It's a good time to be a patriot...
Note from Storm'n Norm'n: I agree with just about everything said in the video...except one.
Former CBS News president Richard Salant (1961 - 64 and 1966 - 79) explained the major media's role: "Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." ...and to this very day most Americans haven't noticed they're being brained washed! ~ N. Hooben
Thursday, July 9, 2009
NYS Legislators Fire Nearly 200 Workers Over Race...you're white, you're fired!
Source: ResistNet
NYS Legislators Fire Nearly 200 Workers Over Race
7 July 2009 @ 10:40PM
Fredric U. Dicker—regarded as the pre-eminent political reporter in New York’s state capital—recently published a column decrying the complete breakdown of the state legislature, which has been unable to conduct business for the past month.
Buried way down in Dicker’s piece, starting at the 19th paragraph, we learn:
During the first five months of this year, with the Senate under the control of its first African-American majority leader, [State Senator Malcolm] Smith, top Democrats bemoaned the lack of minority Senate staffers.
But instead of trying to recruit new hires, they fired nearly 200 almost exclusively white workers and replaced them with a large number of minority employees, many of whom were seen by their fellow workers to be unskilled at their new jobs.
The move produced severe racial tensions, made worse by the fact that, as a high-level Democratic staffer confided, “We’ve been told to only hire minorities.'’
So, nearly 200 people lose their jobs in New York State because of their race? And not at the hands of some evil corporation, but our own elected officials?
It’s quite telling that, in our political age, mass firings can still happen because of one’s race. It’s even more telling that—the only time I’ve seen this story get any coverage at all—it was in the 19th paragraph of an otherwise unrelated column.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Patronage, Obama Style...a surprising level of cronyism
Source: Verum Serum
Patronage, Obama Style
Morgen on July 7, 2009
The Washington Times ran a story today on a topic I’ve been digging into myself – the striking number of political appointments granted by the Obama Administration to the most prodigious fundraisers of the Obama campaign. These top fundraisers are known as “bundlers”. Since campaign finance laws restrict any one individual from donating more than $2400 to a single candidate, these bundlers achieve prominence within a campaign by soliciting for and then – you guessed it – bundling up individual donations received via their extended network of friends, family, business contacts, etc. While exact figures are not available, the top bundlers within the Obama campaign each delivered in excess of $1 million in campaign contributions, and there were nearly 50 bundlers who were responsible for at least $500K in donations.
As the Times notes, it’s somewhat of a Washington tradition for an incoming President to appoint choice ambassadorships to key political donors and allies. While this may be the case, for a President who declared a “new era” of accountability, and who championed ethics reform while in the Senate, a look at the appointments made to date reveals what I think is a surprising level of cronyism on the part of this Administration. And notably, many of these appointments extend outside the relatively ceremonial realm of diplomatic posts.
Let’s first run through the appointments highlighted by the Washington Times article:
| Funds Raised | Appointment | |
|---|---|---|
| John Roos | $500K+ | Ambassador - Japan |
| Charles Rivkin | $500K+ | Ambassador - France |
| Bruce Oreck | $500K+ | Ambassador - Finland |
| Louis Susman | $200K-$500K | Ambassador - United Kingdom |
| Vinai Thummalapally | $100K-$200K | Ambassador - Belize |
| Laurie Fulton | $100K-$200K | Ambassador - Denmark |
Perhaps budget cuts have impacted the research team at the Times because I was able to find several other ambassadorship appointments that they apparently missed:
| Funds Raised | Appointment | |
|---|---|---|
| Nicole Avant | $500K+ | Ambassador - Bahamas |
| Matthew Barzun | $500K+ | Ambassador - Sweden |
| Don Beyer | $500K+ | Ambassador - Switzerland |
| William C. Eacho III | $500K+ | Ambassador - Austria Kingdom |
| Donald Gips | $500K+ | Ambassador - South Africa |
| Howard Gutman | $500K+ | Ambassador - Belgium |
| David Jacobson (added 7/8) | $50K-$100K | Ambassador - Canada |
Add these up and that’s 12 13 appointments (12!) to key diplomatic positions that were awarded directly to top Obama fundraisers. And that’s within only the first 6 months of the Administration. I expect there will be more to come, which is why I had initially held off on posting this.
But that’s not all. The tables above represent only the ambassadorship appointments. Take a look at some of the other Administration positions awarded within the ranks of the campaign bundlers:
| Funds Raised | Appointment | |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Bleich | $500K+ | Special Counsel to the President |
| Julius Genachowski | $500K+ | Chairman, FCC |
| Scott Harris | $500K+ | General Counsel, Dept. of Energy |
| Karl Mason | $500K+ | Deputy Asst. Attorney General |
| Thomas Perrelli | $500K+ | Associate Attorney General |
| Francisco Sanchez | $500K+ | Under-Secy. for International Trade |
| Alan Solomont | $500K+ | Chairman, Corp. for Nat'l & Community Service |
| Tony West | $500K+ | Asst. Attorney General, Civil Div. |
Yes, the Chairman of the FCC. Three positions within the Attorney General’s office. A key legal advisory role within the White House itself. And the Corporation for National & Community Service has made headlines over the past month for the firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin.
By my calculation, nearly half of the top level of Obama campaign bundlers have been rewarded with some sort of role within the government. Half! What will it take for others within the media to further investigate and question the Administration about this? Frankly, I thought even the Washington Times was overly generous in their characterization of the Administration’s behavior with these types of appointments.
I’ll wrap this up by quoting a sub-section of President Obama’s Executive Order on Ethics Commitments for Executive Branch Personnel:
Employment Qualification Commitment. I agree that any hiring or other employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate’s qualifications, competence, and experience.
Apparently when you are the boss you aren’t required to follow your own rules.
Update: John pointed me to another key Obama fundraiser who has been awarded a position of sorts within the Administration. Robert Wolf is the Chairman/CEO of investment bank UBS and given his influence on Wall Street may in fact be the largest bundler of them all. Significantly, Wolf’s firm seems to be mired in several tax-related scandals; and they were also a key counter-party recipient of funds from AIG, courtesy of the U.S. tax payer. However, apparently all this was not enough to deter the President from naming Wolf to his Economic Advisory Council.
Update 2: I will continue to update the tables above as other appointments are made or brought to my attention (e.g. I just saw that I missed an ambassadorship appointment to Canada because the individual was responsible for only $50-100K in bundled donations).
Who Is We?
----- Original Message -----From: (link removed)
To: (link removed)
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 7:13 PM
Subject: Fw: Who Is We???
President Barack Obama said in
Do you know the Preamble for your state? . .
Be sure to read the message at the bottom!
Alabama 1901, Preamble
We the people of the State of
Georgia 1777, Preamble We, the people of
Illinois 1870, Preamble We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
Indiana 1851, Preamble We, the People of the State of
Massachusetts 1780, Preamble We....the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction
Michigan 1908, Preamble.. We, the people of the State of
Minnesota, 1857, Preamble We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:
Mississippi 1890, Preamble We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.
New Jersey 1844, Preamble We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
North Carolina 1868, Preamble We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those...
North Dakota 1889, Preamble We , the people of
Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance....
Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other
Washington 1889, Preamble We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution
West Virginia 1872, Preamble Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God ..
After reviewing acknowledgments of God from all 50 state constitutions, one is faced with the prospect that maybe, the ACLU and the out-of-control federal courts are wrong! If you found this to be 'Food for thought' send to as many as you think will be enlightened as I hope you were.
(Please note that at no time is anyone told that they MUST worship God.)
God Bless America!
_______________
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