutionally suspect as these interventions may be, the transformation of the American system will come from elsewhere. The credit crisis will pass and the auto overcapacity will sort itself out one way or the other. The reordering of the American system will come not from these temporary interventions, into which Obama has reluctantly waded. It will come from Obama's real agenda: his holy trinity of health care, education and energy. Out of these will come a radical extension of the welfare state; social and economic leveling in the name of fairness; and a massive increase in the size, scope and reach of government.

If Obama has his way, the change that is coming is a new America: "fair," leveled and social democratic. Obama didn't get elected to warranty your muffler. He's here to warranty your life.

What Andy Rooney DIDN’T say!

2009-06-28T11:22:00.001-05:00

The “Andy Rooney’s Political Views” found its way to my inbox again this morning. I thought I’d seen it before, and also thought I remembered it was a hoax. So I checked Snopes, and yup, Andy didn’t say these things. In fact, he not only denies them, he thinks they’re racist, and hateful.

I tend to not agree with Mr. Rooney – assuming there’s validity in the numbers, I believe there’s truth in these statements. I took a few lines out – some of them don’t belong.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING, MARTHA BURKE ?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich; I don't pity the poor. I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say 'NO!'

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of 'Political Correctness.' I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa ; so how can they be 'African-Americans'? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.
And if you don't like my point of view, tough ...

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.

Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Why don't we just tell the 14% to BE QUIET!!!

This Guy Murdered 2,974 People

2009-04-20T11:36:00.001-05:00

MSNBC Headline - "CIA waterboarded 9/11 plotter 183 times"

The New York Times reported in 2007 that Mr. Mohammed had been barraged more than 100 times with harsh interrogation methods, causing C.I.A. officers to worry that they might have crossed legal limits and to halt his questioning.

The 2005 memo also says that the C.I.A. used waterboarding 183 times in March 2003 against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Aren't you glad we live in a country where it's O.K. to complain about the treatment this dude got at the hands of the CIA? This asshole admits, and is proud of, planning the 9/11 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people, yet the NYT is upset because we stuck his head underwater 183 times.

Let's put his head in the toilet and flush it once for every father who died in the attack. Lets flush it twice for every mom who was killed. Nope, we can't do that - it's "torture".

Beef Tacos - NutriSystem

2009-02-17T17:08:00.001-06:00

Dinner Time – 220 Calories

I just ordered more!

Scale (1-10) = 9

I’m giving it a “9” because they’re really good! I was all ready to shun the Tacos, but on a whim, I decided to have them tonight. I’m glad I did – and in fact, I immediately changed the “0” to “2” for my next delivery (shipping 2/19).

They are packaged so that the 3 round tacos do not get broken. You mix the dehydrated contents with ½ cup of water and after letting it sit for 2 minutes to soak-up, you nuke it for 90 seconds. Then I spread the mix onto the 3 shells and waited about 45 seconds. Crunchy and flavorful! And by waiting the 45 seconds, the shells softened just enough so as to not shatter when bitten. These guys really impressed me!

Hearty Minestrone Soup

2009-02-13T12:46:00.001-06:00

Lunch Time – 180 Calories

What makes it “hearty”?

Scale (1-10) = 6

It’s got some pasta, beans, peas, lentils and such, but I wouldn’t call it “hearty”. It’s ok, but it’s soup. It’s not on my favorites list.

NutriCinnamon Squares Cereal

2009-02-13T12:38:00.001-06:00

Breakfast Time – 120 Calories

I eat it dry!

Scale (1-10) = 8

Crunchy and flavorful, this little bag of what looks like Chex Mix with cinnamon flavor is really pretty good. I’m not a fan of no-fat milk, so I eat this dry. Definitely one to keep on the delivery list!

Hearty Beef Stew

2009-02-12T17:24:00.001-06:00

Dinner Time – 180Calories

I’m disappointed.

Scale (1-10) = 5

I had it with a piece of Pepperidge Farm’s Natural German Dark Wheat bread. It was very o.k.. It was thin, not hearty. And I looked at one of the pieces of “beef” when I stirred it before microwaving it. I wish I hadn’t. So far, the beef in the other entrées was much better.

Nacho Crisps

2009-02-12T15:23:00.001-06:00

Dessert Time – 100 Calories

I like ‘em!

Scale (1-10) = 9

I gave them a “9” only because for dessert, I like the “candy bars” better. But these are really good. They’re soy-based chips that really crunch, and they do have a strong cheesy flavor.

Chocolaty Nougat Bar with Peanuts & Caramel

2009-02-12T15:20:00.001-06:00

Dessert Time – 170 Calories

Forget this one!

Scale (1-10) = 1

Sawdust with grit. Your personal preference may differ, but I just zeroed-out this item for my next delivery. (I bumped up the Blueberry-Lemon bar instead!)

Wedged Potatoes with Sliced Beef Steak

2009-02-11T17:03:00.001-06:00

Dinner Time – 220Calories

Pretty Damn Good!

Dinner Entre scale (1-10) = 10

I had it with a piece of Pepperidge Farm’s Natural German Dark Wheat bread. It was very good. Hearty, solid, real c hunks of steak! A hint of tomato richness coupled with vegetables makes this a complete meal. I have add a few to my next order!

Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables

2009-02-11T12:11:00.001-06:00

Lunch Time – 150 Calories

Almost a stew!

Scale (1-10) = 8

Decent chunks of chicken with peas, carrots and noodles in a thick sauce. It’s very much like Chicken Pot Pie without the crust! Needs a bit of no-sodium Mrs. Dash.

Cranberry Orange Pastry

2009-02-11T08:19:00.001-06:00

Breakfast Time – 130 Calories

You have to be hungry.

Breakfast scale (1-10) = 5

It's o.k. - Maybe dunking it in coffee would improve it. If you're a big guy, this is 2 bites, maybe 3. But it's better than nothing, and it's not quite as dry as the scones!

Vegetable Beef Soup

2009-02-10T12:13:00.001-06:00

Lunch Time – 160 Calories

As good as Grandma’s!

Lunch scale (1-10) = 9

I just wish there was more than 7½ ounces. This is a really thick and rich soup – it’s almost a stew. There’s vegetables and beef that you can actually see, chew, and taste. Add a slice of German Dark bread (100 cal) and you’re almost in heaven!

WRONG! - Day 10 – “Has it been only 10 days?”

2009-02-10T07:30:00.001-06:00

(Updated 2/13/2009) - It was really day 16! – My head was not screwed on tight. Sorry Nutrisystem, I DO have all of the meal items I should have.

As of yesterday, I’ve lost 6½ pounds! (I’m weighing in only on Mondays) When I looked at the month-view, I realized that today is only my 10th day on Nutrisystem®.

What I wish I had known:

Check the box: The hype says you get 7 days of free food. I can’t find it. I’m on day 10. I didn’t eat any “extra” breakfasts, but I only have 20 left. I should have 25. I have 20 Lunches left. 28 + 7 = 35. The invoice says they packed 35 Lunches. 9 (no lunch today yet) + 20 = 29. Plus, last week I didn’t eat Thursday’s, so I should have 35-8=25. I’m 5 short. (see above)
Lesson – When the box arrives, match the contents to the packing slip.
Keep a journal. Make the decision, and adjust your mental attitude from the beginning, that this IS going to work for you. And as such, you want to shape the program to what you want. You CAN choose what food they send – even on the initial order. The problem is that you don’t know what’s good. For instance, “Pasta Parmesan With Broccoli” sounds great! I had it for my very first lunch. Some noodles in a yellow paste, with flecks of green. And it sucked – big time. And I have 3 more servings just waiting for me.
Some people must like it or they wouldn’t have it on the menu – but for me, it’s the first item that I removed from my upcoming order.
Lesson – Use the ability to customize your order!
Stock up on Splenda® A whole cup of Fat Free Cottage Cheese (so far Kroger brand is best) sprinkled with a spoonful of Splenda is only 160 calories.
Use the on-line tools! You can record everything you ingest to ensure you stay below your daily caloric goals.

Zesty Herb Snack Mix

2009-02-10T06:18:00.001-06:00

Dessert Time – 120 Calories

It’s NOT Chex Mix!

Dessert scale (1-10) = 8

Crunchy and flavorful, this little bag of what looks like Chex Mix actually tastes better than some of the bowls of crunch one finds around the holidays. This snack mix helps satisfy the cravings for both salt, and crunch! Definitely one to keep on the delivery list!

Blueberry Lemon Bar

2009-02-10T06:14:00.001-06:00

Dessert Time – 160 Calories

A blue explosion in your mouth!

Dessert scale (1-10) = 10

These are good – if you like blueberry & lemon! They are definitely a dessert item, and for me, they satisfy that craving for something sweet.

Pasta Fagioli

2009-02-09T17:10:00.001-06:00

Dinner Time – 260 Calories

Pretty Damn Good!

Dinner Entre scale (1-10) = 9

I had it with a piece of Pepperidge Farm’s Natural German Dark Wheat bread. It was very good. Hearty, solid, beefy tomato taste. I will definitely add it to my next order!

I’m Going to Lose 41 Pounds! – Guaranteed?

2009-01-30T13:08:00.001-06:00

A little over 1 year ago, we plunked down $325 and a few days later received a box of food… Well, at least

Nutrisystems called it food. My wife, for whom the “food” was intended held a differing opinion.

Ok, so we live in Texas. Everything that was capable of melting was melted. But other than that, the packaging was pretty good. The food wasn’t.

I have to admit, even though I hadn’t studied the “system”, I knew there was no way my wife would follow the regimen. So within days (2), we ate some of the better-tasting stuff, and gave the rest to St. Bernadette's.

Our problem is that I love to cook! It’s my hobby. I do the grocery shopping, and I do ALL the cooking! My better half, Lynne, cleans up behind me.

In the last 10 years, my love for cooking and my eating habits enabled me to balloon up to 225 lbs. Then this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas I added another 24 pounds. Way too much. And I felt like crap. Even though I got it down to 241 a couple of weeks into January, I knew I needed a real diet to seriously lose the weight.

I didn’t want to go to meetings, and didn’t want to try a plan where I had to weigh portions, etc.

How Obama Got Elected

2008-11-19T07:03:00.001-06:00

- From Power Line - 2008/11/19

Last night I embedded a video by John Ziegler that showed some Obama voters being interviewed about their knowledge of the issues in the campaign. The video is funny, but also instructive. It was prepared in connection with a Zogby poll and the web site How Obama Got Elected.

Here are some highlights of Zogby's poll of Obama voters:

* 57 percent thought the Republicans still control Congress. Note that this is worse than a random result, since there are only two possible answers.

* Only 12 percent could identify Obama as the candidate who said that his energy policies would cause the cost of electricity to skyrocket.

The only issues on which the Obama voters were well-informed (or thought they were, anyway) had to do with Sarah Palin. Thus:

* 94 percent knew that Palin was the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter, the highest correct score recorded by the Obama voters.

* Likewise, 86 percent knew that Palin was the candidate whose party bought her a $150,000 wardrobe.

Those answers suggest that the mainstream media's emphasis in this election was not exactly on the nuances of public policy. To be fair, though, they probably also reflect where the interests of Democratic voters tend to lie. This one is interesting:

* 87 percent said that Sarah Palin was the candidate who said she could see Russia from her house. Actually, it was Tina Fey who said that. Once again, though, it shows that Palin seemed to be the candidate who made the biggest impression, for better or worse.

It's worth noting that the Obama voters in Zogby's sample were 97 percent high school graduates and--rather shockingly--55 percent college graduates. It's almost enough to make you wonder about the future of democracy.

You Ought to Read This

2008-11-10T12:12:00.001-06:00

http://colony14.net/

A lot of research went into this site!

From Colony14.net - from Don Fredrick's place

2008-11-10T12:06:00.001-06:00

I want to store a copy for reference - pj.

Obama timeline

The Obama Timeline: 1961-2008

The following is an attempt to present the relevant aspects of Barack Obama’s life, from birth to the present. Every attempt has been made to present accurate names, information, and dates. If errors or significant omissions are noted, please free to contact the author at colony14@gmail.com. Please keep in mind, however, that it is incredibly difficult to pin down the Obama campaign on specifics regarding the candidate’s past. His staffers have released very little documentation, and requests for clarification go unanswered, or are answered in different ways by different staffers.

1961-1966

Barack Obama Jr. is born on August 4, 1961, allegedly in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995). Ann Dunham (who understandably dropped the “Stanley”) married Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr. (1936-1982), on February 2, 1961. Obama, Sr., an Arab-African Muslim by birth, but an atheist by admission, already had two children with a woman in Kenya named Kezia (b. 1938). It is possible, however, that Obama, Sr. was not legally married to Kezia (their marriage was perhaps only a tribal marriage), making his marriage to Dunham (if there was a marriage) legal. (Obama and Kezia eventually re-unite after he separates from Ann Dunham, and Kezia bears two more of his children.) [1,3,7,289,299,324]

If Obama, Jr. was born in Hawaii, he was both an American and a Kenyan citizen because his father was a Kenyan. If he was born in Hawaii, Obama’s Kenyan citizenship automatically expired when he turned age 21. If Obama later became a citizen of Indonesia by virtue of being adopted by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, Obama lost his Kenyan and/or American citizenship at the point of adoption, because Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship. [219,258]

If Obama was born in Kenya (or any country other than the United States), he cannot serve as President of the United States because he is not a natural born citizen, as defined by the laws in effect in 1961. (Obama’s American citizen parent, Ann Dunham, had to have been a resident of the United States for 10 years, at least five of which were over the age of 14; Dunham did not meet that requirement until her 19th birthday in November of 1961 – after Obama had been born.)

Note: Obama is, technically not an “African-American.” His father, Barack Obama, Sr., is one-sixth African (on his mother’s side, from the Luo tribe in Kenya) and his remaining ancestry is Arabic. Candidate Obama is thus more accurately referred to as “Arab-American.” Obama is not (like many black Americans) the descendant of slaves owned by white American slave-owners. Having Arab ancestors, Obama is most likely a descendant of slave owners, because Arabs have traditionally owned slaves.

Although a reported divorce of Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham in 1964 suggests they had been married on Thursday, February 2, 1961, there are no disclosed records or witnesses to indicate a marriage, and Obama’s wife Michelle states in an interview that Ann Dunham was “very young and very single when she had him (Barack Obama, Jr.).” In any event, Dunham was unmarried, and barely 18 or possibly under age 18, when she became pregnant. [4,6,8,10,324,352]

Dunham is an atheist, an “Adlai Stevenson liberal,” a secular humanist, leftist social-activist, and a student of cultural anthropology. Ann Dunham meets Barack Obama Sr. while both are studying Russian at the University of Hawaii. Dunham is an excellent debater at school, and excels at defending the concepts of Karl Marx’ “The Communist Manifesto.” [2,4,5,9,10,324]

In 1960, Dunham had emphasized her “free spirit” with this statement to high school friends, "I don’t need to date or marry to have children.” [408]

In 1962 or 1963, Obama’s parents separate; his father leaves Hawaii (probably in 1963) to attend Harvard and then to return to Kenya, with a woman named Ruth Nidesand, who he met at Harvard. Obama, Sr. marries Nidesand in Kenya in 1967; they are eventually divorced; Nidesand claims physical abuse. Obama, Sr. eventually has at least eight other children with four women (two of those additional children are borne by his former wife Kezia, while he is still married to Nidesand.) Obama, Sr. does not see Barack Jr. again until 1971, when he visits Hawaii for one month; he is eventually killed in 1982, at age 46, in an automobile accident. (A year earlier, Obama, Sr. had been in an automobile accident and had both legs amputated as a result of the incident. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in both accidents.) [6,7,11,271,324]

The 1961 birth certificate posted on the Internet by the Obama campaign is suspected of being a forgery, based on a modified copy of his half-sister Maya’s birth certificate. If Obama does have a legitimate Hawaiian birth certificate, it possibly does not list a father if Dunham and Obama, Sr. were not married. (At that time, the custom was to omit the father’s name when the father and mother were not married). By July, 2008, it appeared that the forgery may have been perpetrated for the “Daily Kos” web site, by a Jay McKinnon, who describes himself as a “Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist.” [12,325]

The Internet site “FactCheck.org” states that the birth certificate provided by the Obama campaign is legitimate, but it should be noted that FactCheck.org is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation, which also funded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where Obama and William Ayers distributed tens of millions of dollars to leftist organizations. It should also be noted that most, if not all, of the people who have declared the birth certificate to be either authentic or a fake have seen only photocopies or scanned images, and not an original paper document. [302]

The birth certificate provided by the Obama campaign lists the father’s race as “African,” a term that would not have been used for the newborn’s race in 1961; instead, a birth certificate would have listed the race as “negro” or “colored.” The use of the word African further suggests that the document provided by the Obama campaign was a newly-created fabrication. [372]

On August 13, 1961, an Obama birth notice appears in a Honolulu newspaper, which indicates that “Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama” had a son on August 4. [362]

There has been speculation that Obama was born in Kenya and brought to Hawaii as an infant, because the airlines would (in 1961) not have allowed a pregnant Dunham to return home to Hawaii. Relatives of Obama in Kenya, who likely are unaware of the eligibility requirements of the U.S. Presidency, state that he was born in Kenya. The Kenya birth speculation is incorrect, however, if Dunham met Obama Sr. while both were students at the University of Hawaii and if they did not also travel to Kenya in 1961. [197,199,248]

Obama’s campaign has given the names of two different Hawaiian hospitals where he was supposed to have been born (Kapiolani Women’s Center and Queens Medical Center, both in Honolulu). No one has been able to confirm the birth from either hospital’s records. There is apparently a register of the birth in the public records office, dated August 8, 1961, one week after the birth, but it supposedly does not list a place of birth. (Note that a register of birth is not the same as a birth certificate.) [248]

A writer for “Online Journal” publishes an article on June 9, 2008 claiming that a research team went to Mombasa, Kenya, and located a certificate of the Kenyan birth of Barack Obama, Jr. It is unclear why that story, if it is true, did not get “traction.” There is also speculation that certified copies of a Kenyan birth certificate, with embossed raised seals and with birth witness signatures, are now in the hands of three individuals; the documents allegedly state that Obama was born at 7:24 p.m., on August 4, 1961, at Coast Provincial General Hospital, in Mombasa, Kenya. Conveniently for the candidate, government authorities in Kenya have stated that all documents regarding Obama would be under seal until after the November 4 election. [248,299,301,407]

There have been claims that Obama’s paternal grandmother (his father’s mother), Sarah Hussein Obama (or Sarah Onyango Obama) (b. 1922), told reporters that Barack Obama, Jr. was born in Kenya, when her son Barack, Sr. came to visit accompanied by a pregnant Ann Dunham - who was very close to her delivery date. Sarah Hussein Obama further states that she was present in the delivery room when Obama was born in Kenya. One half-brother and one half-sister of candidate Obama also claim he was born in Kenya. This would be consistent with a reported stop by Dunham in the state of Washington on the return trip to Hawaii, and with the possible existence of only a Hawaiian “register of birth,” rather than an actual birth certificate. The Chicago Tribune was told by Dunham friend Susan Blake that Dunham visited her in Seattle shortly after Obama’s birth. [248,289,299,324,367]

Note that Hawaiian law (Hawaii Revised Statute 338-17.8) allows the State of Hawaii to issue a certificate of live birth even if the child is born outside the State, provided the parents have been legal residents of Hawaii for at least one year immediately preceding the birth. Such a certificate does, however, require that the place of birth be correctly recorded. Thus, had Obama been born in Kenya and shortly thereafter brought to Hawaii, Dunham could have had a Hawaiian birth certificate prepared, but that document would have been in addition to the birth certificate issued in Kenya. Such a Hawaiian certificate, if issued, does not make the child a United States citizen; it is merely a birth-recording convenience offered by the State. [301]

Note that states typically have a “long form” (certificate of live birth) and a “short form” (certification of birth) for their birth documents. The long form, or vault copy, contains the more detailed information, such as the hospital name, names of parents, date, time, infant’s weight and length, footprint, doctor’s name, and certified signature of the doctor. In 1961, the document would obviously have been typed on a typewriter. The short form contains more limited information, and is the less desirable of the two forms when absolute proof is desired. When someone requests a copy of a birth certificate from a state (or county), the document provided is typically the short form, computer-printed at the time of the request and based on information on computer databases; the vault copy is not retrieved and examined. The short form is then usually stamped or embossed with an official seal. The document provided by the Obama campaign, whether valid or a forgery, is the short form.

According to the University of Hawaii (UH), Ann Dunham first attended classes at UH on September 26, 1960. Dunham was also a student at UH between the spring of 1963 and summer of 1966, and sporadically at other times between 1972 and 1992. She received a BA in Mathematics in the summer of 1967, an MA in Anthropology in the fall of 1983, and a PhD in Anthropology in the summer of 1992. [408]

According to the University of Washington (UW), Dunham was enrolled at UW in the fall of 1961 (almost immediately after having given birth to Obama), the spring of 1962, and the winter of 1962. Note that the Obama campaign places Dunham only in Hawaii until she later moves to Indonesia with Lolo Soetoro; it omits any reference to her attending UW. [408]

Only a few sources have been listed here for the many Obama birth speculations; there are far too many, and rumors and stories can readily be found on the Internet. Speculation will not end until original birth and citizenship documents are released, and the likelihood of that may be minimal. A lawsuit has been filed by attorney Philip Berg (a Democrat, Clinton supporter, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania) to block Obama from running for and becoming President without first proving he is an eligible U.S. citizen; it alleges that Obama was born in Kenya. Whether that lawsuit leads to anything remains to be seen, but if the truth damages Obama, there will certainly be continued efforts by many to keep that truth successfully hidden. [13]

If Obama was born in Hawaii, an important issue may be whether he became and is still an Indonesian citizen. [258,305]

In 1965, Obama’s father writes in the “East Africa Journal” an article called, “Problems Facing Our Socialism,” in which he criticizes Kenya for not being socialist enough. He writes, “Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100 per cent of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed." Obama the Presidential candidate has so far suggested an income tax rate of “only” 39.6 per cent (not counting Social Security and Medicare taxes, and state income taxes). [271]

Obama, in his second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” clearly states that, like his father, he is also no great fan of the American system of free enterprise capitalism; he describes capitalism as “chaotic and unforgiving,” and has a desire to roll back the “ownership society.” [271]

1966-1970

In 1967 (possibly 1966), Ann Dunham marries Indonesian Muslim Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo (1936-1987), who she met at the University of Hawaii. Soetoro then returns to Indonesia. (Note that Soetoro was originally from Malaysia, but lived in Indonesia most of his life.) Obama and his mother later move to Indonesia to join Soetoro, probably in 1967. Soetoro likely adopted Obama, whose name is changed to Barry Soetoro. Elementary school records in Indonesia list Obama’s name as Barry Soetoro, his religion as Islam, and his citizenship as Indonesian. Obama attends Franciscus Primary School (1967-1969) and Besuki State Elementary School Menteng 01 in Jakarta (1969-1971). [6,14,172,289,324,329]

Obama practices Islam half-heartedly, irregularly attending prayer services at the mosque. According to one of his Indonesian school principals, Tine Hahiyary, the young Obama studies “Mangaji” (or “Mengagi”), which involves the recitation of the Quran. Note that Mangaji, in Indonesian schools, requires learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language, and not the student’s native tongue. Non-Muslims or even moderate Muslims would not send their child to Mangaji classes; it is much more involved that a Christian child attending “Sunday School” class. (Many Indonesians, in fact, wonder why Obama is hiding his Muslim past.) [15,251,332,336]

A former classmate of Obama in Indonesia, Rony Amiris, in 2007, described Obama as having enjoyed football, playing marbles, and being a very devout Muslim. Amir said, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam." [332]
Publicly, Obama denies he ever was a Muslim and claims he is a devout Christian. (He also alleges he was never in church when his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was spewing anti-white and anti-American rhetoric in his sermons.) Many, if not most, of the world’s Muslims feel that “Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.” One Obama problem may be that if he is seen by radical Islamists as someone who denounced the Muslim religion to become a Christian, his background can be exploited to “argue that an apostate is leading the war on terror…” which can then help terrorists “…galvanize (additional) sympathizers into action.” [252]

If it is assumed that Obama is legally adopted by his Indonesian step-father, Lolo Soetoro, Obama becomes an Indonesian citizen, according to Indonesian law. Because Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship, Obama thus loses his U.S. citizenship when he becomes an Indonesian citizen, in or about 1966. At this point Obama also ceases to be a Kenyan citizen, according to Indonesian and Kenyan law. Ann Dunham would have been required to renounce her U.S. citizenship, under Indonesian law, for her marriage to Lolo Soetoro to be considered legal in Indonesia. If, after Obama returned to Hawaii, he applied for and was granted American citizenship, he would be a naturalized citizen (like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) and not a natural-born citizen, and would therefore be ineligible to serve as President of the U.S. [258,300,305]

Note that, according to Indonesian legal experts, it is difficult for non-Indonesian citizens to enroll in public schools in that country; this further supports the assumption that Obama was adopted by Soetoro. Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has also stated that Obama was adopted by her father. [329]

In 1967, Oginga Odinga, a comrade of Obama’s father and possibly his brother-in-law, is arrested in Kenya for holding a rally that turns into a riot. In 2006, candidate Obama supports Odinga’s son, socialist Raila Odinga, in his run for the Presidency in Kenya. [271]

1971-1979

In 1971 or 1972, Obama is sent back to Hawaii to live with his mother’s parents; his mother remains in Indonesia. (Dunham may possibly have traveled with Obama to Hawaii, and then promptly returned to Indonesia without him, but with his half-sister, Maya Soetoro.) Obama’s grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham (1918-1992), manages a furniture store, and his grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham (b. 1922), is a bank vice-president. [16,289,324,329]

Obama’s maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, currently age 86, still resides in Hawaii. The Obama campaign has kept her off-limits, and prohibits interviews with her. [329]

Aside from a few visits to Hawaii, Ann Dunham spends most of the rest of her life based in Indonesia, but she travels extensively, to Ghana, Thailand, Napal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China. Dunham returns to Hawaii before her death in 1995. [329]

After returning to Hawaii and upon turning age 18, Obama could possibly have given up his Indonesian citizenship and become a naturalized U.S. citizen, with the proper paperwork filed through the U.S. State Department and by swearing an oath of allegiance to the United States. It is believed that Obama did not do so. [258,300,301]

If Obama did not relinquish his Indonesian citizenship and become a naturalized U.S. citizen, he remains an Indonesian citizen, and has not been a U.S. citizen since moving to Indonesia in 1966 or 1967. Thus, he is ineligible to be President of the United States. (He is also ineligible to be a United States Senator.) Obama’s repeated failure to provide documentation to prove he is a U.S. citizen suggests to many that it does not exist, and he is therefore possibly perpetrating a colossal fraud on the 300 million citizens of the United States. Obama may, in fact, be an illegal resident alien, subject to expulsion from the United States Senate, arrest, and deportation to Indonesia. [258,300]

Obama attends the elite, expensive, private Punahou High School (1971-1979). The school is racially diverse and whites are in the minority. The final day of school is traditionally known as “Kill Haole Day” (“Kill Whitey Day”). [16,17,324]

Because of his drug abuse, Obama’s grades are poor in his final two years of high school. Obama later writes that “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though.” [18]

Bryon Leong, a former classmate of Obama’s at Punahou, states that Obama “…was known as a partier, as a guy looking for a good time, but not much more," and, “There was pot in Hawaii in the 1970s, but it wasn't a big deal." [332]

Dunham leaves Soetoro in 1972 and returns to Hawaii. She divorces Soetoro in 1980. [289]

Ann Dunham rarely sees Obama after 1975. [324]

By his own admission, Obama’s high school grades are not exemplary; rather than do homework, he reads the works of black authors like Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, W.E.B. DuBois, and Malcolm X. [20,190]

High school friend Keith Kakugawa relates later that Obama “…made everything out like it was all racial.” After Obama complains about being picked on at the basketball court because of his race, Kakugawa’s father tells Obama, “No, Barry, it’s not because you’re black, it’s because you missed two shots in a row.” [20]

While a teenager in Hawaii, Obama spends considerable time with Frank Marshall Davis (whose identity Obama hides by describing him only as “Frank” in his book, “Dreams From My Father”). Davis is a dope-smoking drinking buddy of Obama’s grandfather, Stanley Dunham; Dunham and Davis had known each other in Kansas. Obama had met Davis shortly after arriving in Hawaii, at age 10, but was most influenced by him during his high school years. In place of his absent father and stepfather, Davis becomes Obama’s mentor. [19,21,389]

Davis is a member of the Communist Party of the USA, a poet, propagandist, “bitter opponent of capitalism,” and radical agitator; in 1948, Davis had fled Chicago after the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated his subversive anti-American activities. Davis is also a bi-sexual, sex pervert, child molester (bragging of repeated sexual encounters with a 13 year-old girl), and pornographer, and is the author of the book “Sex Rebel: Black” under the pseudonym Bob Greene. Davis “…would cruise in Hawaii parks looking for couples or female tourists to have sex with. He derived sexual gratification from bondage, simulated rape and being flogged and urinated on. He boasted that ‘the number of white babes interested in at least one meeting with a Negro male has been far more than I can handle’ and wished ‘America were as civilised as, say, Scandinavia.’” He concluded: ‘I regret none of my experiences or unusual appetites; for me they are normal.’” [21,259,261]

Obama joins Davis at his home on most evenings, shares alcohol and drugs, is tutored in socialism, and taught not to trust the white establishment. "They'll train you so good," Davis said, "you'll start believing what they tell you about equal opportunity and the American way and all that shit." Davis teaches Obama, “Black people have a reason to hate” and “You may be a well-trained, well-paid nigger, but you’re a nigger just the same.” [22,33,261]

Davis sometimes works as a street vendor, selling hot dogs from his Chicago-style wheeled cart near his home in Waikiki. From the cart Davis also sells drugs (marijuana and cocaine), frequently accompanied by Obama and his grandfather. Davis is the source of drugs used by Obama while in high school. [429]

It is believed that Davis was a close friend of Thomas Ayers (father of William Ayers) in Chicago, and that it was Davis who encouraged Obama to attend Columbia College in New York and hook up with William Ayers. [259]

Davis’ Marxist-inspired poetry includes lines like, “Smash on, victory-eating Red Army!” Titles of his poems include, “Christ is a Dixie Nigger.” [261]

In Davis’ autobiography, he writes of his seduction of a young white girl, age 13, named “Anne.” This fuels speculation that the “Anne” in Davis’ book is Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and that Obama may actually be the child of Frank Marshall Davis. Obama’s grandfather and Davis were close friends, but there is no hard evidence that Obama’s father was Davis. When Ann Dunham moved to Hawaii with her parents in 1959 she was already age 16 or 17. Davis had known the Dunhams in Kansas, however, so Davis would have had contact with Ann Dunham before she moved to Hawaii. The Dunhams also lived in Seattle, where Ann Dunham attended the very liberal Mercer Island High School. There is speculation that Davis had been in Seattle, doing organizing work for the communist-infiltrated International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU); that may have placed Davis with Dunham when she was 13. The ILWU is linked to the Honolulu Recorder, the newspaper Davis worked for in Hawaii. Lastly, nude photos of a woman purported to be Ann Dunham and alleged to have been taken by Frank Marshall Davis are circulating on the Internet, but faked photos are not terribly difficult to produce using computers. [21,259,260,365,370,389]

This Davis-as-father speculation is listed here only to provide the reader with as much information as possible about Obama’s background; it is not meant as an endorsement of the speculation itself. If additional information is obtained which confirms or refutes the speculation, it will be presented here.

Some have noted that Frank Marshall Davis’ son, Mark Davis, bears a reasonable resemblance to candidate Obama, and what some would consider a stronger resemblance than shared by Obama Jr. and Obama Sr. Mark Davis’ mother, Helen Canfield, was, like Ann Dunham, a white woman. One could speculate that Obama’s father was not Barack Obama, Sr., but Frank Marshall Davis. Because Davis and Ann Dunham could certainly not have let that relationship be known (Davis was married and age 55, Dunham was only 17, and Davis was Stanley Dunham’s friend), Dunham may have convinced Obama, Sr. that he was the father-to-be. When he, Obama, Sr., later learned that was not the case, he abruptly left Dunham, moved on to Harvard and then returned to Kenya. There has been speculation that Dunham and Obama, Sr. never actually lived together in Hawaii and never got married; this speculation is supported by the fact that Obama, Sr. attended the University of Hawaii, while Dunham attended the University of Washington during late 1961 and early 1962, before returning to Hawaii to again attend UH. [369,408]

If the Davis-as-father speculation is true, Dunham may have continued the lie for the benefit of her son and her own parents. Davis would later be eager to be Obama’s mentor if he was, in fact, Obama’s father. Obama may not have learned the true identity of his father for some time, perhaps not until after the death of his grandfather, Stanley Dunham in 1992. It was not until after his grandfather’s death that Obama began work on his book, “Dreams From My Father.” At that point he may have understood who his real father was. His book needed to include the “Kenyan history” in order to continue the charade for his planned political career, but the “dreams” Obama needed to pursue had more to do with a continuation of Davis’ legacy. It is worth noting also that Obama’s reluctance to give financial support to his poverty-stricken half-brother in Kenya, George, may be due to his not even being his half-brother. This is speculation based only on photographs and circumstantial evidence; the disclosure of appropriate original documentation by Obama would resolve unanswered questions and end speculation. The remainder of this timeline continues with the assumption that the father of Barack Obama, Jr. was Kenyan Barack Obama, Sr. [369]

1979-1981

Obama moves to Los Angeles, and attends Occidental College, where he plays basketball and continues taking drugs. He becomes friends with Pakistani Muslims Mohammed Hasan Chandoo (perhaps Chandio) and Wahid Hamid, and Indian Vinai Thummalapally. At Occidental College, Obama indulges in alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. He becomes interested in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. While at Occidental, Obama is mentored by an openly gay professor, Lawrence Goldyn, who has a strong influence on Obama’s acceptance of gays. Fellow student Thummalapally lives with Obama in the summer of 1980. [20,28,188,189,191,245,332]

Obama’s freshman year roommate at Occidental is Imad Husain, a Pakistani. [332]

Obama’s friends at Occidental tend to be the more politically active blacks, foreign students, Chicanos, Marxist professors, structural feminists, and punk-rock performance poets. Obama is rebuked on one occasion for calling another black student, who wasn’t “black enough,” an “Uncle Tom.” One female student criticizes Obama with the remark, “You always think it’s about you.” [187,192]

While at Occidental, Obama joins the Students for Economic Democracy (SED), which is a branch of the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), a group that was founded by radical, anti-American, Marxist activist Tom Hayden (former husband of actress Jane Fonda), who was also active with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). William Ayers’ subsequent radical group, the Weather Underground, was comprised of many former SDS members; in 1969 the Weather Underground - then called simply “Weatherman” - declared “war on Amerikka.” In 1970, Ayers explains the philosophy of he movement, "Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home; kill your parents; that's where it's really at." Ayers dedicated his book, “Prairie Fire,” to Sirhan Sirhan (Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin) and others he considered “”political prisoners.” Obama’s first known public speech takes place at an Occidental College event sponsored by the SED. [259,332,432,454]

An FBI informant who had infiltrated the Weather Underground witnessed a meeting at which the group discussed a future communist takeover of America in which some 25 million "diehard capitalists" would need to be killed. The members discussed a future in which Cuba, North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union would establish "re-education centers" in the Southwestern United States. [373]

Obama may have made a 1980 trip to Kenya to visit his father. During that trip, he may also have visited Pakistan, and Indonesia (to visit his mother). It is possible, however, that the reports of a 1980 trip are mistaken, and Obama’s only such trip was in 1981. [194,195,196]

During his college years, Obama maintains contact with his father through correspondence, until his death in 1982. [271]

Probably in late 1980, Obama decides to stop using the name Barry Soetoro and returns to the name Barack Obama, Jr. [194]

Obama is disappointed in a grade he receives from political science Professor Roger Boesche, and complains he is being graded “on a different curve” because of his race. [20]

In 1981, Obama visits his mother and half-sister in Indonesia, and then continues on for three weeks to Karachi, Pakistan and Hyderabad, India, with his friends Chandoo and Hamid, and finally to Kenya to visit his father’s family. [23,25,26,194,195,196,245]

One of Obama’s hosts in Pakistan is Muhammadian Mian Soomro, Obama’s senior by 11 years, son of a Pakistani politician and himself a politician, who later becomes interim President of Pakistan when Pervez Musharraf resigns in August of 2008. Soomro states that “someone” personally requested that he “watch over” Barack Obama, but Soomro will not name that individual - who today allegedly lives in South America. [24]

It is unknown who financed Obama’s costly 1981 trip.

Note that a trip to Pakistan in 1981 was not possible for Americans, except for those who were on official government business, because it was on the list of dangerous nations banned by the State Department for U.S. travelers. Pakistan was also under martial law at that time. It is possible that Obama was able to enter Pakistan on an Indonesian passport, but he would have had that document only if he was an Indonesian citizen; if he had become an Indonesian citizen, he was no longer an American citizen and his use of an American passport would have been illegal. Pakistan, being almost 100 per cent Muslim, would have welcomed foreign Muslim visitors in 1981. The U.S. State Department would not have known Obama was in Pakistan had he traveled on an Indonesian passport.

Obama’s school records from Occidental College have been kept secret. This may simply be to hide poor grades. It is also possible that those records list Obama as an Indonesian, and not an American, citizen. [259,380]

1981-1984

Obama moves to New York City and enrolls at Columbia University. He attends socialist conferences “for inspiration.” His roommate is Pakistani Muslim Sohale Siddiqi. Siddiqi is a drug user; Obama allegedly stops using drugs while at Columbia. Living a few blocks away from Obama and Columbia is William Ayers (at 520 West 123rd Street). [26,27,206,297]

Obama’s English professor at Columbia is Edward Said, a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist. [387]

At Columbia, Obama studies political science and international relations. His thesis is allegedly on nuclear disarmament. (The Obama campaign will not release copies of that document.) Obama graduates from Columbia in June of 1983, with a degree in political science, without honors. [29,264]

Note: Both at Occidental College in California and at Columbia College in New York, Obama’s roommates are foreign Muslims. This may be indicative of something, and it would be worth knowing if the students themselves chose roommates or had them assigned to them. Whether chosen or assigned, were the pairings because of Muslim backgrounds, or foreign backgrounds, or foreign citizenship? Do Obama’s hidden college records reveal the answers to those questions?

After graduation from Columbia, Obama joins the New York Public Interest Research Group, an organization founded by Ralph Nader. Obama becomes an organizer at Harlem’s City College, working with student volunteers on recycling programs. [31]

Like his Occidental College papers, Obama’s academic files from Columbia have been kept secret. While attending Columbia, Obama lived off campus, near William Ayers. It is possible Obama first met Ayers during those years, 1981-1983. Looking for evidence of Obama’s past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia students from that time period; none remembered Obama. There is speculation that Frank Marshall Davis arranged for Obama to meet William Ayers in New York, and their being neighbors was not a coincidence; Ayers then possibly suggested that Obama return to Chicago with him. (Was Ayers the reason Obama moved to Chicago?) Years later, Obama and Ayers are neighbors in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. [259]

Wayne Allyn Root was, like Obama, a political science major at Columbia who also graduated in 1983. In 2008 Root says of Obama, "I don't know a single person at Columbia that knows him, and they all know me. I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever! ... Nobody recalls him. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not kidding.” Root adds that he also was “Class of ’83 political science, pre-law” and “You don't get more exact than that. Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him. At the class reunion, our 20th reunion five years ago, 20th reunion, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me. No one ever heard of Barack! Who was he, and five years ago, nobody even knew who he was... the guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, the macha who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him. Is that not strange? It's very strange...” Note that Obama’s photograph does not appear n the school’s yearbook, and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia. [332,346]

Obama and Ayers share a mutual friend, Edward Wadie Said, a Palestinian-American, political activist, anti-Israel professor at Columbia; Said was called the “professor of terror” by the American magazine, “Commentary.” In 1998, Obama and his wife attend a banquet at which Said is the keynote speaker; Obama is seated next to Said at the well-attended dinner. [332,334,335]

Obama regularly attends Marxist-socialist conferences at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in Manhattan. [332,337]

Obama works briefly for Business International Corporation in New York, a small newsletter-publishing firm that prints articles relating to global business; Obama later “embellishes” that job, saying he was hired as a “research assistant” by a “consulting house to multinational corporations,” had his own private secretary, and dealt with Japanese financiers and German bond traders. His former co-workers say Obama’s accounts of his job are grossly inflated – he wore jeans, shared cubicles with others in a dumpy office, had no secretary, and merely re-wrote articles for newsletters. Obama remarks later in life that the job exposed him to the “coldness of capitalism.” [30,31,32]

In 1983, Obama falls in love with a white woman, but ends the relationship after he realizes he will have to adapt to her white world, rather than the other way around. [357]

1985-1988

Obama moves to Chicago, and hangs out with black militants and leftists. Obama works as a “community organizer” for the “Industrial Areas Foundation” (IAF), an organization founded by Marxist and radical agitator Saul Alinsky. Its national activities have included a “Citizens USA” project to obtain citizenship for over one million illegal aliens. (Coincidentally, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s senior honors thesis at Wellesley College, “There is Only the Fight,” is about Alinsky; in 1968 Alinsky offered Clinton a job, which she declined.) [33,45,46,192,229]

Obama also works with the Alinsky group “Developing Communities Project” (DCP), and “ACORN” (the “Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now”) and Project Vote, both Alinsky-network creations. Obama’s duties include organizing residents of the Altgeld Gardens housing project on Chicago’s south side. ACORN is an off-shoot of what had been the National Welfare Rights League (NWRL), a militant 1960s group that staged protests in welfare offices and, often successfully, demanded increased benefits with threats of violence. ACORN was founded by William Ayers’ SDS associate, Wade Rathke, and is currently the largest and most powerful leftist organization in the United States. [45,324,227,322]

Obama’s Altgeld Gardens work allegedly involves forcing a clean-up of asbestos. Obama’s mentor during his time on the project was Hazel Johnson, who argues that she discovered the asbestos problem and led the efforts to resolve it; according to Johnson, Obama exaggerated his role in the project in his book, “Dreams From My Father.” [345]

Alinsky’s “training manual” for community organizers, “Rules for Radicals,” states that community organizers are primarily agitators, who must "Fan the resentments of the people of a community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression - he must search out controversy and issues... An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontentment [sic].... He knows that values are relative.... Truth to him is relative and changing." [315]

Note that Alinsky’s work also influenced the creation of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy,” named after Columbia University professors Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Their strategy involves taking action to force deliberate failure in society, to foster change toward socialism, by overloading the bureaucracy with impossible demands, lawsuits, holding officials to the extreme letter of the law, etc. The Cloward-Piven method is to push society into an economic collapse, thus forcing a fear and resentment of capitalism, making it easier to usher in socialism. The Cloward-Piven strategy is one of the tactics used by “community organizers” (e.g., storming welfare offices and violently demanding immediate action) to impose intentional strains on the system, and to force the hiring of more government workers than necessary to deal with their ever-increasing demands. [327]

Obama has probably already met William Ayers by this time, and likely still remains in contact with him. [259]

While at IAF, Obama reports to Gerald Kellman. Kellman is a follower of Alinsky, whose book “Rules for Radicals” was widely read by 1960s radicals, such as members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Weather Underground, and the youths who rioted at the 1968 Democrat Convention in Chicago. (Obama’s line about “the world as it is and the world as it should be,” which his future wife swooned over and which she repeated twice in her speech to the Democrat National Convention, comes from Chapter 2 of Alinsky’s book.) [20,33,352]

Obama is hired with $25,000 Kellman receives from the Woods Fund. Obama will later serve on the Woods Fund board, along with former Weather Underground domestic terrorist, Pentagon bomber, radical, leftist, communist, and fugitive from justice William Ayers. [33,204]

Note that the Woods Fund was founded by the Woods family, which owned a coal business that was a major supplier of coal to Commonwealth Edison; the CEO of Commonwealth Edison was Thomas Ayers, father of William Ayers. [346]

Gerald Kellman later relates that Obama’s job “largely consisted of interviewing community members and creating a narrative out of their experiences, the problems the community faced.” [190]

As a community organizer, Obama, despite being a “master of agitation,” has limited success working for more welfare programs for the poor on the south side of Chicago. Obama is less a “community organizer” than a “community agitator,” getting people to demand more welfare benefits and government hand-outs. [35,47]

Obama also works on voter registration drives during this period, and comes into contact with leftist political groups like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Socialist International (SI); Obama is likely to have met Carl Davidson during this period; Davidson is a former member of the radical group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and later is a member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS), which organized the 2002 rally where Obama announces his public opposition to the looming Iraq War. [34]

Obama learns from the Alinsky crowd the method for getting people to support radical change they would ordinarily not be willing to accept. "They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future.” Thus, just as it has been the theme of most Democrat Presidential campaigns over the last 30 years, so is it Obama’s: “Everything is terrible and headed in the wrong direction, your lives are in shambles, greedy capitalism is at fault, and you need to trust a bigger government and my plans to solve all your problems.” [192]

For three years, Obama is the director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), part of the “Gamaliel Foundation,” another Alinsky-like group which uses “in your face” tactics and threats against banks to obtain more loans to people in poor neighborhoods. Gamaliel’s co-founder and executive director is Gregory Galluzzo, who served as a trainer and mentor during Obama’s community activist days in Chicago. [227,228,337]

Probably in 1987 or 1988, Obama joins the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC); it’s pastor is Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a fiery orator who preaches Marxism, black liberation theology (a Marxist version of Christianity that worships a white-hating black Jesus), gives controversial sermons, supports communists in Cuba and Nicaragua, and who later says America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that America intentionally spread the AIDS virus to remain wealthy at the expense of poor Africans. Some accounts state that Obama joins TUCC as late as 1992. Note that joining the church requires swearing an oath of belief in its black liberation theology. [33,268,324,336]

For what it calls a “commitment to truth, education, and leadership,” Obama’s church magazine, “Trumpet Newsmagazine,” gives a “lifetime achievement award” to Louis Farrakhan, a virulent anti-Semite whose quotes include, “Hitler was a very great man,” “Judaism is a gutter religion,” and “white people are potential humans, they haven’t evolved yet.” Obama alleges that his church is “fairly conventional,” and that he “wasn’t in church” when Wright made his more inflammatory statements. [36,37,38,39]

Reverend Wright, along with Louis Farrakhan, visits Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 1984. Obama’s church presents Louis Farrakhan with its “Empowerment Award.” (References to that award are, in 2008, removed from the church’s web site after Obama’s relationships with Wright and Farrakhan are questioned.) [315]

Obama considers Wright to be his “moral compass,” “sounding board,” and “confidant.” Obama is likely an agnostic or perhaps an atheist, like his mother and father, but joins the church for “street cred,” probably to please his wife, and to end the flak he receives from people in the community for his lack of religion. [202,239,271,336]

Obama alleges that he was baptized at TUCC, but no one has been able to find records of the event. [336]

1988 – 1991

In the spring of 1988 (possibly 1985 or 1986), Obama visits his family in Kenya. [40,329]

It is believed that Obama visited his mother, Ann Dunham, in Pakistan some time during 1987 and 1992, while she was working there. [329]

In the fall of 1988, Obama begins his studies at Harvard Law School; helping Obama gain acceptance at Harvard is a letter of recommendation from civil rights activist and Malcolm X attorney Percy Sutton; Sutton is asked to write the letter by Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour (aka “Donald Warden”), a radical Muslim and vitriolic anti-Semite, mentor of Black Panther Party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, close associate of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and acquaintance of Obama. Al-Mansour alleges in his 1995 book, “The Lost Books of Africa Rediscovered,” that the United States is plotting genocide against black Americans. Mansour is believed to have been the main financial backer and planner for Obama for as long as 25 years, and is a principle advisor to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the world’s 19th wealthiest person ($29.5 billion), and nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Adballah. [41,43,380,381,382]

Note that Alwaleed bin Talal also donated $20 million to Harvard to fund “Islamic Studies.” [380]

It has been suggested that it was William Ayers who persuaded Khalid al-Mansour to raise funds for Obama’s Harvard tuition. Ayers associated with al-Mansour when he was still known as Donald Warden. Warden was a lawyer and advisor to the Black Panther Party, whose offices were next door to Warden’s. Ayers, Warden, Dohrn, and others planned the overthrow of the United States at a marina in San Francisco, where Ayers, Dohrn, and other radicals were hiding from the authorities. [259,380]

A Harvard letter of recommendation for Obama is also written by John McKnight, who serves on the Gamaliel Foundation’s Board of Directors, as well as the board of National People’s Action (NPA), another group of Alinsky-inspired agitators that pickets homes of business leaders and politicians. The NPA consists of Alinskyite thugs and agitators who, when picketing the homes of business and government leaders to demand more benefits and hand-outs, sing: "Who's on your hit list, NPA? Who's on your hit list of today? Take no prisoner, take no names. Kick 'em in the ass when they play their games." [230,267]

It is unclear how Obama gets into Harvard Law School, which has exceptionally high admissions standards, with applicant LSAT scores expected in the 98 to 99 range, and a grade point average of 3.8 or higher. It is assumed that if Obama had such scores, his campaign would be bragging about them; it has not, and will not release his school records. One assumption is that Obama had connections, such as Khalid al-Mansour, who both paved his way and paid his way; al-Mansour’s friend Percy Sutton states that al-Mansour had been “raising money” for Obama. Obama denies knowing al-Mansour, but al-Mansour, in an interview with Newsmax reporter Kenneth Timmerman, admits he had spoken with Obama and told him he would keep a “low profile” in order to avoid embarrassing the candidate. [56,264,315]

It is also unclear how Obama paid for his education, especially his years at Harvard Law School. He appears not to have held any steady jobs during the period, and he also took several extensive and expensive trips overseas. He and his wife later say they needed many years to pay off student loans, but those loans are not recorded on financial disclosure statements Obama was required to submit when he became a Senator.

Attorney Percy Sutton tells reporters in 2008, “I was introduced to (Obama) by a friend who was raising money for him. The friend’s name is Dr. Khalid al-Mansour.” Gifts from al-Mansour may have funded Obama’s years at Harvard. In April of 2008, however, Obama’s wife states that Obama had “just paid off his loan debt” for his Harvard Law School education. That statement, however, is not consistent with a review of Obama’s financial disclosures, which go back to 2000 and which did not list any outstanding college loans. (As a candidate for the U.S. Senate, Obama was required, in 2004, to file a financial disclosure form detailing his assets, income, consulting contracts, and liabilities. Obama listed zero for liabilities in 2004 and in all subsequent U.S. Senate financial disclosure forms. [211]

If Obama’s school loans had been paid off earlier, then his wife’s statement that he “had just paid off his loan debt” was a lie; a pandering lie intended, no doubt, to make the two of them appear to be “just another struggling middle class family.” If the loans had, in fact, just been paid off, then the candidate lied on his financial disclosure forms, which could subject him to impeachment from the Senate.

Another possibility is that candidate Obama and his wife are both lying, and the school loans were actually gifts from Khalid al-Mansour, which were expected to be paid back with future political favors – such as promoting a Palestinian state at the expense of Israel. If Obama’s tuition and expenses were financed by others without any expectation of direct reimbursement, they were thus gifts that should have been listed on his income tax filings. Obama’s failure to do so would mean he violated income tax regulations and is subject to additional taxes, interest, and penalties - and perhaps criminal charges.

Obama is selected as one of 40 editors of the Harvard Law Review (HLR), but he apparently wrote only one article for the HLR, in which he argued against placing any limits on abortion, with the remarkable statement that abortions would “…prevent increasing numbers of children born into lives of pain and despair.” His fellow editors elect Obama President of the HLR, partly in response to the demands of Professor Derrick Bell that a black woman be appointed to the law faculty. [55,56,385]

While at Harvard, Obama is already planning his political career. Former Harvard classmate Christine Spurell states, "It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics.” [332]

While on a break from class at Harvard, Obama spends eight days in Los Angeles taking a national training course taught by Saul Alinsky's “Industrial Areas Foundation.” [47]

In 1989, Obama works briefly at the Sidley Austin LLP Law Firm, as a summer associate from Harvard law School, where he meets future wife Michelle LaVaughan Robinson; she is his mentor at the law firm. Also working at the firm is Bernadine Dohrn (1984-1988), former Weather Underground radical, terrorist bomber, fugitive from the FBI (having achieved “most wanted list” status), and wife of fellow radical William Ayers. (Although Dohrn works for the law firm, her criminal record prevents her from being admitted to the Illinois bar.) [50,55,324]

Obama’s summer job at Sidley Austin is likely arranged by William Ayers and Ayers’ father, Tom Ayers, (CEO of Commonwealth Edison, 1975-1986). [259]

In 1990, Obama serves as a summer associate at the law firm Hopkins and Sutter in Chicago. [357]

In 1990, Obama turns down a job offer from Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s low-income housing development company; this may have been one of Obama’s first contacts with Tony “the fixer” Rezko. Rezko, born in Aleppo, Syria, maintains varied contacts with Obama until he is convicted and jailed in 2008. It is not known how Obama first met Rezko. (Ayers, Obama, and Rezko have all dealt with the Broadway Bank in Chicago, run by the mob-tied Giannoulias family, and it may have been Ayers or a Giannoulias family member who brought Obama’s name to the attention of Rezko.) [48,245]

In 1991 Obama receives his law degree from Harvard Law School. [55]

1991-1992

Obama returns to Chicago in 1991, where he is named the Illinois head of “Project Vote” (an affiliate of “ACORN,” a group infamous for its involvement in vote fraud), to help increase the number of black voters. Project Vote is required to remain non-partisan to retain its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) organization under the IRS Code, but it adds an estimated 125,000 new voters in Illinois in 1992, mostly Democrats, to help Carol Moseley Braun win a United States Senate seat. [45,240,283]

In 1991, Michelle Robinson is hired by Valerie Jarrett to work for the City of Chicago, for $60,000 per year; Jarrett is rumored to be the likely chief of staff in an Obama Administration; she was born in Iran in 1956, to American parents, while her father was working there on the staff of the Nemazee hospital. It is said that Obama makes few major decisions without referring to Jarrett. [245,246,352]

On December 17, 1991, Obama is admitted to Illinois Bar, enabling him to practice law. On his application he lies at least three times, failing to disclose that he had previously used the name “Barry Soetoro,” neglecting to disclose his record of drug use, and failing to disclose his approximate $400 in unpaid parking fines. [345]

In 1992 Obama marries Michelle LaVaughan Robinson. The ceremony is performed by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. [329]

One of Obama’s tasks at ACORN, where he works with Madeline Talbott, is training “community activists” how to use “direct action” and be more forceful in demanding change. The “in your face” style is preached by Obama, and used by activists to stage sit-ins and demonstrations at banks to garner publicity and support for more bank loans for unqualified poor people. (ACORN stages a two-day sit-in at the House Banking Committee room in1991.) Tactics include picketing at the homes of bank executives and calling them racists for not lending to the poor. Among the banks targeted is Chicago’s Bell Federal Savings (which no longer exists). The Chicago Tribune, in September of 1992, referred to the ACORN agenda as “affirmative action lending.” Critics later refer to those types of loans as “Ninja” loans (“No Income, No Job, no Assets”). [225,227]

Obama plans his first book, “Dreams From My Father.” He receives a $125,000 advance from publisher Simon and Shuster, but fails to write the book. Obama travels with his wife to Bali to gain the “peace and quite” to write, but still produces no manuscript. The contract is canceled, and Obama is asked to return part of the advance payment he receives. Obama returns to Chicago, signs a new contract (with Times Book, a Random House Division) for $40,000, and subsequently delivers a completed manuscript. It is believed that “Dreams From My Father” was ghost-written by Obama’s friend, William Ayers, based on the startling similarities of Ayers’ writings and the Obama book, the fact that Obama’s only previous public writings were atrocious poetry he had written in college, and Obama’s inability to speak well when not reading from a script or off a teleprompter. (Some also argue that the later audio version of the book, recorded by Obama, comes across as unnatural, as though the words are not entirely his.) The book is a critical and financial dud – until Obama becomes famous and it is re-printed. [57,58,224,250]

In 1992, Obama helps found “Public Allies,” a voluntary public service organization (modeled after Alinsky’s AIF) that recruits youths to perform “public service” while they are indoctrinated in socialist ideology; Obama’s wife Michelle becomes the group’s Executive Director in 1993. The program is the model for candidate Obama’s “Universal Voluntary Public Service” program, which he stealthily promotes as an expansion of Kennedy’s “Peace Corps.” [51,52]

1993 – 1996

Obama is hired by Miner, Banhill and Galland, a law firm that specializes in making government deals to develop low-income housing, and which deals with Tony Rezko’s firm “Rezar.” Obama’s specific duties at the law firm are not known. (He refuses to provide a list of his clients.) Obama is also a law lecturer at the University of Chicago during these years. Obama likely remained on the payroll of the law firm until his 2004 Senate campaign, although his law license became inactive in 2002; he worked only during the summers after 1996. It is believed that Obama never actually tried a case in court; he worked on teams with other lawyers to draw up briefs and contracts. [42,53,245,324,345,420]

Note that Judson Miner had been a classmate of Bernadine Dohrn at the University of Chicago Law School in the late 1960s, when both were involved in anti-war activity. Miner had also been counsel to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, and former Illinois Senator Carol Mosely Braun had worked briefly at the firm. Mr. Allison Davis, co-founder of the firm, later became a Chicago land developer, with ties to Tony Rezko. [345]

In 1993, Obama is placed on the board of the Woods Fund by William Ayers. (The period Obama serves on the Woods Fund board may be 1997 to 2002; conflicting dates have been presented in the media.) [259,297]

In 1993, Obama runs leadership training sessions on the subject of “power” for ACORN leaders, and continues to do so until at least 2003. Obama also helps train the staff of high-ranking ACORN leader Madeline Talbott; Talbott is arrested for heading a protest confrontation at the Chicago City Council. [283]

About 1993 (possibly later), Obama buys a townhouse in Chicago, with a loan provided by the city’s Broadway Bank. His down payment is $110,000. The bank, owned by the politically-connected Giannoulias family, is alleged to have long-standing mob ties, as well as connections with Tony Rezko and William Ayers. Allegedly Obama gets a “sweetheart” deal on the townhouse, ostensibly in exchange for future favors. Obama later endorses Alexi Giannoulias when he runs for Illinois State Treasurer. [281,291,329]

Obama’s townhouse is allegedly purchased by or for him in 1993, but various names are listed as the owner and the payer of the property tax while Obama lives there. The Warranty Deed changes from the name of the prior owner, Stephen Anderson, to Obama, in 1993, but the release of the Anderson mortgage is not recorded until 1998, at which point it is sent to Obama’s former law firm. There may be reasonable explanations for the various names and events, or Cook County bookkeeping may be less than perfect, but the oddities (not all of which are listed here) may also be the result of a complicated real estate “deal” arranged for Obama. [291]

In 1994, Obama represents ACORN in a lawsuit against redlining. [225]

In 1994, Obama represents a client suing Citibank for denying mortgages to blacks. [263]

In the fall of 1994, Obama’s mother becomes ill with ovarian cancer. [324]

In 1995 Obama’s first book, “Dreams From My Father,” is published. It sells only a few thousand copies and has to be remaindered; critics call it “overwrought” and “self-indulgent.” The book is re-published in 2004, with some changes, after Obama becomes famous, and it earns him a fortune. [57,58]

A 1995 article in the “Chicago Reader” describes how Obama had rejected the “…unrealistic politics of integrationist assimilation.” [264]

In 1995, Obama sues the State of Illinois on behalf of ACORN to get the state to comply with the federal “Motor Voter Law” law, which Republican Governor Jim Edgar correctly argues will invite voter fraud, partly because government officers registering new voters are “under orders not to ask anyone for identification or proof of citizenship.” ACORN has been prominent in the fight against photo I.D. for voting and other means of voter identification. ACORN specifically sought out Obama to represent them in the lawsuit (it was not simply assigned to him by a law firm). [54,240,255,284]

In 1995, urged by Obama, the Woods Fund gives more money to “community organizer” groups like ACORN. The Woods Fund publicly lies about its ideology, which allows it to obtain donations from many who aren’t aware of its radical intentions. Obama’s committee’s own report even brags that its claim to be “…non-ideological has enabled the Trustees to make grants to organizations that use confrontational tactics against the business and government ‘establishments’ without undue risk of being criticized of partisanship.” During Obama’s tenure with the Woods Fund, the organization gives out more than $200,000 to ACORN. [232,297]

William Ayers (who may have met Obama as early as 1981) selects Obama as chairman (1995-2000) of the “Chicago Annenberg Challenge on Excellence in Education” (CAC), an educational reform program that proves to be remarkably unsuccessful. (A 2003 audit states, "There were no statistically significant differences between Annenberg schools and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain.”) Ayers and Obama approve grants of $175,000 and $482,662 to groups founded by Ayers and run by former communist party leader Mike Klonsky. Obama may have worked with the CAC as early as 1993. [59,60,61,155,156,201,204,428]

Note that for several years (at least until 1999 or 2000) the offices of the CAC are at 115 South Sangamon in Chicago. Bill Ayers’ “Small Schools Workshop” (of which Mike Klonsky is co-director) is also located at 115 South Sangamon. Both organizations are on the third floor. [366]

Obama approves so many grants with CAC money that the “Chicago Reader” refers to Obama as a “philanthropist.” Obama’s time with the CAC is his only “executive experience.” While with the CAC, Obama and Ayers distribute an amount in the neighborhood of $100 million, and achieve essentially none of the group’s stated educational goals. [297,428]

It should be noted that the selection of Obama, a 33 year-old junior lawyer at a small law firm, as chairman of the educational reform group CAC is strange, inasmuch as the board also includes several older and experienced university presidents – one of whom, Stanley O. Ikenberry of the University of Illinois, later remarks, “It was unusual, here you had a person trained in the law chairing a board on school reform.” [65]

In 1995, Obama’s political career starts with a fundraiser at the home of Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn. Ayers and Dohrn are former 1960s radicals and former Weather Underground militants, who disappeared in 1970 after their bomb, designed to kill army officers in New Jersey, accidentally destroys a Greenwich Village townhouse; they eventually turn themselves in to authorities in 1980; but because of improper FBI surveillance Ayers and Dohrn are never prosecuted for their involvement in 25 bombings. [60,66,67,71]

Ayers and Dohrn (who has met with communists in Cuba and Viet Cong representatives in Budapest) are alleged to have been occasional baby-sitters for the Obama children. Obama falsely claims that the 1995 fundraiser is the first time he met William Ayers. [68,69,70,71,259]

The North Vietnamese have presented both Ayers and Dohrn with rings made with metal from an American plane shot down in North Viet Nam. [69]

An interesting side note: Ayers and Dohrn are the adoptive parents of Chesa Boudin, whose parents, David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin, are serving three consecutive 25 year prison terms for felony murder, having killed three Brinks guards in a 1981 robbery to get cash to fund their Weather Underground, SDS, Black Liberation Army, and Black Panther Party activities. Chesa Boudin was named a Rhodes Scholar, through the help of Dennis Hutchinson, a professor at the University of Chicago, where Ayers and Obama taught. [205]

In October of 1995, Obama attends the male-only “Million Man March,” organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. [284,286]

Obama successfully seeks the endorsement of the “New Party” (NP), a Marxist third party in Chicago, for his 1996 state senate run. The endorsement of the New Party requires that the candidate “…sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.” Obama receives the endorsement with an in-person appearance with the NP; it is not an unsolicited endorsement. After his victory in the election, the NP states that “Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration.” [72,243,253,431]

Obama also receives the support of the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA); Obama was then (and may still be) an associate of the DSA’s Chicago branch. The members of the New Party, the DSA, and ACORN are, to a great extent, interchangeable. [239,243,253,432]

Obama is a panelist for a discussion, “Employment and Survival in Urban America,” sponsored by the DSA on February 25, 1996. [432]

The Marxist New Party refers to Obama as one of its own party members in an October, 1996 “Running to Win: The Key Races” announcement, that reads, “Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).” [244,422]

The “Progressive Populist” magazine runs an editorial that says, “New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.” The New Party’s parent organization is the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA). The New Party’s short-term objective is to move the Democrat Party far to the left, helping establish the conditions for an eventual Marxist party. [253]

Obama’s state senate run also receives the support of Dr. Quentin Young, a neighbor of Obama’s and a long-time advocate of a single-payer, national health care system; Young is believed to be a member of the Communist Party of the USA, and had been active in Chicago socialist circles since the 1930s; in 1992 Young received from the Chicago Democratic Socialists its highest honor, the (Eugene) Debs Award; while in the Illinois State Senate, Obama supports Young’s single-payer health care program and introduces several bills in failed attempts to get it established. [73,74]

On November 7, 1995, Obama’s mother dies of ovarian cancer. Involved with his State Senate campaign, Obama is not with her in her final days. [324]

1996-1997

Obama is elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996; he takes the seat long held by Democrat State Senator Alice Palmer (also an official of the U.S. Peace Council, an affiliate of the World Peace Council, a Soviet front group), who agrees to let Obama run for her state seat only if she loses her bid for U.S. Congress; Palmer loses the Congressional primary, but Obama reneges on his agreement and works with lawyers to get Palmer and three other opponents removed from the primary ballot on technicalities, in order to insure his opponent-free victory. On January 2, 1996, a group of Obama operatives descends on the offices of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to challenge, one by one, all the signatures on the nominating petitions of all of Obama’s challengers; they do not stop until Obama is the sole name on the ballot. [75,269]

The Congressional seat Alice Palmer had tried to win had been held by disgraced Congressman Mel (“I won the Lotto”) Reynolds, who resigned after allegations of sex with an underage campaign volunteer; Alice Palmer lost the primary to Jesse Jackson Jr. (Note: This explains some of the animosity between Obama and Jesse Jackson; had Jackson’s son not entered the Congressional race, Alice Palmer would have won the seat and Obama would not have had to resort to signature challenges to get Palmer off the State Senate ballot. The main animosity, of course, is that Obama may win the Presidency which Jackson failed to win because he was considered too “radical,” when, in fact, Obama is exponentially more radical than Jackson ever was.) [269]

With the Palmer petition signature challenges, Obama follows the practice preached by Davis and Alinsky (and Axelrod): don’t try to beat the opponents, remove them from the playing field entirely. Obama’s reliance on petition challenges runs counter to his self-made image of a reformer and crusader for voter’s rights. (Palmer will campaign for Hillary Clinton in 2008.) [75,329]

Timuel Black, a mutual friend, tries unsuccessfully to mend the rift between Obama and Palmer; Black is a long-time socialist, who associated with communists and Trotskyists in the 1930s, allegedly joined the Communist Party of the USA, was active in the Progressive Party, was president of the local chapter of the allegedly communist Negro American Labor Council, and was frequently involved with the annual Chicago Debs Day Dinners, an awards celebration for Illinois socialists. [74]

Obama’s campaign is alleged to have received financial assistance from the politically-connected Giannoulias family, possibly in exchange for future favors. (Obama will later support and endorse the young, inexperienced Alexi Giannoulias in his run for Illinois State Treasurer.) [281]

In January and February of 1997, renters of several Chicago slum tenements owned by Tony “the fixer” Rezko go without heat for five weeks; Rezko doesn’t come up with the money to turn on the heat, but manages to contribute $1,000 to Obama’s Illinois State Senate political campaign; Obama then seeks state funds for even more Rezko housing developments. (The Syrian-born Rezko can afford to travel widely in the Middle East.) Obama continues to have associations with Rezko and other corrupt housing developers in Chicago; Obama gets state money for them and, in exchange, they contribute to his campaigns. Obama thus becomes, indirectly, one of the biggest slum-lords in Chicago. [76,238]

In the Illinois State Senate, Obama introduces Senate Resolution 110, declaring November 1, 1997 “Islamic Community Day.” [347]

In 1997, Obama and Ayers appear together as speakers on several occasions; at the University of Chicago, their topic is, "Should a child ever be called a ‘super predator?’” The announcement of their November, 1997 appearance together states, “Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system.” [71,83,237]

In 1997, Obama endorses William Ayers’ book on juvenile justice, with an article praising it in the Chicago Tribune in which Obama calls the Ayers book a “searing and timely account of the juvenile court system.” Michelle Obama (who at this time is the University of Chicago’s dean of student services and director of the school’s Community Service Center) hosts a panel discussion of the book, in which both Obama and Ayers participate. In 2008, seeking to distance to Obama from Ayers, the campaign claims Obama did not “write a blurb for his book.” [77,84,279,333]

Ayers mentions Obama in his book, where he writes, “Our neighbors include Muhammad Ali, former mayor Eugene Sawyer, poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Elizabeth Alexander, and writer Barack Obama. Minister Louis Farrakhan lives a block from our home and adds, we think, a unique dimension to the idea of 'safe neighborhood watch': the Fruit of Islam, his security force, has an eye on things twenty-four-hours a day." In April of 2008, when Obama’s relationship with Ayers is brought up in a primary debate, Obama lies, saying he doesn’t know him well and that he is only “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” [78,279,297,333]

1998-1999

In March, 1998, Obama delivers the eulogy at the funeral of Saul Mendelsen, a leader of Chicago’s far left and a socialist “community organizer” and activist. [79]

In October, 1998, Obama writes a letter supporting plans for low-income senior citizen housing. The project’s site, an empty lot owned by the city of Chicago, is sold to Obama’s friend Tony Rezko, and Obama’s former law-firm boss, Mr. Allison Davis, for one dollar. The project, “Cottage View Terrace,” eventually consumes $14.6 million in taxpayer dollars, with a substantial amount going to Rezko and Davis as development fees. Taxpayer funds are later given to Rezko for additional housing projects, despite the fact that some of his prior projects fell into significant disrepair. In 2007 and 2008, Obama says he “never did any favors” for Rezko. Obama’s former boss, Davis, donates more that $400,000 to dozens of political campaigns, including those of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Obama. [80]

In 1998 Obama is re-elected to Illinois State Senate.

In 1998, Obama’s daughter Malia Ann is born.

Obama attends a speech given by Columbia University Professor Edward Said, who called for a non-violent campaign “against settlements, against Israeli apartheid.” [387]

In 1999, Obama casts the only vote against Illinois Senate Bill 485, which makes felons convicted of sexual abuse crimes serve their full sentences without getting credit for time served in the county jail. [93]

Obama votes against a bill that specifically allows homeowners the right to use a gun in self-defense during a home invasion. The Illinois Governor vetoes the bill; Obama votes to uphold the veto. [315]

In 1999, Obama proposes increasing Illinois firearm and ammunition excise taxes by 500 percent. (For example, a $55 tax on a $500 rifle would increase to $330.) The tax would thus change from a fee to fund wildlife preservation programs into a gun-punishing penalty. [444]

Until 2002, Obama serves, with William Ayers, on the board of the Woods Fund, a liberal Chicago non-profit organization. Grants from the fund are given out to Reverend James T. Meeks (a fiery, anti-white and anti-Semitic Chicago preacher, in the style of Obama’s reverend Jeremiah Wright), and Father Michael Pfleger (perhaps best known encouraging his parishioners to buy time from prostitutes as a way of inviting the women to counseling and job training). [81]

The Woods Fund also gives money to ACORN, which registers voters in poor black neighborhoods, to garner additional support for Obama. Arguably, these actions by Obama and ACORN are illegal because, as an allegedly independent, apolitical, tax-exempt, non-profit group, ACORN cannot legally “pimp for Obama” - but that is essentially what it does in registering voters while drumming up support for the candidate who is financing its operations; its tax-exempt status is thus flagrantly violated by ACORN. [227]

2000-2001

In January of 2000, Obama and the controversial Father Michael L. Pfleger are involved in an ACORN demonstration protesting “payday loans.” [284]

In 2000, Obama enters the primary for U.S. Congress. In a television interview during the campaign, he cites as a qualification his experience with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the educational reform project on which he worked with William Ayers. (The project ends up wasting over $100 million, without accomplishing any of its stated goals.) [60,204]

To help finance his run for Congress, Obama secures a $20,000 personal loan. [332]

The Chicago scuttlebutt is that Obama’s 2000 campaign for Congress is funded by what some call the “Hyde Park mafia,” a group of University of Chicago leftists, and that there is a master plan to “push him up the political ladder.” [86]

Obama’s tone in the campaign comes off as condescending by many (“I gave up a career with a high-priced law firm to run for public office”), and he loses the primary to opponent Bobby Rush, who defeats him by 30 per cent; Rush describes Obama as an “elitist” who is not “black enough” to serve the district. Obama reviews the demographics of his loss and works with Democrat consultant John Corrigan to get the district’s borders re-drawn (“gerrymandered’) to favor his political goals; they establish a new district that is still heavily black, but which also includes liberal North Shore whites who would be more inclined to vote for Obama than Rush (a former member of the radical Black Panthers). [87,88,193]

In 2000, Obama campaign volunteer Kenny B. Smith donates $550 to Obama’s Illinois State Senate campaign; in 2001, Obama steers $100,000 in tax dollars to a newly-formed Smith organization to build a gazebo, “parrot sanctuary,” and “walk of fame” in a blighted Chicago neighborhood; by 2008 only the gazebo has been built, the neighborhood is still blighted, and there is no sign of the rest of the $100,000. [89]

IN 2000, Rashid, a former PLO operative who justified Palestinian terrorism as contributing to "political enlightenment," hosts a fundraiser for Obama. Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut in the 1970s, and spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Organization. From 1976 to1982, Khalidi was reportedly director of the Palestinian press agency, WAFA, which was operating in exile from Beirut with the PLO. In the 1990s, Khalidi advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations; he is currently a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University. Khalidi also taught at the University of Chicago, lived near the Obamas in Hyde Park, and was their friend and frequent dinner companion. [384,387,395,416]

Obama reported income from speaking fees on his 2000 and 2002 tax returns. It is illegal for Illinois State Legislators to accept fees for speeches; he was thus in violation of Illinois law both those years. [394]

In 2001, Obama’s daughter Natasha is born.

In 2001, Obama votes against Illinois House Bill 1812, a law designed to toughen penalties for crimes committed in furtherance of organized gang activities. [92]

In 2001, Obama votes against a bill that would allow people who receive protective orders (such as domestic violence victims) to carry firearms. When the bill fails, Obama remarks, "…authorizing potential victims to carry firearms would potentially lead to a more dangerous rather than less dangerous situation; it was a bad idea and I'm glad it failed.” [444]

While Obama serves on the board of the Woods Fund, it approves (in 2001) a $40,000 grant to the “Arab American Action Network” (AAAN); a second grant, for $35,000, is approved in 2002. President of the AAAN is Mona Khalidi, wife of Rashid Khalidi, a professor Obama met while at Columbia University. Khalidi, a former spokesman for Yassir Arafat, anti-Semite, strong critic of Israel, and supporter of Palestinian terrorism and the PLO, later holds fundraisers for candidate Obama. AAAN calls the founding of Israel a “catastrophe,” supports liberal immigration reform in the United States, and encourages giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens. [85,395]

Serving on the board of the AAAN is Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American, anti-Semite, co-founder of “Electronic Intifada,” and long-time friend of Obama. Abunimah refers to Jews as malicious liars, and even suggests they lied about the Holocaust, writing, “if Zionists could lie about their present and ongoing torment of my (Palestinian) people, usurpation of my homeland and arrogation of my rights, and they do it rather obscenely, couldn't they likewise lie, equally obscenely, about the holocaust, an event that took place over half a century ago?" [335]

Other groups receiving money from the Woods Fund include the voter-registration group ACORN (which has been highly criticized for thousands of questionable and illegal registrations), Bernadine Dohrn’s “Children and Family Justice Center,” and Trinity United Church of Christ (Obama’s church, and home of Reverend Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright). [62,63,64,82]

In 2001, Obama gives a radio interview to Chicago station WBEZ-FM, in which he discusses the “redistribution of wealth” from whites to blacks. Obama remarks, “…and one of the, I think, the tragedies of the civil rights movement was, because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and, and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change. And, uh, in some ways we still suffer from that.” He continued, “I’m not optimistic about bringing about major redistributive change through the courts. The institution just isn’t structured that way.” (Obama is not opposed to the redistribution of wealth, he merely feels the courts shouldn’t be the institution forcing it.) “You can craft theoretical justifications for it legally.” (After Fox News broadcasts the interview in October of 2008, the Obama campaign cries foul, charging Fox with creating a “fake news controversy.” [383,386,396]

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Obama writes, in a “blame America” op-ed piece in the Hyde Park Herald, that the essence of the tragedy “derives from the fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others,” that the terrorist attackers “lacked empathy,” and their attitude “…grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.” [90]

In August of 2001, William Ayers is photographed trampling on the American Flag, for a cover article in the “Chicago Magazine” titled “No Regrets.” (Note: the magazine is very popular in Chicago and is prominently displayed on newsstands throughout the city; Obama would have had a difficult time not seeing the magazine cover.) [279]

In a September 11, 2001 article in the New York Times, William Ayers is quoted as saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs… I feel we didn’t do enough.” At the time Ayers makes that statement, he and Obama are serving together on the Board of the Woods Fund. [279]

At least six of the 19 terrorists involved in the attacks of September 11 are illegally registered to vote in the United States, partly because of ACORN’s activities in spreading “motor voter” laws. [240]

In 2001, Obama introduces Senate Bill 750, the “Halal Food Act,” which requires the Department of Agriculture to conduct inspections to insure that all food labeled Halal is prepared according to Islamic law. [348]

Obama opposes a bill that defines as a “person” a fully born baby who survives an abortion. [346]

Obama votes “present” on legislation that would require doctors to give medical attention to babies who survive abortions. Obama argues that defining “…a pre-viable fetus" that survived an abortion as a "person" or "child would essentially bar abortions, because the Equal Protection Clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an anti-abortion statute." Testifying in favor of the law is an Illinois nurse, Jill Stanek, who had witnessed infants being left to die by abortionists, and who later writes, “Obama articulately worried that legislation protecting live aborted babies might infringe on women's rights or abortionists' rights. Obama's clinical discourse, his lack of mercy, shocked me.” [346,412]

2002-2003

Obama is re-elected to Illinois State Senate, with no opponent on the ballot.

In 2002, Obama, as an Illinois legislator, votes against the “Induced Infant Liability Act,” a law meant to protect the lives of babies who “inadvertently” survive attempted abortions and then need medical attention to survive; Obama’s is the sole vote against the bill, and a similar bill later passes unanimously in the United States Senate. This vote is consistent with the Alinsky philosophy (in “Rules for Radicals”) that “…all values are relative in a world of political relativity.” [91,272]

Obama votes against an Illinois bill banning state funding of late term abortions.

Obama is the only Illinois State Senator to vote against a bill that prohibits early release for sexual predators. Obama votes to make a criminal out of a homeowner who used a gun in his own defense in his own home. Obama refuses to vote for a bill in the Illinois State Senate that would increase penalties for drug traffickers. Obama votes against making it a criminal offense for convicts on probation or on bail to have contact with a street gang. Obama votes against a bill that imposes the death penalty to gang members who murder first responders (paramedics, firemen, police officers). [346]

In 2002, Ayers and Obama appear together at the University of Illinois for a discussion called, “Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" [94]

During the course of his Illinois State Senate career, Obama votes “present” at least 130 times, in an effort to avoid being pinned down on issues that might later be used against him by an opponent in a campaign. [95,96]

Obama is the sole “present” vote on a bill to allow victims of sexual crimes to petition judges to seal court records to protect their privacy. All other State Senators - Democrats and Republicans alike - vote in favor of the bill. [328]

While a State Senator, Obama votes for a bill that would ban most hunting rifles, shotguns, and target rifles; the bill would also authorize the Illinois State Police to raid homes and forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama also votes for a bill that would shut down Illinois firearm manufacturing businesses (Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms, and Les Baer). Obama votes for a bill prohibiting Illinois citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month (S 2579). [326,445]

Obama votes four times during his Illinois State Senate career against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of his home and family. To avoid criticism of his anti-gun agenda, Obama enlists an organization known as the “American Hunters and Shooters Association” (AHSA) to distribute literature stating that he is “pro-Second Amendment;” the AHSA supports hunting, but also supports strict gun controls on non-hunters. (The AHSA is known to be a “sham” organization set up solely to endorse leftists who need political cover for their anti-gun leanings.) [326,353]

Democrats take control of the Illinois Senate after the November 2002 election. Essentially non-productive during his previous years in the State Senate, Obama persuades Senate President Emil Jones to “steer bills” his way in 2003 so he can make a name for himself; Democrat colleagues in the Illinois State Senate are critical of Obama’s legislative tactics in getting credit for bills he had virtually nothing to do with; State Senator Ricky Hendon says, “No one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the half-back who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book.” (Hendon is the original sponsor of racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation; Jones takes it away from Hendon to give to Obama so Obama can put his name on it as his.) Once in the U.S. Senate, Obama repays Jones with tens of millions of dollars in federal spending for his district, which Jones glibly refers to as “steak” rather than “pork.” [98,99,239,292]

With a slew of Jones-fed legislation now under his belt and “substance” for him to run on, Obama starts working on his plans to enter the 2004 U.S. Senate race; aiding him is longtime Chicago political pro David Axelrod.

In 2003, Tony Rezko arranges a fundraiser for Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. [245]

The Illinois State Archives never receives any request from Obama to archive any records in his possession, suggesting it was his intention to personally retain details of his work and not make records public. [346]

During Obama’s seven year Illinois State Senate career he works, on average, less than two days per week, has virtually no accomplishments during his first six years, and then gets 26 bills passed in his final year – with the help of Senate President Emil Jones, who has Obama’s name placed on bills that others wrote. [346]

In 2003, Obama attends a dinner held in honor of Rashid Khalidi, a former PLO operative, harsh critic of Israel, and advocate of Palestinian rights. Obama, who has consistently denied a close relationship with Khalidi (the Obamas have dined more than once at the home of Khalidi and his wife, Mona, and used them as occasional baby-sitters), praises Khalidi during the decidedly anti-Semitic event. William Ayers attends the party, and both Ayers and Obama sign Khalidi’s “guest book.” The event is a going away party for Khalidi, who is leaving Chicago and moving to New York. The Los Angeles Time has a videotape of the event, but refuses to release it.” The dinner is sponsored by the Arab American Action Network, to which Obama had funneled cash while serving on the board of the Woods Fund. One speaker remarks that if Palestinians cannot secure a return of their land, Israel “will never see a day of peace.” [384,387,395,418,419]

The Los Angeles Times has a videotape of the Khalidi dinner, but refuses to make it public; it is assumed the tape’s contains are damaging to candidate Obama, likely because the event included anti-Semitic sentiments. Appearing as entertainment at the Khalidi dinner was a children’s dance group, the “Sanabel AlQuds Dabka” troupe. The Milwaukee-based Muslim children’s dance group typically performs the “debka,” a Middle-Eastern dance. That dance group’s performance has been known to include “simulated beheadings” with fake swords, and stomping on American, Israeli, and British flags. [438,439]

It has also been alleged that, in his speech at the Khalidi dinner, Obama states that “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine,” and there has been “genocide against the Palestinian people by (the) Israelis.” [440]

In 2003, Obama tells the AFL-CIO that "I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program… and that's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House." Throughout the 2008 Presidential campaign, Obama denies that he seeks a single-payer universal healthcare system. [404]

In 2003, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act again comes up in the Illinois Senate; as chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, Obama shelves the bill, preventing it from even being brought to the Senate floor for a vote. [412]

Obama’s Health and Human Services Committee is known for its “kiss of death” treatment of any legislation that is not leftist. Although “specialty license plate” legislation (e.g. license plates to honor veterans or support other causes) is normally directed to the Transportation Committee, legislation supporting “Choose Life” and “Choose Adoption” license plates is instead directed to Obama’s committee, where he won’t allow a vote. Obama states he is “not in favor of a plate benefiting adoption," while on the campaign trail he says he “favors adoption as a means to reduce abortion." [412,413]

Reverend Scott and Janet Willis, whose six children were killed in a tragic accident involving a truck driver who had obtained his commercial drivers license through bribery, drive three hours to the state capital in Springfield to testify in favor of a “Choose Life” license plate; proceeds from the specialty license plate would be used to help fund adoption expenses. Echoing pro-abortion groups, Obama calls the issue “contentious.” NARAL calls it "aggressive propaganda," and the vice president of the Illinois National Organization for Women calls it "a violation of free speech." Reporters fill the hearing room, eager to record the expected emotional Willis testimony; Obama calls only his friendly witnesses, ignores Scott and Janet Willis, and then abruptly adjourns the hearing. Obama reconvenes the hearing the next day, after the reporters have returned to Chicago, listens to testimony, and then has his Democrat-controlled committee kill the legislation. [412,413,414]

Obama votes, in 2003, for a bill that classifies most single-shot and double-barreled shotguns as “semi-automatic assault weapons” and bans them, along with hundreds of models of rifles and handguns. (Had the bill had passed, Illinois residents would have had 90 days to turn their guns in or face felony charges.) [444]

2004

Obama, in 2004, illegally uses state funds for a political mailing. [97]

Obama pushes legislation in the Illinois Senate (SB1332) to reduce the number of members of the Health Facilities Planning Board from 15 to 9, and (with the help of Tony Rezko, Stuart Levine, and Governor Rod Blogojevich) gets three of his campaign contributors appointed to the Board. One of the doctors on the Board, Robert Weinstein, is later convicted, along with Stuart Levine, of embezzling millions from charities and a medical school. FBI agents record Rezko telling Levine that he influences the Board. Michael Malek, one of the people appointed to the board, donates $10,000 to Obama on June 3, 2003, and $25,000 to Governor Rod Blagojevich in July 25, 2003; appointee Fortunee Massuda gives the governor $25,000, and $2,000 to Obama; Dr. Imad Almanaseer gives $3,000 to Obama. [207,209,346]

In 2004 Obama enters the Democrat primary for U.S. Senate; there are 15 candidates, Obama’s most formidable is wealthy executive Blair Hull; Obama’s campaign manager is David Axelrod, a long-time political pro in Chicago; Hull leads in the polls, but four weeks before the primary, an operative (perhaps Axelrod) leaks to the Chicago Tribune information that Hull’s divorce documents reveal a request for an “order of protection” from Hull’s wife; a wife-beating assumption (true or not) sinks Hull, and Obama wins the primary handily with the help of Chicago’s large black population. [100]

Michelle Obama, in February of 2004, sends a fund-raising letter with "alarming news" that "right-wing politicians" had passed a law preventing partial-birth abortions, which she called "a legitimate medical procedure;" she asks supporters to pay $150 to attend a luncheon for her candidate husband, who would fight against "cynical ploy[s]" to stop late-term abortions. [412]

By 2004, Obama and ACORN are “old friends.” Over the years Obama receives campaign support and voter registration help from ACORN; in exchange, Obama helps obtain funding for ACORN via the Woods Fund, Joyce Foundation, and the legislature, and attempts to introduce “ACORN-friendly” legislation (like massive minimum wage increases, preventing the construction of new Wal-Mart stores, forcing banks to lend more to poor people and donate to voter turn-out drives, rolling back welfare reform, and forcing businesses that flee the city of Chicago to pay “exit fees”). [243]

While serving as director of the Joyce Foundation board, Obama gives millions of dollars to gun control organizations like the Council Against Handguns and the Violence Policy Center. (Between 1994 and 2001, the Joyce Foundation gave $18.6 million to about 80 anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment projects, including $1.5 million to the Violence Policy Center.) [346,444]

In 2004, Obama says he is "…consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry," and that he would back "federal legislation that would ban citizens from carrying weapons, except for law enforcement." [444]

In March, 2004, Obama votes to allow prosecution of citizens how use guns for self-defense in their own homes (SB 2165). [445]

The Chicago Communist Party endorses Obama for the U.S. Senate; he receives volunteer support from the Young Communist League. [101]

In April of 2004, Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi attends a dinner party held in his honor at the home of Tony Rezko. In 2005, Auchi lends Rezko $3.5 million, three few weeks before Rezko’s wife pays full price ($625,000) for an empty lot adjacent to a $1.95 million mansion Obama buys on the same day – at a $300,000 discount, for $1.65 million. [296]

In June of 2004, leftist billionaire George Soros (who bankrolls the radical web site moveon.org) hosts a fundraiser in New York for Obama’s Senate campaign; Soros chips in $60,000; the total “take” for the evening is unknown. [239]

On July 27, 2004, Obama gives the keynote address at the Democrat National Convention which nominates John Kerry for President.

On July 28, 2004, Obama tells a crowd in Boston that the United States has an "absolute obligation" to remain in Iraq long enough to make it a success. "The failure of the Iraqi state would be a disaster," he then says at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon. "It would dishonor the 900-plus men and women who have already died. It would be a betrayal of the promise that we made to the Iraqi people, and it would be hugely destabilizing from a national security perspective." Obama later changes his tune. [346]

Obama’s Republican opponent in the fall campaign for the U.S. Senate is Jack Ryan, a handsome, articulate, and wealthy investment broker with three Ivy League degrees. The press works to get Ryan’s sealed divorce documents unsealed (his ex-wife is actress Jeri Lynn Ryan), and an embarrassed Ryan withdraws from the race. The Republicans field a last-minute replacement, Alan Keyes, a black, anti-abortion, fiery speaker who is ridiculed by the press and never taken seriously. (The ultra-conservative Keyes does not help his case by saying things like “Jesus Christ himself would not vote for Barack Obama.”) Obama wins easily. [102,103,359]

In 2004, the “Code Pink” anti-war group delivers $600,000 in cash and supplies to Iraq – not to American soldiers, but to the terrorists who are fighting them in Fallujah. Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, later donates $2,300 to the Obama Presidential campaign. Evans says in a June, 2008 interview that Osama bin Laden had a “valid argument” for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 [104,355]

In 2004, Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi (who lives in London) flies to Chicago in a private jet and meets at the Four Season Hotel with Tony Rezko, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Obama. At this point, both Blagojevich and Obama are aware that Rezko is already under investigation for illegal activities involving kickbacks for political favors. [249]

In November of 2004, before he is even sworn in as a United States Senator, Obama has “toe in the water” conversations with close associates about his running for President in 2008. Publicly, however, Obama says “I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I’m the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois.” [210,239]

2005

After Obama is elected to the U.S. Senate, he tells reporters asking if he will run for President that is “a silly question." He continues, “I’ve never worked in Washington. I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I’m the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois." [351]

In early 2005, the mass media adopts its long-term “suck up to and cover up for Obama” posture, with Time Magazine naming Obama one of “The World’s Most Influential People.” (MSNBC’s Chris Matthews will later say of Obama, “He seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament." A starry-eyed Oprah Winfrey will gush that Obama's "tongue (is) dipped in the unvarnished truth,” and author Deepak Chopra will predict that an Obama Presidency will "represent a quantum leap in American consciousness.”) [239,351,358]

Obama buys more than $50,000 of stock in two companies whose major investors include his biggest political donors. One of the companies is developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying shares in the company, Obama pushes for federal spending to battle the disease; the fear of the disease is hyped way out of proportion by the media, with incessant scare stories not backed up by facts. Obama also buys stock in a satellite communications business backed by four friends and donors who had raised $150,000 for him. [351]

In June, 2005, Obama purchases a mansion in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, for $1.65 million ($300,000 less than the asking price), with the help of friend, fundraiser, and political “fixer” Tony Rezko; Rezko’s wife, who earns $37,000 per year, purchases the empty lot adjacent to the Obama house for the full price of $625,000, with a down payment of $125,000. Obama’s 5.625 per cent mortgage is for $1.32 million, through the Northern Trust Bank. At the time of the purchase, it is already widely known that Rezko is under investigation by federal authorities; Obama deals with him anyway. Three weeks before the purchase, $3.5 million is loaned to Rezko by Nadhmi Auchi, a wealthy Iraqi who lives in England. (Rezko is convicted in 2008 of receiving kickbacks for political favors.) Mrs. Rezko then sells a 10-foot strip of the empty lot to Obama, for $104,500. (The transaction leaves Rezko with an unusable empty lot with no street access.) Rezko later asks Obama to help Auchi obtain a visa to travel in the United States in 2005; the State Department refuses – partly because Auchi, a member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party and former high-ranking official in his oil Ministry, had been found guilty of corruption charges in France. [105,106,249,329]

Living within a few blocks of Obama’s mansion are Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers, and Toni Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle in Chicago’s 4th Ward Alderwoman [329]

The Syrian-born Rezko’s money ties to Iraq may go back decades, and to Saddam Hussein. Nadhmi Auchi, who is apparently Rezko’s main money man, dealt with Hussein as early as 1959 and in a failed assassination attempt on Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qasim. [249]

In May of 2005, a Panamanian company, Fintrade Services, lends money to Obama fundraiser Rezko. On Fintrade’s board of directors is Ibtisam Auchi, wife of Nadhmi Auchi. [249,351]

One of Auchi’s companies helps finance a power plant in Iraq, working with Rezko and Aiham Alsamarrae; Alsamarrae is a Chicago resident with dual (U.S. and Iraqi) citizenship, and is accused of graft with Iraqi construction projects; Alsamarrae is imprisoned for four months in Iraq in a $2 billion corruption case. Obama is thus a critic of the War in Iraq at the same time he is receiving political favors and contributions from Rezko, who is, in turn, dealing with Iraqis and kickback schemes. [249]

In April of 2005, while Alsammarae is Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, a $50 million contract is negotiated with “Companion Security” to train Iraqi security guards in Illinois; Companion Security is run by Daniel T. Frawley and a partnership between Tony Rezko and Daniel Mehru. [249]

In 2005, Virginia officials reject 83 per cent of ACORN’s Project Vote new voter registrations as fraudulent. [204]

Obama votes against the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which would prevent minors from being taken across state lines without the consent of the parents in order to have an abortion. [108]

In 2005, Obama votes for an energy bill that includes billions of dollars in subsidies for oil and natural gas production. [109]

In 2005, Obama votes for a bill (S 397) classifying most rifle ammunition larger than .22 caliber as “armor piercing ammunition” and prohibiting its manufacture for civilian use. The bill fails to pass. [444,445]

In July of 2005, Obama votes to allow extensive lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry (SB 397). [445]

During 2004 and 2005, the FBI takes note of repeated visits by Obama and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to the offices of Rezmar Corporation, a joint business venture of Daniel Mahru and Tony Rezko. The purpose of the visits is unclear. [207]

Suggesting he cares less about the letter of the law and more about the status of the litigants, Obama argues against the nomination of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, saying that the role of the justice is to favor the weak over the strong; “I hope he will recognize who the weak are and who the strong are in our society.” [344,445]

2006

Obama’s second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” is published. The book’s title is inspired by Obama’s controversial pastor, Reverend Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright. [137]

Obama pushes for a $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago Hospitals; his wife, Michelle Obama, is promoted to “Vice President of Community and External Affairs” for the hospitals; her salary jumps from $121,900 to $316,962; her main responsibilities, in promoting an “Urban Health Initiative,” are to encourage the poor, uninsured to go to neighborhood clinics rather than diminish hospital profits by using the hospital emergency rooms; assisting her with the public relations is David Axelrod. [110,111,112]

The Board of Trustees of Chicago’s Adler Planetarium raises $250,000 for Obama’s Presidential campaign; Obama then obtains a $3 million earmark for the planetarium; $300,000 had been sought by the Trustees to upgrade a projector system. [113]

On January 31, 2006, Obama votes against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Roberts. [445]

In February of 2006, anti-military Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) votes against suspending aid to Hamas; his is the only vote against the bill. Abercrombie, an Obama supporter from Hawaii, had been a friend of Obama’s father and mother at the University of Hawaii, and is linked to the Socialist New Party. [388]

In April of 2006, Companion Security (run by Frawley, Rezko, and Mehru) works with Governor Rod Blagojevich to lease an Illinois military facility for training Iraqi security guards. In August of 2006, Frawley works with Obama’s Senate staff to complete the deal. [249]

Obama is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe, but never convenes the committee for a meeting. [114]

On May 5, 2006, John McCain and 19 other Republican Senators send a letter to the Senate Majority Leader urging the passage of Senate Bill S190, which is intended to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and could possibly have reduced the likelihood of the economic crisis in 2008). Obama does not sign the letter of support. The bill is not approved. When McCain introduces it again, it is blocked by Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and his fellow Democrats, and the bill never makes it to the Senate floor for a vote. [278]

McCain's letter, signed by nineteen other senators, said that it was "...vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac)...operate in a safe and sound manner. More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either...should fail." [278]

Obama, on June 7, 2006, votes against a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution authorizing Congress to prohibit the desecration of the United States flag. [432]

In the summer of 2006, homes in Obama’s Chicago neighborhood are reassessed for property tax purposes. Houses surrounding Obama’s are reassessed for, on average, 28 per cent more. Obama’s house is assessed at six per cent more, saving him a considerable amount in property taxes. [329]

The federal government, in 2006, shuts down an Islamic charity called “KindHearts” because of its fund-raising for terrorist groups, including Hamas; the chairman of the organization, Hatem El-Hady, then directs his fund-raising efforts to Obama’s election. [115]

Obama proposes legislation prohibiting gun stores from operating within five miles of a school or a park; inasmuch as most communities have schools and parks scattered widely throughout their areas, the legislation would effectively ban gun stores. [339]

Obama visits Kenya in 2006, and gives support to Raila Odinga, a Muslim socialist candidate for President who has ties to both al Qaeda and Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi and was educated in communist East Germany, and who hopes to get Sharia Muslim law established. Odinga is a cousin of Obama; Odinga’s mother is the sister of Obama’s father. [294,329,452]

During his 2006 Kenya visit, Obama makes a speech to university students in Nairobi, in which he criticizes the existing pro-American Kenyan government, rallies the students against it, and talks of the need for change. This action is seen as an endorsement by Obama of Odinga, the Kenyan President’s opponent. By making his speech, supporting Odinga, and standing beside Odinga at rallies, Obama violates the stated conditions of his Official Government Visa (“to nurture relations between the (African) Continent and the United States”). The Kenyan government lodges an official protest of Obama’s passport abuse and misconduct, and Obama’s actions are denounced by the U.S. State Department as being in direct opposition to U. S. National Security. After Odinga loses the election in December of 2007, his followers burn women and children alive - in a Christian church where they had sought refuge. Over 1,500 people are ultimately killed in riots, and Odinga is ultimately given the position of Prime Minister to placate his radical supporters and stop further bloodshed. [126,127,207,208,271,293,313,329]

In support of Odinga, Obama raises approximately $950,000. The cash for Odinga comes from private meetings in 2006 arranged for Odinga by Mark Lippert, a foreign policy advisor on Obama’s staff. Odinga visits Obama during three separate trips to Washington in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Odinga promises his supporters in Kenya that he will “rewrite the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared religion.” [313]

In early 2006, Lippert had been sent by Obama to Kenya, at taxpayer expense, on a “fact-finding” mission, and to do advance work for Obama’s later visit.

In a December 22, 2006 e-mail, Obama personally informs Odinga that "all our correspondence (should be) handled by Mr. Mark Lippert,” and says that using Lippert as their common contact would be for his (Obama’s) “…own security now and in future." [313] The Kenyan visits by Obama and Lippert may have been in violation of the Logan Act.

Note the following pledges of candidate Odinga, who received support from Obama: Re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Muslim Sharia law for Muslim regions; facilitate the establishment of a Sharia court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters; order every primary school to conduct daily Madrassa classes; impose a total ban on open-air Christian gospel crusades; outlaw gospel programs on KBC; impose a total ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages; and impose an immediate ban on women’s public dressing styles that are considered immoral and offensive to the Muslim faith. [329]

Alexi Giannoulias runs for Illinois State Treasurer in 2006 and receives a strong endorsement from Obama, who states Giannoulias is “…one of the most outstanding young men I could ever hope to meet” - despite the candidate’s youth (he is 29), total lack of experience, mob connections, and his family bank’s (Broadway Bank) financing of a Chicago crime figure; one year later Giannoulias raises $100,000 for Obama’s Presidential campaign. Giannoulias is elected, but likely would not have won without Obama’s endorsement. Ten years earlier, the Giannoulias family had been rumored to have helped Obama with campaign financing, and also provided an alleged “sweetheart deal” mortgage for his Chicago townhouse (Obama’s residence before Tony Rezko helped him buy his Hyde Park mansion). [116,117,281]

Giannoulias is the money-man for Michael “Jaws” Giorango, a Chicago thug with convictions for bookmaking and promoting prostitution. Giannoulias is so tainted by mob connections that the powerful Illinois Speaker of the House and State Democrat Party Chairman Michael Madigan refused to endorse Giannoulias for State Treasurer; the Democrat Party does not endorse Democrat Giannoulias in the November election; Obama endorses him anyway. Obama uses Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank for his personal business and his Senate campaign fund. [318,319]

Obama campaigns in Vermont for socialist Senator Bernie Sanders; Sanders calls rookie Senator Obama “one of the great leaders of the United States Senate;” by the 2008 Presidential election, Obama’s voting record is more to the left than that of socialist Sanders. [118]

Illinois’ Cook County Board President John Stroger becomes ill during the 2006 primary election campaign; Chicago Democrats keep his illness a secret until the deadline for candidate filings passes, and then manage to place the name of his son, Todd Stroger, on the ballot. Despite his total lack of experience and history as a corrupt, machine-style ward boss, Obama supports the young Stroger, calling him a “good, progressive Democrat.” More qualified Democrats are outraged, especially those who support reform of the corrupt and deficit-spending Cook County Board. As predicted by many, Stroger proves to be a disaster. [119]

In an article in the Jakarta Post of November 29, 2006, Julia Suryakusuma, a long-time friend of Obama’s mother and an outspoken feminist writer, states that Obama could run for President of Indonesia; it is assumed she means that Obama retains his Indonesian citizenship; because Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship, Obama cannot be an American citizen if he has not relinquished his Indonesian citizenship. [120]

2007

In early 2007, Obama announces his candidacy for U. S. President; Obama’s main campaign strategist is David Axelrod (the “Karl Rove” of the Obama campaign). Two weeks before he launches his Presidential campaign, Obama pays $375-$400 for two decades worth of parking tickets received while at Harvard Law School. (He manages to avoid the late fees and penalties a “normal” person would be charged.) [121,353,356]

Arguably (and putting his tremendous ego aside), Obama may have decided to run for President, rather than attempting first to be the Vice-President of the more likely candidate, Hillary Clinton, partly because he knows he would never make it through the VP vetting process.

At the time of his candidacy announcement, Obama has been present for work in the Senate a total of 143 days. Obama’s announcement includes this statement, “I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change." [349,351,353]

On January 24, the “Obama Exploratory Committee” releases this statement, “To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the (Trinity) United Church of Christ in Chicago.” On March 14, that statement is clarified, as follows: "Obama was never a practicing Muslim." Obama’s web site eventually includes this statement: "Obama Has Never Been A Muslim." [353]

In early 2007, Obama states in a filing with the federal Election Commission that he would work out an agreement with the Republican nominee to accept public campaign financing. On an FEC questionnaire, Obama states, “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.” [433]

On February 26, during a primary debate in Cleveland, Obama states he will work with John McCain to ensure they both use public financing. The Obama campaign never does so. [433]

New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof interviews Obama and writes, “Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated... Mr. Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’” The interview has since been deleted from the New York Times web pages. (Interestingly, although Obama says he was never a Muslim and never practiced the religion, he is able to recite from memory something he learned in a school in Indonesia more than 30 years earlier.) [122,353]

Robert Wolf, CEO of the American branch of the Swiss banking giant USB, collects more than $370,000 in campaign contributions for Obama; USB lies to the government and conceals the identities of over 19,000 clients in order to help them avoid paying U. S. income taxes. [123,448]

In 2007, the Obama campaign receives $32,000 from companies affiliated with Robert Blackwell. While an Illinois State Senator, Obama had received $112,000 from Blackwell in monthly $8,000 retainers, funneled through the law firm at which he had previously worked. Obama had persuaded the Illinois legislature to award $320,000 in state grants to Blackwell’s company, “Killerspin.” (Killerspin is a company that promotes table tennis (“ping pong”) and sells equipment and apparel and promotes tournaments.) [207]

Note that the University of Chicago Medical Center, with Michelle Obama’s encouragement, had granted a $650,000 contract to a local contractor for upgrading the center’s intranet; that contractor was (Robert) Blackwell Consulting. [352]

On April 27, Obama tells Fox News host Chris Wallace, “I have promised that I would sit down with John McCain and talk about can we preserve a public [financing] system.” Obama never does that. [433]

In 2007, Obama tells the Des Moines Register that “…nobody’s suffering more than the Palestinian people.” [387,419]

Obama, a member or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrives late or leaves early for its meetings on May 17, 2005, September 28, 2005, April 26, 2006, May 18, 2006, July 13, 2006, September 13, 2006, September 19, 2006, January 17, 2007, January 23, 2007, and February 8, 2007. [421]

In July, 2007, Obama says he would meet, without pre-conditions, the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. [353]

On July 25, Obama tells media big-wigs and corporate CEOs in a meeting at the Time-Warner Center in Manhattan, “One thing I'm very confident about is my judgment in foreign policy is, I believe, better than any other candidate in this race, Republican or Democrat.” [353]

To raise money for her husband’s campaign, Obama’s wife charges $500 to have a photo taken with her. [124]

Obama gets Marshall Ganz to help train organizers and volunteers for his presidential campaign; employees and volunteers go through several days of intense training session, called “Camp Obama.” The sessions are led by Ganz and Mike Kruglik (one of Obama’s past fellow “community organizers”). Ganz, Kruglik, and Obama all have long associations with ACORN and Alinsky-style activism and agitation methods. [284,287]

Five ACORN employees are convicted in Washington State in “the worst case of election fraud” in the state’s history. [240]

In 2007, Obama works to stop Hans von Spakovsky, an official in the Justice Department, from being named to the Federal Election Commission, because von Spakovsky had supported a Georgia photo I.D. law. Like his ACORN supporters, Obama opposes voter I.D. laws. ACORN also opposes welfare reform and the strengthening of U.S. border security. [255]

In an April, 2007 speech, Obama, paraphrasing a line from Saul Alinsky’s book, “Rules for Radicals,” says “We don't care about the world as it is, we imagine the world as it might be.” [353]

In April, 2007, Obama endorses the idea of “comparable worth pay” by supporting a bill by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Under a “comparable worth” scheme, the federal government would define the value of every job in the United States, and then force employers to follow those rules. (A kindergarten teacher, for example, might be considered “worth” 82.7 per cent of a truck driver, while a truck driver might be considered to be “worth” 56.6 per cent of an electrical engineer. (The alleged “logic” of the plan is that it would eliminate “wage discrimination.” In practice, it would lead to substantially increased costs for all businesses, and introduce lawsuits into every aspect of wages and salary determinations.) [354]

In April, 2007, chief campaign strategist David Axelrod meets with Obama in Obama’s Senate office; Congressional ethics rules prohibit such use of federal office space for political and campaign activity. [356]

On April 30, 2007, in an interview with the New York Times, Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, says, “My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim.” [353]

On May 8, Obama criticizes U.S. automakers for not making more hybrid vehicles, like those manufactured by Honda and Toyota; Obama drives a Chrysler 300C with a large, gas-guzzling, Hemi V-8 engine. [353]

On May 24, 2007, Obama votes to cut off all funding of military efforts in Afghanistan; on the campaign trail Obama says more American troops need to be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan. [125]

Despite a long history of corruption in the Teamsters Union, Obama tells the union he will end its federal oversight if he is elected. Obama receives substantial campaign donations from the Teamsters Union. Obama also promises to support legislation allowing unions to avoid secret ballots in organizing campaigns, and legislation making it illegal for an employer to hire new workers to replace striking employees. [128,256]

On July 18, 2007, ABC News reports that Obama told Planned Parenthood that sex education for kindergartners is “the right thing to do.” [337]

In a Colorado campaign appearance, in a proposal worthy of Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro, Obama announces plans for a “civilian national security force.” After a flurry of inquiries about Obama’s intentions with his “security force,” the proposal is dropped from his speeches and all references to it are deleted from the campaign’s official web site. [129,276]

Obama tells friend Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian rights activist in Chicago, that he was sorry he wasn’t talking more about the Palestinian cause, but his primary campaign had “constrained” what he could say. Abunimah tells radio talk show “Democracy Now!” he knew Obama for many years and “when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time.” Abunimah responds to Obama’s sudden about-face and soft support of Israel during the campaign by remarking, "He is merely doing what he thinks is necessary to get elected and he will continue doing it as long as it keeps him in power." 130,223,335]

Obama receives support from Zbigniew Bzrezinski (Obama’s Chief Foreign policy Advisor and Carter Administration re-tread); Robert O. Malley; Samantha Power (senior foreign policy advisor); General Merrill A. McPeak (senior military advisor, who believes the U.S. drive Iran to hate Israel and America); Joseph Cirincione (Obama’s advisor on nuclear threats, who denies the known fact that North Korea assisted Syria in the development of a plutonium plant); and Daniel Kurtzer (Middle East advisor) – all known for their anti-Israel views. [356]

Note that the aforementioned Robert O. Malley’s father, Simon Malley, was an Egyptian-born journalist, member of the Egyptian Communist Party, close friend of Yassar Arafat, anti-Semite, and anti-American. Malley had been expelled from France in 1980 for, according to government officials, “political activities which do not correspond with, and even run contrary to, French interests in certain countries…” and some articles written by Malley were “genuine appeals to murder foreign chiefs of state.” Simon Malley’s son, Robert, served as Clinton’s Special Assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs (1998-2001). In May of 2008, Obama removes Malley from his list of official advisors after it is learned that he had met with the terrorist group Hamas. [453]

Also advising Obama are Richard Clark (foreign policy advisor), who has said that if he is captured, Osama bin Laden should be allowed to appeal his case in U.S. courts; Wesley Clark (who commanded his Fort Hood military forces at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in which 76 people – including 21 children – were killed); Richard Danzig (national security advisor, who said the U.S. war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh); Sam Grahan-Felsen (Obama’s official “blogger,” who has written a socialist magazine); Austan Goolsbee (chief economic advisor who, in 2007, wrote a defense of sub-prime mortgage loans); Penny Pritzker (financial chairperson, and former head of Chicago’s Superior Bank, which failed because many of its assets were invested in sub-prime mortgages, resulting in $360 million in penalties); and Susan Rice (senior foreign policy advisor who, as assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton, and with Richard Clark, persuaded Clinton not to accept Sudan’s offer to hand over Osama bin Laden to the U.S.). [356,360]

It is worth noting that Obama economic advisor Goolsbee wrote, in 2006, that, “Future increases in tax rates potentially threaten to significantly reduce the value of your retirement savings and may even mean that you should not save in 401(k) accounts at all.” He was perhaps looking ahead to working with Obama and a Democrat majority in Congress, because it is reported in October of 2008 that “House Democrats are looking at eliminating most of the $80 billion in annual tax breaks for 401(k) investors.” That would allow capital gains to be taxed every year, instead of deferring the taxes to retirement. [378,379]

Obama ousts his campaign’s Muslim outreach director, Chicago lawyer Mazen Asbahi, when questions about his ties to a radical Muslim imam and the Muslim Brotherhood surface, along with links to the Islamic Society of North America (an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas-terrorist-funding case). [131,419]

On September 17, at a gathering in Indianola, Iowa, Obama is photographed holding his hands together below his waist, while primary opponents Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton respectfully hold their right hand over their heart during the playing of the National Anthem. [353]

In September, Obama agrees to use public financing for his campaign; he makes that promise several more times, but eventually disregards it. [353]

In October of 2007, Obama co-sponsors legislation, the “Helping Families Save their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2007,” which makes it easier for homeowners to protect themselves from losing their homes; the bill is written to also intentionally shield ACORN and other “middleman” groups from being charged for violations of the “Truth in Lending Act” in connection with obtaining mortgages for clients. [310]

The New York Times, on October 30, 2007, reports that “Obama has declined repeated requests to talk about his New York years, release his Columbia transcript or identify even a single fellow student, co-worker, roommate or friend from those years…”

Obama promises Planned Parenthood that the first piece of legislation he will sign if elected will be the “Freedom of Choice Act,” which would overturn all state pro-life laws, including prohibitions against partial-birth abortions and parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions. [132,133]

On November 1, Obama says, “We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money.” [353]

In a November, 2007 speech to ACORN members, Obama brags that when he “…ran the Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it.” When, in 2008, critics connect Obama to ACORN and Project Vote, Obama disavows having working for or with the groups. [283]

In a November 9, 2007 interview on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” Obama declares that Americans would have to change their habits because of global warming; he advocates government-created “price signals” to encourage people to use less electricity and gas. He states, “I think it is important for us to send some price signals to change behavior. You know, if electricity goes up, people start becoming more mindful of their electricity bill." Obama is here suggesting that government artificially force energy prices higher in order to change consumer behavior. [447]

On December 1, 2007, Obama speaks to the “Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum,” at a gathering held exclusively for community organizers and members of the Gamaliel Foundation and ACORN; Obama tells the group that even before he is sworn in as President, “During the transition (period) we’re gonna be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda,” and assures them that they will be actively involved in the first 100 days of his administration. [280]

Obama avoids casting a Senate vote on a November, 2007 resolution that declares the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite part of the Iranian military, a terrorist organization. [351]

In December of 2007, Donald Young, a friend of Obama and the gay choir director of Obama’s church, is murdered, gangland style; the choir director “knew more,” according to a man named Larry Sinclair, who claims he shared drugs and homosexual “activities” with Barack Obama in the back of a Chicago cab, and again in a hotel in Gurnee, Illinois; the media has chosen not to interview the cab driver, Paramjit Singh Multani. (It should be noted that Sinclair has a long arrest record, and has committed crimes involving fraud and deceit. Sinclair’s accusations may be true, or they may be for the sole purpose of receiving donations from visitors to his web site.) One other gay member of Obama’s church, Larry Bland, is also murdered within a few weeks of Young. A third man, Nate Spencer, dies of an illness, and some have tried to suggest he was also murdered. [134,135,136,392,393,409]

During the Christmas service at Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright says, “Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a process that is controlled by rich white men. Hillary can never know that, Hillary ain't ever been called a nigger!” (Yes, Wright made that statement during a Christmas service.) Obama contends he never heard such remarks from Wright, or he would have condemned them. Apparently the allegedly church-going Obama (who records show was in Chicago at Christmas in 2007) failed to catch that part of Wright’s sermon. Note that Obama does not give presents to his children at Christmas. [357,361]

2008

Obama is one of the Illinois politicians cited in the indictment of his long-time friend and fund-raiser, Tony Rezko, for having received political contributions from Rezko’s kickback funds. Obama allegedly returns between $85,000 and $250,000 in political contributions received from Rezko. [138,139,207]

In 2008, ACORN feverishly registers new Democrat voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and other states to boost Obama’s chances of winning the primaries and the general election. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio alone, ACORN registers more than 75,000 new voters; fraud is certainly involved, inasmuch as the voter rolls in that county already exceed the number of adult residents living there by 200,000. ACORN’s Project Vote activity has a tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, which prohibits its involvement in partisan political activity; it’s workers consistently violate those laws when they pass out Obama literature and advocate his candidacy as they register new voters. [54,240]

During 2007 and 2008, Obama requests $860 million in “earmarks” (according to Taxpayers for Common Sense); they include $1 million for his wife Michelle’s employer, $62 million for the “Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy,” $8 million for “Human Genome Expression,” $4.8 million for a “Light Emitting Diode Healing Program,” $2 million for a “Soybean Disease Biotechnology Center,” and money for projects linked to campaign donors. [140]

In January of 2008, Obama confirms that he supports drivers licenses for illegal immigrants (which his campaign refers to as “undocumented people”) and will take up immigration reform during his first year in office. [341]

On January 17, in a recorded interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Obama explains his expensive “cap and trade” tax to deal with “global warming.” With regard to using coal for power plants, Obama states, “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.” (It is assumed Obama doesn’t repeat that remark when campaigning in coal-producing states like Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Colorado.) Note that roughly one-half of the nation’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, which would either be bankrupted or would have to charge much higher rates, based on Obama’s statement that he “…would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else's out there.” [442,443,450]

Obama went on to say, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket… even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas… you name it… whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations. That will cost money… they will pass that money on to the consumers.” [455]

In January, Obama tells “American Morning” host John Roberts that high taxes are in the best interest of the American economy. [ 53]

In January of 2008, Michelle Obama says, “…sometimes it's easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions. It makes you feel justified in your own ignorance. That's America.” [352]

On January 30, 2008, Obama reiterates his support for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. [353]

In February of 2008, the Obama campaign releases copies of his wife Michelle’s Princeton thesis on racial divisions. (It had originally planned on keeping the paper secret until after the election). In the introduction to the thesis, Mrs. Obama writes, "It is possible that Black individuals either chose to or felt pressured to come together… because of the belief that Blacks must join in solidarity to combat a White oppressor." Her thesis also includes the statement, "By actually working with the Black lower class or within their communities as a result of their ideologies, a separationist may better understand the desparation (sic) of their situation and feel more hopeless about a resolution as opposed to an integrationist who is ignorant to (sic) their plight." Critics who have read the thesis say it is the most sophomoric, non-scholarly piece of drivel ever, and claim it exposes a lack of academic rigor at Princeton. [352]

In February of 2008, Michelle Obama remarks at a rally in Milwaukee, “…for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.” The comment draws severe criticism and allegations that she is un-American, or at least unappreciative of the wealth she has been able to accumulate as an American. [352]

On February 29, Michelle Obama visits a daycare center in Zanesville, Ohio, where she complains about how difficult it is to survive financially in America, because she has to spend $10,000, on "piano and dance and sports supplements" and "summer programs and so on and so forth," for her daughters. [352]

In February, a photo is released that show a Cuban flag adorned with the picture of communist murderer Che Guevara hanging on the wall of Obama’s Houston campaign office. [353]

In February, Obama denies that a member of his staff told the Canadian government he does not mean what he says publicly about opting out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Canadian government confirms that the statement was made. [353]

Obama names Penny Pritzker his national finance chairman; Pritzker is the former chairman of the board of the Superior Bank S&L, which went under because of irresponsible subprime mortgage lending in the 1990s. [353]

Obama defends his association with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn with the statement, “The notion that…me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago… somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense.” Dohrn once publicly praised Charles Manson and his followers for killing actress Sharon Tate. Dohrn’s words were, “Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!” In 2007, Ayers describes the United States as an “…incipient fascist country,” and talks about overthrowing capitalism, while Dohrn, at a reunion of the radical group Students for a Democratic Society, says that “…living in America constitutes living in the belly of the beast” and “the heart of the monster.” [141,142,143]

When further criticized for his friendship with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the Obama campaign issues a lengthy document trivializing their actions as 1960s radicals and defending them as “respectable fixtures of the mainstream in Chicago.”In a September 11, 2001 New York Times interview, Ayers says of his bombing history, “I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough.” In a memoir published by Ayers after 9/11, he wrote that America is “not a just and fair and decent place… it makes me want to puke.” The cover of Ayers’ book is a photograph of him trampling on an American flag. [143,144]

“Accountable America,” an organization which supports Obama, sends threatening letters to nearly 10,000 citizens who often contribute to Republican causes, warning them of potential legal problems if they finance conservative groups. [145,146,338]

Obama supports a Democrat housing bill that provides $200 million to community groups (including ACORN) for homeowner foreclosure counseling; ACORN pledges to spend $35 million in 2008 to register new Democrat voters. [147,148,149]

The audio book version of Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” is released; a line-by-line comparison with the print version shows that the audio version Obama recorded omits a substantial number of references that many white people might call controversial.

When Reverend Jeremiah’s controversial, anti-American sermons are brought up by the media, Obama says he knows nothing about such remarks, and adds, “I wasn’t in church that day.” [239]

Before the Ohio primary in 2008, Obama’s campaign gives ACORN $832,598, allegedly for get-out-the-vote activities; ACORN has a shameful track record of fraudulent and illegal activities. [240]

In March, 2008, Obama says of his controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.” [150]

On March 3, 2008, in San Antonio, several Chicago reporters question Obama about his connections with Tony Rezko. Obama avoids the questions, saying “These requests, I think, could just go on forever. At some point, what we need to try to do is respond to what's pertinent.” [249]

In March of 2008, Obama’s foreign policy advisor, Samantha Powers, resigns from his campaign after having been caught calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.” Powers nevertheless expects a top position in an Obama Administration, despite having publicly discussed the possibility of invading Israel to help create a Palestinian state. [233,234,235,236]

On March 18, Obama makes the remarkable comment, “All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn.” (In other words, “If anyone has ever said anything that offended you, then I’m against what he said.”) [353]

In April of 2008, Obama remarks that residents of small-town America, because of lost jobs, “…get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or (become) anti-immigrant.” His comment draws severe criticism from gun-owners and church-goers. [273,315]

On April 10, Obama says he favors repealing Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice for gays serving in the military. [337]

In April of 2008, Michelle Obama addresses a Pennsylvania crowd; the rally is staffed by volunteers from Carnegie Mellon student organizations, including Carnegie Mellon Students for Barack Obama, Student Senate, AB Political Speakers, and College Democrats. Obama’s staffers make a special effort to control the seating of people who will appear on camera behind Mrs. Obama. Witnesses hear one coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” [352]
In a debate on April 17, Obama makes the statement, “I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right." (While an Illinois State Senator, Obama voted four times against legislation that would allow citizens to use firearms to defend their homes and families.) [337]

Under political pressure, Obama, in May of 2008, half-heartedly disowns Reverend Jeremiah Wright and (at least temporarily) quits his controversial church. It is not clear if his wife and children still attend the church. [151]

Reverend Wright responds to Obama’s new-found criticism by saying, "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American." Wright tells the media that friends had written to him and said, "We both know that if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected." Wright then added, "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls." [446]

When questioned about attempts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to introduce legislation that would restrict conservative radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Obama’s campaign press secretary, Michael Ortiz, says Obama supports “media-ownership caps, network neutrality” and more “public broadcasting.” Obama will support the Pelosi legislation. [152]

A birth certificate purported to be Obama’s turns out to be that of his younger half-sister, Maya Kassandra Soetoro (b. 1970), which was altered to make it look like the candidate’s. (Note that Maya Soetoro was born in Indonesia, not Hawaii; shortly after Maya’s birth, her mother took her to Hawaii to have her birth registered there.) [153,289]

On April 10, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduces Senate Resolution 511 to “recognize that John Sidney McCain is a natural born citizen.” The resolution is allegedly meant to clarify that McCain is eligible to be President even though he was born in Panama. Because McCain’s parents were both Americans and he was born in Panama because his father was stationed there while in the military, existing law already covers McCain and he is eligible to be President. McCaskill’s resolution was unnecessary and serves no purpose – but language is included to try and provide a “blanket cover” for other foreign born candidates without military backgrounds (in order perhaps to enable Obama to be eligible to be President should it be discovered that he was not born in Hawaii). [301,303]

On April 29, Obama states, “I still believe in affirmative action as a means of overcoming both historic and potentially current discrimination.” [337]

In a primary debate statement that reveals Obama’s hatred of capitalism, Obama tells ABC’s Charlie Gibson, "I would look at raising the capital-gains tax for purposes of fairness," even though raising that tax would ultimately result in shrinking federal revenues. Gibson correctly points out that a higher capital gains tax typically means less tax revenue for the federal government, but Obama would raise it anyway - just to punish people who made money through the capitalist system. [265,295]

In May of 2008, the New York Times reports that Obama quietly dumps his anti-Israel advisor Robert Malley after the media learns he has regular contacts with the Iran-financed terrorist group Hamas.

On May 15, Obama blows off a female reporter, WXYZ’s Peggy Agar, by ignoring her question and calling her “Sweetie.” [353]

In a commencement address at Wesleyan University, Obama advises graduates not to pursue the American dream, but to serve others, saying, “You can take your diploma, walk off this stage and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should. But I hope you don't." (In other words, “Do as I say, and not as my wife and I did.”) [276]

In June, Obama tours a solar power plant in Nevada, where he says that renewable energy “isn’t some pie-in-the-sky, far off future, it is now… providing cheap alternatives to $140 per barrel oil.” That facility powers only 75 homes, and took ten years to build, at a cost of almost $300,000 per home. [154]

On June 4, 2008, Obama says, “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." [353]

By June of 2008, apparently in support of Obama, Google had sporadically restricted access to at least seven anti-Obama (mostly Hillary Clinton-supporting) web sites. [353]

A writer for “Online Journal,” Wayne Madsen, publishes an article on June 9, 2008 claiming a research team went to Mombassa, Kenya, and located a certificate of the Kenyan birth of Barack Obama, Jr. [248]

Fearing additional publicity of his links to radical socialists, Obama removes all of Mike Klonsky’s blogs from his official campaign web site; Klonsky, a political activist and leader of the New Communist Movement, was a 1960s radical in the Students for a Democratic Society, and an avid advocate of Maoism, who formed a pro-Chinese sect called the October League, which then evolved into a Beijing-recognized Communist Party. Klonsky, a disciple of Saul Alinsky, was chairman of the party. [155,201]

In an interview with the New Republic, Mike Kruglik, one of Obama’s early mentors in the fine art of community activism, said of Obama, “He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards… he could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better.” That modus operandi is what Obama follows on the campaign trail: list the many things that people believe are wrong with America, get the crowd riled up and angry and feeling hopeless, and then present himself as the one who can save them from their problems – regardless of whether he can. [239,337]

Obama’s lawyers file a complaint with the Justice Department, in an effort to stop the broadcasting of an “American Leadership Project” campaign ad linking Obama to William Ayers. [157]

According to the State Department, Obama’s federal passport file was improperly viewed at least three times, at least once by someone sympathetic to his campaign. [158]

In June of 2008, Michelle Obama tells a crowd, "The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.” [352]

In July of 2008, a complaint is filed with the Illinois Bar Association alleging that Obama should be disbarred as a result of lying on his bar application. His application concealed his use of another name (Barry Soetoro), his felony drug use (cocaine) in New York, and approximately $400 in unpaid parking fines. (The bar application requires listing fines in excess of $200.) [217]

In a July speech, Obama says, “But understand this, instead of worrying whether immigrants should learn English, they’ll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.” It is not known if Obama can speak another language, but he has recited the Muslim call to prayer, in perfect Arabic, to a New York Times reporter. [122,257,353]

Candidate Obama remarks about Hillary Clinton, "I am confident I will get her votes if I'm the nominee. It's not clear she would get the votes I got if she were the nominee." [159]

When discussing “slavery reparations” with a group of “minority journalists,” Obama states, “'I consistently believe that when it comes to… reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds." Several days later, to calm fears of white taxpayers who read his remarks, Obama adds that he’s not calling for direct cash payments to descendents of slaves, but indirect aid through government programs to “close the gap” between white America and black America. The government programs will be “universal” - such as universal health care, mortgage credits, college tuition, job training, and even universal 401(k)s - programs that Obama feels "disproportionately affect people of color." In other words, Obama does not dare propose a program to directly tax whites to give payments to blacks, so he instead offers “universal” programs for everyone, but will design them so that blacks will benefit disproportionately. [275]

Obama continues to oppose school voucher systems, including the successful and popular experimental program in the Washington, D.C. system (where students do better using $7,500 vouchers at private schools than they do at the $13,400 per-student public schools). To gain the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers (union), Obama tells its members he won’t be swayed by “tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.” Obama’s own children attend the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where annual tuition ranges from $15,528 for kindergarten to $20,445 for high school; in a YouTube debate, Obama says that was “the best option” for his children. [274]

Dr. Alveda King, a niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, remarks that Obama’s “…answer to the ills of society, of higher government spending, weaker national defense, continued tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, and support of gay marriage, are diametrically opposed to everything African Americans truly believe and an anathema to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” [160]

Obama defeats Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries to become the Democrat candidate for President of the United States. Obama arrives at the Democrat National Convention without having won enough delegates in the primaries to win the nomination, but manages to persuade enough “super delegates” to vote for him to win the nomination; the “persuasion techniques” include DNC Chairman Dean and his surrogates telling delegates they must vote for Obama or he will work to defeat them by funding primary challengers in their Congressional or local races. [161]

In an appearance at the Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren asks Obama when he believes human life begins. Obama, wanting to avoid his controversial pro-abortion votes, responds, “Well (sigh). You know, I… I… eh, er, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or, uh, a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, uh, you know, is above my pay grade.” [315,430]

Obama’s campaign accuses the McCain campaign of being fed in advance the questions asked Senator McCain by Pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church appearance, and makes sure NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell repeats the unfounded charges on the evening news; Warren categorically denies the charge; no apology to Warren or McCain is issued. [162]

Reverend Leah Daughtry is named by Obama and DNC chair Howard Dean to be the Democrat Convention chief; in Daughtry’s home-town “House of the Lord Church” in Brooklyn hangs a banner supporting slavery reparations, which reads, “They Owe Us.” [163]

Eric Holder, who was instrumental in persuading Bill Clinton to pardon members of the terrorist group FALN and fugitive financier Mark Rich, leads Obama’s team to select his Vice-Presidential running mate, and is rumored to be a potential Attorney General in an Obama Administration. Working with Holder on the selection committee is James Johnson, former CEO of Fannie Mae, who was found “cooking the books” at the mortgage giant to inflate its earnings and boost his executive bonus. Former CFO of Fannie Mae, Tim Howard, is a chief economic advisor to Obama. [164,353]

Among the groups supporting Obama is “Progressives for Obama,” founded by Mark Rudd (who had been trained by the KGB in Cuba), former Weather Underground member and close ally of William Ayers; Tom Hayden, former husband of actress Jane Fonda and principle founder of the radical Students for a Democratic Society, who traveled to North Vietnam to give support to the Viet Cong; Bill Fletcher, founder of the Marxist Black Radical Congress; Barbara Ehenreich, honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America; and actor Danny Glover, recipient of $20 million from Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez to make a movie about a Haitian communist revolutionary. Ayers is on the board of a Venezuelan government think tank assigned the task of bringing Cuban-style education to Venezuela. [218,262]

During the campaign, in support of abortion, Obama remarks that if his daughters ever make a mistake and get pregnant, he wouldn’t “want them punished with a baby.” [165,315]

In May of 2008, Nevada issues an arrest warrant for Tony Rezko, for having written at least $450,000 in bad checks to Caesar’s Palace and Bally’s; he also allegedly owes $331,000 to the Bellagio casino. The checks are from Rezko’s account at Broadway Bank, which is run by the mob-connected Giannoulias family. The checks date back to 2006, when the bank’s vice-president, Obama-endorsed Alexi Giannoulias, was running for Illinois State Treasurer. [319]

Obama tells Jeffrey Goldberg of “The Atlantic” that Israel is a “constant sore” that “infects all of our foreign policy” [343]

On June 4, Obama’s main money-man, Tony “the fixer” Rezko, is convicted of 16 (of 24) counts of felony charges for influence-peddling, fraud, money laundering, and bribery conspiracy. Obama’s response is, “I'm saddened by today's verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform.” [316]

On June 12, 2008, Obama votes to raise income taxes from 25 to 28 per cent for individuals with gross incomes over $32,000. [315]

In June, 2008, two Muslim women at an Obama rally in Detroit are prevented from sitting behind Obama, in order to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate. [353]

In June of 2008, Obama’s campaign reveals a customized “Obama Presidential Seal” that hangs from the lectern as he speaks. The “seal” doesn’t last long, and its use is discontinued after intense criticism of Obama’s arrogance, and after the campaign is told that it is illegal to create and use a false seal. [353]

Obama takes credit in ads for “…extending health care for wounded troops who had been neglected,” referring to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act; Obama was not present for voting when that bill was passed, nor was it drafted by him. [351]

A review of campaign donations filed with Federal Election Commission shows that Obama’s campaign receives a substantial number of contributions in unusual amounts, such as $74.37 or $42.95, suggesting they were illegal foreign contributions originally made in “even amounts,” which were then converted to U.S. dollars, resulting in “odd amounts;” the Obama campaign appears to have made no effort to identify or return illegal foreign contributions. Obama has over $200 million in contributions of less than $200, but his campaign has done little to insure that they are legal. The campaign illegally accepts contributions without requiring donor addresses. [166,167]

Obama’s wife criticizes President Bush’s $600 economic stimulus checks at a “working-women’s round table discussion,” saying ”The short-term quick fix kinda sounds good, and it may even feel good that first month when you get that check, and then you go out and buy a pair of earrings.” [168]

Obama visits Iraq in July; although campaigning publicly for a quick and steady withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Obama - not wanting the Bush Administration to receive credit for any successes - tries, in private, to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a reduction of American troops. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari confirms that Obama demanded the delay during discussions with Iraqi leaders, stating that Obama “…asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington.” Obama tells the Iraqis it is in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion." Zebari relates that he responded to Obama, “As an Iraqi, I believe that even if there is a Democratic administration in the White House it had better continue the present policy instead of wasting a lot of time thinking what to do,” meaning that Obama was attempting to thwart U.S. policy, and Zebari was telling Obama not to not interfere. [169,200,350]

That action by Obama in Iraq is likely in violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments; the crime is a felony, and can be punished with a three year prison sentence.After the story is disclosed, Obama denies having made the statements; either Obama or Zebari is therefore lying, but even Obama’s own protestations suggest Obama is making the false statements. (Note that Zebari is fluent in English, and thus would likely not have misinterpreted Obama’s words.) [203]

At a meeting with Democratic lawmakers on July 29, Obama says he represents the “world’s hopes for America” and “This is the moment the world is waiting for.” He then adds, “I have become a symbol of restoring America to its best traditions.” [170]

On a daily basis, Obama receives two e-mails from his staff. One e-mail briefs him on major world events over the prior 24 hours, the other e-mail is a set of questions he is likely to be asked during the day, with suggested answers. [353]

In July of 2008, Obama sponsors the Global AIDS Spending Bill; the bill adds $50 billion to the $200 billion in tax dollars already spent on fighting HIV/AIDS around the world; the bill also lifts a ban on entry into the U.S. of AIDS-infected aliens; The Congressional Budget Office estimates that U.S. taxpayers will end up spending $83 billion treating those aliens and their infected children. [351]

In July, the American flag is removed from the tail of the Obama campaign plane and replaced with his trademark “O” symbol. (After receiving criticism, a much smaller U.S. flag is added.) [353]

On July 14, Obama speaks to the National Council of La Raza (“The Race,” the nation’s largest Hispanic special interest group) and promises amnesty for the 12 million or more illegal immigrants in the United States, saying, “That's why we need to offer those who are willing to make amends a pathway to citizenship. That way, we can reconcile our values as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.” [342]

In Berlin, Germany in July, Obama addresses a crowd estimated at 200,000 (already gathered for a rock concert), pretty much telling it what it wants to hear in order to ensure enthusiastic applause. During the same trip, Obama cancels a visit to wounded soldiers at an Army hospital after he learns the military won’t allow campaign photographers to politicize the event. [353]

While on his July tour of Iraq and Europe, Obama meets with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. In private, Sarkozy refers to Obama’s position on Iran as “utterly immature” and consisting of “formulations empty of all content.” According to Israeli sources, Sarkozy tells Obama that if the next American president changes his country's policy toward Iran, that would be "very problematic." [415]

In July and August of 2008, the head of Nigeria’s stock market holds Obama fundraisers in Lagos, Nigeria; an estimated $900,000 is raised for Obama, despite the fact that it is illegal for the campaign to collect contributions from foreign countries. The media fails to investigate illegal Obama campaign contributions, but sends a reporter to remote Little Diomede island in Alaska in order to see if Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin can “actually see” Russia from Alaska. [245]

The “Las Vegas Review-Journal” reports that a Clark Count (Nevada) official “sees rampant fraud in the 2,000 to 3,000 registrations ACORN turns in every week.” Nevada is one of the states targeted by Obama as one he can switch from Republican to Democrat; vote fraud may be the reason for his confidence. [240]

In August of 2008, Obama vacations in Hawaii. He spends one hour with his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham; he is not accompanied by his wife or two daughters, who may very likely never again see Dunham, age 86. [329]

In an August, 2008 letter to a homosexual rights group called the “Family Equality Council,” Obama pledges he will overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. [337]

At a campaign appearance in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Obama states that he would eventually consider a single-payer health care system, but not immediately. He admits that, “If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system.” Although Obama’s preference is for a single-payer socialized system that would eliminate private insurance companies and have the government pay all health-care bills with tax dollars, he remarks that “People don’t have time to wait… My attitude is, let’s build up the system we got, let’s make it more efficient, we maybe over time… (can) that there are other ways for us to provide care more effectively.” [426]

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Obama’s tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, including interest, by 2018. [171]

The media reports that Obama’s half-brother, George Obama (b. 1982), lives in poverty in a slum outside Nairobi; [173] Obama provides his brother with no assistance, but supports a United nations “anti-global poverty tax” that would cost Americans approximately $65 billion per year, with much of it going to Africa (through the United Nations). [174,175,277,289]

In addition to Obama’s half-brother George in a Nairobi slum, the candidate has a half-aunt and half-uncle living in a Boston, Massachusetts slum neighborhood. Zeituni Onyango walks with a cane and, despite being poor, manages to scrape together a $260 donation for the Obama campaign. Onyango is in the United States illegally; she refuses to talk to the media about Obama, but says she will do so after the election. Onyanga’s brother, Omar Onyango Obama, also lives in poverty in Boston; he had been evicted from a one-room flat for failing to pay rent. [427,441]

Obama’s “global poverty program,” to the extent it follows the United Nations “Millennium Goals” on which it is based, would be paid for with a "currency transfer tax," a "tax on the rental value of land and natural resources," a "royalty on worldwide fossil energy production - oil, natural gas, coal… fees for the commercial use of the oceans, fees for the airplane use of the skies, fees for the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, fees on foreign exchange transactions, and a tax on the carbon content of fuels." Obama has already introduced the legislation as Senate Bill S 2433; co-sponsors of the bill include Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington, Dianne Feinstein of California, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Republicans Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Richard Lugar of Indiana. [277]

Reporter Stanley Kurtz asks to view the historical public records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), an education reform program led by Obama and William Ayers; there is an initial refusal to release the records, orchestrated by Ken Rolling, former executive director of the CAC and an associate of Obama and Ayers, but the records are later released - after being “cleansed” of sensitive documents by Rolling and others. Rolling, like Obama and Ayers, is a former board member of the Woods Fund. [176,177]

Obama states, “Nobody has spoken out more fiercely on the issue of anti-Semitism than I have,” a claim that is widely ridiculed for its outrageousness. Obama also states that Hezbollah and Hamas have legitimate grievances, and offers to sit down with their leaders and the leaders of Muslim nations to listen to their complaints. (Their number one grievance is the very existence of Israel and Jews.) [202]

At the Democrat National Convention, although the convention center is good enough for the Kennedy and Clinton speeches, Obama insists on giving his acceptance speech at a football stadium that seats 76,000. Saul Alinsky’s son, Lee David Alinsky, praises Obama for learning his father’s socialist revolution “lesson well.” The over-inflated Obama ego is consistent with Alinsky’s advice that “Ego must be so all-pervading that the personality of the organizer is contagious, that it converts the people from despair to defiance, creating a mass ego." [267,272]

Obama is able to get away with such arrogance because he knows how to “play the crowd.” In his book, “Dreams From my Father,” he wrote, “It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied, they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn’t seem angry all the time." [337]

Obama receives about $300,000 per year from Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Countrywide Financial, and Washington Mutual. After less than four years in office those companies and their employees had given Obama a total of $1,093,329.00; just over half is from Goldman Sachs alone. [212]

When Chicago’s WGN radio interviews David Freddoso, author of “The Case Against Barack Obama,” Obama’s campaign sends an “Obama Action Wire” to key supporters, encouraging them to protest the program and call in repeatedly to tie up its telephone lines so that regular listeners can’t get through; the same had been done when WGN interviewed Stanley Kurtz, a reporter who had been prevented from trying to gain access to public documents of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. [183,184]

It is learned that the Obama campaign funneled over $800,000 to “Citizens Services, Inc.” (CSI), a “shell corporation” set up by ACORN in December of 2004. To hide the fact that Obama was giving money to ACORN, a vote fraud organization, the money was instead given to CSI. The campaign then misled the Federal Elections Commission by listing the funds as going toward “stage, lighting, and sound” expenses when, in fact, the cash went toward get-out-the-vote projects. Note that CSI and ACORN headquarters have the same address; ACORN and CSI also have over $3 million in outstanding IRS tax liens. [284,285,400]

The Obama campaign runs an anti-McCain ad criticizing him for not being computer savvy and not sending e-mails; apparently Obama’s team did not realize McCain has his wife and other people type e-mail responses for him because the North Vietnamese broke his fingers and shattered his arms while imprisoned in Hanoi. [185]

On September 13, Obama suggests re-instating the military draft, with his remarks that his job as President would include demanding that the American people recognize an “obligation” for military service. “If we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some.” [340]

In September of 2008, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fail, partly because of Enron-like accounting practices, and are rescued in a multi-billion dollar federal bail-out. An Obama economic and housing policy advisor, Franklin Raines, had been chief executive of Fannie Mae; in 2002, when staff advised him of bookkeeping problems and earnings manipulations, Raines fired the whistleblowers rather than correct the problems; Raines also forced Fannie Mae employees to falsify accounting records to enable him to receive larger pay bonuses; also receiving inflated bonuses were Jamie Gorelick (formerly of the Clinton Administration); Raines was eventually forced out of Fannie Mae because of accounting fraud, after obtaining nearly $50 million in improperly calculated bonuses; Raines paid back only a small portion of that amount; Obama and Christopher Dodd are the top Senate recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Raines was also involved in the collapse of Countrywide Financial, which provided “special loan rates” for connected people like James Johnson, advisor to Obama who was on his vice-presidential selection team, and who preceded Raines as CEO of Fannie Mae, and Senator Christopher Dodd. Note that Democrats added tens of millions of dollars for ACORN in the original “bail out” bill; those funds were removed before the final bill was passed. [179,284,364]

Federal Election Commission records reveal that Obama received $137,950 (Fannie Mae) and $68,750 (Freddie Mac) in campaign contributions from them, second only to Christopher Dodd (who received $165,400); John Kerry is in third place with $111,000. [178]

As of September, 2008, Obama’s Senate and Presidential campaigns had also received significant contributions from failed financial institutions, including Bear Stearns ($570,614) and Lehman Brothers ($370,524). Lehman Brothers is owed at least $250 million by BNP Paribas, a French bank whose biggest shareholder is Nadhmi Auchi (friend and financer of Toney Rezko, and contributor to Obama campaigns), and which made a fortune through the United Nations “Oil for Food” scandal with Saddam Hussein. [179,180,181,182]

Note that the Obama campaign states Raines has not been an official advisor; the Washington Post reported that Obama has sought “his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters;" perhaps he is only an unofficial advisor. [364]

Obama encourages supporters to be rude to Republicans and undecided independents, telling them, “I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” [213,214]

September 24, 2008, lawyers for Obama and the Democrat National Committee file a Joint Motion to Dismiss (on the last day to file a response) the case of Berg v. Obama, No. 08-CV-04083, which purports that Obama is ineligible to be President of the United States because he was born in Kenya. Inasmuch as it should have been easier to produce proof of Obama’s birth and citizenship than fight the lawsuit, this delay tactic suggests Obama does not, in fact, have the proof. One of Obama’s lawyers is Joe Sanders, of the Washington law firm of Sandler, Reiff, and Young; Sanders also represents the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization with terrorist ties, and is an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holyland Foundation Hamas Funding trial. (Interestingly, out of more than one million lawyers in the United States available to represent Obama, he chose one with direct ties to CAIR and who is also named as a co-conspirator in a case involving fraud.) [216,226,325,368]

Leading Code Pink activists and Obama fundraisers Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York in September. While in New York, Ahmadinejad gave a speech at Columbia University; his appearance was coordinated by Rashid Khalidi, a long-time friend of Obama. [215,220,395]

Obama enlists St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, and Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer as a so-called “truth squad” in an effort to intimidate radio and television stations into not airing ads critical of Obama; they warn citizens that they will bring criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who makes false statements about Obama. The tactic is immediately criticized by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, who says, “The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.” [221,256]

In the first Presidential debate with Senator McCain, Obama brings attention to a bracelet he is wearing in honor of a slain Wisconsin soldier, Brian Jopek, despite requests from Jopek’s family that Obama stop wearing it and stop referring to it. [222]

Public Middle Schools in Racine, Wisconsin issue a new (copyright 2008) textbook to students that contains 15 pages complimenting candidate Obama on his “life of service.” The book is published by McDougal, Littell and Company; Alfred L McDougal contributes to the Obama campaign. [401,402]

In September and October of 2008, an auditor at the federal Election Commission requests a formal investigation into Obama campaign contributions, suspecting it of collecting $200 million or more in illegal contributions, including illegal foreign donations; the auditor states, “I believe we are looking at a hijacking of our political system that makes the Clinton and Gore fundraising scandals pale in comparison.” [231]

In September, all references to Obama’s opposition to the successful troop surge in Iraq are removed from the official Obama web sites. [270]

The Obama staffers in charge of the campaign’s “small” (less than $200) Internet campaign contributions are Obama’s former college roommates from Pakistan, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid; those “small” contributions total at least $223 million; many are believed to be illegal contributions from foreign countries. Campaigns are required to keep track of names of those who contribute more than $200 in aggregate, and verify their nationality as U.S., but the Obama campaign does not – in direct violation of federal election laws. [245]

Note that, in addition to working directly for the Obama campaign, Chandoo, with his brother, maintains a web site that is arguably anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-women, and vulgar. [332]

In September of 2008, allegations surface that proof of Obama’s Indonesian citizenship and adoption are being suppressed by the Indonesian government in exchange for cash and political favors. U.S. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (a non-voting Democrat Congressman from American Samoa and Obama supporter), visited Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in July of 2007 and is suspected of securing government records damaging to Obama’s candidacy. In exchange for document turnover and document suppression, money would be given to the school attended by Obama, more cash for the government would come later, and the Congressman would attempt to foster a “hands off” policy with regard to the Indonesian government’s continuing suppression of rights of Christians in Papua. If these allegations are true, and Faleomavaega acted at Obama’s request, both are guilty of felonies and violations of the Logan Act. [303,321,323,337]

In October of 2008, Congress passes a “bail-out bill” to give more than $700 billion to Wall Street to rescue them from their investments in sub-prime mortgages – mortgages that had been aggressively encouraged by the government itself for 30 years. The bail-out bill includes over $112 billion in “pork,” including $6 million in tax breaks for wooden-arrow manufacturers in Oregon, $148 million in tax breaks for wool-producing companies, $128 million in tax breaks for the manufacturers of car-racing tracks, $10 million in tax breaks for small television and film producers, $223 million in tax breaks for Alaskan fishermen, and $192 million in tax breaks for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Both Obama and his opponent, John McCain, vote for the bail-out bill. [247]

The bail-out bill also includes $33 million in tax breaks for corporations operating in American Samoa. One of the two largest employers there is Star-Kist Tuna; Star-Kist’s parent company, Del Monte, has headquarters in San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district; Star-Kist is a major Pelosi contributor; Pelosi’s husband owns $17 million in Star-Kist stock; Star-Kist is also the only company operating in U.S. territories that is exempted from federal minimum wage laws. Despite the obvious conflict of interest, Pelosi supports the Star-Kist tax breaks; Obama raises no objections and votes for the bill. [397,398,399]

On October 6, 2008, Obama and the Democrat National Committee file a “Joint Motion for Protective Order to Stay Discovery Pending a Decision on the (9/24/2008) Motion to Dismiss.” With that motion, Obama and the DNC attempt to further stall the lawsuit demanding that Obama provide his actual birth certificate to prove he is technically a U.S. citizen eligible to become President; the assumption is that Obama cannot provide a certified copy of a Hawaiian “vault” birth certificate because it does not exist. The attorney who filed the lawsuit, attorney Philip J. Berg, asserts that Obama is ineligible to be President, and that he “…is an illegal alien and therefore should be arrested, tried, and deported. He certainly cannot hold his Senate seat.” [241,299]

On October 7, WND staff reporter, researcher, and author (“The Obama Nation”) Jerome Corsi is detained by authorities in Kenya just as he is about to hold a press conference in which he planned to describe evidence of Obama’s dealings and connections with controversial Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The news conference would allegedly be used to "expose details of deep secret ties between U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and a section of Kenya government leaders, their connection to certain sectoral groups in Kenya and subsequent plot to be executed in Kenya should Senator Obama win the American presidency." [242]

In October of 2008, Obama’s newly appointed “Muslim Outreach Advisor,” Minha Husaini, is criticized for having met with extremist Islamic groups on September 15; Husaini’s predecessor had resigned because of connections to a radical Muslim cleric. Among those meeting Husaini was Mahdi Bray, who has publicly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, and Johari Abdul Malik, a Falls Church, Virginia cleric, who told followers in November of 2004, “You will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America – to being the first religion in America.” [254]

In October of 2008, ACORN works to remove potentially damaging information connecting Obama with the group from its web pages; among the items deleted is an article that discusses Obama’s training of ACORN leaders. By October of 2008, the Obama campaign claims he had never organized with ACORN and had nothing to do with voter registration drives. [283]

On October 10, stories surface that Tony “the fixer” Rezko may be giving up incriminating information about Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Obama, in order to receive a lighter prison sentence for his 16 felony convictions for receiving kick-backs for political favors. [281,290,315]

On October 10, word leaks that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is leading a team of FBI investigators in 10 states working on a RICO case involving ACORN; the investigation may be focused on a conspiracy to commit multi-state voter fraud on Obama’s behalf. Fitzgerald is the same prosecutor who convicted Tony Rezko (and Lewis “Scooter” Libby). If elected, Obama can fire prosecutor Fitzgerald and shut down the investigation. [281,282]

At an October 12 campaign appearance in Holland, Ohio, Obama is asked by a self-employed plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, who was considering starting his own business, why he must pay more for everyone else. Obama’s response is, “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success too.” Obama then added a sentiment straight from the socialist handbook, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” [295,312]

After “Joe the plumber” was brought up by John McCain in the third Presidential debate to illustrate Obama’s socialist leanings, Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, approved a search of the state’s child-support records to find damaging information on Wurzelbacher; Jones-Kelley, who contributed $2,300 to the Obama campaign, said there were “no political reasons” for the query. It was later disclosed that Jones-Kelly also looked into whether Wurzelbacher was receiving welfare assistance or was behind in unemployment compensation taxes; at least four separate government agencies have been found to have conducted checks into his background. Ohio’s Inspector General is investigating the incident; the Ohio Governor (Democrat Ted Strickland), is satisfied there were no “political overtures” in Jones-Kelley’s actions. [405,436]

On November 2, a San Francisco radio announcer at KGO 810-AM is caught saying, on the air, “I want mother-fucking Joe the plumber dead.” [451]

It is worth noting, in relation to Obama’s response to “Joe the plumber,” that Obama’s advisors, Cass Sunstein, advocates Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposed “second bill of rights” in his book, “The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever.” Roosevelt’s list of rights includes a right to an education, home, health care, and a “right to protection against monopolies.” Sunstein argues that these rights should be instituted, but neglects to mention, for example, who will be paying for someone else’s “right to a home.” [403,404]

It is noted that Obama’s public relations staffer, Marilyn Katz, was the “security chief” for the Students for a Democratic Society; involved in the 1968 Democrat Party Convention riots, Katz advocated throwing studded nails in front of approaching police car tires, and throwing plastic bags of human excrement, cans of urine, and golf balls with nails at the police. As PR person for Obama, one of Katz’ jobs is to downplay the candidate’s past relationship with William Ayers; Katz herself, as a prominent SDS leader, was likely an associate of Ayers in the 1960s. [320]

On October 15, 2008, in what appears to be a massive hoax, “African Press International” (API) reports that Michelle Obama telephoned its offices to complain about reports of people challenging her husband’s eligibility to be President. In the conversation, she allegedly states, “African press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view(s). It is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. There is no shame in being adopted by a step-father. All dirt has been thrown onto my husband’s face and yet he loves this country. My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband’s adoption by his step-father. The important thing here is where my husband’s heart is at the moment. I can tell the American people that my husband loves this country and his adoption never changed his love for this country. He was born in Hawaii, yes, and that gives him all the right to be an American citizen even though he was adopted by a foreigner.” [306,307,308,309,317]

The story is likely illegitimate but, if true, the candidate’s wife, in her statement, unknowingly admits that Obama was adopted by Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, which may mean he is still an Indonesian citizen ineligible to be U.S. President. She is incorrect in saying there is “no law” that will stop him; there certainly are laws defining the eligibility requirements, and if he doesn’t satisfy them he cannot be President. Obama’s wife also tells API that if it writes a “complimentary story” about her husband they will then be invited to an Obama inauguration ceremony. The Obama campaign denies that his wife spoke with API. API says the conversation was recorded and the tape will be released, after it gives Mrs. Obama a chance to clarify her side of the story. [306,307,308,309,317]

API allegedly agrees to allow Fox News to broadcast the tape of the telephone call from Michelle Obama, but Fox News denies the story. In late October, API is allegedly offered $2 million by Ed Hale, President of Plains Radio in Texas, to cancel its agreement with Fox. The Obama campaign itself then allegedly offers API a $3 million bribe to suppress the information, withhold the tape, and renege on its agreement with Fox. API says it will work with its lawyers and treat the cash offer as an illegal bribery attempt. It is likely that the entire API story is untrue. [417,435]

A lawsuit is filed in the State of Washington by Steven R. Marquis demanding that the Secretary of State obtain proof that Obama is eligible to be President of the United States or remove his name from the November 4 ballot. [307,331,406]

James Pethokopukis, reporter for the U.S. News and World Reports, relates on October 16 that a University of Chicago professor he spoke with and who knew Obama considered him “…as close to a full-out Marxist as anyone who has ever run for President of the United States.” [314]

The media reports that, at an October 15 Sarah Palin campaign event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, someone in the crowd shouted “Kill him!” when Obama’s name was mentioned by the speaker, Congressional candidate Chris Hackett. The report gets quick, widespread coverage by the pro-Obama media, despite the fact that no one in the crowd heard the shout - except the reporter for the ScrantonTimes-Tribune. Secret Service agents and police officers present state they did not hear the threat, and interviewed attendees who all denied having heard it. [311]

Key Obama policy aide Jason Grunet, executive director of the “National Commission on Energy Policy,” states that if Congress doesn’t move within 18 months to tighten rules with regard to carbon dioxide emissions, Obama would instruct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to institute its own unilateral enforcement crackdown anyway. (In other words, if Congress doesn’t pass the “global warming” laws Obama wants, he’ll go ahead and make up his own regulations on carbon dioxide emissions.) Grunet is concerned that Congress – even a Democrat Congress - will be unlikely to go along with excessive taxes on carbon emissions, because they would cause prices to skyrocket and businesses to fail. Obama would simply avoid that problem by forcing the EPA to enforce strict “pollution” guidelines, which will have the same negative effects. [330]

There is speculation that Obama would reward Hillary Clinton with a Supreme Court nomination if he is elected. [337]

Obama’s Vice-Presidential running mate, Joe Biden, says to a public gathering (he does not realize that reporters are present) “Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. Remember, I said it standing here, if you don't remember anything else I said. We're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." Further details explaining that remark have not been released. [363]

On October 23, attorney Philip J. Berg states he has a recording of a telephone conversation in which Obama’s paternal grandmother, speaking long distance to someone in the United States, confirms the candidate was born in Kenya and that she was present in the hospital delivery room. [367]

On October 23, Obama heads to Hawaii to visit his ailing maternal grandmother. There is speculation that the purpose of Obama’s trip may also be to search her apartment for documents that will help him fight the lawsuits demanding that he prove he is eligible to serve as President. The State of Hawaii then states that the Obama document it has is valid, but does not say whether it has a certificate of live birth or a certification of live birth; they are not the same. [371]

The Urban Institute Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center analyzes the McCain and Obama tax policies and calculates that McCain’s proposals would cut taxes by $628 billion over 10 years, while Obama’s would raise them by $734 billion over the same period. [337]

Obama’s list of accomplishments in the U.S. Senate consists of getting two bills passed: one to send foreign aid to the Congo and another to name a post office. [337]

By October 24, at least seven additional lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts in Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut to demand that Obama release his birth records. Lawsuits in Washington and Georgia seek to force the states’ secretary of state, as the chief state elections officer, to require Obama to produce original birth records from Hawaii, or remove him from the November 4 ballot. [372]

On October 24, Federal Judge R. Barclay Surrick in Philadelphia, a Clinton appointee, tosses out the Berg lawsuit. A plaintiff, such as Berg, who wishes to have standing to sue, must show (1) a particularized injury-in-fact, (2) evidence showing that that the party being sued actually caused the plaintiff’s particularized injury-in-fact, and (3) that adjudication of the matter would actually provide redress. Inasmuch as Berg is an American citizen, that in and of itself should suggest he has standing. Judge Surrick chose to avoid responsibility in the case and instead dumped the issue in the lap of Congress, knowing full well that a Democrat Congress will not address the issue. [374,375]

Coincidentally, Christopher B. Seaman, former law clerk for Judge Surrick, is currently employed by Sidley Austin LLP (which had previously employed Obama, Michelle Robinson Obama, and Bernadine Dohrn). [425]

Judge Surrick states, “If, through the political process, Congress determines that citizens, voters, or party members should police the Constitution’s eligibility requirements for the Presidency, then it is free to pass laws conferring standing on individuals like Plaintiff. Until that time, voters do not have standing to bring the sort of challenge that Plaintiff attempts to bring in the Amended Complaint.” This response by the judge suggests that a Presidential candidate need not have been born in the United States; it is apparently sufficient for him to simply say that he was born in the United States – and the voters can’t do a thing about it unless and until Congress feels like passing a law. Attorney Philip J. Berg will appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. [374,375,376]

Judge Surrick illogically states that challenger Berg “would have us derail the democratic process by invalidating a candidate for whom millions of people voted and who underwent excessive vetting during what was one of the most hotly contested presidential primary (sic) in living memory.” Berg’s lawsuit cannot “invalidate” an eligible candidate, it could only lead to the removal of an ineligible candidate from the ballot; Berg is only asking the Court to require proof of eligibility, not to deny anyone the right to vote for a qualified candidate. In a remarkable statement that voters might vehemently disagree with, Judge Surrick also remarks that a “candidate’s ineligibility under the Natural Born Citizen Clause does not result in an injury in fact to voters.” (According to the judge, voters are not harmed by fraud perpetrated by an ineligible candidate.) [424]

On October 24, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) tells the editorial board of The Standard-Times that Obama and the Democrats will slash military spending by 25 per cent, forcing America to withdraw troops from Iraq. [377]

In October, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) suspends all funding for ACORN, Obama’s main voter-registration drive organization, after learning that $948,000 had been embezzled from ACORN by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke (friend of William Ayers and former SDS member). The embezzlement occurred in 1999, but the information did not become public until June of 2008. No charges have been filed against Dale Rathke; Wade Rathke remains chief organizer for ACORN International LLC. [390,391]

In October, U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus, a 1996 Clinton appointee, rules that Ohio counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that are not buildings as their addresses. (One might assume those voters support Obama’s “redistribution of wealth” policies.) [410]

The Obama campaign intentionally fails to apply basic security measures to prevent illegal and anonymous contributions from being submitted by credit card via the Internet; approximately two-thirds of the $150 million Obama collected in September of 2008 come through Internet credit card donations, including untraceable pre-paid “gift cards” that can readily conceal illegal contributions (such as foreign contributions or donations in excess of the $2,300 individual limit). [423]

The Washington State lawsuit challenging Obama’s eligibility to serve as President is dismissed by King County Judge John Erlick, who states the challenge "may be a positive idea," but Washington law clearly prevents the Secretary of State from getting involved and performing any external fact-checking. [411]

After a late October Obama campaign stop in Sarasota, Florida, a supporter named Peggy Joseph gushes to a reporter, "It was the most memorable time of my life. It was a touching moment, because I never thought this day would happen. I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know, if I, if I help him (Obama), he’s gonna (sic) help me!" (There is no evidence that the Obama campaign has promised he would pay for everyone’s gas and make their mortgage payments.) [449]

On November 3, Obama congratulates McCain on “the tough race that he has fought.” While making the remark Obama, as he had done to Hillary Clinton in the primaries, scratches his face with his middle finger, “flipping McCain off.” [456]

Obama continues to refuse to provide the media with school records, passports, college theses, law school records, law firm clients, medical records, Illinois State Senate files, and other documents about his record.

Original birth certificate - not released
Obama/Dunham marriage license - not released
Soetoro/Dunham marriage license - not released
Soetoro adoption records - not released
Besuki School application - released
Punahou School records - not released
Selective Service Registration - released
Occidental College records - not released
Passport (Pakistan) - not released
Columbia College records - not released
Columbia thesis - not released
Harvard College records - not released
Harvard Law Review articles - none
Baptism certificate - none
Medical records - not released
Illinois State Senate records - none
Illinois State Senate schedule – not released (alleged to have been lost)
Law practice client list - not released
University of Chicago scholarly articles - none [23,29,56,186,239]

References:

Ten theses on President-elect Obama

2008-11-05T06:08:00.001-06:00

From Power Line:

The historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States calls for reflections far beyond these provisional thoughts, but here are ten:

1. The original thesis of the Obama candidacy was that, in a multiparty field, he could stake a claim as the Ivory Soap candidate on the issue of Iraq. His opposition to the war was purer than the rest of the Democratic field's. Having been an Illinois state legislator at the time the roll was called in the United States Senate, he had not cast a vote to authorize it. Free of the encumbrance of responsibility at the time of the Senate vote, he could present himself to Democrats as a visionary opponent of a misguided war.

2. The secondary thesis of the Obama campaign was that there was a substantial desire among Democrats to move on from the Clinton era. After Obama's Iowa breakthrough and his New Hampshire loss, this theme had legs.

3. In the course of the Democratic caucuses and primaries Obama emerged as a messianc figure come to redeem the time. He is a quasi-religious figure for non-believers, playing to the same market that made films such as "Ghost" and "The Sixth Sense" such enormous successes. It is an element of the Obama campaign that many observers noted and that I explored in "The return of Sister Flute."

4. Obama's claim to represent a new politics ending partisanship and division is as pure a product of the Bush era as Jimmy Carter's "I will never lie to you" was of the Nixon era. That the products both have a lot of buyers does not mean they have any substance, but they built or build on genuine insight into the will to believe among a significant part of the electorate.

5. Obama's race was an asset to his candidacy at every step of the way. Americans want to prove their racial good will. A black candidate whose race is incidental to his campaign and whose political skills are manifest is able to take advantage of a great moral yearning that lies deep within the American psyche. Shelby Steele, who has eloquently explored this theme in reference to Obama, refers to it as "the idealism that race is but a negligible human difference."

6. Making use of his ample financial resources, Obama developed an impressive field organization to crush Hillary Clinton in the caucus states in the contest for the Democratic nomination and to turn red formerly red states such as Virginia blue in the presidential election. There is no substitute for organization in a competitive race. This is a particularly old-fashioned thesis to derive from a campaign predicated on a theme of new politics.

7. The campaign gave new meaning to the term "hoist on his own petard." Obama's incredible fundrasing prowess outside the system of public financing should kill McCain-Feingold on practical grounds after it should have been killed on constitutional grounds.

8. Despite his thoroughgoing liberalism, Obama did not run as a liberal. Liberals can run successfully for president under camouflage donned for the occasion. The camouflage will be accorded respect and deference by the press like that accorded the Emperor's new clothes.

9. Senator McCain ran a flawed, weirdly constrained but honorable campaign against Barack Obama under circumstances that were aggravated from the difficult to the impossible. No other Republican candidate could have overcome them or run a more successful campaign.

10. The substantially enhanced Democratic majorities in Congress stand poised to pass a raft of legislation that ranges from the destructive to the abominable and the tyrannical. It will serve as an early challenge to the judgment of President Obama, and to the efficacy of the loyal opposition.

Tonight let us salute and congratulate Senator Obama as the author of a brilliant campaign and pray that he achieves greatness in office. To adapt the imprecation of Stephen Decatur: May he always be in the right; but our president, right or wrong.

Obama's 95% Illusion

2008-10-28T08:50:00.001-05:00

From: The Wall Street Journal - Opinion 10/24/2008

It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.

One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.

It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."

For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase "tax credit." Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand no fewer than seven such credits for individuals:

- A $500 tax credit ($1,000 a couple) to "make work pay" that phases out at income of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 per couple.

- A $4,000 tax credit for college tuition.

- A 10% mortgage interest tax credit (on top of the existing mortgage interest deduction and other housing subsidies).

- A "savings" tax credit of 50% up to $1,000.

- An expansion of the earned-income tax credit that would allow single workers to receive as much as $555 a year, up from $175 now, and give these workers up to $1,110 if they are paying child support.

- A child care credit of 50% up to $6,000 of expenses a year.

- A "clean car" tax credit of up to $7,000 on the purchase of certain vehicles.

Here's the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be "refundable," which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer -- a federal check -- from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.

The total annual expenditures on refundable "tax credits" would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as "tax credits," the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.

The political left defends "refundability" on grounds that these payments help to offset the payroll tax. And that was at least plausible when the only major refundable credit was the earned-income tax credit. Taken together, however, these tax credit payments would exceed payroll levies for most low-income workers.

It is also true that John McCain proposes a refundable tax credit -- his $5,000 to help individuals buy health insurance. We've written before that we prefer a tax deduction for individual health care, rather than a credit. But the big difference with Mr. Obama is that Mr. McCain's proposal replaces the tax subsidy for employer-sponsored health insurance that individuals don't now receive if they buy on their own. It merely changes the nature of the tax subsidy; it doesn't create a new one.

There's another catch: Because Mr. Obama's tax credits are phased out as incomes rise, they impose a huge "marginal" tax rate increase on low-income workers. The marginal tax rate refers to the rate on the next dollar of income earned. As the nearby chart illustrates, the marginal rate for millions of low- and middle-income workers would spike as they earn more income.

Some families with an income of $40,000 could lose up to 40 cents in vanishing credits for every additional dollar earned from working overtime or taking a new job. As public policy, this is contradictory. The tax credits are sold in the name of "making work pay," but in practice they can be a disincentive to working harder, especially if you're a lower-income couple getting raises of $1,000 or $2,000 a year. One mystery -- among many -- of the McCain campaign is why it has allowed Mr. Obama's 95% illusion to go unanswered.

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

2008-10-28T07:40:00.001-05:00

Columnist Michael Malone Looks at Slanted Election Coverage and the Reasons Why

Column By MICHAEL S. MALONE

Oct. 24, 2008 —

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.

But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

You need to understand how painful this is for me. I am one of those people who truly bleeds ink when I'm cut. I am a fourth-generation newspaperman. As family history tells it, my great-grandfather was a newspaper editor in Abilene, Kan., during the last of the cowboy days, then moved to Oregon to help start the Oregon Journal (now the Oregonian).

My hard-living -- and when I knew her, scary -- grandmother was one of the first women reporters for the Los Angeles Times. And my father, though profoundly dyslexic, followed a long career in intelligence to finish his life (thanks to word processors and spellcheckers) as a very successful freelance writer. I've spent 30 years in every part of journalism, from beat reporter to magazine editor. And my oldest son, following in the family business, so to speak, earned his first national byline before he earned his drivers license.

So, when I say I'm deeply ashamed right now to be called a "journalist," you can imagine just how deep that cuts into my soul.

Now, of course, there's always been bias in the media. Human beings are biased, so the work they do, including reporting, is inevitably colored. Hell, I can show you 10 different ways to color variations of the word "said" -- muttered, shouted, announced, reluctantly replied, responded, etc. -- to influence the way a reader will apprehend exactly the same quote. We all learn that in Reporting 101, or at least in the first few weeks working in a newsroom.

But what we are also supposed to learn during that same apprenticeship is to recognize the dangerous power of that technique, and many others, and develop built-in alarms against them.

But even more important, we are also supposed to be taught that even though there is no such thing as pure, Platonic objectivity in reporting, we are to spend our careers struggling to approach that ideal as closely as possible.

That means constantly challenging our own prejudices, systematically presenting opposing views and never, ever burying stories that contradict our own world views or challenge people or institutions we admire. If we can't achieve Olympian detachment, than at least we can recognize human frailty -- especially in ourselves.

Reporting Bias

For many years, spotting bias in reporting was a little parlor game of mine, watching TV news or reading a newspaper article and spotting how the reporter had inserted, often unconsciously, his or her own preconceptions. But I always wrote it off as bad judgment and lack of professionalism, rather than bad faith and conscious advocacy.

Sure, being a child of the '60s I saw a lot of subjective "New" Journalism, and did a fair amount of it myself, but that kind of writing, like columns and editorials, was supposed to be segregated from "real" reporting, and, at least in mainstream media, usually was. The same was true for the emerging blogosphere, which by its very nature was opinionated and biased.

But my complacent faith in my peers first began to be shaken when some of the most admired journalists in the country were exposed as plagiarists, or worse, accused of making up stories from whole cloth.

I'd spent my entire professional career scrupulously pounding out endless dreary footnotes and double-checking sources to make sure that I never got accused of lying or stealing someone else's work -- not out of any native honesty, but out of fear: I'd always been told to fake or steal a story was a firing offense & indeed, it meant being blackballed out of the profession.

And yet, few of those worthies ever seemed to get fired for their crimes -- and if they did they were soon rehired into even more prestigious jobs. It seemed as if there were two sets of rules: one for us workaday journalists toiling out in the sticks, and another for folks who'd managed, through talent or deceit, to make it to the national level.

Meanwhile, I watched with disbelief as the nation's leading newspapers, many of whom I'd written for in the past, slowly let opinion pieces creep into the news section, and from there onto the front page. Personal opinions and comments that, had they appeared in my stories in 1979, would have gotten my butt kicked by the nearest copy editor, were now standard operating procedure at the New York Times, the Washington Post, and soon after in almost every small town paper in the U.S.

But what really shattered my faith -- and I know the day and place where it happened -- was the war in Lebanon three summers ago. The hotel I was staying at in Windhoek, Namibia, only carried CNN, a network I'd already learned to approach with skepticism. But this was CNN International, which is even worse.

I sat there, first with my jaw hanging down, then actually shouting at the TV, as one field reporter after another reported the carnage of the Israeli attacks on Beirut, with almost no corresponding coverage of the Hezbollah missiles raining down on northern Israel. The reporting was so utterly and shamelessly biased that I sat there for hours watching, assuming that eventually CNNi would get around to telling the rest of the story... but it never happened.

The Presidential Campaign

But nothing, nothing I've seen has matched the media bias on display in the current presidential campaign.

Republicans are justifiably foaming at the mouth over the sheer one-sidedness of the press coverage of the two candidates and their running mates. But in the last few days, even Democrats, who have been gloating over the pass -- no, make that shameless support -- they've gotten from the press, are starting to get uncomfortable as they realize that no one wins in the long run when we don't have a free and fair press.

I was one of the first people in the traditional media to call for the firing of Dan Rather -- not because of his phony story, but because he refused to admit his mistake -- but, bless him, even Gunga Dan thinks the media is one-sided in this election.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to her home state of Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the big leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play.

The few instances where I think the press has gone too far -- such as the Times reporter talking to prospective first lady Cindy McCain's daughter's MySpace friends -- can easily be solved with a few newsroom smackdowns and temporary repostings to the Omaha bureau.

No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side -- or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for the presidential ticket of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del.

If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as president of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography.

That isn't Sen. Obama's fault: His job is to put his best face forward. No, it is the traditional media's fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so.

Why, for example to quote the lawyer for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., haven't we seen an interview with Sen. Obama's grad school drug dealer -- when we know all about Mrs. McCain's addiction? Are Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko that hard to interview? All those phony voter registrations that hard to scrutinize? And why are Sen. Biden's endless gaffes almost always covered up, or rationalized, by the traditional media?

Joe the Plumber

The absolute nadir (though I hate to commit to that, as we still have two weeks before the election) came with Joe the Plumber.

Middle America, even when they didn't agree with Joe, looked on in horror as the press took apart the private life of an average person who had the temerity to ask a tough question of a presidential candidate. So much for the standing up for the little man. So much for speaking truth to power. So much for comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, and all of those other catchphrases we journalists used to believe we lived by.

I learned a long time ago that when people or institutions begin to behave in a matter that seems to be entirely against their own interests, it's because we don't understand what their motives really are. It would seem that by so exposing their biases and betting everything on one candidate over another, the traditional media is trying to commit suicide -- especially when, given our currently volatile world and economy, the chances of a successful Obama presidency, indeed any presidency, is probably less than 50/50.

Furthermore, I also happen to believe that most reporters, whatever their political bias, are human torpedoes & and, had they been unleashed, would have raced in and roughed up the Obama campaign as much as they did McCain's. That's what reporters do. I was proud to have been one, and I'm still drawn to a good story, any good story, like a shark to blood in the water.

So why weren't those legions of hungry reporters set loose on the Obama campaign? Who are the real villains in this story of mainstream media betrayal?

The editors. The men and women you don't see; the people who not only decide what goes in the paper, but what doesn't; the managers who give the reporters their assignments and lay out the editorial pages. They are the real culprits.

Bad Editors

Why? I think I know, because had my life taken a different path, I could have been one: Picture yourself in your 50s in a job where you've spent 30 years working your way to the top, to the cockpit of power & only to discover that you're presiding over a dying industry. The Internet and alternative media are stealing your readers, your advertisers and your top young talent. Many of your peers shrewdly took golden parachutes and disappeared. Your job doesn't have anywhere near the power and influence it did when your started your climb. The Newspaper Guild is too weak to protect you any more, and there is a very good chance you'll lose your job before you cross that finish line, 10 years hence, of retirement and a pension.

In other words, you are facing career catastrophe -- and desperate times call for desperate measures. Even if you have to risk everything on a single Hail Mary play. Even if you have to compromise the principles that got you here. After all, newspapers and network news are doomed anyway -- all that counts is keeping them on life support until you can retire.

And then the opportunity presents itself -- an attractive young candidate whose politics likely matches yours, but more important, he offers the prospect of a transformed Washington with the power to fix everything that has gone wrong in your career.

With luck, this monolithic, single-party government will crush the alternative media via a revived fairness doctrine, re-invigorate unions by getting rid of secret votes, and just maybe be beholden to people like you in the traditional media for getting it there.

And besides, you tell yourself, it's all for the good of the country...

This is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.

Michael S. Malone is one of the nation's best-known technology writers. He has covered Silicon Valley and high-tech for more than 25 years, beginning with the San Jose Mercury News as the nation's first daily high-tech reporter. His articles and editorials have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, the Economist and Fortune, and for two years he was a columnist for The New York Times. He was editor of Forbes ASAP, the world's largest-circulation business-tech magazine, at the height of the dot-com boom. Malone is the author or co-author of a dozen books, notably the best-selling "Virtual Corporation." Malone has also hosted three public television interview series, and most recently co-produced the celebrated PBS miniseries on social entrepreneurs, "The New Heroes." He has been the ABCNews.com "Silicon Insider" columnist since 2000.

The End of Journalism As We Knew It

2008-10-22T07:18:00.001-05:00

From the Power Line Blog (10/22/2008)

I'm not familiar with columnist Orson Scott Card, but his open letter to journalists is must reading. It appeared first in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina. Via InstaPundit:

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans. ...

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed. ...

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie -- that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad -- even bad weather -- on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth -- even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

But the mainstream media--which is to say, most reporters and editors who work for "mainstream" news organizations--have no honor and are not interested in truth. They are, as Card says, "the public relations machine of the Democratic Party." It's time to accept that fact and move on. Our existing news organizations--the New York Times, the Associated Press, NBC, CNN, CBS, and so on--can't be reformed, they can only be ignored. It is time for conservatives, libertarians, moderates, and normal citizens who are interested in straightforward reporting of the news to build their own news organizations in competition with the corrupt ones that now exist.

From Power Line

2008-10-13T06:48:00.001-05:00

Six reasons to fear that Obama will govern from the far left

My Examiner column considers Barack Obama's radical associations. It concludes by asking whether these associations portend a radical presidency if Obama is elected:

Perhaps not. Ayers and especially Wright were influential figures in the community where Obama hoped to advance his political career. It’s possible that Obama attached himself to these two figures for purely opportunistic reasons. In this scenario, Obama was deplorably cynical, but not necessarily radical.
Alternatively, Obama may have believed significant amounts of what his leftist associates espoused, only to cast it off over time. In this scenario, Wright and Ayers played Falstaff to Obama’s Prince Hal.

But there are at least six reasons to fear that Obama will govern from the far left.

First, it’s all he really knows. Obama grew up in a left-wing household, attended elite left-wing dominated universities, and spent the remainder of his formative years as a community organizer alongside the likes of Wright and Ayers.

Second, it’s how he votes. In 2007, according to the National Journal, Obama’s voting record was the most liberal of any senator.

Third, it’s what he falls back on. Obama is scripted to be “post-partisan.” But when off-script he’s liable to blurt out that those who resist the leftist agenda bitterly “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to those who aren’t like them.” And when his wife said that, as an adult, she has never been proud of America, Obama defended her statement as applied to American politics. This is “god damn America” lite.

Fourth, it’s what his base wants. There really isn’t much distance between Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers and the “General Betray-Us” crowd.

Fifth, it’s what he can pretend the times demand. When economic hardship causes people lose their faith in free markets, all kinds of radical mischief becomes possible.

Sixth, with the Democrats almost certain to have substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, who would constrain a President Obama?

Excerpts from Papers

2008-10-03T09:30:00.001-05:00

The following are excerpts from ~~news~~papers around the country on the vice presidential debate:

Opinions - not "News" Papers

Detroit Free Press: "Neither Sarah Palin nor Joe Biden was a game-changer in the presidential race Thursday night. Both vice presidential candidates largely avoided some of their own worst tendencies — Biden to be too glib and long-winded, Palin to mangle her sentences on subjects she's unprepared for."

The Houston Chronicle: "Palin was poised and disciplined after a series of shaky performances on TV news interviews. Democrats who hoped for a nationally televised meltdown went away disappointed."

Philadelphia Inquirer: "As it turned out, Palin was more than able to clear the expectations hurdle during a 90-minute debate with Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. She was not as fluent in the details of government policy or foreign relations, but she was forceful - and folksy - as she sought to make a virtue of her inexperience."

Chicago Sun-Times: "The time Palin spent in debate boot camp probably helped, but she was still not convincing when she had to give detailed answers, or the answer wasn't in her study sheets."

The Dallas Morning News: "So, who won? On substance, the edge goes to Mr. Biden. On style, Ms. Palin eked out a close win, enormously magnified by the plain fact that she wasn't chased off the stage."

Los Angeles Times: "In the end, Biden left voters with a more constructive vision of the government and a more compelling case for how it has failed the nation under President Bush. Palin stumbled around the question of how much to embrace and how much to reject that failed administration. She insisted that she's part of a 'team of mavericks,' but said little about what that team would do. It was not a reassuring night."

Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: "She killed. She had him at 'Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?' She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy."

NYT on Fannie Mae - 1999

2008-10-03T06:09:00.001-05:00

September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

McCain leads, Obama follows

2008-09-26T10:52:00.001-05:00

(From PowerLine Blog)

The neat thing about a presidential race between two Senators is that voters can make direct comparisons between the candidates that otherwise are not possible. This year, the comparisons work in John McCain's favor.

McCain pushed for the "surge" in Iraq. Obama opposed it, saying it wouldn't work. When it worked, Obama said he knew it would work, but defended his vote anyway.

Two years ago, McCain warned that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were in serious need of reform and he so-sponsored legislation to reform it. Obama did not support this legislation, which the Democrats blocked. Obama was near the top of the list of recipients of contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and two executives from these outfits were among his campaign advisors.

McCain also had the right line on the Russian invasion of Georgia (though this was not a legislative issue). As Rudy Giuliani recounted at the Republican Convention, Obama waffled for a while and eventually adopted McCain's view. McCain led; Obama followed

Most recently, McCain figured out that he needed to get back to Washington to engage, and if possible provide leadership in, the momentous issue of the financial sector bailout. While McCain opted to help make something happen, Obama said he could be reached by phone if anything did happen.

Obama's position was untenable, so he eventually followed McCain back to Washington.

Hoping to cover for their "follower" of a presidential candidate, Democrats are claiming that McCain has done more harm than good in the legislative debate. Although this is always a possibility with McCain (and, indeed, just about anyone who is willing to lead), the Democrats' case is absurd.

Their argument is that Congress was on the verge of a deal until McCain entered the picture and caused Republican House members to block it. The problems with this script are several. First, there is no evidence that House Republicans were ever on board with any deal. Second, the support of House Republicans is not needed to pass bailout legislation. The Democrats control the House.

The Democrats counter the second point by saying that a majority of House Dems won't support a deal unless House Republicans provide "cover." But this argument raises more problems than it addresses. First, it is a serious condemnation of House Dems (too gutless to do what they think is right, even in the face of a potential economic meltdown). Second it is a serious condemnation of Nancy Pelosi (too ineffective to whip her troops into line even in the face of a potential economic meltdown). Third, it casts serious doubt on the wisdom of the deal that McCain is falsely accused of scuttling. If the deal made sense, House Dems wouldn't believe they need "cover" from House Republicans.

Fourth, the "cover" argument shows what a non-factor Obama is in all of this. The Dems complain (preposterously) that McCain has riled up House Republicans or failed to bring them around. Meanwhile, no one seems to be asking why Obama hasn't helped the House leadership obtain sufficient support from House Dems.

There's a reason why this question isn't being asked. Obama is lightweight from whom leadership is not, and should not, be expected.

From the Economist

2008-09-24T07:35:00.001-05:00

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

Sep 18th 2008

IF YOU find yourself believing that "we are the ones we've been waiting

for", or that "this is the moment when the rise of the oceans began to

slow" or even, TOUT COURT, that "yes we can", the chances are that you

are suffering from a severe case of Obamamania.

Tens of millions of Americans and an even larger number of Europeans

have fallen victim to the syndrome, which involves a belief that a

young black senator from Chicago can cure the world's ills, in part

because of his race, in part because of his obvious intelligence and

rhetorical skill; but in no part because of any record of achievement

in the past. Fortunately, an inexpensive remedy is at hand.

It comes in the form of a new book by David Freddoso, "The Case

Against Barack Obama". Unlike the authors of some of the cruder attacks

on Mr Obama, Mr Freddoso works for a well-respected organisation, the

online version of the NATIONAL REVIEW. Although it is a conservative

publication and the author makes no secret of where his political

sympathies lie, this is a well-researched, extensively footnoted work.

It aims not so much to attack Mr Obama as to puncture the belief that

he is in some way an extraordinary, mould-breaking politician.

The Obama that emerges from its pages is not, Mr Freddoso says, "a bad

person. It's just that he's like all the rest of them. Not a reformer.

Not a Messiah. Just like all the rest of them in Washington." And the

author makes a fairly compelling case that this is so. The best part of

the book concentrates on Mr Obama's record in Chicago, his home town

and the place from which he was elected to the Illinois state Senate in

1996, before moving to the United States Senate in 2004. The book lays

out in detail how this period began in a way that should shock some of

Mr Obama's supporters: he won the Democratic nomination for his

Illinois seat by getting a team of lawyers to throw all the other

candidates off the ballot on various technicalities. One of those he

threw off was a veteran black politician, a woman who helped him get

started in politics in the first place.

If Mr Obama really were the miracle-working, aisle-jumping,

consensus-seeking new breed of politician his spin-doctors make him out

to be, you would expect to see the evidence in these eight years. But

there isn't very much. Instead, as Mr Freddoso rather depressingly

finds, Mr Obama spent the whole period without any visible sign of

rocking the Democratic boat.

He was a staunch backer of Richard Daley, who as mayor failed to stem

the corruption that has made Chicago one of America's most notorious

cities. Nor did he lift a finger against John Stroger and his son Todd,

who succeeded his father as president of Cook County's Board of

Commissioners shortly before Stroger senior died last January. Cook

County, where Chicago is located, has been extensively criticised for

corrupt practices by a federally appointed judge, Julia Nowicki.

The full extent of Mr Obama's close links with two toxic Chicago

associates, a radical black preacher, Jeremiah Wright, and a crooked

property developer, Antoin Rezko, is also laid out in detail. The

Chicago section is probably the best part of the book, though the story

continues: once he got to Washington, DC, Mr Obama's record of voting

with his party became one of the most solid in the capital. Mr Freddoso

notes that he did little or nothing to help with some of the great

bipartisan efforts of recent years, notably on immigration reform or in

a complex battle over judicial nominations.

Sometimes, however, Mr Freddoso lets his own partisan nature run away

with him. It strikes the reader as odd to make an issue out of the

Obamas' comfortable income, when everyone knows that John McCain and

Hillary Clinton both have family fortunes in excess of $100m. On the

whole, though, Mr Freddoso raises legitimate points. And he ends with a

question Obamamaniacs should ask themselves more often: "Do you hope

that Barack Obama will change politics if he becomes president? On what

grounds?"

The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda

of the Media's Favorite Candidate. By David Freddoso. Regnery; 290

pages; $27.95 and GBP16.99

I Once Read A Book...

2008-08-06T06:27:00.001-05:00

...from Power Line ...

...by Robert Heinlein. It was appallingly bad. I don't remember anything about it, actually, except that people were going around "groking" things. But this dialogue between Glenn Reynolds and his readers on the subject of energy, electrical, nuclear and otherwise, is characteristically intelligent.

The only connection between these observations is that Glenn offers this quote from Heinlein, which I like. Glenn introduces it:

[I]ntelligent power management is key. And as for vilifying and taxing success -- that's what government is for. Otherwise the rest of the citizenry might develop self esteem problems. This was all addressed by Robert Heinlein, natch:
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck."

Must have been from a different book.

What's In a Headline?

2008-07-29T12:38:00.001-05:00

FoxNews:President Bush Approves Soldier Death Sentence

MSNBC: Bush OKs execution for Army death row inmate

CNN: Bush approves execution of Army private

CBS: Bush Signs Off On Soldier's Death Sentence

ABC: Bush OKs Army Private's Execution

Gray had had been convicted in connection with a spree of four murders and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area over eight months in the late 1980s while stationed at Fort Bragg.

So why isn't it, "Bush O.K.'s execution of convicted murderer and rapist."?

BarackBook

2008-07-29T09:52:00.001-05:00

Click here for BarackBook!

From Power Line

2008-03-19T06:06:00.001-05:00

A Poet Discovered

It is my great good fortune to know a lot of fun, smart, interesting people, none more so than Roger Simon, novelist, Hollywood scriptwriter and CEO of Pajamas Media. Roger was a civil rights worker in Mississippi when that was still a dangerous thing to be. One of his best friends from elementary school was murdered there, and Roger himself lost the use of a finger in an encounter with a Mississippi cop. Although, based on the way Roger told the story one memorable night in 2004, I think that may have related mainly to his lack of facility with a tire jack.

In any event, Barack Obama's speech on race moved Roger to poetry for the first time in many years. You can read Roger's poem here. A sample:

Barack, I made excuses for the Black Power Movement even though I knew it was turning racist.
Barack, I didn't do it for this.
Barack, your speech was bullshit.
Barack, this isn't about generations.
Barack, this isn't about the black church.
Barack, this is about a pathological minister whose uncontrolled anger wounds his own people and keeps them down.
Barack, this is about a man who ignored that rage for his own political gain and even now won't admit a huge mistake and looks for nuance and excuses.
Barack, this about a woman who went on scholarship to Princeton and Harvard and still hates America.

I don't think Roger will mind if I say that it's better political commentary than poetry, but it's worth reading the whole thing.

UPDATE: In another art form, Ryskind comments on Obama and his spiritual mentor; click to enlarge:

The Scariest Part...

2008-03-19T06:02:00.001-05:00

Email From God

2008-02-13T12:16:00.001-06:00

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject:YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day.
I love you.

p.s.
And, remember...

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself !! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours!

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them !

Should you decide to send this on; Thank you, you may touch a life in a way you will never know!
Now, you have a nice day,

God

IMHO

2008-02-09T06:18:00.001-06:00

Andy Rooney didn't day these things, but as you read, hear the words in his voice & style.

I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, which is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE ?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right 'NOT' to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot you if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word 'freeze' or 'stop' in English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich; I don't pity the poor.

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say 'NO!'

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of 'Political Correctness.' I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa ; so how can they be 'African-Americans'? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the 14% to SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

And if you don't like my point of view, tough...

Hello Kitty AR-15 - evil black rifle meets cute and cuddly

2008-01-21T08:03:00.001-06:00

From: blog.riflegear.com

So called "Assault Weapons Bans" such as the now expired 1994 Clinton ban and the one still in place in states such as California seek to ban rifles that our misguided legislators feel have no purpose in civilian hands. They identify "evil features" they can use to generically classify these "military style" weapons in sweeping terms. Of course these features, such as plastic pistol grips, barrel shrouds, and bayonet lugs have absolutely nothing to do with the firearms potential lethality in the real world and are merely cosmetic features. After all, it really doesn't matter what color the firearm is if it fires the same ammunition right? Well, in the "spirit" of the California Assault Weapon Ban I decided to do my best to alleviate the fears of my fellow citizens and gun-banning legislators when I put together a new AR-15 for my wife. Below is the result of my painstaking work to transform an Evil Black Rifle (EBR) into a Cute Pink RIfle (CPR). Introducing the Hello Kitty AR-15!

This rifle is 100% legal in California because it is based on an "off-list" lower receiver made by Stag Arms and has no evil features at all, instead featuring a fixed stock instead of the evil collapsible stock, a muzzle brake in place of the vile flash-hider, and a MonsterMan Grip instead of the heinous and malicious plastic pistol grip. The C Products magazine looks like a 30 round magazine body but is permanently modified to only allow 10 rounds.

I have to give props to my friend Drew at Armory Airbrush who painted the parts for me and did a great job on the graphics. Check him out at http://www.armoryairbrush.com/

It has come to my attention that a lot of people think this rifle is merely a photoshop job. To convince the doubters here is a picture of the painted parts prior to assembly.

Update 1/13/2008: Well we finally got the Kitty rifle to the range. Here are a couple pics of the wife shooting her new pink paper puncher. Hopefully this will put to rest the chatter about this not being a "real" rifle.

The Pajama Press

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Paul Rahe: Can Obama save his presidency?

Another great post from PowerLine

Paul Rahe: Is Obama a one-trick pony?

(From PowerLine – 2009/11/29)

Option B

The thrill is gone for Obama and the media

By: Chris Stirewalt Political Editor August 24, 2009

Dems Take Stand Against Mob Rule

Obama - "Behind the Mask"

June 15, 2009 - Subject: Dr. Charles Krauthammer

Obama's Ultimate Agenda

What Andy Rooney DIDN’T say!

This Guy Murdered 2,974 People

Beef Tacos - NutriSystem

Hearty Minestrone Soup

NutriCinnamon Squares Cereal

Hearty Beef Stew

Nacho Crisps

Chocolaty Nougat Bar with Peanuts & Caramel

Wedged Potatoes with Sliced Beef Steak

Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables

Cranberry Orange Pastry

Vegetable Beef Soup

WRONG! - Day 10 – “Has it been only 10 days?”

What I wish I had known:

Zesty Herb Snack Mix

Blueberry Lemon Bar

Pasta Fagioli

I’m Going to Lose 41 Pounds! – Guaranteed?

How Obama Got Elected

- From Power Line - 2008/11/19

You Ought to Read This

From Colony14.net - from Don Fredrick's place

Ten theses on President-elect Obama

From Power Line:

Obama's 95% Illusion

From: The Wall Street Journal - Opinion 10/24/2008

It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.

Media's Presidential Bias and Decline

Columnist Michael Malone Looks at Slanted Election Coverage and the Reasons Why

Column By MICHAEL S. MALONE

Reporting Bias

The Presidential Campaign

Joe the Plumber

Bad Editors

The End of Journalism As We Knew It

From the Power Line Blog (10/22/2008)

From Power Line

Six reasons to fear that Obama will govern from the far left

Excerpts from Papers

NYT on Fannie Mae - 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

McCain leads, Obama follows

(From PowerLine Blog)

From the Economist

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

Sep 18th 2008

I Once Read A Book...

...from Power Line ...

What's In a Headline?

BarackBook

From Power Line

A Poet Discovered

The Scariest Part...

Email From God

IMHO

Hello Kitty AR-15 - evil black rifle meets cute and cuddly

From: blog.riflegear.com

By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
August 24, 2009