By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 22nd at 08:21 PM  | 

In his first day in office, President Obama executed an Executive Order which he said was designed to increase transparency in government action and trust in government from American citizens — in sum, he claimed to liberalize the rules applicable to government responses to Freedom of Information requests.  The administration touted this change, arguing that all too often government hides behind technicalities in refusing public | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 21st at 07:53 PM  | 

Mr. President, I am confused – you stand before your staff today and articulate how this government is going to be the most transparent administration in history in order to inspire public confidence in their government, yet you have said nothing about the following: Charlie Rangel’s tax, legal and ethical problems and he remains a powerful chairman on Capitol Hill and Timothy Geithner’s apparent failure | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 20th at 07:57 PM  | 

Yep, I miss him already. Sure he isn’t the most eloquent, but if eloquence gets you an inaugural speech like we got today, then eloquence is overrated.  Long, boring and, frankly, depressing – thought I was listening to Carter’s “malaise” speech all over again. C’mon.  If I have to see one more shot of Vice President Biden’s wispy grey locks floating away or one more glimpse | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 19th at 08:02 PM  | 

Who would have thought you could play the game of lowered expectations with heightened expectations?  What you say?  Obama’s minions created the heightened expectation themselves and then, almost in the same breath, urge that no president could meet such lofty objectives.  And, the media gives him a pass.  They neither question the ridiculousness of the campaign claims that he and his people made, nor do | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 18th at 08:53 PM  | 

We’ve each met great men in our lifetimes.  The first I ever met was my grandfather, Clair Fields Taylor.  The first in his family to go to college, Taylor found his niche in the newspaper advertising business.  Hired by Hearst Newspapers in the 1930s, Taylor soon developed an industry-wide reputation for honesty, integrity and professionalism – he became a favorite of sorts of William Randolph | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 13th at 09:45 PM  | 

Let me get this straight – the likely Secretary of the Treasury, which department oversees the Internal Revenue Service, failed to pay his self-employment taxes on multiple occasions.  Notified about this in 2006, he didn’t take care of it then, while he was one of this country’s most prominent financial figures.  And, Obama nominated him anyway.  Classic!  And, he has a Zoe Baird and Kimba | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  January 6th at 06:12 PM  | 

I truly love Minnesota, dated a girl from Wayzata once – beautiful state, cold, but beautiful – well, Minnesota, Minnesota, oh Minnesota – the longer this charade goes on, the more it reminds me of what we used to scream at Michigan Stadium in some of the Golden Gopher’s leaner years — it’s the Minnehaha O-fers!! One final observation on Minnesota – first, Jesse “The | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  December 29th at 10:23 PM  | 

Can’t wait to hear all the PMSNBC criticism of Caroline Kennedy’s recent interview regarding her interest in the U.S. Senate seat from New York!  You know, the same kind of criticism which they leveled at, you know, Sarah Palin, for like her, you know, interview with Charlie Gibson and that you know lady from CBS News, Katie Couric.  What do you mean “don’t hold your | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  December 27th at 07:26 PM  | 

Caroline Kennedy as U.S. Senator from New York?  Far be it from me to lend advice to Democrats and Governor Paterson, more particularly – but, don’t do it, Governor.  The issues facing America today are real.  You, Governor, are vested with a unique opportunity to appoint a qualified, competent individual to represent your state in the U.S. Senate and to seriously attend to America’s many challenges.  Now | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  December 18th at 07:22 PM  | 

Patrick Fitzgerald did the Illinois Democratic party no favors last week.  By announcing the criminal complaint with supporting affidavit, Fitzgerald created an expected uproar amongst the national press regarding the level of any Obama Transition team involvement and simultaneous hand-wringing amongst Illinois Democrats over what to do next.  Now, in a matter of a few short days — we have the announced impeachment process stalled and | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  December 12th at 09:50 PM  | 

Isn’t it more than a touch ironic that the very man that the UAW leadership has vilified for the better part of the last eight years is now their lifeline to continued existence?  Don’t expect them to be grateful, however — see it doesn’t work that way with the UAW.  This is all about entitlement to the UAW leadership, so you bail them out in | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  December 9th at 10:06 PM  | 

Well let’s see — it’s now President-elect Obama’s recollection versus David Axelrod’s recollection.  Who are we going to believe?  Did he talk to Blagojevich or did he not?  My money’s on Axelrod’s first version of these events.  When I watch Obama’s denial of any contact, I am left with the sickening feeling in my stomach — given the stilted, parsed denial — that he’s not | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 30th at 09:19 PM  | 

President-Elect Obama has recently reiterated his intentions to close the terrorist detention facility at the U.S. installation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, Charles “Cully” Stimson, has noted – actually closing the facility will prove far more difficult than Obama’s campaign rhetoric would suggest. In moving forward with this objective, President-Elect Obama would be well advised to | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 25th at 09:53 PM  | 

The press continues their fawning ways — now, remarking about the pace of Obama’s policy making in a transition period. We hear the words unprecedented, bold, and decisive. Somewhere lost in this salivating praise for The One is the fact that George W. Bush has permitted this president-elect unprecedented access to his policy advisors, to his economic briefings and to his cabinet level officials. Add | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 24th at 09:20 PM  | 

The numbers are staggering. An estimated $7.4 trillion has been spent by Congress and the Fed to bail out the various financial entities, insurers and industries. The $700 billion bailout package, over which there was much publicized angst, is but a bucket of sand in the Sahara, when compared against the actual costs associated with this financial crisis. And, the most disturbing part is that | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 23rd at 09:35 PM  | 

Applause for President-Elect Obama’s selection of Timothy Geithner as the proposed new Secretary of the Treasury. This was a very good selection. Geithner has a good working relationship with Ben Bernanke — they are said to be constantly on the phone with each other and to share similar approaches towards Fed policy in addressing the recent economic turmoil. Geithner is smart, savvy and a hard | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 20th at 07:55 PM  | 

I turned the radio louder and louder. It can’t be true — but it was. In a brilliant stroke of comedic relief, Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the Big 3 might get their desired bail-out, but they would have to present their business plans in early December to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd for their respective committees to consider. Are | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 19th at 08:54 PM  | 

With due respect, if the Big 3 want our money, at least have the courtesy and respect for the American taxpayer to not feed us a line of bull regarding the reason the car companies are having so much difficulty. According to the Big 3 CEOs, the financial crisis is the cause of their woes. Really, so it’s only since September 15, 2008 that GM, | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 18th at 12:26 PM  | 

Hillary for Secretary of State – Chris Matthews calls it Machiavellian and questions why Obama would make such a mistake. But, the question is really why would Hillary accept such an offer. If she wants to be president some day, expect there to be a problem with Bill’s vetting and Hillary to return to the Senate. And, whether accepted or not, having made the gesture | Read More »

By: Lords86 (Diary)  |  November 17th at 12:55 PM  | 

Clinton Re-dux – Apparently, “change” is a six-letter word for “Clinton.” Who’da thunk? Know the name John Maynard Keynes? You will learn it soon enough. Obama’s current recipe for the economy — the largest Keynesian infusion of government spending in history. Balanced budget in 4 years? Hah!! GOP senators are vertabrates after all!! We need a domestic car industry, but unconditional handouts are ill-advised and | Read More »