Forget NAFTA; Economic ruin from “Buy American” Clauses

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey jumped on this story last night, and this morning I am going to take a swing at it.

Four years ago, President George W. Bush came to Canada to smooth over relations. His visit to Alberta was specifically planned to help reopen the border for Canadian Beef, a product which his presidential opponent, John Kerry, helped ban in 2003. It was because of Bush’s desire to better relations with Canada that this came to be. The former Canada Prime Minister Jean Chretien had done his best to sour relations with the USA, and while Prime Minister Paul Martin had promised to work closer with our southern neighbour, his lack of support for the Iraq War, as well as other American endeavors, hadn’t sent the right message to Washington. I am thankful that President Bush was willing to shake off the criticism and do what was best for both countries. The problem is, this isn’t what we are seeing now…

The very idea of “Buy American” offends me. For someone always claiming to be a “world citizen”, Barack Obama has told the international community that America doesn’t care about their problems. This is just another stupid economic decision from a man who obviously doesn’t understand what damage he is doing, that or he enjoys running the American economy into the ground. With “Buy American”, one really has to wonder about the latter. As the Washington Post reported, the “Buy American” Plan is nearly an outright ban Steel and Iron imports…

The stimulus bill passed by the House last night contains a controversial provision that would mostly bar foreign steel and iron from the infrastructure projects laid out by the $819 billion economic package.

A Senate version, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only American-made equipment and goods.

Proponents of expanding the “Buy American” provisions enacted during the Great Depression, including steel and iron manufacturers and labor unions, argue that it is the only way to ensure that the stimulus creates jobs at home and not overseas.

Opponents, including some of the biggest blue-chip names in American industry, say it amounts to a declaration of war against free trade. That, they say, could spark retaliation from abroad against U.S. companies and exacerbate the global financial crisis.

After bailing out the auto industry, after giving them a helping hand to get them back on their feet, he shoots them in the foot. You drive up the price of materials Obama, you drive up their costs, forcing them back into bankruptcy. Have you lost your mind? Morrissey was right to point out that this reeks of Smoot-Hawley, something even Bill Lane, the government affairs director for Caterpillar in Washington, pointed at…

“Any student of history will tell you that one of the most significant mistakes of the 1930s is when the U.S. embraced protectionism,” Lane said. “It had a cascading effect that ground world trade almost to a halt, and turned a one-year recession into the Great Depression.”

I don’t care what White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki says, this WILL kill jobs. The dependence of many American companies, like Caterpillar, on foreign buyers will bite back once other countries start enacting protectionist policy. This is basic second year economics, that running a trade deficit during time like this, to allow for the continued movement of traded goods, is important to sustain even low levels of economic growth. By telling your trading partners that you refuse to help them through this troubling time, you will in turn have them close their borders to a variety of goods you are hoping to export. The trade deficit then expands, companies can’t maintain high levels of production if their goods can’t be sold overseas, and then you have MASSIVE LAY OFFS. Explain to me how any of this helps America?

I guess it is no surprise to see this being slipped into the “stimulus” package. First we had funds for ACORN, passed off as a “Community Development Fund” (how stupid do you think we are?), and now this. One only has to glance at Michelle Malkin’s website to see what conservative bloggers and commentators have dug up on this nearly a trillion dollars in federal spending. Explain to me how hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars for “STD prevention” and abortions here and overseas are going to generate economic growth Obama? I must have skipped that class, especially since Nancy Pelosi was doing her best to explain how fiscally sound that plan was just the other day on CBS. My head is starting to hurt listening to this lunacy…

It is obvious that we can forget NAFTA if this “Buy American” plan kicks in. No use of having a free trade pack if their will be no free trade (there goes Clinton’s legacy). This isn’t about “being fair” Byron L. Dorgan, this is about being smart. By crippling trade, you expand the trade deficit. Instead of fixing a situation which America was forced into through the protectionist policies of a few other countries, mainly China and Japan (at least in the 1990s), you have made it worse. For people who have claimed that they are the ones who will fix the country’s economic problems, it is only the second week of “the Age of Obama” and you are threatening to bring us into complete market failure. Doesn’t it worry you that these plans were tried before with horrific consequences? Do you even care?

Of course not… While Americans struggle to put food on the table, you eat wagyu steak… Something that would never have happened under President Bush… Pathetic…

UPDATE: Prime Minister Harper gets ready to bully Barack Obama into dropping this “Buy American” plan when he visits February 19th. Seems it wasn’t just this Canadian who realized how stupid the “The One” was being when he proposed this idea of rabid protectionism. This isn’t all though…

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air also found that while Obama wants to throw world economies into turmoil through this “tried and failed” stupidity, he also wants to cut back on military spending… You know, as he intends to step up the War in Afghanistan? It is no surprise that this twit confused a window for a door at the White House… Where are all these people defending how brilliant he is? These are all acts of extreme stupidity…

The second week just ended and it looks like America is bracing itself for a financial “train wreck” with “Conductor” Obama confused at the controls… Jimmy Carter would be proud…

UPDATE: My friend Kirk took a swing at this on his new blog, give it a look. I will have to say, even the idiot who commented on this page could understand this explanation… Don’t need to fake your knowledge with both Kirk and I explain it to you now…

UPDATE: More for Kirk, this time a quote from Richard Fisher…

“Protectionism is the crack cocaine of economics… It provides an immediate high that leads to economic death. We cannot afford to go down that route”

Good catch Kirk! I don’t think I could find anything wrong with that statement.

No Canada in New Brunswick

If I am going to lay into Americans who hate their country and refuse to respect it, you damn well know I am going to do more to Canadians who come close or cross that line. If it were up to me, I would have Erik Millett fired on the spot for removing the national anthem from his school. The Principle of Belleisle Elementary in New Brunswick has stated that “We try to balance the needs of every student, and we want every student to feel welcome in our school” and that “If we need to make some accommodations or exceptions, then we’ll try to put those in place regardless of what the issue is.” What a tool…

Karen Kwan of the CBC has more on this story…

Nearly all elementary students in the district sing the anthem every day. But that decision is up to each school.

For his school, Millett said this change was part of a package of reforms designed to make the school feel more inclusive and to allow the school to run more smoothly.

He said kids who were arriving late on school buses were disrupting the anthem as it was piped in over the public address system.

Now, Millett said it’s more special for students to have the anthem sung at the new “celebrate assemblies,” where they can all stand together and sing O Canada.

He said it’s a larger issue for administrators, trying to decide what the appropriate balance is in respecting the needs of all students.

The school principal said maybe the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission or Education Minister Kelly Lamrock should speak to administrators about what is reasonable accommodation because they don’t really know.

Human Rights Commission? You have got to be kidding me. Judging by the confused look on his face, and the “beatnik” facial hair to match, this man most likely slept through high school after he overindulged on drugs. Where do they find these people? If I were Kelly Lamrock, I would have him fired to make an example out of him… This is still Canada, we don’t just throw away our national identity to satisfy people who obviously don’t love this country.

I feel sorry for Kara and Julia Boyd, two girls who lost their cousin in Afghanistan. Pte. David Robert Greenslade fought and died to protect this country, to protect our way of life and I can’t think of any other way Erik Millet could have desecrated the memory of this fallen soldier worse than this. Why not burn the flag while you’re at it?

Reading the comments I can see that many Canadians feel as passionately as I do about this. JohnSchemmel wrote,

In other news, Erik Millet has publicly announced that he is incapable of running a school in any sort of organized fashion, or of actually using his head to think about the differences between singing the national anthem as a citizen, and the bizarre belief that this means unflinchingly supporting ever action of same country.

Good grief, Mr Millet. In the school here in SJ where my daughter goes, the bus, if on time, gets her to school late…so she waits in the hall until the anthem is over.

Anyone so offended by singing our national anthem has some sort of bizarre problem, and doesn’t need to be ‘accomodated’, except by allowing them to do home schooling. Singing the anthem isn’t worshipping the devil, or war, or our PM, or even the Queen. It’s singing the anthem of the country we live in.

While we do see the occasional support of Millet’s lunacy, most of the people leaving comments aren’t happy with the Principle’s display of “anti-patriotism”. Another concerned Canadian, PLT 2013 wrote,

What is the rational behind Milletts thinking? If my children were in a school with a narrow minded educator like Millett I would have them out in a flash. Then he cites privacy as the reason for not naming those who have requested that the anthem be cancelled. How many were there against it and also how many were for it? Let those who do not want it sung stand outside in the schoolyard until it is over
I think the local schoolboard should have a chat with Mr. Millett.

For anyone as outraged as I am who wants to send a message to this tool, his email address is available on the school’s website. Let’s remind Millet which country this is, and that respecting our anthem is our duty, our way of continuing to thank those who have died protecting us. Hopefully Conversation MP Greg Thompson can do something about this. We vote for politicians who are supposed to keep this bullshit from happening…

To think this lunacy happens even here… Pathetic…

UPDATE: I myself have sent a letter to this man, demanding he do his job properly. Here is what I said…

I honestly don’t care who complains about singing the national anthem, matter of fact, I really don’t think it matters. You have no right to remove O Canada because a few people don’t like to sing it. That is their loss… If they don’t understand the importance of it, if they don’t love this country like the rest of us do, then tell them to sit in the hallway while patriotic Canadians sing.

Explain to me how this is a human rights issue? Is this your first day as Principle? It isn’t torture or mistreatment to have children listen to the anthem. Why in God’s name would this be a human rights issue then? I bet you just don’t like the fact that it has the word “God” in it do you? I bet that this is because of religious, or anti-religious reasons isn’t it? Well tough… You’re salary is paid by taxpayers, and you will do your job as the taxpayers tell you to. That means you take your head out of the clouds, put down whatever drugs you are abusing (saw the CBC interview, were you drunk or high?) and ACT LIKE A PRINCIPLE!

I have dealt with a bad bunch of teachers in my time, but none of them could compete with your level of incompetence.

UPDATE: Seems CTV has an article up on this story, as tanyapecora has linked to on her blog…

School district superintendent Zoe Watson said the decision was made by principal Erik Millett after two parents complained about their children having to sing the anthem.

“Sometimes we have students whose parents, because of their beliefs, don’t want their children to participate,” Watson told CTV Atlantic.

But some in the community said that the decision may have been made because of Millett’s personal beliefs. Millett ran for the Green Party in the last federal election and his website describes him as “actively involved in the peace movement.”

It doesn’t surprise me, especially coming from this pathetic excuse for a man. This is purely political, a swipe at Canada itself for not being as “peaceful” as he wants it to be. He should be fired immediately, and if the Green Party wants to save itself the humiliation of this having to come back and bite them on their tree-hugging behind, they should distance themselves from this anti-Canadian filth right away. Pathetic… But there’s more…

So what about these complaints he kept talking about then? In fact, as CTV informs us, only two parents actually complained about it. A small complaint lodged by a pair misguided adults was all the excuse this piece of garbage needed to has his way. We have many more parents complaining about this radical action he took, about how “anti-patriotic” it is to remove the anthem from the morning ritual, but if you scroll down further, we actually see why he did this. Not because he cared about the rights of the students… Oh no…

Millett told New Brunswick newspaper the Telegraph-Journal, the change was made to accommodate all families and that the morning singing of the anthem was a distraction for students attempting to start their day by 8:35 a.m.

It was a distraction? Excuse me? When is loving your country and showing your pride ever a distraction? How did this guy get the job thinking like this? So he simply doesn’t like the anthem eh? What is he even doing in this country if he can’t respect O Canada? Mind-boggling…

I applaud Kelly Lamrock for coming out against this, saying he wouldn’t have taken the action Millet has, and I also applaud the efforts of CTV News for digging deeper into this story and finding out what this trash Millet was hiding. It is no surprise that once the information came out, that once he was exposed, that he would hide from the cameras…

Erik Millet’s perverted political agenda has no place in a Canadian school. He is a disgrace, an insult to those who wear the uniform, those who died protecting this country, and he should be treated as such… A miserably pathetic excuse for a Canadian… Absolutely pathetic…

UPDATE: Seems that Erik Millet doesn’t like having the weight of the patriotic base in Canada brought down on him. CTV News has more from this twit as he tries to explain his actions…

In a statement to CTV News Friday, Millett wrote “The only thing I really have to say at this point is that I have contacted the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and I will be pursuing the question of accommodation around this issue of through the Human Rights Commission and hopefully some clarity will come from the ruling they provide.”

and…

“It’s true that we have students, that for various reasons, are not allowed to sing the national anthem (for) whatever reasons, religion, beliefs, values,” he told the radio station.

“The difficulty we were having were that children we having physical reactions to the anthem. They would scrunch up their face, put their fingers in their ears, bend down and get on the floor because they felt they were doing something they weren’t allowed to do,” he added.

Millett also said that because his school is rural, late buses in the winter meant that students would arrive during the playing of the anthem, which was “chaotic.”

Do you take us for idiots? What kind of a lame excuse was this? We now have political pressure coming down on this piece of trash, with Conversative MP Keith Ashfield saying that we should be celebrating the national anthem, not banning it. Kelly Lamrock also just announced that he will do everything in his power to reinstated the national anthem at this school. On top of local petitions and national pressure, including websites like mine spreading the word about what is going on, we should be seeing an end to this blatant incompetence and “anti-patriotism” practiced at Belleisle Elementary. I would personally like to see this disgrace fired for his attack on “Canadiana”, but we will see…

Either way, it is good to see that Canadians are still willing to fight to protect who we are… It makes me very proud to call this country home…

UPDATE: The Green Party finally releases a statement about this situation…

The Green Party of Canada supports the singing of O Canada in schools. The principal who was involved in a New Brunswick school’s review of the matter was once a Green Party candidate; however, the decision to dispense with the daily singing of O Canada is not Green Party policy. The tradition of singing O Canada has long been a way of showing respect and love for our country, our veterans and those who gave their lives in defense of Canada.

Erik Millet has been unfairly singled out as though the decision, which was made over a year ago, was his unilaterally. Erik Millett served three years in the Canadian military and has a degree in Human Rights. While we disagree with the school’s decision, we reject as unworthy the personal attacks on a very decent and dedicated education professional.

Unfairly singled out? I would like to know which “tree-huger” wrote that piece of trash. It was Erik Millet’s decision, which this disgrace stands by, and further shows his incompetence by failing to give a legitimate reason for removing the national anthem from morning exercises. I definitely believe this twit deserve to be insulted for his pervert politics and his blatant display “anti-patriotism”.

This is why the Green Party is still a joke in serious political circles, and why they have no members of parliament…

Economies don’t kill people, people kill people; The Lupoe Family Murders and Left-Wing Bias

This story caught my attention, Michelle Malkin is following it on her blog. As the LA Times is reporting…

A man who had recently been laid off from a local hospital opened fire at his Wilmington home today, killing his five young children as well as his wife, police said.

The gunman then took his own life, according to authorities. Police said the children were an 8-year-old girl, twin 5-year-old girls and twin 2-year-old boys. LAPD Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said police found notes inside the house in which the gunman referred to “work-related issues.”

I anmsickened to think that a mother and father would consider killing their children because they couldn’t pay the bills. They are their parents, people who should be loving and protecting these kids, not murdering them like this. In this instant, we should be grieving for those lost in this tragic incident, especially for the loss of the young children, killed before they even got their start in the world, but keep reading as to how the LA Times spins this…

According to Channel 7, the faxed letter detailed workplace problems both the man and his wife were having at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in West Los Angeles. The letter said that an unnamed administrator told him one day that he shouldn’t have come to work and said “you should have blown your brains out.”

The man said in the letter that he complained to his union to no avail. Then both he and wife were fired, Channel 7 reporter Gene Gleeson said in summarizing the letter.

The couple, Ervin Antonio Lupoe and his wife, Ana, were both former employees of Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. “They were recently terminated,” a spokesman for the hospital group confirmed.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of Ana, Ervin and their five children,” Kaiser said in a statement, extending the hospital group’s sympathies to their family and friends. “We are providing support to Kaiser Permanente employees.”

Kaiser officials said they are cooperating with the ongoing LAPD investigation.

Now explain to me how the focus of the story is now directed, not at the brutal slayings, but the murders’ treatment by their former employer, Kaiser Permanente. “Cooperating with the police”? They say that like Kaiser Permanente is a suspect in the investigation. Not to be outdone, The New York Times takes it a step further by blaming these murders, along with others, on the state of the economy…

“A man who recently lost his job allowed the despair to put him over the edge,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who held a news conference outside the house. “Unfortunately, this has been an all-too-common story in the last few months. But that does not and should not lead people to resort to desperate measures.”

A man killed his ex-wife, her parents and friends at a Christmas party in West Covina last month after losing his job. In October, a 45-year-old father of three shot and killed his wife and children in their Porter Ranch home after describing financial stress in a suicide note.

Mayor Villaraigosa urged Los Angeles residents experiencing financial stress to talk to friends and neighbors and seek counseling “to get back on their feet and keep their families afloat.”

Cecilia Yvar, 68, whose grandson often played with the Lupoes’ 5-year-old twins, said the family moved to the neighborhood four years ago. The Lupoes added a second story to their home last year, Ms. Yvar said, and landscaping to their backyard.

“Maybe too much money, too much stress,” she said while wiping away tears.

One has to wonder what goes through “The Gray Lady’s” head when you read stories like this. While the economic situation is troubling, that doesn’t give anyone the right to go ahead and do this. If they want to point the finger at someone, why not themselves? The MSM has created a panic with their constant references to The Great Depression, painting the situation we are in now as nothing but horrendous. As the Associated Press reported last week, many of those who lived through it say that this situation is nothing like the economic collapse of the country faced before…

Indiana seniors in their 80s and 90s who’ve heard comparisons of the nation’s current financial woes to the Great Depression say today’s crisis can’t compare to the hardship that followed the 1929 stock market crash.

Joseph A. Furman, a 93-year-old from Cedar Lake, said he’s fed up with people calling today’s economic troubles a depression. He said the current troubles are a far cry from the mass layoffs, hunger and hard times that followed the stock market crash.

“I don’t think it will ever get to that point. Life was just unbearable,” Furman told The Times of Munster for a story published Sunday.

If people are constantly told there is no hope, that the situation is dire, they will eventually believe it and take drastic actions like this. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a negative reaction to negative pressure, NOT the fault of the economy. The MSM used this fear to help turn voters towards their candidate Barack Obama, who many believed would solve this economic problem the instant he took office, and now that it has run-a-muck, they want to place the blame on someone else… Pathetic…

In the end, people still kill people, and while the times are tough, that doesn’t give you the right to slaughter you family… Nor does it give reporters the right to use the tragedy to further their perverted political agenda…

UPDATE: Now Canadian stations are reporting on this story. Unlike the other two, CTV’s report includes details on the fax police have found stating the ongoing problems this man was facing at work…

Police described the fax but did not release the detail reported by the KABC.

“He was going through some critical situation at the job, that’s what he described in that two-page letter, ongoing problems at the job, and that’s what prompted him to take his own life and his family, from what was said in the fax letter,” Garner said.

The TV station called police after receiving the fax, and a police communications centre also received a call from a man who stated, “‘I just returned home and my whole family’s been shot,”‘ Garner said.

As anyone can see, the letter in question is a collection of ramblings from a man bent on murder. It would seem that this man needed professional help well before he was fired from his job. Why not examine the murder’s state of mind, instead of making excuses for his awful crime? Just a thought…

After all, this is information that the public should know, right Charlie Turner?

UPDATE: This from NewBusters…

Wednesday’s Good Morning America led into an interview with House Republican Leader John Boehner about the massive Democratic “stimulus” package with a deluge of horror stories about the awful economy: an elderly man who froze to death after failing to pay his power bills; a new report declaring the need for $2 trillion in new infrastructure spending; and an unemployed man who killed his family and himself.

“You know this situation — you don’t need me to tell you about it, we hear about job losses being reported every day,” news anchor Chris Cuomo told viewers, “so the pressure is on lawmakers” to “get past the age-old battle over tax cuts versus spending” and pass the massive spending bill. Making it perfectly obvious which side he’s on, Cuomo declared “a promising signal for all of us” that Boehner seemed to come out of a meeting with President Obama “looking to make a deal.”

But the economic horror stories that ABC pushed prior to showing the interview with Boehner (taped Tuesday afternoon) all contain significant omissions. The “unregulated” power company being blamed for the elderly man’s death is owned by the local government, not some greedy capitalist utility. The new report arguing for massive spending on roads and bridges was released two months early to influence the stimulus vote. And the man who tragically killed his family did not lose his job because of cost-cutting or anything related to the economy, but after being investigated for possible fraud.

As I had previously stated, the MSM has overexaggerated the economic situation to push their own perverted agenda, which now includes forcing Republicans into voting for the awfully wasteful “stimulus” package Obama is trying to push through. One would think that if they actually did believe that the economic situation is leading people to kill, that they wouldn’t try to exaggerate this recession in an attempt to keep their viewers from becoming murdering psychopaths. With more information coming out about these killings, including that Lupoe’s firing was related to allegations of fraud (as stated in a newer LA Times report), one would think that they would drop this act…

That would be the smart thing to do wouldn’t it? You know, try to pretend that they aren’t all in the tank for “The One”? Pathetic…

Martin Luther King Jr’s dream is dead: Racism in a post-racial America

I spent quite a bit of time studying Martin Luther King Jr, wrote a report about him in high school, another one in Introduction to Politics at the University of Ottawa. Everyone should know his story, King “heeded the call” after the arrest of Rosa Parks, leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and from their, rallying a nation behind him while preaching acceptance… To be judged by the content of one’s character, not skin colour… That is all dead now…

To be fair, MLK’s dream still lives on, there are those who still believe that he was right, that it was what is on the inside, not the outside, which should be judged. The importance of race, at times, is pushed away by a commonality many of us share. For example, the 9/11 attacks united America like it had never been before. The terrorists didn’t care what colour or creed the three thousand they killed were, just that they were “infidels” in their eyes. All of us stood behind President Bush, we forgot our political allegiances, or ethnic differences, etc because we were determined to prevent that from happening again, and we worked together to rebuild what they had destroyed. The problem is that when the smoke clears, when the battle has been won, racial hatred remains. Hurricane Katrina revealed this, the words of Kanye West showed the paranoia of the bigots within the black community, echoed by the sermons of Farrakhan and Wright, fanning the flames of racism. What would Doctor King think if he was alive to see that?

The election of Barack Obama was a milestone in American history, but that doesn’t mean that everything is been fixed, that the battle for Civil Right and Racial Equality has been won. The slogan “My President is Black” is proof of the continued existence of this rabid type of racism. Barack Obama is President, his genetic make-up shouldn’t have anything to do with his ability to govern the country, and yet “The One” himself brought this up several times during the election. How can he be the “post-racial President” when he continues to group Americans by their skin colour? My best friend is my best friend, and while we joke about ethnic stereotypes that are associated with his heritage (ex: He has a crippling disability for a Filipino, keeping him from performing his karaoke related duties; Stage-fright), I don’t see him in terms of what colour he has been assigned on the spectrum… Unlike Joseph Lowery, who had some “colourful” words on for Americans on inauguration day…

When will we be judged by the content of our character? Even when a child is born from a mix-racial relationship, he or she is branded a “half-breed” or much worse. One would think the fact that such offspring and unions exist would help bring about the end of this perverted “colour-coding system”, but no… To the racists, these “outcasts” must “pick a side” in the struggle for racial superiority. Those like Obama, born of mixed heritage, become radicalized to prove to the “side they have chosen” that they are “pure” enough.

While my American readers might not understand, in Canada, the conflict between English and French is just as heated and the fight between blacks and whites south of the border. In that respect, I do my best to carve my own path, more accepted by the English because that is my mother tongue, but tossed aside by the French even though my father is a francophone. I am ethnically more French than English, but I am not a “true” Frenchmen since I don’t speak the language fluently. If you delve deeper into my own ethnic background, I am a combination of traditional European adversaries… English vs French, English vs Scottish/Irish, French vs German… Even within the “colours” there are divided along “tints”. That is why, when asked, I feel pride in replying that I am Canadian.

Being a North American, there is no set skin colour. Sure the Europeans settled this land, but before them were the Native Americans. As I told my Chinese students, many of their countrymen came over and helped build our countries, along with many others… One can be Canadian or American without having their ethnicity come into question, especially since many do not know where their ancestors came from. If you are black, what part of Africa did your ancestors come from, if they came from that continent at all? If Asian, what part of Asia? Just like myself, these people call themselves Canadians or Americans without having to explain their genetic make-up. Isn’t this what King wanted? For us to walk down the street and realize that no matter the skin colour, we were all one people? That we are judged by our actions, our character and not our ethnicity? Why is it that this is goal is still out of reach?

Now that Michelle Obama has been targeted for not wearing clothing produced by black fashion designers for the inauguration, it does seem that this perversion will continue. It doesn’t surprise me that this is happening, by using his colour as a “weapon”, Obama himself was left open to criticism from the black community the instant he dropped the facade. Racism leads to more racism, and it is this vicious circle that has lead America to where it is now. It is hard to judge someone on their character when they judge you by your skin colour.

If only Martin Luther King Jr could see us now… He would be disgusted…

UPDATE: This from Allahpundit at Hot Air. John Ridley goes out to prove my point.

Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue his being, Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation.

What a tool. Barack Obama is the anti-American; A “Big Government”, pro-abortion, self-absorbed socialist bigot. Nothing “truly American” about this man, not matter what these pinheads keep sayings. Pathetic…

One down, two to go; Caroline Kennedy, Eric Holder and Timothy Geithner

Michelle Malkin, Hot Air and a few others are already reporting on Caroline Kennedy’s stepping-down from the bid for Hillary Clinton’s Senate Seat, so it seems that the Democrats aren’t simply taking what they want. According to a previous article on her personal blog, Malkin reported that public opinion was going against the appointment of JFK’s daughter. It does appear that there are enough Americans who believe that people aren’t entitled to political positions, no matter who their father was. Even at the beginning of the “Hope and Change Era”, the conservatives can count this as a win in our column.

With her gone, it would be nice to knock off one of the other two targets that have stepped into our sights, Eric Holder and Timothy Geithner. Now it isn’t a surprise that Barack Obama would sneak in two people with these records, after all, as I myself have wrote on time and time again, “The One” himself has a long history for misusing and abusing the political system. Holder was picked for Attorney General, while Geithner was given the nod for Treasury Secretary, both positions neither man should occupy… Let me explain why…

Let’s start with Eric Holder,a left-leaning lawyer with his own political agenda as he has shown in previous political office. When Bill Clinton was in office, Holder was handing out pardons and reduced sentences like candy on Halloween, most notably to Marc Rich. Rich himself had gotten into trouble for tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis, and was hoping Bill would give him a “get out of jail for free card”. Sure enough, during Clinton’s final days in office, Holder helped orchestrate the pardon, all the while telling CNN that he didn’t agree with it, but would do as the President told him to do (hmmm, a conscientious non-objector).

How could he out do this? Let’s not forget the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), the precursor to the Boricua Popular Army, a group of terrorists, 16 of them had their jail terms commuted by Holder. SayAnythingBlog has more on this story, something the LA Times is also covering (stay away from the comment section, it is pure poison). I can’t imagine what Joseph F. Connor is going through, watching this man who helped free his father’s killers get appointed to a seat of power… Heartbreaking…

Now seeing as this man was soft on terrorism before, seeing that he had opposed the “Patriot Act”, the NSA wiretappings, the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (supporting efforts to close it now), and the use of “torture” to obtain information, you would think this man was too soft. Oh no, not for Barack Obama and his ilk. To me, appointing Holder seems to strengthen the case that Obama is simply “Jimmy Carter 2.0″, something that America’s enemies will be pleased to see, the reason why his appointment should be opposed. We don’t need another 9/11, and to me, Holder’s appointment would simply embolden those who wish to do us harm.

What about Timothy Geithner? Would you trust a man who cheat on his taxes with running the Treasury Department? It has come to light recently that Geithner owed $34,000 in unpaid taxes. Not only that though, as Julie Hirschfeld Davis reports…

…Geither failed to pay self-employment taxes for money he earned from 2001 to 2004 while working for the International Monetary Fund, according to materials released by the committee Tuesday.

He paid some of the taxes in 2006, after an IRS audit discovered the discrepancy for taxes paid in 2003 and 2004. But it wasn’t until much later – days before Obama tapped him to head Treasury late last year – that Geithner paid back most of the taxes, incurred in 2001 and 2002. He did so after Obama’s transition team found that Geithner had made the same tax mistake his first two years at the IMF as the one the IRS found he made during his last two years there.

The panel’s report also noted that Geithner briefly employed a housekeeper in 2005 whose legal immigrant work status had lapsed…

I don’t believe him when he said today that he was sorry for this, or that he had no idea what he was doing. Don’t blame Turbo Tax for you obvious tax fraud Geithner, it doesn’t work. It should also be “renoted” since it was previously stated by Davis in her article, that it wasn’t until he was given the nod by Barack Obama that this tax cheat decided to pay back most of what he owed. Shouldn’t the IRS be stepping into to help prevent this man from becoming Treasury Secretary?

Add in the fact that this man had a part in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) fiasco, and you should definitely have enough to keep Geithner out of office. While he is qualified and experienced for the position, unlike Caroline Kennedy, his long list of offenses make him an awful choice. How can anyone trust Obama with fixing the economy when we have this man at the helm? Like Michelle Malkin said on Glenn Beck’s show today, only in Washington do you put the arsonist in charge of the fire department…

Clearly someone has to stand up to these appointees and show them the door. If these next four years are going to be as painless as possible, both Holder and Geithner should be told to take a hike… Is this asking too much? Maybe, but it seems anything can happen now…

The “Hope and Change Era” has begun, but that doesn’t mean we have to let it succeed in destroying America…

UPDATE: Geithner got in… Despite the obvious tax cheating issues, the vote passed 18-5. What ever happened to “loyal opposition”? One has to wonder whether or not the Republicans will even want mid-term elections with the way so many are fawning over Obama and his ilk. Michelle Malkin has more on this story…

UPDATE: This coming in from Allahpundit at Hot Air…

If the timeline of last night’s clusterfark doesn’t convince you this is one of the weirdest ends to a candidacy in modern political history, maybe this will: I count no fewer than seven theories floated in the past 24 hours for why she quit.

1. She was worried about Teddy.
2. She was pushed out by Teddy because he wants his wife to inherit his own Senate seat and was worried about Kennedy overload.
3. She didn’t want to  disrupt her family by moving to D.C.
4. She decided she never really wanted it.
5. She felt guilty that Paterson was being strong-armed into picking her.
6. She found out Paterson wasn’t going to pick her and wanted to get the drop on him.
7. She “became aware of a personal situation that was occurring,” perhaps as recently as within the last two days.

Theories one through five are nonsense; if any were true, she’d have dropped out long ago, not two days before Paterson announced his choice. In fact, Teddy’s camp is reportedly irate that his illness was initially given as the reason since it makes him look like an invalid when he’s trying to push universal health care through Congress. Six and seven are plausible, especially since even some of her closest aides evidently didn’t know what was up. Late-breaking this afternoon from the Post comes word that Princess might have had some Geithner trouble of her own — among other things…

There is so much political spin going on I think I am getting motion sick. Can’t we simply agree that she was a bad pick to begin with an move on? If Sarah Palin, a woman with far more political and leadership experience “wasn’t qualified” for the position of Vice President (or Governor of Alaska as a few in the MSM has said), then how was Mrs. “Uhh… Ummm… You know… She wrote a book… And… Ummm… She is a mother” Kennedy qualified for Hillary Clinton’s seat? Sounds like another case of double standards when comparing Republicans and Democrats…

UPDATE: On a related note, it seems Al Franken has been stopped (at the very least temporarily) from cheating his way into power. A court ruled in favour of Norm Coleman due to the questionable methods by which the votes were counted. If the former Air America troll is sent packing, this would also be a victory for our side. Thanks Ed Morrissey for the update…

UPDATE: Gunmen attacked the US Embassy in Yemen. Michelle Malkin has more on this story… A shock? Not at all… Let’s not forget that Eric Holder’s law firm represents 17 Yemeni terrorists held at Gitmo. Add in the fact that many of those who get processed and released, like these two “Happy Jihadis”, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these terrorists are emboldened by what can only be seen as weakness… “Change” you can run for cover from…

UPDATE: While Geithner goes through (60-34), it doesn’t go smoothly. As Michelle Malkin reports, Oklahoma’ Senator Jim Inhofe really lays into him before the vote…

It is nice to know that some people are paying attention.

UPDATE: Allahpundit at Hot Air also has this story, and a different video from a politician who wouldn’t support the tax cheat Geithner, Susan Collins…