The SEC chairman blames his staff of career regulators (staff attorneys) for not investigating Madoff.  I guess that’s $50 billion bucks that won’t be stopping at the top.

According to an AP article posted on Yahoo http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081217/ap_on_bi_ge/madoff_scandal_26

“In a stunning rebuke, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman blames his career regulators for a decade-long failure to investigate Wall Street money manager Bernard L. Madoff, now accused of running one of the largest Ponzi schemes ever.

On Tuesday night, Cox ordered an internal investigation of what went wrong and offered a scathing critique of the conduct of his staff attorneys. He said they never bothered to seek a formal commission-approved investigation that would have forced Madoff to surrender vital information under subpoena. Instead, the staff relied on information voluntarily produced by Madoff and his firm.

Credible and specific allegations regarding Madoff’s financial wrongdoing going back to at least 1999 were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, said Cox.”

But the Securities Investor Protection Corporation has a fund to bailout suckers victims, unfortunately the Madoff Ponzi scheme is so big, the fund is a drop in the bucket by comparison;

“SIPC, created by Congress and funded by the securities industry, can give customers up to $500,000 if it is determined their money was stolen. SIPC has about $1.6 billion to make payouts, which means that amount could quickly be depleted in the Madoff case where losses could reach $50 billion. That figure comes from the SEC’s court complaint, which quotes Madoff admitting to losses in that amount to two senior employees of his firm before his arrest last Thursday.”

So who will get reimbursed? It would be difficult to choose among all those needy rich liberals. Why do I have a feeling that a special government bailout may be coming for the Madoff investors? Isn’t that the point of establishing SEC blame? After all it is the SEC’s fault the money was stolen because they let Madoff get away with it and these victims of their own greed shouldn’t have to suffer or assume any personal responsibility for managing their own wealth. The SEC is supposed to protect fools and their money. The liberal’s logical solution is always; they failed to do their job, so someone has to pay, it will have to be the taxpayers. Just put the $50 billion on our running bailout tab.

Meanwhile, Madoff is free as a bird on $10 million bail … hmmm …  makes you wonder whose money paid for that.

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights. I think it is very appropriate to link a copy of it here  http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/popup_billofrights.html on Redstate since you are among the few people who still appreciate its content.

So many of our rights are being violated, maybe it would be a good idea if we all sent a copy to everyone on our email lists just to remind them of their rights and ask them to pass it on. After all, everyone should have their very own copy.

Who knows maybe if enough people email it we may actually succeed in reaching a few of those folks who are clueless about not only their rights but their history as well, so they might even be motivated to read more about it here http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_philadelphia1791.html

A lot is said on this site about educating people, well here is our chance to take the first small step!

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND KEEP HER SAFE AND FREE.

Patriotroom has an interesting story http://patriotroom.com/rahm-under-pressure-to-resign-msm-ducks-the-story/ Sounds like Rahm may be heading for under the bus.

I can’t believe how fast this new administration is falling apart.  Gee, where is the main stream media on this major story? Now we have to get the really interesting news from foreign papers. Of course if the msm had reported the facts before the election … no that would be too much to hope for. Blago really has these folks in a tailspin.

According to the Anchorage Daily News http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/622635.html  the

church that Sarah Palin and her family attends in Wasilla fell victim to a fire and apparently arson is strongly suspected. The church sustained about one million dollars in damages. There were a few church members inside at the time the fire broke out and they exited unharmed.

What struck me was that Palin went to the assistant pastor of the church and apologized;

“Gov. Palin stopped by the church this morning, and she told an assistant pastor that she apologizes if the incident is in any way connected to the undeserved negative attention the church has received since she became a vice-presidential candidate on Aug. 29. Whatever the motives of the arsonist, the governor has faith in the scriptural passage that what was intended for evil will in some way be used for good.”

Palin has nothing to apologize for, but if this is arson, the arsonist has a lot to apologize for and I hope they will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It is a hate crime that only the lowest of human beings could commit.

Could you imagine the outcry if Obama’s church had been burned? There is also no doubt in my mind it would be blamed on racism. There would be no apologies only accusations, and the press would be there to help fan the flames.

If this arson is politically motivated then a new low has been struck in politics. Palin has been the most gracious of politicians despite the sheer amount of hatred that has been directed at her and her family. Very few people could withstand the treatment she received by the press and the left. Yet her statement, once again, proves the dignity of this woman. It is sad that the lessons this woman teaches us all are wasted on those who need to learn from them the most.

Hey, why not, at least she really is a New Yorker, accent and all. New York Magazine tells us Fran Drescher wants Hillary’s seat; http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52766/

She has more life experience than Caroline Kennedy and she certainly knows how to get down with the folks because she is one of them. Plus, Drescher has had to actually work for a living and earn her position in life.

Why settle for a boring “Princess” when you can have a star? Plus, Fran actually seems to have some common sense. Why select another boring liberal who takes themselves way too seriously when you can have a fun gal like Fran? It would certainly make debate in the Senate more interesting.

The way I see it, New Yorkers will get better representation from Fran because she won’t be in it for the legacy or to protect the family fortune. Plus they won’t have to put up with all that Camelot garbage.

Hey New Yorkers, give us a break, please call your Governor and tell him you want Fran! Please spare the rest of us another endless stream of Kennedy legacy stories.

No doubt many of you have read “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers. It explains one person’s journey into and, eventually, out of Communism.

Chambers tells us that men do not become Communists because they embrace the philosophy. They embrace it, because of their insecurities during times of economic hardship and war. That’s why the rhetoric of this past campaign is very disturbing. The glorious government as utopia is being peddled as never before, preying upon the insecure.

Democracy is an easy sell to people who believe they can get ahead in the world. But for people who believe otherwise, the great equalizer is to bring everyone down to their level. Communism was always most successfully promoted in places where large numbers of the population were without great hope for the future. That’s why it is very easy to go from serfdom to communism as in the case of the former Soviet Union. There is quite a resemblance between the two, only the “master” of Communism is not an aristocratic hereditary lord, it is the aristocratic state. The Dacha’s are still occupied, only the occupants are now “government men.” Privilege did not end, it merely changed hands. Life did not significantly improve for the serfs as they were fed a steady stream of failed government plans. Most of their plans were agricultural and industrial disasters and many thousands died as a result.

Right now our government men are selling us on their own special brand of government plans. If those who “have not” are convinced there is no hope for their future, it is very easy to convince them to support taking it from the “haves” even though they will never be the recipients of the largesse. The government men are doing their very best to make our situation sound as bad as possible and to make it seem that only their intervention will save us.

Problem is, the redistribution of wealth and the government ownership of business they are selling us are not Democratic ideals. Free money is never free, especially when it is paid for with the loss of freedom. What’s next … five year plans? History should serve as a warning, yet people, even those who should know better, seem to be lining up to buy into it. Have so many become so insecure that they have lost hope for our future as a Democracy? The way our enemies around the world are salivating over the thought of our demise should be a strong signal to us that we are heading in the wrong direction. But we just keep rolling along.

When Chambers decided to leave Communism behind, he tells his wife that by rejecting Communism, they will be leaving the winning side for the losing side. He was convinced that Communism would eventually prevail over Democracy/Capitalism.

The question is, will we prove him right or wrong?

Gorby has decided to weigh in on the election like a Little Misguided Congeniality.
www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/27/gorbachev-looks-forward-new-policy-obama/
He tells us that we need to improve relations with Russia by urging “Obama to muster his courage” and reconsider the decision to station missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.”

We shouldn’t take it personal that about five minutes after the election “Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to station short-range missiles in Kaliningrad on NATO’s borders if the United States pushed ahead with missile defense sites in Eastern Europe.” It’s just a do unto others thing.

I really love it when foreigners tell us how to run our country because obviously we’ve been doing wrong for over 200 years. Yea, that great Communist Revolution capped by falling statues was something everyone should want to emulate as perfect governing. And someone who presided over turmoil and had to be rescued from house arrest certainly must know better than we do about how to govern.

Ask any beauty queen, she’ll tell you we are all supposed to want “World Peace.” But I’m not seeing the love. In the real world people have different agendas and there really are a lot of people who would love to see us become impotent as a world power, sounds like Gorby is just another one of them folks. If we fail, maybe he’ll feel better about his own failures.

Poland suffered horribly in WWII and they continued to suffer after the war just because they were unfortunate enough to be neighbors with Germany and Russia. Gerald Ford was laughed at for weeks after a debate in which he said Poland was free. I know he meant they were free in their hearts and now they really are free in all the ways that count, including their hearts. That’s due, in large part, to the fact that the good old U.S.A. has a backbone.

There is a ride at Disneyland with little dolls dressed in traditional costumes singing “It’s A Small World After All” in many languages as you ride through it. It presents a view of the world through rose colored glasses. Nice thought, but not very realistic and we’d be real stupid to buy into it, just ask Poland.

I grew up in a family of war veterans, so we watched a steady stream of war movies. Anyone who has watched these movies knows the meaning of the word “Bailout.” For some unexplained reason, it was always said three times; BAILOUT! BAILOUT! BAILOUT! I guess they kept repeating it in case anyone on the plane was unaware of the seriousness of the situation (as if that would be necessary.)

For those who don’t watch war movies, bailout is the effort to save yourself because the plane has been shot up and is going to crash. Therefore all onboard, who are still alive, need to grab their parachutes and jump from the plane A.S.A.P.

They are supposed to glide away from the wreckage and land safely on the ground. Of course, war being what it is, there are no guarantees that will be the outcome.

So I thought the choice of the word “Bailout” was an accurate description of the government’s effort to pass out parachutes to “shot up” businesses in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars. Now Brit Hume tells us www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458224,00.html#
the Democrat spin wordsmiths will no longer be calling these government parachutes “Bailouts.” They will now be referred to as “Recovery” programs because it “sounds optimistic.”

Apparently “Recovery” programs remind them of the good old days of the good old New Deal. That the New Deal was a failure does not diminish their nostalgia for it or their desire to have us relive it. But I remember, during the campaign, the President-Elect told us that you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig.

And Recovery will still be a Bailout … OINK! OINK! OINK!

I really believe there are going to be some surprises tonight. I believe McCain will win Blue States; PA, NH, ME & of all places NJ!

This is one strange election!

Wow! Don’t see this everyday,a Liberal Democrat giving GOP campaign speeches in Manhattan! Former Robert Kennedy NY Campaign Manager campaigning for McCain! The landslide is coming!

http://www.article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWNmZDQ4MWE2OTFkOGZlMThmZDJkMWNhNDdhY2UzMWI=&w=MA==

If this link doesn’t work go to www.nationalreview.com to view it.

GOTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is rather long but worth the read.http://www.wizbangblog.com/content/2008/11/01/funky-gallup.php

It will give you some insight into what is wrong with the polls.

GOTV!

Cheer yourself up McCain supporters, It’s O.K. to be very optimistic!

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/31/team-mccain-conference-call-polling-2/

Now don’t let up and GOTV because our country depends on it!

The bi-partisan George Washington University Battleground Poll (from the Tarrance Group) has the Congressional Ballot Question at 45% Dem – 41% GOP – 14% Undecided. The gap has closed 4 points in one week.

http://www.tarrance.com/files/GWU-Battleground-charts-10-29.pdf

Now consider that the vast majority of those 14% of undecideds will break for the GOP.

And there goes Pelosi’s super majority …

If you want to poke a hole in this good news by saying it is a generic ballot question, read the way the question is phrased: “If the election for Congress were being held today, and you had to make a choice, would you be voting for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate in your district?”

Believe it! Now GOTV!

I sometimes visit the PUMA websites Hillbuzz and
HillaryClintonForum.net as I imagine some of you do.
Unlike the liberal Republican weak knees and, the so
called, conservative pundits who give up before a shot is
fired, PUMAS are optimists. They don’t waiver in their
support of McCain. They roll up their sleeves and walk
the walk. They also put their money where their mouth
is and boy, do I admire their tenacity. They don’t poke
holes in every bit of good news that comes their way,
instead they relish it and they use it. They are not afraid
to speak their minds and spread the word. They will talk
to anyone who will listen and a lot of people are listening.

From what I can gather, most PUMAS are women. They
appear to be from all walks of life. They have one thing
in common; their anger at the way Hillary was unfairly
treated by THEIR own party. They didn’t take their
marbles and go home when they won the electorate, but
were passed over by the Democrat Party. They had a
plan, which includes defeating Obama by helping
McCain.

The PUMAS have embraced and defended Palin with
the same enthusiasm in which they embraced Hillary,
not because they agree with her on all the issues, but
because they understand women have to work together
to break that ceiling and free all the women of this land.
The futures of ALL the daughters are at stake. I
wonder how those who have demeaned Palin and Hillary
would feel if it was their mother, sister or daughter who
was the target of such slander.

In some ways, the PUMAS also had to learn the hard
way something I have always known; the GOP is FEMALE
FRIENDLY and the DNC is FEMALE USER FRIENDLY. If you
don’t remember Margaret Chase Smith, I suggest you
look her up because she put the first big crack in the
glass ceiling. Even though she didn’t have nearly enough
convention votes to win the Presidential nomination, the
GOP did not stop her supporters from having their
convention floor demonstration to show that support. I
sure hope Maine remembers and honors that remarkable woman
from their state when they vote in this election.

Not so long ago in history, a girl could grow up to be a
housewife and mother, later they could be secretaries,
teachers or nurses, then they could be middle managers,
now they can be a CEO or Senator. Soon, mainly
because of people like the PUMAS, they can achieve the
highest office in the land. The PUMAS are saying to
women you can be all or any of the above … and it is
O.K. Isn’t that what every man and woman would want
for their daughter?

The PUMAS have given this Republican great insight. I
know our party will have them for only a short time and
I will miss them when they move on. I have fallen in love
with them and wish they would stay with us, our party
could use a continued infusion of POSITIVE PUMA POWER. Yet, I
understand their mission is Hillary and wish them well.

But I do hope they will stay with us for one more fight
before they go; ADDRESSING THE MASSIVE VOTER
FRAUD THAT THREATENS OUR FREEDOM. We need to clean it up
and the PUMAS are just the right folks to help those of us
who care about this issue.

I want to thank them. Right now, all my contributions go
to McCain and other GOP candidates. When this
election is over, I am going to do something I have never
done before; contribute to a Democrat. I will contribute
to Hillary to help out with her campaign debt to
HONOR the service of the PUMAS.

They have helped turn this election around for
McCain/Palin. They knew about O and his bots way
before they showed up on our radar screen because
they had already been in the trenches. They have
proven we can cross party lines without fear of
electrocution when our country’s future is at stake.

I hope I will be only one of many Republicans who remembers to thank
them. You Go Girls!

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccains-pollster-foresees-tight-race-on-election-night-2008-10-28.html

**THE SUN DID NOT SHINE
CAUSE THE CLOUDS SEEM TO SAY
THAT A WIN FOR McCAIN
COULD BE STOLEN AWAY

I SAT THERE WITH HARRY
DEPRESSED WERE WE TWO
THEN I SAID, “WAIT A MINUTE
THERE MUST BE SOMETHING TO DO!”

WE CAN’T LET IT HAPPEN
WE HAVE TO FIGHT BACK
LET’S COUNTER THOSE LIBS
AND THEIR VICIOUS ATTACKS

SO WE TELL ‘EM THE TRUTH
AND LET ‘EM DECIDE
THEN SEE IF THEIR STILL ON
THE SOCIALIST’S SIDE

DO THEY KNOW ALL THE FACTS?
NO THEY DO NOT!
JUST ASK DONOR JOHN GALT
ABOUT COMMUNIST PLOTS

THEY SWEETEN THE DEAL
SPREADING WEALTH THEY SAY
JOE’S HARD EARNED DOLLARS
THEY’LL JUST TAKE ‘EM AWAY
(ALONG WITH YOUR 401K!)

VOTER FRAUD , NO, NO, NO
WE JUST WANT EVERYONE WISE
LEST ANY DECEASED FOLKS
BE DISENFRANCHISED

WHO IS THAT TERRORIST?
JUST A FRIENDLY OLD TEACH
BOMBS MEAN YOU NO HARM
JUST IGNORE THE HATE SPEECH

SALUTE THE FLAG?
IT DON’T MEAN A HOOT
CAUSE WHERE THEY COME FROM
THE FLAG’S UNDER THEIR BOOT*

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I don’t know about you, but I am getting real tired of hearing about how John McCain has run a terrible campaign. McCain should do this, McCain should do that, McCain should go here, McCain should go there. McCain lost this opportunity, McCain lost that opportunity. McCain should attack, McCain should be positive, Palin was a bad pick, etc. etc. ad nauseam.

As far as I can see he has done just about everything right. I think his campaign has been brilliant in ways that only a die hard “glass half empty” pessimist can ignore.

Let’s look at it. He turned the high oil prices to his advantage; DRILL BABY DRILL. He turned the economy (which should have been a disaster for him) to his advantage; I AM JOE THE PLUMBER and SPREAD THE WEALTH. He won all three debates and actually scored a knockout in the last one. He chose Sara Palin for VP and overnight solidified a conservative base that really doesn’t like him very much and infused his campaign with an enthusiasm that hasn’t been seen in GOP circles since Reagan. He has taken advantage of every Biden gaff. He has gotten the terrorist, socialist, voter fraud angle into this campaign’s discourse. Nobody seems to get it that he doesn’t attack the Reverend Wright because he doesn’t need to do it, talk radio, conservative commentators and websites are doing it for him. The P.O.W. (Prisoner of Wright) in this campaign is Obama and his many less than savory associations. HOPE & CHANGE is now redefined as SPREAD THE WEALTH.

The meaningless words HOPE & CHANGE will quickly be forgotten after this election, but everyone will remember DRILL BABY DRILL, SPREAD THE WEALTH and I AM JOE THE PLUMBER.

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Well, the other day, those who predicted the weather “scientifically” were dead wrong again. I was walking my dogs early in the AM and I always talk to them as we stroll through the woods. I said, “Boys, enjoy this great weather, because the weatherman said this afternoon it is going to rain.” That afternoon, when the rain failed to materialize, we were romping together in the field under the blue sky and I was again reminded of what my father always said, “If you really want an accurate weather forecast, look out the window.”

I guess we all want some expert to tell us what will happen in the future, for some reason there is comfort in knowing whether it will be sunny (good news) or rainy (bad news, except for farmers, God bless them!)

It is the same with pollsters who tell us on a daily basis who is winning based on “scientific” sampling. Bless their highly overpaid paid little hearts. They send us all, both Democrat & Republican, into wild mood swings. As the polls widen and narrow this year, Liberal pundits get loonier and Conservative pundits throw up their hands in defeat … same old, same old.

So this year I decided to finally take my father’s advice about the weather and apply it to politics. I decided to look out the window and believe my lying eyes. I spent weeks visiting websites and spoke with people in search of anecdotal evidence gleamed from folks all over this country. Here is my result, John McCain will win and it will probably be a decisive win.

One anecdote, by itself, means nothing … but thousands do. The massive silence of the silent majority is deafening, people whispering their support for McCain in hushed, fearful voices revealing themselves only to relatives and like minded friends. We only have to look at the persecution of Joe the Plumber to understand the reason for their fear.

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