Blagojevich Calls Check

Hoot! Well played Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D). You don’t achieve high level government positions without knowing how the game is played. Move that Rook forward and call check on the King.

Blagojevich on Tuesday said he is appointing former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to fulfill the last two years of Obama’s Senate term, but Burris is unlikely to actually serve in the seat. Secretary of State Jesse White said he is refusing to co-sign the paperwork, thereby blocking the appointment.

The plea thickened when U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush joined the news conference and thanked God for Blagojevich’s selection of Burris because he is an African American with 40 years of public service. … “I don’t think there’s anyone, any U.S. senator, who’s sitting in the Senate right now, [who] would want to go on record to deny one African American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don’t think they want to go on record doing that.”

So the black Knight Jesse White blocks the move and a Pawn is rushed forward. I wonder if Blagojevich has a Bishop covering his Rook. Power, after all, is an ancient game.

Who's Being Naive

Oh Kate, if the American people were supposed to know this stuff, the New York Times and the Associated Press would have instructed them. This is just wave making.

Chicago Democrats and The Chicago Mob: Most of America thinks Mayor Daley runs Chicago. Those on the inside know that's not the case. The man who runs Chicago from behind the scenes, since the early 1990's, is Alderman Ed Burke, Chairman of Chicago's Finance Committee. Burke went from being an errand boy for Alderman Roti to the most powerful elected figure in the state of Illinois. In a corrupt state like Illinois, the guy with the most money in his campaign fund is the man at the top. In Illinois, it’s not Chicago's Mayor Daley or Governor Blagojevich but Alderman Burke.

I remember Vince Foster

wbboei Says: December 14th, 2008 at 9:30 am

Just a thought but if it were my call I would keep the governor under twenty four hour surveillance for his good and the good of the American People. You can believe the murder of the head of the Arkansas Democratic Party who was prepared to lead a pro-Hillary offensive at the Convention was not related to the election but if that is the case the timing and circumstances are to say the least suspicious. Maybe the same thing would not happen here where Obamas claim to the throne is once again at issue but it would be wise to err on the side of caution with full surveillance protection. There are simply too many people a guy like this could bring down.
...

This would be a reference to Democratic Party Governor Rod Blagojevich of Chicago. Bill Gwatney would say this is a creative but merely revengeful conspiracy theory, if ... he was still alive. Make no mistakes about facts. Obama is a practicing politician of the Chicago Way.

Stepping into the Future for Hindsight

The history of the command and control period of American history can not be fully appreciated without a basic understanding of The Blagojevich-Obama link and the Black Muslims, plus the timely financing of Nadhmi Auchi. All the government approved textbooks here in the future begin: Selfish freedom was leading America farther and farther away from social justice thus creating the need for strong leadership.

Blagojevich

Blagojevich – You can’t pronounce it but you can pronounce sentence.

Bonus Question: Who is the Sergeant Schultz of Chicago politics?
Hint: I know nothink. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooothink.
Merry Fitzmas!

Killing the P.I.G.

The slaughtering was done by the chief cook himself – a former army cook, middle-aged and tough as iron – while Vasily Petrovich helped. It turned out to be not so easy. The enormous, immobile Mashka, who had been overfed on warm greasy kitchen slops till she weighed over 400 pounds, took to flight like a bird when the slaughterers crossed the threshold of her pen. She had evidently guessed what they had come for, even though the chef hid the knife behind his back.

They had a terrible time throwing her. First in turn and then together Vasily Petrovich and the chef sprawled out on the dirty floor boards, trying to get hold of Mashka’s legs. But with an agility inspired by her fear of death, the heavy sow, almost blinded by fat, kept slipping out of their clutching hands and dashing about the pen with heartrending squeals.

Finally they managed to throw her onto her back. The chef took the long knife and, with a neatly calculated movement, plunged the thin, narrow blade under the sow’s left leg and pulled the knife sharply toward himself. - Yury Nagibin

El cambio verdadero requiere el cambio verdadero

Usar la misma gente y contar con diversos resultados es insano.

El cambio verdadero requiere el cambio verdadero.

El cambio verdadero requiere dolor verdadero.

Hillary Clinton Suspends Her Campaign

Obama and McCain consider their plans for the United States economy.

The World Can Be Changed

Using the same people and expecting different results is insane.

Real Change Requires Real Change.

Real Change Requires Real Pain.

The Municipal Socialism Fusion

Two intriguing articles which combined suggest that the ascension of Barack Hussein Obama to the leadership of the far left is the fruition of his long term plan to end run the established patronage based urban Democratic political structures. Ascension made possible by an alliance with the Academic left coveting the voting bloc he brings to the game.

Stanley Kurtz: While in his years as a Chicago organizer and attorney, Obama took care to maintain friendly ties to the Daley administration, in Obama’s campaign for state senate, he specifically avoided asking the mayor or the mayor’s closest allies for support. Obama’s plan was to make an end-run around Chicago’s governing Democratic political network, by building a coalition of left-leaning black churches and radical secular organizations like Acorn (perhaps with de facto help from liberal foundation money as well). This coalition would provide Obama with the flexibility to play out a political career some distance to the left of conventional Illinois democratic politics. And sure enough, Obama’s extremely liberal record in Illinois vindicated his strategy.

Thomas F. Roeser: The Democratic Party elders cannot…and will not…risk the certainty that there will be wholesale defections of blacks-the most predictably massive voting bloc ever to serve in any political party-if Obama is denied. Defections that would not just lose it the presidency (Democrats are inured to that possibility having lost it in 2004, 2000, 1988, 1984 and 1980), but would reduce the Democrats to a minority party in city after city by shrinking the black vote to a tiny margin. Consider what it would do to Chicago and Cook County: these areas would revert to a two-party status again, disastrous for politicians who don’t need the presidency ever to root their snouts in the patronage troughs. --- (h/t Dad29)

I find it highly probable that Academic Marxism, fully aware of the failures of the international and nation state experiments, have intellectually regrouped around the idea that municipal socialism is the ideal operative level. The focus on controlling municipal governments and metropolitan populations {for their own good} fits well with both environmentalist New Urbanism and Black Liberation theory. It’s an alliance with the potential to seize significant nationwide power through a coordinated network of “city-states”. It’s actually a valid historical model and I expect the Academics are quite pleased with the progress thus far.

Carly Fiorina – McCain Campaign Advisor

Carly Fiorina has been active recently. The chairman of the Republican National Committee's Victory '08 is – as one lefty blogger says – “The CEO who drove Hewlett Packard into the ground? The CEO who alienated her own employees? The CEO the share-holders rode out on a rail? The same Carly Fiorina who's McSame's point woman on economic issues”. He likes the symbolism while others question her raison d’être.

Slate: Democrats frequently need business surrogates and market whisperers: rich, successful people who can reassure the CEO class that the candidate won't threaten them much and that he understands the needs of business and the markets. Republicans traditionally haven't required such ambassadors, but McCain does.

So Fiorina is dutifully making the rounds of the media circuit making the case that McCain has embraced the political correctness of the day and will use the administration to save the planet.

Wired: But secondly to your very first question, unlike George Bush, McCain believes global warming is real. He believes climate change is real. He believes that the US must play a leadership role in addressing this problem. So when he thinks about energy independence, which is a national security issue, an economic security issue, he thinks about it in the context of also environmental protection, and making sure that we're making progress on global warming.

Fiorina repeats McCain’s absolute belief in the need to fight global warming on CNBC this evening just a day after admitting in a Michigan campaign stop that there is still a possibility the whole global warming alarmism may be (glance right, glance left, whisper) ... not true.

WWJ News radio: But the possible John McCain running mate certainly isn't Bushlike in her views on global warming, pointing out that if we fight global warming and it turns out not to be true, "all we will have done is create a bunch of new technologies and a bunch of new jobs," while if we do nothing and it is true, "that would be catastrophic."

On one hand, it’s refreshing to know this is “say what you have to say” politics as usual. On the other hand, it’s the same old politics of justifying increased public sector spending regardless if there are any valid reasons.

The Ides of May 2008

The capitalists view the world as one economy subdivided into regulatory subdivisions. The socialists view the world as one population subdivided into regulatory subdivisions. When I find myself asking why none of our Presidential candidates are talking only in terms about what is good for the citizens of the United States, I force myself back to this truth about the reality of our moment.

Pragmatic West Virginia

West Virginia Democrats know a bit about the practical purpose of unions. The point of organization is to secure fair wages and abolish unfair management practices. They appear to believe that unionism is both collective and local and they vote as if politics is about “Just Us”. Today, the pragmatic Clinton wing of the Democratic Party secures a two to one victory over the global “Justice” of the Obama theorists.

West Virginia's Mine Wars: In response to poor conditions and low wages in the late 1800s, workers in most industries developed unions. Strikes generally focused on a specific problem, lasted short periods of time, and were confined to small areas. During the 1870s and 1880s, there were several attempts to combine local coal mining unions into a national organization. After several unsuccessful efforts, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) was formed in Columbus, Ohio, in 1890. In its first ten years, the UMWA successfully organized miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Attempts to organize West Virginia failed in 1892, 1894, 1895, and 1897.

In 1902, the UMWA finally achieved some recognition in the Kanawha-New River Coalfield, its first success in West Virginia. … By 1912, the union had lost control of much of the Kanawha-New River Coalfield. That year, UMWA miners on Paint Creek in Kanawha County demanded wages equal to those of other area mines. The operators rejected the wage increase and miners walked off the job on April 18, beginning one of the most violent strikes in the nation's history.

By 1912, however, the Model T Ford with its gasoline powered engine has already started a liberation of the working class from local employment captivity. If you don’t have to walk to work, if you don’t have to be delivered en masse to work, if you can go work where you please, then you can optimize your life in America. Individual freedom is the tap root of American exceptionalism and it is a shame watching it being destroyed.

SEIU & Obama

Andrew Stern’s Service Employees International Union supports Barack Hussein Obama and Forbes announces SEIU Local 1199 President Dave Regan from Ohio is the Democratic Party superdelegate that should tip the nomination to Obama. As a superdelegate, the fact Clinton won Ohio is a non-factor.

Obama is now open to the wishes of Andy Stern as he attempts to revitalize private sector unionism internationally. In the summer of 2005, Stern takes his union and leaves what he perceives as the stagnation of the AFL-CIO. Since then, his efforts to rebuild unionism have been controversial in the labor community, in large part because of his willingness to partner with business management.

Where Andy Stern is taking the SEIU: Stern has not been shy about this focus on corporate partnerships. On Jan. 22, 2007 he told the Wall Street Journal, "We want to find a 21st century model that is less focused on individual grievances, more focused on industry needs." In 2006, he told the McKinsey Quarterly, "Employers live in a competitive environment and have to meet certain shareholder expectations, and labor can play a role in helping to meet them."

The basis of his thinking is that private sector union membership is so low, that building membership is more important than membership benefits or membership input into decisions. Needless to say, this prioritization has some members upset to the point of open rebellion, in specific, California based United Healthcare Workers (UHW).

Roots of the crisis in the SEIU: The SEIU International contends that the low numbers justify an organize-at-any-cost method that surrenders many members' rights. This method of organizing, which offers concessions and support of pro-business legislation for the employer's blessing to organize, is being challenged by Sal Rosselli, president of the union's second largest local.

Since the Obama arm of the progressive movement is driven by theory, UMass Sociologist Dan Clawson jumps into the conflict to explain the theory behind the actions.

Labor Wars: Any time an individual or organization gets held up as a model of success it invites others to launch criticisms, and that's certainly been the case for SEIU, which may simultaneously be the most admired and the most criticized of all unions today. Those criticisms focus above all on SEIU's top-down staff-driven model, and the consequent lack of democracy, combined with the argument that this sometimes leads SEIU to collaborate with employers.

If our purpose is to build long-term power, one central issue is union density. If 95 percent of an industry is non-union, the 5 percent that is union is very limited in what it can win, because any agreement that involves substantial extra costs to the employer may force the employer into bankruptcy. … On the other hand, if the industry is 95 percent unionized, employers have less worry that a union gain will put them at a competitive disadvantage…. Given this, it might sometimes be sensible for a union to accept a not-very-good contract in order to increase union density, as part of a long-run strategy to raise density in an area, knowing that the greatest gains would come only with high density.

The charge is that in effect, Andy Stern has cut a deal with the employer not to insist on substantial pay raises, in exchange for the right to sign up new members. SEIU nationally responds that UHW is willing to put the interests of current workers ahead of the unorganized, that UHW would cut a deal with the employer for a current pay increase and in exchange accept conditions that made it harder to bring in the unorganized. This, SEIU nationally says, is "just us" unionism (instead of justice unionism), making unions into a narrow interest group concerned about the interests of the small number of people currently in unions, instead of the interests of all workers, including those not yet in a union.

Clever phrasing: “Just Us” unionism vs. “Justice” unionism. The socialism in one state model is perfectly willing to live with the job security of the former, but the theoretical worldwide solution to the woes of labor call for justice, even if justice takes times to reach critical mass. The difference is going to be a very narrow tightrope for Obama to walk. Workers of the World Unite!

Brzezinski: Supranational Jurisdiction

One of Barack Hussein Obama’s core supporters is Jimmy Carter’s former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. It is, therefore, instructive to pay attention to the world view Brzezinski outlines. The reasoning follows from the principle that socialism needs to be international. It requires a “workers of the world unite” foundation. It is telling that the story begins with reflections on sovereignty.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: America today is the world's most sovereign state. To be sure, in our time the concept of sovereignty has been largely drained of content by the reality of increasing interdependence among states. For most states, sovereignty now verges on being a legal fiction.

After all, even the undeniable reality of America as the sovereign power of last resort still begs the question: Sovereignty for what? Doubtless many would answer: for the sake of America's national security. But that reply begs a deeper question: Might not efforts to perpetuate America's unique status as an unconstrained sovereign eventually come to threaten America's national security, and its civil liberty as well?

America needs to face squarely a centrally important new global reality: that the world's population is experiencing a political awakening unprecedented in scope and intensity, with the result that the politics of populism are transforming the politics of power. The need to respond to that massive phenomenon poses to the uniquely sovereign America an historic dilemma: What should be the central definition of America's global role?

It will require increasingly supranational cooperation, actively promoted by the United States, to compensate for the weakness of nominally sovereign states that in fact are becoming ever less sovereign or even self-sustaining. The nation-state framework has become too narrow for the political solutions, economic remedies and social "depressurization" that a majority of populations urgently need.

The historic paradox of our time is that supranational cooperation toward these major goals is only possible if the lead is taken by the last sovereign state, and joined by the more resilient regional powers willing eventually to subsume their own sovereignty under more effective supranational arrangements.

The most concise way to summarize all of this is that America needs to change to adapt to the world, rather than the world adapting to become more like America. It is the view of people who believe American exceptionalism depends on injustice and should not be emulated.

When I term the Obama wing of the Democratic Party Theorists, is it precisely because they believe the “nation-state framework has become too narrow for the political solutions, economic remedies and social "depressurization" that a majority of populations urgently need”. They see an international set of problems requiring international solutions delivered by international organizations with supranational jurisdiction.

Theorists and Pragmatics

It is insane to keep electing the same people and expecting different results.

Real Change Requires Real Change.

Observing the tensions within the Democratic Party, it strikes me the fault line is forming between the academic Marxists who understand that socialist theory is and must be international, and the pragmatic socialists who believe that “socialism in one country” is an important and desirable goal.

Barack Hussein Obama is the figurehead of the Marxist academics and their youthful dupes. He has been cleverly selected to attract a large established American voting bloc. Remember, the struggle of the working class in all countries forms the basis for the movement towards Socialism. The needs of the people are not constrained by political boundaries.

The Clintons are the more pragmatic intellectual heirs to the “socialism in one country” theory of Nikolai Bukharin. It is this concept of a national socialism that Joseph Stalin wholeheartedly adopts, and which justifies all the Nanny Statism smothering Europe and growing in America. It is the reasoning that the removal of capitalistic inequalities will not occur in one fell revolutionary swoop, but rather piece by piece as governments are converted.

Converting the single most powerful government on Earth, however, is the change with potential to bring the rest of the First World economies into doctrinaire compliance. Those who believe the role of government is to use power in the best interest of the working population understand the coming Federal election is the best opportunity in decades to make real changes. Both sides of the Democratic Party covet this moment and history is fairly clear that competing socialists really hate each other.

Bitter

HE SAID WHAT! ... thinking for a moment ... My reaction is along the lines of A.J.

The Strata Sphere: Well, it is time to grow up. Obama said America is bitter that government has not functioned. Well it has not functioned because of out of control partisanship, rancor and basically behavior that would not be tolerated in any other area of society. Lies about others, lies about what they will do for us, graft and corruption - it seems Americans have a right to be bitter with the low caliber and unprofessionalism that has permeated the offices of elected officials, the news media and the talking heads who create a living out of ringing the alarm bells.

I get that Obama reveals an intimate familiarity with the contemptible stereotypes of the day. This is not the first time and he is absolutely not the only politician completely up to date on the political foundations of partisan driven hate. If anything, it’s just more evidence that a complete house cleaning is overdue.

Actually, A.J. is far more generous than me. I believe the clean out needs to go pretty far down into the rank and file of our public servants. There are days I understand why Chairman Mao believed the intellectuals require some slave labor time. I’m not an advocate of government mandated servitude but sending some people looking for honest work would do the rest of us a great deal of good.

We Can Change The World

Using the same people and expecting different results is insane.

Real Change Requires Real Change.

The Abundant Examples of Badness

The political blogs are growing trite. I expect it is computer assisted perfection of the ancient school of ‘character flaw’ politics. Look, look, look, a mistake. Faux Pas! False, false, false false, false – proof, proof, proof. VIDEO! Inconsistent. Non Sequiter! Hypocrite! Racist. Collectivist. Criminal. Liar. Liar! LIAR!!! It’s all about seeking victory by riling up the emotions.

Re-traumatizing blacks to serve the Left: What the Left has done to black people in the last fifty years is a kind of emotional abuse -- a constant, obsessional reliving of the traumatic past. Fifty years after the Civil Rights Acts, Democrat politicians, professors and preachers are still intent on rubbing salt into those old, painful wounds. It has now become institutionalized. Reliving the past is a major reason for Black Studies Departments all over the country, just as Women's Studies are designed to perpetuate an everlasting cry of pain and rage about the fate of women throughout history. Those constant rehearsals of reasons for rage and resentment do not to help people; they just exploit their pain for political gain.

I am all for giving the Presidency to the Barack Hussein Obama leftists. Since none of the three major political factions are pursuing the politics of principled solutions, and since all of the three major political factions are committed to expanding government power, then it makes sense that those of us who cherish individual liberty should support the least experienced, least competent option. If we are heading towards disaster, then let us have a disaster that destroys the status quo so we can rebuild better.

I’m Still Voting for Obama II

Lola asks why I’m not posting. -- I tell her it's because I am disgusted. -- The American way of life is facing serious challenges and our permanent political class is offering three completely unacceptable choices for the Presidency.

I know the suck it up and vote for McCain school of thought and I reject it. As the American Thinker points out, McCain believes the lies about man-made Global Warming and will institute polices based on the scientific fraud that carbon dioxide is detrimental to the environment. Policies that will severely damage the American economy for absolutely no good reason. I will never vote for a Republican that believes socialist lies.

Returning the Clintons to office is a clear breach of the spirit of the 22nd Amendment. From the founding of this country, it has been understood that the primacy of the private sector over government is best served by limiting any individual person’s leadership. The Democratic Party broke this unwritten covenant with the American people, forcing the public to put it into writing. Marriage is two individuals forming a single union and it is the clear intent of this single union to win a third term.

This leaves Barack Hussein Obama, inexperienced, unprincipled, but gifted in trickster tale skills. I am serious about voting for Obama because there are no options in my best interest in the short term, so I am looking towards the long term.