away from his duties in Washington late on Friday to take temporary refuge on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” talk
comedy-show at NBC studios. Never in the past had the American people
witnessed a like action by a sitting president.
Obama did that while both Wall Street and “ Main Street ” were ablaze by
the wild fires of recession and other grave ills. The U.S. is a
beleaguered nation threatened on all fronts. We are facing creeping
unemployment, public fear, and inaccessible credit, compounded with
unsustainable deficits generating a humongous national debt that could
easily bankrupt two future generations.
While Obama was behaving like an incapable president at best or a radical
politician with a dubious agenda at worst, the U.S. Congress was not
performing any better. Let’s examine the incredible issue of the
so-called stimulus bill, approved by the U.S. House of Representatives
without any congressmen ever having read its contents, and later by the
U.S. Senate with no significant amendments. Only the support of three“liberal” GOP senators prevented filibuster of the bill.
When payment of bonuses to the Corporate Officials of the gigantic
insurance conglomerate AIG in the amount of $165 million was disclosed,
all hell broke loose and instantly the House reacted by concocting another
bill retroactively taxing 90% of those bonuses. In response spontaneous
anti-tax “tea party” protests mushroomed through the Nation. A few of
them were not so spontaneous, demonstrated by picket signs suspiciously
blaming all the crisis on the free-market system reflecting the ill
disguised hand of populist radicalism.
AIG was one of the main beneficiaries of the multibillion dollar stimulus
bill, but not the only one. By the same time that the conglomerate
scandal transcended to the public it was disclosed that tens of billions
of dollars which came from the stimulus package ended up lent to various
European Banks by other financial institutions. This last disclosure
-much worse than the bonus issue- was basically ignored by the “main
stream” American media, shamefully in bed with the Obama administration.
The Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, a controversial figure
since his Senate confirmation -with a liability of over $30,000 in federal
back taxes- was in the thick and thin of the stimulus deal and knew about
the AIG bonuses all the time. The amendment introducing the bonuses was
attached by no other than Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd from
Connecticut, who at first complained that the amendment was added in his
absence but the following day claimed it was forced upon him by Geithner
and Obama! The readers of mi Spanish column may remember my statement
about dishonesty being the common strand among Castro’s fans: Dodd is a
fiery proponent of better relations between the U.S. and the Cuban
Tyranny.
Another event vis-à-vis the Senate and the Executive branch seemed to add
fuel to Washington ’s political fires. In a not too subtle move to erode
Second Amendment rights by reintroducing the failed so-called assault
weapons ban, notorious Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that 90% of
the arsenal used in Mexico’s drug wars could be traced to the U.S. The
claim was repeated by California Senator Diane Feinstein and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, an old foe of gun rights who may have had
flashbacks of her dangerous encounter with sniper fire in Bosnia .
Holder’s broad statement was also widely published by the press, including
Fox News.
It was a fabrication. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne Lapierre was
able to call Holder’s bluff by quoting data provided by the FBI and the
BATF. The information made clear that the Mexican government refuses to
give the U.S. the serial numbers on any firearms taken from the drug
cartel. Those agencies ignore the source of Holder’s spurious claim. Not
surprisingly Lapierre’s correction received mute publicity by the same
press.
The readers may remember that I sent an E-mail to Mr. Holder when he
accused the United States of being a “Nation of cowards” while discussing
the issue of race relations, the same venue in which he lavished praise on
the convicted felon Malcolm X. In my message I called Mr. Holder a
coward. Now I can also call him a liar.
Some political wizards suspect a rift developing between the President and
the Democratic Congress. I am not a political guru but a careful observer
of reality and I have not seen any evidence of that rift. The present
Congress is not -as some claim- a zoo out of control, but it is turning
into a shameless stage where the White House writes all the scripts. The
House of Representatives’ outrage about the CEO’s bonuses is bogus.
There is no legitimate outrage from the savvy and corrupt Barney Frank,
the wily Chairman of the House Financial Committee.
Some House democrats may be almost brain dead, but not Frank. In 1991 the
House Floor officially reprimanded the Massachusetts Democrat.
What was his offense to deserve a reprimand? Frank used taxpayer’s money
to support his homosexual lover, a male prostitute by the name of Steve
Gobi who ran a male prostitution ring from Frank’s House offices. Frank,
who had given Mr. Gobi more than $20,000.00, of taxpayer’s money, claimed
ignorance of the ring. His “liberal” constituency backed him up, and kept
returning this creep periodically to the House.
We better get something done soon to stop this governance by fiat while it
masquerades as Constitutional rule and threatens our liberty, our
solvency, our sovereignty, and the future welfare of our children and
grandchildren. The American people still have a very small window of
opportunity to effect change via civil and peaceful means. However, time
is running out fast and the alternative to taking decisive action now is
unthinkable.
ch
Are we still living in a truly free and civilized society? Can the United
States of America still be regarded as a Constitutional Republic ? Is the
U.S. Congress still functioning as the guardian of the people’s trust and
does it still work within the parameters of the law? Does the President
really know his duties and truly understand and abide by the legal limits
of his power? Do the American people still care about those paramount
issues?
The troublesome questions had been asked many times in the past. However,
asking those questions at the present time is not a rhetorical exercise.
We are in the era of the Great Anointed One, and anybody interested in the
national welfare finally got the meaning of his electoral motto “yes, we
can!” The President was obviously referring to the power grab of a
political mob (to which he obviously belongs) that does not feel obliged
to play by any rules, whether ethical or legal. This is not a matter of
opinion any more. It is a harsh reality proved by recent shameful events.
Some claim that Nero played his fiddle while Rome was burning, but there is no historical evidence of the Roman Emperor doing that. However, we all did witness how the Great Obama ran