Here's something from Thomas Sowell that I found on IOTW. It’s All About Payback Home - by Claudia - June 30, 2011 - 13:30 America/New_York - This article has a significant amount of juicy tidbits that you will want to read. I have snatched some snippets for you but please follow the link to read the full articles: Part 1 and Part 2. From Jewish World Review Seductive Beliefs Parts 1 & 2by Thomas Sowell One of the painfully revealing episodes in Barack Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father” describes his early experience listening to a sermon by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Among the things said in that sermon was that “white folks’ greed runs a world in need.” Obama was literally moved to tears by that sermon. This sermon may have been like a revelation to Barack Obama but its explanation of economic and other differences was among the oldest– and most factually discredited– explanations of such difference among all sorts of peoples in all sorts of places. Yet it is an explanation that has long been politically seductive, in countries around the world. What could be more emotionally satisfying than seeing others who have done better in the world as the villains responsible for your not having done as well? It is the ideal political explanation, from the standpoint of mass appeal, whether or not it makes any sense otherwise. [snip] The idea that the rich have gotten rich by making the poor poor has been an ideological theme that has played well in Third World countries, to explain why they lag so far behind the West. None of this was original with Jeremiah Wright. All he added was his own colorful gutter style of expressing it, which so captivated the man who is now President of the United States. There is obviously something there with very deep emotional appeal. Moreover, because nothing is easier to find than sins among human beings, there will never be a lack of evil deeds to make that explanation seem plausible. [snip] It is hard to reconcile “exploitation” theories with the facts. While there have been conquered peoples made poorer by their conquerors, especially by Spanish conquerors in the Western Hemisphere, in general most poor countries were poor for reasons that existed before the conquerors arrived. Some Third World countries are poorer today than they were when they were ruled by Western countries, generations ago. False theories are not just an intellectual problem to be discussed around a seminar table in some ivy-covered building. When millions of people believe those theories, including people in high places, with the fate of nations in their hands, that is a serious and potentially disastrous fact of life. Despite a carefully choreographed image of affability and cool, Barack Obama’s decisions and appointments as President betray an alienation from the values and the people of this country that are too disturbing to be answered by showing his birth certificate. Too many of his appointees exhibit a similar alienation, including Attorney General Eric Holder, under whom the Dept. of Justice could more accurately be described as the Dept. of Payback. [snip] Whether as a radical student, a community organizer or a far left politician, Barack Obama’s ideology has been based on a vision of the Haves versus the Have Nots. However complex the ramifications of this ideology, and however clever the means by which Obama has camouflaged it, that is what it has amounted to. [snip] Whether at home or abroad, Obama’s ideology is an ideology of envy, resentment and payback. [snip] They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A photograph that should tell us a lot about Barack Obama shows him on the phone, talking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama was seated, leaning back in his chair, with his feet up on the desk, and the soles of his feet pointed directly at the camera. In the Middle East, showing the soles of your feet is an insult, as Obama undoubtedly knows. This photograph was no accident. Photographers cannot roam around White House, willy-nilly, taking snapshots of the President of the United States as he talks to leaders of foreign nations. It was a photograph with a message. No one would have known who was on the other end of the line, unless Obama wanted them to know — and wanted to demonstrate his disdain. [snip] Obama is politically savvy enough to know how to get his point across without blowing his cover. The fate of the United States of America may depend on how savvy we the people are in seeing what he is doing— and how soon, before the situation becomes irretrievable.
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How about El Presidente lobbying for the legal rights of that murdering Mexican national in Texas! Is this guy for real? Rick Perry shoved that little misstep up his preppy ass.
As Ron White says: Other states are abolishing the death penalty... My state is putting in an express lane!
I can see it. I'm speaking as a moderate Hoosier Democrat, defined as a Republican in any other state, who cannot stomach the liberal binge of the past 3+ years.
:idea: I couldn't stand Mr. Bush's spending either. In the six years where the Republicans controlled the Congress he didn't veto one single bill. He also created a new entitlement for prescription drugs that cost a trillion bucks and that period included the most pork-heavy highway bill in the nation's history. I'll vote for any real manager who will put the taxpayers first. BTW- I still want to hear from Terry about Perry. It's his governor and he's been strangely silent...
I don't absolve the Republicans at all. Bush did spend way too freely and the GOP in Congress are by and large whimps. Perry-Christie in 2012. Man the lifeboats!
I struggled as to whether this should go on the Sports borad or the back room. With apologies to Earnest Thayer http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/obama_at_bat.html
Perry has been the longest serving Texas Govenor in history having been promoted to Gov in 2000 when Bush resigned to become president, he's then gone on to win 3 elections on his own. But you have to factor in that we are as strong a Republican state as there is in the US. Democrats have been squished in the state wide elections for years now. He has his share of warts that will be magnified if he jumps into the national race. His statement that Texas should secede that he made a year or so ago will be brought up and he'll have to defend it. He was also behind a manditory HPV vaccination for girls over a certain age as a school requirement, it protected against several forms of cervical cancer. He got into trouble over that when financial connections to the mfg (Merck) were disclosed along with some former aides being hired by Merck. He's a Christian fundamentalist, he doesn't believe in Global Warming, etc. All hot buttons that the liberal national media will hammer him relentlessly. He does have a very strong instate political organization, so strong that even Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson was unable to defeat him in the Republican primary and she's a popular US Senator. He did defeat former Houston Mayor and member of Bill Clintons cabinet, Bill White, handily in the last election I just don't think he'd be a great candidate for President, he'd be better off eventually running for the US Senate. Also I think his relationship with Bush will hurt him as well.
And how many earmarks were included in such a greased path? Re: Perry: He would be absolutely skewered over the Merck issue. That crap may get past the "GOP at all costs" voters here in Florida such as the Rick Scott supporters who chose to ignore his shady healthcare past but on the national scene it won't fly.
What BS...if he gets into trouble from anybody about this it will be the conservative right. Trust me, I have seen the vastness of the epidemic of HPV we have in this country...and the amount of money that we spend treating pre-cancerous cervical lesions. It would boggle your mind. And some women still die of cervical cancer. And you, of all people, constantly railing against the cost of health insurance should favor this. Eradicating HPV would save gazillions of dollars and greatly improve the health of the women of this country. Rick Perry is doing the right thing...and what are these evil fiscal ties that he has to Merck? A $6000 donation to his reelection campaign. BFD. His former chief of staff is one of three lobbyists that Merck employs...So What? His current chief of staff is a daughter-in-law of a state legislator who is a state director for Women in Government...a group that supports the vaccinations....So What? The biggest argument against mandatory vaccintation...and one I am sympathetic to...is the parental rights argument. This vaccine has apparently been proven to be very safe, but it IS new and do you ride roughshod over parents who are leery of it? Doesn't seem right. But we mandate other vaccines. Just another issue that would be best discussed and debated in logical, rational fashion...but won't be.
That's really the crux of the matter isn't it. It becomes political football rather than a rational health discussion.
I dunno....Terry says he is pushing a program that would financially benefit friends and insiders.......so I went with that. It may be that he has no problematic ties to Merck and can sell the updside to moderates and liberals that it provides many benefits to many women.
Well I didn't mean to write an extensive op-ed piece on Rick Perry just bringing up a few things that he will be called on. The HPV was a health issue as Stu points out, unfortuneately for everybody Perry had ties to Merck that could be construed as conflict of interest. The fact that the HPV vaccine was and still is a good vaccine that has real benefits gets lost. There are other things that don't make much of a difference here in Texas but will cause him problems nationally. Hell the fact that his degree is in Animal Science from A&M will cause some guffaws alone...I mean how could anybody with an Animal Science degree expect to go up against a man with a degree from Columbia and the Harvard Law School. He'll be cast as a mental midget by the liberal press. I'm sure the Democrats are working over time to find things that he'll have to spend time addressing and will try to frame him negatively. His biggest liabilty is that he once was Al Gore Presidential Election Texas Chairman before he changed parties.
....might help with the all-important middle though...if doesn't declare he was just high on acid at the time and had no clue what reality was....