"CHANGE" YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

After promising lots of "change" in the dirty world of politics and having a "transparent" administration, we have now begun to see that the "change" looks quite a bit like the same song and dance and "transparent" apparently means dodging any real questions. The voters for Hope & Change are now going to start seeing that this guy, just like every other politician, is a clown.

• Ayers - domestic terrorist, killer of policemen
• Reverend Wright - racist America hater, promoter of Black Liberation Theology
• Rezko - criminal real estate developer (AKA mafia)
• Blagojevich - corrupt governor

All associates, at one time or another, to one degree or another, of Mr Hope & Change. We are supposed to believe that he hasn't noticed ANYTHING questionable or criminal about ANY of them. At the same time we are supposed to believe he is the smartest guy on the planet. Um, ok....

One last thing - Mr. Transparent has set up a question and answer forum on his website where you get to type in questions and get a response from Mr. Transparent. Problem is, everytime someone asks a REAL question, like:

"How do you plan to explain your connections to William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright?"

this happens -

"This submission was removed because people believe it is inappropriate."

I BELIEVE THE ROCK BAND "THE WHO" SAID IT THE BEST -

"MEET THE NEW BOSS. SAME AS THE OLD BOSS"

PHYSICAL THERAPY & SANTA'S LIST

So I started physical therapy today for my torn up knee, to get my flexibilty back and to keep my muscles toned, and I have to say - #$%$^%$ THAT HURT! I think Faithy is tougher than I am. She goes all the time. And nobody gave me big hugs and kisses and told me how proud they were of me either. Anyway, more therapy to come until I get an MRI on the 23rd...

Now on to the important stuff - my Santa list (I was pretty good this year after all) -

1. BIG CAST IRON SKILLET -for all that cookin' I do
2. REALLY GOOD ELECTRIC SHAVER - has to be able to do my head also
3. GIFT CERTIFICATE TO BARNES & NOBLE - we all know how much I read
4. GIFT CERTIFICATE TO HOLLISTER/AMERICAN EAGLE/A&F - to continue projecting my ultra-cool image
5. AS MANY MICHAEL GRAVES HANGARS AS SANTA CAN BRING - because I am a neat freak
6. NO, THAT WASN'T A JOKE
7. SUBSCRIPTION TO "THE ECONOMIST" AND/OR "FOREIGN AFFAIRS - because I need more info
8. A DATE WITH MY WIFE TO THE OUTBACK - because sometimes you just need a 28 oz porterhouse, a frosty beer, your wife, and no kids.

A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY...

LATEST OFFERINGS FROM THE RELIGION OF PEACE

1. 12/5/2008 (Orakzai, Pakistan) - Religious extremists take out ten shoppers at a bazaar with a suicide blast.
2. 12/5/2008 (Peshawar, Pakistan) - Twenty-nine people at a marketplace are blown to bits by sectarian car bombers.
3. 12/5/2008 (Mir Ali, Pakistan) - Sunni extremists abduct and murder an 30-year-old man.
4. 12/4/2008 (Pattani, Thailand) - A 60-year-old man is among two people gunned down by Muslim separatists.
5. 12/4/2008 (Fallujah, Iraq) - Women and children are among fifteen Iraqis blasted to death by Jihadi car bombers.
6. 12/4/2008 (Khasavyurt, Dagestan) - A woman is killed by Islamic car bombers outside an apartment building.

File this one under “Deluded Expectations.” During MSNBC’s coverage of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, daytime anchor Alex Witt seemed frustrated that the election of Barack Obama — and the accompanying “global outpouring of affection, respect, hope” — had not caused an end to terrorist violence. Talking with correspondent John Yang, who was covering the Obama side of the story, Witt conceded that while “you certainly can’t expect things to change on a dime overnight....There had been such a global outpouring of affection, respect, hope, with the new administration coming in, that precisely these kinds of attacks, it was thought — at least hoped — would be dampered down. But in this case it looks like Barack Obama is getting a preview of things to come.”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! This would be funny except that the truth is that 53 MILLION voters are just this naive.

THE RELIGION OF PEACE

The Mumbai attacks were just another in the Muslim war against everyone who is not. Oh, and don't forget that Mr. Obama declared on page 261 of his book, should the political winds shift ......he would side with the Muslims. I don't make this stuff up, I just report what they say and do.

SHIPS STILL HELD BY SOMALI PIRATES

1. CAPT. STEPHANOS: Seized Sept. 21. The freighter was flying the Bahamas flag. It was carrying a cargo of coal and has 17 Filipinos, one Chinese and a Ukrainian aboard.
2. FAINA: Seized Sept. 24. The ship was carrying 33 T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition destined for Kenya's Mombasa port. Pirates have demanded $20 million in ransom.
3. AFRICAN SANDERLING: Seized Oct. 15. The Panama-flagged, Japanese-operated, and Korea-owned bulk carrier has 21 Filipino crew aboard.
4. STOLT STRENGTH: Seized Nov. 10. The chemical tanker with 23 Filipino crew aboard was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. It was carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products.
5. THE KARAGOL: Seized Nov. 12. The Turkish ship with 14 crew was hijacked off Yemen. It was transporting more than 4,000 tonnes of chemicals to the port of Bombay.
6. TIANYU 8: Seized Nov. 13/14. The Chinese fishing boat was reported seized off Kenya. The crew included 15 Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Japanese, three Filipinos and four Vietnamese.
7. CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized Nov. 15. The combined chemical and oil tanker was travelling from Dumai, Indonesia to the Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.
8. SIRIUS STAR: Seized Nov. 15. The Saudi supertanker, the biggest ship ever hijacked, held as much as 2 million barrels of oil. Captured off east Africa, it had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.
9. THE DELIGHT: Seized Nov. 18. The Hong Kong-flagged ship with 25 crew aboard is loaded with 36,000 tonnes of wheat bound for Iran. It was captured off the coast of Yemen.
10. ADINA: Seized last week. The Adina is a Yemeni-operated bulk carrier and carried seven crew, including three Somalis, two Yemenis and two Panamanians.
11. BISCAGLIA: Seized on Nov. 28. The Biscaglia is a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker with 30 crew on board, 25 Indians, three Britons and two Bangladeshis.

MONOPOLY MONEY

The bailout "plan" now exceeds 4 TRILLION and by some accounts more than 7 TRILLION. Look what we have done with that kind of loot over the years:

1. * Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
2. * Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
3. * Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
4. * S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
5. * Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
6. * The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
7. * Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
8. * Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
9. * NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion
   TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

Apparently there is a never-ending supply of money to be lent. Let's face it, we didn't know how to get out of our current debt of 10 TRILLION (see my debt clockto the right), so what makes anyone believe we will be able to take care of an additional 4, 5, 6, or 7 TRILLION? Answer - there is no way, making all of our money pretty much the equivalant of Monopoly money. The only difference is that with the GAME, there are rules.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -- Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in a letter to then Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin

Think HE knew what he was talking about?