Taxes and Integrity

After Tom Daschle was thoroughly trounced in the 2004 Senatorial election in South Dakota, he has now been invited back to Washington by Obama to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The people of his state were fed up and through with him, but the President thinks that he still has some value.

Now the corker . . . Mister Former Senate Majority Leader has problems doing his taxes. He used a donated car and driver for 2 years without reporting the "income" to Uncle George, a . . I mean Uncle Sam. So, another of Obama's choices to lead our country has an integrity problem, or a math problem or something.

But the most disturbing problem is the reoccurring theme of members of the Democratic Party. Gary Hart, from the 1970's, appears to be the last Democrat with integrity. Everyone since then, when caught doing something wrong, did one of two things.

1. Told the country to shove it, i.e.; Barney Frank who took a male Congressional page to Europe for several weeks or Bill Clinton who had sex with Monica Lewinsky and then lied to a Grand Jury.
2. Immediately righted the wrong and went on as though nothing had happened, i.e.; the DNC returning campaign contributions from China or Sandy Berger, former National Security Adviser, returning the top secret papers he stole from the National Archives, well most of them.

The list of candidates using either remedy goes on and on.

Now Congress feels that because Geithner and Daschle have both received solid support from President Obama, they should be confirmed, because these are troubled times. President Bush strongly supported all his nominees as well. But what would have happened if Clarence Thomas, John Roberts or any of either of the Bush's nominees had a real tax infraction, or a real traffic ticket?

The reason we have troubled times is because of Tom Daschle, who as Senate Majority Leader in 1992, mandated the sub-prime lending practices that caused the world wide economic turmoil we face today.

It is usually proper to expect someone to clean up the mess they made. The problem with this situation is since they won't acknowledge that they really caused the mess, how will they ever figure out how to correct it?

Are You Who You Hang Out With?

Watching the movie "Oliver" with my grandchildren the other night, I was intrigued by Ron Moody's performance of Fagin as he sang "I'm Reviewing the Situation." When he uttered the words: "All my dearest companions Have always been villains and thieves . . . ", I was reminded of Obama and his friends that are nothing but sleaze.

I spent my parenting years telling my children the friends they chose would influence who they became. In my occupation, I tried to only work with people who had similar values and standards. Now I see that Barak Obama, soon to be the most powerful and potentially influential person in the world, has been surrounded by "villains and thieves."

Here is the list that I am aware of:

1. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for over 20 years, says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."
2. Governor Blagojevich of Illinois is indicted on charges of bribery and fraud trying to sell the Senate seat.
3. Three other ex-Illinois Governors have been convicted of felonies during Obama's life. The last one, George Ryan, was Governor while Obama was an Illionis lawmaker.
   
4. Gov. Bill Richardson from New Mexico, a nominee for Commerce Secretary, withdrew because of an investigation of corruption. It is interesting to note, David Rubin, the suspect in this bribery probe, also donated $2,300 to Mr. Obama's campaign and $26,200 to the Democratic Party
5. Timothy Geithner, nominated for Secretary of the Treasury failed to properly pay his taxes from 2001-2004. A 2006 audit by the IRS revealed the error, but Geithner didn't pay the back taxes until he was nominated for the Cabinet position???
6. Hillary Clinton, nominee for Secretary of State, has always been at the center of corruption from Whitewatergate, to Travelgate to the impeachment of her husband Bill.
   
7. Seven of the Top Ten Political Scandals of 2008 were from the Democratic Party. If you remove David Kernell, who was the son of Tennessee Democrat Mike Kernall and Sarah Palin who was exonerated after the investigation, that leaves six out of eight were Democrats.

If an eagle hangs out with the chickens, it won't change his genetic code, but it might influence the important decisions he makes in life. I'm just worried.

Can Obama Fix The Economy?

President Elect Obama has released his latest economic recovery plan, his attempt to fix the economy. On the campaign trail, he promised 1 million new jobs. A few weeks ago he promised 3 million new jobs. This week, his plan would create 4.1 million new jobs. When you make promises, the sky's the limit.

Funny thing about promises, the very same announcement that promised 4.1 million jobs, also promised that he would have to renege on many of his other campaign promises. Where did "pinky promise" or "cross my heart and hope to die" disappear?

The truth is, the new administration doesn't understand or acknowledge how we arrived on our current catastrophic course. Since they don't know how this happened, they have no clue how to fix the economy.

We should expect a continued flurry of pie in the sky promises that change with every economic report.