Hugh Hewitt on Biden, the media, and the scandal of the year

I'm just catching up on some podcasts. Christmas Eve eve Hugh Hewitt (Dec. 23) was apoplectic over the news of Biden's clemency and pardon list including 37 on federal death row (3 remain). The 3 who still face the death penalty were obvious "DEI"/ political choices.

The three men on federal death row did not get a commutation were Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his brother killed three people in 2013; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, and Dylann Roof, who killed nine black Charleston churchgoers in 2015.

 
Among those getting some holiday cheer is Thomas Sanders, who in 2010 kidnapped and then shot 12-year-old Lexis Roberts four times and cut her throat in Louisiana — days after the girl watched as Sanders murdered her mother on a road trip near the Grand Canyon." (New York Post) 

I'm sure the families of the other 37 will be thrilled that Biden who claims to be against the death penalty due to his Catholic faith, makes exceptions for race and religion while supporting and advocating for death to the unborn which the Catholic Church definitely condemns.

This news came on top of the Wall St. Journal story on the incompetency and dementia of Biden the entire 4 years and how his family and staff protected him and the media lied. The WSJ story was solid journalism with many interviews with staff and observers and media who weren't allowed to tell what they knew. Conservatives who knew this had been silenced or cancelled or called conspiracy nuts. Because Hugh is a journalist, he was most upset with the media, but he's awfully mad at Jill Biden and the rest of his family. The Scandal of the Year - The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated - Apple Podcasts  

Every Democrat you know should listen to this.

How is deplatforming different than any other discrimination?

Our internet was out this morning so I was watching via antenna a Detroit station which featured a story about a local civil rights legend. There was film of her (now deceased) retelling her story of being denied service at a recreation park (or something public) because of her skin color. It reminded me of Big Tech denying President Trump service any Democrat, anarchist or Palestinian terrorist can have because he exposes the swamp and collusion with oligarchs which threatens them.

Wall Street Journal: "Facebook Inc. said it is suspending Donald Trump’s accounts for two years, formalizing a long-term penalty for the former U.S. president after its independent Oversight Board said the company was wrong to keep the ban open-ended. 

Facebook said it would revisit the suspension two years from the date of its initial move to suspend him on Jan. 7, the day after the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Assuming he is then reinstated, Mr. Trump will face a “strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions” if he commits further violations, including permanent removal of his pages and accounts, the company said. 

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed a desire to run an open platform enabling free speech. So much for that. This latest decision to attempt to edit U.S. political speech means many more editing decisions await. The Journal reporters note:
In responding to the board’s criticism, Facebook also opens the door for more, as the company will now be required to make more subjective decisions on whether posts from political figures violate its rules surrounding misinformation, hate speech and other issues that are hotly debated. Those judgment calls are likely to escalate partisan complaints around whether the company is being fair in how it applies the rules.

Will Facebook now ban Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists who dismissed the idea of a laboratory origin for Covid-19 in 2020?"

Why are people not obeying orders on the lockdown? WSJ opinion piece

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-second-wave-covid-scare-11591919250?mod=opinion_lead_pos1&mod=djemMER_h

Most WSJ articles are behind a pay wall, but videos of opinions sometimes can provide the main points.

What do you think of Obama’s character now?

Story from the Wall St. Journal--other major sources are mum and shaking in their boots as the growing illegal behavior of Obama's gang is revealed. And my question about Flynn has always been why shouldn't an incoming Trump official talk to a Russian ambassador or any ambassador? Obama had been ridiculing Russia's power--what had happened in the 4 years since he'd down graded them in public on TV?

"When news stories appeared in early 2017 about Michael Flynn’s conversation with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., these columns wondered how Mr. Flynn’s call was so widely known. The names of private U.S. citizens caught on tape by U.S. intelligence are supposed to be “masked” so their privacy is protected. 

Well, now we know. GOP Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on Wednesday released a declassified list of Obama Administration officials who in their waning days in power “unmasked” the conversations of Mr. Flynn, who was set to become President Trump’s National Security Adviser. It seems everyone but the night janitor wanted to know who Mr. Flynn was talking to. 

A stunning THIRTY NINE separate officials snooped on Mr. Flynn’s conversations with foreign actors, lodging nearly 50 unmasking demands between Nov. 30, 2016 and Jan. 12, 2017. Our sources say the nearly dozen redacted names on the list are likely intelligence types—who might have a legitimate interest in knowing who their foreign targets were speaking to in the U.S. But most of the rest are partisan officials who had no business SPYING on their successors. 

The list includes then White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, then Vice President Joe Biden, and then Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew. Ambassador to the U.N. and Obama confidante Samantha Power made no fewer than SEVEN requests, though she told Congress she had no recollection of unmasking Mr. Flynn. 

Mr. Flynn was unmasked by at least four U.S. ambassadors, six Treasury officials, and people connected to the Energy and Justice departments and NATO, among others. Then FBI Director James Comey, then CIA Director John Brennan and then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also made the list. This means they had access to the transcripts of any phone conversations Mr. Flynn had with foreign sources as he prepared to take power. 

The media cordon sanitaire that protects Democrats will say this is no big deal because unmasking is routine and legal. But if the masking rule means nothing in practice, why pretend it exists?" . . .

Maybe because pretending to have character (something they say Trump doesn't have) is all the Democrats know about character?

. . . "The dates of the unmaskings raise further questions. The FBI’s interest in Mr. Flynn was supposedly triggered by conversations starting Dec. 29, 2016. Yet Mr. Flynn was first unmasked a month earlier—shortly after Mr. Trump named him security adviser."

This was definitely "get Flynn" and crush him. What was the Obama parade of lackeys and toadies so afraid of?

The booming Trump economy creates a labor shortage

So many Democrats believe Trump's economy talk and tweets are "spin." They whine, post stupid memes, and have no respect for people trying to get ahead after Obama's 8 years of slow growth (except for the rich--they did well after 2009). That's because Washington Post, NYT, CNN and MSNBC mislead the sheeple, or just lie.

From today's Wall Street Journal:

"The remarkable jobs rally at U.S. small businesses continued in December. That’s according to the latest National Federation of Independent Business monthly employment survey, due out later today.

NFIB’s Chief Economist William Dunkelberg reports:
Job creation did not change from November, with an average addition of 0.29 workers per firm, the highest level since May. Net job creation had faded from February’s 0.52 workers per firm to September’s 0.10, but is back in strong territory. Finding qualified workers remains the top issue for 23 percent reporting this as their number one problem, 4 points below August’s record high.

The desire to hire among the owners of small firms remained robust. According Mr. Dunkelberg, “The 2019 small business labor market ended in much the same way as it began with strong hiring, elevated levels of open positions, and higher employee compensation.” Speaking of rising wages, the NFIB economist notes: “Attempting to fill open positions, historically high percentages of owners plan to raise worker compensation.”
In some industries, the competition for labor is especially fierce.

NFIB reports:
Sixty-two percent of construction firms reported few or no qualified applicants and 46 percent cited the shortage of qualified labor as their top business problem. Comparable figures for manufacturing were 63 percent and 24 percent respectively. Growth is clearly constrained in these important sectors by a shortage of workers."

The Washington Post today got it half right--reported on the booming job growth, but then attributed it to rising minimum wage! How dumb does a business columnist need to be (or who is threatening him) to write that? Minimum wage is a huge deterrent to a healthy economy. Wages are going up because of labor shortage--workers are promoted and new ones hired at good salaries if they can walk and chew gum. It's not rocket science, except for MSM. A very small number of workers even in recession made minimum wage, most made more.

In 1980, when the federal minimum wage was $3.10 ($9.41 in 2018 dollars), 13% of hourly workers earned the federal minimum wage or less. Today, only 2% of workers do. The number of federal minimum wage workers has decreased from 7.7 million in 1980 to 1.7 million today. This is partly due to states establishing higher minimum wages than the federal level. I guess Democrats want more people to be earning minimum instead of less?  I don’t get it!

Transgender woman is actually a man, plus he’s a crook

I was reading a front page article in yesterday's WSJ about the woman hacker of Capital One who attempted to destroy the security and income (and lives) of 100 million people, when on p. 6 I noticed her photo. "That's not a woman," I said to myself.  A male friend of mine (my assistant for several years) had the same facial features when he began taking hormones.  So by paragraph 11 there was one reference to his many personal and psychological problems casually noting, transgender. Why keep it so secretive? Putting on make up and women's clothing doesn't make him a woman, and it won't correct his mental problems.

Some people see Wall St. Journal as a "conservative" news source. It isn't. I don't know where it stands now, but in the past on news coverage, it was the most liberal of all daily newspapers. (topic, verbs, adjectives, idioms, slant, "expert" sources, etc.) Only the opinion page and editorial columns lean conservative. Burying the news is very common in liberal journalism. They couldn't possibly link this man's very troubled past, his sexuality and his crime without getting a huge uproar from the genderists.

The Wall Street Journal Christmas Gift to the Country

Published on Christmas Eve in the Wall Street Journal since 1949 written by the late Vermont Royster and it has been published annually since

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar. Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression — for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

--------------------------------------------------

“Vermont Connecticut Royster (April 30, 1914 - July 22, 1996) was an American journalist whose career at The Wall Street Journal spanned half a century. Royster was no ordinary journalist, he studied literature and classical languages—Latin and Greek —and his writings reflected these influences. He tackled the issues that affected people in their everyday lives with thoughtful insight, touching on the essentials of life. He had an unfailing faith in the American people and in the greatness of the United States as a country blessed by God. His Christmas and Thanksgiving editorials, reprinted every year since Royster wrote them, continue to resonate with people's desires for freedom, peace, and prosperity in a world filled with challenges.”https://uts.edu/news-and-events/615-in-hoc-anno-domini

How minimum wage hurts the poor

"San Francisco’s ever-rising minimum wage—set to hit $15 next year—has restaurant owners asking for the check. At Least 60 Bay Area Restaurants Have Closed Since September . . . If there’s a silver lining to San Francisco’s culinary struggles, it’s that other cities, even ones run by Democrats, are realizing the arguments for a $15 minimum wage don’t match reality. In March, Baltimore’s mayor, Catherine Pugh, vetoed a measure that would have raised the local mandate to $15 by 2022. “I want people to earn better wages,” she told this newspaper. “But I also want my city to survive.” (Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2017)

The minimum wage went into federal law during the Great Depression to keep black workers from under cutting whites by offering their labor at a lower price. It immedicately created more unemployment. Still works. Raising minimum continues to keep minorities and youth and mentally challenged from getting into the competition for jobs. Unions love it.

Eight years, five major global conflicts

The Wall St. Journal editorial board notes that in the eighth year of the Obama Presidency the U.S. is involved in 5 major global conflicts as Obama prepares to leave office. "The tide of war is building on multiple fronts and the U.S. can’t escape the consequences,” writes the editorial board. No we can't escape it, and he and Clinton won't be blamed either by our media nor our textbooks and historians in academe (are there any left?). He will leave office "clean" because nothing touches him, and the next president will be blamed.

 We have drifted (or been pushed) into corrupted statism of a one party federal system with media colluding and the other party refusing to support its national candidate at the state level. If these battles are as serious as the WSJ board suggests, I hope we aren't in them for moral and ethical reasons. We have nothing to offer on that front.

Lakeside family sells their cottage—a poignant story

Those of you who own homes in Lakeside or rent there, or went there as children or who have followed my blogs about Lakeside will enjoy the article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about a couple selling their cottage at 4th and Maple, "Last Summer in Lakeside,"  by Clare Ansberry which had been in the family since 1873. It's very well written and mentions Robert Putnam (who lived there as a child) who was one of our speakers this summer speaking from his research "Our kids; the American dream in crisis."

From the article:  " . . .milestones--the first tree climbed, the first fish caught, the first crush--or when part of a meaningful family tradition." We've got a photo of our son and his first fish.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/print/WSJ_-D001-20150826.pdf

Cousins’ Corner, owned by the Gregg family

We’ve owned our cottage since 1988 and are still considered the new people living in the Thompson place.

Who reads which newspapers?

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie chart format.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave LA to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and they did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy, as long as they are democrats.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

http://www.gcfl.net/archive.php?funny=7237

Makes me nostalgic for when Panera’s and a few other coffee shops had a house paper for both the Columbus Dispatch and the Wall St. Journal. WSJ actually has the most liberal news coverage, but the best conservative opinion page. Using WSJ I did a comparison of the difference between male and female writers' use of idioms.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/01/3328-e.html

The feminist movement plus increased materialism and decreased church participation

“In the schema of the Second Demographic Transition, long, stable marriages are out, and divorce or separation are in, along with serial cohabitation and increasingly contingent liaisons. Not surprisingly, this new environment of perennially conditional, no-fault unions was also seen as ushering in an era of more or less permanent sub-replacement fertility.” WSJ article by Nicholas Eberstadt

Don’t like that conclusion? (mine)  How else would emphasis on success and satisfaction in the business world by women combined with easy contraception and abortion and dropping church attendance work out? And it’s not just the United States.   A child-free marriage or no marriage is also sought after in many European and Asian countries.  Note, the change in vocabulary?  Childless marriage is now child-free marriage. Also, note the sources I’ve tracked down on the subject—most are left of center.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/make-your-life-blessing/201402/child-free-marriages

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2399338/Meet-couple-say-secret-perfect-marriage-NOT-having-children.html

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/08/nation/la-na-childless-couples-20131208

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-carroll/childless_b_1703698.html

Obama's Millionaire Obsession

President Obama's always been wealthier than we are, even in childhood, and unlike us probably didn't begin in the bottom quintile as a young man, having attended pricy private schools and colleges and then marrying a woman of some means and social connections from Chicago. However, he loves to play the wealth envy card, doesn't he?

With less than 19 months left before the next presidential election, Barack Obama has kicked off his campaign, doing coast-to-coast "town hall" meetings last week. At the top of President Obama's re-election strategy is what appears to be a personal jihad against America's "millionaires and billionaires," many of whom, he seems to think, are—there's no other word for it—un-American. So naturally the place he picked to pitch an assault on the wealthy was the Silicon Valley headquarters of Facebook, a place filled with millionaires and billionaires.

Since he never could acquire wealth on his own efforts, or was never allowed to given his parents' and grandparents' socialist beliefs, he now has to try to strip and demean others who have achieved.

Henninger: Obama's Millionaire Obsession - WSJ.com

Conservative Christians have always given more generously than liberal Christians who prefer to take hand outs from local, state and federal governments, then pass it on to the poor in various "good works." However, even the wealthy give more than their "fair share."

It is an eternal question whether the deductibility of such spending means the charitable activity by these people is bogus and driven only by self-regard. One man's answer: Eliminate the charitable deduction, drop—or flatten—the top tax rate and total giving will rise, not fall. Giving is what Americans do, at all income levels.

Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act

Let's return to a representative form of government and make the Congress accountable.

"One of the most important political stories of 2011 will be regulation, as the backwash of the outgoing Congress hits the federal agencies and the White House drives its agenda via rule-making rather than democratic consent." Review and Outlook, WSJ, Jan 14, 2011

"the Constitution vested Congress with the duty to make laws, not to make vague suggestions about what it might be good for the law to be. And now there is a growing movement to force Members to take responsibility for the laws they pass, and to force Administrations to be accountable for the laws they create through regulation."

Review & Outlook: The Congressional Accountability Act - WSJ.com

Media coverage of the Congressional threats

If you want to know why the news coverage (not the editorial page) of the Wall Street Journal has a reputation for being the most liberal newspaper in the country, just read journalist Naftali Bendavid's account of . . . just about anything political. Today's piece on the charges being thrown back and forth about threats is a good example.

"Democrats seized on the reported violence to portray opponents as irresponsible. Republicans condemning the acts, charged Democrats with trying to make political hay."

I'd say that's true--but words matter. Notice, she doesn't say who the irresponsible opponents are. We're left to conclude they are Republicans, which is exactly what the Democrats have said, with zero proof--some even demanding apologies. Naftali is much smoother than crazy Chris Matthews--after all, she did a puff piece book on Rahm Emanuel and was given access to the insider's view. If you look back at what she wrote in July 2009 about the 52 Democrats opposing Obamacare, you would think they had no power to hold up this bill if not for Republicans.

You have to get to paragraph nine of Naftali's article today to learn that the Democrats have not just charged "opponents," but their Republican collegues specifically and not the progressives, socialists, or Communists who believe they had been betrayed by the Democrats with a weak bill giving concessions to insurance companies and lobbyists.

Democrats and their supporting actors in the press do not put the various crazies we've seen since Obama took office--Amy the Professorial Shooter, Stark the suicide pilot, Hasan the military doctor, or Awlaki the American Muslim cleric in their column of extremists. Oh goodness No. That wouldn't be good journalism. Wouldn't be prudent. But let a white haired, 80 year old, Tea Party participant give them the finger and they rush into the streets screaming "stranger danger" and then spend days rehashing it with Chris Matthews.

The truth is, just in case you are in the information cave called broadcast news, we have well-trained FBI and police to investigate threats of violence. Reporters and Congressmen should not be deciding who threatened whom. A nasty fax, a brick through a window and a shot fired are at opposite ends of the voilence spectrum, and so far, the Republican side of Congress is in more danger.

Sarah Palin is called "an act" by WSJ

Jonathan Cheng and John McKinnon couldn't hide their dislike in reporting on Palin's speech at a conference sponsored by investment firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets--must have mentioned money 4 or 5 times. Smart women are really a threat to the MSM. They said foreign policy was her weak spot. Surely they haven't been listening to the Obama-Biden dog and pony show where three of our allies have been tossed overboard in the past week. Also, they listed possible contributors to her speech. Do they do that for Obama's speeches or Bill Clinton's speeches (and don't you wish Biden would stay on script)? Look what she's been able to accomplish without a full cheerleading team in the media!

An unusual story in the Wall St. Journal

It actually criticizes President Obama, and points out how irritated and unhappy the people are who chose to live within their means, who met all the requirements for downpayment and percent of income for housing costs.

What do you expect from the government?" said David Newton, 46 years old, proprietor of DJN Management LLC, which owns 232 rental apartments in the Atlanta area. "The government isn't out there to help people who obey the law and follow the rules."

Mr. Obama "told everybody, 'I'm going to spread wealth around,' and that's what he's going to do," Mr. Newton said. Story by Timiraos and Phillips here.

Yes, it's a quote, but at least it's not from an ACORN "community organizer" who was first taking money from the government to put people into mortgages they couldn't afford, then taking money from the government to run foreclosure workshops, and now is taking money to organize foreclosure protests.

Since 1986, we have helped 45,000 families successfully negotiate the homebuying process and achieve the American dream of homeownership for the first time." ACORN website

"ACORN Housing provides one-on-one mortgage loan counseling, first-time homebuyer classes, and helps clients obtain affordable mortgages through our unique lending partnerships." ACORN Florida website

"In Providence, Rhode Island, ACORN will provide a foreclosure workshop to assist homeowners who need to renegotiate their mortgage loans. ACORN is a nonprofit group that advocates for initiatives that benefit moderate- and low-income people." Bankruptcy website

"ACORN plans local action to stem North West Indiana mortgage foreclosures." NWI website.

If you need a job, ACORN is hiring. I'm guessing the protestors in front of homes, banks, and mortgage companies are paid.

No place to hide today

It's all Obama, all the time. The Obamathon. The WSJ has an editorial, "The Opacity of Hope," which really, really tries to put the best spin on this presidency. I'm just looking for a place where the TV and slavish-slurpy admirers won't be out in force--I have to be out of the house most of the day, so there's no place to hide. I'm surprised that Soros and Moveon haven't constructed flatscreen TV billboards throughout the cities and countryside so people can watch while they drive. Phrases from the WSJ with my comments:

his heritage: Little is said about his European roots and middle class life--raised by his white grandmother who was a bank vice president--a plus for all the grandparents, black and white, who step up to do what needs to be done when parents have failed; a teen mother, absentee, polygamous father--yes, this too can be overcome if the government gets out of the way.

his rhetorical skills: This one really baffles me. Do whites never listen to black preachers on Sunday morning? He can't even come close to the power, rhythm, KJV language and parables of hope--probably because it doesn't come naturally--he had to learn it as an adult, and the ear for imitation is never as good at that age. Do most rhetoricians stammer when off teleprompter?

first class temperament: Has no one at WSJ seen his flashes of anger when cornered by a lie, even by a plumber? His hatchet men were immediately sent out to destroy the little guy who dared to question him. I see he also has no patience in press conference when there is the audacity to step outside the MSM carefully drawn guidelines of obsequiousness and lackeydom.

self-confidence: Self delusion comes to mind. I'm guessing he's quite surprised to be where he is, considering he'd set his sights on being Mayor of Chicago. Others on the far left saw more in him for their purposes than he did--when they saw the effect of his 2004 speech at the Democratic convention, how the crowd was moved to tears, after he'd said those same phrases many times to black audiences in Illinois, with little impact--they began to rub their hands with glee--"here's how we'll do this."

smooth transition: Yes, because Bush continues that precedent of being gracious and helpful, something that all our out-going presidents have done. Also, it doesn't hurt that he's surrounded himself with Clintonites who've had 8 years experience and never left the plantation.

first black president: first Hawaiian president, first offspring of an African, first president born in the 60s, first president with such shallow experience. All presidents come with "firsts." JFK was the first Roman Catholic, and we haven't had any since. There are lots of firsts, but the hoop-la about being black is the one that mystifies me the most. I never once doubted that we'd have a black president in my life-time, although as the civil rights industry grew and expanded in the 80s and 90s, I was feeling less confident as black people were being held back by the very people encouraging them to eat only slops at the victimhood trough.

historical symbol, walking affirmation of opportunity: Obama has defied the entire civil rights movement, the whole black power bleat--beat them at their own political game and sought help from whitey, the Chicago machine and terrorists moved maintstream. WSJ editors need to read some presidential biographies, not his two autobiographies written before he'd accomplished a thing. He's not a Lincoln who grew up without education; or FDR who over came a physical disability to rise to the heights of power; or the son of a rich and powerful bootlegger turned respectable; or a dirt poor, crude Texan who learned the political ropes with powerful mentors and a refined, classy wife; or a peanut farmer with a naval education and ambition, or a handsome radio announcer turned movie star from tiny Dixon, Illinois. There's nothing remarkable about Obama except the hysteria--particularly from whites clawing and grasping for release from a prison of a sordid history they had no part in making. I'm not the least bit surprised at the pride and love the African-Americans are showing him--they've longed for this recognition on the world stage and at home that they are indeed "somebody." Having Jesse Jackson shout it was nice, but for them, this is the real thing. For white liberals, I say, step back and take a deep breath. This is your creation. Tomorrow it's business as usual.

Shallow research

If it's possible for journalists to drown in a mud puddle, Cam Simpson and Jonathan Weisman of today's WSJ certainly fell in and died from lack of effort in this one, "Obama ties in the spotlight." Two sources are cited for the most part in this "investigation" written mostly in the passive tense: an Obama biographer, David Mendell, and an Obama mythmaker, David Axelrod. And so we get investigative depth such as

embarrassing the 2 aren't close no suggestion of inappropriate behavior public spotlight on the episodes highlights ties name will be linked little mud on his suit no relationship say aides unclear how much Obama worked on Blagojevich campaign not involved with Emanuel say transition officials gone separate ways (Axelrod and Blogojevich) says Mendell "I was mistaken when I said Obama spoke directly to Gov. Blogojevich about the Senate vacancy," said Axelrod.

Some articles are best left unwritten. The WSJ has the most liberal news coverage of any American newspaper, but this has to be an all time best obamapology.

Wall Street Journal front page feature, the black McCains

Interesting isn't it, when Barack Obama has slave owners both in his African ancestry and his American white ancestry, that WSJ choses 2 weeks before the election to write about McCain's ancestors who owned slaves?

The first Islamic assault on African culture was the jihad that annihilated Coptic Egyptian culture and Greek culture in Northern Africa. Today these areas are Arabic and Islamic.

That was just the thin end of the jihad wedge. Over the next 1400 years, Islam took approximately 25 million slaves out of Africa. An Arabic word for African is abd, the same word that is used for black slave. Arabic has about 40 words for slaves. White slaves are mamluk. Islam took more than a million European slaves into slavery. The highest priced slave in the Meccan slave market was a white woman.

There is great deal of collateral damage when a slave is taken. A warring party attacks a tribe and when enough of the protectors are killed, the rest will surrender and become slaves. All of those who were strong enough to work were taken away in a forced march for days. But there are many who are left behind -- the young, the old, and the sick and injured.

Estimates vary, but from 5 to 10 people left behind died as the result of taking one slave. So for 25 million slaves, we have the deaths of 125 million Africans over a 1400-year period.

When the story of slavery is told in America, as in the movie Roots, the sailors get off the boats and capture the Africans and make them slaves. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

When the white slaver showed up in his wooden ship, he made a business deal with a Muslim wholesaler. Jihad was the machinery that Mohammed used, and his model worked well in Africa as slavers filled the slave pens for the same reason that Mohammed did it: profit. Whites only traded slaves with Islam for about 200 years. Islam was in the slave trade before and after selling to the West

.From every educational and personal achievement measurement, the black McCains and the white McCains seem pretty well matched in the 21st century, regardless of what transpired in the 19th century. We'll never know if the NGOs and western aid hadn't virtually destroyed African culture and propped up despots, 21st Africans would be doing as well as 21st century African-Americns.

WSJ news coverage is among the most liberal of all the MSM. It's difficult to tell sometimes if journalists or left wing social workers are doing the writing, because much of it belongs on the op-ed pages. Generally, the editorial staff and letters to the editor are conservative. I wonder, do the two cultures of this paper even sit together in the lunch room?