CNN Investigated and Confirms Obama's Links To Terrorist
Barack Obama has been trying to downplay his links to unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. This CNN report confirms that it was Ayers who hosted the party that launched Barack Obama's political career.
The $700 billion dollar taxpayer-funded bailout was supposed to secure our banking system and stabilize the markets. Knowing that the money was in the offing was going to restore confidence in our broken financial system. Well, if this is confidence, I'd really hate to see panic:
The recent freeze-up in the CDS market has hurt many hedge funds, said David Kotok, president of Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, N.J. He said that much of the recent stock selloff has come as hedge funds unwound a popular trading strategy in which they would buy a company's stock and then buy credit-default protection on the same company, since that protection would tend to go up in value as the stock or index went down.
But as CDS paper has become ever more difficult to value -- or fallen in value in cases where a price can be set amid doubts that the sellers of the insurance-like contracts can make good on their commitments -- many funds have been forced to raise cash to meet margin calls. To do that, they sell stock, which is easy to unload on a public exchange compared to opaque, privately negotiated CDS trades.
"As all this is going on, you have average Joe investors who are getting more nervous as they watch on the sidelines, they don't quite understand the trade, and so they just pile on and sell their stock as well," intensifying the market's slide, said Mr. Kotok. "It's just feeding on itself."
Of course, Democrats are saying that all of this is the fault of the Bush Administration. Republicans are, in turn, doing their best to blame all of this on the Democrats. The truth of the matter is that this continued slide for the Dow seems to prove that the free enterprise system works. Government intervention is not saving our economy, the market hasn't stabilized, and banks are still failing or are on the verge of failure.
The issue that has paralyzed the presidential election is doing so not because the bailout has worked, but because the Ponzi scheme approved by the house is and will continue to be a miserable disaster.
Those who follow political news with regularity will recall that back in 2000, Democrats were quick to accuse Republicans of "stealing the election" for insisting that the law be upheld. We were told that we were trying to suppress the vote. Vote suppression, of course, is a terrible crime against humanity when Republicans are accused-falsely, I might add-of engaging in it. However, suppression of votes deemed to be friendly to the Republican Party by Democrats is not only allowable, it is encouraged in their world.
There are still plenty of polls that show this race within the margin of error, and that means the election is not over by a long shot. Democrats and liberals are so desperate to win that they will resort to any means possible, including undermining the very process that they disingenuously claim to hold sacrosanct. The electoral process means nothing to these people unless they win the election. When they lose, they blame everyone and everything except for the parties responsible for their defeat.
Losing in a free, fair, and constitutionally sound election to Barack Obama may not be something that I would enjoy. Certainly, many of us would spend the subsequent four years in opposition to the administration-but we would embrace the result as reality and as the will of the American people within their respective sovereign States. If it is later discovered that Mr. Obama captured the election through the fraudulent hands of ACORN and his other liberal allies attempting to illegally and unconstitutionally inflate voter rolls and suppress Republican voters, conservatives will never recognize the legitimacy of the Obama Administration. If liberals feel they've been wronged in an election, they spend the next four years whining like children an organizing hippie/peacenik love-ins that they label protests. If conservatives feel they've been wronged, they vote in every election in numbers, not merely in presidential years, and will have their vengeance-and many conservatives do not need to organize protests, as it is well-known that many of us are armed with a metallic form of vote protection insurance guaranteed in the Second Amendment. This is one of the reasons that our Leftist friends would love to disarm the American people.
Liberals move quickly to scream with great drama when they are angry. Conservatives move very slowly, almost like a tortoise, but when the stone begins to gather force it moves with the strength and purpose of a great and mighty avalanche that crushes all opposition that stands in its path. If we lose the election fairly, we lose it. If conservatives lose due to fraud, our friends in the party opposite had better look out, because conservatives will collectively insure that they never live it down.
John McCain fared much better in last night's presidential debate at Belmont than he had in the previous encounter between himself and Barack Obama. Despite what the press was saying in some of the post-debate commentary, McCain looked more relaxed and sounded more aggressive than he had at previous times during his entire campaign. He was especially relaxed going into the crowd, and it bears noting that the folks doing most of the questioning from the hall at least looked and sounded like ordinary Nashvillians and Tennesseans.
The down side to this debate, however, was that it was not the kind of game-changing event that the McCain campaign really needs in order to get things back on track. Despite McCain looking much-improved, Barack Obama is literally driving the campaign bus in a way that he simply has not been doing up until very recently. Obama didn't win last night's debate, but he held his own for the entire evening, and that was all that the Senator from Illinois really needed to do. He was successful at dodging difficult questions or answering them in such a way that the point of the question was never addressed, but it sounded like an answer. Of course, Obama is aided by a press that is friendly to him and his campaign, and that has proven to be quite inept at holding him to account.
None of this is to say that John McCain cannot turn the current trend around. Barack Obama's numbers are far from being insurmountable, and we have seen the numbers take a dramatic and sudden turn in unanticipated directions before. In addition, the closer the calendar moves to Election Day, the more likely the race will tighten as undecided voters begin to shift. For John McCain to take advantage of these possibilities and turn them into a win on November 4th, he must be willing to fight to the political death if need be for the sake of victory. One of the great conservative fears of John McCain as the Republican nominee was the fear that he would not be prepared to take the fight to the opposition, something that he must do to great effect in order to be elected.
John McCain's willingness to fight for this election in the coming days with everything he has will show us whether he wants to win this election or not.
The Tennessean is reporting that David Kernell, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville student who allegedly hacked into the personal e-mail of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, has been indicted on charges relating to the case.
Kernell is the son of Democratic Tennessee State Representative Mike Kernell of Memphis.
Among the terms of Kernell's supervised release are that he cannot leave East Tennessee without the court's permission, and may not possess a computer. He will be allowed to check his e-mail from computer labs, but may only access the Internet for class-related work.
It has been debate mania in Tennessee, and a way to get to the debate in Nashville tonight has become one of the hottest tickets in the State. The Tennessean had the news that the CBS Early Show broadcast from the Belmont campus this morning. John Rich played his campaign song Raisin' McCain in front of a flurry of Obama signs (give the Obama supporters credit, they were very gracious to John Rich) that might have given the casual viewer the impression that Tennessee was filled with Obama supporters.
There is a big difference-a dichotomy of sorts-between Nashville and Memphis and the State of Tennessee. Outside of Davidson and Shelby Counties, finding a bona fide Obama backer is possible, but they are rare as chicken teeth. I can think of several Democrats in my town who have publicly said that they are going to vote for John McCain, and these are usually straight-ticket Democratic voters. Others are unwilling to publicly admit that they might vote for Barack Obama, instead choosing not even to discuss the presidential race if politics are brought up at one of several town "newsstands" in the community. Those brave enough to admit that they will cast a ballot for Obama have taken a lashing in the local paper and among certain people in town that even I-rock-ribbed Republican that I am-think borders on the unfair. Part of me wants to say "they are Democrats, the poor souls, and can't help themselves." Obama supporters out here in the "real Tennessee" are a small enough minority that leaving them alone to practice their hero worship isn't likely to bring about any danger that Obama will actually carry the State.
How will the debate tonight impact Barack Obama's showing here? He might be able to do slightly better in Tennessee if he would actually campaign here. The Obama campaign made a conscious decision quite a long time ago to write Tennessee off. If the gap closes and the election once again becomes tight-as many expect that it may-Barack Obama may regret that decision. This is especially true since the Belmont debate has generated a sort of debate mania, as many small towns and communities with local offices up for election in November held debates or forums last night which inadvertantly acted as precursors to tonight's event in the State capital.
Having participated in one such debate yesterday evening, one thing that was discussed off the podium was how the presidential election might impact turnout for the local municipal election. Some of the candidates were clearly of the mind that turnout would spike. While I expect some increase in local turnout, it is likely to be moderate for a presidential year if people think that Tennessee is already decided.
While my personal inclinations toward John McCain are obvious, Barack Obama's loss of Tennessee has as much to do with his choice not to campaign here as it does with any predispositions of the populace against him.
This week's electoral map is essentially the same as last week's, except that Ohio is now a toss-up: <p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p> Most polls show Barack Obama with anywhere from a five point to an eight point national lead at this juncture. It is becoming clear that Obama is building momentum. We've seen some pressure over the last couple of weeks that might lead to putting Florida back into the "toss-up" category.
The threat that Ohio Democrats might try to steal the election is very real.
NOTE: I apologize for the short and late entry today. I have been busy with my own election campaign the last few days, especially tonight's White Pine City Council debate.
A conservative journal of social, cultural, and ecclesiatical affairs grounded in a realistic Catholic Christian worldview. It is my hope that this site will be a reflection of Christ,the teachings of His Holy Church, and of the basic vision of a Christian social morality.
