The BCS Bowl System: Like It or Hate It -- Look What Congress is Getting its Fat Nose into Now!!!

As sure as the college football regular season comes to a close and it’s closing in on just two weeks left of Christmas shopping comes the annual fury about the bowl system and how the national champion is chosen.

This is nothing new. In the past, debates flourished. Was it the Orange Bowl or the Rose Bowl that truly established a national champ? Since the BCS was initiated in 1998 growing out of the Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition which started earlier in the decade, rather than legitimizing the selection of a true champion by having a precisely defined system to rank teams providing for a face off between #1 and #2, the debate appears to have gotten louder.

The current system selects the top teams from the five elite national conferences: the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, and SEC. Additional slots are awarded to “at large” teams that may include teams outside the five major conferences.

The BCS uses an elaborate system of carefully defined metrics, polling results, and all kinds of data stuffed into computers to determine their rankings. Are they any better than the AP Writers’ Poll or USA Today’s Coaches poll is hard to determine?

In establishing a rotating location for the grand finale at the site of the great traditional bowls, those famous bowls once held on New Years Day have lost some of their prestige, and that the bowls are spread out for maximum TV exposure, sure reduces the quality of what games are played on New Years Day. The major bowls, removing the corporate naming conventions are: The Orange Bowl, Miami Florida; the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, Louisiana; the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California; and the Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Arizona. While they are all subject to the BCS process, the Rose Bowl, for instance, will typically feature teams from the Pac 10 facing the Big 10.

Aside from teams and conferences feeling they’ve been slighted if they don’t achieve what they would consider proper consideration from the system, for decades the major bowls have provided great football and the debates on which teams are truly reflective of the legit contenders and who the number one team is perhaps adds to the interest. Sports fans never shy from a good debate.

The current method of determining the National Champion is far from scientific or objective despite all the efforts made to develop a sophistication selection process. Many are proponents of a playoff system. Some of them are politicians. One is the President of the United States who has stated on numerous occasions including an interview on ESPN, he would like to see a playoff system instituted. There’s nothing wrong with politicians having their preference one way or another. Likewise, though many of us would love not to hear their posturing and bloviating, they have every right to express their stance on the issue knowing full well they have a unique position for their views to become well known.

What is totally unacceptable is Congress thinking that how college athletics and the NCAA determine the national champion is their official business. Only if there were some substantial scandalous institutional corruption where public money is involved could they get their foot in the door to act. Even if the system is unfair, it’s not their business if the conduct is legal. Organizations in a free society must have the freedom to determine their own rules and policies.

How bad is it?

While congressmen and senators have been banging their chests on this issue for a long time, now it’s getting way too serious. The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection approved legislation to allow the Federal Trade Commission to prevent any bowl from identifying itself as a “national championship” unless the game is the final game of a single elimination playoff system.

The bill was written and is sponsored by Rep. Joe Barton (R – Texas). Radical rep, Bobby Rush (D – Illinois) is a key supporter. The next step would be a full house vote, senate action, and then how would the President respond when he is already on record wanting that playoff system.

If enacted, the FTC would be empowered to assess costly fines against any organization promoting a “national championship game.” The law is designed to take effect and cover the 2011 season.

Thankfully, this insane legislation is not without strong opposition including senators Orrin Hatch and John Cornyn.

That a measure like this would even be debated reflects badly on the state of today’s congress which in this case is truly bipartisan madness. Most obviously, this represents a blatant attempt for congress to once again stick its nose where it does not belong regardless of what bogus reasons they use to justify. There is no fraud or sinister purpose in the current bowl system. It’s truly a disagreement on what method should be used to determine a championship. The member schools and their representative organizations have decided one way. Many others have a different idea.

Given that many of the top BCS programs are from major state universities and states have a huge investment in the BCS bowl system, one would think state legislatures would go on record on this issue if they thought their schools were slighted by an unfair system.

As long as the bowls enjoy huge attendance, rake in substantial sponsorship and advertising dollars, and gather strong television ratings, where is there any motivation to change?

If fans were outraged by the BCS system and found the games illegitimate, they’d stop watching. When the economy is sputtering, unemployment massive, and many important issues being left unresolved, it is insulting that members of congress would waste public time to intervene on an issue that is governed by the appropriate interscholastic authorities against which no charges of corruption or malfeasance have been indicated.

To drive this point home, consider that Congress is currently attempting to pass legislation that would have the government seize control of all aspects of modern medicine aside from the sacred cows exempted for the sake of their special interest status largely due to their financial contributions to the benefit of our elected leaders. The public is well aware than many elected officials have not found it necessary to read this legislation which impacts well over a trillion dollars in the near future just as they did not read measures rushed through spending billions of dollars that were supposed to provide an economic stimulus to a faltering economy funding hundreds of entitlements and federal mandates rewarding more special interests supportive of such congressional action. The cost of the so-called stimulus was at the cost of fattening up a Federal deficit now in the trillions of dollars.

When trillions of dollars are at stake and some elected officials have gone so far as to ridicule the notion that they would study and read health care and stimulus legislation, how on earth can they justify spending the people’s time designed to establish a playoff system to determine a national football champion?

While sports fans can and should debate such a change to the college football landscape that what should be a conversation for the guys over a beer or two, that our elected leaders would consider the topic as official business shows their incapability to responsibly set their priorities and behave responsibly. Take all these measures collectively, the public sees an institution drunk on power and its sense of importance clearly out of touch with reality failing miserably to execute the public trust bestowed upon them.

Big government is so pervasive now it is messing with how sports conduct themselves. What next?

John Murtha: One of Capitol Hill's Worst!

Study these pictures. Would the real John Murtha please stand up?

John Murtha is an asshole. There’s no more polite way to put it, enough of the garbage about his military service and wounds. That’s the kind of stuff that earns medals. It is no certification of political prowess nor is it a meal ticket to be entitled to hold office.

John Murtha is a thoroughly corrupt politician who is totally confused, misguided, and wrong on the wide spectrum of issues on which he has attracted attention. Further, some of his inflammatory comments about our fighting men and women and vicious stereotypes directed at citizens in his district reveal a sick, demented mind that shows a lack of awareness of what’s going on in the real world but also reflects a degree of prejudices and limited intellect that is absolutely terrifying.

The Republicans had a figure who shared some of John Murtha’s problems, Jesse Helms, but where the media tends to overlook and sugar coat issues regarding Murtha’s archaic thinking, Jesse Helms couldn’t belch in the bathroom without it becoming a major inside the Beltway scandal.

The case against Murtha is long and troubling. Currently, The Washington Post reports his directing $250 million Federal funds to key supporters, companies documented to be the most active Murtha financial supporters. The nebulous Electro-Optics Center created under the umbrella of Penn State was supposed to create high-tech jobs in Western Pennsylvania, an economically struggling region. Murtha used tactics which went beyond the normal earmark procedure to avoid public disclosure. The chief beneficiary of Murtha’s pork feast is the lobbying firm, PMA, a close ally of Murtha enriching his campaign coffers significantly.

Scandal is nothing new for John Murtha, in fact, it is a chief driving force of his tenure in the House. First elected in 1974, the first major scandal that Murtha’s benefitted from was the notorious Abscam in 1980, an FBI string where agents posed as Arab businessmen. Though never indicted, evidentiary tapes show Murtha involvement.

In an episode which clearly revealed Murtha’s twisted character and foggy thinking stood out in response to the Haditha episode in Iraq where American soldiers were implicated in killing innocent Iraqi civilians. Murtha stated publicly that the Marines involved were guilty before an investigation was concluded. Ultimately, all charges against the Marines were dropped. Nevertheless, Murtha has never apologized or offered any clarification of his remarks assuming their guilt.

One June 24, 2006 in a speech delivered to Florida International University, Murtha argued, “American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran.” Once again, Murtha smeared the reputation of the American military.

While Murtha publicly attacks the military lying about their conduct, how ironic it is how much defense spending he has been able to pull into his district thanks to his seniority in the House of Representatives. Ironically, many measures he’s supported are for projects the Pentagon neither requested nor budgeted amounting to a power play simply to push the pork.

While Murtha has been successful enriching the fortune of select deep pocketed supporters in his district, on the eve of the 2008 elections in an interview with a local television station, WTAE, Murtha took shots at his constituents as being racist and “rednecks”

Murtha’s ability to wield such substantial influence pulling on the all powerful purse strings is clear illustration of how the seniority system works to the detriment of the public interest. While generally despised by the population in his district, his ability to satisfy key groups including labor provides just enough margin to keep him in office term after term.

The news media’s soft treatment of Murtha provides one of the classic examples of how media bias in Washington works. Because Murtha is a powerful Democrat whose outrageous comments are directed at the military and stereotypes the kind of people the elites can’t stand, his long record of corruption is all but overlooked. Give The Washington Post credit for spearheading the media revelation of his latest scandal.

If Murtha were Republican, where would he be today?

For more background on John Murtha's current scandal, consult the following link to The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031601393.html?nav=igoogle

America Must Succeed: Obama MUST Fail!!!

One can never be certain just how low the Democratic party’s political operation will stoop or what inane tactics they will employ to distract the public from the real issues and where the socialist wannabes are taking our country. However, between Barack Obama’s sweet talking lies leading the most radical assault on the fundamental policies and beliefs that provide for economic success and national security ever seen and the leadership on Capitol Hill exhibited by the harshly partisan iron fisted left wing extremism of House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and the corrupt, self-serving, highly negative thinking character serving as Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid, never has the radical extreme of the Democratic party been so boldly empowered.

While Pelosi’s and Reid’s agenda spell disaster, their impact is slight compared to the power a committed radical groomed by self-proclaimed communists like William Ayers and devisive race baiters like Jeremiah Wright groomed for politics by the most corrupt political system in the United States, the Illinois Chicago Democratic machine. Yes, patriotic traditionalists and conservatives saw Obama for what he represents and could easily predict his radical leanings, who would have thought he would have gone for virtually every far left agenda item so quickly when the national economy is struggling so severely. Being the sophist and master of slick sales jobs and smoothing talking language of deception, most of these have been spun into being justified as economic necessities when in fact they will put a permanent larger drain on the economy by having the Federal government take on more day-to-day responsibilities that belong in the private sector or in the hands of state and local governments.

To ask the Democrats to defend their major policy initiatives right now is demanding defense of the indefensible and at least at an intuitive level the Democrats get it. If their attempts to cram socialist solution down our throats as their response to the nation’s current economic conditions were fully exposed and they were willing to give time for the public to see the details of their stimulus package and budget, even rather misinformed voters would be outraged.

Things are not going smoothly as the Obama White House works to secure its grip on power having one nominee after another failing to come out clean in examining such things as their tax records. For those who are intent on demanding those who have earnings to sacrifice that these shameless manipulative corrupt hypocrites have no problem bending rules and avoiding their duties as prominent citizens involved in government. Who besides Linda Chavez who would have been a brilliant cabinet secretary was forced to withdraw from consideration for President George W. Bush’s cabinet though many of his nominees were slandered, abused, and taunted when facing confirmation hearings in the Senate? Bill Clinton had problems with Kimber Woods and Zoie Baird for Attorney General on a nanny issue. Nanny issues don’t seem to matter for the Obama administration. His nominees with dark clouds over them are involved in tax payment issues or worse. Still some of them, most notably his Secretary of the Treasury, slip right through. They would have been crucified in the last administration. Still, would it be an exaggeration to say the number of nominees withdrawn exceeds the total of all Presidents since World War II?

Anyone wanting a true assessment of confidence in the Obama administration’s performance and game plan need only consult the Dow Jones stock index for a report card on those most intimately involved with the economy’s perception of how they feel the Obama economic policies will work. The Obama administration is failing miserably to instill any confidence at all as the market has gone into free fall since our ‘pseudo-savior’ was elected in November. The stock market was struggling to hold its own until the likelihood of an Obama presidency became a legitimate fear. Since that time, it has lost half its value going into free fall since election day in November.

The Democrats’ approach to the economy is counter-intuitive. The best economic stimulus is to provide all citizens with as much disposable funds as possible while giving those with sufficient wealth to start and stimulate businesses as much control over their money as possible so they will invest in starting new businesses, providing investment capital to those businesses trying to get off the ground, and to expand and strengthen existing businesses. The more money in the private sector to accomplish this, the more likely the economy will overcome its losses and grow successfully. The two most tangible things the national government can do to help this is cut taxes and streamline excessive regulation. For what little money the stimulus has put back in the peoples’ pockets, the huge increase in government spending on special interest paybacks and ineffective and inefficient social programs. What was supposed to lean primarily on infrastructure has come out of the legislative process looking very different. The end result is an unprecedented run up of the Federal deficit that dwarfs all debts previously entered into by the Federal government. The Democrats’ counter that they are only continuing that which the Bush administration began is blatantly dishonest when they boast of how the last Democratic President (not mentioned – and a Republican congress0 had balanced the budget. While the Bush administration deserves serious criticism for ramping up Federal spending that does not tell the story. 9/11 and Islamic terrorism does. The battle rages on to secure Afghanistan from being a staging ground for El Qaeda serviced by the Taliban. A brutal dictator who overran a strategic ally with rich oil reserves destined to Western interests was still acting in belligerent ways in 2002 firing upon American and British jets patrolling the “no fly zone” established to keep Iraq from attacking minority populations within its borders and moving onward to harm its neighbors. Winning military campaigns aren’t cheap.

What could directly destroy the ability to generate new business opportunities than raising corporate taxes and capital gains. The more a company pays to comply with a myriad of regulations and document compliance and the higher its tax burden, the less capital is left to hire workers and to grow the business and enhance its product availability and quality.

While talking down the terrorist threat as best witnessed by Homeland Security’s Secretary Janet Napolitano’s introductory address focusing on hurricanes and disaster relief with no remarks on our real security threats, illegal immigration and world terrorism and appointing a political figure, Leon Panetta, as CIA director, instead of talking about a strong sense of resolve to protect the republic from terrorist attack, the focus is directed toward criticizing the assertive measures of the previous administration. Clearly Barack Obama and his left wing idealists don’t believe what the radicals of the Muslim world have made so painfully clear, they are at war against our way of life.

One of the positive economic developments of the last quarter of the 20th century through the Bush administration has been developing a more constructive, less confrontational approach toward employer/employee relationships as trade unions outside the public sector have diminished tremendously. Employees are more actively involved in working with management in many industries determining the future of their companies and the products they produce. Obama and the Democrats see the management/worker relationship as inherently confrontational requiring institutional and government support to secure the workers’ welfare. The goal is huge growth of the rank-in-file of union member is the goal as unions provide the most loyal and consistent support of the far left of the Democratic party. Union pacs and the money they raise support Democrats in every election. The reward the Democrats offer is abolishing a most fundamental democratic principle of a secret ballot for employees to vote whether they chose union representation. The card check provision allows union reps to hand deliver and collect ballots from workers allowing room for time honored union practices of bullying and intimidation to obtain the desired result.

Rather than seeking to carefully consider the future of health care and determine the best way to provide quality health care to the public at large, Barack Obama with his leaders on Capitol Hill, measures to set in place the beginning of socialized medicine is being put in place through the bailout and budget process avoiding the opportunity to sweat the details and get the kind of national debate started that will help rescue our medical system from chaos and collapse as the baby boomer generation is entering into old age.

Massive funding is being dumped upon education not to help give parents more remedies to escape from failing public schools but instead to fund the primary goals of the teachers’ unions and other liberal special interest concerns. Though Barack Obama’s Secretary of Education seemed to hint that vouchers designed to rescue pupils from failing inner city schools were okay, Obama’s close Senate ally, Dick Durbin, has led the effort to end a highly successful program of $7,500 a year vouchers to send students to private and parochial schools. Given the cost per pupil established for the failing DC public schools exceeds $13,000 a student, that’s a bargain, not to mention the long term payoff of having kids learn at a high level, a feat virtually impossible in a dreadful school system.

Vice President Joe Biden warned that there would be hostile forces who’d attempt to test the strength of Obama’s presidency before he was elected, while the big disaster hasn’t happened yet, there are events going on that have to be measures to test how much the military doubting President responds. Last week, Communist China sent boats out into international waters to harass U.S. Naval ships in the area. Meanwhile, North Korea has been pushing ahead with attempts to launch a strategic missile capable of reaching the west coast while putting their military on full alert. Iran launched what is supposed to be its first satellite. One can only imagine what welcoming present radical Islam is preparing to greet our shameful President.

The worldly crew and press speculated that an Obama presidency would restore damaged relationships with European leaders who were tired of what the elite called the “Cowboy diplomacy” of the Bush administration. They’d find Obama to be more sympathetic to their viewpoints and less intrusive.

On one score, one would think the socialists in Europe would rejoice how rapidly Obama is attempting to push through socialist programs on every level in the United States. Privately, they must be shaking in their boots he might compromise American military superiority, every European democracy’s security blanket as they have the might of the American military to defend them leaving their economies free to pursue other priorities.
Through the best and worst of times, no ally has been more openly supportive of the United States than the United Kingdom. Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was seen as a perfect buddy for Bill Clinton, but stood arm in arm with George W. Bush when forceful action was required in the middle east. It would only seem natural that the first major head of state to visit the White House after Obama’s inauguration would be British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

The Brown visit couldn’t have turned out to be a more vicious embarrassment for the Obama regime. In one event after another, Obama showed no regard for traditional protocol, no visit to Camp David, no state dinner, not a single one of the ceremonies that shows the world how much the United States treasures and respects British support. Even the appearance to the world press where the two leaders stand side by side behind podiums with each leader’s shield was overlooked apparently leaving Mr. Brown feeling quite jilted. Adding insult to injury, it’s tradition to exchange gifts when new leaders take power. Gordon Brown offered an artifact rich in British history, a pen holder set made from wood from the anti-slave ship, HMS Gannet. The Obama gift, 25 DVD’s supposedly representing American movie classics which the London Guardian labeled as about as exciting as “a pair of socks.” One more thing, American DVD’s don’t play on British DVD players thanks to encryption standards. US DVD’s use NTSC coding. British discs require PAL coding. Nothing like a thoughtless gift totally useless to create a first impression with an ally Obama might be glad to have on his side sooner than he could ever realize. The White House response was that the President was a little weary from being so preoccupied with the economy.

Too preoccupied with the Economy!?!? Be real. If that’s the case why is the President trying to stiff arm through every imaginable agenda item on the radical left’s wish list with special attention to empower the labor unions who along with groups like MoveOn.org and other domestic intellectual terrorist groups provide the Democrats a never ending source of funds with explicit demands for payoffs in return.

After 50 days, it’s not to early to pass judgment on the Obama administration as one of the worst failures in the history of the American Presidency given the huge amount of money, now we’re talking about trillions, as in 12 digits to the right of the first comma, in spending for tattoo removal, pig stench studies, Frisbee golf, and earmarks and pork galore while attacking the people and institutions best prepared to rescue a struggling economy.

How can responsible citizens work to stand in the way of the Obama administration and the corrupt, self-serving arrogant Democratic representatives on Capitol Hill? It won’t be easy as the traditional media and White House enjoy a close relationship where the White House chief of staff worked with political hatchet men currently posing as commentators on CNN to create the Rush Limbaugh uproar and how various Republicans react to his statements condemning the Obama administration bluntly asserting he wants the Obama administration to fail. The other part of it was his reasoning, because he wants America to succeed.

When considering what we’ve discussed in this column, how can we not hope that Obama fails miserably? For Obama to succeed with his policies and programs, our country from Pennsylvania Avenue to Rodeo Drive with hundreds of Main Streets north to south east to west will have to deal with the damage for decades. In fifty days, we’ve seen that any notion of Obama being a “pragmatist” or “centrist” is way off. He is the radical his associations with Ayers and Wright suggested he would be. His dreadful handling of his responsibilities and high number of failed nominations shows his absolute lack of experience in any meaningful management position. Lyndon Johnson lead us into the most divisive episode in American history since the Civil War, sending tens of thousands of young Americans to be slaughtered in Vietnam while building the welfare state in the name of “the Great Society.” Jimmy Carter proved to be a total incompetent absolutely unprepared for the responsibilities of the most powerful office in the world emboldening radical Islam leading to the successful radical take over in Iran and seizure of the US embassy holding American hostages for 444 days until the morning Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.

Barack Obama represents the worst of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter many times over. On top of that, he makes Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton look like “swear to tell the truth” Boy Scouts when Obama’s very existence as President is built on lies much less the garbage that comes out of his mouth.

America, it’s okay to want Obama to fail. It’s not just okay, it’s something we must do if in our heart we want America, our people, our friends and neighbors to prosper. Our freedom is at stake. Taking more money from any American in the form of taxes reduces freedom for that person and restricts freedom in many other ways that aren’t at first obvious to see. The specter of a charismatic demagogue who can get an audience worked into a frenzy shouting slogans in response should remind those of us who know world history of where we’d think American society could never go.

To hear Obama justify his decisions, he does not cite history or any kind of detailed factual analysis. Instead he offers, “It’s always been my opinion….,” “I’ve always thought…..” “I’ve said many times…..” In Obama’s mind, if he says it, “it” must be so. The gullible Obama-maniacs drunk on emotion hoping for “change you can believe in” and false senses of “hope” have swallowed the Kool-Aid.

They must fail. They must fail. They must fail!!!

The first course of what the Obama Presidency joining forces with the Harry Reid/Nancy Pelosi congress has been served and the long term economic and social structure of the United States of America is at stake.

Gone is the campaign happy talk of hope and change you can believe in replaced with threats of catastrophe and doom. In a measure full of fat and lots of sweets for the traditional Democratic special interests groups, what’s severely lacking is anything of substance that will truly help stimulate the economy. In less than one month of the Obama Presidency, American society has been transformed more substantially moving toward a caretaker state than the total of the entire Great Society of Lyndon Johnson essentially undoing all the reforms achieved by Ronald Reagan’s visionary approach toward expanding the economy through expanding free enterprise opportunity and a strong national defense and gains achieved in the early stages of the house and senate turning to Republican rule under the “Contract with America.”

Here’s the epitome of the classic Obama supporter in full overdose mode on the Obama stimulant. This is from the President’s trip to conduct a so-called “town hall” meeting to push his dopey legislation last week. This is NOT a skit from Saturday Nite Live. It is real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO3kHC61I88

Doesn’t that punk make you glad you’re not a Democrat? And what flavor Kool Aid was he gulping?

The welfare reforms achieved by a Republican congress and Bill Clinton’s approval have all but been eliminated. Substantial funds are going to social welfare and reengineering programs consisting of a laundry list of social causes and pet projects that have long been the stereotyped image of the loose spending nanny state. Aid has even been targeted to the film making industry in Hollywood. How is that for undisguised rewards for blind loyalty as the celebrity crowd not only paid generously during the last eight years to discredit the Bush Administration through slander and misinformation through their mouthpieces like MoveOn.org and DailyKOS, but also went head over heels in their support for the Obama campaign like a love struck teenager high on sniffing glue, Diet Pepsi, and pop rocks?

That a measure with so many funding provisions with such a high price tag would be rushed through as quickly as it was with no time to be published for public reaction defines what it means to “pull a fast one.” In providing the final draft of the bill after clearing house and senate conferees, the Democratic leadership would not even provide the bill in electronic form to allow for easier research and searching for details. The Obama/Pelosi/Reid Socialization Act of 2009, weighed in over 1,000 pages. In the amount of time between finally being approved and presented for vote, no legislator could possibly have read the whole measure much less delegated it to staff and had ample time to confer and follow up on concerns over specific provisions. “The Devil is in the details” couldn’t be more appropriate as given the far reaching impact of where this spending is directed will surely result in “hell to pay” in the future both in terms of the actual cost of paying for the obligations it creates but also in expansion of the size and roll of government which permanently alters the ratio of money between the public and private sector. The private sector creates capital while the public sector squanders it. Further, as in any measure where public funds go to bailout or stimulate private sector entities, substantial requirements, the proverbial strings attached, divert private sector activity from productivity to documentation of compliance that government regulations are being adequately implemented.


Even for the sake of discussion, the pork barrel provisions in the government stimulus, we should say narcotic, bill are far too numerous to even begin to articulate but some of them are such powerful illustrations of the abuse and arrogance of power. The government nationalized passenger rail service in the 1970’s when it created Amtrak which constantly loses money while reducing the quality and level of its service. Harry Reid represents Nevada. Pork for the big pig supreme, construction of a high speed railroad from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is one massive Federal program in the bill creating an umbilical cord making the huge palaces of excess for the entertainment industry interconnected. At a time when California is struggling economically, this provides a one-way ticket for California money to be spent in Nevada on glitter and gambling.

The supreme arrogance of power is astonishing beyond anything seen in American politics. The shift to the extreme left is also especially disturbing as it reveals the true nature of the so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats who ran on a sense of fiscal conservatism mocking the big spending habits of the GOP during its majority rule. As shameful as those GOP excises were, they are but chump change compared to what the Obama Abolition of Free Enterprise as We Know it Disguised as a Stimulus program offers.

Going into the efforts that resulted in this bill, Obama was portraying himself as a consensus builder looking for a bipartisan seemingly centrist approach to attempting to breathe life into a dormant economy but the real Obama, the sweat talker who addresses the public in carefully measured surely focus group confirmed language, condemns the bill’s opponents and Republicans sounding like an angry Negro, and revealing through and through here’s a guy who never worked in the Senate long enough to properly understand how spending measures can snowball out of control and the content of the bill he so eagerly embrace likewise upholds his reputation of having been the most liberal member of the Senate from 2006-2008. Be nervous whenever Obama tries to sound African-American, as it’s all a put on for a fellow who never was immersed in an environment where such speaking habits could be learned until much later in life after his Ivy League education. It’s all an act to try to shake off his image as an ivory tower elitist.

Though the connection might not be immediately seen, it is not ironic from the big picture point-of-view that while the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Stimulus-Should-Be-Called-Narcotic Act of 2009, the Obama Administration is moving functions of managing the census from the Commerce department to the White House making the census count a much more political and less administrative activity. While attempting to cast a bi-partisan veneer on his administration by nominating Republican New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg after their golden boy nominee, Bill Richardson, former cabinet official in the Clinton administration, was forced to withdraw as a Federal corruption probe was inching ever closer to the sitting governor’s fat neck, the clear intent was that Gregg be Secretary in name only, vanity window dressing for an administration with other plans. The real agenda was political in moving the census to White House control. Is it any wonder Gregg withdrew his nomination? Gregg also voted against the Stimulus/Narcotic Bill.

Why is the census so crucial? Representing far more than just gathering data on where the United States population resides, these figures are used to determine representation in the House and the dispersal of targeted Federal Funds based on identified populations documented by the census count. Since the census does not represent a hard count of actual citizens and employs sampling and other statistical techniques, the methodology and how it is employed can be manipulated to create predetermined desires for certain outcomes. Besides that, political decisions determine who is and is not counted as shown by the last census. In North Carolina with its huge military population, its military bases were established as the residence for soldiers whether stationed there or overseas. In Utah with its substantial Mormon population, thousands of Mormons were serving overseas to fulfill their missionary commitments. They were not counted. North Carolina gained a congressional seat. Utah would have gained a seat had their overseas population been tallied. Further decisions can be made to help award population in certain parts of certain states where politically friendly governors can supervise redrawing congressional districts favorable to the party in power.

Politically drawn congressional districts are nothing new to the Mid-Atantic. There is the famous Interstate 85 corridor where a North Carolina congressional district was essentially the width of that Interstate highway to connect two predominately African-American population centers, one in the Raleigh-Durham area, the other in Charlotte, to create what would be a sure Black seat in congress. Meanwhile in Maryland, traditionally, its 1st, 2nd, and 6th congressional districts have trended Republican. Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore are primarily rural and small town populations strongly Republican. The 2nd district represented wealthy suburbs and exoburbs in Baltimore and Harford counties, strong conservative territory. Under the corrupt and incompetent leadership of Parris Glendenning, Governor of Maryland in 2000, the Maryland congressional map was radically manipulated to dilute the strong conservative populations for the West (5th district) and Eastern Shore (1st district) while rearranging districts surrounding Baltimore to ensure strong Democratic representation. Now the 6th district extends from western Maryland all along the northern boundary to the Susquehanna River dipping into the Baltimore suburbs along the York Road and Reisterstown Road corridors, both major arteries around which suburban population centers grow.


The 2nd district was pushed deeper into the industrial and more impoverished east side of Baltimore County. The 3rd district, one of two which took in much of Baltimore City begins in the Annapolis area, then twists and bends northward through Baltimore taking parts of the York and Reisterstown Road communities. A slice of the 1st district cuts east/west across Baltimore County crossing York Road into Owings Mills and Reisterstown. The Second District, now follows the western shore of the Chesapeake crosses the Patapsco River to take in Northern Anne Arundel County and South Baltimore while having another meandering strip through the north suburbs crossing the York Road and Reisterstown Road corridors snaking around to comprise about 1/3 of Baltimore County’s western boundary with Carroll County including the community of Randallstown. Maryland’s 3rd District snakes its way from Annapolis to Reisterstown at one point only being the width of Northern Parkway in Baltimore City to connect Parkville with Towson two adjoining suburbs which have a huge wedge cut between for Paris only knows what. Finally, the firmly minority district representing most of Baltimore City, the 7th District now extends far west of Baltimore including Catonsville, a very conservative traditional community, Columbia, and the largely semi-rural parts of western Howard County, largely white middle to upper middle class. Given the Afro-centric politics of minority districts, Catonsville and western Howard County have essentially no representation of their interests in Congress.

The absurdity, one can travel up York Road within a few blocks of Cockeysville and travel through three districts, only a small part of the 2nd district which once represented this community in total passes through while most of this large bedroom community is split between Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Travel south on York Road to the county seat of Towson, another District, the 3rd then back into the 2nd and then moving into the 7th only three blocks into Baltimore City.

The effect of Maryland’s redistricting is two fold. First, regions with similar needs and concerns are sliced up so that the real purpose of what the House of Representatives was supposed to serve to represent the people has instead been converted to one of political opportunism. Baltimore’s two most populated surrounding counties effectively have no clear voice in Congress. Harford County, one of Maryland’s fastest growing districts has no local representation. Effectively divided into thirds, the top third is lumped in with Western Maryland, the middle third is set with the Eastern Shore, and the southern third which includes substantial military population is lumped in with the industrial region of Baltimore County.

The second effect was to give the Democratic party a death grip on Republican congressional representation in Maryland. Most of the Democratic strength in Maryland resides primarily within the Beltways of Baltimore and Washington and the corridor between the two cities. Now only Western Maryland’s district which takes on the northern populations of Baltimore and Harford counties, likewise Republican strongholds, remains intact. The Eastern Shore could be a toss up but has been diluted by carefully adding strong Democratic areas on the western shore of the bay. In the last election, a Republican from the western shore ran against a Democrat from the other side of the bay and lost. The second district once represented the northern suburbs of Baltimore, most of Baltimore County and most of Harford County. This area was Republican, though a little more moderate than the strongly conservative west and Eastern Shore. Drive from the Baltimore City line ten miles north through the county seat of Towson and one would pass through four congressional districts, but once north of Towson along York Road, the main drag, at the outer end of the suburban sprawl rests Cockeysville, where in less than a mile, what’s left of its old district, one that represents the eastern shore, and one that represents western Maryland. This is all within one zip code, one elementary school district, just a handful of stop lights!!! As such, Maryland was a state with three strong Republican districts and a 4th district that belonged to a Rhino (Republican in Name Only). Now Maryland has only one strong Republican district and another that can easily be reduced to a toss up which turned Democratic in the last election. An honest mapping that reflects easily defined geographic areas with populations with similar interests and concerns would make Maryland a state with three certain Republican seats and four Democratic seats with one area that could possibly be designed to go either way, is so obvious. An honest application of census data would only involve moving boundaries a little bit one way or another based on balancing out the population. What was never intended is the farce cynically created by crass political opportunism that is the Maryland map today.

There can be little doubt that the kind of political use of the census is exactly what the Obama administration intends by moving the Census lead to the White House. Remember, Barack Obama is a product of the Richard Daley machine of Chicago politics one of the most corrupt and manipulative political enterprises in the country. The state of Illinois has long been famous for its manipulated districts. Maryland is in many respects a little Illinois. Outside of Chicago, Illinois is a largely conservative, heartland state. Maryland is much more like old Virginia the further one gets away from the Beltway regions. Speaking of Virginia, with a governor who is a close Obama ally and the rapid growth of the Washington suburbs, Virginia is a state that has been strongly Republican until recently that could easily be manipulated to create some new strongly Democratic regions. One can only imagine an I-95 corridor connecting the Alexandria region with Richmond or how the I-64 corridor could be used for political purposes to link Hampton/Newport News with Richmond. Hopefully, we’re not giving the scoundrels any ideas by mentioning this.

What’s the big deal can easily be summarized, the future makeup of the United States House of Representatives. This is the prize that has Obama’s eyes in his politicizing of the Census.

Take the worst of the Lyndon Johnson years and add the worst of the Jimmy Carter years, multiplied then add some hardy scoops of the Richard Daley Machine and the recipe for Obama politics is complete. With Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco treat and man-in-need-of-strong-enema, Harry Reid leading congress the recipe for disaster beyond belief is coming to a boil. The first big serving has been tossed on America’s plate, and that’s just the appetizer.

Business as Usual on Capitol Hill

So what's the rush? At 11:00 pm the final version of the so-called stimulus bill was completed bringing together the house and senate versions. How fast was this whole measure created? What's the rush? At over 1,100 pages, our fine elected leaders on Crapitol Hill are being forced to commit to quick passage.

Should we not be terrified that our Senators and Congressmen see fit to commit to a cursory rush job on something that will cost our society well over a trillion dollars including the expediture, interest, and most other costs this bill will cause.

Something this thorough, as wrong as it is, demands critical investigation before passage. The very nature of our economic system is being permanently revised by this fiasco.

How much worse can it get? Remember, this law started in the house largely a product of Nancy Pelosi.

Obama's First Press Conference: Grade F-

Right-Minded America's Worst Nightmare In a shameless attempt to sell the Nancy Pelosi spending spree misnamed as an economic stimuli, Barack Obama warned of a lost decade if action is not immediatly forthcoming for the Senate to approve a measure which puts little if anything back into the economy, is lean on tax breaks especailly where they will help the most, but spends money on such things as Frisbey Golf Courses, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $650 million for digital TV coupons, $200 million for spiffing up the National Mall, including sod, $400 million for NASA to research climate change, and millions go to various social activism causes including money that will wind up in the corrupt and notorious gang of thieves at ACORN.



The overall effect of the Pelosi Porker is to greatly extend the reach of government, to make private enterprise more subservient to government while doing nothing to stilmulate true market place solutions. If the billions of dollars devoted to mindless liberal social program were instead used exclusively for tax cuts, almost every cent in the proprosal could represent an investment in the economy by giving every member in society a measure of empowerment to correct the mess. We need to only remember the rhetoric of the Obama campaign and the constant harping of sneering negatively from Ms. Pelosi and her radical followers, to hear loud and clear their contempt for corporate America. However, while the economy teeters and totters, no institution is better equiped to move the economy forward than private enterprise. Putting money back in the taxpayers' hands to raise their spending power and cutting the corporate tax rate to be competitive with the rest of the world is exactly the kind of proactive support that would not only help the immediate situation but would help rebuild the nation's economic infrastructure toward a more responsive, efficient, and profitable economy. When corporate America wins, most Americans are the big winners whether it means better,cheaper products and services or the value of their stock going up thus raising the value of private investments and 401K's and stablilizing pension fund invenstments.



Government giveaways only affect limited targetted recipients putting almost nothing in the economy at large. Government giveways extend dependency on government further subjecting private industry to greater government regulation and control. The Pelosi Pork Project in one stunning almost one trillion dollar spending measure which will surely cost more when its impact on the nation can be assertaineed move toward European style socialism where the welfare state and high unemployment are permanent facts of life, but what's the big deal when much of society has no motivation to achieve anything when the government will underwrite their unnecessary dependency.

As a pure reflection of Obama's audacity of egotism, he warned Americans of a "lost decade" if the trillion dollar sell out is not approved. That amount reflects more government borrowing than all administrations through out American history up to and including that of Jimmy Carter's. With the US population standing at slightly above 300 million, divide that into one billion and see what the debt is on the head of each person in this country. Can you say 3.3 MILLION boys and girls?

America has already chosen the lost decade when it elected the inexperienced radical from the corrupt Chicago political machine, the same organization which created Blagomania, Barack Obama as President. If the citizens were stupid enough to believe his happy talk of change, are they equally gullible to believe his current rhetoric of doom, and impending catastrophe?

Socialism would be the end of the American way of life as we have known it. When looking at the efforts of Nancy Pelosi being urged on by a President who counts among his long associates the mad bomber, admitted communist, William Ayers, surely their intentions are unmasked. The ironfisted unyielding way Ms. Pelosi runs the House shows her contempt for democratic principles in the very organization which is supposed to be the seat of the peoples' democracy, the House of Representatives.

Obama is failing badly and so is America. One should have much more faith that America can solve its problems than Obama will push the right buttons to have a successful, properly directed Administration. An American society that believes in free enterprise is inherently a nation of problem solvers. The sooner the American people accept the power rests in them not Washington, DC, the quicker the current recession will be history.

Meet the Press: Meet the Obama Groupies

"Seasoned Professional" Andrea Mitchell, Obama's "Sweetie" at NBC News; Another Day - Another Liberal Bias Story

Andrea Mitchell, senior Washington correspondent for NBC, projects a mature and intelligent image, a person in the know who reports the straight poop having spent years in the Nation’s capital building her contact and knowledge base. Unmasked, she is a committed leftist, Obama sycophant, and gossipy snip who skillfully drops insinuations and innuendos to trash those on the other side of the political axis from her ideology. If there was ever a reporter Barrack Obama should call, “sweetie,” Andrea Mitchell is the real deal, a big ticket, fancy limousine, Obama girl. Her quick little shot with absolutely no legitimate support at John McCain confirms her leanings so beautifully. You could say she leans so far left she fell for Obama!

Media bias takes shape on many levels. Perhaps one of most noxious for its power of suggestion rather than direct head-on reporting is the nuanced insinuation. In what follows, no Obama officials are quoted. The game is once again not what is but a judgment of what might be based on the reporter’s individual bias. The contrast between Obama’s approach at addressing questions posed by Rick Warren before his Saddleback congregation and John McCain’s showed how the candidates were worlds apart not only one the issues but in how they viewed leadership which showed in the contrasting style of their answers. Obama intellectualized and rambled speaking mostly in the abstract. McCain was direct, specific, and forceful even suggesting he would march to the “gates of hell” to catch Bin Ladin. That comment set up the following exchange between NBC’s White House Correspondent, David Gregory, and Senior Washington Reporter, Andrea Mitchell:

Mitchell: ….. you know, there was the crisp, immediate, forceful response by John McCain, clearly in a comfort zone because he was with his base. And Barack Obama, taking a risk in going there but seeing an opportunity. And a much more nuanced approach. The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that -- what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.

David Gregory: Right.

Mitchell: He seemed so well prepared.

(excerpt from NBC's, Meet the Press, Sunday, August 17, 2008, replays available on MSNBC)

Andrea, sweetie, (Obama calls female reporters “sweetie” so we thought you’d like it too) just one small thing, we had to put our sunglasses on so we wouldn’t be blinded by the fawning sparkle in your eyes marveling over your hero Barrack Obama, but you’ve been around Washington a long time. Could you help us understand how you sourced your story? How do you know how the Obama folks “must feel?” Is there some objective journalistic truth that could stem from this conjecture. Furthermore, sweetie, you must have some good inside sources as you suggest what the Obama “people” are ‘putting out privately.” Gee, it’s not too private if you know about it. Do you know about it? Or is this one of those “must be” scenarios.

Folks remember this is the same network that there are nameless sources suggesting Michael Phelps must be using performance enhancing drugs to achieve his memorable feats. The facts, ma’am, just the facts. NBC must accept the responsibility that their job is to report the news that means telling the audience what is not what must be, not what somebody thinks might have happened but what really happened as observed by specific named sources, and by telling the complete story not just parsing what you want us to read. NBC is the worst established network for extreme left wing bias. There is almost NO TRANSPARENCY that they are shills for the Obama campaign though now that Disney has made the Mickey Mouse decision to use ESPN to promote Obama’s more human side escalates the whole situation further when entertainment programming has become completely politicized.

FOLKS, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A WELL-INFORMED CITIZEN TO SHOP THE MEDIA AND REFUSE TO TOLERATE THEIR LIES AND INUENDOS. You can be a solo voice singing in the shower or join with us at Right Minded Fellow and together we'll form a chorus of thosands of voices who will be heard.

Ted Stevens: Pork Barrel Pig Headed to Slaughter

Ted Stevens Goes Down: The Poster Child for the Culture of Corruption and Greed on Capitol Hill

Ted Stevens, 84 years old, six term Senator from Alaska, got what he had coming, a seven count indictment for perjury about his financial records and receiving substantial gifts totaling $250,000 none reported or shown as reimbursed on his financial records subject to perjury. Substantial favors were provided by VECO, an oil services company under investigation for other corruption charges involving Alaskan politicians. VECO is alleged to have provided renovations and accessories for Stevens’ home in Alaska. Also included in the loot was a Land Rover, luxury SUV. As such, the indictment covers both inappropriate receipt of favors and covering up such receipts. VECO is alleged to have sought influence regarding Alaskan pipeline contracts and help obtaining international contracts in Iraq and Russia.

Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the Senate, is far from a sympathetic figure. For most of us, it’s about time someone of his stature gets nailed for acting above the law. Ted Stevens is the infamous sponsor of the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska, the bridge would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) to the Island of Gravina, with its teaming population of fifty residents. The cost to the American taxpayer would be at least $320 million, spread pit across three separate earmarks in Federal highway bills. As outrageous as this expenditure is, the Senate originally passed it with hardly a fuss, business as usual on Capitol Hill. Finally once publicized and becoming the symbol of earmark excesses, it took a full two years and much screeching and finger pointing before the bridge proposal was finally withdrawn.

Ted Stevens has become the poster child of pork barrel politics and the runaway use of earmarks to target funds for superfluous and unwarranted projects benefitting only the self-serving greedy interests of Stevens and his closest cohorts. While still Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Stevens angrily lashed out when first questioned about the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” project threatening killing other measures and delaying appropriation actions on other items if efforts continued to kill the bridge’s funding. Stevens’ arrogance and defiance made him in some circles the personification of out-of-control pork allocations; however, such out of control spending is so wide spread with members of both parties engaged in the spending orgy Ted Stevens has not become a widely reviled figure in the popular news media. That should change rapidly once the public connects this indictment with the nefarious bridge project.

The Ted Stevens scandal is surely the tip-of-the-iceberg of bloated gift receipts and other scandalous behavior in exchange for runaway earmark projects that have been bipartisan antics enriching the fortunes of members from both parties and both houses. Investigations have shown many exploits while vile and deplorable are done legally while not doing anything technically against the law, the legislators’ behavior shows wretched budgetary sense and no regard for their constituents they were elected to serve in the first place. Examples of such include the Prairie Parkway projected spearheaded by former Illinois Representative and House Speaker, Denny Hastert who became known as Hastert the Bastard for seeking to build a federally funded expressway connecting I-80 and I-88 west of the Chicago suburbs which serves no real transportation need for district residents but by virtue of having an interchange located near land from which Hastert has derived tremendous profits calls the whole legitimacy of the project into question.

Democratic Representative, John Murtha, has routinely won lucrative contracts for his district for defense appropriations never requested by the Pentagon. The name Robert Byrd, the Senate’s most senior Senator from West Virginia, has long been the poster child of pork obtaining massive federal funding for exorbitant projects through out his state. A visitor to “The Mountain State” can hardly travel from village to village without seeing some monument constructed in the name of the elderly Senator, bridges, buildings, and real estate bare his name where taxpayer money has been used as a tribute to out of control excess in his name.

Though in this election year, much will be made to paint the Ted Stevens affair as a partisan issue. It is not. Members of both parties have bellied up to the table at the Capitol Hill pig picking for decades. It’s more an issue of highly protected and privileged incumbency where senior members enhance their personal wealth and influence by gaining favor and divvying out Federal projects to further enhance their lock on power in both the Senate and House.

The Republican Party looks particularly hypocritical on this issue as part of the 1994 Republican Revolution, under the provisions of the Contract with America pledged to eliminate these wretched practices. How quickly on gaining power and tasting the fruits of their influence did they quickly illustrate Machiavelli’s principle that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

May justice be swift and harsh should Ted Stevens be proven guilty. Voters alarmed at ridiculously high taxes, deficits, and waste should hope that many more figures will be paraded before prosecutors and dealt with severely until these wretched crooks are held accountable for their behavior. Meanwhile, all voters are urged to examine their elected officials’ spending habits in assessing which candidate is worthy of their votes.