Obama Keeps Bush's Defense Secretary

I am starting to here the grumbling get louder and louder from the left. Obama's supporters on the left are starting to ask the question, 'Dude, where is my change?'

From ABC:

ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Jake Tapper Report: Sources tell ABC News that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be staying on in the top Pentagon job, for at least the first year of the Obama administration. "It is a done deal" a source close to the process tells ABC News.

Gates, while a registered independent, has served numerous Republican administrations. President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was spiraling out of control.

The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, as Secretary of State; Marine Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.) as National Security Adviser; Admiral Dennis Blair (Ret.) as Director of National Intelligence; and Dr. Susan Rice as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

So far Obama's national security team is filled with hawks whether it be neo liberal hawks or neo conservative hawks they are still war lusting hawks. I am starting to ask myself what is going on? American foreign policy is in need of a major over haul and you can't fix it with the same old pro-war politicians that has been running the show for years. Come on Barack let me see some new faces baby.

Am I to believe what the cynics say that the President is not really in charge, that the president is just a lackey or a figure head taking orders from other powerful shadow figures?

President Elect Obama I want to believe the change that you spoke about during the campaign was sincere. I don't want to believe that this election about change was a sham but so far it seems like business as usual my dude.

Rapper MC Breed Dead At 37

From EONLINE:

MC Breed is joining his pal Tupac in the great rap hall in the sky.

The Michigan hip-hopster best known for the 1993 hit "Gotta Get Mine," featuring Shakur, died of kidney failure Saturday at the age of 37.

Breed (full name Eric Breed) had been ill for some time and died in his sleep at a friend's house in Ypsilanti, a suburb of Detroit.

"We are saddened by our great loss. More than just an artist, we mourn the loss of a beloved father, son, brother and friend," his family and management said. "We are thankful and blessed to have been in his presence and want him to be remembered for his creative, caring, talented and hard-working spirit."

Breed's 1991 debut, M.C. Breed & DFC, spawned the single "Ain't No Future in Yo' Frontin'." His 1993 release, The New Breed, featured "Gotta Get Mine" with Tupac. After Shakur's death in 1996, Breed released 10 more albums but never really broke through the mainstream again.

1993 Video "I Got To Get Mine" - MC Breed feat. 2Pac:



Mc Breed established his name in Hip-Hop during the early 90's, some would argue the that the early to mid 90's was the best era in Hip-Hop so I have to give props to MC Breed and may he rest in peace.

US Empire 'to decline by 2025'

The American people better start putting money away for rainy days because the future is looking kind of cloudy. I know Americans are not good at saving but you better learn to kick that habit of just buying stuff just because it's the "new thing". We got to learn to put something away for our kid's future because it's going to be tougher on them to live the life we Americans have become accustom to living. Not to mention the country's debt they will inherit. This article from Al Jazeera should wake a lot of folks up:

US economic and political power is set to decline over the next two decades and the world will grow more dangerous as the battle for scarce resources intensifies, a report by US intelligence agencies has predicted.

The current global financial crisis is the beginning of a weakening of the US dollar to the point where it becomes "first among equals", said the National Intelligence Council's (NIC) Global Trends 2025 report published on Thursday.

One of the main conclusions of the report is that "the unipolar world is over, [or] certainly will be by 2025", said Thomas Fingar, the NIC's deputy director, at a press conference in Washington DC.

China and India were likely to join the US at the top of a multipolar world and compete for influence, the report added.

Russia's future was less certain, but Iran, Turkey and Indonesia were also seen by the report as gaining power.

"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report.

"Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios, and the uneven impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions."

Bush Blamed for Worldwide Crises

From Raw Story:

PROTESTERS have demanded that US President George W Bush get out of Peru where he is attending an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, blaming him for the world economic crisis.

"Bush out," about 1000 demonstrators chanted in the center of the capital Lima, watched by scores of police in riot gear who made sure they did not move towards the APEC summit venue several kilometers away.

"This crisis didn't come from the Peruvian people. We shouldn't have to pay for it," a union leader told the crowd, which demonstrated peacefully.

:::

Friday's anti-Bush protest, organized by Peru's biggest labor union, charged that Mr Bush's decision to wage a costly war in Iraq contributed to the financial and economic crises.

"The International Criminal Court should try him for crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression," a big banner next to the main stage for the rally proclaimed.

"Bush - genocide. The Peruvians repudiate your crimes," said another.

"We believe that Bush is responsible for the fall of the financial system," explained Aldo Gil Cristostomo, a 54-year-old mechanic standing near other protesters carrying portraits of Che Guevara.

"The war in Iraq is partly responsible for the fall," he said.

Mr Cristostomo added that, while he had more sympathy for Mr Bush's successor, Barack Obama, he believed the Democrat "is going to maintain the neo-liberal system" championed by the current US president.

I wish Bush would just do us all a favor and just resign early, I mean he has embarrassed the country enough. He need to just go hang out at his Texas ranch until Obama is sworn in. Although I would much rather see Bush go in front of a judge to answer for his crimes but it's unlikely that's going to happen when so many politicians in our government was complicit in his crimes. Obama is not going to investigate the Bush criminal administration, because he's filling his own administration with nothing but pro Iraq war hawks.

Florida Teen Kills Self In Front Of Web Cam

From Reuters:

A Florida teenager committed suicide by drug overdose in front of a webcam streaming live video to the Internet and some viewers may have egged him on, authorities said on Friday.

Abraham Biggs Jr., 19, was found in the bedroom of his home in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday and an autopsy showed he died of a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat anxiety and insomnia, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office said.

"We have ruled it a suicide. Part of the terminal event was recorded on a website and there was streaming video," said Dr. Steve Cina, deputy chief medical examiner of Broward County.

:::

Biggs had written blogs about his intentions and some of the viewers who were watching the event live may have goaded him on, Cina said.

"There is some indication of that, yes," he said.

In a purported suicide note posted by Miami television station WPLG on its website, Biggs said: "I hate myself and I hate living."

The note said he had "thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past."

Just some more craziness from America's perverse society. People seem to come up with all kinds of ways to get themselves into the news. The only positive I guess is that he only killed himself and didn't go on one those suicide killing sprees we been hearing so much of lately.

Are Progressives Starting To Feel Betrayed By Obama?

If you've been paying attention to Barack Obama cabinet appointments so far you will have noticed that there haven't been any true liberal or progressive politician offered a cabinet position. So far Obama has only tapped centrist or right leaning democrats to serve in his administration. Most of Obama's progressive supporters are still confident that Obama will live up to his campaign promises and they trust his decision. But you have some progressive that are starting to question Obama based on his cabinet appointments so far. For instance you have Chris Bowers making the following statement:

I know everyone is obsessed with the "team of rivals" idea right now, but I feel incredibly frustrated. Even after two landslide elections in a row, are our only governing options as a nation either all right-wing Republicans, or a centrist mixture of Democrats and Republicans? Isn't there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration? Also, why isn't there a single member of Obama's cabinet who will be advising him from the left? It seems to me as though there is a team of rivals, except for the left, which is left off the team entirely.


It is just so very frustrating. It seems like the only place progressives are making any gains is in the House. We are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far. I guess everyone gets to play in Obama's administration, except progressives.

Then you have Christopher Hayes at the Nation expressing his frustration in what he see so far:

Not a single, solitary, actual dyed-in-the-wool progressive has, as far as I can tell, even been mentioned for a position in the new administration. Not one. Remember this is the movement that was right about Iraq, right about wage stagnation and inequality, right about financial deregulation, right about global warming and right about health care. And I don't just mean in that in a sectarian way. I mean to say that the emerging establishment consensus on all of these issues came from the left. There's tons of things the left is right about that aren't even close to mainstream (taking a hatchet to the national security state and ending the prison industrial complex to name just two), but hopefully we're moving there.

And yet, no one who comes from the part of American political and intellectual life that has given birth to all of these ideas is anywhere to be found within miles of the Obama cabinet thus far. WTF?

I'm hoping Barack Obama live up to his pledge to bring change to Washington but looking at his appointments so far, I'm starting to question it. The people he have offered jobs to so far, all supported the Iraq war. For Obama to claim the Iraq war was the biggest foreign policy mistake in the history of this country, why would he put these people, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emmanuel, Joe Biden, etc into top cabinet and advisory positions. There's even rumors he's going to keep the George Bush appointee, Robert Gates on at Secretary of Defense. What kind of fucking change is that.

Violent And Racist Threats Against Obama Spreads Around The Country

If you thought America was entering a new day on race relation in this country with the election of Barack Obama, the first African American President, you may be sadly mistaking. With right wing hate radio spewing hatred daily against Barack Obama, you also have the gun lobbyist out and about with their campaign against Obama and you have a dangerous situation on your hand. I just ran across a chilling story of students with guns openly talking about assassinating Obama. From Editor&Publisher

A few days ago, the Associated Press and some other news outlets picked up on the disturbing. But at Editor & Publisher we are still receiving tips and personal accounts every day, often from small towns in both red and blue states.

Just this morning, for example, the Mount Desert Islander weekly in Maine reported that a third effigy of a black man had been found hanging from a tree in the area since the election. This was was in Somesville, following reports of others in Tremont and Bar Harbort. The paper observes: "State police also are investigating the incidents, which are believed to be in response to the election of Sen. Barack Obama as president."

Here is the latest note to us today from a student in Iowa (I have her name and address but won't release it here), a state Obama carried rather easily. It is much in line with reported incidents of other school kids, some as young as 7 or 8, talking about "assassinating" Obama. Of course, they couldn't carry that out themselves but what is chilling is that they are likely just repeating language or threats they hear at home.

Here is that email:

"I'm not sure who to email on this, but there have been several derogatory things said about Obama in our school, and one of them got a student suspended. I go to a school in a little town called Letts, Iowa. We are pretty down home, country road farm kids out here. But never, in my 11 years at the school, have I ever heard the conversation take such a negative turn.

"The remark that the student was suspended for was this, "Well, it's called the White House for a reason. We need to get that God damn N----- out of there."

"There were other remarks, mostly by students who hunt. They were discussing how far a shotgun could shoot, and decided that they could get to a high enough vantage-point to shoot Obama from at least 2 miles away, without anyone ever knowing where the shot came from. 'Another Kennedy' they were saying."

Last night a reader tipped us off to an incident in another Obama-friendly state, Michigan, in the town of Buchanan. Members of the South County Democratic Club woke up Saturday to find their building vandalized with swastikas and racist comments, spray painted on the side of the structure. These kind of incidents have been too common to list all of them.

:::

The weekly based in Wasilla, Alaska, which boosted hometowner Sarah Palin throughout the election campaign, provided column space this week to a local student who alleged anti-Obama racial comments the day after his election. Here's an excerpt from The Frontiersman op-ed by Waverli Raine.

Finally the campaign was over and I was actively supporting our new president, even though I knew I would be vastly out numbered at school. I expected complaints and qualms about the new president, but I was not prepared for the flat-out racist remarks said openly in the halls and classrooms. I was appalled. While I sat at my desk trying to do my work I could hear my fellow classmates:

“I think we should kill Obama,” one said.

“I hope someone comes up and shoots him in the head,” another would say.

“I hate Obama … he’s black.”

On went the racist words for the full 80 minutes of that class. Angered, I began to think of the injustice of it all and the ignorance of the students I was surrounded by. I wondered where they learned to be so hateful, and I wondered why the teacher never stepped in - why no adult, no student, including myself, had the guts to cut in and say it was not OK. Because it’s never OK for intolerance.

You know those fucking kids got those ideas from home. I swear I despise those racist right winger so much. Sometimes I wish we could just wall off a part of the country and dump all those vile people in one place and let them have their George Bushes and Sarah Palins as their leaders.

Israel To Boycott UN Forum On Racism

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday that Israel had made a final decision not to participate in a U.N. forum on racism and urged other countries to boycott what she termed an "anti-Israel tribunal."

The United Nations said it regretted the decision.

The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in Geneva in April, is a follow-up to a 2001 summit in Durban, South Africa on the same issues.

Israel and the United States walked out of the first conference in protest over draft texts branding Israel as a racist and apartheid state -- language that was later dropped.

In a speech to visiting U.S. Jewish leaders, Livni said she announced last February that Israel would not participate in the 2009 meeting unless it was clear it would not be used "as a platform for further anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic" activity

.

Read More

What's that old saying? If you throw a rock in a yard full of dogs,the dog that screams out is the dog that got hit. So here you have the UN having a world conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia and the first country to scream out is Israel. My suggestion is, if you don't want to be labeled as a Racist and Apartheid Nation then you should stop acting like one.

Wright, Jackson & Sharpton: The Role They Played In Getting Obama Elected

From Daily Kos:

[During Obama's campaign], Reverends Wright, Sharpton and Jackson were in a dilemma. They were three men caught in a web of their own historical press clippings. Even Dirty Harry knew that a man’s gotta know his own limitations. They had no choice, really. It was either distance themselves from Barack Obama, or cost him the Presidency.

:::

Reverend Wright was a firebrand noted for his take-no-prisoners rhetoric from the pulpit. He was the kind of inner-self black spirit that African Americans only surrender to in audience with other like-minded African Americans. He was the Black Power salute of contemporary black dialog – respectably vocal, but never allowed to escape beyond the inside breast pocket of a Brooks Brothers suit. Upper middle class black folks listened to him on Sunday mornings to make more palatable the glass ceilings they had to navigate Monday mornings at work.

Reverend Al Sharpton, on the other hand, had become the quintessential civil rights leader of the 21st Century, in the tradition of Frederick Douglass – "agitate, agitate, agitate." In the white community he had become a caricature of himself, but his gift was the ability to cut through the bullshit and tell it like it is or, shall I say, how he thought it was. He brought the cameras and the microphones which, in some cases, were all that was needed to affect surface level Change.

Jesse Jackson, over the recent years, had lost more credibility than he had gained, but in the eyes of his detractors, he still represented the civil rights camp - heir apparent to the Martin Luther King, Jr. legacy in the absence of any King Family member who wanted the torch more than a movie role. Reverend Jackson’s civil rights cavalcade always seemed to set up shop just outside of operational government and therefore seemed doomed to forever knock on the door of viability... from the wrong side.

In early Spring of 2008, as Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency began to approach the rarified air of serious money, there must have been an unspoken meeting of the minds among these men. It was a moment when all four had to realize that The Black Agenda had to be set aside in favor of The American Agenda. This had to happen in order for Obama to reach unprecedented heights in the presidential campaign. In was like members of the old Negro Leagues bidding farewell to Jackie Robinson as he cleared his locker. It was never "Why him?" They knew he had to move forward so that others could move forward after him, and it was time for them to step aside.


:::

Barack Obama would have never disavowed Reverend Wright had it not become evident that Wright’s rhetoric had the potential of slicing and dicing his campaign. So Wright intentionally pushed the issue. And he pushed it so far to the radical left that Obama had no choice but to respond emphatically.

Reverend Sharpton did his part by holding off on his endorsement of Barack Obama for as long as possible, before his motives were beginning to be questioned by his own constituency. Thus he helped to move Obama a tad further to the center.

Jesse Jackson’s particular stroke of genius was to enlist the aid of the enemy - FOX News Network. He knew it would only work once, and in order for it to work, it had to be Fox News, one of the most racist new organizations in the world. They would never not broadcast an apparent rift between two newsworthy black men. Jackson made the comments to a guest before an interview on "Fox & Friends," whispering that Obama was "talking down to black people" and that he (Jackson) wanted to "cut his nuts off." FOX jumped on this with all four feet. Not only did Jackson not ask FOX to hold back the tape, he went on CNN to apologize for his comments, thus ensuring that the tape would be broadcast. It played perfectly on the evening news. Jesse set himself up to take the hit, and even his own son, Jesse Jackson, Jr, an Obama staffer, had to denounce his father’s comments. How much more real does it get? Jesse played FOX like a cheap pawnshop trumpet. Here is a man who has been in public life for almost 50 years. He had been scrutinized by Hoover, wire-tapped by the FBI in the King era. And we’re supposed to believe that he forgot he was on a hot microphone... at the FOX News Network, no less?
Puh-leeeze!

Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson fell on their swords so that Barack Obama would have a greater audience at center court. Someday a filmmaker will study the screenplay, and even she won’t believe it. Rod Serling wouldn’t believe it, either, and he knew something about irony.

Comedian Wanda Sykes Comes Out Of The Closet

From The Huffington Post:

Comedian Wanda Sykes says the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay.

"You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life," Sykes told a crowd at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.

"Everybody that knows me personally they know I'm gay. But that's the way people should be able to live their lives," she said.

Sykes, who is known for her feisty and blunt style, said the passage of California's Proposition 8 made her feel like she was "attacked."

"Now, I gotta get in their face," she said. "I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay."

I didn't know Wanda Sykes was gay, I wonder who is next to come out of the closet, Queen Latifah?

Black Man Posing As White Racist Arrested

From The Sun Herald:

A black man from Mississippi has been arrested and accused of sending racist death threats over the Internet to three black students at Louisiana's Nicholls State University.

The FBI in New Orleans said Dyron Hart, 19, was arrested Wednesday. He is accused of sending the messages by way of the students' Facebook accounts. The messages contained racial epithets and death threats and were sent to two black women and a black man at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La.

The author of those messages cast himself as a white man who intended to kill blacks because Barack Obama was elected president.

Hart told an FBI agent that he sent the messages to "get a reaction," according to the agent's sworn statement.

:::

An FBI news release said Hart, if convicted, would face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Repeatedly using an obscenity and the N-word, the author of the message threatens to kill more than 3,000 black people in a month because of Obama's election and warns the recipient of a pending attack from "a random white man," according to the agent's affidavit.

All I can say is this Dyron Hart character is one dumb ass. I'm glad the authorities are taking these racial threats serious because there are some real racist out there that would like to do real harm. So the prankster like Mr. Hart should be taught a lesson. They should throw the book at this clown.

Americans Have A Lot Of Faith In An Obama's Presidency

Let me start by saying I would not want to be in Obama's shoes. The Man has a monumental task ahead thanks to the incompetence of George W. Bush. He has two wars (or two occupations if you will)to deal with, the financial markets are in crisis, the housing market and the auto industry is about to go under, he's working with a half a trillion dollar deficit and a 10 trillion dollar national debt and now they call the black in to clean up this mess.

According to a CNN Poll, the American public think Obama is the man that can get the country back on the right track though. From CNN:

The overall public mood may still be sour at the moment, but a new national poll suggests that most Americans think Barack Obama will make major accomplishments as president of the United States.

Nearly two-thirds of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday said President-elect Obama will change the country for the better. Twenty-five percent said he won't change the country either way, and only 9 percent indicated they think Obama will change the country for the worse.

"The bar is being set awfully high for an Obama presidency," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the poll, most people think it's likely that Obama will improve race relations, improve economic conditions, bring stability to the financial markets, make the United States safer from terrorism, reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, reduce global warming, win the war in Afghanistan, and remove U.S. troops from Iraq without causing a major upheaval in that country.

You've heard that old saying, "Once they go black they never go back". So if Obama does a good job, which I am praying that he does, America will fall in love with a black president and probably would be willing to pick another one in the near future but, if Obama's presidency goes down as a failure then it will be generation before another black is giving a remote chance at the white house. See future white candidates will not be judged based on Bush's failures but future black candidates will be judged based on how well Obama performs. So Obama has the reputation and aspirations of African Americans as well as the hopes of all American on his narrow shoulders. In other words failure is not an option.

What Obama Can Learn From The Wire (TV Series)

Yo, I am a huge fan of the HBO series The Wire, I feel a void in my life now that The Wire has ended. During an interveiw early in the primary season, Barack Obama said his favorite TV show was The Wire and his favorite character on the show was Omar Little.

As people that watched The Wire know, the show dealt with a lot of problems we face as a nation. From drugs, violence, education and corrupt politics, Barack could learn a few things from the show. I came across this post over at Daily Kos where a blogger laid out the things Barack could learn from watching the Wire, a show which paints a bleak picture of the decaying city of Baltimore:

Foreign Policy

If Obama was watching The Wire carefully, he could learn a lot about foreign
policy from two of the major characters from the first three seasons, Avon
Barksdale and his cohort, Stringer Bell. While Avon was always willing to go
to war for territory and fight over pride, Stringer was more pragmatic,
realizing that war was bad for business. Like Obama, Stringer was willing to
negotiate with his enemies, including Proposition Joe and Marlo Stansfield.
Rather than war with other drug dealers over territory, Stringer built an
alliance of huslters from both the east and west side to share a common
package and economic interest.

Obama could take Stringer's role and avoid wars unless they are absolutely
necessary, negotiate with countries previously hostile to the US and build
alliances with other countries. He should not however be shady and
conniving, the characteristics which led to Stringer's death.

Drugs

Addiction and distribution of drugs have played a big role in all 5 seasons
of The Wire. If anything is clear from The Wire, it is that the War on Drugs
is a failed war, that only keeps the cycle of addiction, poverty and
violence going. For many, the War on Drugs, is a war on black neighborhoods.
In the Wire, we see that incarceration of drug dealers has little effect, as
there always is a new one to take his place. Obama could learn a lot about
how to deal with drugs from Bunny Colvin's Hamsterdamn experiment. Rather
than brutality and incarceration, treatment and counseling were used in an
area where drug dealers were free to sell drugs. With drugs less of a
priority, police were able to stop violent crime, burglaries and rape.

If Obama was paying attention to Season 3, he will put more money into
treatment, and less emphasis on incarceration. While the American War on
Drugs has focused primarily on the black community, millions of white
Americans have become addicted to prescription pills and methamphetamine.
While surveys have shown that white people use drugs at the same rate of
black people, blacks are incarcerated five times as much for drug crimes.

Education

Season 4 of The Wire highlighted the educational crisis in urban areas.
Through the eyes of four poor black children and a white teacher. In Season
4 we see the failure of No Child Left behind, as teachers are forced to
teach to tests rather than using their own skills and knowledge. We also see
the apathetic teachers and the overcrowded classrooms and the social
problems that lead to dysfunctional students.

Season 4 also makes it clear that students in urban areas who aren't
involved in the educational process get educated on the street to become
drug dealers. John McCain called education the Civil Rights Movement of the
21st century, probably the ony thing he said during the campaign that I
agreed with. Education in urban areas is not a black problem but an American
problem, a problem all Americans must unite to solve.

Politics

Clearly Obama paid close attention to Mayor Tommy Carcetti's campaign
against Mayor Royce. Both Obama and Carcetti were good looking, with
excellent debate and oratory skills. Just like Tommy Carcetti woke up white
in a city that wasn't, Barack Obama woke up black in a county that wasn't.
Carcetti managed to overcome his race problem by splitting the black vote
between Royce and Gray just like Obama managed to split some of the white
vote between Edwards and Clinton in the primary. Carcetti kept a cool head
while his opponents tried to connect him to unsavory characters and reached
out to people outside of his base to develop a strong coalition.

Obama must also learn from Tommy Carcetti's brief term as Mayor. Carcetti
found himself in a budget deficit as Mayor and unable to complete his
campaign promises. He also realized that he would have to eat "bowls of
shit" from several interest groups in Baltimore. Obama must also confront
this problem in dealing with the military, Wall street and religious
leaders. With a failing economy, he must be both pragmatic and idealistic in
his decisions on what to cut, what to keep and what to expand.

Obama must also be like Carcetti and build alliances with his opponents who
did not support him in the election, such as Carcetti's alliance with
council president, Narise Campbell. He must also crack down on corruption in
politics, whether it be from the Clay Davis's of the world or the Tom
Delays.

Weekly Wrap Up In Political News - Cartoons

Click on picture to enlarge:

8 Year Old Boy Kills Father And Friend

What is going on in this country? I just came across this story out of St. Johns, Arizona. From CNN:

An 8-year-old boy is scheduled in court Monday to face two counts of premeditated murder in the shooting death of his father and a friend. The hearing comes on the same day mourners were to gather for a funeral.

Police say the boy, a third-grader, confessed to planning and carrying out the shooting deaths of his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and a co-worker who rented a room from him.

The men were found dead inside Romero's home northeast of Phoenix on Wednesday.
Authorities had no motive for the shootings.

"That's what's puzzling to us," Police Chief Roy Melnick said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "There's no record of any problems in school, no reported abuse."

Romero came from a family of hunters and wanted to make sure the boy wasn't afraid of guns, said the Rev. John Paul Sauter of St. Johns Catholic Church. He said the father taught his son how to use a rifle to kill prairie dogs.

Police say the boy used a .22-caliber rifle to kill his father and the other man, Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos.

St. Johns police are hoping a judge will agree to try the boy as an adult, but they admit it's unlikely.

The boy's attorney says police questioned his client without representation from a parent or attorney and didn't advise the child of his rights.

The killings took place in the St. Johns, a town of about 4,000 people located roughly 170 miles northeast of Phoenix.

:::

Stories like this is like the America's chickens come home to roost. America is still clinging to her ancient and out dated gun laws. You have evil organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) who want to see more guns on America's streets including automatic assault rifles. I bet if Mr. Romero had it do all over again he would have never taught his young son about guns.