Corrupt and Corrupting

Yet another member of the Obama Cabinet has a tax problem. After issues arose with Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner and were deemed so severe with Tom Daschle that he withdrew his name from nomination, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk had to deal with his own tax troubles as he is seeking to become US trade representative. This administration was supposed to be the most ethical-this was the Obama campaign claim. Obama's cadres are proving to be as or more tainted than any administration in our history. This goes straight to the top to the largely unreported and therefore almost forgotten Rezko scandal. But malfeasance is not the only or anywhere near the main problem. The back breaker is the culture of dependency that Obama is perpetuating and growing to unprecedented levels. He is creating a all-encroaching government where we will all become wards of the state. He is bailing out the shiftless and punishing those who work and save. What incentive is there to labor diligently when government will steal the fruits of those labors? A tax increase in the teeth of recession, a cap and trade carbon limiting scheme, and a national health system will subdue any prospect of recovery. Reversing the welfare reform that has proven so effective by taking people from the dole to gainful employment (passed under Clinton), will not show compassion but remove initiative. Why work when the government punishes those who do with progressive tax rates penalizing increased success, when you can sit back and wait for your government check? Why sweat to pay your mortgage, if your neighbor who didn't will receive a hand from Uncle Sam (Ho Chibama) to stay in his house? With sugar daddy Barack in office, only suckers work hard.

Rose Colored Blinders

Obama is remarkably venerated by the dinosaur media and even late night comedians. His dubious associations and dangerous policy positions hardly are mentioned and never are scrutinized. His call for sacrifice is not examined. Bush was constantly criticized throughout his first Presidential campaign, accused of conspiring with his brother Jeb, then Governor of Florida, and Katherine Harris to steal Al Gore's legitimate victory which did not happen in the 2000 election but seems to be precisely what Democrats are doing today in Minnesota with Al Franken. The late pair of Ann Richards and Molly Ivins were trotted out to tell the world what a bastard George Bush was by lying about his record in Texas. Prior to 9/11, the mainstream media did everything it could to poison the well in regard to George Bush. Nothing Bush did or said would have redeemed him in the eyes of the Bush haters though there was a brief respite from most of the venom that lasted for a few months after the September 11 al Qaeda mass murder. All the monologues and jokes about Obama are gentle and elevating. Obama's gaffes are ignored (57 states, dozens of "uhs" in extemporaneous speeches) while Bush was made to look a buffoon with every malaprop incessantly repeated as fodder to diminish not only him but to make his supporters look foolish-how could you have voted for an imbecile who can't say "nuclear" or "strategy"? Obama is above criticism. He is seen by his devotees including those with press cards as infallible. He absolves his nominees such as Tim Geithner much like the Pope. His plan for the nation will punish the vast majority who are not upside down in their homes or facing foreclosure to bail out those who often deliberately overextended themselves. If someone has been responsible, scrimped and saved, Obama will now grab more away. Obama will reward the parasitic at the expense of the productive. He is demanding greater sacrifice from many who unlike Obama, volunteered for military service, who unlike Obama, took great personal risk to open business and meet payroll, who unlike Obama, who had racketeer Tony Rezko to help foot the bill, sweat blood to earn a down payment and stay current on their ordinary houses, not multi-million dollar properties where a criminal has your back. Obama is the icon, the idol of not only his voters but of the press whose purported mission had been to question, to speak truth to power, to be adversaries to those who rule over us. Now they are Obama's most prominent boosters. To paraphrase The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the media is making the myth, they are broadcasting the legend before the Marxist neophyte has even taken the oath of office.

Conservative Pipe Dream

Several conservative commentators have speculated that Tony Rezko and a Blagojevich aide who just pleaded guilty are singing like birds and may implicate Obama. Why in the world would they do that? Obama has the power to pardon them if they just keep cool and quiet until inauguration. They can talk or threaten to and end up like Vince Foster or they can follow omerta and be free like Susan McDougal. Sean Hannity and his compatriots may hope for someone to crack and spill the beans, but no one wants to be defenestrated.