Archive for April, 2009
Saturday Open Thread
What’s on your mind this Saturday?
What are people in your part of the country talking about this weekend?
Grand Jury convenes in Raleigh North Carolina; seems John Edwards being investigated for misuse of campaign funds
A federal Grand Jury has convened in Raleigh, North Carolina — and it looks like the Justice Department has finally gotten around to investigating John Edwards’ misuse of campaign funds to pay off his mistress Rielle “Lisa Druck” Hunter.
It sure looks like Edwards used campaign donations to pay for flights Hunter took on private jets to hide her from the media, and to keep her quiet not only about their affair, but the identity of Hunter’s babydaddy — little Frances, who looks just like Edwards, and whom Edwards visited at 3am at the Beverly Hills Hilton (but was caught by the Enquirer, when he ran down a flight of stairs and hid in the bathroom, crying, for close to an hour).
This story has been brewing for some time — though we’re surprised a Justice Department under Eric Holder is actually pursuing charges against Obama surrogate Edwards.
With luck, Edwards could do jail time for embezzlement and fraud.
Edwards, Richardson, Dodd…funny how so many of the men who ran for President last year, and who all backed Obama, are in so much trouble just a year later.
Strange the company Obama keeps.
Colmes gets his own show on FOX to replace Hannity
Help Publicize Chicago Young Republicans' April 15th Navy Pier Chicago Tea Party
We need to ask your help with something today, to right a weird situation here in Chicago involving the April 15th Tax Day Tea Party protest.
On April 15th from 12 noon – 2pm, there is a Tax Day Tea Party being held on Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago. This is the event being organized by a group of people who claim they are leading the Tax Day protest movement, but in reality they’re a group that’s working for political reasons (to support a politician who is most likely going to announce his run for Governor of Illinois on April 15th at the Tea Party, and use that issue as part of his candidacy).
The contact people for the Tax Day Tea Party organizers are, interestingly enough, the same people on staff for this gubernatorial prospect.
Very interesting. And here’s where the weirdness comes in:
The Chicago Young Republicans have organized a truly spectacular event later in the day on April 15th that’s complementary to the earlier Daley Plaza protest. The afternoon protest ends at 2pm on Michigan Avenue, after a march from Daley Plaza through the city to the plaza by the Tribune Building. At 430pm, the Chicago Young Republicans have scheduled an event at Navy Pier, which is a short walk from the Tribune building east to the lake. This does not conflict AT ALL with the event earlier in the day.
The Chicago Young Republicans have pulled out all stops to actually recreate the Boston Tea Party on Lake Michigan with the largest tall ship in the country, and a rally at Navy Pier at the Billy Goat Tavern from 430pm – 9pm on April 15th (including an adventure onto Lake Michigan with the Tall Ship, and both a big sendoff for the ship and a cheer for its return to the dock, all replicating the actual Boston Tea Party).
You would think everyone aghast at Washington’s reckless spending and trillions in waste would want AS MUCH attention drawn to this issue as possible. You would think the people behind the afternoon protest would be THRILLED to see what would have been merely a 2 hour event stretched into a 9 hour event, covering both the afternoon news cycle and the highly rated evening news too. You would think this was about the Tea Party movement and calling Congress out for its reckless spending, which is a principle Americans of all political and party stripes can get behind.
But, in reality, the people behind the afternoon event are actively trying to prevent anyone from knowing about the Chicago Young Republicans’ Navy Pier Chicago Tea Party on the Tall Ship later in the day.
They won’t allow the Chicago Young Republicans’ event to be posted on any of the lists of Tea Parties throughout the nation. They won’t include it on any of the maps or other press they are doing. They won’t get the word out about the full scope of events going on April 15th.
So, if you agree with the Tea Party principles and want to see a truly spectacular event happen on April 15th at Navy Pier, we ask you to help us spread the word about what the Chicago Young Republicans are doing with the Tall Ship and the recreation of the Boston Tea Party. We have no idea what kind of problem the people behind the earlier event in the day have, or how they think this helps the guy they want to run for Governor, but we don’t want to see an opportunity wasted to have a truly epic Tea Party visual on display from 430 – 9pm just because people with agendas want to keep all the action from 12 – 2pm only.
This is the kind of ridiculous nonsense we’d expect from Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, or Claire McCaskill — and not people who claim they are against those sorts of clowns, fools, and idiots.
So, everyone who’s a regular here, please spread these links advertising the Chicago Young Republicans’ Navy Pier Chicago Tea Party wherever you can today, forward them to all of your email contacts, post them on all the forums and message boards you go to, and clue as many people as you can in on what will truly be the most spectacular Tea Party event we have ever heard of.
An ACTUAL Tea Party…on an ACTUAL Tall Ship…in an ACTUAL harbor…in the most corrupt political cesspool in the nation.
We need to get the word out and ensure a giant crowd for the Chicago Young Republicans. Please help us do that.
Details on Chicago Young Republican’s Navy Pier Chicago Tea Party
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=65368547351&ref=ts
Breaking: Iowa Supreme Court rules ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional
This is about equal property and financial rights, people.
We deliberately do not use the term “gay marriage” because that’s an emotionally charged word the MSM uses as a Pavlovian bell whenever it wants to incite political fringe elements or rev up loons on either one of the the partisan poles.
“Gay marriage” is one of the most unfortunate terms in our language, because it makes otherwise nice people who respect equality in general think of big, bearded men wearing Vera Wang dresses, smashing cake into each other’s faces, and making a mockery of something these people hold dear.
And, yes, there are big bearded men who would do that.
There are also people like Britney Spears who get so drunk they get married at 2am in Vegas and then divorced the next day.
So, making a mockery of marriage is a pasttime shared by all sorts along the political, gender, and Kinsey scale spectrums.
We wish a good marketing person would come up with a better term than “gay marriage”. Let “marriage” be what’s done in a church according to a person’s religious or ethnic traditions. Let the guarantee of spousal benefits in the secular courthouse be equal for any two consenting adults who choose to partner up and take on the challenges of life together. Because it is discriminatory that some people in this world will never be allowed to have certain rights or benefits just because they aren’t attracted to women (or, men, in other cases). It’s wrong when any benefit is denied to you because you’re the wrong gender. And that’s what happens in a great many property and financial situations where two people could save a lot of money, or have legal protections others enjoy, but aren’t allowed those rights just because they’re both the same gender.
“Spousal rights” is too awkward a word, and we’re not clever enough to come up with something that captures all of the above succinctly in an easy to say term.
But, ideally in a secular by Constitution nation, every couple of legal age should go down to City Hall to file paperwork to register as a couple and begin to enjoy all of the benefits that union carries with it. Then, following that, couples can hold whatever religious or cultural ceremonies they choose, in whatever fashion they choose.
Straight couples can go to a church and do the whole bridezilla thing if they want, with a giant Ace of Cakes stupendous cake and bad dancing at the reception.
Gay couples can create their own tradition and do whatever they please, too, in whatever venue they choose.
But, the legal act of joining any of these couples should take place in that courthouse, not in a church. Church officials should not be signing legal documents of any kind; they can sign all the religious documents they want, but the state should be separated from the church in all matters.
Currently, this is not the case, and it’s the root of all the problems we’ve had with this issue, as religious people feel Spousal Equality (or whatever it is best called) would compel religious bodies to “marry” people the religious don’t want to “marry”. And the MSM encourages and fosters this confusion, because it makes for entertaining television, and engenders the madness and malarkey of loons and zealots like Fred Phelps and his Contentious Hate Brigade.
When in truth, what it all boils down to is this: when you are straight, you have the option of choosing to legally bind yourself to another person so the two of you can take on the world together. You instantly get to have things a single person in your same situation can never have: you can buy a house with two incomes instead of one, which you could have never afforded on your own; you win the right to handle all of another person’s legal, medical, and personal affairs in case of emergency, and that person’s family can no longer usurp your joint decisions; you gain legal protections such as the inability of the government to compel you to testify against your spouse; most importantly, you qualify for federal, state, and other sizeable pensions that are often the difference between a spouse retiring well or being destitute for the rest of their lives when a government employee passes on.
That last one happened to the spouse of a member of Congress — a man who, if Spousal Equality existed in this country, should have received the pension of a 27-year public servant, a MEMBER OF CONGRESS, who unfortunately was also male, so the government denied him that benefit, and that individual struggles now when a woman in his same place would be well taken care of.
That’s discriminatory.
And it shouldn’t happen in what’s supposed to be a secular country with liberty, justice, and equality for all.
We’re sure there will be much more discussion on all of this in the days ahead, as more on Iowa’s ruling is announced, but once again, this is our stance on all of this. We, and no one we know, do not want to see your church forced to perform any weddings it does not want to perform. That’s your church. We do not want to go there. We’re sure it’s lovely, and are glad you like it there, but we do not want to intrude on your life and anything you do.
We do, however, want the option of going down to the Court House with someone else of legal age if we ever would choose to team up and enjoy all the same legal rights you can have any time you want in the same situation.
Spousal Equality.
It’s as simple as that.
How sick and out of touch is the New York Times?
The New York Times ceased being a respected newspaper long ago. It’s open for debate exactly when that happened, but we personally lost all respect for this rag in 2008, for various reasons, but mainly for its failure to treat Obama like any other political candidate, instead of reverantly handling him like an Earthbound god. The Times purposefully killed stories that would have harmed Obama, and failed to investigate anything about his past, in everything from his drug dealings while at Columbia (referenced himself in his books) to his quid pro quo pay-to-play deals in Illinois to his voter fraud operations with ACORN.
The New York Times is as respectable as The National Enquirer at this point – but at least The Enquirer breaks the truth on Democrats who deserve exposing (paging John “bathroom hider” Edwards).
And now, after having to sell its fancy new headquarters in Manhattan, the Times continues to bemoan its own demise, actually claiming efforts underway to rescue “The Gray Lady” are akin to efforts to “Save Darfur”.
Sick.
This melodrama is normally reserved for narcisisstic queens on $1 well drink nights in Boystown, where much crying into watered down plastic cups of cheap liquor is accompanied by endless self-comparisons to various tragic figures in the Great Pantheon of Divas. Got dumped? Well, then you’re exactly like Elizabeth Taylor, and you’ll survive this too! Are too old to be doing whatever it is you were doing and people laughed at you? Welcome to Cher! Hair’s thinning, gut’s too big, and feel like the best years of your life are far behind you? John Travolta, get ready for your closeup!
Though, it would be hilarious to hear someone at Sidetrack on a Friday night comparing all of his dating, career, or financial troubles to the ongoing situation in Darfur (or, as it also should be called, Liberal catnip). The ego involved in that would be stunning.
As stunning as it is coming from the New York Times.
It’s understandable in a Cher or Bette Midler sort of way, though, as the Liberals at the Times love talking about Darfur as much as guys discuss divas at Showtunes night in Boystown. When AREN’T they talking about their favorite topics? OF COURSE everything that happens can be related back to Darfur (until the next cause celeb rolls into town and Darfur becomes “so 2008, too Clooney”).
If there is any justice or reason in the world we live in, The New York Times will become online-only by 2012. The irony in that, of course, is that all the paper this feat would save would do much, much, much more to help the environment than any of the Times’ squawking for Liberal causes ever did.
And not that the Times would actually be missed anywhere but the bottom of select parakeets’ cages or fish markets.
Friday Open Thread
What’s on your mind this Friday as we head into the weekend?
Here are some of the things we’re thinking about:
(1) Obviously, talk in Chicago is all about Blagojevich’s indictment, but in terms of who’s going to go down with him and how much Blagojevich is going to make trouble for Washington during his trial. Surprisingly, the majority of people we know feel Blagojevich has been so isolated the last few years that there’s not much damage he can do to anyone — except maybe Broadway Bank and the Giannoulias Family (whose son Alexi is currently the state treasurer, a basketball buddy of Obama’s, and gearing up for a Senate run next year to challenge Roland Burris). Perhaps more on Tony Rezko and Obama will come out, but the MSM made sure no one cared about that during the primaries or General Election, so it’s hard to see how they will care about it now. But, Blagojevich is the sort to go out in a blaze of glory if he doesn’t have anything that could get some charges dropped or negotiate a good plea. It’s going to be an interesting few years as this trial moves forward, that’s for sure.
(2) The other thing people in Chicago are talking about this weekend is the Monday visit by the IOC officials here to inspect the city for the 2016 Games bid. The IOC is having dinner with Oprah at the Art Institute. Let’s just say we’ve been in the same room when Oprah’s been eating and it’s not the honor this Tribune piece makes it out to be. And never ride an elevator, or find yourself in any other sort of enclosed space, with her after chili day at Harpo Studies unless you’re wearing airtight scuba gear.
There doesn’t seem to be any way Chicago loses the 2016 Olympics at this point. Rio is the only real competition. Spain won’t get the games in Madrid, after Europe’s already had the games in London in 2012. Tokyo won’t get the games, after Asia’s already had them in Beijing in 2008. South America has never hosted the games, but Rio can’t control large portions of the city, and has now resorted to just walling many of its slums off, as if that’s an acceptable solution to the problem. We’re sure the IOC would love to give a South American city the games, but we just don’t see how they reconcile that with the potential for disaster and chaos a Rio games would bring.
So, unless Rio cleans up its act or Chicago makes an enormous mistake, 2016 will be the Chicago games — all of this city’s resources are currently being poured into the bid, and will continue to be poured into the Olympics for the next 7 years, while the city will struggle to pay for the games for decades after that. Already, Beijing is seriously hurting from the aftermath of the Olympics. Remember that Bird’s Nest Olympics stadium featured so prominently by the MSM last year? It’s empty, with no purpose, and is in the first stages of being converted into a flea market-style shopping mall, or become part of some sort of lowrent amusement park. One of the buildings constructed for their Olympics has already burned down. Most of the facilities cost $15 million or so a year, each, to maintain, but currently they’re generating less than half of that in anything resembling revenue. And remember, this is China, where those maintenance fees are low due to low wages and other government controls. For Chicago, and its own Olympics aftermath, those annual maintenance fees will be much, much higher. With so many stadiums already (US Cellular (White Sox), Wrigley (Cubs), Soldier Field (Bears), United Center (Bulls, Blackhawks), and many minor league facilities or university fields surrounding the city, whatever’s built for the Olympics won’t have a professional team or concert use, because these other stadiums already fight for events. Wrigley already cannibalizes United Center’s business for concerts in the summer, because it needs those extra dollars to break even and build revenue for needed repairs. What’s going to happen when Olympics facilities are thrown into the mix?
It feels like a whole world of Olympics-related boondoggle and trouble is headed our way like a tsunami and there’s nothing any of ous on the ground can do about it but point out the obvious and brace for impact.
(3) This weekend we want to work on an essay about Sarah Palin and LGBTQ rights, because we have not seen a good article covering that, and showing how determined Palin has always been to uphold the rights of all citizens in Alaska. We once read a great article on Dick Cheney, showing how he’s never received the credit he’s due for upholding LGBTQ rights, and how the Left instead painted him as the villainous Darth Cheney, when all of that stagecraft was wholly undeserved. In Boystown, we clearly see efforts afoot to depict Palin as an Alaskan Anita Bryant, and want to assemble all the facts in one article that can once and for all refute this nonsense.
So, if you have some spare time today or going into this weekend and can help, please post your thoughts on this and provide links to factual sources we can quote, because it’s high time someone nipped this particular attack on Palin in the bud. The Advocate and other LGBTQ publications actively promote this apocryphal nonsense, and there’s a real need for a sane and rationed counterweight to all of that. Can you help us craft one?
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich Indicted
The indictment for Blagojevich and others close to him was delivered today.
But, that’s not the real story.
In essence, the real story sort of begins today — and won’t get really interesting until a trial begins.
Because Blagojevich has everything to gain and nothing to lose from taking as many people down with him as possible, and spilling every nasty secret he knows about everyone in Illinois while he’s at it.
It would be surprising if Rahm Emanuel, especially, wasn’t caught up in some of this before everything is said and done.
For those of you who remember Congressman Jim Trafficant from Youngstown, Ohio (ironically another man with odd, giant hair), you will remember what his corruption trial was like back in 2000 or so.
It was a circus, with Trafficant acting as his own defense, and making all sorts of wild accusations, alleging various conspiracy theories. Those of us from Cleveland actually got to sit in on two days of court for that — and it was the most surreal and tragically hilarious thing you could ever imagine.
It would be stunning if Blagojevich’s trial does not surpass Trafficant’s in all things circus and hilarious.
Obama prostrates himself before Saudi King to kiss his ring
58 seconds in, the President of the United States prostrates himself before the King of Saudi Arabia to kiss the ring upon his hand.
And he seemed to love every minute of it.
Why is the King of Saudi Arabia shown such love and affection, to put it nicely (and dhimmihood, if you care to use a more apt term)?
The Queen of England certainly was not treated as formally and respectfully as the King of Saudi Arabia, so it’s not that Obama does this sort of thing for royalty.
We can’t remember seeing anyone perform a gesture like that to anyone other than the Pope.
Warning before watching the footage: we still have a weird, icky, uncomfortable feeling watching this twenty minutes later.
TAKE ACTION: Protest against this administration’s reckless behavior and general malarkey
O'Reilly links Obama to voter fraud and ACORN
The Obama campagin committed massive voter intimidation and fraud all through the 2008 primary campaign: we personally witnessed this in Iowa, Texas, Ohio, and Indiana. With our own eyes.
Not that the media covered any of it.
O’Reilly has been talking about the New York Times deliberately killing stories linking Obama to ACORN and these voter fraud efforts, because the Times knew the story would hurt Obama in the General Election.
None of this is news to any of us — but we’re glad O’Reilly’s talking about it.
2009 feels a lot like 2002 for a lot of reasons. We remember back in 2002, and especially in 2003 in the leadup to the Iraq War, the media was running the post-9/11, mass-hysteria, reactionary narrative — and anyone who criticized the government was unpatriotic, treasonous, or worse. Those were frustrating days, because we saw the truth that wasn’t being reported, and watched the media become nothing but infotainment cheerleading for the White House.
Now, in 2009, in The Golden Age of Obama, the media’s still fueling the hallucinatory cult of personality centered around “The One”, and anyone who criticizes the government is a racist or worse. These are frustrating days, because we see the truth that’s not being reported, and watch the media act as nothing but infotainment cheerleading for the White House.
Funny how that works.
