Chicago Daily Observer

What were we to expect when we were told Gwen Ifill of PBS would “moderate” the vice presidential debate? That the debate would be skewed to the left, favoring Joe Biden, obviously. Now we find that she has written a book extolling the rising of a new black political class that is indebted to Barack Obama’s meteoric ascension. And it is to be released to the bookstores on Jan. 20, 2009, the presidential inauguration day. Now here are the counts against Ifill doing a fair job in running the debate.

(1) She’s a “mainstream journalist” which means, according to the odds, it’s 87% she’s for Obama.

(2) She’s black which means it’s 97% sure she’s for Obama.

(3). She has a heavy financial interest in the election outcome with her book: you guess the odds.

(4) She somehow neglected to inform the Presidential Debate Commission she had the book-now ... Read More...

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today regarding a financial stabilization plan Congress is expected to consider this week:

“Taxpayers deserve to know that there is no guarantee this plan will work, but there is a guarantee that we will face a financial catastrophe if we do nothing. If banks continue to fail and stop lending the average American could lose their job, be unable to secure a loan for a car, home or college education, and find their life savings and retirement in jeopardy. Our economy depends on having liquid assets available for credit and lending just as an automobile engine needs oil. If those liquid assets stop flowing, our economy will be seriously damaged and will require far more costly and lengthy repairs.”

“This bill does not represent a new and sudden departure from free market principles as much as it represents an emergency ... Read More...

Nymex Crude Future 93.93 -4.60
Dated Brent Spot 89.71 -5.16
WTI Cushing Spot 93.97 -4.56

Because Barack Obama has spent most of his adult life in Chicago politics, one can surmise a President Obama will reach back home for trusted advisors and longtime associates to form an Obama cabinet.

The top cabinet positions traditionally include the secretaries of state, defense, and treasury as well as attorney general. Recently, the secretary of homeland security has risen to the cabinet’s top level, along with the vice president and chief of staff.

So, who would be at Obama’s table of influence?

Jim Thompson, Oprah Winfrey, Wesley Clark, Bill Ayers, and Tony Rezko among others

Despite efforts to blame the rescue bill’s failure on the GOP, it should be remembered that 95 Democrats — some 40% of the Democratic Caucus — withheld support. Obama himself also deserves blame — not only for the bill’s failure, but also for the crisis it was designed to solve.

As the New York Times reports, “Aides to Mr. Obama said he had not directly reached out to try to sway any House Democrats who opposed the measure.” Is the reason the fact that the slush fund for ACORN in the original bill, siphoning off 20% of any future profits for such activist groups, was trimmed from the tree?

Obama, who once represented ACORN in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, was hired by the group to train its community organizers and staff in the methods and tactics of the late Saul Alinsky. ACORN would ... Read More...

Interview with Brian Wesbury on less radical solutions to the financial crisis.

Link is offsite

Giuliani’s comments:

That’s very interesting. That is an area of Sen. Obama’s background that seems to be very much hidden, and the media doesn’t seem to be spending very much time on it, and I really would like to know more about it. I don’t want to come to any conclusions about it until I know more about it. But, he was involved with [the Assn. of Community Organizers for Reform Now]. When he was a community organizer, I believe, it was a group, including ACORN, that recruited him. He did give out a lot of money, and I know Ayers was on the same board he was on. I also know, from the [unintelligible] that I’ve done, that a lot of the projects failed miserably.

This is an area that could be examined. You do know that he is often attacked for having never run a budget. He ... Read More...

It will be difficult for Sarah Palin to lose tonight’s vice-presidential debate. There are low expectations for her and she has several opportunities to score big.

First, she could show her humor by saying that she had thought of asking Tina Fey to stand in for her. Or, secondly, she could say that she understood that her candidacy was even making atheists pray—for John McCain to live through his term if he wins.

Joe Biden, who is more knowledgeable should be careful not to assault Palin on her qualifications. In fact he might think of saying, that no one should complain about Governor Palin’s credentials. If they have any complaints its McCain’s judgment that needs to be called into question.

McCain’s choice of Palin, even with her drop in the polls, is still beneficial for McCain. It solidifies the Christian and conservative right wing Republican base and still appeals to ... Read More...

John McCain’s commercials say that Barack Obama is a product of the Daley Democratic machine. No! say the Obama people, Obama matriculated from Hyde Park which long as been non- or at least anti-machine. What’s the answer? It takes a bit of Chicago history into which I figure slightly.

In the days of yore when old man Daley ran things…and even long before…there was a so-called “independent liberal” bastion in Hyde Park typified by the radical but often doughty alderman who represented it in the city council-the venerable (now 100 years old) Leon Despres. At that time there was a vestige of the Republican party that was not co-opted in the city and Cook county. When the “60s brought ferment over civil rights to which the senior Daley was very wary and opposition to strong-armed leadership in the anti-civil rights positioned regular Democratic party (where an influx of blacks was ... Read More...

Children’s Chorus excerpted from the motion picture adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984.”

Is Barack Obama the incarnation of Big Brother or does he fancy himself as a dictator or a divine right monarch? Perhaps he would prefer to be “President for Life” like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

I was frightened and disturbed by the familiarity of the children’s campaign video that is circulating on the Internet. The exploitation of children for political purposes is nothing new, but Obama supporters have taken it to a sickening new low. If any other candidate or his supporters had staged a similar event, Obama’s leftist friends would report those responsible to the Department of Children and Family Services.

Watching the preschool students in the ... Read More...