Obama Got Discount on Home Loan

Looks like Obama got on the special treatment bandwagon. Another Democrat gets a preferential, below normal interest rate mortgage. Is it any wonder why Pelosi and Reid will not call for a special prosecutor on this? Check out the Obama campaign's lame defense! - Sailor

Obama Got Discount on Home Loan
Campaign Defends Lower Rate as Lender Competition for Business

By Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A03

Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois.

The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

Compared with the average terms offered at the time in Chicago, Obama's rate could have saved him more than $300 per month.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the rate was adjusted to account for a competing offer from another lender and other factors. "The Obamas have since had as much as $3 million invested through Northern Trust," he said in a statement.

Modest adjustments in mortgage rates are common among financial institutions as they compete for business or develop relationships with wealthy families. But amid a national housing crisis, news of discounts offered to Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, and Kent Conrad (D-N.D) by another lender, Countrywide Financial, has brought new scrutiny to the practice and has resulted in a preliminary Senate ethics committee inquiry into the Dodd and Conrad loans.

Within Obama's presidential campaign organization, former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson resigned abruptly as head of the vice presidential search committee after his favorable Countrywide loan became public.

Driving the recent debate is concern that public officials, knowingly or unknowingly, may receive special treatment from lenders and that the discounts could constitute gifts that are prohibited by law.

"The real question is: Were congressmen getting unique treatment that others weren't getting?" associate law professor Adam J. Levitin, a credit specialist at Georgetown University Law Center, said about the Countrywide loans. "Do they do business like that for people who are not congressmen? If they don't, that's a problem."

Under financial disclosure rules, members of Congress are not obliged to disclose debts owed to financial institutions for personal residences. Names of lenders and rates paid on mortgages sometimes can be determined by scrutinizing property transaction records. In March, in response to media questions, Obama posted on his campaign Web site records related to his house purchase.

Last week, during debate on a bill to help homeowners caught in the foreclosure crisis, some members of the Senate ethics committee proposed an amendment to require that lawmakers disclose their mortgage lenders and loan terms in annual financial forms starting next year.

In Obama's case, he received a lower rate than the average offered at the time in Chicago for similarly structured jumbo loans. He secured his final mortgage commitment on June 8, 2005, and during that week, rates on similar loans for which information is available averaged 5.93 percent, according to HSH Associates, which surveys lenders. Another survey firm, Bankrate.com, placed the average at 6 percent.

"It's certainly safe to say that this borrower did better than average," said Keith Gumbinger, an HSH vice president, noting that consumer rates vary widely. "It's a good deal."

The Obama campaign called the rate "consistent with Northern Trust policies, and it reflected the base rate set for that period discounted to address the competition for the account and other opportunities, such as personal financial services, that the relationship would bring to Northern Trust."

When the Obamas secured the loan, their income had risen dramatically. Obama assumed his Senate seat in January 2005, with an annual salary of $162,100. That same month, Random House agreed to reissue an Obama memoir, for which it originally paid $40,000, as part of a $2.27 million deal that included two future nonfiction books and a children's book.

Around the same time, the University of Chicago Hospitals promoted Michelle Obama to a vice president and more than doubled her pay, to $317,000.

The couple wanted to step up from their $415,000 condo. They chose a house with six bedrooms, four fireplaces, a four-car garage and 5 1/2 baths, including a double steam shower and a marble powder room. It had a wine cellar, a music room, a library, a solarium, beveled glass doors and a granite-floored kitchen.

The Obamas had no prior relationship with Northern Trust when they applied for the loan. They received an oral commitment on Feb. 4, 2005, and locked in the rate of 5.625 percent, the campaign said. On that date, HSH data show, the average rate in Chicago for a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo loan with no points was about 5.94 percent.

Jumbo loans are for amounts up to $650,000, but the Obamas' $1.32 million loan was so large that few comparables are available. Mortgage specialists say that many high-end buyers pay cash.

Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, has no mortgages on properties he owns with his wife, Cindy, who is a multimillionaire.

Unlike Countrywide, where leaked internal e-mails documented a special discount program for friends of chief executive Angelo Mozilo, Northern Trust says it has no formal program to provide discounts to public officials. Loan officers may consider a borrower's occupation when establishing an interest rate, the bank said.

"A person's occupation and salary are two factors; I would expect those are two things we would take into consideration," said Northern Trust Vice President John O'Connell. "That would apply to anyone seeking to get a mortgage at Northern Trust." He added that the rates offered to Obama were "consistent with internal Northern Trust rates at that time."

"The bottom line is, this was a business proposition for us," he said. "Our business model is to service and pursue successful individuals, families and institutions."

O'Connell referred additional questions to the campaign.

Since 1990, Northern Trust employees have donated more than $739,000 to federal campaigns, including $71,000 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama's house purchase has been a source of controversy. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that on the day of the closing, the wife of Obama's longtime friend and fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko closed on an adjoining lot that had been the estate's side yard.

The Obamas bought the house for $300,000 less than the asking price of $1.95 million, while Rezko's wife, Rita, bought the neighboring lot for the full asking price of $625,000. Rita Rezko later sold a portion of the undeveloped lot to the Obamas, enlarging the senator's yard.

Tony Rezko already had been linked to a grand jury investigation involving public corruption. Last month, he was convicted of 16 counts in an influence-peddling scheme that reached the highest levels of Illinois state government.

Source Washington Post

Time To Drill

It is high time that we tell Congress it is time to drill, develop our oil shale potential and get into clean coal technologies. Yes, we also need to develop alternate energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells and longer life batteries for electric cars. Of course we will need to build nuclear power plants to provide for the future electric demand. Reprocessing spent fuel will reduce the waste we need to dispose of. To those who claim that it will take too long to get the oil to the refineries, I ask this simple question, how long will it take to get these new alternative energy sources on-line? Further, how many religious nuts, worshipers of Gaea, you know them, they call themselves environmentalists, will try and go to court to stop these? They are already whining about transmission lines going through what they perceive as pristine areas. Then there are the Kennedy's, who stopped a wind farm from being funded in Nantucket Sound, claiming hazards to navigation. Fact is, Teddy himself was quoted as saying he sails his boat there.


Bottom line here, is that we the people, need to get on Congress to stop kowtowing to these environmental wackos and start selling those off-shore leases!

Sign the petition started by Newt Gingrich! To date there are 1,251,436

Sign here http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659 people who have signed the petition. The goal is to deliver 3 million signatures by time the party conventions start. Spread the word ! - Sailor

You can listen to Dingy Harry Reid whining about oil and coal making us all sick!

Webb Jumps In

Jim Webb has jumped into the fray over McCain's service record. He is a guy that used his service as part of his successful run for the Senate. Now he is out there telling McCain to cool it. What a hypocrite! This is a guy that wore his son's desert boots on the campaign trail. In my opinion, this is a well orchestrated attempt by the Obama campaign to use surrogates to attack McCain on leadership. Let's face it, Obama has no resumé to speak of and his judgement has been question by the associations he has kept. You cannot tell me that sitting in a pew for 20 years and not knowing what Wright was preaching is believable. As for Webb, keep talking, because all this does is show that Obama is just another Chicago politician and it focuses more attention on his lack of experience. - Sailor

Mr. Webb, a Virginia Democrat who is often mentioned as a possible running mate for Mr. Obama, said Mr. McCain should "calm down" about his military record. "Don't be standing up and uttering your political views and implying that all the people in the military support them, because they don't," he said on MSNBC.

A Marine who served in Vietnam - a fact he mentioned often as he campaigned for the Senate, occasionally while wearing his son's desert combat boots - Mr. Webb said "we need to make sure that we take politics out of service."

The comments followed those of retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, an Obama supporter, who used a Sunday talk show to criticize the presumptive Republican nominee's experience as a Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Read the rest of the article and note the comments. - Sailor

Keep Talking Wesley

It is time for the Sailor to add my 2 cents to the comments by retired General Wesley Clark. Remember this is the man Bill Clinton relieved of command and the man that almost started a shooting war with the Russians in Kosovo. All Clark has managed to do with this smear of John McCain's service is to highlight Obama's lack of experience. McCain, unlike John Kerry, has never made his service his reason for him to be President. So I say to the good General, keep talking Wes! - Sailor

Here is an editorial on this matter from the New Hampshire Union-Leader.

Clark on McCain: Keep talking, general

13 hours, 33 minutes ago

HERE IS HOW retired Gen. Wesley Clark chose to peddle Barack Obama for President over John McCain:

Click for Editorials & Op-Eds

"(McCain) hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded -- that wasn't a wartime squadron. I don't think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become President."

Hasn't held executive responsibility? Let's see, Obama's executive responsibilities have included what? Right. The answer is: nothing. And thank you, Gen. Clark, for pointing out that John McCain commanded the largest fighter squadron in the U.S. Navy. He didn't just command it; he turned it around.

"Although plagued by fatal accidents in the past, the squadron had no fatalities under his command . . . and won its first meritorious unit citation. Mr. McCain's success attracted notice among the admirals in Washington," The New York Times reported in 2000.

McCain's qualifications do not come from being shot down. They come from a career in military and foreign affairs in which McCain displayed an uncommon strength of character and developed a sound judgment in those fields, which are so critical to the United States in this dangerous world.

His opponent, a career lawyer and politician, has shown that his own judgment in those areas is naive and ill-considered. Clark highlights those differences every time he seeks to denigrate McCain's service.

The Lexington Projet

While I do not agree with all this man made global warming hype and quite frankly, con job, this plan of McCain's has a great deal of merit. I still believe we should be drilling in ANWR. To those who claim we cannot drill our way out of this crisis, I say to them, you cannot tax your way out of it either. Nor can you repeal the law of supply and demand. This is a multi faceted approach to energy independence. What say you Obama? - Sailor

Our nation's future security and prosperity depends on the next President making the hard choices that will break our nation's strategic dependence on foreign sources of energy and will ensure our economic prosperity by meeting tomorrow's demands for a clean portfolio. John McCain has made the necessary choices - producing more power, pushing technology to help free our transportation sector from its use of foreign oil, cleaning up our air and addressing climate change, and ensuring that Americans have dependable energy sources. John McCain will lead the effort to develop advanced transportation technologies and alternative fuels to promote energy independence and cut off the flow of oil wealth to repressive dictatorships like Iran.

"In recent days I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lexington Project -- named for the town where Americans asserted their independence once before. And let it begin today with this commitment: In a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025." John McCain, June 25, 2008 Read the entire speech...

Expanding Domestic Oil And Natural Gas Exploration And Production

John McCain Will Commit Our Country To Expanding Domestic Oil Exploration. The current federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf stands in the way of energy exploration and production. John McCain believes it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use. There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities. We have trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the U.S. at a time we are exporting hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy energy. This is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. We should keep more of our dollars here in the U.S., lessen our foreign dependency, increase our domestic supplies, and reduce our trade deficit - 41% of which is due to oil imports. John McCain proposes to cooperate with the states and the Department of Defense in the decisions to develop these resources.

John McCain Believes In Promoting And Expanding The Use Of Our Domestic Supplies Of Natural Gas. When people are hurting, and struggling to afford gasoline, food, and other necessities, common sense requires that we draw upon America's own vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Within the United States we have tremendous reserves of natural gas. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. It is time that we capitalize on these significant resources and build the infrastructure needed to transport this important component of electricity generation and transportation fuel around the country.

Taking Action Now To Break Our Dependency On Foreign Oil By Reforming Our Transportation Sector

The Nation Cannot Reduce Its Dependency On Oil Unless We Change How We Power Our Transportation Sector.

John McCain's Clean Car Challenge. John McCain will issue a Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit for the consumer based on the reduction of carbon emissions. He will commit a $5,000 tax credit for each and every customer who buys a zero carbon emission t car, encouraging automakers to be first on the market with these cars in order to capitalize on the consumer incentives. For other vehicles, a graduated tax credit will apply so that the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit.

John McCain Will Propose A $300 Million Prize To Improve Battery Technology For Full Commercial Development Of Plug-In Hybrid And Fully Electric Automobiles. A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs. At $300 million, the prize is one dollar for every man, woman and child in this country - and a small price to pay for breaking our dependence on oil.

John McCain Supports Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) And Believes They Should Play A Greater Role In Our Transportation Sector. In just three years, Brazil went from new cars sales that were about 5 percent FFVs to over 70 percent of new vehicles that were FFVs. American automakers have committed to make 50 percent of their cars FFVs by 2012. John McCain calls on automakers to make a more rapid and complete switch to FFVs.

John McCain Believes Alcohol-Based Fuels Hold Great Promise As Both An Alternative To Gasoline And As A Means of Expanding Consumers' Choices. Some choices such as ethanol are on the market right now. The second generation of alcohol-based fuels like cellulosic ethanol, which won't compete with food crops, are showing great potential.

Today, Isolationist Tariffs And Wasteful Special Interest Subsidies Are Not Moving Us Toward An Energy Solution. We need to level the playing field and eliminate mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions which would provide us with better options for our fuel needs.

John McCain Will Effectively Enforce Existing CAFE Standards. John McCain has long supported CAFE standards - the mileage requirements that automobile manufacturers' cars must meet. Some car makers ignore these standards, pay a small financial penalty, and add it to the price of their cars. John McCain believes that the penalties for not following these standards must be effective enough to compel all car makers to produce fuel-efficient vehicles.

Investing In Clean, Alternative Sources Of Energy

John McCain Believes That The U.S. Must Become A Leader In A New International Green Economy. Green jobs and green technology will be vital to our economic future. There is no reason that the U.S. should not be a leader in developing and deploying these new technologies.

John McCain Will Commit $2 Billion Annually To Advancing Clean Coal Technologies. Coal produces the majority of our electricity today. Some believe that marketing viable clean coal technologies could be over 15 years away. John McCain believes that this is too long to wait, and we need to commit significant federal resources to the science, research and development that advance this critical technology. Once commercialized, the U.S. can then export these technologies to countries like China that are committed to using their coal - creating new American jobs and allowing the U.S. to play a greater role in the international green economy.

John McCain Will Put His Administration On Track To Construct 45 New Nuclear Power Plants By 2030 With The Ultimate Goal Of Eventually Constructing 100 New Plants. Nuclear power is a proven, zero-emission source of energy, and it is time we recommit to advancing our use of nuclear power. Currently, nuclear power produces 20% of our power, but the U.S. has not started construction on a new nuclear power plant in over 30 years. China, India and Russia have goals of building a combined total of over 100 new plants and we should be able to do the same. It is also critical that the U.S. be able to build the components for these plants and reactors within our country so that we are not dependent on foreign suppliers with long wait times to move forward with our nuclear plans.

John McCain Will Establish A Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D. This reform will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the U.S., and make us more competitive with other countries. A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

John McCain Will Encourage The Market For Alternative, Low Carbon Fuels Such As Wind, Hydro And Solar Power. According to the Department of Energy, wind could provide as much as one-fifth of electricity by 2030. The U.S. solar energy industry continued its double-digit annual growth rate in 2006. To develop these and other sources of renewable energy will require that we rationalize the current patchwork of temporary tax credits that provide commercial feasibility. John McCain believes in an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently to the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers' dollars.

Here is another part I do not agree with at all. Some one needs to educate McCain that this supposed man made global warming is a crock of bovine excrement - Sailor

Protecting Our Environment And Addressing Climate Change: A Sound Energy Strategy Must Include A Solid Environmental Foundation

John McCain Proposes A Cap-And-Trade System That Would Set Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions While Encouraging The Development Of Low-Cost Compliance Options. A climate cap-and-trade mechanism would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow entities to buy and sell rights to emit, similar to the successful acid rain trading program of the early 1990s. The key feature of this mechanism is that it allows the market to decide and encourage the lowest-cost compliance options.

How Does A Cap-And-Trade System Work? A cap-and-trade system harnesses human ingenuity in the pursuit of alternatives to carbon-based fuels. Market participants are allotted total permits equal to the cap on greenhouse gas emissions. If they can invent, improve, or acquire a way to reduce their emissions, they can sell their extra permits for cash. The profit motive will coordinate the efforts of venture capitalists, corporate planners, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists on the common motive of reducing emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Emission Targets And Timetables:

2012: Return Emissions To 2005 Levels (18 Percent Above 1990 Levels)
2020: Return Emissions To 1990 Levels (15 Percent Below 2005 Levels)
2030: 22 Percent Below 1990 Levels (34 Percent Below 2005 Levels)
2050: 60 Percent Below 1990 Levels (66 Percent Below 2005 Levels)

The Cap-And-Trade System Would Allow For The Gradual Reduction Of Emissions. The cap-and-trade system would encompass electric power, transportation fuels, commercial business, and industrial business - sectors responsible for just under 90 percent of all emissions. Small businesses would be exempt. Initially, participants would be allowed to either make their own GHG reductions or purchase "offsets" - financial instruments representing a reduction, avoidance, or sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions practiced by other activities, such as agriculture - to cover 100 percent of their required reductions. Offsets would only be available through a program dedicated to ensure that all offset GHG emission reductions are real, measured and verifiable. The fraction of GHG emission reductions permitted via offsets would decline over time.

Promoting Energy Efficiency

John McCain Will Make Greening The Federal Government A Priority Of His Administration. The federal government is the largest electricity consumer on earth and occupies 3.3 billion square feet of space worldwide. It provides an enormous opportunity to lead by example. By applying a higher efficiency standard to new buildings leased or purchased or retrofitting existing buildings, we can save taxpayers substantial money in energy costs, and move the construction market in the direction of green technology.

John McCain Will Move The United States Toward Electricity Grid And Metering Improvements To Save Energy. John McCain will work to reduce red tape to allow a serious investment to upgrade our national grid to meet the demands of the 21st century - which will include a capacity to charge the electric cars that will one day fill the roads and highways of America. And to save both money and electrical power for our people and businesses, we will also need to deploy SmartMeter technologies. These new meters give customers a more precise picture of their overall energy consumption, and over time will encourage a more cost-efficient use of power.

Addressing Speculative Pricing Of Oil

John McCain Believes We Must Understand The Role Speculation Is Playing In Our Soaring Energy Prices. Congress already has investigations underway to examine this kind of wagering in our energy markets, unrelated to any kind of productive commerce, because it can distort the market, drive prices beyond rational limits, and put the investments and pensions of millions of Americans at risk. John McCain believes that where we find abuses, they need to be swiftly punished. To make sure it never happens again, we must reform the laws and regulations governing the oil futures market, so that they are just as clear and effective as the rules applied to stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments.

John McCain Does Not Support A Windfall Profits Tax. A windfall profits tax on the oil companies will ultimately result in increasing our dependence on foreign oil and hinder investment in domestic exploration. Jimmy Carter put a windfall profits tax in to place with little to no useful results.

On the whole, this is a good, comprehensive plan. At least one candidate has a plan. Of course, Pelosi and Reid did say they had a plan to lower gas prices, if we voted the Dems in back in 2006. I wonder what ever happened to that one? - Sailor

Help Our Toops Get A Little Piece of Home!

Received this in an E-Mail today. I know things are tough out there with energy and food prices being what they are. But, try and dig deep and get our troops a little piece of home. If you think we have rough here, you should see how rough they have it! - Sailor

PRO-TROOP GROUP ASKS

FOR BLOGGERS' HELP!



This Thursday, June 26th is the huge "From the FrontLines" 8-hour telethon hosted by the nation's largest pro-trooporganization Move America Forward - http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org


Our goal: to send the largest single shipment of care packages in U.S.history. We're hoping to collect sponsorships in excess of $500,000 forcare packages by the end of the day Thursday.


* Today Rush Limbaugh promoted the effort on his nationally syndicated show:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_062408/content/01125111.guest.html



* Also, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote about it:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=27546



* And the Sacramento Union has two stories about the broadereffort:

Here: http://www.sacunion.com/pages/california/articles/9981/

And Here: http://www.sacunion.com/pages/sacramento/articles/9974/



Now we're looking for help from the blogosphere. Weare asking for your help to get the blogosphere to explode with mentions ofthis effort - so that any American patriot who loves our military and issurfing the Net the next two days is sure to know about this effort. If nothing else, please ask your readers on June 26th to tune in to"From the Front Lines" via http://www.HotAir.com http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-the-frontlines



Supporters of our troops can sponsor care packages at: http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org



P.S. If you want some more inspiration, check out what SuperBlogger Spree did.


First she blogged on Wake Up America:

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/06/protests-and-counter-protests-in.html



And then had this piece published at DigitalJournal.com

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/256477



Now please be sure to do your part to help! :-)

MCCAIN & THE COURTS

Many in the conservative base have issues with Senator McCain, and I am one of them. However, I believe that Senator McCain is a man of his word, that being said, I trust that he will appoint strict constructionist judges in the mold of Justices Roberts and Alito. This is an election that could well shape the Supreme Court for damn near a generation. the next president will have at a minimum two appointments to SCOTUS and possibly three. Many of the issues that conservatives are concerned about, abortion, gun rights, campaign finance reform and possibly immigration reform will be decided in the courts and will almost assuredly come before SCOTUS. Do you really want a President Obama making those appointments? Here are some excerpts from a New York Post editorial on this crucial matter. - Sailor

"Often, political causes are brought before the courts that could not succeed by democratic means," he said, "and some federal judges are eager to oblige."

McCain also took the two Dems to task for joining in their party's effort to delay approval of more than 30 federal judicial nominations solely for reasons of ideology and politics.

McCain, by contrast, worked with a bipartisan group of senators - "The Gang of 14" - to forge a compromise. The deal allowed President Bush to seat two judges of his choosing, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, on the Supreme Court, while blocking a GOP attempt to ban Senate filibusters for federal judges.

McCain vows to tap "accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law and a proven commitment to judicial restraint."

Palestinians in Gaza Are Phonebanking for Barack Obama

I wonder how the Obama campaign will deal with this? I imagine Dingy Harry Reid and his cohorts will whine, gnash their teeth and look for some one supporting McCain to blame for all of this. Harry has already tried to blame McCain for mud slinging. Hey Harry, have any more land deals? - Sailor

Phil Klein calls our attention to an al-Jazeera news report that sounds like a parody, but is genuine: A report on Palestinians in Gaza who are phonebanking in support of Barack Obama's campaign.

I transcribed the most jaw-dropping parts:

REPORTER: It may be hard to believe, but working in this tiny Internet cafe in Gaza City may just be one of Barack Obama's biggest fans.

Before every U.S. primary, 23-year-old Ibrahim Abu Jayyab gathers 17 of his friends to try and rally support for Obama's campaign in the U.S.

So why does a young Palestinian living in Gaza spend so much of his time and money on an election thousands of miles away?

ABU JAYYAB: [translated] It all started at the time of the U.S. primaries. After studying Obama's electoral campaign manifesto, I thought, 'this is a man that is capable of change inside America.' As for potential change in the Middle East, he can also do that. I think he can bring peace to the area, or at least this is what we hope.

REPORTER: And the game plan? Ibrahim and his friends call random numbers in the U.S. before every primary to deliver one simple message:

ABU JAYYAB: [in English] Elect Senator Obama. I will change. I will achieve... the justice in the Middle East.

So Much for Free Speech

I really should not be surprised by this, after all leftists like those at this university only believe in free speech when that speech conforms with their world view. I hope Ms. Dixon files a law suit and federal charges for the violation of her Constitutional rights. University officials of this kind have no right to intimidate employees from expressing their opinions, especially outside of their job duties. It is my opinion that not only was her firing improper, but illegal as well. - Sailor

Cybercast News Service has learned that a University of Toledo administrator has lost her job because she wrote a newspaper commentary that questioned whether homosexuality is a civil rights issue.

Crystal Dixon, the associate vice president of human resources at the state university, had earlier been put on paid administrative leave for the Apr. 18 column published in the Toledo Free Press, as detailed in a previous CNSNews.com report.

"She has been fired," said Brian Rooney, spokesman for the Thomas More Law Center, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based legal-defense group which is representing Dixon.

Rooney told Cybercast News Service that the university had offered Dixon "another position, in a different part of the university, not in human resources" because she had argued in her editorial that sexual orientation is not an immutable characteristic like race or sex and should not be afforded the same protection under civil rights laws.

"She said no, that's when she was fired," Rooney said. "We are going to do everything we can within the law to try to show that the firing was improper and potentially illegal."

Spells Cast at Anti-Marine Rally in California

Looks like Code Pink is really reaching now. On Friday they tried to play witch and cast spells at the Marine Recruitment Center in crazy Berkeley. When this does not work, I have to wonder if they will resort to voodoo. Just a word to the Marines there, keep a close eye on your personal belongings, they need those for the voodoo dolls. Of course Code Pink does have a big problem with making voodoo dolls. They need locks of hair. Just a news flash to the pink ladies, Marines do not have enough hair to make a lock from. So Marines keep it high and tight! This is just a suggestion from an old Frogman, get a boom box and serenade the Code Pink witches a few tunes such as Witchcraft, Witch Queen of New Orleans, Season of the Witch, Witchy Woman and Black Magic Woman. I am sure they will enjoy them! - Sailor

Members of the anti-war group Code Pink gathered Friday with a cauldron of flowers outside a controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center in Berkeley, Calif., to use witchcraft to rally against the Iraq war.

Code Pink members unfurled a pink banner reading "Troops Home Now" and waved signs as they began the protest, which they promised would include incantations and pointy hats for a "witches, crones and sirens" day.

"Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we're going to end war," Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.

Dan Rather Says Other TV Networks Refused to Hire Him

Gee whiz, Dan. What did you expect after running with a story that used falsified documents, that were never properly vetted. Then to top it off, you ran around saying that you knew it was true, but never offered a single shred of evidence. You real intent was to impact the election. You gambled that no one would figure out that those documents were faked. You tossed the dice and you lost. Get over it and move on! Here are a few snippets from the article. - Sailor

Rather and his agents also met later with Fox, A&E, History Channel, HBO, Discovery Channel and National Geographic television networks, court papers say, but all passed, saying he was "too hot to handle" or "words to that effect."


Rather's papers say he could have defended the Bush story, but, relying on CBS' promises to defend him and extend his contract, he was "misled into remaining silent and unfairly taking the brunt of the blame for misconceptions about the broadcast."


He left CBS on June 16, 2006, after more than 40 years at the network. He has since signed with HDNet, a cable network with limited distribution.


"Although now working, Mr. Rather's (on air) exposure is dramatically limited and, accordingly, his reputation and standing in his trade and profession have not recovered from the damage caused by the defendants' conduct," court papers say.

The Great Global Warming Race

In my mind this is a scam that would make P. T. Barnum proud! It is time that people wake up and see this so called man made global warming for what it is, a move to take down the economies of the Western nations and open the way for UN controlled socialism. With the latest data from NASA, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is scrambling to explain it all away. These fellows have their livelihood on the line after all. When man made global warming is debunked, they will need to find new sources of grants and research money. Here are a few snippets from an article by Steven Milloy. No doubt Al Gore will call Mr. Milloy a heretic! - Sailor

The bottom line of global warming — and that is why so many are behind it — is that its many vested interests are on the verge of a financial and political bonanza, something that scientific facts and climatic realities are likely only to spoil.

So when global temperature doesn’t behave as predicted, excuses and explanations must be found to prevent the almost-mature golden goose from being roasted for dinner. The spin on the Nature study provided by its authors to The New York Times is that, "We’re learning that [natural] climate variability is important and can mask the effects of human-induced global change. In the end this gives more confidence in the long-term projections."

The attempted logic here is that even though the alarmists have been wrong in the past — been there, done that — their failure somehow sets them up for more certain future success. We look past this logical fallacy at our own peril. I can’t wait for their Orwellian pronouncement that global cooling is the new global warming.

McCain's Judicial Philosophy

Many conservatives, the Sailor included, have issue with McCain on immigration, campaign finance reform and so called global warming. The next President will likely have the opportunity to appoint 2 and perhaps 3 Justices to the Supreme Court. These appointments will shape the court for at least the next 20 years. I know many also have issues with McCain being part of the Gang of 14, but in retrospect, it did get Roberts and Alito confirmed.

We all now the type of judges that Obama and Hilary would confirm. So it is important to understand McCain's judicial philosophy. Here are some excerpts from his speech yesterday.

Here, too, Senators Obama and Clinton have very different ideas from my own. They are both lawyers themselves, and don't seem to mind at all when fundamental questions of social policy are preemptively decided by judges instead of by the people and their elected representatives. Nor have they raised objections to the unfair treatment of judicial nominees.

For both Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, it turned out that not even John Roberts was quite good enough for them. Senator Obama in particular likes to talk up his background as a lecturer on law, and also as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done. But when Judge Roberts was nominated, it seemed to bring out more the lecturer in Senator Obama than it did the guy who can get things done. He went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee. And just where did John Roberts fall short, by the Senator's measure? Well, a justice of the court, as Senator Obama explained it – and I quote – should share "one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy."

These vague words attempt to justify judicial activism – come to think of it, they sound like an activist judge wrote them. And whatever they mean exactly, somehow Senator Obama's standards proved too lofty a standard for a nominee who was brilliant, fair-minded, and learned in the law, a nominee of clear rectitude who had proved more than the equal of any lawyer on the Judiciary Committee, and who today is respected by all as the Chief Justice of the United States. Somehow, by Senator Obama's standard, even Judge Roberts didn't measure up. And neither did Justice Samuel Alito. Apparently, nobody quite fits the bill except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers, and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it – and they see it only in each other.

I have my own standards of judicial ability, experience, philosophy, and temperament. And Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito meet those standards in every respect. They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me.

If Senator McCain is true to his word, and I have no doubt of this, these are the type of judges that fit well into the conservative philosophy. - Sailor

Stephen King Update

Looks like King cannot take the heat. He has shut down his message board. Typical leftist hypocrisy here. Free speech is only for those that agree with their point of view. Here is a little snippet of what you will find over at NewsBusters,

Roughly an hour later, the Moderator posted the following:

Steve asked me to post this reply:

"That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt. Noel Sheppard says, “Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.” I guess he feels ignorance and illiteracy are OK when the country needs cannon-fodder. I guess he also feels that the war in Iraq has nationwide approval. Well, it doesn’t have mine. It is a waste of national resources. . . and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded. I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career—military or otherwise. If you agree, find Sheppard on the internet, and send him an email: “Hi, Noel—Stephen King says to shut up and I agree.”

Steve"

__________________

Last edited by Moderator : 17 Hours Ago at 04:21 PM.

And, roughly two hours after that, the boards were closed.

Now, assuming Ms. Mod was indeed going on vacation, and the message boards are closed during such, wouldn't it have been more appropriate for King to wait until she came back BEFORE sending his dogs out to attack me?

You can read more comments at NewsBusters. Just a word to this moderator, Stephen King and the one Stephen King fan. I will not shut up and there is not one damned thing you can do about that. - Sailor

Stephen King Disses the Military

Stephen King has disrespected our brave man and women seving in the military, He sounded a lot like John Kerry! Here is what King had to say:

"I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that."

So another leftists makes his true feelings known. Just another example of their hypocritical, lying words when they tru to make us believe they support our troops. King is just another lying leftist sack of crap! - Sailor

See the video here!

Obama Plans to Disarm America!

You have to see this video of Obama's plans for our military and military preparedness. It is very scary! Why is that leftists always think if you sit down to tea and pastries with those who want us dead, all will be worked out? Do they not understand that those that wish to kill all of us, have no intention of negotiating? Living overseas for a period of time does not make you a foreign policy expert. Hat tip to Aristotle over at Cronwatch for this info! - Sailor

Obama's plans to gut our military.

A Note to Al Gore

Well Al, looks like you have been busted on this global warming thing. NASA is reporting the possibility of 20 to 30 years of global cooling! Read the full article. Guess Al may need to do some thing about those carbon exchange businesses. - Sailor

The allegedly warming earth is in for about 30 years of cooling according to NASA, one of the leading global warming theory advocates.

NASA has confirmed that a developing natural climate pattern will likely result in much colder temperatures, according to Marc Shepherd, writing in the April 30 American Thinker. He adds that NASA was also quick to point out that such natural phenomena should not confuse the issue of manmade greenhouse gas induced global warming which apparently will be going on behind the scenes while our teeth are chattering from a decade and a half long cold spell.

"A cool-water anomaly known as La Niña occupied the tropical Pacific Ocean throughout 2007 and early 2008. In April 2008, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that while the La Niña was weakening, the Pacific decadal Oscillation – a larger-scale, Slower-cycling ocean pattern – had shifted to its cool phase."

Notes Shepherd "This shift in the PDO, which could last for 20 or 30 years, can have significant implications for global climate, affecting Pacific and Atlantic hurricane activity, droughts and flooding around the Pacific basin, the productivity of marine ecosystems and global land temperature patterns."

And the greatest impact here in the states, he adds, will likely be on west Coast residents, particularly growers.

Getting to Know John McCain

Karl Rove has some insights and commentary on John McCain. I have to say I had never heard any of this before and it shows Senator McCain to be a man of great courage. Leaders are made of this mettle. Read the rest of the commentary. - Sailor

Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."


The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.


But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.


Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.

The DNC ShowsTheir True Colors

The DNC has an ad out on Iraq. They are showing video of American soldiers being blown up! I urge each and every one of you to call the DNC , your representative and your senators, demanding that this ad be pulled immediately! Hat tip to Frogg at Chronwatch! - Sailor

See the Video here!

Petraeus: Al Qaida trying to 'come back in'

Just a note to Obama, looks like you would have to do some thing in Iraq, if you were elected. You would not be able to surrender now would you? Provided of course, any thing you have said trying to get the nomination has any basis in truth.

"Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground."

Al Qaida has even resorted to using women as homicide bombers. I wonder where NOW is on this?

The general said Al Qaida was turning to women suicide bombers because the insurgency network failed to drive car bombs through military and police checkpoints.

"Al Qaida is incredibly resilient, and they are receiving people and supplies through Syria — although numbers through Syria are down as much as 50 percent," Petraeus said.

You can read the full article here .




The minute we prematurely remove our troops from Iraq, Qaida will go on a rampage. All of the efforts and sacrafices our troops had made will have been wasted. - Sailor

Poor Obama!

Looks like it is time for the old Sailor to get back to blogging. Seems Obama is whining about tough questions. About damned time some one started asking them!

"Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions," Obama, looking surprised, told shouting reporters as he fled the room. "We're running late."

The Clinton campaign has long complained that Obama gets soft treatment from the press corps. But Monday's exchange was no pillow fight."

I wonder what he will do when he has to deal with that crazy Iranian or the nut case in Venezuela. I have long maintained that Barrack is not ready for prime time, and now he is proving me right.

You can read some more of his whining right here. - Sailor

Operation Stars and Stripes

For those of you that want to help support our troops and see that they get those much appreciated goodies from home, please support Operation Stars and Stripes. You can help them get these care packages out to the troops by going here - http://www.operationstars.com/ - and making a donation.

We here at CCR Radio are heavily supporting this group! - Sailor

Hillary Clinton Calls for Gonzales' Resignation

ADDITIONAL UPDATE

UPDATE

Hillary has joined Chuckie Cheese Schumer and the rest of the democrat hypocrites in calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Seems to me, it was her husband that fired all the US Attorneys when he took office. We certainly did not hear Hillary or Chuckie Cheese complain. Then again Bill Clinton is one of theirs, so it was okay. The stink of hypocrisy extends to the usual suspects in the MSN, the NY Times, Washington Post and AP, each of whom never bothered to mention this inconvenient fact in their front pages stories.

US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. He can fire 1, 2, 3 or all of them. This nonsense emanating from the dems is nothing more then political grandstanding. - Sailor


Hillary's remarks

Today's Wall Street Journal reminds Hillary of the Hubbell Standard. For all her hot air, old Hillary knows all about firing US Attorneys. After all, by her own admission she was co-President when Billy Clinton fired all of the US Attorneys. The artilce in the WSJ lays out some of the reasons for the recent firings and unlike the usual MSN suspects, takes Hilklary to task over her hypocrisy. - Sailor

"The supposed scandal this week is that Mr. Bush had been informed last fall that some U.S. Attorneys had been less than vigorous in pursuing voter-fraud cases and that the President had made the point to Attorney General Albert Gonzales. Voter fraud strikes at the heart of democratic institutions, and it was entirely appropriate for Mr. Bush--or any President--to insist that his appointees act energetically against it.

Take sacked U.S. Attorney John McKay from Washington state. In 2004, the Governor's race was decided in favor of Democrat Christine Gregoire by 129-votes on a third recount. As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and other media outlets reported, some of the "voters" were deceased, others were registered in storage-rental facilities, and still others were convicted felons. More than 100 ballots were "discovered" in a Seattle warehouse. None of this constitutes proof that the election was stolen. But it should have been enough to prompt Mr. McKay, a Democrat, to investigate, something he declined to do, apparently on grounds that he had better things to do.

In New Mexico, another state in which recent elections have been decided by razor thin margins, U.S. Attorney David Iglesias did establish a voter fraud task force in 2004. But it lasted all of 10 weeks before closing its doors, despite evidence of irregularities by the likes of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn. As our John Fund reported at the time, Acorn's director Matt Henderson refused to answer questions in court about whether his group had illegally made copies of voter registration cards in the run-up to the 2004 election."

Wall Street Journal Article

" 3-2.120 Appointment

United States Attorneys are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a four-year term. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 541. Upon expiration of this term, the United States Attorney continues to perform the duties of the office until a successor is confirmed. United States Attorneys are subject to removal at the will of the President.See Parsons v. United States, 167 U.S. 314 (1897)."

Which part of "at the will of the President" do the dems and the MSN not understand? - Sailor

US Code Pertaining to US Attorneys

AFL-CIO bullying Colorado on Dems’ 2008 convention

It stands to reason, based on the success of the far left of the dem party, getting the Nevada Dem Party to drop the debate to be aired on Fox, that the AFL-CIO would try and bully to have the Dem Convention moved out of Denever. Seems the union doesn't like that Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a bill that would no longer permit secrect ballots when emplyees are voting to unionize or not. Since the dems have been in bed with big laober for decades, it will be interesting to see how they deal with this.

"WASHINGTON - National AFL officials seem determined to remove any remaining doubt in anybody’s mind that Gov. Bill Ritter did the right thing in February by vetoing Colorado House bill 1072. That hurriedly approved measure repealed a long-standing Colorado law requiring that, once a company’s employees approve a union, they have a second, secret-ballot vote on how dues will be assessed, with a 75 percent supermajority required for approval.

Why is the AFL-CIO so worried about an obscure Colorado bill? Because the vetoed measure was of a piece with the “Employee Free Choice Act of 2007” now being rushed through Congress by national Democrats, led by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. That bill abolishes all secret ballot voting in union representation contests. Doing away with workers’ right to cast a secret ballot when voting on whether to unionize is the AFL-CIO’s top national priority because union leaders think it will help them reverse their decades-long slide in membership. Less than 10 percent of all private sector workers now belong to unions.

AFL-CIO officials say they will urge Democrats to move their 2008 national convention from Denver if Ritter doesn’t agree to sign a re-introduced version of 1072. Since a quarter of the delegates to a typical Democratic National Convention are union representatives, the AFL-CIO threat is not a hollow one for DNC officials. But the AFL-CIO’s threats against Ritter and Colorado workers shows exactly why secret ballots must be protected in all workplaces nationwide. Otherwise, workers will be exposed to endless threats and intimidation from thuggish union organizers."

What is it that scares big labor about secret ballots? Could it be it limits the amount of intimidation they can use? Their claims that companies can do the intimidation is bogus. Intimindating workers is a two way street. It will be interesting to see if the dems cave on this as well - Sailor

Editorial

Court strikes down D.C. ban on guns

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

For years, the anti-gun lobby has claimed that the Second Amenedment, does not guarantee an individual's right to keep a fire arm. Now a Federal Court has decided that in fact, the Second Amendment does indeed make that guarentee.

"A federal appeals court yesterday struck down the District's 30-year-old gun ban, ruling that the right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment applies to individuals and not only to militias.

"The Second Amendment would be an inexplicable aberration if it were not read to protect individual rights as well," the 58-page ruling said.

The 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned a 2004 lower-court decision against six D.C. residents who filed suit to keep guns for self-protection.

"The District insists that the phrase 'keep and bear arms' should be read as purely military language, and thus indicative of a civic, rather than private, guarantee," the ruling said. "The term 'bear arms' is obviously susceptible to a military construction. But it is not accurate to construe it exclusively so." "

ARTICLE

In her dissent, Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson argued that the Second Amendment does not apply to DC, because it is not a state. By her reasoning then, the rest of the Constitution does not apply either. Think about the ramifications of that! - Sailor

PDF of Ruling

Nevada Dems Nix Fox Debate

Once again, the dems cave in to their ultra left wing. Then they wonder why they have problems winning Presidential elections. More interesting then the article itself are some of the lefty comments.

"by kaitlin on 03.09.2007 at 05:42 PM

bravo to the Dems. It's about time they started pushing back against their enemies! Fox News is the most deceitful, partisan and bigoted faux-news channel in the history of television and only FoxNews has the unmitigated gall to claim other news outlets are bigoted. Insanity reigns in the rightwing, neocon world.

by Ohio Poboy on 03.09.2007 at 05:41 PM

Truth, like Beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I behold little truth on Faux News because each sentence spewing from the talking head of the moment is predictable. Nothing our Feuhrer says or does is improper or incorrect. All who doubt him are weak, ignorant lesser beings, or agents and supporters of the Terrorists.

For those 30 percent who still need to see this enormous blunder of a war in rosy tones, there is a network. This is not the network, however, on which to have an objective political debate. Roger Ailes deserves the scorn and spiteful rejection of those he has so often mischaracterized and pilloried.

Why reward this behavior? Why not stand for something in the face of his red-faced, right wing invective that blasts forth from his bull horn parroting the same singular note every day?

by Vaughan on 03.09.2007 at 05:38 PM

Fox News isn't news, it's completely an arm of the Repuclican party. It is about time that the Democratic Party refuses to be bullied by Fox. Roger Ailes has repeatedly smeared dems, and it's about time for them to stop participating in spreading the Republican talking points. Maybe Fox news will learn what Fair really means."

I am sure these folks believe CBS is unbiased! - Sailor

Article

UPDATE

Here is an excerpt from the Los Vegas Review-Journal editorial on this.

"The approach of outfits such as MoveOn.org is so juvenile it's laughable. Imagine if every political organization created litmus tests for news organizations before agreeing to appear on their programming. Republicans would have boycotted PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, National Public Radio and The Associated Press decades ago.

This hyperventilation results from the fact that far-left Democrats have no comparable media outlet, nor any widespread national appeal, for their radical views in favor of heavy-handed regulation, wealth redistribution, diplomatic capitulation and economic protectionism. So they attack their rivals' messenger with a reckless barrage of rhetoric that cuts down their own allies with friendly fire."

Full Editorial


The Edwards camp is acting like this is some big victory. This just goes to show what a girly man Edwards is. You can read that here , if you need a laugh. Edwards is pandering to the nutroots. These are nothing more then a group of intolerant leftists, which Edwards has decided to join up with. I guess some people will do anything to attempt to get the nomination. Edward should go back to chasing ambulences. - Sailor

Insurgent Leader Nabbed in Iraq Raid

Another good day for the good guys in Iraq. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has been captured in a raid near Baghdad. One less terrorist big shot on the streets. - Sailor

Full story

"BAGHDAD (AP) - The leader of the al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq was captured Friday in a raid west of Baghdad - his identity revealed by a fellow insurgent detained with him, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was captured in a raid in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, spokesman of the Baghdad security operation. U.S. officials had no confirmation of the capture.

"One of the terrorists who was arrested with him confessed that the one in our hands is al-Baghdadi," al-Moussawi said.

Al-Baghdadi has been identified in statements posted on Islamic extremist Web sites as the head of the Islamic State, which was proclaimed last year after the death of the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."

Hilary gets Another Shill

As if the NY Times was not enough, Hilary has a new shill at CBS News. CBS has hired Clinton crony, Rick Kaplan to help stop the Katie Couric's ratings bleeding. Look out Obama, the Clinton machine has a new member! - Sailor

Golf with Bill, overnights in the Lincoln Bedroom, a personal two-and-a-half-hour tour of the White House by the president for his 21-year-old daughter are among the perks Kaplan has enjoyed. His response to press questions about the conflict of interest: "It's nobody's business." And CBS news viewers are now asked to believe it will have no effect on the former "World News Tonight" and "PrimeTime Live" producer's coverage of Hillary.

Kaplan, in fact, has long lacked professionalism and traded in bias:

• CNN had to retract its 1998 "Tailwind" report in the very first edition of the Kaplan-created "NewsStand" news magazine show. The program claimed the U.S. military used nerve gas in a mission to kill American defectors in Laos during the Vietnam War.

• In the 1993 Food Lion lawsuit against ABC's "PrimeTime Live," a jury demanded ABC pay the supermarket chain $5.5 million for fraud — and that executive producer Kaplan personally pay $35,000. Food Lion had accused the show's producers of deceiving the public with "staged events and selective editing." (ABC successfully appealed the verdict.)

• Vanity Fair reported in 1998 that Kaplan in October 1994 killed an ABC "World News Tonight" segment on the Clintons' Whitewater scandal featuring an exclusive interview with an Arkansas state trooper who claimed a Clinton aide had tried to silence him, and that Kaplan discouraged other Whitewater coverage.

• It also revealed Kaplan advised Bill on how to bounce back from his disastrously tedious speech to the 1988 Democratic National Convention, in which he was practically booed off the stage.

• The magazine also reported that Kaplan even once hired Hillary "to work on coverage of the 1980 Democratic convention."

• According to a CNN producer quoted in the Washington Monthly in 1993, Kaplan arranged for Bill to appear on New York's Don Imus radio program during the 1992 campaign.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=258250369428152

Help Internet Radio Avoid Extinction

Seems that no matter where you turn these days, some entity is trying to make a bif financial grab and by doing so, putting some one out of business. Now, The Copyright Royalty Board, has made a ruling to increase royalties paid to artists for their music when it is played to some ridiculous percentage. A percentage only the big corporate interests can afford, and they are making it retroactive to 1 January 2006. This, if not stopped, will be the death knell of internet radio - Sailor.

Corporate interests are hard at working making sure you don't have a choice because they make more money when you have no choices. Protect Your Right To Diversity Protect your right to hear eclectic indepenent radio and discover new artists.You can save Internet radio with less than five minutes of your time. Write your congressional representative today.

Pass the word to anyone you know that loves or makes music. Also, please bookmark this page and check back frequently for updates. We need your continued support and action as the situation further develops.

Tell your representative: I do not support The Copyright Royalty Board's (CRB) March 2nd decision to substantially increase royalty rates. Not only will it impact my choices, but the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) manipulation of these rates, and the CRB's indifference will hurt working artists, damage small record labels and force law abiding small webcasters, already paying a large portion of their revenue per month in royalties, out of business. This decision will also damage hundreds of small businesses providing goods and services to working artists, small record labels and small webcasters.

I respectfully ask that you evaluate the CRB decision and do whatever is necessary to establish a reasonable royalty rate for all the parties involved. Who, What and When On March 2, 2007, The CRB approved royalty rates that will bury any small webcaster, and create a heavy burden even for big broadcasters like Yahoo, AOL Music and Pandora. How high will these rates be? Around 100% of a small webcasters revenue, give or take a few points, in most cases. What?! That's impossible to pay! Yep, it sure is.. How did this happen? The RIAA told the CRB thats what they wanted, and the CRB just gave it to them.

Your're probably thinking, hey that's awful, but who are the the RIAA and CRB? RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is a lobbying group formed by the five largest record labels. They are embedded in Washington D.C. They make sure laws are written to keep them rich, no matter what. They made headlines a few years ago opening lawsuits against elderly people, single mothers and children for trading music online, even though some of them didn't even have computers. Check out the latest RIAA headlines.

The CRB (Copyright Royalty Board) is part of the US Copyright Office. The Board is charged with determining the royalty rates that would be determined by a willing buyer and a willing seller in a marketplace transaction. They decided to jack the rates beyond a broadcasters means despite decades of royalty rates being 1 - 2% of broadcaster revenue. Raise your right hand if you want to take away consumer choice, hurt working artists, damage small record labels and put small webcasters out of business.

Take Action Now Write your congressional representative

Add your name to a petition

http://savenetradio.org/

Cadence Calls Rock Radio

Welcome to Cadence Calls Rock Radio! I am DJ Dark and this station is dedicated to supporting our troops and their families and the troops and families of our allies. Please visit our home page http://www.ccr-radio.us/. Sit back and relax and enjoy the great music! - Sailor

Bolton must be confirmed

Yes, I know I have been AWOL. But, I am back now and will have much to say about the current situations and issues that we face now.

I will be starting with the Bolton nomination as the US Ambassador to the UN. I have been a supporter of Mr.Bolton since his name was first whispered as a possible selection for the post. All you need to do is look through my archives to see this. Mr. Bolton has more than proved his effectiveness. David Limbaugh has some observations in his article which supports the Bolton nomination.

"Liberals don't like it one bit that Bolton sees his role as vigorously representing the national interests of the United States, just as every other U.N. ambassador advocates the positions of his own country. They don't support Bolton's efforts to reform the United Nations, a corrupt organization that has consistently mistreated the United States and made a mockery of human rights -- a cause it purports to champion. They cringe when Bolton exposes U.N. hypocrisy, such as when he pointedly challenged Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, on his threat to charge Israeli leaders with war crimes.

They don't like Bolton's unambiguous defense of Israel's actions in response to Hezbollah's unprovoked attacks, in which they killed and kidnapped Israeli soldiers and shot missiles indiscriminately into Israeli civilian populations. They resent Bolton's rejection of the U.N.'s moral perversion in giving the terrorists a pass for their atrocities and portraying Israeli acts of self-defense as war crimes. "

I guess those on the left, who thin the UN is the answer to all the world's ills, do not like some one that is willing to point out the Emporer is naked. When will the UN commissioner of human rights condemn terrorist groups? Not in his lifetime you can bet on that. For those who whine that other countries do not think Mr. Bolton is not doing a good job, ask me if I care what they think. No doubt they would prefer a panty waisted roll over for an ambassador.

Mr. Prager ends his article with this:

"As Bolton knows, it's hard to negotiate with savages of that mindset. That's why in an interview with Fox News' Brit Hume, Bolton dismissed Syria's requests for dialogue with the United States. Bolton told Brit, "Syria doesn't need dialogue to know what they need to do. They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians." Exactly.

To put it bluntly, Republicans support Bolton's nomination precisely because of his clarity of thought and speech -- and his unapologetic representation of America's interests. Democrats oppose him because they sympathize with the negative view of Bolton held by foreign envoys who have anything but the best interests of the United States in mind.

If it bothers you that we have a staunch defender of America's interests serving as our ambassador to the United Nations and believe, instead, that we should routinely subordinate our interests to other nations openly hostile to us and contemptuous of the very idea of human rights, then you, too, should join the liberal chorus against confirmation of this fine public servant."

Mr.Bolton's nomination should be confirmed without delay. Natuarlly, the dems, lefists and terroist supporters, ass kissers and appeasers will try and filibuster this nomination. I hope that their attmpts will be in vain. Write or e-mail your Senator demanding that Mr. Bolton be confirmed. - Sailor