First Person: Hunting a Terrorist Mastermind

[VIDEO] This video is actually about hunting down the actual mastermind of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks Khalid Sheihk Mohammed. Here's a description from the AP:

Author Josh Meyers details the hunt for the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as journalists and relatives of Sept. 11 victims prepare to attend the arraignment hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba.

How appropriate as May 2nd will be the 2nd anniversary of Bin Laden's death at the hands of a Navy Seals team!

This never happened when I was in high school :(

Yeah so students at Chicago Public High Schools were able to see Gorbachev and other Nobel Prize winners at their respective schools this past week. Awesome indeed!

It was an unusual day in social studies class at Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, a public high school on the North Side of this city. Monday’s class was taught by a substitute teacher: Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev, 81, appeared before a roomful of teenage students and recalled his negotiations with President Ronald Reagan in the late 1980s — years before any of them were born — to reduce the world’s nuclear stockpiles.

“The world could have exploded at any moment,” he said through an interpreter. “It would have taken a few hours to destroy civilization.”

Mr. Gorbachev was among a who’s who of historic figures fanning out at Chicago’s public high schools, here for a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize winners. It was the first time the annual event was being held in the United States, and in anticipation, high school students around Chicago had been studying the laureates’ accomplishments as part of a “special human rights curriculum,” developed by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and Chicago public school teachers.

“We’re not starting with some large opening ceremony at some large hall,” said Terry Mazany, who was the interim head of Chicago Public Schools when the planning began last year for the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which opened here on Monday. “We’re starting at the public schools with serious dialogue between the peace laureates and students. We’re bringing a student voice to the conversation.”

At schools nearby, F. W. de Klerk, the former president of South Africa who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for their work to end apartheid, and Muhammad Yunus, a microfinance pioneer from Bangladesh who won the honor in 2006, were among others visiting 17 classrooms throughout the city.

Having them dress in their Sunday best and I would be very curious about the type of questions they would ask. They had better be good questions!

I've wondered how Obama would do with the youth

This Daily Caller piece answers my question somewhat. It seems to be established that the youth made the difference for President Obama back in 2008.

Obama won 66 percent of the youth vote in 2008, while Republican Sen. John McCain got only 32 percent. Since then, youth enthusiasm for Obama has declined, partly because of high unemployment: More than 50 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

Less than 35 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old cohort say they’re likely to vote in 2012, according to an April 26 report by Gallup, which also showed Obama leading Romney in that age group by a 64-29 margin.

Can the President regain the magic?

Hat-tip Newsalert!

Soon Chicago will play host to NATO...

And from Althouse we already see a potential conspiracy theory coming about. It seems there is an expection of trouble coming to Chicago next month when NATO comes to town. Took a quote from our local CBS affiliate:

CBS 2 News has obtained a copy of a Red Cross e-mail sent to volunteers in the Milwaukee area.

It said the NATO summit “may create unrest or another national security incident. The American Red Cross in southeastern Wisconsin has been asked to place a number of shelters on standby in the event of evacuation of Chicago.”

According to a chapter spokesperson, the evacuation plan is not theirs alone.

“Our direction has come from the City of Chicago and the Secret Service,” she said.

Officials at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communication said the directive did not come from them.

The U.S. Secret Service did not return calls for comment.

Within the past week or two there were helicopters engaging in maneuvers just in time for the NATO summit. It was unsettling to be sure but hey they got to do what they got to do to protect the summit.

Althouse is asking why the evacuation plan isn't bigger news. In talking about the Secret Service she had to bring up the prostitutes scandal. I'm sure someone is asking if they even fool with American prostitutes. My apologies to those agents who aren't involved with that activity!

She even connects it to the coming recall election in Wisconsin. Chicago residents are expected to be evacuated to Milwaukee. Thankfully there is an ID law for registered voters there.

Anyway, not sure what to make of all this!

National Review: Millennials’ Financial Illiteracy

 One point to pull from this brief posting:

Worrying about student loans before college is one area where it’s not at all bad for students to start young.

Here, here! If you're making plans for college find out where the money is or at least plan to make some money to pay for tuition while you're in school. There's no shame in saving up for college before you get there and there's no shame in working while you're in college.

Of course there's more to this piece than that!

EDIT: BTW, Instapundit linked to this piece saying, "HELPING THE HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE ALONG: Millenials’ Financial Illiteracy."

Hmmm, when I was in high school I had to take consumer education. Financial literacy should be part of that, especially if we encourage our young people to go to school.

To be honest I wasn't sure the point of consumer education back in the day. Even worse consumer education was nestled within the psychology class I took at the time. My teacher seemed to have come up with a hurried lesson plan for that aspect of our course. It's hard for me to say that anything was retain from that! Didn't get it!

LA Riots Then & Now

L.A. ablaze in '92. Source link

Until seeing this article Thursday via Instapundit it hadn't occured to me that we have just about reached the 20th anniversary of the rioting that took place in Los Angeles back in 1992. The unrest occured in light of the acquittal of police officers in the police brutality of Rodney King.

This piece shows the photojournalist work of Ted Soqui. He was taking shots of the rioting around LA during the event and those images are combined with shots of those sames scenes today in a much more peaceful era. It seems to those who live it race relations and relations between police and civilians are much better today. Let's hope so we should live without riots!

I have to excerpt something from this!

The California Economic Development Department had at the time painted a bleak picture of L.A.'s labor market as "experiencing one of the most severe recessions of the postwar era." Between April 1991 and April 1992, 108,000 local jobs vanished. Black and Latino communities were hard hit, with a combined 29.7 percent in poverty and more than 13 percent unemployed.

Perhaps worse, L.A. was in the throes of a vicious era of street violence, and a years-long bloodbath was unfolding in U.S. cities. Driven by armed gangbangers and violent crack and PCP dealers, the mayhem in L.A. produced 1,025 murders in 1991 and 1,092 in 1992 (there were 612 in 2011). It wasn't safe to walk in South L.A. in the afternoon - that's when armed teenagers got out of school.

The aging mayor, Tom Bradley, widely seen as tired and burned out, nevertheless worked hard with top business leaders after the riots to create Rebuild Los Angeles, a group that hoped to lure billions of dollars of corporate investment to South L.A., the worst-hit area.

Few of Rebuild L.A.'s plans came to be, but its most clear achievement was that it managed to clear away the vast, depressing rubble left by hundreds of destroyed buildings. The biggest private success story was thanks to Lakers basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who in 1995 built a movie theater complex in South L.A.

It wasn't just businesses and investors who rejected South L.A. after the riots. As L.A. Weekly reported in 1993, black families ramped up the "black flight" from L.A. that had started in the previous decade. Some 56,000 African-Americans fled L.A. between 1980 and 1990. Cal State Northridge researchers found that the exodus was driven by racial displacement - the mass movement of mostly illegal Latino immigrants into the city's affordable black neighborhoods.

After the riots, between 1992 and 2007, the city's black population dropped by 123,000, as households left for the Inland Empire, close-in suburbs and even for family hometowns in the Deep South. They were running, and being pushed: The city's Latino population grew by more than 450,000 in those years.

With that in mind while LA is a different place today than it was in 1992, it seems some of the areas hardest hit by the rioting is still stuggling.

Still this is a good read and check out the images. I hated to see the burning city, but it was interesting to see those very same sights today. Things have changes but by how much?

American Crossroads: "Cool"

[VIDEO] I've searched for this ad and am elated to have found it! People were genuinely excited about Barack Obama in 2008. The then junior Senator from Illinois was a young fresh face and people were tired of political insiders who spent years in Washington. He could be described as a celebrity politician but with perhaps not a whole lot accomplished in his political career starting in the Illinois State Senate.

This ad shows how cool he is and then asks if he's accomplished anything as President of the United States. Well has he?

This ad was produced by Karl Rove's Super PAC. Do you think it's effective?

Politico: Gov't favorability at 15-year low

I wonder how Illinoisians view their state government. I think it's somewhat easy to guage how Chicagoans view their city government. I would say for Chicago their view of city government is generally negative. What does Politico say about the nation as a whole:

A decade ago, Americans felt similarly about their local, state and federal governments. No longer.

Today, just one in three has a favorable view of the federal government — the lowest level in 15 years, according to a Pew survey. The majority of Americans remain satisfied with their local and state governments — 61 percent and 52 percent, respectively — but only 33 percent feel likewise about the federal government.
...
The survey of 1,514 people was conducted Apr. 4-15, with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

Time: 3 Ways to Handle a Colleague You Dislike

To be honest I feel the same way myself about some of the people whom either I have worked with or who currently work with me now. This option well would be very difficult for me:

Work together. It’s counterintuitive, but by spending more time together you may develop empathy for your colleague. You might discover reasons for his behavior: stress at home, pressure from his boss, etc.

Even at that it would have to depend on if they even work. If they have the tendency to not do anything then no I don't want to know what their problem is! Some things on the other hand provided they can do the job and well can be overlooked.

Of course there are two other points to look at in this article. Check it out!

Powerline: Thoughts on the Edububble

We want to encourage our young people to go to college. I may have it backwards but my goal is to not lie to them about the investment they and their parents are about to make. So here's an example:

Today, a good private college costs between $40 and $50K a year; many state universities will run you over $20K a year.  Total cost for four year now: $150K or more.  That’s not even close to a starting professional salary, except for the handful of top students who go to Wall Street.  I’ve run this shift by some college administrators and get the same answer: “Well, very few people actually pay those full tuition rates.  Most students get some amount of financial aid, so the real cost is much lower.”  To which I respond: “Determining what college is going to cost you ought not to be like haggling with a used car dealer.”  (Memo to parents by the way: if you have a child admitted to several colleges, you should treat the financial aid offices exactly like used car dealers, and beat the hell out of them for the best deal.  Apologies here to used car dealers; you are actually more scrupulous than college financial aid departments.)

The parenthesis of that above quote would certainly apply to that young lady from my old high school who really wanted to go to Spelman College but she didn't get the best deal there! She did go for the best deal btw still this is a lesson to many high school seniors who are still trying to figure out where they should start their undergrad education!

Via Instapundit which had this pertinent comment, "What other industry forces you to give them detailed financial statements before they’ll decide on your price?"

Well that is what they're doing when you fill out a FAFSA so that you can get grants and loans! Of course that means the information input on the FAFSA will have to be evaluated by a college financial aid advisor.

Why Romney could be a transformational president

I would be careful about this. They also said that about President Obama. A return of the New Deal and well not so sure we got a New Deal here!

If Romney wins the election, it’s almost a sure bet that Republicans win control of both the House and the Senate. And that matters. Right now, the GOP’s agenda is the Ryan budget, and that’s entirely fiscal: It’s a premium support plan for Medicare, and tax cuts, and deep cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other domestic programs. All that can be passed through budget reconciliation — which is to say, all that can be made immune to the filibuster.

So if Romney wins and the Republicans take control, they could accomplish quite a lot on party-line votes, even if their majorities are slim, and Democrats are opposed. Indeed, Romney could end up being a fairly transformational president for conservatives so long as he’s paired with a Republican Congress.

OK a different context than the one I had in mind. All the same let's not get ahead of ourselves Romney has to win the election and the GOP has to win both houses of Congress in November!

Via Newsalert!

Romney's victory speech...

[VIDEO] Here's Romney's victory speech from tonight courtesy of ABC news all 15 minutes of footage. From Boston.com some of the major points of this address:

Over 15 minutes, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee purposefully hit all the touchstones aimed for in such a pivot.

-He sought to connect with angst-ridden voters, mentioning single mothers, grandparents, moms and dads, and small-business owners.

“I have a simple message: Hold on a little longer. A better America begins tonight,” he said.

Amplifying his message, Romney added: “The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!”

He sought to move beyond the image of him as a Gordon Gekko corporate raider, talking about his father’s own hardscrabble life and taking head-on the criticism of a venture capital career that made him a near quarter-billionaire.

“I’d tell you that not every business made it, and there were good days and bad days, but every day was a lesson. And after 25 years, I know how to lead us out of this stagnant Obama economy and into a job-creating recovery,” he told an audience of several hundred at the Radisson Hotel Armory.

-He sought to recapture Ronald Reagan’s penetrating 1980 question - “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” - by asking, “Is it easier to make ends meet?”

A chorus of “No” rang out as Romney continued to ask about pocketbook issues: “Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you making more in your job?”

-He sought to outline the contrast he hopes will dominate the remainder of the campaign, his support for what he terms a free-enterprise society versus what he says is Obama’s belief in a government-centered one.

“This president is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions, and czars. He’s asking us to accept that Washington knows best – and can provide all,” said Romney. “Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty.”

Romney said with his vision, “because there are so many enterprises that are succeeding, the competition for hard-working, educated and skilled employees is intense, and so wages and salaries rise.”

-He sought to undercut the prime mantra of the political party rivaling that which he now leads, challenging the Democrats’ argument that they are the guardians of fairness.

“We will stop the unfairness of urban children being denied access to the good schools of their choice,” he said, alluding to his support for charter schools.

“We will stop the unfairness of politicians giving taxpayer money to their friends’ businesses,” Romney said, smoothly delivering a more pointed shot he usually takes at Obama’s support for Solyndra, a failed renewable energy company.

-And, finally, Romney sought to provide the inspiration that people expect not just from the nation’s chief executive officer, but its leader.

“There was a time – not so long ago – when each of us could walk a little taller and stand a little straighter because we had a gift that no one else in the world shared. We were Americans. That meant something different to each of us but it meant something special to all of us. We knew it without question. And so did the world,” he said. “Those days are coming back. That’s our destiny.”

If you're a Republican and even if you're not, are you happy with Romney's speech? Do you think he's the man to lead the Republican Party to victory of President Obama in November?

Shouldn't Gingrich have done this a long time ago?

[VIDEO] Tonight the big news is that in all the primaries held tonight in such states as Delaware, Connecticut, and New York Romney has won these primaries. Santorum had dropped out weeks ago but it looks like Gingrich is standing firm as you see in this video but even he noticed his campaign isn't going anywhere fast now. He talks about taking a "realistic" look at his campaign during the next week!

It appears Romney is on his way to the Republican nomination for President of the United States to face Democratic President Barack Obama in November:

Mitt Romney has now won all five Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, effectively ending the GOP nomination battle.

The Associated Press called New York for the former Massachusetts governor not long after polls closed at 9 p.m. EDT. Earlier, Romney was declared the winner in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Tuesday marked the biggest day of voting in the Republican primaries since Super Tuesday on March 6, but there was little suspense. With former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum out of the race, Romney faced only Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, both of whom were well behind Romney in polls.

A total of 231 delegates were up for grabs on Tuesday, though not all of them will be awarded based on the vote because state party officials also serve as delegates who cast their votes at the party's national convention.

Analysts said Romney still stood a strong chance of collecting 200 delegates or more as he closes in on the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the nomination. The latest Associated Press tally showed Romney came into Tuesday with 698 delegates, well ahead of Santorum's 260. Gingrich had 137 and Paul had 75.

Ya know, where is a video of Romney's "victory speech". That's worth posting here tonight because I heard the term optimism as a description of this!

An unforunate outcome but a potential idea...

On April 13th, I went to a Local School Council meeting for my old high school (GO HARLAN FALCONS!!!!). Just before the meeting two of the council members had a talk about a student. One of them was a parent of the student and the other I believe was a counselor. This counselor had approached me about participating in a career day but currently I still have no "Morehouse man job".

The gist of the convo is that the young lady wanted to go to Spelman College. It seems as if her heart was set for Spelman but then came the financial aid award from them. And then disappointment set in!

The award from what I got from the convo was heavy on loans and unless I'm mistaken I heard nothing about grants. Even with that in mind they still had to come up with some cash to finish off the balance. It's safe to say momma wasn't going for Spelman College this trip and she referred to this award as a "racket".

The young girl was upset but after some reflection decided to focus her energies onto Howard University. Apparently Howard had offered her a better deal with a scholarship and let me not be dismissive of Howard it's still a great school. But this story made me wish that well I had some contacts at Spelman to help this young lady out a bit.

Also this leads to other questions. I would like to be this bold but without getting into anyone's business although I already did that by tuning into the conversation.

The counselor seems to have predicted that Spelman wasn't going to give this young lady any money. It makes me wonder how she decided that. The mother noted that the counselor was beaming when she heard the young lady was considering Howard University. Though perhaps beaming as if she knew that this was going to happen.

During my time at Morehouse College I had to learn the financial aid game. I never turned in applications on time but I knew the "high-touch" paying a visit to financial aid advisers could make a different. Well at least in the time before my return to Morehouse after one disastrous semester.

It's understandable that momma may not have wanted to go for it looking at the award. Of course if one was determined to go to the school of their choice there is a way. Of course, that might mean trying to eke out more money so that they can go to school figuring out how to pay for it after a year is entirely another. Then again I wasn't a senior in high school like this young lady is currently trying to figure this out. Though it does make me wonder what is the difference between Spelman College and Howard University. In fact this gives me an interesting idea.

It does give me one idea that's been in my head for quite a while. If there was one thing I do wish I could do for students at Harlan High School it would be to help provide scholarships so that they can attend the university of their choice. Although if I could my goal would be to start small and hopefully help some young Harlanite who wanted to go to Morehouse get a decent scholarship to be able to attend that prestigious Atlanta, Georgia institution. That may also mean that Morehouse needs to add one more place to recruit!

Should this blog have a new title?

I've thought about changing the name of this blog. Is it time to dump the title It's My Mind?

If only I could work in pundit as a suffix of sorts. Indeed I can follow the trend of many bloggers who may well have started their blogs in the wake of the early success of Instapundit. Of course in naming this blog I was very much unaware of that trend back in 2005!

Yeah so needless to say the name of this blog wasn't particularly clever. It may well have not indicated the typical subject matter of this blog which is primarily politics. Although this is MY blog of course and in owning this space in the "bloggosphere" it is for me to do with as I please.

As a blogmaster that's going to continue to be my plan, but sometimes there may be a time for a change. Should that title change come soon or should things around here stay as is? What say you?

VIDEO: The making of "jive talk" from Airplane!

[VIDEO] When I was much younger we got cable for the first time. Whenever I was watching HBO or Showtime, I just plain couldn't get away from this movie. It always had me on the floor but this was a very adult movie that went over my head.

For example there was a scene where the doctor played by Leslie Nielson appeared to be giving a woman an abortion right on the aircraft. All I knew about this scene back in the day was that well a woman's barefeet was held up in the air by some medical equipment. Although this is a set-up surely you would find at an OB/GYN's office.

This particular scene was a case of racial humor. This is a take-off on "Ebonics" although that term didn't exist yet. Basically they wrote lines for two of the Black actors in this movie to talk the Black slang and make it out to be a foreign language. Believe me I didn't understand what they were saying without the translation provided.

As they interviewed the actors to talk about their lines years after the fact, they even provided a "jive talk" translation for them as they were speaking in plain English. Hilarious!

Ward Room: Old White Guys For Romney, Young Black Women For Obama

Courtesy of Ward Room's Edward McClelland. I had intended to post this earlier but had simply forgotten. Now is the time for this to be seen:

When I voted in the Primary Election last month, I asked the election judge for a Democratic ballot. I’d been thinking about voting against Rick Santorum in the Republican primary, but his campaign looked dead. So I decided to vote against my state representative in the Democratic primary, because she had helped pass Rahm Emanuel’s speed camera bill.

“That’s surprising,” the judge said.

“Why is it surprising?” I asked. “Because I’m a 45-year-old white male? You’re doing ethnic profiling.”

“No,” she said. “Just thinking aloud.”

I can understand her surprise. According to opinion surveys and exit polls, I’m supposed to be a Republican. I’m white. I’m a man. I’m straight. I’m over 45. I go to a (Protestant) church. I have a bachelor’s degree. According to those demographics, the odds of my voting for Mitt Romney this fall are at least 75 percent. On the other hand, I’m not married and I earn less than $100,000 a year. So that may reduce my odds of voting for Romney to, oh, 67 percent. (I can tell you what the actual odds are: zero. The paperback version of Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President is coming out in September. Not only am I a longtime admirer of the president, if Obama loses, it’s going to be selling for six cents on Amazon.)

Admit it, though. You’ve looked at an older white guy before and thought “Republican.” You’ve also looked at a slim, young black woman and thought “Democrat.” Most of the time, you were right. I’m bringing this up because the 2012 election is already being portrayed as a battle between women and minorities, who favor Obama, and white guys who are grumpy about not having one of their own in the White House for the first time in history.

According to recent polls, President Obama leads Romney among non-white voters, by as much as 78 percent to 17 percent. Romney is getting around 60 percent of the white male vote.

Oh man, where must I start with this. Is it likely that "minorities" and women will vote for Obama? It's very likely that they will vote Obama. I hate the conclusion that "white guys are grumpy about not having one of their own in the White House". McClelland noted later on that in Illinois, white voters are willing to vote in Blacks on statewide tickets. Look no further than our current Secretary of State Jesse White.

Another point made by McClelland:

The point is, our surface demographics don’t always determine our political decisions. But that seems to be how both parties plan to treat us this year.

He noted the war on women. Now their tugging at the hearts of dog lovers by talking about "dog-gate". Either Mitt Romney packed the family dog onto the roof of the family automobile for a family vacation or President Obama as a young boy found himself describing the chewing texture of dog meat.

Thankfully he notes that "our surface demographics" don't determine how we vote, however, it seems he's only continuing to perpetuate who certain people are expected to vote. Yeah certain patterns and behaviors are tracked it's just not fair to buttonhole people into that!

The Atlantic: Why the U.S. Economy Is Biased Against Men

Oh I wonder how so?

The 77-cents-on-the-dollars statistic is calculated in a way that is biased against men. For example, while among all physicians, men earn more than women, men are more likely to be in specialties requiring longer training, high-stress, and irregular hours, for example, surgery and cardiology. In contrast, women are more likely to be pediatricians. Despite that bias, across all careers, surveys report that childless women under 30 make more than men. More than 90 percent of workplace deaths, military deaths, and severe workplace injuries (e.g., amputations, black lung disease) occur to men. Such dangerous work justify higher pay for men.

Visit American workplaces, especially major corporations, and you'll find that anti-men practices are not only tolerated but routinely imposed by employers. Women but not men are encouraged to form committees and caucuses to advance their sex's causes in the workplace, often at men's expense. Examples:

• Mentor programs for women only

• Special training for women only

• Fast-track-to-executive position for women only

In honest conversation, most people will agree that, on average, men are more often willing to do the things it takes to get promoted, for example, to make time to take advanced technical courses by forgoing recreation such as sports or shopping. Men are more likely to be willing to move to a God-forsaken place (Montgomery, Alabama, anyone?) for a promotion, and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to work longer hours.

Hmmm, I wish I had an excuse to move to Alabama and that's not the only place I would like to go. There are other places in the south or even in the west I would like to live.

That being said you should read the whole thing! This is looking like a good article.

Hat-tip Newsalert!

VIDEO: The state against Blacks...

[VIDEO] Economist Dr. Walter Williams was on John Stossel's program a while back - this segment was uploaded to YouTube on June 22, 2011. He discusses whether or not welfare has only dampened the upward mobility of Black Americans.

Dr. Williams did a video in 1985 about that very subject and we see clips of that documentary. Also they discuss not only why the minimum wage is a bad idea, but also why the disparities in the youth unemployment rate between both whites and blacks.

What do you think about this?

Barney Frank: Obama Made 'Mistake' With Health Care Push

Well the President did lose a majority in the US House of Representatives later that year when he did pass "Obamacare". How did the outgoing Massachusetts Congressman come to this conclusion (via Instapundit)?

Frank referenced former President Bill Clinton and his failed health care plan from the 1990s. “Obama made the same mistake Clinton made,” Frank said in a wide-ranging interview with New York magazine. “When you try to extend health care to people who don’t have it, people who have it and are on the whole satisfied with it get nervous.”

The outgoing representative from Massachusetts added that after Republican Scott Brown won former Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat, breaking Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority, Obama should have backed down: “I think we paid a terrible price for health care. I would not have pushed it as hard. As a matter of fact, after Scott Brown won, I suggested going back. I would have started with financial reform but certainly not health care," Frank said.

He said that if the president had followed his advice, “you could have gotten some pieces of it.”

Today there was a "tea party" in downtown Chicago...

[VIDEO] I missed today's Tax Day Tea Party in Chicago, however, John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit was there for the festivities. Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch was there to speak to the faithful today as recorded by Ruberry.

Also here are two posts that he had written so far to mark the time where most American must file their federal taxes.

• Video: Lt. Gov. Kleefisch talks about Wisconsin reforms and fighting Big Labor at Chicago Tea Party
• Pics: 2012 Chicago Tax Day Tea Party

BTW, this is a great picture from Ruberry today!

 Ruberry's caption:

Wisconsin's lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, gave a great speech which I reported on earlier this evening. As you can see, Tea Party members come from all races--we're not just a bunch of white people.

VIDEO: Treyvon Martin & black slaves

NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW) - There is some strong language in this video and include not only use of profanity but also racially charged epithets. 

[VIDEO] You may want to know what this is about here. Well this guy is angry about a number of things.

This video was posted to YouTube on March 27, 2012 and was shot by this gentleman in a parking lot to a store - located in Akron, Ohio although he refers to it as Akron, Mississippi - at the end of a rally held in light of the Trayvon Martin case. This gent adds that this store they were holding the ralling in front of is a Black-owned store that the local Black community doesn't even support.

He says a number of things such as people are upset about Trayvon Martin and not about the other shootings that take place in that Mississippi town because in his opinion, "a Black life has no value unless that life was taken by a non-Black one". So he's taking aim at the lack of action by Black leaders on the issue of Black-on-Black violence.

He also took aim at Black leadership in his hometown. Point being he's decided that this movement is going no where. He refers to the head of his town's chapter of the NAACP as "90-year-old fossilized hag". He also states that Black preachers "have been lining their pockets ever since the slave plantation".

Like I said he's using some very strong language in this video...MAN!

Hat-tip Newsalert!

Medal stolen from Tuskegee Airman will be replaced

These criminals are looking for a quick buck and don't care what the value of these objects are to the people who possess them. At least for this WW2 veteran he will get a replacement, but hopefully Gary, IN police will find the original one that was given to him!

Officials are working to replace a Congressional Gold Medal stolen from the home of a 93-year-old man who was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, a unit of black fighter pilots who served during World War II.

The medal was stolen from Quentin Smith's home in Gary during a burglary last summer, but Smith says he was reluctant to report the theft.

"As time went by, I became even ashamed to even announce it or ask about it until my police friend came over, and he said, 'Well, let's take a shot at it," Smith told WLS-Channel 7.

Smith, who spent much of the war as a flight instructor with the unit, was among about 300 surviving Tuskegee Airmen to receive the award in 2007.

Gary Police Sgt. Freddie Cook said Smith was his high school principal and he couldn't believe anyone could be so disrespectful.

"It broke my heart because you have not just a veteran but you also have a 93-year-old man," Cook said. "And somebody has the audacity to break into his home and take things.

“They ransacked his home. The medal was in a drawer in the bedroom. They took miscellaneous items, some jewelry and alcohol. He doesn’t care about any of it, he just wants the medal back,” he said.

City officials contacted U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's office about getting a replacement medal for Cook and the congressman hopes to present it to him soon, said Visclosky's spokeswoman, Sarah Olson.

The image in the corner is an example of a Tuskegee Airman gold medal issued to surviving members of this WW2 Air Force unit on March 29, 2007!

Ward Room: How Mitt Romney Can Beat Obama in Illinois

So basically Edward McClelland talks to a Republican ward committeeman who also is running for the chairmanship of the city GOP - John Curry - about a number of things especially the status of Republicans in the city of Chicago. GOP turnout was up in last month's primary election and also the possibility of picking up city council and state legislative seats in Chicago. We shall see about that.

I'm very curious as to how Curry thinks that Romney can win in Illinois:

Q: This fall, you're going to have an election where a Chicagoan is heading the ticket, and in some wards he gets more than 99 percent of the vote. What are the challenges of running against Obama in Chicago?

A: I don't see it as a challenge. I see it as an opportunity. Certainly, he has a strong base of support in Chicago, but I think President Obama has disappointed such a wide array of people across all economic spectrums and community spectrums that you're not going to see his support in Chicago to be as vigorous as it was in 2008. Then, this was a chance for Chicago to put someone in the White House. He was the local hero. He had an energizing message, and people were fed up with the Bush Administration, for whatever reason. They wanted a change. All of those elements are gone now. People are used to Obama as president, and see him as a Mayor Daley writ large. His policies have not produced the nirvana that has been promised. As reflected in our increased primary vote, there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction among Chicago voters, that they still want a change.

Q: But you don't think Mitt Romney can win Illinois, do you?

A: I do think he can win Illinois. The fact that there'd be diminished enthusiasm for Obama in the city of Chicago helps Romney's chances where he needs to have them helped. If there's a suppression -- or, I say, if there's a diminuation of the pro-Obama vote in Chicago, then he has less lifting to in the suburbs, in the collar counties and Downstate.

We shall see about that. I can agree that there probably isn't as much energy behind Barack Obama this year as there was in 2008. Not sure if that's enough for Romney to win Illinois which is considered a solidly Democrat state in recent years.

BTW, it was noted that the primary day was a very nice spring day back in March. That wasn't even enough to entice voters to their precincts. It got more Republicans out though!

It's safe to say that in Illinois...

The Republican Party is in awful shape in general. Cook County could be a more potent party even in spite of the fact that Cook is generally a heavily Democratic county. If a Republican could win statewide such a candidate needs to run well in the Chicagoland area, and if they fail that forget it the election will not roll in their favor even if the rest of the state comes through.

Chicago may be heavily Democratic but then what about the suburbs. Historically many probably could be counted on for Republican votes. Especially in areas to the north and possibly the west and southwest. Of course even then you definitely have to cater to the sensibilities of suburbanities. Some might put the emphasis on suburban women meaning don't talk about guns and don't talk about abortion. To name a few issues that could be sticking points to many.

Yesterday on the Capitol Fax we see the federal Republican party wants to offer some financial aid to not only Illinois' beleaguered GOP but other "orphan" state parties as well:

National Republicans have begun to intervene in a handful of key Senate and House battlegrounds where state parties are in disarray, seeking to head off the possibility that local mismanagement could cost the party control of Congress.

The GOP presidential nominee will be impacted by the state party woes, but what especially worries Republican operatives are those states where there is no competition on top of the ticket but which feature a number of pivotal Senate and House contests.

These “orphan states,” most notably behemoths with traditionally weak parties like California, Illinois and New York, are increasingly the focus of top GOP officials in the nation’s capital this spring.

The Republican National Committee is going to set aside at least $10 to $15 million to aid states where there are competitive House and Senate races but minimal presidential action, a party official tells POLITICO. That’s enough to blunt the GOP’s financial disadvantage in several states, though not to erase the disparity or put the orphan-state groups on par with their swing-state counterparts.

Half of the money will go to the states with hard-fought House contests, including the blue mega-states, and the other half will be directed to states like Montana and North Dakota, where there are crucial Senate battles.

Of course this is mostly about helping campaigns for Congress and US Senate in those states. In fact it was very much emphatic the level of help US House Speaker John Boenner wants to offer in those "orphan" states.

House Speaker John Boehner and the National Republican Congressional Committee are also stepping in to bolster the state GOP in a handful of the orphan states. By month’s end, Republicans aim to have six “Victory Centers” set up to help with turnout efforts in the six targeted House races in Illinois, according to a GOP aide. California and New York will also get special attention from the speaker, the NRCC and the RNC. There are at least 20 House races in those states that could help determine control of the lower chamber. In California and Illinois, the state parties have more debt than cash on hand for federal races, while the New York Republican Party had just $54,000 in federal funds in the bank at the end of February.

“Helping our House members in states like New York, California and Illinois — where we expect big union bosses and liberal Super PAC’s to invest heavily — is a top priority for the Speaker’s political team,” said Corey Fritz, a Boehner aide. “Each of these states presents a number of offensive and defensive races, and the Speaker is committed to ensuring our Republican members and challengers have the resources needed to win.”

You know I wish I knew what The Politico was referring to when they talk about open warfare amongst Republicans in Ohio.

It seems that way in some respects with Republicans in Illinois. The reason why I don't believe in "RINOs" is because of the dynamics of Illinois politics. Perhaps a conservative can win in this state but you have to be able to dial down your ideology for the political realities of Illinois' voters. You have to attract voters to your ideas but unfortunately here it's not advantageous to talk social issues. The right issues to discuss in Illinois is taxation & jobs for example. Of course the other side can always decide to inject the social issues into the race as a distraction but hey there's a way to stay on message surely.

REASON.TV: Can Volunteers Protect Communities?

[VIDEO] One basic fact of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case is that Zimmerman was following Martin because he was suspicious. At that Zimmerman was a leader in the neighborhood watch, and apparently he was described as a self-appointed leader of the neighborhood watch.

Well not that I've seen backlash against neighborhood watch volunteers but Reason.tv takes a look at citizens law enforcement. The video above shows how the Redlands, California Police Department utilizes their volunteers and the results of using volunteers.

Hmmm, this gives me an idea of another blog post somewhere!

VIDEO: Murder Charge Brought in Trayvon Martin Case

[VIDEO] The AP video's description:

Amid public pressure to make an arrest in the killing of Trayvon Martin, the special prosecutor on the case brought a second-degree murder charge against the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot the unarmed black teenager.

Here's an expected plea:

Zimmerman's new attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Zimmerman will plead not guilty. The lawyer asked that people not jump to conclusions about his client's guilt and said he is "hoping that the community will calm down" now that charges have been filed. "I'm expecting a lot of work and hopefully justice in the end," he said.

Hey didn't Zimmerman's lawyers withdraw from this case recently?

George Zimmerman’s attorneys withdrew from his case Tuesday — saying the neighborhood watchman has bolted from Florida and won’t pick up his phone.

In a stunning news conference, defense lawyers Hal Uhrig and Craig Sonner revealed they’ve lost contact with Zimmerman, who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

“You can stop looking in Florida, you can look much further away from that,” said Uhrig when asked about Zimmerman’s whereabouts. The lawyers said their former client is still in the country.

Weird but at the current moment Zimmerman has been taken into custody. Apparently he wasn't too far away from the place where this unfortunate incident had occurred.

Again, may the TRUTH come out!

Gun shops worry about keeping up with demand

This is out of Indiana as reported by the AP today:

Indiana gun shops are still seeing more buyers come through the doors, with some businesses worried about not being able to keep up with demand.

Some store owners attribute some of the demand to lingering concerns over a possible push by President Barack Obama for tougher gun-control laws but also the popularity of television reality shows such as "Top Shot" that feature weapons and sharpshooting.

Elmore's Firearms owner Jason Elmore told the Indianapolis Business Journal that he's facing trouble getting some weapons and ammunition for his Greenwood store.

"We're starting to get shortages of stuff again, so it's pushed people into a supply-and-demand situation," Elmore said. "They're just buying whatever they can buy right now."

Yeah, the only message as always with the image (a button created by the students at Harlan Community Academy High School - GO FALCONS) you see in the left hand corner of this post is that your gun rights must be handled with the best of care. A gun can end a life, let's not lose sight of that. Besides a good thing about the increase in gun sales in Indiana at least is that people are taking training classes.

That's a great idea anyway. Can't have people out their discharging their firearms without knowing exactly what they are doing. That's never smart anyway.

The location of the real Springfield

Image from The Simpsons wiki

A few years ago I could've sworn there was a vote or a competition to determine where the fictitious town of Springfield from The Simpsons is located. Well here's an interview (via Instapundit) with  series creator Matt Groening

OK, why do the Simpsons live in a town called Springfield? Isn’t that a little generic?
Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show “Father Knows Best” took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown. When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, “This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.” And they do.

You’ve never said it was named after Springfield, Oregon, before, have you?
I don’t want to ruin it for people, you know? Whenever people say it’s Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield, Massachusetts, or Springfield, wherever, I always go, “Yup, that’s right.”

Are those the answers you were looking for Simpson's fans or are you still confused? It's probably safe to say that the Springfield from the show is based on Springfield, OR but it isn't that real life town.

Then again no one asked me to explain his answer! :P

Facebook acquires Instagram in $1 billion deal

I just started using instagram even posted a few pictures filtered through Instagram over at Electric Moleskine. This is an interesting development that caught me by surprise but then I really don't follow the tech scene like that!

Instagram, an Internet start-up in San Francisco, has no revenue and about a dozen employees. It has not yet celebrated its second birthday. But to Facebook, it is already worth a billion dollars.

Facebook announced on Monday that it would pay that much in cash and stock for Instagram, the latest big winner in an industry that seems to be more awash in money by the day.

Instagram joins other out-of-nowhere Internet hits like Groupon and YouTube. The acquisition, which is Facebook’s largest to date, could give it a stronger position on mobile devices.

Instagram is essentially a social network built around photography, offering mobile apps that let people add quirky effects to their smartphone snapshots and share them with friends.

It has dozens of competitors, but Instagram stands out for its fast ascension and almost cultlike following. It has 30 million users who upload more than five million photos a day, even though it was available for only Apple devices until last week, when the company released an Android app.

Another angle to this story:

Instagram's steep price tag — roughly the same as Peet's Coffee & Tea or Jack in the Box— raised eyebrows among many, including analysts who drew parallels with outlandish acquisition deals associated with the Internet bubble of the late 1990s.

"Facebook will never make that $1 billion back, but it's still smart," says Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, who deemed the move "defensive."

"Instagram was the only thing challenging (Facebook's) dominance in photo sharing," Moorhead says.

 Yet another angle to this!

Think about the contrast: Facebook’s campus holds thousands of staffers, including a highly trained army of crack engineers. In fact, Facebook is so dedicated to excellence in engineering that it hosts the annual Hacker Cup, a speed programming competition that requires participants to solve algorithmic puzzles of maddening complexity.

Instagram, on the other hand, has 13 employees, total. They’ve labored hard and well to produce an app that’s loved by 30 million users around the globe, but now they’ve also got the resources of one of the world’s engineering giants.

And another angle to this!

Immediately after the reported $1 billion purchase was announced, some digi-pundits were already rushing to say just that -- with plenty offering advice on how Instagram users can delete their accounts and all of the photos they've uploaded with the app.

Some cited Facebook-related privacy concerns.

That line of thinking goes like this: Instagram, a mobile network where people share filter-altered, hipster-y photos with friends, feels small and intimate. By contrast, Facebook feels too big and tries harder to profit off of the data its users submit to the site.

With my iPhone which is still very new to me and now Instagram is very new to me now as well. Time will tell what Facebook can do with this app. Will it improve or will it disappoint?

Ozzie Guillen suspended 5 games for Fidel Castro comments

You know I was wondering what he said that prompted this suspension or at the very least a picketer who believed that the former Chicago White Sox manager should be let go from his new team the Florida Miami Marlins:

The suspension by the team takes effect immediately. It was announced Tuesday shortly before Guillen held a news conference to apologize again and explain his remarks, which caused a public backlash.

Guillen told Time magazine he loves Castro and respects the retired Cuban leader for staying in power so long. At least two local officials said Guillen should lose his job.

OH! I understand that Florida is home to a significant Cuban exile community. Perhaps many of them groan at the compliments of Fidel Castro that have been thrown about over the years.

I wonder what prompted these comments and don't misunderstand Guillen has the unfortunate tendency to be very controversial at times. This is just one of those times he's very controversial.

Capitol Fax: Smith Attorney: Feds wanted info on Jesse White - Smith hearing delayed while feds take action

The feds were looking for information on our Secretary of State and then the special house committee that is looking at the allegations of bribery of one State Rep. Derrick Smith has delayed there future proceedings until another hearing for Smith. Expect him to be formally charged this week according to Capitol Fax.

BTW, at the bottom of this post is Rich Miller's syndicated column. Miller sits down with Secretary of State White and had a frank interview with him. They take a frank look at how Smith got appointed to his seat last year and any plans to replace him should he either be removed from his seat or resign. It was also noted in the CapFax posting that White may consider fielding an independent challenge against Smith should he not resign!

A mess!

Research reveals why today's women are 'marrying down'

From the Daily Mail with some examples including Madonna and or even Queen Elizabeth's daughter Zara Phillips:

To the great delight of the vast majority of men, it appears the days of women setting their sights on marrying ‘above themselves’ are over.

The attractions of the Mr Darcys of this world are waning as women become better educated and better paid, research has found.

Indeed modern women could hardly be further from the likes of Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet and her scheming to net Mr Darcy – not just the man she loved but, crucially, a wealthy aristocrat.

Analysing how female aspirations have changed over the past 50 years the researchers found women in their late twenties and early thirties are increasingly marrying ‘beneath themselves’ by opting for men of lower social classes.

The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research adds weight to the idea that today’s economically independent women are freer to marry for love rather than to further themselves.

The think-tank says the proportion of those ‘marrying down’ – such as the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips who is now wed to former England rugby player Mike Tindall – has exceeded those ‘marrying up’ for the first time. The study found 28 per cent of women born between 1976 and 1981 married men who were less educated and worse paid than them. In 1958, the figure was 23 per cent.

Of the women born between 1976 and 1981, only 16 per cent married up and more than half (56 per cent) married someone of the same class, defined by the IPPR as someone in a similar occupation.

I do wonder if these ladies have such a problem finding that ideal male that they would finally break down and settle for a man who is "beneath" them. I wonder how many women wait until they reach menopause before they finally settle down with someone "beneath" them.

Either way I hope both parties know what they are getting themselves into!

Via Newsalert!

Obama can't be a movement leader and President

[VIDEO] Via Newsalert, I got wind of this interview between Joe Scarborough and Van Jones from the MSNBC program Morning Joe. Jones was once an advisor to President Obama on "green jobs". He speaks of the confusion over whether or not Obama is trying to be a movement leader or the President. For example, should Dr. Martin Luther King have been President or would the Civil Rights movement have greater success with President Lyndon Johnson who is able to navigate the political process?

That is the question, the idea that Jones sought to explain.

Public school teacher thinks Republicans are stupid...

I think I can relate. In the 8th grade my teacher declared that we'd better hope those Republicans don't get elected. By the end of the year Republicans not only took the majority in both houses of the US Congress, but also for only two years both houses of the Illinois General Assembly.

A Virginia elementary school teacher told her students that “Republicans are stupid” and “they don’t care about anyone but wealthy people and businesses.”

Kristin Martin said this to her 6th grade class as Republican voters were filing into the halls of Powell Elementary School in Fairfax County to vote on Super Tuesday.

“It all started when this disabled kid came in and named all the Republicans candidates for Super Tuesday,” one student told The Daily Caller. “She [Martin] said to him, ‘I don’t like them, I think that they are stupid.’”

Martin’s statements were “brainwashing” students, according to one mother, who said she is a Republican and asked not to be named to protect her daughter from retaliation.

“I felt like the teacher was brainwashing naive, young children to believe people like me, my family and, to a certain extent, my daughter, were stupid,” she told TheDC via email.

The mother came forward with her daughter’s story after TheDC first reported on another Fairfax County teacher who instructed his students to conduct opposition research on Republican candidates for president.

 Then again there's probably a good chance that my 8th grade teacher would've suffered a reprisal. It's unlikely that there would've been a backlash against this activity unlike Virginia. To add details to my situation is the fact that my elementary school was heavily Black and the offending teacher if you will was white. Who knows if the race thing would've been thrown about in that situation or whatever.

Hat-tip Instapundit!

Geithner in Chicago: Obama ‘prevented’ a depression

Tim Geithner

Our Treasury Secretary visited Chicago on Wednesday and he made some comments as well:

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner delivered his boss’ argument for re-election during a Chicago speech Wednesday, asserting that President Barack Obama’s policies “prevented” a depression while laying the foundation for stable growth.

Geithner said that in Obama’s first six months in office, the president presided over a large jump in economic output. He said the American economy is in better shape than those of other nations.

The treasury boss also took swipes at Republican critics who argue for deep spending cuts.

“A growth strategy for the American economy requires more than just promises to cut taxes and spending,” Geithner said. “We have to be willing to do things, not just cut things.”

His partisan broadside followed by a day Obama’s attack on Republican budget proposals. The president called them “thinly veiled social Darwinism.”

What say you? Do you agree with Secretary Geithner?

Chicago’s Urban Prep Does it Again; Every Senior College Bound

This is certainly something that's worth celebrating. We need some good news about young black males doing big things because all too often we hear negative stories about them getting murdered or committing crimes. I just wish we could hear more stories about this:

*For the third consecutive year, every single senior at Urban Prep Academy, the only all-black, all-male charter high school in Chicago, has been accepted to college, school officials announced.

The academy also said that 83 percent of its first graduating class in 2010 has re-enrolled in a second year of college, a rebuttal to critics of the school who have charged that students aren’t always ready for college, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Critics have also suggested that Urban Prep squeezes out students with academic and discipline problems who other schools have to work with. Urban Prep officials acknowledge that this year’s senior class of 85 was almost twice that size when the boys started out as freshmen.

But Urban Prep CEO Tim King, in a meeting Thursday with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board, vigorously denied that troubled students are forced out or encouraged to leave.

“We take the opposite view,” King said. “We devote time and energy to those students so that they understand they can do well and they can have success if they modify their behavior.”

And the $12K they spend on their own students is a lot more than the Chicago Public Schools do on their students. So far it we're getting notice that there is a return on this investment. Even at that for those who do go away to school they are at least keeping in touch with them to see how they're doing.

Now, if only the regular CPS schools are doing that for their seniors. While it's great to see this school have success, I really would like to see this same success noted at my old high school Harlan Community Academy (GO FALCONS!!!!)

Van Jones: "I think if President Obama came out as gay, he wouldn't lose the black vote."

A statement from Van Jones who used to work for the Obama White House on the issues of  "green jobs". It was shown in a video found at RealClearPolitics.

Got wind over it at Ann Althouse's blog with these thoughts:

Let's analyze why Van Jones thinks that's so funny. The foundation of the joke is the assumption that black people have negative feelings toward gay people. It works as funny because only because we're expected not to take this negativity seriously — either because black bigotry doesn't matter — or is fair retribution for America's racism — or because gay people don't matter... or all three. Throw in the breezy assumption that black people, looking at Obama, will not in any way engage with the actual political issues. Jones portrays black people as emotional, simple-minded, and all alike.

Then she wonders if we're supposed to laugh?

I could offer my opinion but I believe in choosing my words carefully. I will just say that Blacks will vote for the Democratic nominee. As for the other issues mentioned not sure how to read it yet, but I would imagine that this wouldn't cause a huge shift to another party for Black voters.

To be honest I laughed at this comment although surely it would raise the ires of some:

Fen said... Is this Van Jones the Marxist they wanted to put in charge of Watermelon Energy?

LOL! Oh really now!?!?

Hat-tip Instapundit!

Electronic Village: GOP Wingnuts Gone Wild...

Rick Santorum Uses N-Word to Describe President Obama

[VIDEO] Found this video via Electronic Village. It seems like a slip of the tongue from former US Senator Rick Santorum what I heard but then hey the remaining GOP candidates for President may be feeding off of the general disapproval of President Obama right now.

Perhaps the Republicans might want to beware of such "gotcha" moments such as this. Surely the Democrats and other Obama supporters are looking for video such as this to help the President.

FTR, I'm not at all a Santorum fan and this may well prove to be a difficult election where it would be difficult to decide who should be President for the next four years at least! Of course that depends on who wins as Obama will have only one more term while any of the Republicans could have as many as eight years.

We'll see!