Beck Goes For Broke

In Exposé Of Obama’s Czars

I’m concerned for Glenn Beck. I’m not kidding. He has spent the past year researching and exposing the real Barack Obama and documenting his hidden agenda for re-shaping America in his image of socialism. And this week on his TV show, he is pulling out all the stops in a segment called “The New Republic - America’s Future.” 

It’s a future we’d better hope never materializes. But it’s going to be up to the American people to step up now to make sure of that. And the only effective way of accomplishing this is to educate ourselves. Beck has been digging into the facts and has managed to save us some time with his presentation on his nightly Fox show.   

In order to fully understand Obama and what he’s trying to do to this country, one needs to start by looking closely — very closely — at who he’s surrounding himself with. And I don’t mean in his cabinet.  I am, of course, talking about the Czars. Consider:

• Obama’s Czars are people who are picked by him and him only. 
• His Czars go through NO confirmation hearings of any type. 
• Czars don’t answer to Congress; they only answer to the President.
• Yet these people help him establish policy, in spite of the fact that there’s nothing in the Constitution that grants them that level of unchecked power.

Given their impact on the implementation of America’s future, we must ask ourselves what we reallyknow about these Czars that are helping Obama to design the future of America.

 Let’s take a closer look:

In the first installment of “The New Republic – America’s Future,” Beck exposes Obama’s choice for “Green Jobs Czar,” Van Jones.  And if , by the time you’ve watched this segment (below) you aren’t deeply disturbed, you just haven’t been paying attention.  Take a look:

 

According to an article published earlier this week on the Swamp (a Chicago Tribune blog), Color of Change, the African American political advocacy group that was co-founded by Jones has organized an advertising boycott of Beck’s program. They claim to have commitments from 36 companies who pledge not to advertise on Beck’s program which has an estimated two million viewers. 

However, as Newsmax reports, the group may have exaggeraged their claims of success, and in fact the strategy may have backfired, as some major advertisers are considering pulling spots from all political talks shows:

Many of the companies the organization lists now deny they have anything to do with the boycott. Newsmax contacted Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, SC Johnson, and Radio Shack, all of which said they have not directed Fox News to pull their ads from the Glenn Beck Program, as Color of Change has stated…

Consider, for example, the corporate response from Clorox. On Thursday, company executives wrote Hill stating: “After a comprehensive review of political talk shows across the spectrum, at this time we have made a decision not to advertise on political talk shows.”

Assuming the pro-Beck backlash continues, that probably means the activist campaign intended to hurt Beck will, ironically, damage Beck’s progressive competitors more than it hurts him.

Lost ads will impact smaller networks such as MSNBC far more than it will affect ratings juggernaut Fox News, industry sources say. 

Now, keep in mind this is only one of over 30 Czars Obama surrounds himself with and  is counting on to “re-structure” the United States. And if you think that’s scary, wait until you get to the bottom of ACORN, the group that has pleaded guilty to Voter Registration Fraud in numerous states – yet Obama has tapped them to handle next year’s Census.

What could possibly go wrong?

 Gerry Ashley

Save The Posturing, Mr. President: “Transparent Procurement For Dummies” Is Available NOW!

 

In my previous rant, I mentioned that President Obama wants to close the barn door of government spending, now that all his donkeys and other assorted asses are safely out and all their pork is accounted for.

Yesterday, on National Review’s blog “The Corner,” Roger Clegg noted Obama’s plan to re-design the process for awarding government contracts. Clegg’s main concern seemed to be the awarding of contracts to minority and gender specific companies, thus circumventing the “lowest bidder” format. While I share Roger’s concerns, I also see the issue of the $2,400 hammer based on an award to a company whose interests are represented by lobbyists.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an all-in-one solution? That’s what Obama claims as his goal. But, as is always the case with Obama, Style over Substanceis the issue. Case in point – Obama is once again posing and posturing as he seeks a solution that already exists; once again exposing his naivete. Consider (and if you really want to see your tax dollars spent wisely, I urge you to read the following carefully):

From the article in The Washington Post:  

‘President Obama ordered a government-wide review of federal contracting procedures yesterday,’ and continues with the administration’s desire, among other things, to save money and end fraud, waste, and abuse.”

Toward that end, PrObama has set a goal of having Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag work with Cabinet and agency officials to redesign the process governing procurement to make it more difficult for contractors to bilk taxpayers and the playing ground more accessible to independent and mnority contractors.

Perhaps the biggest indication that this is another case of Obama’s “Style Over Substance” governing: William J. Lynn III, a former Raytheon lobbyistwho is now Obama’s Deputy Defense Secretary, will be responsible for overseeing procurement reform. Wait a minute… Wasn’t one of Obama’s campaign promises one in which he pledged that NO LOBBYISTS would be appointed to key political positions in an Obama administration? But I digress. 

The article went on to state:

Although he estimated that a more coherent system could save billions of dollars, several specialists in the field said that most of the financial benefits would not be realized for years and that other changes probably would cost money because they would involve adding employees to manage and monitor contracts.

Absolute Horse CRAP!  With all due respect Mr. President, why do you believe the only wheels that work are the ones invented by Team Obama?   In point of fact, the  job of setting up a tamper-proof procurement system that will guarantee significant savings  has already been done for you! It’s ready to go to work saving taxpayer’s money  TODAY!  It’s a virtually fool-proof system that:

• Assures saving money by revealing the lowest bid once the bidding has closed.
• Guarantees transparency and accountability through electronic monitoring throughout the process
• Prevents contracts from being given to favored lobbyist-backed vendors
• Evens the playing field for smaller and minority-owned businesses

This well-designed Internet-based On-Line Procurement System is made by a company named  Sicommnet. A quick check of the San Diego-based company’s web site shows that they offer a secure bidding system that is open to ALL qualified vendors from small  independent companies to large corporate icons like Halliburton. Minority-run companies also have an even playing field.

Each business that signs on to their system (for a reasonable fee) can be alerted to any or specific proposal requests or requests for bids in any one of hundreds of traditional categories and subcategories. At the end of bidding, the winning bid is made public (there’s your TRANSPARENCY, Mr. President) so the public can see the winning bid. This gives America’s taxpayers reassurance that the LOW bid is the winning bid and prevents NASA from spending $2,400 for a hammer as part of a pork-u-lous project given to some Senator’s high-school buddy. 

Full disclosure: I spent a year with Sicommnet doing technical writing back in 2000. I have personally seen the design work of the software developers as it has developed over the years. This is a sterling product, but I’m sure if the President’s team scans the Internet, they can find others to compare against. Maybe put THAT contract up for bids…

Gerry Ashley

Breaking News: Obama Switches To Stand-up Comedy

This just in from the TIC (Tongue-In-Cheek) News Network:

Washington DC – (TIC) President Barack Obama, in a move some Republicans are calling “calculated to counter his “Doom & Gloom” speeches recently, has decided to add Stand-Up Comedy to his speaking style.

The day after the Senate House of Reps (just wait) approved his pork-riddled $410 Billion, cluttered to the gills with earmarks, Obama announced he will be outlining his proposal for cutting wasteful spending.

(Cue laugh track)

From the AP news story on Foxnews.com:

Obama’s directive would order Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to work with Cabinet and agency officials to draft new contracting rules by the end of September. Those new rules, officials said, would make it more difficult for contractors to bilk taxpayers and make around $500 billion in federal contracts each year more accessible to independent contractors.

Oh, the sweet irony! One way contractors could be prevented from bilking us out of $500 Billion in federal contracts is to stop passing “Stimulus Packages” costing hundreds of billions of dollars. Simply put, those packages are loaded with over 8,000 slabs of pork. (Do we REALLY need a high-speed rail linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Harry Reid?).

Remember the good old days when if politicians wanted to shove a bill down the taxpayers’ throats (and down our wallets), they actually had to do it LEGALLY by presenting a bill with a single point project and pass it in both houses plus get the President to sign it? I think way back then they called that a system of Checks & Balances. Now, all you have to do is have the Congressional Cheerleaders join the President in declaring dire emergencies that can only be solved by spending more trillions of dollars, then attaching all your porcine projects to this emergency legislation and, Voila!  up to 8 Years of Lobbying is now reduced to ONE BILL.

There’s your CHANGE, Obama fans. All that lobbying and screwing of the taxpayers, reduced from 8 years down to 6 weeks!

But wait! There’s More! Act before midnight tonight  and here’s what you’ll get (at a phenomenal extra charge):

No doubt ACORN will receive a $20 million grant to study how to change the whole procurement system.

Gerry Ashley

Keep Burris and Reinstate Blago… It Makes Sense!

 

Speaking as a conservative, I say that we keep Burris, and put Blago back in office, too. I say that we keep them as a reminder of what our government has become. I say that we keep them as a reflection of our selfish, narcissistic, petty, entitled, ignorant selves.

Blago said:

“You guys are in politics. You know what we have to do to go out and run elections”

Hey, at least he spoke the truth.

This is what we get when we can’t even perform simple math and apply common sense: We just spent $787,000,000,000.00 to “create or keep” 3,500,000 jobs. Do the math… That costs $224,857.14 per job creation/stabilization. That’s roughly 20 times the amount commercial America spends… That’s simply crazy, and it’s only the beginning. Duh! But Hey! at least we’re getting a $13 tax break.

The most popular TV program? Something on the Science Channel? No. Nat Geo? No. PBS? No. One of the myriad of news programs? No.  The most popular TV program in America is “American Idol“. How appropriate.

Russia is a power rising… Damn their economy… Full speed ahead! (Charles Krauthammer writes brilliantly about Russia flexing its muscles, and the Obama administration’s flaccid response.)

Our national debt isn’t $11 trillion as the “experts” would tell you… It’s $53 trillion. That’s four times the GDP.

If things don’t change, and change in a big way ASAP, it looks like this country won’t end with a bang or a whimper, but rather with the sound of an ill-conceived, obscene joke… Perhaps the sound of a Blago, Burris, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, or a mall rat sitting on a whoopee cushion.

So sure… Let’s keep Burris, and reinstate Blagojevich. Given the nature of the world, our politicians, and our culture, it just makes sense.

Alan Speakman

Stimulus Bill May See Light… Wow!

Yup, the final version of the “Stimulus Bill” is being hammered out behind closed doors by a bunch of democrats. Will the $4 billion

Scratch that!

When I first started writing this post, the title was “Wish I Knew What’s In That Bill… NOT!!!” and the doors were closed.

But now, according to Michelle Malkin, the “done deal” is slithering into the light of day via various Hill insiders…

• ACORN et al are back ($2 billion)
• Money for infrastructure ahs been cut
• Tax relief has been cut
• STD education gets $1 billion again

What would Lincoln say? Well nothing actually, if he were just a regular citizen; the final decisions boiling today are made regardless of his or our input.

Put another way… Pork! It’s what’s for dinner… and breakfast… and lunch… for the next fifty years.

Alan Speakman

10% of TARP Wasted So Far… Cavuto Was Right

From Fox News, 12:58 PM, 2/5/09…

Well, you gotta hand it to Neil Cavuto… He said the gross waste in all these bailout bucks would be 10%.

According to Senate oversight committee chair Elizabeth Warren, $254 billion has been dumped into the banking system, and only $176 billion worth of value has clawed to the light of day.

Read that $78 billion blown to Hades. What? What’s that number? $78,000,000,000.00…

Put another way, the politicians and all their cronies just took on average $260 out of the pockets of every man, woman, and child in America. But let’s cut to the real numbers… Since only half the country is actually paying federal income taxes, the government just admitted each actual taxpayer got blatantly ripped off to the tune of well over $500.

Perhaps liberalism will wake up, grow up, and smarten up.

Naw… Taxes? They don’t pay no stinking taxes.

Alan Speakman

You Can Help

 

Yes, you. If only you’ll reach out and help… sponsor an executive.

The money you give won’t just save a life; it’ll save a lifestyle.

Stoutcat 

Blago Speaks Volumes

 

In a voice that with a little tweaking would sound like the Simpsons’ Mayor Quimby, and a hairdo reminiscent of Elvis, Blago let loose and finally spoke the truth that we all know, and no one wants to face in our heart of hearts – on a frighteningly large scale, American politics are dirtier than a brothel bathroom.

Blago said a bunch of interesting stuff, but one thing leapt out…

“You guys are in politics. You know what we have to do to go out and run elections”

I’m not sad to see Blago go… He was an operator, but at least he was stubristic enough to utter that rare truth – that of so much of the filthy underside of politics. There must be something of value in there somewhere.

Alan Speakman

The Fleecing of America and a Tipping Point

 

Was watching an interesting piece with Fox New’s Neil Cavuto today… He was talking about just how legit these bailouts really are or will be. As a general rule, he offered the following advice… Neil said that when dealing with contractors, he liked to apply his “10% Rule”. That is, that he planned on being rooked 10% right up front. He tells his contractors that aside from the cost of materials, and the cost of their labor, he knows that they’re going to snooker him for another 10%. And as we all know, Neil is probably right, though in the larger case of the government, he may be optimistic.

So now we’re looking at an $800,000,000,000.00 bailout… Just 10% of that is 80 billion smackers scattered into the squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous* paws of corrupt politicians and their cronies. (And how big is $80 billion you ask? Imagine owning a winning lottery ticket worth a million dollars. Oh yeah! Now imagine owning a second million-dollar winner… But hey, this is just imagination right? Imagine owning 100 million-dollar tickets. You’d better put that in a pile because there’s more to come… Yup, you’ve now got another pile of 100 million-dollar winning lottery tickets… And another pile and another and another… When all is said and done, your wild imagination has managed to amass 10 piles of 100 winning lottery tickets. OK… Now stand up and close the door to “The Room of Ten Piles”. In fact, nail a sign on that door describing its contents – one billion dollars. Now repeat the process in another room, and another… Hope you live in a warehouse, because you’re going to need 80 rooms, each containing ten piles of 100 million-dollar winning lottery tickets.) So according to Cavuto, that’s a ballpark guess at the amount of pork, greed, theft, that’s going to accompany this “bailout” of $800 billion…

Know what? Americans are getting ticked. Just turn on the news and watch. Check out the liberal and conservative Web sites. Talk with family members,  co-workers, your barber or hairdresser. We’re sick and tired of politicians like William “Cold Cash” Jefferson who keep thousands of bribe money in his freezer. We’ve had enough of officials like “Turbo Tax” Tim Geithner who runs the IRS but somehow fails to pay his own taxes. Blago, Frank, ACORN, and even the ilk of Knollenberg are frankly beginning to take on the repugnant.

There will surely come a tipping point. It happened in Iceland (a European country by the way). And it can happen here. Note that the breaking point in Iceland was when their debt reached six times their GDP. Right now, our debt is roughly four times our GDP. And God help us if China or Japan finally decides that the U.S.A. is a bad risk, and demands their money back. (If you didn’t read that last link, here it is again – be horrified.)

Deep sigh… Yet again, this video seems appropriate…

Maybe that idea for a new Gong Show wasn’t so bad after all.

Alan Speakman

* From Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol“

ACORN Offices Raided In Vegas – Will This Be Obama’s Watergate?

 

As  I write this, Nevada authorities are, hauling records out of the Las Vegas office of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) looking for evidence of Voter Fraud.

Acorn is one of the “Community Organizations” that Barack Obama has been championing for years. ACORN has long been suspected of using various and dubious methods of registering voters (translation: Committing voter fraud) and in-your-face community confrontation methods with elected authorities… all using techniques straight from the Saul Alinsky course of community activism. They’re also known for strong-arm methods of getting “corporate contributions” for their community activism. Their methods would make Jessie Jackson blush.

Did I mention that Barack Obama was/is a “Leadership Trainer” in ACORN?

Had this raid come six months ago, it could have uncovered the iceberg that would sink the Titanic of the Obama campaign.  It will take time to gather and absorb the evidence, but what this DOES do is provide yet another spotlight on Obama’s choice of groups the Obama has consistantly (to use his favorite word) aligned himself with.  

Did I mention that ACORN is included in the funding as an add-on piece of pork to the $700 billion bail-out? Gee, I wonder what politician might have seen to it that jackpot of our tax dollars goes to this group? Fortunately, some sharp-eyed bloggers noticed, and by the next round, that little tid-bit was gone.

“Oh-Bama? You Got Some ‘Splaining To Do…”

My hope is the Vegas law enforcement will find enough to justify the call for a federal investigation to dig into ALL of ACORN’s local and national branches. 

ACORN stinks like a rotting fish… and I predict that Barack Obama is going to find it very hard to shake that stink, no matter how he spins this.

Gerry Ashley