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Posts Tagged ‘Chicago corruption’

Hopety Change Defined: It Means Chicago Style Politics.

by Flyovercountry ( 114 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Elections 2012, Politics at September 1st, 2011 - 5:00 pm

The optics of Barack Obama’s Presidency have moved from bad kabuki theater to downright bizarre.  Besides the plethora of softballs the Obama team has been lobbing to us righty bloggers, he has served up the opportunity for even juicier bits of red meat.  Due to the fact that I am growing tired of listing the entire littany of Obama stumbles on a daily basis, we’ll use as an example of his incompetence and demagoguery his latest foray into the world of the absurd.  After campaigning on, and then lecturing us on, a new tone in Washington politics and civility, Barack Obama scheduled a joint session address to congress for the same night as the Republican candidate debate, which had been scheduled for months.  Just to put that into perspective, he rescheduled his joint session address to ask for permission to go to Libya, a full month at least after he was already in violation of the War Powers Act, so that his address would not conflict with Fox’s Dancing With The Stars.  The reason for his urgency over his address next week?  Well, it is a campaign speech thinly disguised as the long awaited jobs program.  That’s right, the same one he promised to give us in short order for the last 31 months.  The very same one he was thinking of right before he went to sleep each night, and the first thing he thought of when he got up in the morning, and apparently for not even a nanosecond in between.  The very same one by the way, he put off most recently so that he could hang with the Jet Set in beautiful Martha’s Vineyard for 10 days of fun in the sun.

Let me end your undoubted suspense over the jobs speech which will now be held on Thursday, due to Republican stupidity in handling the Obama gaffe.  (If the Republicans were smart, they would have agreed to let the little boy speak on Wednesday, and then held their debate immediately afterward.  That way, they would have had an 8 man nationally televised destruct Obamathon in which to rebut the President’s idiocy.)  The President’s speech will consist of the following.  You should hate oil company executives, and bankers too.  You should hate all insurance companies while you’re at it.  The rich, who you should really really hate are not sacrificing enough to ease the burden of those who, not only don’t sacrifice at all, but actually are living on the public dole.  Some people, who are not named Barack Obama are actually flying around on private jets, and you should definitely hate them.  If those people would just allow him to spend like a drunken sailor, then we could invest in infrastructure again.  We need to repair roads, bridges, and to build our Universities, and that will get our economy really humming this time he promises.  Let’s not forget about those green jobs, which really do exist, and not just in his imagination.  The recovery is coming along slower, but he can see the corner being turned, really.  It was Bush’s fault, and is the shared fault of all Republicans in the House and Senate who have stopped passing his suicidal legislative packages.

So, while he is telling us all of that, click this link to read what his Administration is really doing to help create jobs in America.  President Obama’s Justice department has made the decision to raid Gibson Guitars for allegedly violating the Lacey Act.  It appears that even though India is fine with exporting their rather rare and high quality rose wood, Eric Holder has taken it upon himself to act as a proxy for India, who clearly is incapable of making rational decisions for themselves.  The ironic thing is, not only did C.J. Martin not get charged with the highly dubious law, but Michelle Obama herself has been giving away Gibson Guitars as gifts to foreign dignitaries.  As it turns out, the CEO for Gibson is a Republican, while the CEO for C.J. Martin is a Democrat.  Say hello to Chicago Politics America.  If you donate to my political adversary, I will punish you by destroying your livelihood.  Question for those of you keeping score at home, how many jobs have been lost at Gibson so far due to the Obama thug tactics of performing his duties as President.

We all know what happened earlier this year to Boeing, who spent $2 Billion to build a new plant in South Carolina to produce their 787 Dream Liner passenger jet, only to be disallowed to move into the facility because it seems that the Obama Administration does not wish to reward right to work States.  So, for the roughly 1000 would be employees of Boeing in South Carolina, hard cheese for you.  Just continue to hold your breath and wait for a green job to save you.  Unfortunately for you however, that green job won’t be with Solyndra, as that company is now bankrupt, despite the small fact that they received over Half a Billion Bones in stimulus money.  Don’t feel too bad for Solyndra however, since that company is owned by the  wealthy Obama fundraiser, George Kaiser.  He has plenty of other businesses which also received stimulus money.  Like I said, Chicago Style.  This is clearly the most ethical Administration evah!

Cross Posted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.

Our President Found The Bottom, Then He Reached For His Shovel.

by Flyovercountry ( 110 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Elections 2010, Politics, Progressives at March 10th, 2011 - 5:30 pm

I try, and it is hard, to not write about the President every day.  For eight years I read the most horrendous things about President Bush.  Not all of it was true, but all of it was negative.  It was so bad in fact, columnist Charles Krauthammer coined the phrase, “Bush derangement syndrome.”  As a licensed psychiatrist, he created the medical diagnosis of people suffering from an affliction which made them blame every aspect of what ever their woes in life were on George W. Bush.  The disease also forced people to rewrite facts to fit George Bush as deserving blame for things which may, or may not have gone wrong.  I do not believe that anyone reading my posts would be shocked to learn that I did not vote for Barak Obama.  I did however promise myself that I would not suffer from an Obama Derangement Syndrome.  He is still President, and we do in fact need a President to actually do his job and lead.  World events and domestic events have told me that he has failed miserably at this so far.  That being said, I still hold out hope.  By my count, in his two years and three months in office so far, Barak Obama has gotten three things right.  Then he dropped this little gem on us this past week.

“There’s many people that are beginning to believe this is a delay tactic by the Democrats in the Senate so that these recall elections can be organized by the Obama team out of Chicago, which they are, as we start to do the research on the people that have filed the petition,” Fitzgerald told Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s “Wisconsin’s Morning News.”
When asked whether Fitzgerald knew that for a fact, he responded, “The organizer against (River Hills Republican Senator) Alberta Darling definitely has direct links to the Obama camp.  There’s no doubt about it.  These guys might be out until June.  Unfortunately, what they’re trying to do is flip the majority, and I think that’s becoming very evident.”

Just to be clear, Using the power of the Presidency to rig an election was the crime for which Richard Nixon was forced into resigning the office of President of The United States.  It was wrong when Richard Nixon did it, and it is wrong now that Barak Obama is doing it.  The people of Wisconsin voted for a clear mandate to reign in spending.  The losers in that election attempted to circumvent democracy by fleeing the state.  They substituted a procedural maneuver for the expressed will of the voters.  They forced the GOP to play procedural politics as well, and then cried like babies when they ended up losing to the people of that state.  Don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed the political left in full out unhinged mode over the last couple of days.  The spectacle has been nothing short of comedy gold, complete with Michael Moore proclaiming that all money except for his belongs actually to the public, and that all business owners hold magical jobs which also belong to the people and are being hoarded for some nefarious greedy plot.  through all of this, the above story could easily be missed.  Make no mistake though, it is huge. 

At least Nixon broke election laws so that he could rig a national election.  He had a personal stake in the race.  Barak Obama is trying to rig local politics, in Wisconsin, Chicago Style.  Personally, I feel that the President has enough on his own plate, which is being neglected, that he should not be involving his resources in Wisconsin Politics.  Organizing for America is nothing more than bus loads of thugs traversing the country attempting to shake down conservative communities.  It is the very embodiment of, “astro turfing, ” a Democrat invented strategy of creating the illusion of grass roots support for an unpopular liberal agenda.  The riots occurring in the State Capitols of Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana have been peopled largely by folks not from those states.  If the First Amendment and Wisconsin’s state laws allow for recall elections, fine, so be it.  That initiative should be determined by Wisconsin’s electorate, and not the President of the United States.  The financing of those campaigns should come from the private sector, and not the tax payers of our Federal Government.  Since Organizing for America is the Administration’s official website, this organization is part of the Federal Government and is prohibited from attempting a coup of Wisconsin’s elected officials.

Every President goes politicking during campaign season.  They give speeches to help those on their side win elections, but this is a far cry from that.  This is organizing a recall election designed to remove those who disagree with Obama from office.  Further more, you and I are paying for it, and I for one do not agree.  With record deficits looming, and a real set of Obama created crises looming, Obama should try doing his job of being President of the United States, rather than chief Chicago Boss and Wisconsin political king maker.  For anybody who was around in 72 – 74 calling for Nixon’s head, if you aren’t calling for Obama’s right now, that makes you a hypocrite. 

Anyone who enjoys a good Michael Moore unhinged video clip, just follow this link and click play.

Crossposted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.

Obama’s Death Panels and the Dubious Legacy of Dan Rostenkowski

by 1389AD ( 180 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Healthcare at August 17th, 2010 - 2:00 pm

Grim reaper smiley

‘Obamacare’ is full of nasty surprises…

…as I pointed out in my previous article, Another hidden zinger in Obamacare. But the inevitability of ‘death panels’ and ‘administrative euthanasia’ to ration government-controlled health care funds should have surprised nobody. It always happens with socialized medicine. It has already happened in the UK; just for starters, see This is your future under Obamacare.

With Obamacare, the government saves money every time it declares a drug ineffective…

…Does anybody see a conflict of interest here?

US breast cancer drug decision ‘marks start of death panels’

h/t: huckfunn

Nick Allen in Los Angeles and Andrew Hough
Published: 10:07PM BST 16 Aug 2010

A decision to rescind endorsement of the drug would reignite the highly charged debate over US health care reform and how much the state should spend on new and expensive treatments.

Avastin, the world’s best selling cancer drug, is primarily used to treat colon cancer and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2008 for use on women with breast cancer that has spread.

It costs $8,000 (£5,000) a month and is given to about 17,500 women in the US a year. The drug was initially approved after a study found that, by preventing blood flow to tumours, it extended the amount of time until the disease worsened by more than five months. However, two new studies have shown that the drug may not even extend life by an extra month.

The FDA advisory panel has now voted 12-1 to drop the endorsement for breast cancer treatment. The panel unusually cited “effectiveness” grounds for the decision. But it has been claimed that “cost effectiveness” was the real reason ahead of reforms in which the government will extend health insurance to the poorest.

If the approval of the drug is revoked then US insurers would be likely to stop paying for Avastin.

Read the rest.

The Deadly Pact: How Obamacare will ‘Save’ Money

By John Griffing

Andy Griffith, the former TV Sheriff of Mayberry and guardian of small town America, is now the national spokesman for ObamaCare. More specifically, this venerable gentleman is the spokesman for the new Medicare. Apparently Griffith is under the naïve belief that ObamaCare is a genuinely good thing for seniors. As much as it pains me to say this, Griffith is dead wrong. ObamaCare is a fatal bargain for seniors, and all Americans.

Although media reports covering ObamaCare have centered mainly on the health insurance mandate and hidden tax increases, the real danger of ObamaCare lies in the official sanction of “mercy death” for America’s seniors as a means of reducing federal medical outlays. No, ObamaCare doesn’t say this outright. It simply limits hospital readmissions for those using Medicare, thereafter automatically committing said Medicare recipients to hospice facilities, called “community-based care.”

Read the rest.

Obamacare opponents need to protest as vociferously as possible!

Why? Because, at least some of the time, it works.

Obama wasn’t the first corrupt Chicago politician to pay a price for tampering with America’s health care. Obama failed to learn from the example of Dan Rostenkowski. By their efforts to force Americans into socialized medicine, both have revealed their arrogant and self-serving natures, and both have permanently alienated many supporters that neither could afford to lose.

Is Obamacare Having a Rostenkowski Moment?

Politico reports:

Angry protesters shouted down Democrats at public events from Texas to Pennsylvania over the weekend, leaving the party only one real hope for getting its message out over recess: a backlash. In Austin, Texas, Rep.Lloyd Doggettwas drowned out by a group of noisy, sign-waving demonstrators who shouted, “Just say no” as he tried to talk abouthealth care reform. … In Morrisville, Pa., Rep. Patrick Murphy was forced to scrap plans for a one-on-one meet-the-congressman session when people in the crowd started shouting. Murphy switched to a town hall format mid-event and even then had to ask the audience at times to “be respectful.” And at a healthcare event in Philadelphia, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were repeatedly interrupted by booing and heckling. “We can shout at one another, or we can leave the stage,” Sebelius said at one point. “It’s up to you.”

I’m old enough to remember not just Hillarycare, but also the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988:

The 1988 Catastrophic Act focused on providing protection against catastrophic medical expenses under Medicare. Specifically, the Act expanded the Medicare program to provide protection against catastrophic medical expenses and for the first time, provided coverage under the Medicare program for prescription drugs. To pay for these benefit expansions, a new supplemental premium tax on all persons eligible for Medicare was enacted.

Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Dan Rostenkowski lead the charge for the 1988 Act and paid a price. The Chicago Tribune from August 19, 1989 tells the story:

Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, one of the most powerful politicians in the United States, was booed and chased down a Chicago street Thursday morning by a group of senior citizens after he refused to talk with them about federal health insurance. Shouting “Coward,” “Recall” and “Impeach,” about 50 people followed the chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee up Milwaukee Avenue after he left a meeting in the auditorium of the Copernicus Center, 3106 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the heart of his 8th Congressional District on the city’s Northwest Side.

Eventually, the 6-foot-4-inch Rostenkowski cut through a gas station, broke into a sprint and escaped into his car, which minutes earlier had one of the elderly protesters, Leona Kozien, draped over the hood. Kozien, one of more than 100 senior citizens who attended the gathering, said she had hoped to talk to Rostenkowski, her congressman, at the meeting.

But Rostenkowski clearly did not want to talk with her, or any of the others who had come to tell their complaints about the high cost of federal catastrophic health insurance. “These people don’t understand what the government is trying to do for them,” the 61-year-old congressman complained as he tried to outpace his pursuers. [PB: I think they understood all too well.]


The law was repealed…

Read the rest.

Epilogue

Rostenkowski eventually was indicted and sent to prison for corruption. Following his indictment, he lost his congressional seat to Republican Michael Flanagan. Unfortunately, Flanagan was, in turn, defeated by the politically well-connected Rod Blagojevic, who later became governor of Illinois. As of this writing Blago is on trial for, among other things, selling Obama’s vacant Senate seat. Dan Rostenkowski died on August 11, 2010.

Also see:

American Thinker: Two Cheers for Old-Fashioned Political Scoundrels


The Chicago Way in the push for Obamacare

by Phantom Ace ( 64 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Liberal Fascism, Progressives at August 20th, 2009 - 11:34 am

This is not surprising news. Firms that worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign are now cashing in on the push for the Eugenics based  Obamacare. It is very ironic that the radical left was for years bashing Chaney with Halliburton, but now they are silent.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama‘s push for a national health care overhaul is providing a financial windfall in the election offseason to Democratic consulting firms that are closely connected to the president and two top advisers.

Coalitions of interest groups running at least $24 million in pro-overhaul ads hired GMMB, which worked for Obama’s 2008 campaign and whose partners include a top Obama campaign strategist. They also hired AKPD Message and Media, which was founded by David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama’s campaign and now to the White House. AKPD did work for Obama’s campaign, and Axelrod’s son Michael and Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe work there.

The firms were hired by Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now. Each was formed by a coalition of interests with big stakes in health care policy, including the drug maker lobby PhRMA, the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union and Families USA, which calls itself “The Voice for Health Care Consumers.”

Read the rest.

This is another example of progressive hypocrisy. They never cared about which firms had ties with Bush-Cheney, they were just mad they weren’t the ones profiting. The Transnational Totalitarian Progressive Movement is only concerned about power. They view themselves as the natural rulers of the people and they can do what they want. After all, they are doing all this for progress!