The King's View on Michael Jackson

This is another of those articles that I'm sure is going to infuriate a few people, but I don't mind that one bit. I grew up in the 80s. Michael Jackson's music is something that I often listened to on radio, and probably even danced to when we went out on the town. I like several of the songs that Michael Jackson performed, and his videos were very creative for the time. Ok, songs like Beat It weren't sophisticated, but other songs like Gone too Soon, hit a note with most of the population who followed the Ryan White story.
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In truth I didn't pony up a penny to own any of his music - I guess I didn't like it enough to include it in my collection of pop and rock. But I still appreciated it, and Michael's talent for singing and dancing was probably better than most in his generation of 80s Pop Artists. Of course, those were my high school into college years though. I'm talking back when Michael Jackson sort of looked normal, and really only went as far as wearing sunglasses inside and showing off one single glove as part of his stick. We could all live with that. We all remember artists like Boy George, Ozzie Osbourne, and many in the Glam Rock groups who seemed a heck of a lot stranger than Michael Jackson, or at least I thought so.
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Then at some point in the early 90s, something really went terribly wrong. Not satisfied with his talent and merit driven stardom, he began to move to the absurd. The business of bleaching his skin, changing his facial structure, numerous nose jobs, and all of the rest of the maddening antics sort of went a step above being merely flamboyant and bizarre. And his persistent statements that it was not carefully manuevered set of operations, but rather nothing more than a disease was scoffed at by even those he called his friends. That was just Michael. I guess we all sort of got it - he lacked some self esteem, and he didn't like the way he looked, and we guess he had the money to do something about it - over and over and over again.
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The results were both unnecessary and eerie. Whatever he intended - greater acceptance perhaps, seemed to have the opposite effect. He went from normal, perhaps ordinary, to frightening.
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But these aren't the most bizarre components of this man's life. For whatever reason, like it or not, the facts are that Michael Jackson had a perverted and sick obsession with young children. There's enough evidence to make him more than suspect, and its enough to turn this father's stomach. You can read more here about Michael's sick behavior and the charges brought against him. You can also read this NBC News report which outlines the matter in some detail with dates and events as they unfolded.
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Unfortunately, Michael Jackson's hardcore fan base, many who see Jackson as a folk hero in the black community, and minority community tend to yell the loudest when it comes to defending Michael and his so-called character (maybe its to hide their own abnormalities, who knows). But this is a time old tradition - to attack the accuser, and detract away from the real matter at hand. Calling something a lie doesn't necessarily mean that it actually is a lie. Claiming something didn't happen because it wasn't caught on video tape or seen before 20 eyewitnesses doesn't mean it didn't happen either.
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The court documentation was been viewed by hundreds who pretty much report the same sick findings. While its true that many of the families who let Michael "borrow" their children aren't from well to do, millionaire backgrounds, and perhaps those are the people that had the most to gain in the trade offs between letting their child stay at Neverland or in Jacksonland unchaperoned, and unprotected. Yes, some of them did get greedy in the end, maybe the payments or favors became too much for Michael to absorb. I guess we'll never know since the victims in most cases dropped all cases via settlement. Did it ever occur to anyone that people of these means are probably the only source for this kind of arrangement? Sure they are scumbags that aught to have their children taken from them, but that's another story for another time.
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But you have to honestly ask yourself. It's hard to imagine settling several cases like this and not fighting tooth and nail to reclaim your reputation if indeed it were a lie. But many have seen the sealed documents, and they aren't pretty, and one can understand why Jackson rushed to put this to bed quietly.
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Then there were incidents not a sickening, but just as fool hardy, like dangling baby Blanket over a railing in front of a crowd. Just a prank quipped Michael. Just more irresponsible behavior by Michael Jackson, the world said. And Michael dealt with all of this by exiling himself to Europe so that he would be far away from the U.S. Justice Department and California judicial system which didn't see him as quite the untouchable perfect little superstar that he saw himself as.
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Michael Jackson died of a drug overdose, hardly heroic, hardly tragic in the way the media would have you believe. He expected to die in this fashion because its a well known fact that he told close friends, including one time wife Lisa Marie Presley that he was going to die in the same manner that Elvis did, and we know how that turned out. So the autopsy showed plainly that Jackson died of an overdose of seven or so prescription drugs (Xanax, Zoloft and painkiller Demerol in the mix). Sure, maybe he did or didn't intend on killing himself that night. We don't know if he was living close to the edge or decided enough was enough.
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So why am I raining on poor Michael's parade?
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Because in their rush to make Michael Jackson a Saint and a Martyr, the media seem to leave out some important facts which if reported, make Michael Jackson out to be much less than that shining star that people should want to emulate. And everyone loves a happy ending, even if the hero is really an imperfect villain. Jesh, just another victim of the filthy rich Hollywood stress farm that make a man do evil things, I guess.
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This weekend the circus is growing by leaps and bounds. Even Rev. Al Sharpton has found a way to insert himself so he can cry "racism" if an ounce of criticism is leveled at Michael Jackson for his past sick indiscretions (now only deemed as accusations since all the payoff paychecks have been cashed).
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So I guess we have two Michael Jacksons in this story. The Michael Jackson who died this year from a self induced drug overdose, selfishly leaving behind three children he either adopted or fathered (we don't really know). And the one who died in 1992 just before the sleep-overs began. If you want to remember Michael Jackson, please take a step beyond the direction the self-interested media has taken - all show and wonder; be fair, please don't forget just what a monster, and a predator that he became. There is more to life than glamor, music, and breaking music chart records. It's the person behind the music that really counts. And there are probably hundreds of people on the sex offender lists that did someone a good turn now and then. But not all crimes or all favors balance out.
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I won't miss Michael Jackson. Not one bit. Nor will his victims, or the families of the victims. But its not going to be beyond me to occasionally listen to his music if it comes on the radio now and then. I promise not to storm off to the stereo in front of my house guests to change the station if Billie Jean comes on. Honestly. So my small hypocrisy only goes so far. But not as far as some ideologues, media creatures, and zombie fans who sadly don't find anything wrong with the present picture, or see the sick, dark life that Michael Jackson chose to lead. Perhaps those are the ones who should listen to the lyrics to Man in the Mirror just a little more closely.

Remember Tianamen Square and think of today

For most of us who grew up in the 80s, we distinctly remember the CNN image of the one man who stood up to a column of tanks in Tienanmen Square. Why, after such a bloody massacre already in progress by the Chinese Military, the tanks didn't run him down or he wasn't shot, we never really understood. Perhaps the Chinese censors didn't want to deal with the international press' question on this one topic. For what we know now, this individual is still rotting away in jail.

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I was prompted to this memory thanks to Glenn Hauser's World of Radio Program episode 1462: http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.mp3 , a show I enjoy that generally deals with the world of radio and communications. Listening to the concern of the Radio Bejing announcer provided in the clip really hit home. It is our understanding that this individual is also sitting somewhere in a jail cell for delivering this broadcast, along with others who made the transmission possible. To this day, we do not know the announcers name and the Chinese communist government has forbidden its utterance.

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It's particularly alarming when you think about our current state of affairs. For years, American Presidents have stood up to totalitarian regimes - in China, the Middle East, and Europe through both actions and words. Yet today, our present administration has gone down the dark path of trying to diminish America values by apologizing to our enemies over our pro-democratic positions. Positions like standing up for individual freedom, human rights, and democracy. And for standing up for religious tolerance, freedom of speech, press, and assembly.

It's remarkable that Americans don't see the unique and disparaging behavior of Barack Obama as he makes his so-called historic visit to the Middle East. The contrast between great Presidents like Ronald Reagan or Theodore Roosevelt, and someone like Barack Hussein Obama are enormous. Where Reagan stood up and saw America as a shining city on a mountain, Obama sees only darkness and decay. Where Reagan admonished Communist Leaders to "tear down this wall", Obama tells Arabs that Americans should not export our values and beliefs. Where Reagan pushed for democratic reforms, Obama praises communist and Islamic fundamentalists leaders, and treats them as worthy equals on the world stage. While Teddy Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill to defeat thugs and bandits, Obama only yesterday told Arab leaders that we acted inappropriately with our military when Islamic murders murdered thousands in the twin towers.

Boy, we've come a long way. Today's images, 20 years remembered, of one man standing up to a column of tanks - the machinery of the barbarian proletariat to the image of an American President bowing down before and shaking hands with dictators, rogues and Mulahs. A President apologizing for democracy. My God, I ask, what have we become?

Americans. Is this the change you really want? It's a sickening though that we have three more years of this traitoristic behavior to endure. Today, we look elsewhere for our heroes. A we remember one man, who blocked a column of tanks and was willing to die for basic freedoms that we squander. What a pity.

I know you've all missed me...

Hi, old friends. Yes, I'm going to be back to blogging again!

However, the format will probably change considerably from past versions. I don't expect to lose readership, since I'm most likely at ZERO readers after being off for four full months.

So what's the new format? Ahhhh, less on the political end, basic life stuff. But no long essays....

I can't keep up with writing long dissertations on topics as it lends to much delayed publishing of my work, and considerable time spent on my time to create the articles. I want to move to more general topics, shorter columns with a more interactive flair. My main goal has always been to practice my writing - in these days of IM and Twitter - we spend much time devoted to using numbers in place of words to fit our message into a 180 character limit. I can't imagine what kids are sending into teachers.

So what's been keeping me from blogging? Honestly, I've been wrapped up in homelife - working to death, and spending time with the kids. I've also been bit by the Facebook bug and Twittering.

Facebook is a lot of fun, and I've reconnected with so many friends from the past that's its been incredibly comical. You get to find out just how so and so made out after all these years. I've also met several new people from around the globe and I get a real kick out of reading status updates from Australia, Great Britain, and the States. It's funny to read everyday dramatics with kids from people going through the same things you are.

Twittering the the tool for the ultimate busy-body. Do I need to know what someone is thinking every 20 minutes? Do they need to know what I'm thinking? I guess the answer is yes since my follower and friend list are growing every day. Hell, maybe it's just a tool to help prevent against a second of boredom.

I'll probably devote some time to both Facebook and Twitter soon.

Those of you who still check in to see if The King still writes, please drop me a line on my comment board. It would be great to hear from old friends and foes! LOL.

Look forward to hearing from you. Look forward to keeping you entertained!

Tired of Connecticut State Employees' antics; Just get over yourselves

Ok, I recognize the the title of my post is going to piss off some decent, hard-working Connecticut State Workers. Not all of you are out there leaning on a shovel watching traffic, or joy-riding in state owned vehicles. In fact, some of you are necessary (stressing the word some) to keep order and keep the roads clear from ice, and do whatever it is that you do for the four productive hours that you are on the clock.

Look State Worker, I have to remind you that you should see your job as nothing short of a privilege. You know this all too well because its the reason that you opted to find a state job over one in the private sector - the cushy job, union protection, FABULOUS benefits including plush vacation, holidays, healthcare (as compared to the rest of us), and retirement are well worth the stint.

But the gravy train is over. It's your stop and you're going to have to get off.

The whole planet, especially our part of it, is as Barack Obama seems to repeat (29 or so times in one speech) in crisis. Layoffs are occurring all over Metropolis, from cell phone salesmen to high powered money lenders. Everyone is feeling the pinch. Well, now its your turn to share the burden. Did you think hiding behind that state union was going to save you from the reality that we all share? Do you clowns think you are somehow beyond accountability seeing as you are on the taxpayers' clock?

Did you think Blumenthal and the rest of the union thugs were going to bail you out? Well, guess what? It's not about you, its about all of us.

But one thing I can't stand is your persistent Baloney. Wheeling old people out of old folks homes in the dead of winter to try and kick up sympathy for your pathetic selves while using them as propaganda tool is beyond pathetic, its cruel. Trying to scare people with the fraudulent statements that everything is going to shut down unless all one zillion of you stay employed is insane. What is means is that I guess your union is going to have to deal with the slackers and get rid of the deadwood. Hell, tenure, smenure. Maybe its time that the union put productivity over tenure and make a few new decisions about who stays and who goes.

Look State Employee, you've had it made forever. Now its time to act like Americans and share the painful burden with the rest of us. You are the monkey on OUR backs now and Obama's Government is fast becoming not just part of the problem, but the source of it.

So leave the old people alone, stop whining and start cutting. Start with the lazy ones first, and can your union reps one at a time. United you stand, and we all fall.

Next time Barack Obama comes to town, you can thank him for the $900 trillion dollars that he spent on all of his friend's projects. It's Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid that are putting you and your friends out of a job.

Fallen Angel

Two weeks into his administration, it appears that the anointed one, Barack Hussein Obama, has fallen to Earth. Indignant as they are, even his loyal followers are about to realize that he’s far from the answer to their prayers that they’ve been conned into believing.

During his rather rude and meager inaugural address - where he sought to publicly embarrass President Bush, Obama bragged that he planned on setting the highest standards by ushering in “a new era of responsibility." Meanwhile, the Messiah’s picks for Cabinet exposed the upstart genius for his lack of ingenuity, and ability to execute a basic vetting process for forming a legitimate and uncompromised government.

People like Nancy Killefer and Bill Richardson were exposed as liabilities and dismissed quickly by the media, but they at least escaped the embarrassing scorching that Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner faced. Daschle was a sure win for Obama since he was largely respected on both sides of the aisle - before it became known that he didn’t pay $128K in taxes; Daschle was forced to withdraw in a somber speech five feet from the President. It was an awkward TV moment for a would-be-all-knowing President.

Geithner is a different story. He won the nomination, but at what cost? He can be seen limping around the Capitol, clearly bleeding, compromised, and illegitimate. This economic crisis was caused by cheats, liars, and incompetents, and yet Americans are expected to believe that an individual of the same character as the villains that got us in this mess is somehow supposed to save us. Fat chance. Some of us see a hourglass floating above Geithner’s head with the sand of time running out. Even Larry Kudlow believes that this Treasury Secretary’s days are numbered.

Being weaker than weak, and trying to separate himself from the perceived inflexibility of his predecessor, Obama summoned the network anchors to the Oval Office so they could film him pouting and admitting he made a mistake. But he made four mistakes, not one. And Americans need to see competence and leadership, not a man falling on his sword admitting his mistakes – particularly those that are probably typical to the selection process. Worst of all, pandering to a ruthless media will be his undoing. Winning point with Katie Couric doesn’t mean, winning points with Americans.

So much for the ongoing Cabinet process; all we can wonder is what’s next.

Another distasteful move by Obama was his decision to go on Arab Television – Al Arabiya. Obama’s fateful words “All too often, America starts by dictating…” didn’t sit well with American viewers. The concept of blame America first is right out of the liberal manifesto penned by the Democratic National Soviet Committee. Obama doesn’t seem to see the correlation between the good and evil that has been waged over the past eight years, starting with several planes hitting the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and crashing in a field in Pennsylvania which took hundreds of innocent lives, and ruined many more. Then you can throw into the mix the thousands killed by Saddam Hussein and Taliban extremists all over the Middle East. Yet Obama excuses all of it to start an apology campaign at the expense of innocents and American strength.

The reason this is so dangerous is that Strength through Weakness is the liberal’s relativistic world view. This falls along the same crazy thinking that inspired Obama to tell viewers that he would sit down with Iran’s sinister President Ahmadinejad, and work out a deal and compromise. Obama comes from a world of Utopia dreamers, and not the land of realists that we’ve been blessed to keep us safe this past eight years. Obama plans to turn us from the lion on the block to the wishy-washy Charlie Brown version of a our former selves. Frightening thought since weakness emboldens tyrants.

And whose bright idea was it to diminish the President’s stature by getting him to engage in a war with Radio Talk Show personality Rush Limbaugh? Talk about bizarre and unfitting behavior. That’s the ideologue in Obama – thinking his victory was more than it is, he launched his own war of words against conservative talk radio. And it seemed that by any objective evaluation – Rush won that one (with half his brain tied behind his back). Fact is, Obama helped the GOP find a focal point that’s long been absent from dialogue.

Last but not least, is the creation and politicking for the support of a massive $900 trillion dollar spending package, code-named – stimulus, that is made up of ideological treats and treasures, National Review has a lowdown of some of the more obvious problems with the bill here.

The American response to a bill that has such an emphasis on “nice to haves” and pork spending at a time of crisis has been astounding. Republicans have been unified but fairly weak, and Democrats like Senator Ben Nelson (NE) have had to step in and insist that the irresponsible spending schemes be removed, if passage is to be assured. Obama’s rhetoric has been very disappointing, calling on Congress to pass the pork package or else doom is certain. Americans were really expecting him to take a stand for common sense particularly during a week where he rightfully called for corporate greed-demons to stop collecting millions in bonuses on the backs of bailout packages funded by taxpayers.

Yet, mighty Barack instead of taking the same tact with his own party went on television to try to sell winterization as a job stimulus program. Tisk, tisk. The new President is either a buffoon or a liar. So what will it be?

What a glorious two weeks for the anointed one. I’m sure he’ll get his spending package approved by reigning in the politicos. And when that fails, then what? The blaming of Bush will only have so much mileage since the passage of this do-noting package was crafted, pushed, sold and voted on by Obama and his Democratic ideologues.

It’s going to be a long four years, but we only need to get to two to effectively turn the tide.

The end of an "error"; Colin McEnroe finally canned by WTIC

There are wonderful days, and there are more wonderful days. But the news that WTIC's longtime voice of the far left, Colin McEnroe, is gone from the AM airwaves. The very thought reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when hundreds of munchkins came out to sing, "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead." Happy, cheery faces, celebrating the downfall of their most dreaded foe. And so it is, Colin McEnroe (although not literally) is dead.

It's hard to image what might have been McEnroe's downfall. The socialist world thought of McEnroe as the true poster boy for Connecticut liberalism. I have to admit that I would listen to his program from time to time just to get the left's perspective on issues of the day. McEnroe was usually on target every time with the Democrat Party's official positions, which made me assume that he often would be briefed on what to say and what not to say. McEnroe never strayed from the party line.

But generally speaking, his program lacked depth. Much of his time was embarrassingly spent counter-arguing Rush Limbaugh's comments from the day's earlier time slot. Hearing him say "Rush said this" and "Rush said that" sort of irked me because I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh either and could care less about what Rush thinks, let along what Colin thinks of what Rush thought. I used to find myself saying, God buddy, can't you find your own material or are listeners doomed to listen to you rehash what Limbaugh spewed for three hours. Ahhgggg!

McEnroe also spent hours and hours engaging in character assassination of President Bush. It was more of the same drab, boring dialogue that often forced me to hit the scan button. Anyone can read other people's blogs or stories and try to make them their own. Sort of the lazy-man's version of a radio personality. Hearing him chat with "Lucrutis" sort of became stale and old after the 90th time.

There are a number of times over the past several years that I happened to spar with McEnroe on his program. But I stopped calling when he decided that it was best to handle me by changing the topic and becoming unnecessarily rude, and cutting me off. Of course, this was fairly typical behavior by him when he realized that he was either outwitted or didn't have an counter-argument to the facts at hand.

Part of the problem with McEnroe's style is that rarely would he allow someone of a different opinion to sway him on even fairly-neutral topics. McEnroe's best (if not only) strategy to any caller who was kicking his rear or counter-arguing him on points was: 1) Go to commercial (he would only take on bright repeat callers at the end of a segment) so he could make a quick off-topic remark and hide behind the traffic report, or 2) poke fun at the caller and hang up.

McEnroe was never interested in the truth which is why Republicans had such little respect for him. He was simply the mouthpiece of the Connecticut Democrat party. His attempts to make people like Bill Curry respectable news sources on issues of the day was comedy in itself. For McEnroe, it was never about dialogue, it was about singing the party line to the audience.

Off-mic, he was deemed socially inept. And people who worked with him often quit, or found "better" jobs. While I can't go into that detail without exposing individuals, I can only say that their arguments were a replication of what we often heard on the air... name calling, back-stabbing and completely untrustworthy behavior. As one person told me, working with McEnroe meant dealing with a five year old that would stab you with a steak knife if you weren't looking.

But what I miss most is probably - McEnroe's mumbling incoherent garble on the microphone. With nowhere to go (often admitting it on air) we'd hear rambling sentences that simply didn't make sense at all. What he lacked in knowledge, he also lacked in personality and show content. It's sad that it took WTIC so long to realize that the Colin McEnroe show was non-revenue bearing gibberish taking up space in the afternoon between more successful shows.

What's hard for Connecticut liberals to realize is that if McEnroe were truly successful, he wouldn't be getting the boot.

Today, Connecticut is a better place without WTIC 1080's daily broadcast of a mean-spirited 1960s throwback. Don't be surprised if he shows up elsewhere, there are still enough stations that need cheap filler between 3 and 6.

Just thank God those stations don't have 20 thousand watts.

Colin McEnroe

2009 Predictions

The great King has predictions (some fun, some real) for all of you. The problem is that you will have to figure out which ones are serious, and which ones are meant to irk you or make you laugh.

From the King's Crystal Ball -- here goes:

1. The conflict in the Middle East will widen. Some Arab states which are usually neutral or quiet about Israeli aggression will use leverage found through condemnation by some European States as an opportunity to change political position and move toward a more critical position of Israel. This will make for strange bedfellows in the Middle East and create problems for Western Democracy's survival in the Middle East.

2. Vladimir Putin will continue to tighten his reign of tyranny on Russia. Russians will not contest Russia's continued slide back toward a totalitarian state. News stories will surface about the "disappearance" of pro-Western representatives and advocates. Obama will do nothing.

3. Putin will start additional military action in neighboring states with the goal to put back together the old USSR. This won't mean redrawing maps, but putting his lackeys in power, and working toward setting up near satellite states. Obama will make a few speeches but not offer the same strong condemnations that Republican administrations have in the past.

4. A far right party will emerge in Germany and this will be due to economic devastation which is largely unavoidable globally. Chancellor Merkel and the coalition will be out of office and replaced with a left-leaning government.

5. Republicans will not be able to reorganize themselves due to infighting. Moderate elements of the party will sabotage any attempt to return to conservative values and positions. Instead, the party will drift from principle and attempt to placate the media by placing minorities and women in leadership positions to attempt to illustrate "a new Republican Party". More conservative third parties will emerge, weakening the Republican base further, and aiding Democrats in more previously Republican controlled districts. The damage will be irreversible for decades to come.

6. Barack Obama will advance his agenda but nothing he implements will have teeth. For example, Global Warming initiatives will be limited to tax credits and such for businesses that implement green initiatives. Most of it will be lip service. But a number of pointless businesses will emerge that will do little but create a 'green sector'. The victories will be short lived, as Global Warming arguments fade as the US encounters extremely cold winters. The comments by the EU president that global warming is fraud won't help.

7. More left wing states will adopt same sex marriage. The wear and tear on insurance and disability premiums will be costly. The courts will have rounds of more complex divorce proceedings that will further erode the judicial system's ability to handle cases. Some high profile same sex divorces involving adopted children will splash headlines.

8. There will be several attempts on Barack Obama's life. He will live in a bubble making him less accessible by even his own party members. His wife's anti-white tendencies and opinions will make the news and she will quickly become the most dislike first lady in history.

9. Joe Biden will become Barack Obama's biggest liability. His temper and comments will make media headlines and cause incredible embarrassment for Obama.

10. At least one, maybe two Supreme Court Justices will announce resignation. Obama will seek a black nominee to offset Clarence Thomas political leanings and representation on the bench.

11. Iran will announce that they have a nuclear bomb. Whether they do or not is questionable.

12. Israel will air strike Iran in 2009.

13. America's voice in the world will diminish now that Obama will take the Presidency. Since Nations know that Obama is not a hawk or interventionist, rogue states will be left to do what they please. The vacuum will not be filled as Europe continues to sink into isolationist positions (yet calling on the US to do something).

14. Democrats will raise taxes on majority of Americans; Obama will do a 180, blame Bush, and call it patriotic and a sacrifice. Republicans will do little but make a lot of noise.

15. Economic problems, and the move toward a left leaning government will cause a rise in violent crime, hate crimes and all other crimes. Police and security agents will be unable to handle the rise in crime.

16. Change will come to America. And it won't be pleasant for anyone.

Bad Economy = Few Choices

This is a tough period for those either seeking a new job or career, and those seeking to upgrade their job to a better job. Jobless figures and a downturn in economic analysis is very unfavorable. News organizations have been running stories about "how to keep your job in a bad economy" which doesn't help things either. It's a story that seems to snowball. The news is partially sensationalized.... the worse it is, the better the viewership ratings. It's definitely a bad time to be a job seeker.

For the employee, this means almost walking on eggs shells at work. We all know that bonuses and increases will be limited due to economic factors. Of course, the company also takes advantage of the endless media blitz by indirectly reminding you that you are happy to have a job at all. My view is that if you worked to make the company profitable, its the company's obligation to reward you. That's part of the deal, you work hard to get rewarded. It's individual accomplishment that matters, and companys' can't put the world's burden on your shoulders, particularly when you make them profitable over the past year. (Now if you are a lazy incompetent, you don't have a case here).

Of course, revenge is a dish best served cold. When things do turn around (and they will), companies that short-changed their employees when they didn't have to, don't deserve any loyalty or any favors. The King's advice is give them a week's notice at most, and remind them that staying any longer in the current role is costing you money.

So dear employee. Keep a chit list. All the HR baloney can be checked at the door. The fact is that if they really valued you, they would have showed it by giving you what they owe you. When its time to walk, its time to walk. It's not personal, its simply just business.

As for the burned bridge. Yeah well, its not your fault they burned the bridge. Why would you ever want to return to a place that used frivilous excuses to not give you your due.

Return of the King/Barack's Bad Choices

Everyone is entitled to a little time off now and then.

The truth is that the last several months - particularly since the Convention, its been a tough pill to swallow to recognize that the GOP's candidate was doomed. An old, tired, moderate Republican who was willing to split the difference too many ways. An old war hero who ran his campaign into the ground, or worse his campaign helped run him into the ground. It's hard to tell which was which, but alas it didn't matter.

And to make things worse, the geniuses in the McCain campaign decided to keep us entertained by finding mediocre vice presidential candidate who instead of helping the ticket, served as an easy target for comics and Saturday Night Live audiences. The hockey mom that either on bad advice or no advice got slaughtered by Katie Couric and others. It was embarrassing. Let's make our own history, put a woman against a black guy and see if we can gain ground. The campaign stunk so bad that they made her substitive experience questionable while Obama's lack of experience doing much as out of bounds.

In the wings, stood Barack Obama who is barely qualified to manage a corporate retail office nevermind serve as CEO of the Free World. While folks like me barely could muster a cheer for McCain, we had silently hoped that an inexperienced, black upstart with an arab name and no resume would fall on his own. But the winds of change blew a storm that knocked the GOP on its arse.

Obama's cry of change and the emptiness of his plans beat out the old and tired. Conservatism was never in play. The names that McCain called out - Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan must have been turning in their graves at the thought of being involked by the likes of Big Mac and his empty rhetoric. The debates were embarrassing for the GOP. Everyone I know cringed; they tried to find a beacon of hope in pure confusion and darkness.

So election night came and went. I didn't want to write long diatribes about what was and what could have been. Mac lost me at the convention, and he probably lost America then too.

So I decided to take a few weeks and recharge.

So now the war for America is lost. And as of this writing it looks like the left wing will take the Senate with a filibuster proof majority (now that Alaska and Minnesota appear lost). So now we have a full blown war for the heart and sole of the GOP.

So what is it going to be? Are we going to be the liberal media's dream child? With John McCain as our leader wobbling too and fro and selling us out on the issues that mean the most? Or are we going to go back to what made us successful? Conservative principles - both economic and social. Will the party have the courage to make Newt Gingrich the next GOP Chairman? Or are we going to find some middle of the road collaborator who'll settle for second best, or worse choose a minority to impress high-minded liberals at the NYT?

Well the first shots have been fired.

Obama has already started down the road of making terrible choices. His new cheif of staff, Rahm Emmanuel is a well known liberal who has long time relationships with the Clintons and the rest of retreads from Bill Clinton's eight years of embarrassment.

But the worst choice possible for Barack has to be the shortsighted decision to put Hillary Clinton in the role of Secretary of State. Hillary and Billary will be calling the shots and Obama will lose and sense of control for the rest of his tenure. Is he just out of his mind? The Clintons and their allies back in power? Hillary serves Hillary's best interest. Obama can expect no loyalty and no support whatsoever.

If this turns out to be true. The choice of Hillary Clinton will be Obama's first undoing.

What a shame.

The big question

Republicans have nothing to be proud of this morning

There are a lot of mindless articles on the web this morning that are talking about a new beginning for the GOP. Articles that claim that this election is good for conservatism, etc etc. I think before we can start our opposition movement, we need to clearly address the failure of our Republican leaders both national and local.

Be very careful today of those Republicans in power who are going to try and chaulk up this defeat to an inevitable loss due to the economic crisis, or George W. Bush's tenure. Obama won this election because the Republican Party and the Republican Nominee, John McCain were not up to the task. The Republican National Chairman should resign this morning for the sheer number of loses across the country (although luckily we avoided the magic number of six to avoid a fillibuster proof Senate).

John McCain may be a war hero, but he was a lousy, inept candidate for President. Disjointed, unimaginitive, stiff, old, and out of touch. This campaign was identical to the Dole campaign just a few years ago. John McCain barely had a chance. And the GOP and its old boy network of leaders decided that favors and backroom politics were to take precedence over practical evaluation of exactly what makes up an electable candidate.

Everyone deserves to primary, but in an eight-way race over a short period, sometimes a weak underdog emerges - no one had the dignity and courage to tell John McCain that at the end of the day - he just wasn't electable.

Democrats were better organized, grassroots organizations worked day and night, whether legallly or illegally - their foot soldiers never stopped working. The GOP never rallied their troops, and to be fair, our candidate never inspired them to work. And the decision to have John McCain throw President Bush under the bus as often as he did damaged the GOP and hurt him with conservatives beyond repair.

This is a terrible day, but final analysis is that Repubicans own this defeat.

Soon we will learn if we are willing to embrace that defeat, place blame where it lies and get rid of our leaders who led us down the path to failure. For now, don't buy into the the "it was unavoidable argument"; that's just an excuse and a lie.

Doomsday Arrives

At the time of this writing, we are hours from real election day. I use this term because all of the early voting madness is the kind of stuff that fraud stories are made up of... I mean the horror stories about Acorn, telephone voting, and drive up voting, etc during what has become election month.

With Republicans trailing in most polls its hard to fathom anything but an Obama win. That is unless the polls are all inaccurate, and there's a huge left wing conspiracy - well, we know there is at CBSNBCMSNBCABCPBS - all of which is very much in the Obama camp, certainly by everything we hear and see. The bias has never been so unbelievable open as it has this election cycle.

That being said, Republicans have run a terrible campaign. Shamefully inept, if not poorly coordinated. If Republicans cannot muster a win against a man who loves socialists and socialistic policies, then we are our own worst enemy. If a war hero and patriot with a strong record of accomplishment cannot defeat an unknown, unaccomplished, weak candidate like Obama then we deserve to lose.

If Republicans cannot defeat a man who for 25 years has attended the Church of a white hating, race bating minister who says "Goddamn America", who Barack Obama gave $50k over the last two years, then we deserve to lose.

If Republicans cannot defeat a man who hung out in the apartment of a traitor, Bill Ayers, who bombs buildings and served time in the Federal Pen, claiming afterward that "he did not do enough" then we deserve to lose.

If Republican allow a Democrat to lie openly about Democrat tax policy and let him get away with it, if not outright obsconding the tax issue all-together, then we deserve to lose.

I guess much more can be said, and will be said over the next several weeks.

Say a prayer, call your fairy-God mother, say a Hail Mary. There is this strange notion that perhaps if you wish upon a star that McCain may pull this one out. The notion that the world is lying to every pollster seems a bit remote even for this Sci-Fi fan, but who knows.

I guess we will tomorrow night.

This article was so well-written; it deserves to be posted here

This column appeared in the Washington Post. It couldn't be more accurate.

October 13, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Fire the Campaign
By WILLIAM KRISTOL

It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.

He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.

He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.

But I’m not convinced by such claims of inevitability. McCain isn’t Bush. The media isn’t all-powerful. And the economic crisis still presents an opportunity to show leadership.
The 2008 campaign is now about something very big — both our future prosperity and our national security. Yet the McCain campaign has become smaller.

What McCain needs to do is junk the whole thing and start over. Shut down the rapid responses, end the frantic e-mails, bench the spinning surrogates, stop putting up new TV and Internet ads every minute. In fact, pull all the ads — they’re doing no good anyway. Use that money for televised town halls and half-hour addresses in prime time.

And let McCain go back to what he’s been good at in the past — running as a cheerful, open and accessible candidate. Palin should follow suit. The two of them are attractive and competent politicians. They’re happy warriors and good campaigners. Set them free.

Provide total media accessibility on their campaign planes and buses. Kick most of the aides off and send them out to swing states to work for the state coordinators on getting voters to the polls. Keep just a minimal staff to help organize the press conferences McCain and Palin should have at every stop and the TV interviews they should do at every location. Do town halls, do the Sunday TV shows, do talk radio — and invite Obama and Biden to join them in some of these venues, on the ground that more joint appearances might restore civility and substance to the contest.

The hope for McCain and Palin is that they still have pretty good favorable ratings from the voters. The American people have by no means turned decisively against them.
The bad news, of course, is that right now Obama’s approval/disapproval rating is better than McCain’s. Indeed, Obama’s is a bit higher than it was a month ago. That suggests the failure of the McCain campaign’s attacks on Obama.

So drop them.

Not because they’re illegitimate. I think many of them are reasonable. Obama’s relationship to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is, I believe, a legitimate issue. But McCain ruled it out of bounds, and he’s sticking to that. And for whatever reason — the public mood, campaign ineptness, McCain’s alternation between hesitancy and harshness, which reflects the fact that he’s uncomfortable in the attack role — the other attacks on Obama just aren’t working. There’s no reason to think they’re suddenly going to.

There are still enough doubts about Obama to allow McCain to win. But McCain needs to make his case, and do so as a serious but cheerful candidate for times that need a serious but upbeat leader.

McCain should stop unveiling gimmicky proposals every couple of days that pretend to deal with the financial crisis. He should tell the truth — we’re in uncharted waters, no one is certain what to do, and no one knows what the situation will be on Jan. 20, 2009. But what we do know is that we could use someone as president who’s shown in his career the kind of sound judgment and strong leadership we’ll need to make it through the crisis.

McCain can make the substantive case for his broadly centrist conservatism. He can explain that our enemies won’t take a vacation because the markets are down, and that it’s not unimportant that he’s ready to be commander in chief. He can remind voters that even in a recession, the president appoints federal judges — and that his judges won’t legislate from the bench.

And he can point out that there’s going to be a Democratic Congress. He can suggest that surely we’d prefer a president who would check that Congress where necessary and work with it where possible, instead of having an inexperienced Democratic president joined at the hip with an all-too-experienced Democratic Congress, leading us, unfettered and unchecked, back to 1970s-style liberalism.

At Wednesday night’s debate at Hofstra, McCain might want to volunteer a mild mea culpa about the extent to which the presidential race has degenerated into a shouting match. And then he can pledge to the voters that the last three weeks will feature a contest worthy of this moment in our history.

He’d enjoy it. And he might even win it.

Fannie and Freddie

Ain't it the truth!

Red Sox advance; Yankees don't

Just thought I'd remind everyone that the Boston Red Sox are in the playoffs once again. Meanwhile the so-called Bronx Bombers are once again sitting out the play offs. Thank God for the YES Network - where old games showing the Yankees winning each night - can be rehashed as if it were live TV.

If the Yankees Network and Yankees Organization had any class, they'd just simply shut down their operation until next year and stop pretending that the Yankees are relevant.

Meanwhile, the Sox have their hands full this time around. To win any one of these series is going to take work, particularly since both the Angels and Tampa Bay whipped our butts in the regular season serieses.

There is nothing magical about this year. It's been pretty painful if you ask me. Injuries, controversy, and stitching together enough wins to make it into the playoffs.

I consider any playing time in the post season gravy this year. If the magic runs out, it runs out. I'm just glad the Yankees aren't in it.

Don't bail out Wall Street

It must be nice to live in a place where you can make unsound financial loans and when they go bust - simply call on the tax-payer via Washington to bail you out.

$700 million dollars is a lot of money to fork over for risky mistakes made. Or perhaps they weren't mistakes - the greedy saw a way to get greedier by making short term gains and hoping to stick someone else with the bill.

Everyone in their right mind, sees this. Yet the President and the Congress seem ready to take the plunge on behalf of all of us. What sickens me is not just the millions in bailout money, but its the fact that Congress seems willing to fork over millions to pet groups like Acorn and other scandalous organizations. Plus why not tack on few million in earmarks for districts like Joe Biden's.

What the hell is going on?

We send the most irresponsible people to Washington to bail out an even more irresponsible group of people. And the threats just keep coming. Bail out the Wallsheeters or their will be total economic collapse. Sure.

Call your Congressman and tell them to go tell Wall Street and the corrupt executives that agreed to risky mortgage loans to get new jobs and bail themselves out. What a insane, socialistic country we are becoming.