This'n'That; September 16th[Gillibrand;Polls;Scam;Fluffy;NetWorth;Wilson]

Recycle Schumer's "Yes-Man!" [Gillibrand knows she'll travel the path we hope Geeze Louise Macintosh Rodham Slaughter travels in 2010....to the recycling bin!! The public must remember that nothing happens in the "Chuckie-Cheese" Schumer camp that's not well-engineered. This perceived "split" between Schumer and Gillibrand is one of those engineering monuments!! The split will put New York's senatorial rabble on both sides of the issue-depending on the final public sentiment, one can prop up the other during future campaigns. Gillibrand only seems to be weak in the NYC area; she'll bend any-which way, say anything to retain her "no-work" job!!] Most Senate democRATs, scrambling to distance themselves from Acorn, agreed to a republicRAT amendment blocking the community agitator group from receiving HUD funding -- after a pair of Acorn hires were taped offering advice on how to run a child prostitution ring. There seems to be two Acorns. One is a housing and community development group that has produced national models for foreclosure prevention and low-income apartment preservation. The other is an over-reaching, sloppily managed community powerhouse and "obama frontmen" working toward a national political footprint but hobbled by scandal and allegations of voter fraud abuse. Seven Dems bucked the anti-Acorn wave and voted to fund the group, which sparked an immediate rebuke from the NRSC. They were: Roland Burris of Illinois, Pennsylvania's Bob Casey, Illinois' Dick Durbin, Vermont's Patrick Leahy, Vermont's Bernie Sanders, Rhode Island's Sheldon Whitehouse and New York rookie Kirsten Gillibrand. New York senior senator Chuck Schumer voted to de-fund the group -- creating a rare split between Schumer and his political protege. Apart from policy considerations and ideology, Gillibrand has good reason to support the group: Acorn is a political force in the five boroughs of New York City, where she is weakest, and is closely tied to the Working Family Party, which has one of the best ground operations in the city. Like True Communists, A Shadow Government Do you realize that Fluffy obama has only once met with his formal cabinet since ACORN bought him the job? His 35+ "czars" are his informal "outhouse cabinet" and he meets with them regularly. This amounts to a communist government where the public has no representation and is saddled with taxation-without-representation!! Public Sentiment Catching Up With Fluffy obama Americans decidedly oppose the government's efforts to save struggling companies by taking ownership stakes even if failure of the businesses would cost jobs and harm the economy, a new poll shows. The Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll of views on the Constitution found little support for the idea that the government had to save AIG, the world's largest insurer, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and General Motors last year because they were too big to fail. Just 38 percent of Americans favor government intervention — with 60 percent opposed — to keep a company in business to prevent harm to the economy. The number in favor drops to a third when jobs would be lost, without greater damage to the economy. Similarly strong views showed up over whether the president should have more power at the expense of Congress and the courts, if doing so would help the economy. Three-fourths of Americans said no, up from two-thirds last year. "It really does ratify how much Americans are against the federal government taking over private industry," said Paul J. Lavrakas, a research psychologist and AP consultant who analyzed the results of the survey. Michael Butts, 61, a longtime worker in the oil business in southeastern New Mexico, said Lavrakas was right. "People put their money up and either they make it or they don't. That's just the way it is," said Butts, who lives in Artesia, N.M. But James O'Toole, a mechanic from Monson, Mass., said the government needed to step in to prevent even more jobs from being lost in the rocky economy. "So far, it seems to have helped," said O'Toole, 53. Nearly eight months into Barack Obama's presidency, most people believe laws to protect the voting rights of minorities are no longer needed. Nearly two-thirds oppose preferences for minorities in hiring. "I think that the best person for the job should get the job. I don't think somebody should be promoted over somebody because of their sex or race. It should be based on merit, not on any other sort of criteria," said Summer Crane, 30, who works in accounting in Ukiah, Calif. The poll found a small majority in support of extending to same-sex couples the same benefits given to married, heterosexual couples. By a similar margin, however, Americans oppose government recognition of gay marriage. On other big issues of the day, the public was split over whether the government should assure that everyone has health insurance and undocumented workers in the United States should be given a path to become citizens. Lavrakas said his analysis of the poll showed the strongest opponents of gay marriage, citizenship for undocumented workers, health care reform and affirmative action are white, Republican men who live in rural areas. "They are firm and resolute in their beliefs, and the obama administration is not going to sway them," he said. Linda Johnson, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center [ http://constitutioncenter.org/ ], said the poll's findings on health care mesh with what she observed at one of the first health care town hall meetings at the center's Philadelphia headquarters. "It was not by any stretch dominated by one side or the other. People were talking on both sides of the issues," Johnson said. The nonpartisan center is dedicated to educating the public about the Constitution. She also said she was heartened by even stronger support than a year ago for the view that the Constitution is an enduring document that remains relevant and that rule of law should be followed, even at the expense of short-term public safety considerations. "Americans seem to show an increased attachment" to those two propositions that are central to the center's work, Johnson said. The AP-National Constitution Center poll involved telephone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide. The survey was conducted Sept. 3-8 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Scam Replacement Since I first purchased a watch from Stauer, I've been on the usual mailing lists of those who market watches and jewelry online and thru the mails. The Stauer catalogues and spam has continued even after I exposed what I thought was a scam [This'n'That; 12/08/2008] involving a crooked "free pearls" giveaway!! After weeding through the reams-and-reams of catalogues, I may have found one I might order from: Timpieces, International [ www.timepiecesusa.com ]. While they seem a bit more expensive than Stauer, the quality seems equal to or surpasses them. One can only tell by ordering from "Timepieces......" whether they'll try to scam their repeat customers. Until then, they're definitely worth a look!! Tell Me It Ain't ".......All About Fluffy!!" [I don't know about you....but.....if I had siblings living in the American equivilant of mud huts--those tin shacks one might see in the rural south--and I had the millions that the Fluffer has, I'd do something about it!! {well, with one exception: I have a brother who's a "flaming asshole!!"} Fluffy brother George, lives in a mud hut in Kenya on a $20 ANNUAL INCOME, while the Fluffy obama family net worth in 2008 was estimated at $7,040,386!!! It seems that George has the same type brother that I have!! Fluffy net worth computations-next article] Boston Globe:'African Kin Seek obama’s Help -- But President Offers No Special Aid or Access.' After Fluffy obama was elected to the US Senate in 2004, a delegation from the remote African village where his father was raised journeyed to Washington, seeking financial help. But obama offered them advice, not money. Now that o0bama has moved to the White House, expectations of financial benefit have grown even greater in this tiny hamlet where water is still delivered to thatched huts on the backs of donkeys." The village where his father was raised, water still delivered to thatched huts on the backs of donkeys there. Nicholas Rajula, a businessman in the village, said, "There are still those who are waiting for him to send millions." So is his brother. "Dreams alone seem to be sustaining those counting on an economic boom in this rural corner of western Kenya, near Lake Victoria, where the American president’s father -- also named Barack Obama -- grew up and where many of his relatives remain. In Kogelo, the village where Barack Sr. was raised, there is no restaurant or post office to speak of; it's not on most maps. Still, the price of land here has skyrocketed because of rampant speculation about an obama Family Museum that the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism has promised to build. They've been waiting since 2004 for millions but Fluffy sent them NOTHING but advice. Within a week of Obama’s election victory last year, the government began to pave the main road to town. It also brought in electricity and water lines to obama’s step-grandmother’s compound." They brought in electricity and water lines, one each to Obama's step-grandmother's compound, not to the whole town, just to Obama's step-grandmother? How in the hell do you have a compound in a village that's not on the map where donkeys still deliver water to thatched huts? (interruption) Okay, three-hut compound. Strangers are suddenly a common sight in the market, attracted by safari companies that advertise heritage tours about the first African-American US president. A tourist hotel is planned. But what is missing is a direct infusion of cash from Obama or the US government, say local residents and members of the extended obama family, some of whom say they have relayed funding requests through e-mails and letters to Washington. That expectation might come as a surprise in the United States, where such gifts are not an obligation and Obama is not considered a particularly wealthy man." Well, ACORN is. "But in Kenya, where politicians are often judged by how much financial help they funnel to family and tribe, the lack of cash donations from the president has caused some consternation." Fluffy "Net-Worth" Computations To figure his net worth, we need to find out his assets and subtract his outstanding liabilities.Obama's assets are cash, his house and a tiny amount of stocks.

• 1. House. Obama lives in a house in Chicago on 5046 S. Greenwood, zip code 60615, according to his 2006 returns. The house has an estimated value of $1.5 million, if you take the average of value of homes of the same size in the same zip code.
• 2. Cash. In 2007, Obama and his wife made $4,238,165 according to his 2007 tax returns. Only $260,735 came from salaries and wages. The rest, over $4 million, came from his book royalties from Random House ($3,278,719) and a company called Dystel & Goderich ($815,971). Now of course not all of that $4,238,165 in earnings will stick around as an asset. They paid $1,059,826 in taxes. Ouch. That knocks them down to $3,080,139. And, like all of us, the Obamas must use some of that to pay every day expenses-- light bill, school clothes, Hawaii vacations, etc. Let's estimate that they spend about 20% of that total on living expenses-- that would still give them $616,027 to burn for living expenses and fun, or 51,335 as a monthly living budget. Sweet.After these generous living expenses, they would have $2,464,111 left over to invest. That's from 2007 alone.
• 3. Interest and Dividends. Here's where we find some action. The Obamas earned $1442 in taxable interest. Not much. But here's the whopper. They earned $45,851 in tax free interest, according to line 8b on their 2007 returns. The amount of cash that $45,851 related to depends on the tax free bonds and accounts they invested in. But, for 2007, let's assume that they earned the national average of somewhere between 3% and 4% for tax free bonds. That would mean they have a pile somewhere of between $1, 146,275 and $1,528,366. That makes sense when you remember that Obama earned over $1.6 in book royalties in 2005. The tax free income could have come from that pile.
• 4. The 2008 Haul. Of course, the Obamas are still earning in 2008. You don't figure that the run for the Presidency has hurt his book sales. We conservatively estimate that Obama will make more in 2008 as he did in 2007. We rounded the take to $3,500,000, based on the latest estimates of his book sales in 2008. In all likelihood, Obama's historic run for the Presidency has increased the total from 2007 even more but we're being super-conservative.

Now for the liabilities:

• 1. Home Mortgage. Not much here. The Obamas reported $57,838 in mortgage interest in 2007. When they bought the house, they took out a mortgage of $1.32 million from Northern Trust at an interest rate of 5.625%. They also took out a second mortgage of $250,000.
• 2. Let's assume that they have paid none of the original principal down on either of the loans. This assumption will maximize their liabilities and hold down their net worth. This is the extent of what we know about their liabilities.
• 3. They could of course have credit cards like most of us.
• 4. They paid off their school loans.

Now what all those calculations really mean: [No new hut for George!!]

• Grand Total Net Worth
• Assets:
• $1,500,000 (RealEstate)
• $1,146,275 (Tax Free Bonds)
• $2,464,111 (2007 haul, net of everything)
• $3,500,000 (estimated net haul from 2008)
• Total Assets: $8,610,386
• Total Liabilities: $1,570,000
• Fluffy's Net Worth: $7,040,386

Joe: Tell 'em To Kiss Your Fuzzy, White Ass!!

["You go, Joe!!!" Rep Joe Wilson might consider the House demand, but ONLY AFTER Nancy Porklosi apoligizes for calling CIA operatives liars; only after Fluffy himself apologizes for calling "teaparty" goers, liars; only after Scarry Harry Reid apologizes for his calling President Bush a liar...the list could go on-and-on!!!]

The effort to go after Wilson for the "YOU LIE" remark comes after Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., demanded Wilson apologize from the House floor. Wilson refused, pointing out that he apologized to the president and in a public statement. Wilson even refused a request for a floor apology from House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "In the absence of an apology, the House must act to admonish his behavior," a Democratic leadership aide said. "These are the standards members are held to when they take the oath of office."Clyburn will introduce the resolution and it will likely attract the support of Democrats and Republicans alike, although Boehner has pledged to vote against it.

Til Nex'Time....